The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-06-22
AN ESSAY ON FOOLS.
BY THE REV DR.. T. NJ. EDDY.

BY THE REV DR.. T. NJ. EDDY.
This is one of the proverbs of Holy Writ:
"Let bear robbed of her whelps meet a
man, rather than fool in his folly" The
brute has no artful eoncealment, while folly
may be masked. | fully appreciate the
Masters mandate forbidding the haunting
application of "fool' to brother, but
there are those whom inspiration itself
brands with the title, whose acts it terms
folly, and by the record am writing.
Foolish men make the little fragment of
life spent on earth the "be all and end all
of existence. Bound for eternity, they
waste the opportunities of time, they squan-
der soul. power, and go into the hereafter
bankrupt in grace. A standard authority
says: " Whosoever violates common sense
in his actions is fool; whoever is unable
to act with common sense is an idiot; who
ever Intentionally violates common sense is
a butfoon'' Good as this classification is,
l will not expound it, but will only pres
ent the folly of those whom God ranks as
fools.
THE ATHE1sTIC FOOL.
"The fool hath said in his heart, there is
no God" He suffers corrupt passions to
silence intellect, to hush reason, to smoth-
Ell consciousness and conscience. He sees
the divine handwriting on earth and sky
the divine design revealed on everything.
His deeper munitions confess the "sole,
self-existence Lord ana Cod and yet he
denies. His moral instincts are against
his confession, for he feels Godhood, yet be-
cause he would get clear of divine over
sight and Judgment, he denies the Seer and
the Judge If he SO disbelieves, it is folly
to say it. The world wants its Father, he
coolly orphans its faith; wants its Cover
nor he demoralizes its trust. 1t is folly to
bread down as atheism must, and he is
daftest of idiots or widest OF maniacs who
supposes world can be governed without
some thought of God.
THE sELF-wIsE FOOL.
"Seest thou a man wise in his own con-
eeit? There is more hope of fool than of
him. There are several species of this
genus. There is the proud fool, boastful,
it may be, of pedigree. He talks swag-
geringly of his descent from great men,
q Descent is a good word. From them
to him is coming down great way. Boast
full Of position to which an accident may
have drifted him; of wealth, won, it may
be, by luck rather than management-by
means no casuist could approve, or re-
ceived by inheritance from parentage
able to accomplish something in their day
he moves patronizingly and condescend-
ingly among men who laugh at his arrog
ance, from whose hate he is only saved by
the predominance of their contempt.
There is the vain man, vain of his per-
son. "Gotten up regardless" putting his
soul into the tie of his cravat; bending his
reason to the tint of his gloves; vain of his
"There's an old maxim in the schools,
That varity's the food of fools.
cooperation. In Western phrase: g lie
goes in gang by HIMSELF He is the
stumbling block in church boards; on jur
les he is so unfortunate as TO be drawn
with eleven obstinate men. Buy him at
his real worth, and sell him at his self IA
ted valuation, and not Rothschild of the
name ever made such a speculation. His
is garruleus folly. Solomon speaks of ''the
prating FOOL" and says: "a FOOLS lips
enter into contention. A FOOLS
mouth is his destruction What rat
Ting is made by empty wagons The
plagiarizing clergyman is blatant of won
derful pulpit achievements; the millinery
general gasconades of what war is, and
of the mistakes of Napoleon, Wellington,
Butcher, Grant, and Won Moltke; the brief
less barrister deafens you with legal phrase
ology, and the quack with marvellous stor-
les of his cures. The cdc0othes loquendi is
liable to break ont with mental shallow
ness, or worse. OF this garrulous folly,
evil-speaking is the worst type. " He that
uttereth SANDER is FOOL He lives in a
foul atmosphere, and does foul work. There
is no redeeming trait to his character.
Then there is the ever-abused loquacious
woman. Soloman says, again: " A foolish
women is clamorous.' The fool among
women is the gossip, the feminine busy
body, forgetful of her facts, excelling an
acrobat in the long leaps from her premises
to her conclusions. Male or female, the
tale bearer is malicious folly broker, to
whom no food is so sweet as gnawed rep
utation.
Stubbornness goes with vanity. 1.-The
way of fool is right in his own eyes,
He never yields his Judgment. He boasts
that he never changes. He attempts to
crowd the bullying proportions of to-day
into the Shrunken garments of the long
ago.
TIE IDLE FOOL.
.The fool foldeth his hands. and eateth
his own flesh He says the world owes
him living. 1t does, if he earns it; if he