Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-07-23


leanness of soul. God may grant him his
worldly desires, or rather God may permit
him to grow rich and powerful in worldly
sense, but his SOUL the immortal and senten
part of his nature, will languish and die.
OBEDIENCE.
We are very liable to come to erroneous
conclusions respecting our true moral char
acter. No doubt all of us think we are 6
great deal better than we really are. Oul
standard of moral perfection is lamentably
low Gods law is exceeding broad but We
regard it as very narrow. We compare our
selves with some one of our fellow-men, ano
because we have not committed as heinous
crimes as that one has perpetrated, we con
sole ourselves that our walk and conversation
are morally upright. The balance in which
we should weigh ourselves is the word of God
We should not ask ourselves if we have done
or not done as others have done; but have
we done what God, in his word, commands
US to do and have we abstained from doing
what, in his word, he forbids US to do? Sell
dom do we look beyond our naked acts The
motives which prompt our acts, and the
thoughts which we cherish in our hearts, are
often wholly overlooked in making up the
estimate of our moral character. Sometimes
we do commanded acts with improper or sin.
| full motives, as when we make liberal dona-
| tions to religious institutions with the design
that we may be praised and lauded by our
felow-men In this case, the act itself is
good but the motive bad. Hence, the whole
thing is abominable in the sight of God. AT
other times we perform wrong or immoral
deeds with proper motives. This is what is
called in the Scriptures doing evil that good
may come. Gods law is perfect. What he
commands is right, and what he forbids is
wrong. A bad or immoral motive makes
a good act bad, but good motive never can
make an immoral act right.
Again, we often overlook the wicked
schemes and devices which we have concocted
in our hearts. No doubt the most of US have
never actually violated all the ten command
ments. All of US have, in deed, broken some
one of them but the majority of us, in chari'
ty, we would hope, have kept in deed, the
second part of the moral CODE We can say
as did one of old, "All these have we kept
from our youth up" Because we have never
shed the blood of any of our fellow-men, does
not prove that we are not murderers. Our
hands may be free from the blood Of all men
and our hearts not The explanation which
Jesus Christ gave of the sixth commandment
(see Matt. 5 /: 22) is very different from what
we are accustomed to give to it. The same is
true respecting the seventh commandment
The chastity of no human being may have
been sullied by any act Of ours, whilst oul
hearts may be as leacherous as lust ITSELF
Perfect obedience embraces thought, word
and deed. Our words and deeds may be
scrupulously exact, whilst our hearts are as
wayward as sin. Such being the case, we are
in the sight of God, only whited sepulchres ex
ternally, but full of dead mems bones inter
nally God requires heart obedience, and We
only mock him when we render to him the
service of our lips, or our whole bodies, and
withhold from him the service of our hearts
God says to every one of us, "Give me your
heart" In religion, the heart is the man
God measures US by our hearts. Men may
estimate us by our minds and say, it is the
mind that makes the man or by alms-giving
and say it is this that makes the man; bu'
God looks at the heart. Give me thy heart
he says to every son and daughter Of Adam
If this is withheld, he will reject everything
else.
WHY SHOULD ANY MAN SwEAR?-I car
conceive of no reason why he should, but
many why he should not:
i. 1t is mean a man Of high moral stand
ing would almost as lief steal sheep as swear
2. 1t is vulgar; altogether too low for q
decent man.
8. 1t is cowardly; implying fear Of either
not being believed or obeyed.
4. It is ungentlemanly; gentleman, ac
cording to Webster, is well-bred, refined; such
a one will no more swear than 60 into street:
and throw mud with clod-hopper
5. 1t is indecent, offensive to delicacy, anC
extremely unfit for human ears.
6. 1t is foolish want Of decency is wan
ofsense.
7. 1t is abusive; to the mind which con
ceives the oaths, to the tongue which utters it
and the person to whom it is aimed.
8. 1t is venomous, showing mans hear
to be nest of vipers, and every time HI
swears one of them sticks out of his head.
9. 1t is contemplate; forfeiting the respec
of all the wise and good.
10. 1t is wicked violating the divine law
and provoking the pleasure Of Him who vii
not hold him guiltless who takes his name il
vain.
ssy If you cannot be great river, bearing
great vessels of blessings to the world, yor
can be a little spring by the dusty wayside O.
life singing merrily all day and all night
and giving cup of cold water to every weary
thirsty one who passes by.