Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1877-12-02
DECEMBER 2. 1877
SUNDAY READING.

very eHectlVe ana entertaining seuIehSoS'
We quote as follows from sermon on Con-
science
Conscience guarantees only good lnten-
TONS Are they enough If conscience,
when truly followed, does not give US sound
ness of Judgment, really it is not very i'm
portant faculty, you say. But let US notice
what can be proved beyond doubt, namely,
that man who follows conscience we are able
to respect, and that we are not able to respect
any other man. There is Stonewau Jack
son, and here is John Brown Now let us
suppose that Stonewall Jackson believes that
John Brown is utterly honest !; and let US
suppose that John Brown believes the same
of Jackson. Browns action appears to Jack
son to be very mischievous, and Jacksons
action appears to Brown to be equally so,
In fact, they are crossing bayonets IN civil
war; but they are both men of prayer, men
of confirmed religious habits, and we. have
reason to believe that they are endeavorlng
to be conscientious | do not believe Stone
wall Jackson followed all the light he had
nor do | believe that John Brown did. But
suppose that Jackson did follow all the light
he had or could get, and suppose that John
Brown did, and that each is convinced OF
this fact as to the other then, although they
are ready in the settlement of practical meas
ures to cross bayonets, you cannot help their
coming together when the measures are set
tied and shaking hands with each other as
respectable men. You know that to be the
fact External acts differ to the degree of
crossing bayonets but as each does the best
he knows how, each respects the other, and
absolutely cannot help doing so. This is
singular fact in the soul but this is the way
we are made We find that Governor Wise,
when he looked into the eyes of John Brown
and saw honesty there, and that others who
noticed his mood in his last hours, were
thrown into a kind of awe by that border
warrior. He meant right and respect for
that mans soul is not confined to the circle |
of the mountains between which he lies III
my native county in northern New York. |
[ have heard the summer wind signing over
the grave OF John Brown, and have stood
there and gazed upon Mount Marcy and |
Whiteface and Lake Placid but because !
believed that this mans conscience was a
Lake Placid, and his resolution to follow it
firm as Marcy, firm as Whiteface, firm as
any of those gigantic peaks in my native
Switzerland, | felt sure that his soul was
marching on, and that when his spirit smote
slavery, the tree after THAT was timber. 1t
did not fall, but it was no longer alive.
There was a prosecutor of the early church
who verify thought he ought to do many
things against Christianity. He himself
teaches us that he needed pardon, but that
mercy was shown him because of his igno-
rance. Who will say that he did not sup
press light Not l. He did immense mis-
chief while his judgment was not corrected
and if he suppressed light, or tutored it, his
motives were not good. This is most dan
gerous ground. | know on what treacherous ,
soil | tread unless definitions are kept in
view. Choice means love conscientious
ness is glad self-surrender to personal God +
in conscience, or to what ought to be in mo-
tives. Let us take the precaution of using .,
pictures as well as metaphysical phrases +
There is point in the bounding, resonant +
Androscoggin at which is an island, and on +
it lives hermit Twenty savages are sail r
ing down in the midnight to surprise him 6
and put him to death. A Maine legend says
that he puts light below the deadly Lewis !
ton waterfalls that lie just beyond his island. G
The Indians think the torch is in his hut ; | i
row toward it and all of them make sud- .
den, dizzy, unexpected plunge to death. t.
The Indians were in one sense right they O.
wanted to land where the light was but the "
light was below the falls and not above. 1t 7
in tolerably important to know where the s
beacon is, whether below or above the cata f,
ract. Il
Conscience is your magnetic needle. Rea lie
ION is your chart. But I would rather have q
crew willing to follow the indications of the m
needle and giving themselves no great trouble S.
IS to the chart, than a crew that had ever so b.
rood chart and no needle at ALL Which is Il
more important in the high seas of passion, tt
he needle conscience or the chart reason til
We know it was the discovery of the physical er
needle that made navigation possible on the to
physical seas and loyalty to the spiritual pl
magnetic needle alone makes navigation safe in
IN the spiritual seas. When we find a be