Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-21
THE BEAUTY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

Sept. 30-Review.
THE BEAUTY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
A truth not always as clearly promi-
neut in Christian teaching as it should
be is the truth, expressed in many forms
in the Bible. that righteousness is excel
lent and beautiful in itself. The right
deed is worth doing for it's own sake,
aside from it's results. There is an in
trinsic value in goodness, and an intrin-
sic loneliness. In art the curve is called
the line of beauty, but in morals the
line of beauty is the straight line.
Whatever may be said of theories or
doctrines, that which is true and pure
in conduct justifies itself always to the
u~nperverted Judgment. Because their
vision is perverted by sin, men often
see, OF fancy they see, attractiveness in
that which is evil, as an unframed eye
may see beauty in a crude and artistic
ally false painting: But the attract
iveness of evil exists only for the de-
PRAYED soul.
1t is often the case thatw we do not find
our motive for doing good in the good
Itself, nor even in the sense of Divine
mercy to us Weakening gratitude, but in
the desirable consequence of the good.
Or we find a negative impulse to we'll
doing in fear of ill-result sure to follow
on ill-doing.
The truth is that right conduct is al
ways beautiful and intrinsically excel
lent. It justifies itself to conscience,
and, in proportion as the beholder is
pure in heart, it wins him to admira-
ton. With all it's errors and perverse-
ness of Judgment, the world again and
again gives testimony to ssthe beauty of
holiness" It gives the place Of emil
nence in literature to those who spoke
words of untlinching honesty. It cher
ishes most proudly the name of those in
history who could choose to do right and
refuse to do wrong in the face of temp
tation and opposition and death. It
counts among its sweetest saints those
who have forgotten self and given them
selves to the service of others in a pure
passion of Christ-like charity.
There is a radiance in a good deed,
because of its simple goodness, that
places it amongthe consultations which
illumine the worlds darkness. AS Por-
tia said:
"How far that little candle throws his beams,
30 shines q good deed in a naughty wOrld.'
And the beauty Of righteousness is
not a mere surface quality which may
please and attract him who witnesses it.
It is a source of deep delight also to
him who practices it. Well-doing,
beautiful conduct (kalon poieo), is not a
jewel worn on the breast, but a warmth
and brightness suffusing the innermost
being of the well-doer.
This, then, is the truth that calls for
fresh and larger u%tterance, in pulpit
and press. Goodness is good in itself,
and for it's own sake. 1t is worth prac-
ticing because of it's intrinsic excellence
aside from its ~far-reaching results. The
true speech is beautiful, though the
language may be uncouth. The gen
erous or upright deed is beautiful and
precious, though it cost pain and strife.
The character that is clean andt4trans-
parent is beautiful. though it be en-
bodied in physical weakness and home
illness, and surrounded by the contra
dictions of evil custom. Nero in his
palace may have all the adornment
which art and luxury and physical a
and strength can afford, but he is hide
GUS by the side of the afflicted and
bodily-contemptible but great-souled
Paul in his gloomy prison. The society
queen who robes herself in the soft
splendor of costly attire, and blazes
with diamonds, and lives selfishly in
this needy world, is far surpassed in
loneliness by the humble girl whose lot
is one Of toll and poverty, but whose
heart is sunny with love and whose
hands are busy with kind actions. Evil
IS never beautiful. Ill-doing is ugly
doing. The bad man is hideous, and no
device can hide his essential deformity.
NO n can ever make an unkind or a
dishonest or a corrupt deed anything
else than hateful. Vice may be ssilded,
but it is never golden. Poetry may
throw a glamor e RIGHTEOUSNESS, but
the glamor is a transparent vail that
conceals not the loathsome thing be-
a 1t. Art may yield it's service to
evil, but it can not make evil beautiful.
A graceful rhetoric may adorn falsehood
with flowers, but it can not make q lie
other than despicable. As beauty is
Its W excuse for being" so righteous
ness is its own radiant Justification. It's
patent of nobility is in itself, for it is of
God and in God is the highest beauty
because in God is perfect righteousness.
Philosophers have discovered mnch If
The true, the beautiful and the GOOD.
put the true and the good are forever
Inc beautiful.-Rev Philip S. Afouon1. IN
Chicago Standard.