Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1884-06-26

ih'tioutus ittt VI Itkut CditiuilN
nurtured, the feeling Of moral accountability
that something Of God and self, which all
have experienced, but which no one can ex-
press, constrained and guided them, | know
not exactly how. They themselves do not
understand il. They cannot analyze the
early influences which shaped their characters
and directed their steps. They cannot put
their finger upon any one force aud say that
did IL. They cannot collect and colate all
the specific inflaences-their poverty, their
unselfish and high minded mother. their
sufferings. their isolation and affirm these
did it. What was ito The comprehensive
phrase perhaps describes il. all the individual
and vague forces, all the temporal and
eternal energies which unite to form
character and improve society, moral
education. This is. indeed, the savior Of
the world. Its kingdom is within the soul
Of man and society. When We learn the
secret of making good citizens We shall
have good states. Down to the individual
life with its appetites. its will. its reason,
its inherited sins and virtues, its vast
possibilities and destiny. must the genuine
reformer reach, if he would have the world
reap what he has sosn. Specific forces
it were well TO apply 10 the solution Of
the problem. But the most powerful in
huence is that which is not seen which
surrounds us like the air we breathe and
works as silently and surely as the solar
heat which transforms the baroness and
torpor Of winter into spring teeming with
life, advancing with numberless struggling
currents TO multiply and repenish the earth /;
10 recover the Eden from which mans pas
sions have expelled the humani,ies. 1t is
these everlasting forces which will not decay
IN the heart Of society. and which will ul-
tin. ately redeem it. Fashion, the artificial,
the false. obs'ruct them in their appointed
channels-freeze them before they reach the
roots of the true life. lock up in one dead
uniformity Of low aims and stunted under
growth the free faculties Of the immortal
mind. Moral education arrests all this,
melts the ice, starts the roots of things,
feeling after the spiritual food, and sends
the individual desires climbing toward the
social state which makes for righteousness.
Is there an individual Of either sex. who,
after acts Of debauch, earnestly desires 10
reform? How, pray, is the reformation to
be brought about-by a literal compliance
with the seventh commandment By no
means. lie must go beyond conduct if he
would be truly converted TO purity he
must reach the thoughts and desires Of his
heart. Into the fountain Of the soul must
he dropped-the living principle. For Il
this be not so. what will II avail him that he
has exactly observed. TO the ewes of the
world, the canons Of morality The foun-
tain continues, nevertheless, TO send forth a
corrupt stream disfgurins his immor,a.
part, coniamnating according TO the laws Of
mind the social life amid which he moves
and has his being. Presently. not only his
own, but the Soul of tHat circle Of which
his life il the centre viii take hold Of he'll.
Reputation takes the place Of character.
Sin is no longer stunned because It i sin,
but from fear Of discovery. This fear
striving With the appetite, hcsets hypocrisy.
o,erthroas the image Of God in the soul.
c0nnives at secret transgre,sIons, and hone, e.
combs with sensual!ly the imagination. the
reason, tha conscience. The last state ot
such enc is worse than the iirs,. These
individual stream, of secret impurities must
he reached and swetiened IL the source be-
fore rit, Or state can be segtuera;ei. The
avs against ndeoency and immortality. 4
hey would become SAVIOR of life unto life.
must spring from ihr heart of d community.
i"e' "'-'t ~ T''St"t %thH'4e P"PH'aI III
.erest IN the mora. force, which make FOR
righteousness. But if there be no vital
connection between public law and the in-
d. ifnsl conscience statutes become only a
SAVIOR of death unto death. They are 50
many stumbling block. over which a people
fall from open vices into hidden iniquiles
Public law is good--bu, vain indeed is it to
make people better when the law Of con-
science goes UNDECIDED in the individual liz,
Here, then, in this individual life mus, the
good work begin. When the law Of chas.
tity, The mastery Of the appetites has force
here, Il will soon redeem domestic life,
whence its influence will spread to reg,n-
crate society and reform the world.