The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1891-03-14
CHARACTER.

tation is what people think of him."
has been said somewhere,
But who can define character? Has
it ever been defned2 Has it body, or
being, or substance2 Does 1t form
any part of the material of the human
system? Or forsooth is it embodied
in the mind, Or in thought Who has
ever traced it to its fountain-head2
From whence does 1t derive its person.
atty or even its name2
We say that sheet of paper is a
sheet of paper, and whye Because we
know that it has body, and that paper
is name conferred upon 1t by man.
kind. A number of sheets bound to-
gether under one cover we call book,
because that is its distinctive name.
Let those sheets be printed and it is
then 10 US book of printed thought.
And if it is moral thought we say that
1t develops-character. Now to our
subject. There is priority somewhere.
A thing must be In existence before 1t
can be developed. If one person does
a commendable action we may say that
the spirit of doing good is born within
him. Of the same action by another
we may say that it had its being in
circumstances. Yet what is there that
prompted the action. We instinctively
know and feel that there is an invisible
power within US that goads US on to
action. But where is that power3 Is
it in the mind or in, that other unde-
finable thing-the soulP We know
that the mind has its being IN the brain
but from whence comes the soul2 Is
it then that character is this undefna.
BILE substance in life, and our soul after
death. As mind is an attribute Of the
body, can it be that mans character
and his soul are oftwo distinct naturesp
We would fain believe that the soul has
Its lodgment in the heart. Poets have
so pictured it. To them, on the ap-
proach of death the soul opens the val.
yes of the heart and comes forth, and
closes the doors of its chambers fore
yer. A surgical examination of the
heart discloses nothing but flesh and
blood, similar In composition to that of
our entire system. When we have
done an unkind act, the heart beats
little faster than before, perhaps, and
there is sudden feeling of its palpi-
tating In the throat.
Do you ask why argue to establish
these things as to whether they are
facts? All life is an argument. God
argues with nature; nature with its
products food with our bodies; the
physical being with the mind the mind
WITH that still uadefined vaporism-the
Soul and but one step more: the
soul reverts back and argue
Creator.
No human body was ev
without soul to render Its
its Maker. And there can
without character. We
character is, but what is
none can determine. CT
not be counterfeited. w
au olive and can define i
can explain why an ear {
contains an even numbe
never an odd number?
able to define all that j
define that which is IT
True as every man
so has character. b
habihments. A pei
neither make nor
A man may violate
and yet he may hav
seen passionate
even criminal,
Circumstances ma,
ton of deeds, yet
do with their con
enters into man
God gives him ht o
him only on the ar
Character thougi D,
nal, is yet inhueI
is not the action
that influences
a solemn comm
natures. Souls ma
their owners be wb
other.
Since we can
will admit that me
highest attribute In
man, and when Sen
crumbed clay, Jou,;
appear before t Cain,
| final judgemer I5llfno
| character that New
encomium. S,nlth SSonth