The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-01-25
o1SUNDAY TdOUGHTSDo
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MORALSpo MANNERS
EI A CLERGYMAN.
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art, hardly a discovered one. GlnZot
made it the test of civilization and thus
remanded the greater part of the human
race into barbarian. Most of the theo-
logical wars have been fought over misun-
derstandings caused by n fast and loose
habit OF definition. A careful definition will
nine times out OF ten, pacify and Gmify
dispu,snis. Take, for instance, the old
quarrel between the Calvinists and the
Arminians. The latter affirm that the
will is free; the former maintain that the
will Is not free. Both are right. and a
proper definition would harmonize the
two schools. In the realm of action the
will is free-voition is uncontrolled here.
In the realm OF feeling the will
is not free. Who can will himself
into love, or into generosity, or into any
feeling. We can act as though we loved
or were generous, and obey HdmIefs in :
junction. Assume virtue If you have it
not" But the will, free in action. is
power!ess in feeling. This distinction
should bring Cavinists and Arminians
into accord. They agree, IN fact, and only
quarrel over terms.
Just so in the matter of election and
reprobatiOn. Certain theologians so de-
fine election as to make il an arbitrary
act on the part of God, who lie pictured as
from eternity to save some and dnom 9TH
ers. whether they will or no. This makes
the Almighty an infinite Nero. The true
definition OF election is that it is a moral
judgment of God, based On his fire o
kno ledge. whereby those who accept
the offered salvation pass into happiness,
while those who reject it lapse into mis-
cry. The happiness of the saved and the
misery Of the lost are conditioned abso-
Iute Y; not upon Gods arbitrary choice
but on character on what they are and
do. Both ecti0n ami Reproduction are
therefore conditional, never arbitrary.
The following extract from a recent
move, exhibits manners, ii not morals in
curious way: Husband and wife ate
on toge her in silence. There was mani
festlv an il will and feeling between
them. The husband devoured plate OF
coup. half fish, piece of roast beef and
a slice OF plum pudding, without even
once opening his mOuthw How on earth
did he manage it.
God demands of US our best Nothing
more is possible Nothing less is enough.
There is no second best in morals-there
is only right and wrong.
I'll we could get rid of the tremendous
war and governmental machinery" says
Charles Dudley Warner, ''liie would be a
sort OF picnic and then women would
manage a picnic much better than men
do or can. This Is the highest sort OF
mpliment for woman has head for or
ganization. and details and economy. as is
sufficiently evident in the most highly
civilized modern nation, France. where
she Is pre.emiuvnt in business matters.
Gambling is a worid-old and a world
wide vice. Next TO licentionsness aud
| drunkenness it ranks as a producer OF
crime. Always aud everywh here it is an
enemy OF public morals. Hence it is un-
| der the universal frown OF Jaw and order.
| Thefts and entertainments are Its legiti-
mate offspring. The prevalence Of gamb-
| ling among us is marked is increasing.
| The enormous sum of 3. SgS. 372 was stolen
in 1890 as direct result oil il. ii we had
the figures for VI and '92 they would be
| even larger.
Worst of all. gambling in some OF its
most dang Tous and fascinating forms, IS
encouraged and patronizei by our com
mercial usages and social customs. We
al wise the pulpit 10 let novel readInV and
| dancing and card playing alone for awhile,
and to show mp this devil-the slye-t and
most convent Onal in the whole satanic
| brood We have seen what the aroused
moral sense OF America can do in the ds5-
| truction OF the Louisiana lottery. Let
those who read between the ines and
carry brain behind their ewes, seizs this
same thuuderbOlt and hurl it at gambling
| IN whatever form-whether on the turf OF
in church fair rattle.
Somebody has discovered at this late
day that the wife of Christopher Colum.
bus was a woman of rare gifts and great
enthusiasm for science. writes Margaret
| Sangster. and that she was the daug ter
| of a skillful aud daring navigate whose
| charts and cOmpasses descended to her.
/ The inference Is that she in spired her hus-
band, or at least sympathized with him
go thoroughly, that 10 her belongs part,
at least, OF the credit given to the dis
! coveTer of a new continent
There are men who fan, as DIR. Lydgate
failed in "NIidd emarsh," because they are
mated with women VINO kill. as frost does
| he tender plants. every growth toward
herOism and nobi itY. But of the true
| wife it may always be- said that she doeth
| her husband good and not evil all the
days OF her lie.
The medieval schoolmon used to de-
bate the question as TO bow MANY angels
could dance on the point of a needle with
out jostlinR. They could never agree upor
the number. Some one saws the needle
was horn naked, ana is DID, Always il
clothing it is. yet perpetuaIly nude. Sew
ing with an 81 is as Old as sowing with
an o..
And now we are aothoritatively assured
that the vocabulary and grammar OF ~
ancient Chinese language has been nscec
back to the vet more ancient speech o
the early civilizers OF Babylonia.
Tennyson was good deal OF theo
Logan. His "Idyls Of the King" taker
together, have been we'll called pro
found aliegory, of which the Holy Graf.
NAV be considered he climax. The hal
OF Merlin, ''Rirt with four great zones o
sculpture" suggests the whole ascent o
life from the animal plane to the angelic
| And in the lowest. beast aging mon;
/ a nd in ec8ud. Staying beasts: