Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-05-15
False Ideas of Salvation.

False Ideas of Salvation.
He that fndeth his life shall lose it: and he
that loSeth his life for my sake shall find It,
Matthew, X, 80.
1t is very tiresome to be constantly
told that the chief purpose in life is to
save your soul.
There is kind of subtle and poison
Gus selfishness in having reference to
your own salvation in everything you
do.
There can be as much selfshness in
spiritual concerns as in worldly mat
tiers, and it is equally bad in both.
The religion which teaches you to
save others is great deal better than
the religion which prompts you to save
yourself.
If you do your duty you can trust
your salvation to God and not give a
thought to it.
The largest and broadcast question for
you to consider is not whether you Will
be all right in the future, but whether
other people will be all right.
If you concern yourself with lending
helping hand to all who are in trouble
you need not waste any time in wonder.
ing what will become of you after the
judgment day.
The man who on that occasion can
honestly say, Lord, l was too busy in
saving others to think much about my
own SOUL" will find himself in the best
possible frame of mind to enjoy the
peculiar pleasures of Paradise.
A person may be just as mean in the
| use he makes of religion as another
person is in his use of the opportunities
of financial success, and meanness is
simply meanness, and therefore con-
temptible, in whatever department OF
| life it makes itself manifest.
Here, for example, is All avariclous
| creature who is planning and plotting
to get all the dollars that are within
! reach into his own pocket. He is not
particular about the means he employs
| if only his bank account grows bigger
and he is able to surround himself with
all the comforts and luXuries which
money can buy.
He contemplates the result of his la
bors with serene satisfaction and never
gives either eye or ear to the misery
| which fills the world SO full. He has
enough to eat, and it matters little
whether others starve or not. He has
surplus which he does not need, but
he never dreams of parting with it to
charity or education. He lives in the
attitude of grasping. and his sleep is
not disturbed by the means of wretch
edness, the signs of despair or the sob
bling of bereavement. He has saved
himself, so far as this world is concern
ed, and as for the rest of mankind they
may sink or swim for aught he cares.
We see these statements illustra ted
on every hand. The money of trade
flows in some directions in wide and
deep channels and does not flow in 9th
err directions at all. The rich are res
ervoirs holding more than they can
use, but it seldom happens that they
lay conduit from their reservoir to
some college or charitable institution,
to supply it with whatever will make
it effective. The tendency of human
nature is to keep what it has, even
when it has more than it needs, and to
become Indifferent to any moral obliga-
ton to assist the poor and unfortunate.
The pulpit denounces that kind of
selfishness as beneath the dignity of
manlincss and honor, and is quite right
in its criticisms. But we are inclined
to think that religion may be as much
perversion as avarice. If it teaches
you to pray for yourself instead of
working for others; if you are indiffer
Gill W bIlc lIOI1 w Hull
suffer; if you have never spent your
time and energy to reclaim some one
who has strayed in forbidden paths,
you may possibly have religion that
is better than nothing, but you haven t
the kind of religion which Christ came
to reveal.
No soul will be saved in the future
world which has not tried to save some
other soul besides itself in this world.
If the rich man who spends his money
on himself is deserving of censure, so
also is the religious man who hopes to
get to heaven whether other people get
there or not.
Don't fret about your personal saliva
ton. Put the matter out of your mind
as of no particular consequence. You
| will go where you belong. Nothing can
interfere with that law of spiritual
gravitation. 1t will be utterly impos-
sible for you to get into the wrong
place, for your deserts will either lift
you up by their buoyancy or sink you
down by their weight. If you have
heavenly qualities of character you will
assuredly go to heaven, and if you have
not you will never get there.
What you are to seek, therefore, is
the qualities of character and not your
salvation. Do what is right by your
self /; do what is right for others; live
honorably and help your neighbors to
| live in the same way; smite evil and en-
courage truth; be the chivalrous friend
of the defenceless and oppressed; give
| according to your means to those who
have been overtaken by i'll fortune;
| leave behind Won record of integrity
and uprightness, and when you begin
your flight into the future you will
take as straight a path to the throne of
God as the homing pigeon does to its
distant cote.
When you pray, pray for the ability
and opportunity to be of service to
your fellow man, for in that way alone
can you become truly great.
The man on a wreck who swims ashore
on the sly and leaves his comrades in
the lurch is a very cowardiy sort of fell
low, and the man who embraces reIig-
ion because it will help him to get away
from eternal fire, and who doesn't care
whether others burn or not, has very
slender chance of winning the approval
of Him who is Father to all His chill
dren alike. But if you can say, 81
loved Others" He will surely say in re-
ply, Wherefore 1 love you."-N Y.
Herald.
The value Of Coins.