Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-08-28

over the r1QSe we go!
And my Steaming nag has begun TO lag: put
it isn't my fault, know
Oh fair astride does Nancy ride, and her spur
And it's little She cares for the gown she
wears, and it's little she cares for me
bone that Nancy rode that day,
He doesn't forget that saturday yet, wien
Nancy led the way. the Lark.
A Man of the World and His Religion.
They that use this world, as not abusing it.
4 Corinthians, VIII, 81
You say you are man of the world,
and YOU wish to give the impression
that YOU go through enough to keep
YOU from falling into trap laid for the
unwary.
A man of the world! That is, you
are won't to declare, man well provld
ed with common sense, thoroughly
practical man, who accept neither pol
itics nor religion at second hand, but
submits both to his own judgment.
A man of the world! And, making
no pretensions to being better than
your neighbor, you indulge IN such
pleasures as suit your fancy, and rather
expect that the fact that you have new
er professed to be good will be some
SOrC Ol 0ACuS6 lOI AOU OClhS cO' AAO Q
never accepted any moral obligations,
or promised to govern your life by
them, you have a vague notion that
your accountability is somewhat modI-
fed.
Well, the matter is worth looking at,
Suppose we exercise this common sense
which is very properly your boast, and
try to discover what is absolutely nee
essary to your growth as a man and to
the development of your character, for
then we shall find out what you are un-
der an obligation to do, whether you
have promised to do it or not.
In our civil society we are governed
by certain laws. Some things ought to
be done because the general welfare
demands it, and society cannot be held
together unless they are done. For in
stance, you have no right to another
mans property, neither have you any
right to invade his family circle, nor
have you any right to revenge yourself
upon him by assault or assassination.
When YOU have made a breach of the
law you cannot plead that you never
assumed any obligation to respect it.,
and are therefore to be held guiltless.
You are a part of the whole, and the
part has no right to do what will injure
the whole You cannot be allowed to
do as you please on the ground that no
promise to obey has ever passed your
lips. 1t is very reasonable that this
should be so. While it is well enough
that YOU should be a man of the world,
the phrase does not include any indie
pendence of the world or any privilege
bestowed upon you to do as you please,
irrespective of the welfare of others.
Now, in spiritual concerns the same
rule holds good. Here, however, the
moral obligation is twofold. First, you
are bound not only to refrain from do
ing what will injure others. but, furth
ermore, bound to do what will be help
full to them. If you were on ship
wrecked on ice rocks you would be an
odd sort of man if you simply tried to
get yourself ashore and refused sym
patty or assistance to your fellow pas
sengers. 1t would not be an act Of
generosity to haul some sinking crea
ture on to your raft it would be q
plain duty, and to omit such a duty
would be equivalent to crime. This
is the common sease of the situation
and unless it were so there would bt
neither manliness mol honor in the
world.
In the second place, you have not
merely the appetites and pleasures oil
the body to provide for, but also, and
most of all, the we'll being of the soul
You may never have professed religion
possibly you may have systematically
ignored it, but that makes no difference
whatever. The obligation to look af
ter yourself with due economy and to
pursue such course that in your old
age you will be a healthy, clean heart
ed and honest man rests on you just as
securely as though you had joined a
dozen churches. You can't get rid OF
your soul, and therefore you can't get
rid of the duty of taking proper care
of it. When you reach heaven the
Lord will not ask how many prayers
you have said or examine into the
regularity of your attendance at
church, for these things are only spir-
itual incidents. But He will ask what
you have been doing with your spirit
ual nature and what has been the re-
suit of your doing. You may go to all
the churches of the land, but if you are
not an honest soul you will be condemn
church at all, but if you have led
pure life and humbly worshipped the
Oliver of life, no matter in what way,
whether it be by form and ceremony or
without either of them, you will be
welcomed, for, after all, heaven is for
those who have done good, and there
is no other place where they can pos
sibly go.
What we insist upon, then, can be
summed up in few words. You are a
man and your destiny includes immor-
tality. You are to live somewhere else
when the scroll of the present has been
entirely unwound. Some things will
render you fit to enjoy that other life
will prepare you for it-and other
things will so twist you that you will
step out of the boat that carries you
across the dark river a dwarfed soul.
We submit, therefore, that whether
you have or have not made any pro-
fessions of faith. or personally assumed
any moral obligations, you are bound
to do what will serve you best, and
bonnd not to do what will wound or
render you defective. To do the one
and not to do the other is the very es-
sence of religion. Your church, your
creed, are only friendly hands held out
to assist you. If you accept neither
the one nor the other, that is matter
between your soul and your God. But
the dear Lord has a right to demand,
and He assuredly will demand, that
you make for yourself a character
which will be worthy of the gift of i'm
mortality.
You may be man of the world, but
the world should not contain the chief
joys of your soul. Your common sense
weaves long list of obligations. and
obedience to them will sweeten and en-
large and ennoble your nature. 1t is
not necessary to say this, for you al
ready know it. Indeed, you know
x,o,, o,,nhf 70 on6 - o.1x, 80