St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-15
Observation-Disclosures
FOUR SUNDAY SERMON.
SEIF-MAS STERY.
BY PHILIP STAFFORD MOXOM, D. D.


est seSeeSSseeSl ooseeo1
great conservative force. There is
immense practical help to right living
in the engagement of the mind with
the facts and truths of science or
history or literature. Indeed, the
fields of knowledge open to every
young man are almost without num-
ber. The important thing is to have
an interest that will absorb the mind
profitably during the spaces of leis-
ure in the daily occupation.
! Often a young man sinks into vice
for sheer want of something that will
at once pleasurably and beneficially
occupy his mind. A skillful driver of
i an undiSciplined and mettlesome horse
! knows the value of giving the animal
something definite to think of. A de-
! c1siye word or a sharp touch of the
whips often sufficient to bring horse
: out OF panic or passion and save
him from the damage and demoraliza-
/ ton of a runaway. Give yourselves
something to think of.
The mind that is vacant of ideas is
: certain to be the lodging place of va
grant desires or tumultuous PASSIONS
y Butto havei ideas one must have knowl-
edge. Let the knowledge which you
! seek be of a kind to produce ideas that
will at once inspire you by their eleva-
tion, and sober you by their grasp on
f.! the serious realities of life.
! In the second place, keep steadily be-
fore your mind the moral idea. of serv-
ice. The true business of life is the
service of mankind; the true crown of
life is that strong and chaStened char
! acter which is won through unselfish
service. l would not say one word to
lessen the play of life; would not put
any narrow limits on its pleasure; but
I would impress upon you the truth
that no life can be we'll ordered and
happy that is not directed by a definite
! and noble purpose.
! In the third place, deliberately and
! persistently cultivate the spiritual nat
ure and capabilities. No one drifts into
i goodness and moral power any more
than he drifts into knowledge or skill.
If you would WELD the scepter IN the
| intellectual empire you must conquer
it; so, too, you must strive and conquer
! in the spiritual realm-you must win
your souls. BY birth, or by early train
AiiSo, ot ny Dobii, SOo nave Oil OSSdy SOiiAO
sense of God, of truth and of righteous
ness. Cultivate this sense of the high
; est things. Doing this is, in the apos-
, ties phrase, living by the spirit
| In seeking self-mastery you will ac-
complish much by sheer force of the
will, by dead-lift against the gravita-
! tion of sensuality and Incidence and
selfshness; but in many cases the
! struggle will be hard, and sometimes it
! will seem fruitlesS, especially if the
effort be on the negative side. I mean
! by that, if the effort be merely to avoid
, the evil.
| A good general defends himself by
| attacking the enemy. This was a chief
characteristic of Gen. Grant, who was
! certainly one of the ablest military
! commanders of modern times. If he
was thrown on the defensive by the
| enemy's assault upon the part of his
! line, he promptly struck out from an
! other part of the line, and in every eX-
! igency of the battle he sought to take
, the offensive. Garibaldi, the Italian
! patriot, a superb soldier, used to say
! to his men:
: ''Get out of your trenches, reserve
your fire, and pour your forces upon
the foe''
Having this spirit, Garibaldi, with a
thousand ragged Italians at his back,
again and again was more than a
match for a hostile army of many
times that number.
A purely defensive struggle is almost
| always unsuccessful, and at best it is
| barren. AS we are damned, not so
much for doing wrong as for not doing
| ,frrI,f xrrn hy1 owl
forces, not so much by neglecting to re-
sist vice as by failing to achieve virtue.
Fill up your natures. with positive
! good. Fight the bad habit by develop
ing the good habit Crowd out the evil VII
| pure affection. Shake off corrupting
companionships by heartily committing
| yourself to wholesome and uplifting
! companionships. Give the first place
! to the highest things, and then the
! lower will take their place, and the low
| est will disappear.
The vacuous mind and the empty
! heart are always the easy prey of the
! tempter. This is the real, practical phil
! osophy of the Christian religion.
Faith in Christ is not believing some
thing in order to. escape from some pen
! atty which our sins have invited; it is
opening our hearts to the friendship,
wisdom of Christ The love of God is
the love of all goodness and truth.
Filling the heart with that is the surest
way to self-mastery and to the rich full
| fillment of life's splendid promise.
| My friends, be not the victims of
wild passions of wilful caprices, but the
wise rulers of yourselves. Acquit your
selves like men. be true hearted, fol-
! low the ideal, make your life great with
! great aspiration. To be Christian is
not to be an ascetic. The ascetic is not
! free from temptation; on the contrary,
! he is sure to be besieged by temptation
| The legends of st. Anthony are full
of suggestion He entered the lonely
! life of the hermit. and subjected him
/ self to severe notifications Of bodily
| desires, in order that he might attain
holiness and enter into the life of God,
but st. Anthony is famous in the le-
gendarv lore of the church for the num-
Der and frightfulnezs of the temptations
which beset him.
The life that is filled with pure
| thoughts and high purposes and pours
| itself forth in positive efforts for the
accomplishment Of good, grows large
an6l strong. and surely mounts toward
/ God. Live in the spirit, and "the
lusts of the f1esh'' will be chastened
into wholesome and natural suscepti-
/ bilitieS of true pleasure.
Body snd soul will become allies in
stead of foes. Live in the spirit and the
daily need will find a ministry of 1aily
| strength. and progress toward life's
| true goal will be constant and rapid.
PARTNERS DISAGREE.