The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-01-07

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| am sure st. James words will not
properly admit of any such interpreta-
/ tion. God is not pleased with sloth or
idleness or stupidity. He loves to see
men eXerting all their powers, and do
| ing with diligence the work of their
/ several stations. The social life of
man belongs to God, not less than the
secret individual life. The business OF
| buying and selling, and all other legit-
| innate occupations necessary to mans
| comfort and well being are indirectly
| of Gods appointment. He has made
| us so that we need all this compiled
ted machinery of society-and so, /
say, it is all of His ordering. The true
meaning of the text can best be
brought out by noticing the contrast
| between the speech which is condemn
| ed and that which the apostle says
would be the proper expression. $50
| to now, We that say, to-day or to-mor-
row we will go into such a city, and
| continue there a year, and buy and
sell, and get again" That is what we
| ought not to say. Now what form of
expression does He commend In
stead of that, He says, We ought to say,
"If the Lord will we shall live and do
L. l.
we shall to-day or tomorrow go into
such city and continue there a year,
and buy and sell, and get again. The
difference between the two is that one
assertion is absolute, the other is con-
ditioned upon Gods will. eff the Lord
will, we shall live" in the first place,
our very being is in His hand, and
then if He be pleased to preserve us,
still depending on Him, and walking
by His viii we shall do this or that
such things as seem to us to promise
success or happiness or temporal pro-
fits. One assertion is the arrogance
of carelessness or unbelief; the other
the humility yet confidence of faith.
But is this only a difference in the
form Of expression? Can we make it
all right by simply acknowledging
God with our lips as the old bills of
lading used previously to conclude
and SO may God bring the good ship
safe to her haven?" Is the States
solicitor always sure Of being per-
feetly fair to the prisoner after he has
with more or less solemnity called
upon God to give him a safe and
speedy deliverance? The expression
Of the truth is good thing. 1t is
well to frame our very words so that
they shall acknowledge God in all
things. I never hear the crier make
his proclamation ut the opening of
term OF our Superior Courts without
n feeling that justice is better admin
istered for that public invocation of
the divine protection and guidance
upon our Judges and our country But
4afY lxr tu ha n
manifestation of an inward reality
Ii is not even expression if there is
nothing within to come out When
the time comes, if it ever shall come,
when judges and solicitors have no
faith at all in God, these pious for
mulae will only serve to corrupt them.
And we cannot guard against the evil
pointed out in the text by simply
adopting St.James' phraseology. These
two contrasted expressions imply two
totally opposite views of human life
in all its relations ofbusiness and duty.
$50 to now, We that say To-day or
tomorrow we will 60" etc. To say
this is to mistake the whole character
OF human life, to miss all that gives it
dignity and value. Such men may do
as they say; may spend the year in
buying and selling and getting gain;
but if that expression be true index
of their character and life, they Justify
the word of the Apostle by which he
expresses their error; for what is such
a life? 1t is even vapor that appear
eth for little time and then yanisheth
away. BY these last words the Apos-
tie does not mean 10 signify his own
estimate of human life. He merely de-
scribes what human life is tosnch men.
For what is your life?" Plunging
into all the cares and labors OF the
world; running from city to city; buy
ing, and selling, chaffering for hand
full of dust; spending the noble ener-
gies of mind and heart in an empty,
unsatisfying struggle. What have
YOU gained? What have you done in
the end? What is your life? Is IL a
vapor, cold, unsubstantial, Elusive.
That which you win does not satisfy,
that which you lose stabs with a dead
Nv pang. Success only stimulates to
more desperate ventures. That point
which seemed the goal at which you
would rest content, you find to be only
the first stage of the race. And even
If the widest schemes should be
crowned Win SUCCESS, anu BotHlHR
should be beyond, does not all expe-
rience show that such safety brings
the deadliest of all deadly despairs?
1t is shadow shadow more unsub-
stantiai still, it but appeareth, seemeth
is not so much as real shadow, while
il. seemeth for little while, it vanish
eth away.
For that we ought to say, II the
Lord will, we shall live; and not only
shall we live, though to live by the will
OF God and for the will of God is itself
the sum Of all blessedness-bu we
shall do this or that, what our hand
finds to do, as we go on through life
with him "This is life eternal says
our Lord, "To know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom
Thou hast sent" The difference be-
tween the Chistian and the man of
the world, my brethren, is this, that
the Christian is delivered from the
tyrrany Of things present. He may
be. and indeed he necessarily is, occu-
pied in much the same affairs as 9TH