The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1896-08-27
SELECT RELIGIOUS READING
THE LIFE WITHIN.

We live in an age In which the value ofth
| outward life IL unduly emphasized On
every hand men and women are pursuing.
with utter self-abandonment and consuming
| enthusiasm, the merely temporal things
wealth, fame, pleasure, worldly place and
power, superficial culture, the means OF
leisure and self indulgence. II Is the thing
OF the surface and of the day that l. held In
chief esteem. Talent and energy are eN-
pended upon getting and seeming, rather
| than upon bestowing and being. A selfish.
shallow life, with little of serious purpose,
Is the life OF the great mass Of modern So
ciety.
Literature. which IL always tho accurate
reflection OF an age, abundantly proves
that such Is the moral tone OF today. We
do not wish to sound any needless note o (
pessimism, but we cannot help being i'm
pressed by the superlciality of the books
and periodicals that people nowadays are
buying. talking about, aud clamoring for
Every noble form OF literature languishcs
while the cheaply sensational. odd. fantns-
tic, risque and silly. sell like the first fruits
OF summer IL r. all such n sad comment
upon the superilciality Of the time. The
outward life l. everywhere celebrated and
displayed. and the more gaudily the picture
Is patnted 10y the literary artist, the moro
Is II admired and emulated by the modern
"fad-worshiper."
Is Il not high time TO plead for n revival Of
the serious purpose In life? should not tho
value and importance OF the life within bp
rc-asscrted and re-cnforccd. In cycry pos
sible way, by those who still cling TO the
noblcr Inspirations. the lofticr ideals aud
the moro permanent realities " this earth
" existence OF ours? And unto whom does
the summons to renew the spiritual ideal Of
lie come with more inspiring dircctncss
than To the Acknowledged servants OF
Christ? To the church, to Christian mon
and women, belongs, In most special way.
the duty of raising the moral tone Of society
10y restoring the worlds reverence and c--
teen and desire for the deeper life Of the
spirit, for the religious attitude OF mind and
heart, Tor purity aud recttudo of thought
Tor devotion. worship and trust in God.
In no other way can the present dcmoral-
i2ing trcnd OF popular thought and feeling
be- counteractcd. The two kinds Of life, the
outward and the Inward, have always been.
anu must always be. set over against ono an
other The ascension Of the one ulwnys
means the declcnsion ofth other. like the
weights in opposite sides OF the scales
One or the other must always be In the as
tendency. Each must be as-ailcd by in
creasing the other Every fresh exam
PIE OF noble, serious, Christian living and
thinking is grain In tho balance against
the triumph Of the base, the llippnnt. and
the superficial. We eNalt the age by rxalt-
ing ourselves. We honor God by honoring
the ideals He has set before Us. A. We
magnify the life within, the permanent, the
divine, the eNalting, we inevitably lift our
selves and others above the plane OF the
temporal, the superficial, the dcmoralizing.
Modern life needs an influx OF spiritual
miudcdncss. Shall we not render such soul
service as Ia Us licsY