The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-11-11
SPIRITUAL MINDED.
WE GIVE TOO MUCHCARE AND THOUGHT
TO WORLDLY THINGS.
Let the Soul Be Master if You Would
be Spiritually lncIined-God Has Ar
ranged Things Wisely and if You
New York Herald,l

Let me state two very lmportan
facts which have a close relation to ou
personal comfort and happiness.
First, We bestow So much attention
on purely material things and are ab
sorbed in the desire to possess then
that we have no time left in which t.
get ready for another life.
| In reality the future will do mo IT
f)r us than the present either has don.
or can do, and yet we dread 1t. We
do not begin to truly live until thi:
preliminary state of existence has beer
done away with, but we cling to it a.
though it we're all there was Of life.
| | have heard of a man to whom +
odd accident happened. He fell il
pitch darkness over the edge of wha
seemed to be fathomless abyss. Fort
una,ely he broke his fall by clutching
a beam, to which be clung with terror
and tenacity. He looked up but nc
stars were visible. lie cried for help
but no one was near. He looked
down, and shuddered at the apparen
depths below. He was in utter des
pair, for his strength was giving way
and nothing could avert the disaster
that was about to befall. AT las: his
hands slipped slowly but surely and in
another moment all was over. He
fell, but the solid groul d for which he
had mistaken for an abyss was only
two feet below him, and his surprise
and gratitude were only equalled by
| his former horror.
1t is the same with death. We re.
gard it as precipice over which a
relentless disease pushes US. Us con-
temptation fills US with misery. We
clutch at any relief which offers, as
though to loosen our hold were unut-
terable destruction. But when we Fl
nally let 60 we discover that we drop
only two feet and then reach Heaven.
Death is our frightful hallucination,
the worst thing that can happen,
whereas in very truth it is the best-a
comfort, joy, sudden transportation
to friendier cline.
This grave error about death is
caused too firmly fixing our affections
on this poor little section of eternity
in which our earthly life passed, and
becoming SO interested in the baubles
of social and business ambitions and
in the search for merely physical
pleasures that Heaven is as truly shut
out from view as though there was no
| Heaven at all.
Second, we allow ourselves to re-
main in almost absolute ignorance OF
| the fact that the soul is worth more
than the body and that its wants
| should be more carefully attended to-.
| A man may make measurable success
of This life without recognizing the
| fact that he has a soul. The success
| will be Of poor kind as, for example,
he may excite the envy Of his fellows
by converting himself into a million
| aire, but when the time comes to take
his millions away, and he enters a
| world in which dollars have no pur-
chasing power, and in which business
capacity without business integrity is a
misfortune rather than an advantage,
his SUCCESS will be transformed into
failure.
There is absolutely nothing of worth,
either in this world or in any other
world except character, anL to that
conclusion must every one come al
last. You must be introduced TO your
own soul before you can have a com
panion whose acquaintance is an honor
to you, and must 90 to that soul as to
wise counsellor in every emergency
before you can find and enjoy the best
things in Gods providence.
Worldly pleasures and gains are
we'll enough in their way. They have
place in our human life and should
have all the respect that is due, but
when they stretch beyond their limits
and occupy the entire space of the
soul they are not like a jlst sovereign 4,
bu, usurping tyrant. While i, would
be wrong for man to think SO CON
tinuously of the other life that he is
untitled for the duties and struggles Of
this life, it is manlfestly an evidence
OF weakness for him to think SO much
of this life that he will be unfit for
the other life when he comes to enter
it.
There is this to be said, that you
have the two natures, one of which
strives 10 be master while the other
ought to be. Religion consists IN put
ting the right one in the place OF au-
thority and making the other we'll
trained servant. In such case, you
live SO swee. and joyful, SO kindly and
charitable, SO generous and helpful
that both men and angels rejoce. You
are true son of God and a true
friend TO mankind.
If you could compress Christianity
into single fact, that would be the
fact. 1t should be your creed, and
all the creed you have. You will need
| nothing more, for to live on that
plane is TO dwell so close 10 God tha,
Heaven will come to you long before
you 60 to Heaven.
But if you pu: the servant on the
throne and the righ;ful master in the
place of servtude, if your lower sell
has its foo, on the neck Of your higher
self, you can neither live we'll nor die
happily. A mans soul serving a man:
body is like a prince doing drudger,
in peasants hovel.
Appraise yourself at your own value
What YOU can carry with YOU into the