The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-01-17
now TO LIVE NoBLy.

he Proverbs, xiii, 4
This Is one Of the many grand but nys.
terious sayings OF the Bible the full
| meaning OF which we have failed to APP
prchend.
II we had the courage to follow the log.
fc of this text to the utmost Limit Of ITS
significance we should be a good deal
startled. IT means, Of course, that q
mans thoughts affect him in bis entirety,
his life, his character and also his body,
for a man liz not n body with n soul In
it, but a soul with n body attached. The
soul is the great fact; the body is mn un-
important incident. We can readily get
on without bodies, but we are as nothing
without souls. The body is the least part
of us, the part which lasts only few
years ut the longest, while the soul begins
with the cradle 'end does not end until
eternity ends
And yet oddly enough, Il has been our
custom--a custom running back to The be-
ginning of the race-to suppose that the
dominating element in a man il his body
rather than his soul This sort OF mater
ialism has pcrvaded both our science and
our religion. We see bodies, while souls
are invisible, and so the one has seemed
real, while the other has been more or less
unreal TO us all. and to a great number
even chimerical.
The physician viii tell you that mans
phyical system affects his mental facul-
ties and his moral nature, and therefore
he doses the body of the sick, but does
not attempt 10 produce any change in the
mind. There is certainly some truth in
what he says. but he looks at only one
side of the golden coin. If he will examine
the other side he will discover what the
seer hints mt in the text-namely. that
the mind has so imperial control over
the body that it can produce a physical
disease. Indeed large proportion Of the
maladies from which we suffer could be
cured If the sufferers mind were set at
ease. for when the mind is IN agony and
cries out the bodily pain is nothing more
than the echo of that cry No physician
can cure real pain by giving medicine
to it's echo. for one must touch the cause
before he can change the effect--not
the apparent but the real cause. 1t would
he foolish TO attempt to cleanse the mud
dy water of the Mssissipp; by taking
your stand at it's mouth, in lower Louis
lana, because you know well enough that
the origin of the trouble is a thousand
miles north. where the Missouri flows IN
TO it.
The Christ made His sole appeal to
mems minds and hearts. Right thinking
and right feeling are the arbiters OF fate.
and as a consequence the whole machine
ry OF life gets out of order. And such IL the
power of thought and feeling that they
can change not only the expression of the
face but it's lines and curves. / can't con-
ccive of Judas. for instance, with a hand
some or a benevolent face. Avarice does
more than pinch the soul it pinches the
body, too: and no one can ha'bitually in
dulge in vice without having it betray it.
self in the countcnance. The Emepror
Nero was a very beautiful child, as his
bust in Florence abundantly shows
When he threw himself in early manhood
into the whirlpool of demon;ac pleasures
and demoniac cruelt:es he could not re-
tain that look of innocence. and if you
will glance from the bust Of Nero as a boy
to that of Nero Is a man you will see that
the magicians hand has been at work.
for the two faces are totally unlike
The fountain whence flows all that is
good and desirable is mind and heart The
possession of such thoughts and feelings
as make life beautiful is possible only 10
him who is in communication with God
and the Christ You must haye-and /
use the word must in its most imperative
sense you must have the consciousness
of Gods presence and q profound cOnyic-
ton that the Christ spirit is the secret Of
the highest success before your life will
be worth living and before You can so
till your ground that October shah bring
you q rich harvest.
Your environment, which you have re-
garded as of the greatest importance, is
not primary but a secondary matter 1t
is not the palace that makes the man,nor
the hut that unmakes him. Vice amid
rich surroundings is all the more conspic-
nous as vice, while virtue, resignation,
integrity will make the soul beautiful
even when the larder is empty.
Life has many hardships: they seem to
be our inevitable portion. There are great
struggles to be engaged in, and some
times they seem TO be so fearfully pro-
longed that we call for the pity of God
and the sympathy Of men. There are
in our vicinity, and therefore
broken hearts in our homes.
How can we bear these things and win
from them sweeter tone of voice and
more mellow richness of character? Can
we climb to heaven on our doubts, or shall
we make ladder of our faith? As a man
thinketh, so is he. You can't put your
hand out that the angels may take hold
of it unless you believe that the angels
are there. You can't bear your troubles
without faith in Him who was forced to
go home by way of Gethesemane. Set
your thoughts to the pitch of the over
ture that was sung over Bethlehem, and,
such is the worlds magic, you will sud
denly find peace and good will in your
soul. Think toward heaven and heaven
will come toward YOU
GEORGE II. HEPWORTH.