The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-05-12
COWARD CONSCIENCE.
Paper Read Before the Cha,,tauquo Circle.


Paper Read Before the Cha,,tauquo Circle.l
1t has been said--and truly so-that
conscience is coward. If conscience
does not keep one from doing that
which is clearly wrong, it is seldom
deeply stricken for the transgression.
When some so.called righteous mem.
Der of society has been exposed in
wrongdoing and gives way to grief
and lamentation, the general verdict
is that he is conscience stricken and
repentant. In ninety nine cases out
of every hundred it is pride and not
conscience that is stricken; and the re-
pentance consists solely in being deeply
sorry for the evil consequences of the
act and not for the act itself. Had ex-
posure not followed, the chances are
that conscience would have rested as
serenely as the proverbial fly in the
'Iasses barrel.
True repentance it's twin sister
''that pearl beyond price''-does not
cry from the house tops that men may
behold what fine bird it is; but rather
finds its expression in deeds. If regret
be repentance, then there has scarce
been an evil deed but what has been
repented of. But regret is not repen-
tance. Restitution is not repentance.
Expiation is not repentance. There
is but one true repentance and a soul
repentant is soul redeemed.
Let us take for illustration, that
weird creation of Bulwer's, Eugene
Aram, who, for crime committed in
youth, lived in constant fear of exs,os-
ure. He became aprey to vain regret
and even morbid remorse, but under
lying and dominating all was the spirit
of selfishness and pride. Eugene Aram
never knew true repentance. Maxwell
Gray, in his "Silence of Dean Matt
land," has portrayed practically the
same character. Compare these with
that master conception of a master
mind, Hugo's Jean Vatican. Jean
Vatican sprang from the peasantry of
France-France of the 18th century.
Born into this world with no other
heritage than the evils of a thousand
years of ignorance and oppression,
mans injustice and mans inhumanity
had brutalized him to such an extent
that he can be Iikened unto nothing
but human wolf. He meets the good
Bishop of d. and returns evil for good,
is guilty of that blacklist of crimes,
-ingratitude, and receives FOR the first
time in his wretched life, forgiveness.
punishment he could have understood,
but forgiveness stuns him at first but
eventually brings about moral rev.
olution and his ultimate redemption.
Time passes and he becomes Monsieur
le Maire, public benefactor, living an
earnest, helpful life; turning ever to
the candlesticks for inspiration as the
Mussulman turns to Mecca. A wretched
creature-the physical and moral like
ness of what he was-is arrested, and
charged with crime which he Wal
jean) had committed before his refor-
nation. There is nothing in the liter
erature of any age which reaches
greater heights of sublimity than the
portrayal of this struggle between good
and evil in the heart of Jean Valjean.
That deep sophistry of self-interest
spoke to him, saying, he is but a mis-
erable wretch who doubtless deserves
his fate. Your past is buried; do not
resurrect it. You have merited and
hold an exalted position; your present
life stands as beacon light to all men;
think what your fall will mean for
others. Why! it is your duty to keep
silent and make no sign. Have you
not pledged your word to that unhappy
woman promising that she shall see
her child before she dies? When told
to ask God for this boon she laughed