The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-06-13

cialiy in q democratic land like our. II
can never be over-strenuously impressed.
that men become citizens in truth and III
substance when and only when they
use their rights as occasions for the dlS-
charge of most important and solemn
duties. You cannot make boy sue
cessful hunter simply by the gift of Il
gun, even though the gun be the best of
brcech- loaders. You cannot make a man
Il farmer simply by fencing his land with
barbed- wire fencing and no more cam a
man be made citizen indeed by confer
ring upon him rights. Rights are not
ends in themselves in amy sphere of life.
The right to il home. for instance, which
Il man has wrought out for himself by
the sweat of his brow, is not simply the
wealth of victory which crowns his toll;
il is much more the beginning of grave
duties and graver responsibilities which
the owning of Il home brings. Thus to
gain rights only mean that Il man has
been elevated to "a vantage ground frCm
which Secured from the oppression and
tyranny of Il lower seat, The may begin
to do his larger duties i'll the larger
sphere.
''Now it is just this that men seem so
often to forget: They are SO cnamoufcd
of this right that they forget that the
real value of every right must necessar-
ly rise or fall with the use to which the
right is put. The average citizen is very
quick to remind us. for example. that in
our free country he is free to say what
he pleases. hut he is not so quick to as
sure his neighborS, or even himself. of the
value of what il pleases him to say.
Now the value of free speech may be
priceless when it is the condition of
words of independence or wisdom CIR com
ISOLATION, but who can doubt that it as
sumes Il most degrading tone when 1T
nloads the lips of the babblcr and the
blasphemer and the falsitier. So it is
with every so-called right of citizenship.
The right is a great duty. 1t is stamped
with an image and superscription which
implies both a privilege and an obliga-
ton.
IF we are TO regulate our lives as
true citizens uron the principle which
our Lord lays down for all time. we
must not fail to realize that the greatest
had almost said the only. right of citi-
zenship is privilege and the obligation OF
doing our duty. We must not fail to real
ize that both the name and legal status
of citizenship are but an empty inherit
ance. if they be not the ground. the
foundation. of a life which is free not
simply in the laws protection, but be-
cause it is exercising its freedom i'll the
achievement of that actual good and
right which is the only real deiyerance
from bondage. Our Lord would have us
remember that in rendering to Caesar
the things that are Caesars" we are en-
gagged not merely in the exercise of
rights. but still mere in the performance
of duty. and therefore our relationship as
citizens is not merely political or social
relationship, but still more moral and
ethical one
This being true. even the mighty
contest of parties in our political world
is raised above the sphere of battle mere
ly for political spoil; it becomes a real
contest for moral principles upon the
arena Of great political policies. We are
tempted to forget this fact. because, as
it appears to us. the underlying motive
i'll great campaigns seems to be selfish
greed. and so we are apt 10 ''poopoo' the
idea that any great moral struggle is go
ing on at all. So il has appeared in the
great crisis Of history: so it appeared to
the actors in the great rebellion in Eng
land so CALAMITY. even If cruelty and
despotically led by Cromwell: so it APP
peared to the actors in the atrocities OF
the French Revolution. Nobody at the
time. save few minds like Milton in
the Rebellion and Danton in the Revou-
ticn. realized that these great struggles
meant anything but human greed and
passion and oppression. You and i can
now look back upon them and realize
that the struggles were the awful con-
yllsive throes of a combat which
wrought out fer Caesar the things That
were Caesars. and above all the crimes
and cruelties OF the human struggle we
have learned to discern the conflict of
moral principles which have been full of
consequences for later generations.
$50 with us. We are in the great whirl
Of the political pool. We live i'll a mar
velous age. Events pass before us so
swiftly. in this mad rush of modern
times that we can not take their full
measure before they are gone and sue
ceeded by others of even greater mo-
ment. We wiring our hands and say, .'all
for greedy selfish ends" No doubt the
greed and selfishness are there. They
are apt to he wherever men are. But we
may take courage to believe that this is
all that is there There are great prin-
ciples mt work. Our care must be, and it
is all the more important that is should
be so because the path is obscured and
the light dim, that we regulate our in
dlyidual citizenship as close as we can
to conformity with the principles of our
Lord. the principle of duty. not that of
privilege. We are to render to Caesar
the things that are Caesars. We are to
do this according to the best of our illdg-
ment, not simply in political issues as
mere matters of policy but as matters
Of moral duty which we owe to the gov
eInnent which God ordained should be
over us
SUNDAY SCHOOL PIrNiCS.
Edenton Street Methodist Sunday
school postpones its picnic to Holly