Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-11-12
CHARACTER
THE SUBJECT OF REV. DAVID A.
CUNNINGHAMs SERMON
LAST EVENING.
CHARACTER rs A GROWTH.
And is Independent of Reputation
and stances-Character Can
not be Always Hidden-The highest
Character Man Can Have is the
Christian characteristics Sermon.

Yesterday morning the Rev. David
A. Cunningham preached an interest
ing sermon on the subject of Char
acter." The sermon was especially
preached for young men and was large
" attended by them.
/ Pet ga. But let it be the hid
den man of the heart, in that which
is not corruptible. even the ornament
of meek and quiet spirit, which is
in the sight of God of great price"
My subject this evening is character.
In the society column of one of our
daily papers recently the following
statement appeared: "One may learn
more of persons character in a single
game of prize euchre than would be
discovered in a life time of companion
ship"
Let that be as it may; my source Of
information in regard to character is
from the Word of God.
What is character? What do we
mean by it? AS when we say such a
man is bad character, or a good
character, or when we use the words
Il don't like the character of that
man?'
By character we mean what a man
really is. at t.he back of all his actions
and his reputation and the opinion the
world has of him, in the very depth
of his being, in the sight of God, ito
whom all hearts are open all desires
known, and from whom no secrets are
hid
1T is said of Burns, the poet, that
walking along the streets of Edinburg
with fashionable acquaintance, he
saw a poorly-dressed peasant, whom
he rushed up to, and greeted as a ia
miliar friend. His companion express
ed his surprise that he could lower
himself by speaking to one in SO rus.
tic garb. FOOL said the poet, with
flashing eye; "it was not the dress, the
peasants bonnet and holden gray /
spoke to, but the man within-the
man who beneath that bonnet has a
heart, better than a thousand such as
yours" Wat the poet termed the
man Within what the text calls 1.-The
hidden man of the heart" is character
the thing man really it.
Now there are five things to be re-
membered about character.
l. Character is growth. AS the
man without grows, so the man with
in grows, also-grows, day by day,
either in beauty or in deformity We
are becoming, as the days and years
pass on, what we shall be in our fu-
ture earthly life, what we shall be when
that life is ended. No one becomes
what he is at once, whether what he
is be good or bad You may have seen
in the winter-time an icicle forming
under the caves of a house. 1t grows
one drop at time, until it is more
than foot long. If the water is clear,
the iclcle remains clear and sparkles
in the sun; but if the water is mud
dy, the icicle looks dirty and its beau
ty is spoiled. So our characters are
formed; one little thought or feeling
at time adds its influence. If these
thoughts and feelings are pure and
right, the character will be lovely and
will sparkle with light; but if they are
impure and evil, the character will be
wretched and deformed.
Fairy tales tell us of palaces built I'D
in night by unseen hands but those
tales are not half so wonderful as what
is going on in each of us. Day and
night, summer and winter, a building
is gong up within us, behind the outer
screen OF our lives. The stories Of
1t are being silently fashioned; virtue
is Delng added to faith, and to virtue
is being added knowledge, and TO
knowledge is being added brotherIy
kindness, and to brotherly kindness
charity; or meanness is being added
to selfisnness, and greed to meanness.
and impurity, malice and hatred be-
come courses in the building.
wretched howell, poor mean squal-
Id structure, is rising within us: and
when the screen of our outward life
is taken from US, this is what we shall
be.
2. Character is independent of repu-
tation and circumstances. A man NAV
be held in very high esteem by the
world, and yet may be very miserable
creature so far as his character is con
>NAAA~A' AZ AieL 1lHiII vi Tile para Die
was well off and probably much
thought of, but God called him a fool
There is man who is greatly esteem
ed by the public; he is regarded in
every way as admirable. Follow him
home and you find him in his family
mean an, sordid soul There YOU
have the real man. We cannot ALWAYS
Judge man by what he has. or by
what she. appears to us; for what he is
may be something very different.
These uniforms" said the Duke of
Wellington, ARE great illusions. Strip
them OFF and many a pretty fellow
would be coward; when in them he
passes muster with the rest"
We must not confound the uniform
with the man; we are often too ready
10 DO so. To certain extent we can
form an idea of what a man is from
the outside. The horny hand tells of
the life of labor; the deep-set brow
tells OF the thinker In other words.
we have right to judge a man by his
habitation. If the fences are broken
down, the paths unkept, the flower
peds full of weeds. we may be pretty
sure the inhabitants are idle. thrift
less, perhaps Incorporate. So a clear
eye, firm step, an open countenance.
tel OF pure, good soul within. But