The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-01-01


plans, and to use his own resources for
all there was In them, for that Is only
affirming that he added to the instincts
of q general conservation so perfect
a purpose so fixed, an intentness so alb
sorbing that he looked upon everything
from the point Of view of Its value to
his work. and made everything contrib
ute in some way to his ministry. Be-
You'd the simple evidences of his power
as a preacher his success as an evangel-
list and a founder of schools. this eX-
ample of intent devotion is Of value to
us for it shows us again how any real
work Is to be done and any real sue
cess is to be achieved In this world.
None of the many lessons which a
new year sets us is more important
than this We are all inclined to lotus
eating in spite of our blood and our en-
yironment-laissez- faire is never wholly
unattentive. For the most part we only
play at being earnest; indeed we would
be quite content to dawdle the whole
| Journey through if God did not now
and then bring us up against some de-
| termined soul who takes a serious view
Of life and tries to get something large
| out of 1t, and even then we are dispos-
| ed to salve our scratched consclences
with criticism and jeers. Some jaun-
diced masculine has said that Hornets
| and women love to sting we would do
well to be generous and add to that brief
category all the people, of both sexes,
who are annoyed by sustained enthu-
siasm and real unselfishness, for
sharp sarcasm is our commonest meth
cd of excusing ourselves. An alert, in
sistent life that feels the pressure OF
responsibility, uses all it's resources
and Opportunities and Is always reach
ing for the better thing beyond is re-
garded as somewhat too self assertive
and pushing for good breeding But we
easy going people we are so well salts
fed to let things drift, and are withal
| such slaves to good form, are in con-
slant danger of sacrificing force and eff
ficiency to our notions of dignity and
repose.
nowhere is this spirit more conspic-
uous or lamentable than in moral ana
spiritual fieds-it binders at once our
growth and our usefulness. More men
will be kept out Of the kingdom OF
| heaven by lalssez-faire than by out
breaking sin: and of those who do gain
entrance the majority will have no 9TH
err excuse for their slnged and empty
hands and starless crowns. This is es-
pecially true of those who drift past
middle life without public identification
with the friends of Jesus; the habit of
resistance and of patronizing the
church, the pride of position, the antip-
athy to religious enthusiasm, together
with the natural decline Of vital energy
in themselves, will usually hold them to
the old ways in spite of the tug and en-
| treaty of every other influence.
'Too much repose is always fatal to
large success; what may be called the
pioneer temper, the evangelistic ele-
ment, is essential. We fail to develop
the power and get the results that
would be apparent If we were less fear
full of being enthusiastic and outre, A
silent dynamo may suggest power, but
it doesn't generate power A deal of
nonsense is talked in the name Of ire
serve force many people impress their
! friends these days as having great re-
serve force. And that is good, 1t Is
! sHways well have power IN storage
/ on which one can draw In times of
special emergency But ii lis quite
comforting to the mind and soothing to
the nerves to see the reserves marched
out betimes where we can inspect their
equipment, and observe their state of
discipline and general efficiency. Very
encouraging rumors may come to us
from inside the armory, which we are
not permitted to enter, but we want to
see them on the field and ourselves
Judge of their value to us when we need
them.
Society is handicapped with an i'm
mense burden of mediocrity, the result
in large measure of failure to perceive
opportunities, to seize advantages for
preparation, and make the best posi-
BILE use of resources. Mediocre business
men who are always on the verge of
bankruptcy, and finally help to con-
gest the insolvency courts; mediocre
professional men who exc out a miser-
able living by doing second rate work;
mediocre public men who bungle the
public business and discourage capable
men from entering the field: mediocre
saints who generate about as much
moral power as Lot developed in
Sodom. And these are the men who
rail most bitterly about trusts and cor
porations, and declaim most loudly
about the changed conditions, the i'm
proper methods and disastrous compe-
titions of the modern days. One may
not declare that there is nothing In
their outcry, that all modern conditions
are as they ought to be, but he cannot
avoid the feeling that some of the
causes of their failure are to be found
/ in themselves
! us it censorious to say that moral
earnestness, by which I mean the esti-
mate of life, the sympathy with high
things, and the stern sense of obiga-
ton which keep men working at their
appointed tasks intent upon reaching
the best, with minds open to truth,
with clear vision and the evangelistic
temper, Is it censorious to say that
such moral earnestness is not as evil
dent in modern life as 1t should be?
We have rebounded from our fathers
sombre views of life and we are now in
danger from an underestimate Of it's
real seriousness, from an unreasoning
optimism, we sometimes make it al
most a joke. Dropping the motives
that spring from fear we have not yet
! Welded ourselves to the motives that