West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1901-12-12

Luxe 7;.E:-" Were there not Ten
cleanSed :"
There are two aims in life Is life a Ca.
reer or is Il Mission Are We To be mas.
ters or are We 20 be servants Ought q
man to seek his own profit or the proht OF
others' Shall we seek TO be in the
place OF Caesar or in that of Christ p
'Aut Caesar aut Christus ?" Caesar or
Christ career or n mission.
| A child may be taught these aims in life
Teach child that what IL has is it's own.
and you have the one type OF life; teach a
child that what II has is not It's own but a
trust: and you have the other. The one
character is dark character. the other is
white That is dark which absorbs the
/ light; that is white which reflects IT, So
the child that receives too much and gives
no return is called thanklcss child where.
as the child that returns thanks is learning
gratitude.
A child of dark or absorbtivc disposi.
tion may indeed be taught to be polite but
its politeness will be for display and for
praise, not Of deep thankfulness. On the
other hand. child taught to look upon
its life as mercy will not need to be
|
please" to every request.
The absorbtive child will grow more and
more exacting until utterly disconnected
with its lot In life. The thankful child will
grow happier as the years go by. 1t will
hnd joy where the others finds gloom. for
thankfuness is a state OF mind and not a
phrase on the lips.
Beneath all true gratitudcs there lie al
least two deep thoughts. the thoughts OF
our unworthness and the thought of appre.
| citation for the smallest favors. No man
can be truly grateful who thinks himself
deserving OF the goodness bestowed upon
him. and no man can be truly thankful who
thinks any mercy from God a small mercy.
Like Jocob. he will say. II am unworthy OF
the least of all the mercies and OF all the
truth which thou hast shown to thy
servant"
In this connection a word ought to be
| spoken to parents to check the foolish
habit OF many in giving too many gifts to
their children. a few well chosen gifts
will give the child more real pleasure than
a great heap of them. Too many toys will
destroy childs happiness more readily
than too few. One reason why Europeans
are said to be more happy than Americans
lies in this fact, they are content with less.
| We are ever thinking of what We have not
and never enjoying what we have We
have known OF ministers Of the gospel who
in wishing to speak words of comfort to
the blind. have been cautioned not to
refer to the loss of sight in anything they
said. The blind are the happiest OF human
beings. No place is so full OF music and
song as well conducted asylum for the
| blind
Assuming then these two principles OF
unworthiness and appreciation as essential
to gratitude. let us consider how best to
view our lives. There is an old fashioned
way and very good one which proceeds
on what might be called a method of losing.
PERSONAL BLESSING.
A man will close his eyes and then try
TO grope his way as If he were blind Thus
trying to feel as a blind man might The
sense of woe and helplessness becomes so
acute that the person thus acting the blind
man Is brought to cry out Il thank God for
| sight We never value our blessings
until we lose them a saying that is very
| trite and very true. The same process is
followed out with the closing of the cars.
| Thanks for a moment OF how much We
would lose in the loss of hearing II is
through the hearing that all or nearly all
of our knowledge comes to us. The deaf
and dumb" are usually synonymous terms.
| Then we may try in like manner the loss
Of the senses Of taste Then the loss OF
touch and so continue until we have gone
over the entire list OF our personal
blessings.
SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS.
There is another way Of looking upon
our blessings in the life or soul and OF
building up our mercies from that point OF
view. In this method we hrst think Of our
soul and try to form some conception OF
its value and then Of the value Of the gifts
of the soul and graccs Of the Spirit
What is the value OF the soul Our
Lord has set his value upon IT, What
shall II profit a man IL he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul" Take tho
value which famous Queen OF England
put upon IL. AS Elizabeth lay in tho last
| agony OF a departing soul she cried out
my kingdom for an inch Of time" This
is the value tho Lord put upon IT, and this
is the value that the Queen Of England put
upon IT, DO they put too high value
upon life Is there person here present
who would give up his life for less There
! arc of course thousands vino sell their
souls for nothing. we speak not OF them
they know not what they do We however
are now speaking OF life as u is as It ought
20 be valued. Here Is lad Of fifteen. II
We we're TO ask him whether the Queen Oh
| England offered too much for an inch oi
life. he would very quickly reply mo. for
the life itself Is the only thing that gives u
any value" Aud ten more years to the
lad's life making him twenty-five years oi
age. Young man Of twenty-five did the
Queen offer too much for an inch Of time
mo. nor half enough he would be apt "a
| reply. Take him when he IS Al 60. or az 10
or at so still he replies In the same
manner neither England nor yet all tho
world is worth an inch Of time During
our Civil War. visitor was walking through
ono Of the wards Of an army hospital and
seeing a wounded man. he was horror struck
a. the sight for he could scarcely distin
guish the head from the feet. so manglcd
was he by cannon bali An involuntar,
expression broke from the visitor what
can life be worth TO a man in that condition
''Ah. Sir q voice replied from somewhere
iu the bed life Is sweet Say what we
will of thc Ills Of lie and the desire "a
depart 10 our greatest gricfs we are also
apt to cry out life is sweet" or England
| for ap inch of finna