Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-08-21

|lNUlVlUUAu
| CHARACTER.
It Is the Surest Safeguard
of a People.
|REV. VIC. NEVILLE TO THE SOLDIERS
Full Text of an Unusually Strong
Sermon That Was Preached In the
Yorkville Presbyterian Church on
Last Sunday.
Rev. w. G. Neville preached the an
nual sermon to the Jasper Light Infan-
try in the Presbyterian church lasi
Sunday morning. The company was
out under Captain Moore. in full uni
form, about 40 strong, and there were
present some ten or twelve honorary
members. Quite a large and apprecia-
tive congregation was present for the
occasion and the services were very in
teresting. Many people who heard II
were Of the opinion that the sermon
ought to be printed, and at the request
of THE ENQUIRER Mr.. Neville has kind
Il .t,l.0 L., rtNf Fol
lows:
But the children Of Israel committed
a trespass in the accursed thing. -
Joshua vii, 1.
The reference here is to the sin OF
Achan. God had instructed Israel to
destroy every living thing in Jericho
and to put into His treasury all the Sill
yer and gold and vessels Of brass and
iron. These instructions were carried
out with one exception: Achan took
from among the spoils a goodly
Babylonish garment, two hundred
shekels Of silver and a wedge Of gold OF
fifty shekels weight. and appropriated
these things to his own use.
This sin affected the whole communi-
ty It caused their defeat at Al, and
God said they could make no progress
in the right direction until the matter
was properly adjudicated. The whole
community was held responsible for the
sin, till they used all the means in
the leadership Of Joshua the sin was
punished and righteousness was vindi-
Gated.
| Thus we see how intimately an indi-
vidual PERSONS character and conduct
are connected with the community al
large. and how the welfare Of the COM
munity Is affected by the acts Of indi-
vidual persons.
The subject Of my discourse today is:
Individual Character, the Safeguard
of a People"
The most valued possession Of any man
is character. This Is all that belongs tC
him in an absolute sense. The most
valued possession which any commu-
nifty has Is to be found in her men OF
character. Other things may be desir-
able and useful, but they can never be
compared with the priceless treasure
that Is to be found In men Of virtue
truth. honor and integrity. The real
prosperity of a people consists not ir
their material wealth, but in their men
of character. Here Is a country's true
power and real glory.
| It Is said that Louis XIV asked Col
bert why 1t was that he could not
with such strong and populous coun-
try as France behind him, conquer
so small a country as Holland
The reply was: Because. sire. the
greatness of a country does not de-
pend upon the extent Of it's ter
ritory but on the character Of Its
people. It is because Of the indus
try. the frugality and the energy Of the
Dutch that your majesty has found
them so difficult to overcome"
Why is it that Scotland has attained
such prominence in the world and has
exerted such an influence for good
wherever that power has been felt?
Her territory Is small-a little smaller
than the state of South Carolina. Her
population is small-only about three
times as many as we have in South
Carolina. But her people are people
Of character. and this has enabled her
to exert an influence in the world out
Of all proportion, to her numerical
strength and geographical size. Yes,
Scotland has in her people-in what the
world Is pleased to call her common
people-a tower Of strength which all
the outside world has never been able
| to conquer. Washington Irving was
once on visit to Abbotsford. Sir Wal
ter Scott introduced to him many OF
| his friends from among his neighbor-
| ing farmers and also from the labor
ing peasantry. Scott said to Irving:
IT wish to show you some Of our real
ly excellent plain Scotch people. The
character Of a nation is not to be learn
ed from Its fine folks, its fine gentle
men and ladies: such you meet every
where and they are everywhere the
same"
A country's standing, her influence.
her welfare, her very destiny are all
lodged in the character Of her people.
This truth is applicable to family. a
church. a community. Our community
| in and around Yorkville cannot rise
above the character Of the people who
live here. Each person living here
forms an integral part Of the communi-
lty's character and standing; and. there
| fore, each person living here makes a
contribution to the community's veal
or woe. It Is impossible for the COM
munity to rise above the people. who
| live in It? What does it take to con-
stitute a community? Lands. and
houses, and stores. and factories? No.
These are only incidental. 1t takes
people to make community; and the
character of the community Is deter
mined by the character Of the people:
taken as individual persons. Get the
average character ofthe people. and you
you will have the character Of the COM
munity, or nation.
Let us bear in mind, just here. the
difference between character and repu-
tation. Character Is what man Is;
reputation Is what the people say he
| is. A man may have a good reputation
and at the same time a bad character.
and vice versa. There is sometimes as
much difference between a mans real
character and reputation, as there Is
between night and day. Thank God,
neither public opinion, nor private opin-
| ion of men makes me what I am. The
! man who has a good character may re-
joice that he has something which can