The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-10-11

The necessity OK Individual purity Is
self evident to any one who contemplates
the history Of man or the structure OF
society. For as powerful az these are
in the aggregate, and as comparatively
insignificant as the life OF one individual
appears to be. yet in its last analysis the
progress. the character and strength or
society rests with the Individual.
INDIVIDUAL HONOR.
AS titanic as is the vigor Of the Amer
ican people, as almost incomprehensibly
powerful as it appears to be with It's
nigh So,oO0,00o OF people and its mex
haustible material wealth and resources.
yet it IS only strong as far as the
strength Of manhood, honor. chastity
and righteousness lies in its individual.
There is no nation. apart from its COM
ponent individual citizens. The State is
a Pigment Of the brain, a nothing apart
from the men and women who make it
up. And, il ever there may be, though
Heaven forfend the day, a time when
the individual men and women OF Amer
lea are given over in a majority to crime
and wickedness and unclean life, then
our yaunted power will collape like a
gas:emptied balloon. and our strength
disappear like a broken soap bubble.
The salvation of State rests in its in
dividuals, and every effort that looks to-
ward its conservation and strengthening
should be directed toward the improve
ment Of the individual And with the in
dividual this improvement must come
from within, from a purified heart and
a recreated spirit. It is serious mis-
take, then, which many well-meaning
persons make when they seek to leg1s-
late morality or to compel goodness by
enactn1ents on the statute book. Laws
are indeed necessary, and penalties and
punishments. but the citfI law can deal
with the individual only in his relations
to society or to other individuals; 1t can
not and should not deal with the indivld-
ua1 as such apart from their relations
Every individual has certain rights which
are the inalienable birthright of his hui
mainly, and organized society. as repre-
sented in its laws, can legislate concern
ing these only when the rights OF one
individual begins to trespass upon those
Of his neighbor. I have personal liberty,
and as long as my exercise Of my liberty
does not infringe upon the liberty Of my
neighbor, no law has right to molest
it. have the freedom to choose what
path Of life will, to do as Will with
my talents, gifts or goods. and as long
as I injure no one else. no civic law
should presume to interfere. even though
should utterly waste my goods and de-
base myself. I am responsible for my
single, sole self only to my God and HIS
moral law, and it is He only through that
moral law as recognized in the con-
science. shall say to me .Thou Shalt Or
Thou Shalt not"
MORAL ILLS.
It is this vital distinction between the
Individual as such and the individual In
his relations and connections with society
that many persons lose sight of In their
well-meant efforts to purify society by
8legislation. They seek to suppress the
evils and the weaknesses Of our common
humanity by attacking not the Eoot, but
the foliage. There are certain moral Ills
to which our mortal flesh is heir, which
should be dealt with sanely and practl-
cally. not with a moral hysteria. that de-
feats its own ends by adding hypocrisy
and deception to evils already deplorable
enough. AS long as the individual has
not the moral stamina to refrain from In
diligence in vice. no amount Of legislation
against the opportunities for indulgence
will ever avail. Its effect is often to slim
ulate those very things It seeks to de-
stroy. The hue and cry recently raised
in our city does wrong to its fair name.
AS our paper CThe News has well ex-
pressed it, taken unit by unit, house by
house, ward by ward, Richmond is NOR
ally comparatively clean and healthy
city. We are a conservative, 1aw-abid-
ing. God-fearing people. It is good IN
deed to have an occasional municipal
house cleaning. Let, then, the guilty feel
the burden Of their guilt. Let every ser
want Of the city. who has betrayed his
trust be punished; let every malefactor
who has violated the law be made to
suffer its penalty. but let US, above all
remember that mo legislation, Of even
the most drastic character, can help a
city unless the sentiment OF righteous
ness is in the heart and deed Of the in
dividual.
MUST SEARCH THEIR HEARTS.
Let then the appeal be made. to the
Individual, as made it here to you. Let
every one of us look into our own heart.
search out our own sin, and resolve here
to repent and amend. Every pew IS an
altar. and every man is his own atoning
priest Need 7 remind you that the house
OF Israel must be distinctly pure and
that its members must keep their hands
conspicuously clean? Need 4 remind you
that this. too, Is one of the messages Of
this day. for Israel alone has set day
apart when he comes before his God wieh
the set purpose to recall his sins and TO
seek forgiveness for them; a day "hen
he forsakes every worldly avocation afd
every material pursuit, when he denies
the body that he might feed the SOU
when he forgets the physical that ne
might better know the spiritual po"e..
that every member of his household shail
feel the yiv;fyins. fructify1ns power OF
Righteousness. and every individual re-
come its apostle. Thus did Moses say