The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-23
VALUE OF Right ACTING.


II HE WICKED FLEE when no man
pursueth, but the righteous are bold
as a lion.
In the Salt Lake cOuBty jail a
young man is awaiting a prison SEN
tence. He was a trusted einplCye and
he stole from the man VINO had re-
posed every confidence in him. Flight
followed the theft, and the bankruptcy
Of the betrayed employer followed
both. Months passed and the name of
the thief was no longer On the lips Of
his acquaintance. He was a wanderer
on the face of the earth, amid stran-
gers in strange lands
Forgotten by his friends, he could
not forget them. Though he roamed to
remote fringes of civilization the MEM
DRY of his crime haunted him and the
fear of exposure was ever present. A
footstep on the sidewalk beside MS
window was enough to rouse him from
his slumbers and he never knew but
that the next moment might come d
rap on his door. hand on his shoul-
der, an escort to a prison cell. This
man was actually glad when the in
evitable finally happened. for it marked
the end of his mental torture.
In ancient times a favorite punish
ment for a murderer was to fasten to
his shoulders the body Of his victim
and compel him to bear the putTid bur-
den until it had rotted away or kindly
death interviewed. Paul mad this fear
fI penalty in mind when, in a con-
science stricken frenzy. he wrote: 20
wretchcd man that l am! Who shall
deliver me from the body o. this
dea,h?" Yet the apostle had commit
ted ho crime against the written laws
Of mis- country.
No man car nope to escape the con-
sequences OF his sin, and that on this
earth. There was once a prominent
citizen Of a southern metropolis whose
son had been guilty of embezzlement.
To all appearances the boy had had the
best advantages of home. the most
careful training. and people wondered
how it happened that he fell. And at
last it came out. His father before him
was an enibezzler, although he sue
ceeded in making the shortage good
before the defalcation was discovered.
The sin Of the father was visited upon
the son, and it hurt him more terribly
than any punishment that could have
been inflicted on his own person.
The man who wears the stripes and
the close-cropped hair is sometimes to
be envied, after all He is at least ex-
paths his crime. No more haunting
horror IF betrayal for him. no more
lying awake a. night listening for the
tread of the arresting officer, no more
fleeing when no man pursued him. One
of the frst injunctions in inc Bible is:
BE sure yoIr sin will find you out
Perhaps it Will never be found out be-
fore men, but the unhappy offender
can never get away from it so long as
life lasts.
There is a way to avoid remorse,
there is a way to keep your consciences
and your hearts clean before God and
before men. All of US are born with
the ability to distinguish right from
wrong. 1t is hard to do right at times,
the way seems thorny and rough; but
il is all matter of taking the first
step. Surprising though it may seem,
one quickly learns 10 do right, not be-
cause it is right, but because it is
pleasanter to do right than to do
wrong.
Somehow the thorns disappear, the
path grows smoother, flowers spri'g up
and all the world seems faiTer, yes, is
fairer. As no disease Of body or soul
is so fearful in its ravages as remorse,
so no spiritual tonic is better than the
knowledge of righteous deeds, bravely
performed. There is a promise as well
as a warning in the words of Paul TO
the Galatians when he writes:
"Be not deceived; God is not Knocked,
for whatever a man soweth. that shall
he also reap"