The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-11-18
Temptations Of Social Life.

The temptations of social life largely
arise from a false sense of proportion. We
are like men who stand so close to some
outjutting rock that they cannot see the
mountain. We are so close to our imme-
date work, says the Congregationallst,
that we cannot realize that it is only a
part Of DIR true life. The whole duty OF
man cannot be bounded by the apparent
requirements of business success. 1t takes
account of relations to God as well .as self,
to others as certainly as to those who are
dependent on us. We may praise diligence
in business with good conscience only SO
long as we combine with it the other re-
quirements Of the apostle: "1n diligence
not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the
Lord" Because we have our place in the
social ordsr and business competition to
sustain, we must study the proportion OF
these claims to the demands of our flial
relation to God and our brotherly relation
to men. It will be se: wing the world badly
business at the cost of giving 1t mean
and petty and degenerate man.
There is certain cynically alliteratlve
rule of life which charges a young man k
"get on, get honor, get. honest."' The
stress of business competition seems to call
for some such progress by way Of success
to position and self-respect. 1t is real
and constant temptation. only to be met
by remembering that if the man makes the
business, the business also makes the man.
Even success may be too dearly bought. 1t
may be spending life to climb. the rock
when the real mountain OF vision and
honor is behind it. 1t may mean SO short
sighted a perspective that time nils the
vision while eternity is out OF sight, ana ana
that the praise of men may satisfy while
the praise of God may be forgotten or re.
fused. The business man needs the sense
of proportiot9 which takes account Of God
as we'll as man, of old age as well as matur.
ity, of self-respect in days to come as well
as the servility which follows wealth to-
day.
The companion of this desire to get on in
business at any cost is the social rivalry
and display which is always with us, but
which has never reached larger proportions
than in our recent prosperous times: 1t
is glamour which takes possession OF the
soul and destroys the sense of great and
small, of true and false. It evades dehnl-
men and women into foolish ones, a COM
potency into the strain of poverty: wealth
into real indulgence, because the thing de:
sired is always Just beyond the reach OF
those who seek it. This social ambition
which on the one side seeks self-glorihca-
tion by lavish display and on the other by
despising those who are lower in the ranks
of fashion becomes destroyer OF the
brotherhood of men, contradiction Of the
Cbristlike spirit. =.
Here, too, a sense of the proportion of
our life, a. sense of the dignity of every
child of God is the corrective for this in
sanity of false ambition. Tha resources
which are employed for service are the
true satisfactions of the social instinct, and
bring the true reward of honor. To seek
with feverish endeavor the praise of men
is always disappointing. To seek the praise
Of God sooner OF later also brings In its
train the honor and the love of men.