Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1903-08-13
Mans Battle with Himself

Rev. Thomas GREGORY.
"7he ,oeJ Of oar life IS ofa mingled
yarn: good and I'll together
Every man. is a tanner of wild
beasts, and these wild beasts are his
passions. To draw their teeth and
claws, TO muzzle and tame them, to
turn them into servants and domes-
tic animals-in this consists per-
sonal education.
The duality of human nature is
visible upon every hand. Since man
has existed upon this old planet bis
breast has been the battle-ground
whereon the forces of GOOD and
EVIL have contended for mastery.
Part man aud part beast, part
angel and part demon, man has ever
felt within himself the struggle
which is as yet bv no means ended
The history of humanity is one
long story of this same fight be.
tween the forces that would lift up
and the forces that would drag down
between the angel and demon, the
man and the beast.
We do not need to turn to ancient
history to become aware of this dual
ism of our nature.
Look around. You may see it
everywhere. A day or two ago, or
the ground floor of an East Side pub
lie ball, New York, a religious serv-
ice was being held at which the
speaker strove to the best OF his
ability to show the seven hundred
listeners the beauty of Him who
was loving, gentle and pure.
On the fourth floor of the same
building, and at the same hour, a
crowd Of FIVE hundred enthusiastic
spectators were applauding a
series of prize fights, in which
human beings were being beaten
into pulpl
Thus brutality aud kindness,
selfishness and unselfshness, the
power that beauties and glorities
and the power that deform and de-
grades, are ever contending with
each other for mastery.
The battle is as old as humanity.
So soon as man began this battle
began with him, and the end is not
yet.
Still the conflict ragesl Still the
brute is trying to throttle the man
Still the demon is Juggling at the
angels thfoatl
For not one minute can the good
in us let up in its crusade against
evil. Civilization must fight hard
to keep itself civilized.
Like the pent-up fires in the slum-
boring volcano, the old primevaI
brutishuess is liable at any moment
to overwhelm us unless we2re ever
on the alert.
But let us be specific. To deal In
"glittering generalities" were q
waste Of time and labor.
We repeat, then, that civilization
must fight hard to keep itself civil
lied
Do we refer to the civilization
that is in Europe, or Asia. OF
Africa, or America? Not at all.
We mean the civilization that is in
the soul of the man or woman who
shall read this article.
Reader! You are Europe. Asia,
Africa, America. You are all his.
tory, Your private soul is the
great stage of the world, and on
that stage the brute and the human
in you, the good and the evil, are
engaged in mortal combat.
| Eiyot,u Iav ,tn,, N No tnnoytn1 RI 1c
wrong, and every day your better
self tells you to resist the tempta
ton and to acquit yourself honor
ably and well
Every day the brute in You urges
you to be cruel or unkind, and every
day the angel in you says, mo! BE
gentle and loving"
Every day the old animal greed,
which thinks only of itself, tells you
to be selfish and grasping, and every
day your nobler humanity says,
No! Put that swinish thought
away and be neighborly and gen
erous.'
Every day you are tempted &c
take advantage of some fellow hu-
man being, To trip him up In the
race of life, to rob him of that which
fairly belongs to him, and every
day the still, small voice within
you tells you not to do it, but to be
fair, just and manly.
Every day the beast in you says
to YOU Life is short, and you'll
be a long time dead. Drink, Ca
rouse; have a roaring good time 4
tit may break the hearts of those
who love you, but never mind abou'
that And every day again the
decency in your soul says, Crush
the beast and boa man.
To conquer these temptations, to
beat down these promptings of the
lower nature and TO keep ones bet
ter self solidly in control-in this,
as Amiel puts it, consists personal
education.
Personal education. There is nc
other that is worth considering
To explore, conquer and redeem to
benign uses the darkest Africa
that lies in ones OWN SOUL is
the climax of the only form of edu.