The Caucasian., 1903-04-02

mistaken. 4 man can indirectly gov
ern his thoughts, as he can directly
govern his actions. If man allows
his eye only to see pure pictures and
to read good books. his ear to hear only
whit is good and true in reference to
his fellow men: if man allows his
tongue to repeat only that which Is
generous and loving and gentle-that
mans mind and spirit will become
true and good. If his mind becomes
pure, then his thoughts and his de-
sires will become pure, as we'll as his
actions.
Reaching For Lofty Ideals.
A man cannot lift himself up by pull
ing at his boot straps. He must have
q pure ideal to draw him out Of him
self When Munkacsy's famous. pic
ture, 'Christ Before Pilare," was being
exhibited in one Of our American cit
les, an unkempt and filthy looking man
was one day seen to enter the room
and to stand and look for hours upon
the sad and beautiful face of the Sa-
viour. At first he stood before that
painting with his hat upon his head;
then. as the spirit of the picture began
to take possession of him, he reached
up and removed his hat. The follow
ing day the man came back, but this
time he had washed his face and his
hands. Next day he came again and
stood before the picture. This day he
had his clothes cleaned. Day after
day, as long as that picture was In the
city, this man came. each time i'm
proved in apparel. each time with more
Of divine light and love flooding his
heart and soul. My brothers, If we
reach up for lofty ideals those ideals
will lift US up. If we only see and talk
about the depravities in our brothers
nature, those evil deeds will drag us
down.
The golden lips of gospel silence are
often just as important for our spirit
ual development as the silver tongue
of speech. Joseph Addison, the great
English author and critic. once gave
description Of his feelings when listen
ing to a masterpiece rendered by
noted orchestra. He said that he was
not so much impressed with the great
tidal waves Of sound which dashed
themselves against his eardrums as
the waves of the mighty deep in mid
winter beat against the Holland dikes
or with the volume Of mingled sounds,
as when the voices Of the celestials
seemed to blend with the voices of the
terrestrials, as he was impressed with
the deep silence which suddenly en-
sued when the orchestra leader lifted
his baton in the midst of the piece and
commanded his musicians to halt. Me
thought" he wrote, this short inter-
val of silence had more music in it
than any short space of time before or
after it." The most eloquent passages
of our spiritual development may Of
ten be found when we press the golden
lips of gospel silence against our neigh
boris faults. when we are dumb and
say nothing. absolutely nothing.
Scandals Publish Themselves.
The golden lips of gospel silence
should remain closed because, as
rule, it is not necessary to emphasize
scandals. Scandals are always loud
voiced They publish themselves. AS
I speak some one sitting in pew has
been saying to himself: is it not right
to denounee other peoples faults?
Shall we not warn our friends against
these sins? Shall we not point out
mems errors as well as their virtues?
Did not Paul write to young Timothy
him to rebuke as we'll as to
exhort. to reprove as well as preach
the word?' Yes, that is true; but, as
a rule, when a man sins he does not
find very great lack of reprovers and
while there is generally a
great scarcity Of exhorters and encour-
ayers when he does right.
The late DR.. Joseph Parker, the great
London preacher, once said: '"The aver
age newspaper prefers not to print
that which is only commentator IL
I should arise this morning and preach
the most eloquent evangelistic sermon
ever delivered from any English pull
pit, no special notice would be taken
Of the same, but if should preach In
an alpaca coat and stand under an
open umbrella. which l might hold In
my left hand, every newspaper In Aus
tralia, New Zealand, America or the
British isles would have an account Of
the same tomorrow morning." Fur
thermore, in every community there
are scores Of men and women who
consider themselves self appointed
Of evil. They are even
willing to leave the home on wash
or on Saturday afternoon,
when they ought to be preparing for
the sacred Sabbath, II they can only
peddle some story of Satanic gossip
about the neighborhood. And so, my
brother, you need not be afraid that
enough condemnatory emphasis will
not be placed upon your neighbor's.
faults. The simple fact is. if some of
Us do not tell and Systematically talk
about our neighbors' virtues, the sin
full world may come to the conclusion
that they have no virtues; that they