Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-12-15

The most ardent theorist, once out
side Of his theory, scruples not a whit
to approve or disapproye the acts OF
others. to take measures against his
enemies. to appeal TO the generosity
and justice of those he would dissuade
from an unworthy step. One can no
more rid himself of the notion Of NOR
al obligation than of that Of time or
space. ana as surely as we must re-
sign ourselves to walking before we
know how 10 define this space through
which we move and this time that
measures our movements, SO surely
must we submit to moral obligation be-
fore having put our finger on its deep
hidden roots. Moral law dominates
man whether he respects or defies it.
See how it is in everyday life-eaeh
one is ready to cast his stone at him
who neglects plain duty even If he
allege that he has not vet arrived at
phiiosophie gertrude. Everybody will
say to him. and with excellent reason:
"Sir. we are men before everything.
First play your part. do your duty as
citizen. father, son. After that you
shall return to the course of your med
itations."
However let us be well understood
We should not wish to turn any one
away from scrupulous research into
the foundations of morality. No
thought which leads men to concern
themselves once more with these grave
questions could be useless or indiffer-
ent. We simply challenge the thinker
to find a way to wait till he has I'M
earthed these foundations before he
does an act of humanity, of honesty
or dishonesty, of valor or cowardice.
And most of all do we wish to formu-
late a reply for all the insincere who
have never tried to philosophize and for
ourselves when we would offer our
state of philosophic doubt in justifica-
ton OF our practical omissions. From
the simple fact that we are men, be-
fore all Iheorizing. positive or negative,
about duty. we have the peremptory
law to conduct ourselves like men.
There is no getting out of it.
But he little knows the resources of
the human heart who counts on the
effect of such a reply. 1t matters not
that it is itself unanswerable. 1t can
not keep other questions from arising.
The sum of our pretexts for evading
duty is equal to the sum of the sands
of the sea or the stars of heaven.
We take refuge, then, behind duty
that is obscure, difficult, contradictory
And these are certainly words to call
up painful memories. To be a man of
duty and to question ones route, grope
In the dark feel oneself torn between
the contrary solicitations of conflicting
calls, or, again, to face duty gigantic
Overwhelming, beyond our strength
what is harder. And such things hap
pen. We would neither deny nor con-
test the tragedy in certain situations or
the anguish of certain lives And yet
duty rarely has to make itself plain
across such conflicting circumstances
or to be struck out from the tortured
mind like lightning from a storm
ceptional. Well for US if we stand
stanch when they come! But if no one
is astonished that oaks are uprooted
by the whirlwind that a wayfarer
stumbleS at night on an unknown road
or that soldier caught between two
fires is yanquished, no more should he
condemn without appeal those who
have been worsted in almost superhu-
man moral conflicts. To succumb I'M
der the force of numbers or obstacles
has never been counted disgrace.
So my weapons are at the service of
those who iEtrench themselves behind
the impregnable rampant of duty i'll
defined, complicated or contradictory
But it is not that which occupies me
today; it is Of plain-I had almost said
easy-duty that I wish to speak.
We have yearly three or four high
feast days and many ordinary ones
There are likewise some very great and
dark combats to wage, but beside these
is the multitude of plain and simple
duties. Now, while in the great en-
counters our equipment is generally
adequate, it is precisely in the little
N1AASA eSNt1N4No lLeit W = ti4C 1Oul1Q Wdnl-
ing. Without fear of being misled by
a paradoxieal form of thought, | af-
firm, then, that the essential thing is
to fulfill our simple duties and exercise
elementary justice. In general, those
who lose their souls do so not because
they fail to rise to difficult duty, but
because they neglect to perform that
which is simple Let us illustrate this
truth.
He who tries to penetrate into the
humble underworld of society is not
slow to discover great misery, physical
and moral. And the closer he looks
the greater number of unfortunates
does he discover, till in the end this
assembly of the wretched appears to
him like a great black world, in whose
presence the individual and his means
of relief are reduced to helplessness.
1t is true that he feels impelled to run
to the succor of these unfortunates,
but at the same time he asks himself,