The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-04-26

bility of living, accepts or refuses He is nc
called into council The responsibility and all ii
endless issues are laid upon him. whether he will q
no The place too, in which he shall live and th
circumstances under which he shall grow up and b
which he shall be trained, are all determined by hir
beforehand
He finds himself born citizen (let us say) Of III
United States He was not consulted about the mat
ter The citizenship, and all its duties, all its prvi
eges and all its obligations are laid on his shoulders
whether he will or no.
He finds himself born into civilization,
There are responsibilities growing out of that
He must face them, willingly or unwillingly.
So one may run through the whole role
The duties and obligations of life, and of a speca
form of life; Of life in a particular land and unde
particular laws and special circumstances, are al
imposed. man does not choose them He find
them upon him, and conscience and the common
Judgment of mankind anu the law of nature as wei
as the law of God, demand that he shall bear them
and answer for the manner of that besring Here /.
his life, and here Its various responsibilities
and not yonder'
He has to lead the life of free man, and not o
slave; the life of civilized man, not that of a
savage the life of all educated man. and not the life
of South Sea Islander
He has to live the life of citizen, a member of a
civilized community, owing duties in a hundred
directions to Others He has to live as son and
brother as husband and father. He may, at times
stagger under the burden of duty so laid upon him
unsought. Men have sometimes honestly wished
they had never been educated Men have, more than
once, expressed regret that they were not born in
fome half barbarous land For man may we'll shrink
from the responsibilities of even enlightenment and
civilization.
But there is no chance of shrinking.
To these things is elected, by the good
pleasure of his Supreme Master, and he must face
them and answer for them.
Now, in all else in life so also it is in religion
There is no choice allowed. In a vague way, we
speak of the duty of men to be Christians We urge
them to become Christians" From the pulpit, we
hear men persuaded to accept Christianity In a
vague way all this is right enough. But when we
examine, we find that there is really faacy here,
unless we carefully distinguish.
There is no choice in the case. A man IS born
into the responsibilities Of Christianity as he is born
iHtO lHOoS VI SiILCuoup nc call not TeIuSe the
former any more than the latter For him, the
question of Christianity has been determined long
since. The first words that struck his perceptions
were Christian words Perhaps the earliest was
Christian prayer Christian words and ideas were
round him like atmosphere in the cradle. He was
lulled to sleep with Christian songs The standard
Of right and wrong, brought to his opening inte-
gence, a Christian standard. He grew 1p sur
roundad by the results of Christianity on all sides.
The books he read were saturated with Christian
sentiment The studies he pursued were taught him
because he was to be Christian man. The law Of
land and the subtler law of social ethics and good
manners which hemmed him in and under which he
grew are what they because of Christianity. And
now after all this trainng(all the moral ideas he
possesses all the spiritual development he has reach
ed being Christian he stands surrounded still with
Christianity. visible and alive. Turn where he will
church doors stand open for him. Affairs display the
memorials of the eternal sacrifice Pupits announce
the Gospel, and cry in waning and all things are
ready
Clearly, these things are all facts Of mans
positionr
Neglect of them does not annihilate them.
Disbelief in them does not change them. They
are parts Of the Of life to the man living under
them.
He crn do nothing with them but face them and
answer for them, as he does for all the rest.