Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-11-22

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and purity of life are not one. Money
is not an unrighteous thing of itself.
but, oh, what slaves it does make of
men; how soon the greed for it will
stifie all that is noble in it's lovers.
The size and development OF your up
per right arm is in no way an indica-
ton OF the strength of soul you pos
sess nor is it a substitute Tor it.
Bulk of purse, Drawn of muscle,
depth of learning and a fine mental
ity are both commendable and desir-
able if so be they are righteously ac-
quired. but the acquisition of all
these things is as nothing if so be
man has forfeited his soul life for
them
To-day we train our youth for
business or profession-that is to
say, for careers of economic useful
ness. Our main aim in education is
to fit men to achieve material sue
cess. We demand that our schools
shall turn out men who are able to
take care of themselves. We pay
but scant attention to individuality
and to the leanings and peculiarities
of personality. Any one here can
state, as well as I, how much moral
training the schools give our youth.
In our fear that the Bible in the
school may SAVIOR of denominational-
ism we leave, often, free field for the
devil. From earliest youth till the
child is man dependent upon his
own resources the continual cry is
for him to achieve success. Forum
ate, indeed. is the man who, by wise
direction and personal preference, is
enabled to choose the way that leads
to real and lasting success. But the
pity is that too many of us spell sue
cess in the terms of material achieve
ment. Too few are they who know
that success is matter not so much
of getting as of being; that it is more
a matter Of soul culture than of ma.
terial gain. Success is measured not
by the amount you have, but by what
you amount to.
Far be it from me to belittle a
proper material success. The world
owes debt it never can repay to the
men of money, the masterful mechan-
les, the learned lawyers, the erudite
doctors, the brainy business men, the
tireless teachers and tOilers and lead
| ers who have made possible and ap-
parent the civilization we now enjoy.
| I am the last man to deny the value
| and advantage, aye, the necessity, of
! all manner of human development.
But what shall it profit us. individu
| ally or socially, if, SURPRISING Greece
| for wisdom, the Romans for wealth,
the arts of France, the metaphysical
acumen of Germany, the landed pos
! sessions of Russia, the cOmmercial
| power of our English cousins, we
| shall attain material success at the
| expense of our souls life? 'For
| what doth. it profit a man to gain the
whole sum total of material things
/! and have forfeited his soul fife with
in God?"
The highest measure of success Is
| the permanency of achieved results.
The test of service is in the worthi-
ness of the 1abors to which our efforts
have been applied. If sound money
is more important than sound morals
| then the teacher of political economy
| is of more value to the world than
the teacher of ethics, that is to say,
| Of the science of right living. If
| fleets are of more consequence than
| spiritually minded and Christ-moved
! men, then Morgan with his mer-
| chant marine is mightier than Moody
| with his Bible. If cash counterbal-
ances character then let us relegate
the Christ life to its proper, that is
| to say, the second, place in our
| scheme Of living If policy is better
than principle and gain at any cost
superior to righteousness, then Let
us hoist the Jolly Roger to the fore
peak of the ship of State and de-
clare ourselves the moral pirates that
we are. But am persuaded that we
do not value the material more than
! manhood. I am sure that funda-
4 mentally we do believe that princi-
pie, purity and godliness are more OF
account than all else in life. We are
all conscious Of the beauty, the no.
bility, the transcendent Importance
of the culture of the soul. There is
4 not man, or but few. men anywhere