Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-05-17

in'o ollnd machine; your r,oo,o.
n4pia iisc is no more virtuous than anv
otnei lnacnlne. He lacks life and froo
uon ot cholce. Virtue is, first of all
II cannot be found with tho ovas
'nut NOT with the will atropbied
virtue is strength: if is mora,
spiritual health. 1t is not in DOING ~.
leaving undone; it is not in foolino
elIhef good or bad; it is not in son+f
lne1ts or doctrines, either false or +,.,o
- IS tnat perfect ordering, adjusting
0'lu ootHoWlng OF the whole inner life
when IN its more material and evil
uent aspects we call health and
sorehgth. The doing, feeling and +hink-
ing TOW from this right inner do+o,.
mlnating tone.
ne morally healthy man will love
the Things that are good and pure. hn
VIII loathe the base and defiling. On1v
uepraVed appetite turns to the oarh-
age can when there is a we'll spread
taOle waiting. Did we but understand
1t we would despise and fear still mora
that vicious inner appetite that turns
Tue "hole life toward things corrupt
ana rotten when there awaits on every
hand IN this fair world so much that is
beautiful and wholesome.
Have you ever thought how largely
nealth and strength depend ON tastes
and appetites? Who can be healthy
with a perverted craving to which he
yields? Such tastes depend on train
ing and cultivation. So it is with yir
tue; strength of the soul. health of the
heart lies on the road of the choice Of
things that are best, is acouired nv
the deliberate and constant choosing of
things that are right, pure, elevating.
virtue, then, rests ON faith, not blind
Dellef IN certain dogmatic statements.
but the upward look, the noble aspira-
ion, the high-mindedness that lifts I'D
the heart. 1t takes this spirit, this
ralth, this confidence in things unseen
to enable us to choose the best to cul-
tlVate the taste for the true food of
life. Otherwise the heart that was
meant to feed on the invisible bread
snatches the evident husks of earth
and it dies
There is no virtue without this faith
in high ideals, in things not seen. A
man may be just, he may be honest
and upright for policy, because it pays,
but he cannot find virtue as a matter
of policy. 1t is not in the market to
be bought 1t is acquired only as we
set the heart on character, as we learn
to love the good and true for it's own
sake.
This healthfulness of soul comes also
through struggle. Vice is made to
serve virtue as we strive against it.
Using moral muscles, we find and hard
en- them. He who fees temptation,
who shrinks from the soul searching
crises of life, misses the best that life
has to give. In the gymnasium of
temptation and trials the full strength
Of character is won. That does not
mean that one must seek out vice; it
means we must meet every foe to his
face.
Count him virtuous whose face is set
toward the light; who lives on a grade
that leads up; who is strong to serve
his fellows, to make better world, to
face and fight all things that spoil and
mar; who lives not for meat or money,
but for manhood, for truth and beauty.
For virtue is that habit Of the soul,
that health that comes from steadily
seeking things good and true, that
strength that comes from struggle and
service: it is the inner life victorious
over the outer temptation.