Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-06-21
MORAL COURAGE NEEDED.
BY Rev. William NJ. Grosveno

MORAL COURAGE NEEDED.
By Rev. William M. Grosvenor.
And David said unto Saul, l cannot
go with these, for l have not proved
them. And he took his staff in his hand
and chose him five smooth stones out
of the brook and put them in a shep-
herds bag which he had, even in scrip
and his sling was in his hand; and he
| drew near to the Philistine.-I. Samuel
xvii, 1910.
| Thus early in his career did David
the shepherd boy assert the distinguish
| ing quality Of his life. He must be
| himself. He was gracious, tactful,
ready to try means which other people
wanted him to use. He was willing to
put on Sauls armor. He was always
| humble, ready to acknowledge his
faults, willing to receive advice, but
the one clear note which he always
! struck, a note with the ring of true
coin, was sincerity. When it comes to
| the battle he must have his own oft
used weapons; he must fight his own
way.
| All of us are sinners; all Of US have
our faults, but we venture to say that
| for all Of us to-day there is one clean
cut distinction that always remains in
our moral and intellectual judgment OF
men-do they ring true? When we
say, THAT man is square: he means
what he says; you can trust him. how
! that covers a multitude of sins.
He holds opinions with which we ut
terry disagree, but we say he is sincere
and we respect him. He is stupid, I'M
and we gladly tolerate him. He has
many faults; he is weak in will, per
| haps Incorporate, perhaps sensual,
swept on by forces of evil that have
| overwhelmed him, but he fights against
| them and is honest and manly and
| brave, and his words and deeds are
| full of good meaning, and we forgive
| him and love to help him. He is irrit-
| able and cursed with an unfortunate
manner; he is tactless and laundering.
| but he is as trustworthy as time and
as straight as an arrow, and we be-
| lieve in him.
And without it all the gifts of ma
| ture and of grace are marred and val
| ueless. Though he speaks with the
| tongues Of men and angels, the moment
we find him out and know that it is
all honeyed words and glittering I'M
realities the eloquence becomes as
| sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
| Though he has faith and goes to church
and sings hymns and utters prayers,
| and all the while is doing it for social
recognition or political influence OR
| business success, the moment we find
him out we call him hypocrite and dis
| miss him.
He may feed the poor and build hos
| pitfalls and colleges and churches and
| libraries, and yet, when we know, or
even imagine that we know, that he
| has oppressed the poor and been hard
as flint and stingy and unmerciful to
ali those who worked for him or dealt
| with him, no amount Of explanation
will ever redeem his one irreparable
| fault.
There is something very remarkable
ABOUT our Lords discrimination be-
| tween men. He has compassion on the
multitudes; He is most sympathetic
with physical suffering; He is most
merciful and tender with sinners and
outcasts. He is most tolerant with hon
| est debtors. He takes into the wide
| embrace of His arms outstretched upon
the cross, the whole tragic life of the
sin-sick world, but He turns with al
most savage fury on that mental and
! moral insincerity which made many of
the leading classes of His own day
children of the devil. He seems to say,
be true to yourself; bring better ideals
into your life.
It is that kind of manhood. simple,
frank, open, true to itself, that alone
will save our politics and our society
from the decentralization Of its unreali-
ties.
What we need supremely to-day is
moral courage Thousands of young
men and women would be saved from
moral ruin if they are only brave
enough to be true to themselves and
the real conviction of their hearts If
we know that gambling, intemperance
sersuality are dragging us down, the
first step to victory is to fling compro-
mise and all excuses aside and speak
cut frankly to our friends. If we
think a thing is wrong, let us boldly say
so. and then there will come to US the
larger courage to go on and win a
greater victory.