The Newtown bee., 1907-05-17
LITTLE SERMONS.
MANNERS AND MORALS.-BY o. o.
 WRIGHT.

MANNERS AND MoRALs.-BY o. O.. WRIGHT.
 Be not deceived: evil companionships cor | rupt good morals" Cor 15:3S
 Conduct is the flower and fruit of
 character. Manners grow out of morals. The outward life is the eX-
 pression of the inward man of the
 spirit. The external has vital and natural correspondence with the 1n- ternal. Even though a man may seek to screen his real self behind the mask of his flesh and the conventionalitit S of social intercourse, the mark of the
 man is nevertheless set upon him, and will sooner or later betray him. h. deed, to one who by the spirit of truth
 discerns the spirit of man, the hypo- crite has little power to deceive.
 It is often the case that a man de- ceives himself:most when he thinks he
 is deceiving others. The spirit in man
 can discern and understand the spirit
 of his fellow man; and the spirit of
 God reads the heart of man as though
 it had been written in book. "Keep
 wise man, 'fOr out of it are the issues of life." The heart in the Scriptural
 sense of the word refers to the whole
 inner spiritual man. Not only to the
 motives, feelings, affections and de- sires, but also to the will, the aims,
 
 the thoughts and intellect. The heart
 is the conscious, hidden life which
 moves one to speak and act.
 In common speech we refer to the
 heart, or breast as the seat of some or all of the mental faculties, and especially of the emotions; because
 probably, our strong feelings appear to have their origin in the region of that
 vital organ. It is the natural language of sensation and observation. Joy. sorrow, love, and hate, pity and anger, and all strong or violent emotions effect
 the action of the heart, and so by a figure of speech we put the physical organ for the mental and moral facul- ties and the sensations they produce on our minds and bodies, for the moral qualities which they signify. In a more scientific way of speaking, per haps, we should say that the heart is thel social and moral affections and emotions. But in any case what we mean is that the heart is the fountain of oneS' life, and that our moral con duct has it's roots in our character. Behind and beneath our manners we the morals.we find our man. This doctaine as St Pan Ra sa2s a9ss''ao to the Romans: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" And as the Lord Himself taught: "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit"
 Given pure heart, and we look for a good conscience and a right conduct of life. Make the tree good and we But if the tree is evil, we have no reason to look for good fruit.
 Now this is the point of utmo st practical importance in the every day life of the world. In the nature of the case mans success and happi- ness must depend upon how he stands related to other men. The individual is component part of society; and only segment of our common human ity. Every one is therefore depend ent upon others in one way or another. No man can live unto himself alone. Our lives depend not only upon what we are, but also upon what we are to ter is not alone in what he is in him. self, but in what he is to others. We are known by our com mpanionships.
 The fundamental differences in men are moral differences. A man is es- sentially good or he is bad. Not that anyone is wholly one or the other in his conduct; but tbe question is whether mans manner of life and grow out of morals that are sound or unSound in motive and principle. If one is simply mistaken, or misled, we do not condemn the man, but his actions, while we pity him and seek to set him right; but if he seeks evil companions and prefers bad manners and means to do wrong with intent and forethought, we can but but the mark of moral discount against his name. He chooses his own company and keeps it.