Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-11-07

every current every gust of wind that
throws the prov of that boat even a
few feet off It's course, that trembling
needle at once shows the change At
once his strong hands grasp the han
dies OF his wheel and the boat is pull.
ed back upon It's right course These
currents and winds and waves are
continually causing the PROV of the
boat to head wrong. Thus the quar-
termaster has to be always needing
the warning OF his compass. So with
the human heart God has placed
within every human breast a moral
compass called conscience. That con.
science Is increasingly at work. 1t ia
perpetually showing man the error Of
his way and pointing to the right
course. Conscience is continually say
ing: "You ought to do this because 1t
is right. You ought not to do that be-
cause ii Is wrong" And no man,
care not how low he may be in the
scale Of humanity, Is without this
flaming torch OF conscience showing
him the path Of purity and truth. Is
there any other animal on earth that
has a moral compass qulvering and
trembling In his heart besides the hui
man animal2
II you are careful student Of zool-
ogy, you know that without excep-
ton the maternal instinct Of all AMI
mails but the human being ceases when
the young are weaued and able to care
for themselves. Among the birds, aft
er the lodgings have been taught to
fly, the parents have absolutely no use
or love for their young. Among the
fishes, which are a lower form OF life
we do not find the parents caring at
all for their young. The salmon swim
up the rivers at spawning tlno. They
deposit their eggs in The shallow wa
ters. Then the mother fish at once be.
comes n caunibal and will eat her
young If she has the chance. But in
the human family everything Is chang
ed. There love has its throne. There
human heart clings to human heart
There the old love the young and the
young love the old. There the strong
help the weak and the weak help the
strong. Though in some human hearts
growth, yet everywhere In man you
: can find the moral compass telling hi1n
what 10 his duty TO his fellow men.
There Is no eye so dull but II can spar
kle at the thought Of some sacrifice.
There Is no ear so deaf but 1t QuiverS
at the wall of anguish. There is no
hand so weak hut it grasps the hand
of some other human being in friend
ship. There Is no human heart SO dead
but in it somewhere can be found af-
lection pulsating with life. Yes, the
lowest form of human being is infinite
ly above the highest form of the brute
creature, for in every human heart is
the trembling needle Of the moral
compass pleading with man to he q
better man than he is and showing
him his duty to his fellow men. Hon
} or all men" On account OF their pow
! ers Of affection, however meager they
may be- honor all men.
Judge Not HarshIy.
But there is another reason why we
should heed the injunction Of my text.
We should honor all men because of
|
most of them have gone before they
have yielded to the calls Of sin and
cut themselves adrift from their own
higher ideals and from the love and
respect of their fellow men 1t is easy
to sit superciiousy upon the self
righteous thrones Of our own gilded
egotism and look down upon the fall
en- and the low and say, I'VE would
not have done as they did If we had
been in their place" 1t is a far diff
ferent matter to have had the same
environment as they and to have
turned out differently.
! The older | grow the less harshly
judge the moral weaknesses and short
: comingS of those who fall into sin. In
1 nearly every case | have investigated
| have found that these so called social
: outcasts had certain trials and temp
tations, injustices practiced against
them. which would have flung me if In
: my own strength | had been com
i PEELED to contend against them. Then
, might have turned out as badly Il.
4 they did. This fact Is not only true
4 about the men and women whom
: meet in daily life, but also of those
$ whose crimes have become the hor
g ror and the loathing of two hemis
4 pheres. If you will investigate the
! causes Of crime with an impartia
0 mind you will be compelled to become
j more and more lenient in your criti
q cisms, as all men should.
I Men do not start out intending t.
f be bad. They do not want to be enc
+ mics Of society, but the temptations o.
i life sometimes fame up in the blood
!. on account of the sins of their ances
e tors CT on account OF their own evi
y surroundings, or intustices are prac
g ticed upon them, or wrongs have beef
e done them. They are battered ant
Z beaten and trodden in the dust unit
l. at last they arise, desperate. Thel
l. their evil passions are let loose, ant
It their hate Of the world breaks like ,
l. destroying confagration. So, ID,
e friends, before you judge men harshl!
:. think Of the temptations which the.
Is have had to meet. Think how made
( quate is their human strength to over
s. come those temptations. Think o
% what you would have done had yol
d been placed In their surroundings witt
j. their tainted ancestral blood. II 20,
do nil thia will Won not hov q hatta