Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-03-15
BRAND MARKS.
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By Henry F. Cope.
l bear in my body the marks of the
Lord Jesus-Gal. vi, Il.
In the moral world one does not
have to wear a button to show where
he belongs. He is branded so plainly
that there seldom is any mistake. The
marks of character are more reliable
than any other means of classlhcatloh.
The wolves may go into the church, but
that does not make their hair curly.
And there are sheep outside whose
characters speak louder than any other
confession of faith possibly could do.
You may get all kinds of indorse-
ments from others, but your real letter
of credit on the bank of character you
write for yourself. Character sets its
indelible record on the features, the
form the very fashion of the lie.
There are no secret sins, nor are there
secret virtues The things done IN the
closet cry aloud from the housetop;
they proclaim themselves in the phySl-
cal appearance. and still more in the
unconscious moral atmosphere and ema-
nation of the life.
A bad man may have a clear eye and
a firm chin but the grand marks or
character will be seen in the mouth or
the hand Above all, they will be felt
by every sensitive soul that approaches
him. The separation between the sheep
and the goats does not have to wait for
some final Judgment day the judgment
is now and the marks of differentiation
are so plain that all may see them.
The sears of sin never wash out, nor
does the passage OF time wholly eradl-
cate them Despite all the good of each
life. David still bears the marks of his
fall, Peter of his denial Burns of de-
bauclery, Byron Of lust, Coleridge of
| indulgence. Our lost years do not re-
turn our wasted opportunities come no
more. The tracks made in the soul by
habits, though no longer used, are
there still.
But the side of degeneracy is not ALL
The law that inner character stamps
the outer life works for good as effect
ually as for ill., He who thinks high
thoughts will lift up his head and in
his eye the light of heaven will shine
Whose loves things noble shall become
noble There is no hiding the good in
man; it, too. cries aloud. An honest
man needs no advertising; he cannot
wholly hide himself.
! The expectation that you actually
can be one thing and appear to be an
other is doomed to disappointment.
Hypocrisy is the saddest failacy in the
world. The DISCUSSES of the pretender
are so thin that the simplest see
| through them. What you are speaks SO
loud as to drown altogether any decla
rations you may make of what you
wish men to think you are. The de-
ceiver deceives no one but himself
How many there are who recognize
this law working in others who yet
| hope to escape it themselves. They
! seek to erect a wall between their life
in public and in private. On one side
! they exhibit the upright. respectable
citizen on the other is the man of dew
ious ways. of devilish imaginations, of
| foul thoughts and base, sOrdid greed,
or injustice and oppression. How long
/ does duplicity appear as sincerity?
How long is it before both sides are
known to all who know either one?
Before his dreadful crime became
known men felt that there was some
| thing fearful hidden in the breast of
| Eugene Aram You are known, and
your whole destiny is determined, by
your whole self and not by that part
alone which you prepare especially for
publicity.
He does we'll who guards the door of
| his heart, who keeps the springs of
character from pollution, who builds
up in strength and beauty the sources
of life. Ideals, aspirations, secret
thoughts, imaginations, habits, and
companionships determine character,
| and character is destiny Well for us
if the world may trace in us something
that reminds of the good and great; see
marks Of having companied with such
| an one as the son of man and having
learned of him.