Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-03-13
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sELF-MAsTERY.
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BY Rev. Junius B. Remensnyder
But keep under my body and bring
Il into subjection.-I. Col. TX. u.
Every man Is a king, and to him Is
given the scepter OF kingdom. His
body is full of vital forces and his spir-
it Of vast and turbulent powers. II
he controls, masters, holds these well
in hand his will be successful ana
happy life. But If he allows these
powers to run wild, to know no hrm
rein, to riot at caprice, his life VIII be
a failure and wreck.
The apostle here, first Of all, calls at
tention to the need of bodily self-mas-
tery. "I keep under my body" The
body is our most excellent servant, but
a tyrannous master. It's appetites and
passions must be governed, subjected
to discipline. That the body Is largely
the seat of temptation and that, as our
text says, ut must be kept under" Is
the secret of the value of the church
season of Lent. 1t means that 1t is
better to deny the body than to lose
the soul.
Again, keep under the heart, the af-
fections and temper. The heart feeds
the engines of the soul and Is the nurs-
ing fire that moves it to deeds. A real
man will be master of his thoughts,
feelings and desires. That the world
does not see them does not concern him.
He sees them and he will not tolerate
that which Is not clean, just and noble.
Here 1t is, In this inner secret cham
Der, that men and women are made or
unmade AS a man thinketh In his
heart, so is he. He who keeps under
discipline his impulses and affections
will be master Of his words He will
not be at the mercy of his temper He
will not speak hasty words. His out
breaks will not pain those who love
MIN. He will be cool under public
stress, judicious in speech, calm under
trial, kind and gentle In his home. In
any test he will illustrate the Scrip
rure: "He that ruleth his spirit is bet
ter than he that takeh ely"
To true self-mastery we must keep
under the spirit of selfishness. This
tendency is one of the most insldious
and powerful In human nature. The
great majority of people almost uneon-
Sciously lead selfish lives. Their hearts
do not go out in true brotherhood. They
do not enter into fellowship with need
and suffering. They pass by on the
other side" OF scenes OF sorrow and
woe.
Sir Philip Sidney. as writer, soldier
and courtier, was the admiration Of his
age. But his noblest act was when dy-
Ing from bullet wound on the field Of
battle, he instantly handed the water
brought to quench his burning thirst to
a wounded soldier carried by whom he
saw looking eagerly at 1t, wlth the re-
mark, "They necessity is yet greater
than mine" Such fine self-repression
can come alone from a discipline Of
obedience to the rule: Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as myself"
The struggle for self-mastery is the
secret Of individual fate. Victory or
defeat, salvation or ruin hang on the
issue. This is the temptation that puts
every man, woman and youth to the
test, to tell of what moral stuff they
are made.
1t Is ruin to anyone" says Ruskin.
IT he let's himself alone, does not keep
himself under the curb and spur of dis
elpline."
So Virgil ir Dante's great poem first
takes the poet through all the expert
enees of hell and purgatory and then
leaves him to be his own guide, saying:
Master over thyself / now crown and
mitre thee"
To gain this self-control REQUIRES n
sharp fight against our lower nature
and success can alone be won with the
the help OF God. Here religion offers
her supreme aids Prayer. the Bible
and the church, with her uplift TO
heavens altar, and perilous and won
aerful Is that course before every soul
life on earth, with it's dangers and
friumphs and then the spirits flight
amid the stars.
And the first requisite needed for this
great venture is self-mastery, that thou
hast myself, body and spirit all rhv
powers and fates under wise and firm
control,