Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-15
Sunday Morning Talk.
Growth by Elimination.

That short. -stascato popular admoni-
ton, ''Cut it out" contains more good
sense than does the ordinary slang
phrase. 1t sets a man to thinking
about the part the knife plays in the
development of character. 1t implies
that we may be carrying along consid-
cradle baggage, or "impedimenta,' as the
Romans used to call it. of which we
would be better rid. 1t suggests that a
time measurement of a human life in
cludes not simply what it takes on, but
what it sloughs off from week to week
and year to year
We should all doubtless agree that
those things which are positively bane-
full ought to be eliminated. Jesus was
SO drastic as once to say: IF thine eye
offend thee pluck it out; if thy hand
offend thee cut it off, He meant that
if those splendid organs were perverted
from their high and holy uses. If the
seeing organ became so diseased that
it could behold only impurity in the
world about ii and if the doing organ
could only lend itself to acts of deceit
and violence. their owner would be bet
ter off without them.
Yet certain vices and habits become
so deep rooted that the only cure is to
cut them out and cast them from thee. "
AS the Salvation Army people put it:
Quit your meanness." Just stop short
in your tracks and have done with the
demoralZing thing. We may not hear
the voice from heaven as plainly as Bun
yam thought he did on Bedford common,
saying wilt thou leave thy sins and go
to heaven or wilt thou stay in thy sins
and go to hell?" But the inner conviction
becomes just as strong that the way for
us to be free from humiliating bonds is
to snap them altogether.
Certain other indulgences may not be
intrinsically harmful, but they ought to
be cut out too in the interests of the
larger life. Conceit, pompousness. acute
senstiveness. Stiffness in its various
guises are all fit subjects for the knife.
College life usually takes these things
out of a man by the end of freshman
year. and in the great outside world no
one is really deceived by the strut OF
the vain or the foolshness of the silly,
or by pretenses of any kind. So. preacher.
cut the note of cant and pathos out of
the sermon; and, politician. stop playing
70 the galleries, and. merchant. cease
claiming that you have a monopoly of
the best goods plus the absolutely low
est prices in town.
The knife may also be applied profit
ably to host of inconsequential things
that consume time and energy that
might be better employed. Most of us
sooner or later become obsessed with the
idea that we must go to everything that S
going simply because everybody else will
away. We get feverish in the attempt
to keep up with the newest books or the
latest styles. But were you ever Ill for
several weeks when you had to stay
away from things? What you were los
ing seemed of little moment compared
with the recovery of health. Or were
you ever out of the country for a sum-
mer when you did not read the gossip
of the American papers? If SO. perhaps
you realized on your return that you
hadn't after all missed a great deal of
Importance compared with the rewards of
d European trip.
We could all toss aside with profit
some present interests and ENDORSEMENTS
so as to have time and strength for the
big and abiding things. Base ball, foot
ball dress. parties. the drama, innumer-
able clubs and social cOnventions-who
would say that any of these diversions
was harmful in itself? But who would
say that any one or all together were
worth the investment of an entire human
life? THE PARSON.