The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-09-10

themselves. Society Is not ashamed
Of him, and he need not be ashamed
Of himself
The shame of being found out may,
of course, induce this better feeling,
and be the beginning of nobler and
more stable moral life. II is one of
the blessed functions of punishment
20 offer us this point of departure as
he house of Israel through the shame
Of idolatry reached a loathing of 1t
that ultimately made II impossible in
Israel. Welcome the retribution
which brings us self-knowledge; well
come the detection which makes us
ashamed and makes us distrust our
selves at last; welcome the punish
ment which gives repentance of sin;
welcome the exposure which finds us
out because II makes us at last find
out ourselvesl All true knowledge is
self-kncwledge. All true exposure is
self-exposure. The true judgment is
self-judgment The true condemna-
ton is when a man captures and tries
and condemns himself. Real repent
9nce means shame, the shame of self
hat he should have permitted him
self to fall so far below himself, and
have dimmed the radiance Of his own
soul. Long after others have for
gotten, II may still be hard for man
% forgive himself. Long after others
nave forgotten, he may still remem-
Der. To this sensitive soul, to this
iitalized conscience there may be even
wounds hidden TO all sight but his
own sight-and Gods AS the thief
Is ashamed when he is caught, the
house of Israel is ashamed, at last,
not because of the mere exposure, but
because of the ingratitude and wick
adness and folly that made an ex-
posure possibl1 and necessary. We
need to have the law written on our
hearts, to conform to that and not to
a set of outward social rules; we need
to walk not by the consent of men
but by the will of God. we need to
see the beauty of Christs holiness,
and then our sin will find us out,
though no mortal man has found it
out
AS the thief is ashamed when he
is found out. so the house of Israel
will be ashamed Shall be-must
be! We are only playing with the
! facts and forces of moral life if we
imagine it can be otherwise. Real
and ultimate escape from this self
exposure is impossible There is no
secrecy in all the world. Murder
will out" is the old saying, or old
superstition, II you will. The blood
cries from the ground It will out in
some form or other, though not al
ways by the ordinary detectives art.
RetTibution is q fact of life, whether
It comes as moralists and artists Of
all ages have depicted or not. Moral
life writes itself indelibly on nerves
and tissues, colors the blood. 1t
records itself on character. Any day
may be the judgment day, the day of
revealing. declaring patiently what is
and what has been. The geologist
by a casual cut of the earth can tell
the story Of the earths happenings
by the strata that are laid bare, de-
posit on deposit. The story of our
life is not tale that is told and then
done with. II leaves its mark on the
soul. 1t only needs true self-knowl-
edge to let us see 1t all. 1t only needs
awakened memory to bring it all
oack It only needs the fierce light
% beat on 1t to show 1t up as 1t was
and is. There is nothing covered
/ hat shall not be revealed and bid
hat shall not be made known. There
| lore whatsoever We have spoken in
darkness shall be heard in the light,
and that which ye have spoken in the
| ear in closets shall be proclaimed
| lpon the housetops." Ashamed when
/ 1e is found out! If to be undetected
the only defense, it is to gamble
| against a certainty Found out we
| shall be, as we stand naked in the
'evealing and self-reyealing light.
Then shall we begin to say to the
mountains, Fall on us, and to ths
| hills, Cover us"
Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee