Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1908-09-24

darkenlRg Of heart and 0btuseness OF +
conscience can be paralleled among
ourselves. Is it not true that IN
social ethics the objectionable sin Is
to be found out? In many cases Il
Is not the thing itself that men fear
and condemn and are ashamed of,
but anything like exposure OF It.
There Is keen enough sensibility to
disgrace, but not for the thing itself
which is the disgrace. Men will do
things with an easy conscience for
which they would be ashemed-if I
they were found out. Our moral T
standard Of Judgment is so much Just /
that OF the community. Our con-
science is largely social conscience
merely: not individual and personal |
and vital. but imposed upon US by |
society, code of manners and rules |
which we must not transgress. It is |
no exaggeration to say that we live
more by this code, by the customs and
restraints OF society. than by the holy. |
law of God as a light to our feet and a |
lamp to our path. Much of this is
good. and represents the accumulated
gains OF the past, certain standard
Of living below which men are not ex-
spected to fall. a moral and even a
Christian atmosphere which affects rs
all and which is responsible for much
of the good that is in us. One only
needs to live for a little in a pagan
community to realize how much we
owe to the general Christian standard
OF our country, such as 1t is. At tbs
same time we must see how Insecure
this is as guard and guide to life.
A man might have a corrupt heart
and be filed with all lsevil passions.
l. hot Of
calnot take him to task for that, un-
less it gets something on which it can
| lay a finger. And apart even from
such deeper moral depths of charac-
ter, there may be actual transgres-
sions, but, until they are discovered
and proved, society must treat them
as IL they did not exist. A man might
be a thief, not only in desire and
heart. but in reality, but until he is
found out, he rubs shoulders with
| honest men everywhere as one OF
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. It is one of
the blessed functions of punishmen
to offer us this point of departure as
the house of Israel through the shame
of idolatry reached loathing of it
that ultimately made it impossible in
Israeli Welcome the retribution
which brings us acknowledges; 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;
/ hn hi nh nd a
out because it makes us at last find
out ourselves! 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
ance means shame, the shame Of self
: that he should have permitted him
!. self to fall 50 far below himself, and
|. have dimmed the radiance of his own
! soul. Long after others have for
!, gotten, it may still be hard for man
| to forgive himself. Long after others
, have forgotten, he may still remem-
, Der. To this sensitive soul, to this
( vitalized conscience there may be even
: wounds hidden to all sight but his
; own sight-and Gods. AS the thie1
is ashamed when he is caught, the
: house of Israel is ashamed, at last
3 not because Of the mere exposure, but
4 becAuse of the ingratitude and wick
edness and folly that made an ex
: posure possible and necessary. W.
: need to have the law written on oul
hearts, to conform to that and not tt
> set Of outward social rules; we neei
9 to walk not by the consent of mel
e but by the will of God: we need tt
: see the beauty Of Christ's holiness
d and then our sin will find us out
e though no mortal man has found i
t out.
"As the thief is ashamed when b.
e IS found out, so the house of Israe
will be ashamed" Shall be-mus
e be! We are only playing with tn
r facts and forces of moral life if W
= imagine it can be otherwise. Rea
Y exposure is impossible There is n
g secrecy in all the world. "Murde
z, will OUT is the old saying. or oil
e superstition, if you will. The bloc
!! cries from the ground It will out
'e some form or other, though not a
ways by the ordinary detectiye's ar
y Retribution is fact Of life, whethe
Ee it comes as moralists and artists {
'e all ages have depicted or not. Nor;
y life writes itself indelibly on nerve
u and tissues, colors the blood.
. records itself on character. Any da
le may be the Judgment day, the day ,
of revealing, declaring patiently what
le and what has been. The geologi
y by casual cut of the earth can te
III the story of the earth S happenin,
ae by the strata that are laid bare, d
ID posit> on deposit. The story Of o,
ct life is not tale that is told and the
OF done with. It leaves its mark on Il
"a soul. It only needs true self-knoV
ef edge to let us see it all. It only nee'
so awakened memory to bring it
:. back. It only needs the fierce lig
nd J to beat on It to show it UP as it "