Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-09
THE sELF-MAsTERED LIFE.
Terse Comments Upon the Christian
Endeavor Topic for September t2,
Temperance in All Things
! Cor. 9: 1927.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

Paul, uDl1k6 some modern IelSlouS
leaders. kept himself in touch with all
phases of human life, so that he might
we'll have been the author of the great
epfgram Il am man, and nothing
that is human is foreign to me-" There.
fore he was familiar with The games
of the city in which he had lived. and
to which he was writing the present
letter. So he drew upon these notable
athletic meets for figure to express
a profound religious truth: II there
fore SO run, as not uncertainty; SO
fight /, as not beating the air; but
bruise my body, and bring it into bond
age
The place of the body is a second
place. The gross forms of thought
and practice which put the body first
are foes of human progress. Man is
not man at his best until he has won
complete dominion over that unruly
creature, his own body.
There is a sort of doormat religion
which believes that the supreme yir-
tue is in making ones self to be OF
no account ESTABLISHMENT; the
shrinking from aggressive endeaYor.
and a sort Of self-conscious humility
are marks of this mistaken philos-
ophy Paul did not belong in any such
crowd. He believed in being winner,
and not in ascribing his failures to
| any mock modesty. His motto, given
to the Corinthians, is a good one for
present day young people: Even SO
! run, that We may attain" Get out OF
| the great horde Of excusers and be-
come a doer. In colloquial speech. be
not a has been" or "a might have
| been but an User Whatever him
dcrs proper success is a weight; cast
| it off. Even Sc run, that ye may at
| tain.
Any Indulgence which leaves per-
son with lessened powers is dissipa-
| ton. ard to be included in the tenn
perate persons catalogue OF Thou
| shalt nots."
The trulg self-mastered life is the
| Christ-mastered life. That is the story,
written in letters of gold in the an
nails of the rescue missions and the
churches. when the Kelley cure
fails. try the Calvary cure said
mission worker to crowd of down
and outs. That advice has been tested
and found good. In the McAuley Mis-
sion. down in Water street, New
/ York. may be found sons of wealth
whom money could not save, college
men whom education could not save,
once successful men whom strong
wills could not save; but who joyfully
confess that they have been redeemed
by the power of the Lord Jesus
] Christ
They who are temperate in all
things will be even temperate in their
talk about temperance!
! All excess begets distress.
The reins of the body must be Civ
en- into Christ's hands ere he can full
" reign over the soul.
There is a beautiful social ideal to.
ward which all dreamers look 1t con
ceives Of community wherein men
and women have subjected their lower
/
/ great goals of mutual helpfulness and
self-inlprovement. Because brother
hood is the standard of that perfect
society. no man SINS against himself;
for it is impossible for one member
of body to be hurt without loss and
injury to all There have been at
tempts to legislate this golden age
into existence, but they always have
i failed. and always will fail. since only
new and regpant life principle. even
the impaired character of Christ. in
the hearts of individuals. can intro
duee a brotherhood that will be real
and workable. We are steadily pro
crossing toward this long-desired
morning; but when it dawns it viii
not be called the Golden Age. nol
Utopia. nor Socialism but the King
dom of Heaven.
The first service anybody can rem
der society is to present it with &
strong. symmetrical and self-restrain
ed individual member.
A few weeks ago the newspapers
made much of dispatch from Wash
ington reporting a heavy decrease il
government revenues. owing to The
, diminished consumption of strons
) drink. The impression was conveyed
perhaps unintentionally-by the ar
) ticle. that a serious i'll had befalle1
the nation. Yet anybody with the pow
: err to look even an inch behind th,
: surface of things read the news will
jubilation. For it meant, not that tn,
5 country is poorer. but richer. TIL,
: money represented by the figures ha
! not gone out OF the country. That par
: ticular sum was only fraction 0
the amount of money that had beel
: diverted from the pockets of the sa
} loonkeeper and the brewer into thu
! tills of the grocer. the baker. thu
, butcher the dressmaker. the clothie
: and the banker. 1t meant that none,
! once wasted is now being spent TO
necessities; or else carefully saved
4 or the gain to sobered manhood. moth
: / in>s naeI ha said evnAnt that Aha AlA<