Evening star., 1909-01-24
Man Vubo Sol0 nirnSelf. ="
DR.. u. G. B. Pierce, in Recent Sermon, Tells How
People Sell Themselves by Lowering
Moral Standard-.-Varying Prices

But there was none like Ahah. who did
sell himself according to all things as did
the Amorites, the twenty-fifth and twen-
ty-siXth verses of the twenty-first chapter
of l Kings. was the text of a recent ser
mon al All Souls Church, by Rev. Ulys-
ses G. B. Pierce. minister.
The man who sold himself: that is
a Characterization said the pastor. 'tha,
not many of envy, and yet. when we
stop to think OF it. to see wherein Ahat
sold himself. we at once discover that
every man is in danger of FORGETTING th&
estate of his manhood. He sold himself
by doing exactly as other people do; in
other words. he ceased to be an individ-
ual; he ceased to be a man of personal
affairs, but simply and absolutely sur
rendered himself to the majority in which
he lived. He was an absolute conform
St.
1T Is not worth while for moment
to mediate about that ard to see how
much We have to pay for the high estate
Of manhood or womanhood: how insidi-
GUS the temptations are that come to us
to lower ourselves in the scale OF crea-
ton: how, If we are not on our guard.
before We know il. we shall no longer be
free men, full men and women, but shall
simply be persons who have sold them
selves.
Remind Ourselves.
"At the outset let us remind ourselves
that this is not likely to come to man
or woman in the gross form in which it
is here presented. If we were offered any
amount of money IL we would surrender
or sell ourselves, forthwith. OF course, we
should refuse it. But the interesting and
important thing is that these temptations
rarely come to us in this gross, plain
and sensual way. Gradually, as it We're,
the moral temperature is lowered the
spiritual vitality is slowly sapped, into the
background OF our lives circumstances
and conventionalities paint an artificial
background so that our actions seem less
hideous than they really are, until, at
last, We are perhaps like the man who
has been suffering from a long illness,
who has been too busy to think of HIM
self or his mirror until. on the frs. day
OF his convalescence. he looks into the
glass and says. is that ~ Is this the
man who six months ago was walking the
streets in all vigor and strength? No;
this is only the shadow Of man. This is
the way these things come to us. We do
not forthwith sell ourselves; we do not
bargain outright for the thirty pieces
Of silver. but gradually our standard of
manhood or womanhood is lowered. until
at last 1t seems the most natural and
inevitable thing that We should do pre-
cisely the things that the Amorites sur
rounding us are doing
So 1t is worth while to diagnose the
case as one would say, to see the two or
three ways that our moral temperature
is lowered, to observe how our spiritual
vitality is in danger of being sapped with
out our knowing it, until the fatal day
shall come to us, and we shall try to do
the same thing, try to be a full man or
woman, and. like Samson shall say to
ourselves. i will go as at other times and
shake myself free.
And the first and most insidious way
of tapping and weakening our spiritual
vitality is in the gradual loss of self-ap-
preciation self-dispara cement.
Real Atheism.
THE real atheism OF the twentieth CEN
tury is not the atheism which in formula
denies the existence of God. That is rela-
lively a harmless thing though it is yul-
gar and rude IT is relatively harmless.
The awful atheism is disbelief and dis
trust In your own spiritual capacity and
destiny. And it is precisely as this be-
gins TO wane that a man is open to the
of the world, and when the
world says to him, How much? we an
swer, | am not read to set price now,
but name your highest and l will con-