The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-19
Shall the Body RuIe2

Shall the Body Rule?
Terse comments for February 20, Tn |
temperance and Other Sins of the |
Body Rom. S:1-14. |.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
This is a big world and it holds |
many kinds Of people. Outside the |
circle known to us there are realms of |
life with which we are not in the least |
familiar. Large bodies of people, for |
instance. frankly accept and avow the |
rule of the body. They live for phys |
beyond the senses. They are carnaIly |
minded. To eat, to drink and be merry |
is their understanding of the supreme |
good. This type of person, and this
state of mind, must be taken into con-
sideration when we discuss what is
worth while in life. With aims and
standards directly at variance with
those which Christians profess, they
challenge the latter. A formidable
school of thought in our own time
champions the claims of the senses as
the supreme monitors. Do the things
you like to do. runs this reasoning;
obey those deeply inbred impulses
which religion has taught mankind to
master and restrain. Whether he
consciously and with def1niteness fronts
the question or not, every person must
choose which of these two contrasted
modes of life he will adopt. Shall the
body rule, or shall the spirit hold a
! tight reign over the flesh? Shall a
man fly the slogan, "I'u do as r
please or shall he adopt Paul's mot
| to, 81 keep ny body UNDER? That is
the question stated fundamentaily.
All philosophers concerning intemper-
| ance. epicureanism or ascetism, self
| indulgence or self denial, go directly
back to that propositions: Shall the
body rule?
A wise writer has said. 1--WE have
| bodies; we are SOULS
Every tool should be kept for its
| highest use. To use a penknife as a
screwdriver. or a tablefork as a cork
screw, is commonly disastrous to the
penknife or the fork: and it usually
fails to accomplish it's object. So a
life should be employed for its worth
lest end. The personality that has
rare and noble spiritual possibilities
| should not be lived on the baser level
of kinship with the lower creature.
The Godward rather than the beast
ward side of man should be cultivated.
If self restraint is divine, and self in
diligence is carnal. then plainly the
wise way for a human being is to do
the divine thing. and to employ his
finer, higher faculties.
Whoever filings the reins of his life
into the hands of passion, puts an IN
trained slave into the kings seat
The body IS only a tool: 1t is the
spirits means of self expression.
One of the strong absolute state
mentS of Scripture is that 1.-THE mind
of the flesh is DEATH In other words,
the person who lives only for the sem
. sations of the body has already begun
: to die: like man who has been at
tackled by slow paralysis. which stead
, lily creeps to the vital organs. If slang
! may be used reverently, we may say
/ that already the carnally minded per-
/ statement of Scripture has a brighter
side: for Paul goes on to say that ''The
: mind of the flesh is DEATH but the
5 mind of the spirit is life and peace
Over against this way OF death opens
) the portal OF the way of life. To be
spiritually minded is to be alive, and
in an increasing degree. Physical
y pleasures pail with usage. and finally
/ the capacity for them disappears. But
r spiritual mindedness enlarges with the
! passage of time until ultimately it
: blends with the full free and royal life
: of eternity.
: Self knowledge, self reverence, self
These three alone lead life to sovereign
t power. -Tennyson.
al The best life is not the beast life.
). A mans life, says one, is measured
/. by the number of things to which he
n is alvie. II he is alive to higher things
4 he will live the higher life; to larger
a things, the larger life; to lower things
! the lower life; to base things, the base
e life.
I hold it truth with him who sings,
To one clear harp in divers tones
y That men may rise on stepping stones
y OF their dead selves to higher things
-Tennyson.
Is The body is the best servant but the
10 worst master.
Every thoughtful person has at SOM
;. time or other faced the question of
II possible emancipation from thralldon
=: to the appetites of the physical nature
Is Is there not a power above and be
u, yond man to help him amid the beset
30 | mentS of his lower nature? The Chris
IL tian religion teaches that there is. TIL
L mysteriously impaired Spirit of Jesu
u is given to man to help him to be NOR
than man. II is ''by the Spirit tina
ne we are to put to death the doings o
m the body. Or as that other reasoning
10 word summarizes even this truth
rs where the Spirit of the Lord is, Their
e. Is liberty
sh SEVEN SENTENCE SERMONS.
It is not so much the prayer, but TIL
60 prayer that moves the heart Of Goo
w. H. TerrItt
The world we're passing through !
Gods world as much as any we'r
en- aanging to.-Edmund Garrett.
al y = y