The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1911-11-23

report; if there be any virtue, and if there
| be any praise, think on these things
Philippians. ". 8.
There are today more people than
ever before asking the question, What
| is right?" They have been led to
ask this question by an arousal of Goa
science from lethargy that at one time
seemed to be as binding as prison
chains. In this reawakening the
chUch hos played a most important
| par, b6N its appeals have been sec
onded by moralists and even by states
men. Today the question, What is
right?" is asked not only in personal
| morals, but in the larger affairs of
| life, and to the extent that there is
greater effort for higher standards
of morality and of religious prac.
tees.
The question is an old one. 1t has
| been asked by man since first he knew
there was right which might be dis
tinguished from wrong 1t has been
discussed in all it's phases, and St.
Paul in his letter to the Philippians
| exhorts them in the words of our text
He tells them that right is what is
true, what is honest, what is just, what
is pure and lovely and Of good re-
port" His exhortation is as peril
nent today as then, and his definition
as complete. Let US first consider
men, not things.
A great many men are true so far
as their standards permit them to be.
| There are others who seek constant ell
ovation OF standards so that they may
be nearer the ideal true man. To be
true man means to be truthful in
| thought, In speech, in act, to be devoid
| OF DISSEMINATION, to be right and to be
| just what you seem to be; to DO loyal
to all that is good and devoted to tho
| furtherance Of good. Such man in
variably answers the question What
| is right?" correctly, and his answer
has the respect OF his fellow men.
A great many men are honest so
far as the demands of relationship
with other men may go, and few go
| beyond this point and are honest with
| themselves as well as with their fell
! lows. In their transactions they have
no doubts, no regrets, no sufferings
! of conscience. They make every
transaction closed transaction in
every sense of the word They are
| right. Such men are the examples Of
| honesty that should be emulated
Men are just in the measure that
| they mete to their fellow men; and
some Of them are just to the extent
that they heap the measure to over
| flowing. They neither weigh to the
ounce. nor exact their pound of flesh
| as old ShylOck did If anything. they
are just to the point of generosity and
| have the satisfaction of knowing that
they have given full value or full
credit to all with whom they come in
contact.
Most men are pure to the extent
that they have no faults or vices that
stamp them as immoral. There are
others whose thoughts even are pure
and to whom impurity is absolutely OBJ
noxious. They think good and as the
]
| act well. These are the men at whom
the finger of suspicion never points.
but are always held as models after
which we should pattern.
Men who are truly honest, Just and
! pure, men whose thoughts are always
! upward, are men of good report. They
have unassailable regulations support
ed by unimpeachable characters. They
ask the question, What is right?"
from the innermost recesses of their
souls. and answer it with all the en-
! lightenment Of conscience and spirit
ual guidance that God can give them
They are always men of good report
and always will he so long as they
| possess the virtues that the apostle
! has enumerated.
| know that the apostle tells the
! brethren to think of things that are
true, honest. pure. lovely and of good
report" 1t is by thinking of these
things that men become honest, true
and just. The apostle asks them not
only to think but to reason, for he
says that IF there is any virtue in
| these things, if there be any praise"
| thinking of them will bring them into
their lives and cause them to be CRATE
full for the good they receive. Men
who think honestly, men who try to be
conscientious gain for themselves all
the good that can be derived from
right thought and pure thinking. And
that good is ability to think straight,
/ and answer correctly the question,
what is right?"
OF course there Is no absolute right.
Men do not think alike. They have
not the same standards, nor the same
conceptions, and yet they have one
standard of right and their conception
of that standard will always grow bet
ter and better the more they study Il.
That standard was set by Christ. Paul
studied it, and his wonderful growth
in spirituality enabled him to tell the
Philippians what they should think
about, for he knew that the man who
was true. honest, just and pure. the
man who regarded things that were ell
evating and of good report, would be-
come the man who would be able soor-
er or later to answer more exactly tho