The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1912-02-08
Our Duty to Ourselves
Robert C. PoGue.

hOOS4O =. rogue.
AS God Of all has permitted US the
profound pleasure OF living in this
old world of trouble and strife one
more week, I am with you once more.
We should be thankful that we are
here and we should strive to do our
duty, for duty rounds the whole Of
life, from our entrance into it until
our exit from it. There is the duty
to superiors, to Interiors, to equals,
to God and to man. Wherever there
is power TO use or direct, there is a
duty deyolying upon US. Duty is a
thing that is due and must be paid
by every man who would avoid pres
ent discredit, and eventual moral
insolvency. It is an obligation, a
debt, which can only be discharged
by voluntary effort and resolute
action in the affairs OF life. The
abiding sense Of duty is the very
crown Of character. 1t is the uphold
ing law Of man in his highest atti-
tudes. Without it the individual tot
ters and falls before the first puff Of
adversely or temptation; whereas,
inspired by it, the weakest become
strong and full Of courage.
Duty is based upon a sense of JUS
tice-justice inspired by love-Wnich
is the most perfect form Of goodness.
Duty is not sentiment, but a prin-
ciple pervading the life, and it exhib-
its itself in conduct and in action.
Duty is above all consequences and
often, at crisis of difficulty, COM
mands US to throw them overheard.
1t commands us to look neither to
the right nor to the left, but straight
forward. Every single act Of duty
is an act of faith. It is performed
in the assurance that God will take
care of the consequences, and will so
order the course of the world that,
whatever the immediate results may
be His word shall not return empty.
The voice of conscience speaks in
duty alone, and without its regulat-
ing and controlling influence the
brightest and greatest intellect may
be merely as light that leads astray.
We all have good and bad in us.
The good would do what it ought to
do; the bad doe< what it can. The
good dwells in the kingdom of duty;
the bad sits on the throne of might
Duty is loyal subject; might is
royal tyrant. Duty is the evangel
of God that proclaims the acceptable
year of the Lord; might is the
scourge of the world that riots in
carnage, groans and blood. Duty
gains it's victories by peace; might
conquers only by war. Duty is a
moralist resting on principle; might
is wording seeking for pleasure.
These are the inward principles con-
tending with each other in every
human soul.
1t is the duty of every parent to
strive to their utmost to give their
children an education, for without
this all important, and necessary
link there will not be very bright
prospects for one, in these days of
LIES struggles. From time immem-
orable intellectual endowments have
been crowned with bays of honor.
Men have worshipped at the shrine
of intellect with an almost Eastern
idolatry. Education is development,
it is not simply instruction, facts, and
rules communicated by the teacher,
but it is discipline, waking up, a
development Of latent powers, q
growth of the mind. It finds the
child's mind passive; it trains it to
think Independently; it aims to bring
into harmonious action all the pow
ers Of the mind, not, as some sup
pose, a cultivation of few to the