The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-04-10
|: n Saturday
Serftlof,ette

F"Past feeling" 7
This is a little phrase picked +
's from pauPs inspired writings. T
+ And what it describes is moral !!
j. and spiritual insensloillty. And =
T. this is a most dangerous state in I
Il which to be-''past feeling" I
+ Suppose that, physically, one I
+ were past feeling" Suppose the !
e auditory nerves telt no beating !
j. sound waves; suppose the eye felt =
I. no CLINT Of sunlight; suppose the !
= sense of smell caught and felt no !
+ odor of rose or of slum; suppose 4
- une palate were unt.ckled by i
+ choicest viands; suppose the flesh :
- Ielt no blister of burning coal or 4
T. bite Of frost; suppose the body :
= o. a beloved one were suddenly ::
+ put past feeling" how would i
t. it impress you? All, it would 1
! shock and startle You. You i
would cry, in the hoarseness of I
j. alarm and despair, death looks !
+ in at the door, And you would +
= hurry for assistance.
+ Suppose that as to business, I
*men were past feeling" WHAT +
:. would happen? You know. Ev- :.
+ cry enterprise would die. Fires +
+would die out in the furnaces. !
+ Banks would close. Even the I
+ thief would cease to steal !
~ Suppose that, periodically, our +
+ citizenship were "past feeling" :
+ That would, automatically, with +
+ out the stir of a foot or the lift +
+ ing of a hand, sound the knell of /
i our institutions. Suppose that +
*as to all the finer graces of life, =
j. men were past feeling" Faith, +
+ friendliness, hope, joy, patience +
+ would go out in utter darkness +
j. and the world would be but +
! charnel house. In all these n.y. /.
*pothetic cases, if there remained 1.
+ anywhere one spark of feeling, it 1.
+ would strive to wake the world to 1.
+ feel again. +
+ But we see thousands chilled {.
+ with the benumbing deafness of +
+ moral and spiritual insensibility; +.
+ and yet we can be quite COM +
+ PLEASANT about it. AS to the +
+ great matters of faith in God, du- +
*ty to their fellow men and the +
i last long outlook into the vast +
+ forever, just multitudes are past +
+ feeling" AS to those mighty +
+ verities before which the wisest +
+ and the truest of our race have :
1. stood awed and abashed,, and for +
+ the adjustment of which, even +
4 God has spared not His own dear +
+ Son, thousands are as insensate =
j. as stones. They have stifled con- +
:! science, and hardened their hearts 4
+ against the appeals of God till +
+ they are "past feeling" These +
+ are not all the british, the crim-'r
+ inal, the debauched and the de- +
+ graded. They are the respecta- +
+ BILE, the well-dressed, the SNUG, +
+ self-complaisant Pharisees. One +
+ of the most unfeeling men / ever +
+ saw-indifferen to Gods calls-f'
twas zone of our most respected +
+ fellow citizens" as a local paper +
+ called him. +
+ We are anxious that the streets +
+ be sanitary, the water pure, the =
+ food supply unauthorized, the So =
+ cial and political conditions clean. +
+ And all this is WELL But if we +
+ would have these and all other +
+ good things at their best, the ba- +
+ sic consideration is to electrify +
+ every possible individual with +
+ that high tensioned spiritual SEN +
+ sibility that will make them feel, =
+ first their own, and, then, anoth- +
+ er's woe; and stir them to seek I
+ its betterment. J. NJ. B. +