Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-08-22
Self-Denial the Law
Of Life for Men and
Nahons---By Gambler

tion of discipleship in the Christian re-
ligion. IF any man will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me-" So said the Mas
ter, and in so saying he fixed the law of
self-sacrifice at the very core of Chris
tian experience.
If self-denial is the law of life in
Christ Jesus, self-indulgence must be
the condition of death. Hence, ST. Paul
said most truly and most profoundly,
"She that liveth in pleasure is dead
while she liveth."
Self-denial being the law of life and
self-indulgence the condition of death,
an age of luxury is extremely unfriend-
ly to Christian life. Men and women
under conditions of ease and self-indul-
gence become truly incapable of EN-
during hardness as true soldiers of Jesus
Christ They defy their physical COM
fort and become lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God" Self-gratih-
cation becomes the law of their life, and
all things are looked upon by them from
self-centered point of view. They can
do nothing that subjects them to any
discomfort whatsoever.
They easily succumb to temptation;
the indulgence of self being with them
an imperative necessity, whenever the
path Of duty leads away from that of
indulgence they refuse to walk in it; and
that which they wish to enjoy, the law
is trampled under foot as a thing of
secondary Importance to the qualification
OF their desires All sorts of sinful
things become to them matters of neces-
sity, and they live under one deadly and
immoral maxim that necessity knows
no law" whereas the Christian life must
be pursued under the divine axiom
that Gods law knows no necessity"
Let us see how many of the command
ments are daily trampled under foot un-
der the plea of necessity. The observ-
ance of the Sabbath day is made to yield
to the qualification OF appetite ana the
indulgence of amusement. For these in
fractions the children of luxury plead
necessity. They must have certain lux
uries on the Sabbath day, even III they
buy and sell on the sacred day. They
must go to the golf club on the Sabbath
to get fresh air and exercise. And
thousand other profanatlons of the day
are justified to themselves by pleas OF
necessity.
10 obtain money required for the in
duIgence of their appetltes they en-
ploy methods whicn Involve essential
untru tntuIness and dishonesty in trade.
But they plead in eXtenuatlon or these
methods that they can not succeed COM
mercially without them.
The commandment against covetous-
ness is scarcely regarueu by them as a
uivlne precepI worthy OF recognition Or
capable OF violation. CoNetousness with
them is so altogether respectable that
they can not even understand the com
mandment unaU IorbIds It. so through
all the scale of moral law the children
of self-inauIgenc walk heedIessIy and
defiantly over the divine statutes. Per-
feet obedience TO Gods law seems 20
them to be a visionary ana Impractical
ole and puritanic thing. !
1t is to be observed also that men ana
women who live lives OF self-indulgence
always devote themselves TO the indul-
gence or their lowest self. They run
greedily after the qualification of the
animal appetites ana starve the mlnd
as well as detile the soul They count
the indulgence of the body above ali
intellec tuaI attachments or spiritual en-
cellences. Thus they consent to live on
plane scarcely above the level of
brutes. And while they may clothe
themselves In modish APPAREL and feed
themselves with dainty food they be-
come brutal in their nature and truly
coarse in their indulgences. Brutality
marks an age of luxury.
Our country was never more than now
in danger of being thus brutalizej. The
wealth of the nation has become fabu-
lous in amount. 1t has increased meal"
culably during the des tructive war in
Europe; for the American people have
fattened on the misfortunes of the Ed
ropean belligerents. Millions upon mil
lions have been sent to America for
munitions and other military supplies
Fortunes have risen to enormous mas
nitude w.t.. the utmost swiftness
| Most of these enormous gains have
come to manufacturers and financiers
living in the north; but the south and
west have not been without their prof
its from the war in Europe. Our whole
country was never so rich as now. But
there were never so many ways open
for self-indulgence. BY consequence,
many of the people have grown wan ton
in luxury and are rushing to ruin. They
have already reached a point where any
restraining hand laid upon their indul-
gences is met with resentment and re-
sistence. They will not endure any
measure of self-denial, and they clamor
for every form of self-indulgenoe.
Amid such conditions a generation
may grow up utterly incapable Of the
self-sacriice required for the preserva-
ton of the Republic. Such was the case
in ancient Rome. The rude barbarians,
when they came to the Eternal City,
! found it defended by effemnate weak
lings and incapables. The heart Of the
Roman commonwealth had dried up and
lne DdTDaTldnS IOunu Wnen Jney came TO
1t nothing but an empty shell to crush
with their strong, rude hands.
A similar fate awaits our own, or any
other nation, which pursues paths of
similar self-indulgence. No barbarian
hordes may rush in upon us from with
out; but hordes of hardened men may
rise up in the very midst of us to-
make riots and work every form or
ruin.
Indeed, we live in sight of such a.
Peril every day The opulent classes set
standards of living which tempt multi
tudes to do evil and provoke the dis
content and resentment of still larger
multitudes who find themselves unable
to keep up with the pace set by the
wealthy classes around them. While
selfish Indifference riots in luxury on
the one hand, a selfish sullenness, on
the other hand, looks on the sceneI
with jealous eyes. These conditions
have in them potentially all forms of
social disorder and disturbance.
The remedy for these conditions is not
found in statutes. Legislative enact
ments can only restrain outward and
visible things. They cannot penetrated
the unseen depths of the soul where
irritable discomfort broods over imag-l
mary wrongs and fixes it's purposes of
revolution.
Civil statutas cannot DurOe tho bna ~