The Columbia evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1920-1923, 1920-12-27

Is PRIDE a SIN. n is asked.
| Yes. deadly sin; and smugness i
an abominstion in the sight cf the Lcrd
Pride is the mother Of caste, and caste i
The breeder Of all human woe. The hu
man heart is such that it cannot stant
exaltation. To covet power. even taha
one may do so-called good, is wrong: tc
seek it that We may condescend is fc
misuse it; to take that we may give, even
in the satisfaction of generous instincts
is sublimaied selfshness. The world re.
joices when the proud are brought low:
it exulis when misfortune overtakes the
Snug. The sense Of retributiye Justice
is as strong among men today as it was
among the crowds at the gates Of Uz.
who, while cringing before Job when he
appeared among them, attended by all
the pomp and circumstance Of high posi-
ton, YET despised him. 1t is the meek,
though not the spiritless, who shall final.
ly inherit the earth.
Job was the Carnegie Of his dav. Even
his benevolences were empty because un-
dertaken in the wrong spirit. Nothing
could have saved him from the final oper.
alton of that inexorable natural law:
which. while it crushed him. set his feet
in the path Of true righteousness. Such
punishments are not arbitrary, they come
from within the man who has seen the
true light and who has refused to follow
it. Job suffered because he was good
The man calloused by selfshness wonld
have cursed fate and died. d
This is the human side Of the most
human of dramas. 1t stares at YOU in
every shapier. once YOU forget the voice
Of authority and read the story with hui
man sympathy and understanding. Of
poetry there is plenty, ard the theological
impact Of Jobs heresy, Of his rebellion
against the most confumacious of all hu-
man doctrines (that which ascribes mis-
fortune to sin and good fortune to di.
vine favor) is unacceptable, a fact
Freude has settled beyond controversy.
Yet, read for its purely human interest,
r from literary viewpoint, the book
leaves another lesson TOO obvious 10 ig-
iore. The good we 90 is Of value to our |
elves, 10 those to whom we do good. and
he world about US, only as in doing il |
7e follow the compelling law of cur be. |
ag- Ia has no spiritual worth otherwise,
nd results in none Of the reactions tha,
icke us better men and women. Osten-
on. condeseension and the STOPPING
patronize are hateful to our fellow
IN and an abomination in the sight Of |
>, 1. The clashing Of cymbals, the
.nding Of brass, even the more subdued |
citations INDUCED by those given 10
niid vainglory, have no place in the
.s.ri of the really good man. Such
n, which Job was not at the begin
;ig, is moved by compassion; that is.
recently said in Paris pulpit, he
alters with" is sympathetic, and has
,ieacy Of feeling. To advertise ones
.eleiaetions is to put sharp edge on
living. To seek a reputation for being
ood, even TO hug the thought Of ycur
,wn virtues and to dwell on them in Sc
ret, is objectionable in its yulgarify. The
ivlng that does not pay meiiculoss re-
ard to the self-respect Of those less for.
iinaie lacks the whole spirit and essence
I 50 called stewardship, and that was the
lalai defect in the character Of Job, as;s