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tidious taste, or

wounds self-love, | or | shocks, per- | haps, a | too fas- | | irritates | temper, there are | calls for | self-con- | trol, for the | softening of | slight as- | perities, for wise | silence, or | prudent | speech, for ។ | | | | some slight re- | linquishment, | all of which are | tests of Christian | character-| | some of them |◄ the | very hardest tests to | which | character | could be subjected.

Let re- | ligionists | speak as | slightingly as they | may in | these | days, | when, in | some | quarters, re- | ligious excitement and ma- | chinery | seem to have | taken the | place of the old, unosten- | tatious, | private, | simple | ways of | piety let them | speak | slightingly of all as- | surance and evidence which | do not | come from | mystical Į raptures, he cannot be

path, at

very | far from the least from its | entrance,

right |

who, be- | cause he wishes to be a | child of | God, | succeeds in | even | such a little thing as | this-❘ being | gentle, | where he was once | harsh; | truthful, where he was |

once careless in | speech; | for- | giving, | where he was | once

vin- dictive. Yes, I even though his | whole | strug| 7 |

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When

may have been a- | mong | trivial

ex- cept as re- | gards him- | self,!

man | says, in | common | phrase, | It is a | great

| thing to be re-ligious, he speaks | truly. || But it is not always | doing what | he | calls a great | thing, | or in placing him- | self in the way of con- | spicuous

and striking | instrumen- | talities, that he | is to | seek to be religious.

If, when he | speaks | thus, he | means that there is

| something so mo- | mentous, so vast, a- | bout re- |

ligion,

influences

perience,

| |

that it | is to be | sought ex- | clusively a- | mid |

and e- | motions | lying | out of | common ex

and | every-day | effort,

| |

Re- | ligion is | vast, || infinite

But these

question:

me to-day?

terms | do not at- | tach to

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he is in error.

in its | scope. |

this | simple |

Shall I | do | right or wrong, as it meets Yet, who shall | say that ❘ that | question 71

is | not a mo- | mentous one? It is not a great | thing to make a | small | sacrifice of | comfort, or | ease, or | | interest, for the sake of a | principle, or an- | other's | happiness. It is not a great | thing to | say to one's I will | do | thus much- I will | break off to- | that one | bad | habit. 771 1

| self,

day

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This is not doing a | great | deal, | and | yet | on my a- bility to do it, de- | pends the question, whether I shall | do | anything? ||whether I shall | ever | be a ligious | man or | no? | whether I | shall or shall | not even begin to | be a re- | ligious | man? | M

re

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The soul that is truly wise is prudent,

thrifty. | It | gathers | up | what the | others | disre- |

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It will waste | nothing, fore- | go |

nothing, which helps | character. |77|

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PSALM CXXXIX.

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O | LORD, thou hast | searched me, and | known Thou knowest my | down- | sitting |◄ and mine | up-rising; | thou | under- | standest my | thought | a- | far | off. ||1|| Thou | compassest my path, and my | lying | down, and art ac- quainted with | all my ways. For there is not a | | | | word in my tongue, but, | lo, | 0 | Lord, | thou

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Thou hast be- |

knowest it alto- | gether. set me behind and be- | fore, hand upon me. 17117 Such | | |

me;

and | laid thy | knowledge is too |

wonderful for

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presence? If I as- | cend up into | heaven, | | || thou art | there; || If I | make my | bed in | hell, be-hold, thou art there. If I take | 717 | | | the wings of the | morning, and | dwell in the | uttermost parts of the sea; Even | there shall |

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shall | cover me;|

light about me.

from thee; but the night | shineth as the | day: | the darkness and the light are both

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AN-OTHER | prejudice in | favor of | war

is founded

on the practice of nations, past and present. 1977 There is no crime or e- | normity in | morals,

may not find the sup- | port of | human ex- | ample; |

which |

often on an ex- | tended | scale. But it cannot |

be | urged in our day,

standard of duty

man.

|

subtle | alchemy,

It is

|

|

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in the | conduct of | vain, | fallible |

not in the power of man by | any | | |

to trans- | mute | wrong into | right. |

Because | war is ac- | cording to the | practice of the world, it | cannot | follow | that it is | right. 177 For ages the | world | worshipped | false | gods; | but these gods were not less | false be

bowed before them. At this

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cause | all |

moment the

larger portion of man- | kind are | Heathen; but | Heathenism is not | true. It was | once the | practice

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of nations to | slaughter | prisoners of | war; but | even the spirit of war re- | coils | now from this | bloody | sacrifice. In | Sparta, | theft, in- | stead of being

|

| judged as a | crime, | was, by a per- | verse mo- | rality, |◄| like | war it- | self, | dignified | into an | art and an ac-| complishment; like war [77] like war | it was ad- | mitted | into the system of | youthful edu- | cation; | and it was enlightened, like | war | also, by an | instance of un- | conquerable | firmness, which | is a bar- | baric | counterfeit of | | virtue. The | Spartan | youth who al- | lowed the | stolen | fox be- | neath his | robe to | eat into his | heart, |~ is an ex- | ample of mis- | taken | fortitude, | not un- | like | that which we are | asked to ad- | mire in the soldier. |

and

Other illustrations of this | character | crowd upon the mind; but I will not | dwell upon them. 777 We turn with dis- | gust from | Spartan | cruelty, the wolves of Ta- | ygetus; from the awful | balism of the Fee- | jee | Islands; rites of innumerable | savages;

Juggernaut;

funeral pyre;

But

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| canni

from the pro- | fane

from the crushing

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from the Hindoo | widow | lighting her | from the | Indian | dancing at the stake. had not | all these in their respective days, like | war, the | sanction of es- | tablished | usage? |77|

places and

But it is often | said, "Let us | not be | wiser than our fathers."|7 | Rather let us | try to ex- | cel our | fathers in wisdom. Let us | imitate | what in | them was

good, but not | bind ourselves, | as in the | chains of | fate, by their im- | perfect ex- | ample. || Principles are | higher than | human ex- | amples. Ex- | amples may be followed | when they ac- | cord with the | admo- | nitions of duty. But he is un- | wise and | wicked

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