Crying for the Light; Or, Fifty Years Ago. Vol. 1 [of 3]Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
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Crying for the Light; Or, Fifty Years Ago. Vol. 1 [of 3]
Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)
England -- Social conditions -- 19th century -- Fiction
trifled with a woman’s heart, brought the gray hairs of father or mother
to the grave with sorrow. The memory of such acts will continue, and
sting and torture as long as life and though and being last. For such a
one there are no waters of Lethe, cry for them as he will. A man cannot
hide himself from himself. He may deceive the world; he may lead a life
of pleasure; but he cannot deceive himself, however he may try to do so.
Alone in the stillness of the night, in the quiet of the sick-room, in
the awful presence of death, conscience will speak, and he cannot stifle
its voice. ‘Be sure your sin will find you out’ is the teaching of all
daily life. To be happy even in this world, as old Franklin found out,
you must be virtuous. It is a false creed, that which makes us believe
that man is better without God than with Him—better as a vicious than a
virtuous man—better as a mild Agnostic or a gay infidel than a decent,
sober Christian.
The home training in evangelical circles fifty years ago had many serious
defects. It was conducted too much with reference to the future world
rather than the present one. Had Wentworth been taught the beauty of
work—that life was a battlefield in which the victory was to the
strong—that man was here to do the best he could for himself, to enjoy
the world which the good God had made beautiful—that he was to aim high,
to cherish noble expectations, to do manly deeds, to be true and honest
and courageous, how different would have been his life! Only the
emotional part of him had been developed, and he fell an easy prey when
temptation came to him and the voice of passion thundered in his ear and
he fell. Why should he not, as he grew tired of sinning and repenting,
he asked himself, ignore the past and find peace where peace could never
be found? He would eat of the grapes of Sodom and the clusters of
Gomorrah. He would sit in the seat of the scorner. There, at any rate,
conscience would cease to sting. It was the old story over again.
_Facilis descensus Averni_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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