Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1915 — WORDS OF COMFORT [ARTICLE]

WORDS OF COMFORT

“Fear Not Them Which Kill the Body but Are Not Able to Kill the SouL” Jesus had long been describing to his disciples the perils which awaited them as the ministers of his gospeL “Behold,** he said, "I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wqlves. . . - Men will deliver yon dp to the councils and they will scourge you in the synagogues. . . And ye shall be bated of all men for my name’s sake.” But “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,” was his last word of mingled comfort and Inspiration; "rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and

body in hell.” Here is an admonition not merely for the disciples who knew Jesus, but for all men who are faced by the vicissitudes of everyday existence. Of what are we commonly so much afraid as of the things “which kill the body ?” Storms that sweep from heaven, pestilences that “walk in darkness,” conflagrations that devour cities, financial crises that ruin fortunes, the burglar, the footpad, the assassin—are not these the chief terrors of our lives? And do we not make it a prime object of our existence to provide ways and means of escaping these direful contingencies. To safeguard our property, to shelter ourselves from exposure and exhaustion, to avoid disease and accident, to secure protection against violence, to live out our allotted span of years—this is what we want! And we are inclined to justify device or law or weapon of ai\y kind which will achieve for us this end. Soul the Central Part of Life.

That such a viewpoint, however human, is essentially unworthy of true manhood must be evident to anyone who gives the matter a moment’s consideration. Why should we bother to any extent about this body of ours, which is at the best but a tool to use or a tenement in which to live for a brief period? And especially why should we make the preservation and protection of this body an object of existence, and, as a result, fear everyone of the kindred chances which may injure or destroy it? Of course it is foolish to mortify the flesh or weaken the body uselessly. Prudence, resulting in good health and material security, is wise. But our question concerns primary purposes and especially the crises when choice must be made. Then should we know with clearness that not*the body but the soul is the central fact of life, and the things, therefore, which may kill not the body but the soul, the things to be noted and. feared.

Real Things to Fear. Temptation, vice, cowardice, Idleness, sloth, ease, selfishness, sin—these are the things of which to be afraid. And these the things, let it be added, which must be conquered and overthrown even though the body be blasted In the process! Not to be healthy, but to be holy; not to be rich in goods, but abundant In good; not to live long, but serve well —this Is the task which Is set each man by the hand of Almighty God. Hence the testimony of all the prophets of the ages gone! The true man, said Socrates, will not “calculate the chance of living or dying, but will consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong, acting the part of a good man or a bad.” “To die sooner or later is not the business,’* said Seneca, “but to die well or ill.’* “He that findeth his life shall lose it,’* said Jesus in his greatest word, “but he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it”