Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1912 — Working Out Our Own Salvation [ARTICLE]

Working Out Our Own Salvation

By L. H. O’CONNOR

And now comes a great writer who says that we are too stingy, that we should spend more money, eat better food, “wear better clothes, pay our friends’ car fare. That such a course is money well invested. Henn* Ward Beecher is reported to have said that a dollar a day was enough for a laboring man. Ingersoll advised young men if they had but a dollar to “spend it like a god.” Every banker will tell us that if we have a dollar we should deposit it with him, and he will make us rich. I wonder if it has ever occurred to these

people that the majority of. men do with their money as necessity requires. There, is not much choice for many of us. Philosophy, economics and frugality are all right in their places, but there is no fixed rule by which a dog can be 'made to, wag his tail. He is governed by the occasion whether it’s a tight or a frolic. , I have many times been in the wheat pit on the Chicago board of trade, where IJ>OO then were yelling, clawing each other like wild beasts, when from the edge of the-pit a well known character noted for his keen, shrill voice would cry aloud': “This is a gay life.” Laughter and ridicule sometimes has a quieting effect. Life, if not “gay,” is certainly susceptible of numerous variations. We each have our own individuality. Each is himself alone. He can be no one else. No general rule of conduct applicable alike to all can ever be successfully carried out. When Adam and Eve passed out of Eden beneath the flaming sword they were apprised that the world was all before them. Since then man ip his wanderings has made many discoveries, many secrets of nature he has unlocked, but the greatest of them all remains a mystery, that is, man himself. God does not intend that his kingdom shall be filled with counterfeit presentments. We must work out our own salvation, crystallize, harmonize and purify and do it alone. ‘‘Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is man.” . ■