Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-04-25
first the blade, then the ear, after that the,

Orb0n reRhru tue oporhtIons vi hheuro as Inc
frat and arbitrary cause of these successive
productions. We should ever bear in
mind that nature is only secondary and
subordinate; that God, who is the maker
and preserver of all things, is the primary
and underlying cause OF every develop
ment, whether it be natural, moral or in>
tellectual And as we study, thr ough the
assistance of scientific appliances, the re-
sources, developments, and phenomena Of
nature, we should never lose sight OF
God And if we keep this idea before>is,
we taught in the broad and varied fields of
naturel For if like produces its like in the
vegetable kingdom, if the effect is similar
in quality to its cause, it is equally true in
the kingdom of morals. The two are an
slogous. The principle underlying them
is precisely one and the same. 1t is de-
monstrste1 in the history Of universal
mankind. Happiness aud Iecttudlee Of
character necessarily spring from life of
virtue and conservation to God; while ulti-
mate misery and degradation spring
from life of sin and violation of
moral law. The cause and the effect
are indissoluble, and are as absolute and
immutsble as tie edicts of the eternal
throne. The principle inheres in the very
organic nature of things. God in wisdom
has thus deeresd il; and moral character,
|
pendent upon its observance. Therefore,
we neei not be deceived, for God is not
Knocked. Whatsoever man sows that
shall he also reap; for he that soweth to
his flesh shall OF the flesh reap corruption;
but he that soweth to the spirit shall Of the
spirit reap life everlasting" Thoughts,
words and actions, with their correspond
ing influence, are reproductive in their
results, and in this particular they are
comparable to the seed which the husband.
man scatters over the soil. If, therefore,
the thoughts, words and acts, with their
corresponding influence, are evil, the heart
is necessarily evil from which they pro-
coed; and they must of certainty repro
duce evil in the life which gave them ORR
gin. If, on the other hand, the heart has
undergone a change by the Transforming
energies of the Holy Spirit, the fruits
thereof are righteousness, peace and joy;
all of which are in happy accord with the
divine will Hence, 10 the divine estimate
of moral character there are bu< two
classes of men namely, the rirtuous and
the vicioas they that sow to the spirit and
they that sow to their flesh. In this life,
we are all sewers, both the good and the
bad. This pr baton, with its opportuni-
ties and responsibilities, is the seed time.
Happisess or misery will be the ultimate
harvest of us ALL according TO our manner
of life. If we SOW to the flesh we shall
reap corruption. The word flesh has a
variety of meanings in the Word of God.
Ia this connection it is synonymous wi b
the phrase, ''carnal mind,n so often used by
the Apostle Paul, 1t includes the mind as
well as the passions and appetites of the
unregenerate nature An acton of the
mind is indispensable to the conception
of an evil thought or act; but the mind is
prompted thereto by an gimpulsion Of the
flesh towards qualification. To SOW TO the
flesh, then, is to crafty inordinatey the
desires of the animal nature. The word OF
God tells US into what alarming excuses
the victim is hurled who persistently sows
to his flesh. And the most casual observa
ton of which we are capable will establ sh
the fearful character of it's truth. Tho
works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these: Adultery, fornication, unclean-
ness, lsscivousness, idolatry, hatred, envy
ings, murder, drunkenness, ard revelry"
This is horrible catalogue of vices, and
repulsive to The refinement and delicacy OF
a cultivated nature; yet it nevertheless
comprises the legitimate works of the flesh
For just as the hyena, under the covert OF
night, digs into the grave and gluts his
loathtsome appetite upon the corruption OF
the dead, just with the same delight and
qualification does the uncontrolled animal
nature find its pleasure in the sbominable
vices here enumerated Nothing is sacred
| IN tue presence OF unreStrdlneu ne MY lust
1t is blind and deaf to every consid ration,
save indulgence Under its blighting in
fiuence virtue loses its ssnctity, purity OF
} thought and feeling is traduced,
moral obligation is dissolved, ard hatred,
variance, wrath, sedition, murder, drunk
enness and revelry hold high carnival in
the chambers of q desecra.ed conscience,
And the most humiliating spectacle ever
presented to human observation, is TO be-
| hold iha m ri al mind with God III Il a
endowments and glowing aspirations, rob
bed of every power of volilion, and with
ing in the utter helplessness of insanity
under the supreme dominion of heshly
lust Hence the sdmonition of the Apos-
tle-"Walk not after the flesh; for the
flesh lustetn against the Spirit Dearly be-
loved, I beseech you as pilgrims and as
strangers to abstain from feshly usts,
after the flesh We shall die And
why these admonitions2 The text
answers planly-"he that soweth
to- his flesh shall Of the flesh reap
corruption" This is the divine decree and
from it there is no possible escape. Time
will evidently bring forth corruption in
the life that inordinstely grstifes the flesh.
A man may be go strictly private in his
Infamous life that he may succeed, for the
time, in deceving the mother who gave
him birth an nurtured him through his
helpless infancy, or he may even impose
upon the credulity and affections of the
wife of his bosom; he may p actice his Sc
cret vices in the quiet hour of midnight, as
is done in this city, and he my come forth
from his haunts reekiDg with licentious-
ness, perfume his breath, assume an air of
Innocence, and move in the circles of the
virtuous in the light of day, but he need
not deceive himself, for God is not Knocked.
Divine justiee will follow you more closely
than your own spirit 1t may travel slowly,
but it travels surely. No skillful detective
is half SO vigilsnt or successful. Years
may pass each other in long succession;
emporal pleasure may crowd the pathway
at every step; honor and renown may be
achieved at the price of honesty and blood;
conscience, the secret monitor of the soul,
may be lulled into tenn porary slumber, but
in process of time, no Sever long, God, in
violate law, will come forth in royal SUI
premacy and vindicate his long insulted
mercy and prerogstive. How often is this
demonstrated, even in the present lifel
Go to the inner walk of private life, to
which the physician alone has secret ac-
cess go to the city hospital, the asylum
and the infrmary; 60 to the jail, the peni-
Tertiary and the gallows and there behold
the haggard counter nce, the shattered
system. ths biighted reason, the rotting
criminal, and the strangling wretch, and,
in many Instances, how terrible is the force
of this truth There is no exemption from
suffering the penalty of violated moral law.
1t will be executed sooner or later. And,
in many instances, not only the guilty suf.
fer the just consequences of their vicious
lives, but by the law of heredity transmit
J their degradat on and woe to their inno-
acter TO their crimes and immora tiles.
| For IL il written, VI the Lord thv God am