The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-06-18
PULPIT UTTERANCES.
sIN As NECESSARY IN HUMAN LIFE.
A Sermon on n Most Important ana In
terosting Topic, by Well-Known
Massachusetts Divine.

Rev. Charles F. Thwing recently
preached in the North Avenue Congrega
tional Church, at Cambridge, Mass, on
eSin as Necessary" The Sermon Is full
of practical thought and teaching, and may
be read with substantial profit The fol.
lowing was the text: IN tAJrYE.
& And the King was exceeding sorry; yet fof
his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sal
with him, he would not reject her.-Adrk pi :26.
Here Is q man whose conscience drives
him into sin. Herod murders John, not
because no desires to end the good mans
life, but because Of the sanctity of his
promise. His sense Of duty compels the
execution. Herod does not stand alone.
The conscience of other men also impels
them to commit sin. as 81 -r1.
Herod, In allowing his conscience tc
drive him into this sin, represents move.
ment, tendency, which Is constant and
powerful In human affairs. Yet not
simply in these trends and general drifts
does he stand a representative. He repre-.
sents the man who neglects all means OF
worship and of religious instruction on the
Sabbath. Men declare they are SO weary
Sunday they cannot come to church. lam
willing to believe their assertions. But
why are they so weary? Because they
have oyer.worked and under-rested all
through the week. They have stolen two
hours of the Sabbath every day. In q
sense, rest becomes necessary for them.
Herod represents the man who says: "
must have O living, and cannot get Il
save by selling liquor. / feel ought to
sell liquor to support my home" Herod
represents any one or every one who feels
that to commit sin Is necessity. He Is a
type Of that man whose conscience drives
him TO commit SIM"
In the development of this thought re-
mark:
L A course Of conduct which makes sin
necessary usually begins in sin which was
not necessary. Unavoidable sin COM
mences In sin avoidsble. An act which Ia
unavoidable can not Of itself be sinful.
Sin implies the power TO refuse and the
power to choose. But back Of the neces.
sary act Is limo Of conduct which could
have been Stunned, and into which was In.
| grained sin.
Granted that war and suffering, and
hecatombs of death were necessary in our
civil war; where was the sint The sin lay
in bringing that cargo Of negroes to
Jamestown near the time the Pilgrims
landed at Plymouth; the sin lay in en-
couraging the slave system for two hun.
dred and forty years; the sin lay in the
compromises which had marked the deal.
ings with this practice from the formation
of the Constitution down to the day when
Buchanan went out Of the White House
broken-down politician. Granted that ter.
rible evils must be either endured or Gre
ated by the wiping out Of Mormondom;
granted that war thus fought would be q
religious war In its best sense; yet where
is the sinY The sin goes back TO the time
when, with proper supervision, the Nor.
mon settlement might have been scattered
and subdued.
1t is not wrong for you to mako living
in the single way which is open; but It is
wrong for you TO know no other means Of
making living than by ministering to the
base appetites of men. IL is not wrong for
you TO be profane II you can not help
swearing, but 1t is wrong for you ever TO
have formed the habit of profanity. 1t is
not wrong for evil thoughts to fit through,
and to linger in, the chambers Of your
soul, II you can not keep them outside the
doors: but it was wrong for you ever so to
have entertained them that they persist in
coming. The sin which to-day crowds and
presses us, and of which we can not get
rid, began in some little sin Of years ago.
Sin which to-day seems unavoidable began
in sin which could be avoided. The guilt
lay in the first sin.
ii. A cause of conduct which seems sin.
full and necessary, becomes when fol-
lowed out even more sinful and more nee
essary. To follow out course of sinful
conduct Is like being involved In morass,
the deeper you go into its mud, the deeper
yet you must go. Sin has q most remark.
able power Of self.perpetuation. A sin Of
one kind produces not only its like, but
sins Of other kinds. The sin of intemper.
perance not only tends to become stronger
and more deeply fixed; IL also tends Ia
produce the sin of laziness, of sensuality,
and even of theft and Of murder. One act
Of sin produces moral blindness. We
can not see the distinctions of the right
and the wrong with the former clearness
We therefore go into sin because we dc
not know It Is sin. We can not help going
into It. Every act Of sin benumbs The
feelings. We become incapable Of appre
ciating either the Nervousness Of sin or thu
beauty of tho right
have heard Of man who became in
toxicated. He was ashamed Of his folly
"Do It again, do It again." said thu
tempter, "the shame and grief you nov
feel, you will never feel again when yol
commit the same sim" To the temptation
the man yielded; and the tempter proveC
to be right, for though he lived and died
confirmed sot, he never appeared to feel
tinge Of remorse. Sin that once made ou
cheeks burn, as burned the garment in tn
: ancient fable, we now commit in coo
blood. Sin also weakens the will to rosis
sin. 80 strong has the sin become that th
sinner has lost all faith in his ability i
conquer. His purpose to overcome ha
been so often thwarted that he has ceaset
4 10 entertain any purpose. His hope ha
become despair. Oh, wretchcd man tina
he Is, who shall deliver him? He has los
! faith in himself. He Is on down lgrade
the speed swiftens; he makes no attemp
|, 10 put on the brakes. Ho feels the attemp
!. would be useless. Sin hens us in close
.