The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-20
THE SINS OF MEN.
Mr.. Smail's Sermon Last Evening About tn,
Wicked Ways of the Male Sex

Mr.. Small's Sermon Last Evening About the
Wicked Ways Of the Male Sex.
An audience Of 600 men attended Roberts Park
M. 3. Church last night to hear Mr.. Sam w.
Small. Mr. Jones also occupied place upon
the platform. The gospel hymns Marching to
Zion" and ':The Lilly of the Valley" were sung.
Mr.. Jones then made afervent prayer.
Mr.. Small said: / select for tonight the
twenty fourth verse of the third, chapter Of the
first general epistle of John:
And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth
in Him and He in him. And hereby we know that He
abideth il US, by the Spirit which He hath given
When / look back over my past life can
almost trace in its course the various stages at
which l stopped and uttered almost in the same
casion from the heart of old job when
he exclaimed "Oh that I were as in
months past can remember many such oc
casions in my past life when, looking back over
its mistakes, losses. pains and penalties endured
from acts wrong and sinful, 1 would exclaim
in my heart. and even with my lips: "Oh that
were as in months pastp / presume there is not
a man here that has not felt at times that he
would give almost every thing he possessed if he
could undo some of his acts, and 60 back into
those days when he was pure and perfect in
obedience to the higher laws of his nature. We
live double life frequently. We have an ex-
terror and an interior life. Hypocrisy defeats
itself 1t is mask. cloak that can be worn
for while to hide our deformites, but the
cloak will grow threadbare, and the mask will
drop off to expose US to our fellow-men.
If man be pure in life it will show in his out
ward life. 1t will show in all his dealings with
his fellow-men. 1t permeates the whole man.
and manifests itself in every way. Frequently
a man will have a nature that is corrupt and en-
deavor by his exterior life to appear pure. That,
1 say Is an impossible thing for a man to do
long. There is another principle in man--an in
born love for the good. the true and the beauti-
full. There are times in the life of the worst de-
bauchee the worst criminal, when he looks back
to his early teaching and training, when he
looks back to mother or father, and says in
his heart of hearts: ''Oh, that l as
in the months that are pastw There
is something that comes up in the
life of man periodically as long
as conscience retains one single spark of vitality
and he recognizes all the degradation of his
downward course. He would give worlds TO be
back in that state of noble desires and posses
sions he once had. but which has departed from
him forever by q course of sin and debauchery.
1t does not take preaching to convince any
man in the world that sin will debauch, degrade
and finally damn him, and there is something in
the heart OF every man that tells him
when he commits conscious sins as he goes
through life. Nobody will say sin
is good thing; that 1t will bring a
man to honor and to everlasting life.
But men do not deal with their temptations and
lusts according to their knowledge and desires.
No man Yields 70 them except With the thought