The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-13
DRIFTING INTO EVIL.
How Humanity Sins by Omis-
sion and Neglect.
FOLLOWING THE WRONG PATHS.
-. wallace Nutting's sermon-Rev.
Levi Gilbert on "Christianity's
Comfort for the Worlds Vice."

henly " drift away from them"
Affsr explaining the text Rev. Mt. Sutting
aid.
shase words and gives them all of their power.
when Ethan Alien demanded the surrender of
ftconderoga, the B rifish commandant asked by
ehst authority. The effect upon him was cleo
ndeai when the answer came, "In the name of
5 cod and the continental congress-" Here in the
nxf ID . deman for our more earnest heed, not
3 he surmisings OF the wisest philosophers,
II 70 the beliefs OF cody men, not even to the
zruphsfa OF God, but 70 the word Of God made
~ and dwelling among
rs legitimate appetite for voices from the
u1esen, an appetite that has Away been a source
Z mott to the INSCRIPTIONS, finds its natural
n6sfaction in the words of grace which pro-
eoeded from the incarnation OF wisdom, Jesus
Nazareth. We ought to give His words more
ernest heed, owing to our tendency to drift
axay from them.
Select some man of your acquaintance. of say
= years. He heard the gospel facts and
1achings. His mother, his pastor, his Bible
rading when boy taught him those facts He
~ never taken issue with them; he cannot tell
you when he began TO ignore them in his heart
They used to thrill his soul, and he intended
uoonsr or later to guide his life by them. The
nams Of God was sacred to him; the thought of
that which would offend a pure spirit was OBJ
noxious to him, and temptation had q narrow
mngs. Look at him how. Let him examine
himself Thoughts once horrible to his mind
se now entertained as familiar guests
That which once had no power over him now
wsys him as storm SWAPS q blade OF grass
That In which he once found pleasure now pals
npon him. He has new loves and new hates,
NV passions and different ambitions. He lives
ioF different object In short, he 10 smother
man, thoroughly out Of sympathy with divine
law. How did IL all come about? Did some
psat catastrophe wreck his character? Was his
0bls slipped In \ tornado? No. Did he lose his
compass or his chart? No. What then, 10 the
caused his remarkable change in position?
Why y has just drifted, nothing more. He Is
nwNmote from the rock of his salvation and
utterly afoat. He is out of sight OF land in
- MIDST OF a fog. strange sea pours around
hn: swelling currents which he DOES
not understand and cannot control, hurry
him on, he knows not whittier There 10 dark
nen on every side. The chilling winds pierce
him, despair seizes him, the storm howls around
him, the ship pitches beneath him, an avalanche
q water engulfs him, a cry of agony rises from
his lips into black and lowering sky where no
star of hope shines. The icy air benumbs his
frame aud clouds his faculties; night and the
storm and the winter receive him, and man.
the image of God, the possessor of godlike facul-
ties, capable of almost Infinite expansion, the in
tended ruler of spiritual principalities, is swal
lowed up and annihilated by forces he was born
70 master. Why this inconceivahly cruel fate?
Who punished him thus7 What had this man
done? Drifted. What q good fellow he was;
what harm did he dor oh, nothing. He
drifted. Did he lie or steal or bear false witness
or revile God? Oh, no. He drifted and al
lowed the currents in the world to sway
him. He just yielded and gave way, and would
not oppose ANYBODY. He was accommodating
and did not want controversy with bad men,
much less with devils. He, therefore, did the
only thing he could do and just driftsd. What
ever winds struck him he subsequently obeyed.
Whatever gentle current OF influence moved
him he gave way to II.
The tendency 10 drift il universal. mighty and
dangerous. As surely az the tide moves the
ocean, 90 surely are these tendencies at work in
you. You may not be able to say what they are.
These are unconscious tendencies. Let no man
sooths himself by saying, 81 cannot see what
wrong have done. ! cannot see that l am
growing worse" That Is not the essential point.
What a man cannot know and cannot see may
destroy him. IL he has never cast the fukes of
his anchor safe within the vale he Ia drifting
The analogy of nature teaches him that nothing
remains the same. He sees everywhere about
him the development OF character going on. He
knows that his son is not the same that he was
three years ago. He that his partner In bust
nsss has grown better or meaner or more careless,
- the case may be. He looks back in his own
early life and sees that q radical change has
taken place in himself Why does he suppose
thathe is now of q sudden become q natural
enrcsiiy-a piece of petrihed humanity among
q horde OF living men2
Hosting away on sea OF speculation, i'm
ntgination self -su ficiency, . man at last
looks back at the rock foundation of the gospel
dchrst. All, says he, that was great thing
70 me once. / was almost afraid to ignore
H. but now it has hoated from me and 10 very
mal and unimportant But in truth the man
dista fr0r II
anchorage is the cauke of his false security in
stead OF being his warning OF danger.
Men quote as q favorite text: what doth the
Lord require OF thee bat to do justly and To love
mercy and walk humbly with God" That,
they say, is religion. But how have they drifted
away from it. Is 1t doing justice to Christ to
ignore him? Repentance OF sin and prayer
Tor forgiveness for Christs sake 10 the ground
work Of our religion; from il let US never drift
away.
What are these words of terrible import from
gracious lips? Can il be possible that Jesus can
speak in this way7 Woe to thee Chorazin, woe
70 Thee Bethsaida and thou Capernaum, shalt
thou be exalted into heaven. Thou shalt be
brought down to hades. 1t shall be more toler.
able for Sedan and Gomorrah in the judgment
than for thee. But why? What had these
cities done2 Had they prosecuted Christ or
plotted TO cruelty him? No. They did nothing
only drifted They neglected His call and
nave Its will, and the will of Jerusalem was to
cruelty Jesus. | should therefore rather be q
asage. without the knowledge OF Jesus, than to
oe an unrepentsnt man, living in gospel light,
gong to church with punctilious regularity and
sxclsiming, What have doneg" Done moth
ins failed to repent; drifted past the Rock of
Ages until IL has become invisible.
Woe unto them that sit at ease In Zion Il
was thought terrible thing that q lady the
cher day plunged headlong down Niagara's
uiarsct But she persisted no more surely than
tAe entered a boat far up on the banks of the
nse and then jus. drifted. Sins of omission
Gs enough All that is necessary to punish il
70 DO nothing but drift and neglect.
mere was a samaritan in pain and need by
'ne eassids. What was the fault with the priest
nu ens Levite7 They did nothing, but simply
~ 81 'he tradition and the preiudices of their
Vase 70 take them in their current and that
suIIent ufiitsd them straight past the poor suf-
.eie'. iAwssn know that there is such thing
e'iAiina' negligence Ny dear friends, the re-
$50. u Ss'us christ 10 positive religion and
s.e PVsis's action. II demands that we
turn again IN order to be forgivan n saws "a .
man; work. strive, humble Yourself. be inst
toward ood as well a. toward man"
A picture rises before me- tonish, =, 4.
scene being enacted in mora thar ora rlsn..
away back In New England, or in psnrsxiv.ni.
and Ohio and Minnesota.
mother whose hair is gray and xho.e svax
nsse worn wistfui look all dsy Ionv a. ro,v
sihg alone. ~ is very late there-srom two 70
es hours istsr than here. She has in her Ian
aweh-worn Bible, and she reads at the .eya,,h
chapter OF Luke; There was carried on, 90
tast was dead. the only son of his mother "a
sne was widow" She think, OF the 40, -
oesd TO her entreaty, far from hsr on ,bs D.
s.ne shore. A great tear drops on the nsxs ST.