Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-05

life of Christ into any heart, and there ill
be revelation of disorder. There will be a
| realization of sin. Keep out that light and
you may 20 about for years, fancying that
| you are the least of sinners, deceiving your
| own soul.
We are all under sin. There Is none
righteous, no, not one. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
Sin Dwelleth in Men.
This is bad enough, but even this is not
the whole of it. To these facts about our
sins, we have to add still another fact-the
fact of sin. 1t is not only that day by day
we do wrong, and think wrong, and speak
wrong. 1t is not only that there is defect
and a misdirsation in our hands and in our
lips. There - something the matter with
our hearts. 'Sin dwelleth in me-" says st.
Paul. "For know that in me dwelleth no
good thing: for to will is present with me-
but how to perform that which is. good 1
know not. For the good that 1 would GO
not; but the evil that would not that do.
1 find law that when 1 would do good,
evil is present with me. o wretched man
that am. who shall deliver me from the
body of this DEATH"
Ii we really know ourselves, we know
that all these words are true about our
selves. There is something radically and
profoundly wrong. We recognize this
clearly enough in our dealings with chill
dren. We know that if human nature is
lett to itself, LETT to grow up and flower and
bear fruit as 1t will, the result will be fear
full harvest of sin. So we set safeguards
and correctives in the way. We try to
change that Human nature is essentially
sinful. There Is in everyone of us tend
ency toward sin.
What then is sin? The parable defines it
we'll enough. Sin means separation from
God. The prodigal departs into far coun-
try. There he spends his substance which
his father has given him upon objects which
he knows very we'll his father would not ap-
prove OF. That is what SIN is. 1t is de-
parture from the obedience of God. 1t is a
spending OF time and interest upon that
which is against God, 1t is q consequent
avoidance of the face of God and shun-
ming of the thought of God.
The Wages Of Sin Is Death.
The outcome of all this Is plain. The
wages of sin is death. Whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap. We are all
the time sowing the seeds of evil. Sin con-
tlnued in means separation from God for
ever. And that is death everlasting. That
is what sin leads to. 1t leads down into the
pit. The consequence of it is misery up-
speakable.
Sin is spiritual disease. It lays hold upon
our souls. Ii, bv some sort of magic, there
could be revelation of our souls, so that
the soul should be made visible, and we
could see it-what a sight, what a hospital
OF sick soulsl Some manned, some dwarfed,
some starving, some seized with loathsome
maladies, horrible to LOOK uponl None
righteous, no. not one! None whole. aud
sound, no, not one! What an infrmary of
souls! And everybody knows we'll enough
what unchecked disease results in. Death is
at the end ofit. Thus we are in danger of
losing our souls.
Whoever would learn anything more
about the meaning of sin, he can read it on
the cross. There it is written plain in
everybody's eyes. Sin is SO dreadful that
the Son oil God was content to die to save us
from it. II we are inclined to make light of
it, to set it down as imperfection, to explain
it as the remainder of our "brute inherit
ance." and thus to quiet the warnings of our
conscience-there is no cross. What does
the cross mean, ifit don't mean the exceed
ing dreadfulness of sin?
The Malady of the Soul.
We all are sinners exceedingly, This is
the conclusion of the whole matter. We
are setting our faces in wrong direction,
away from God. We are walking steadily
along path which falls presently into
pit without a bottom. We are sick with a
disease which threatens the very death of
our souls. Unless-we have made the great
discovery. There is no help for us-unless
we have found or shall find the helper.
Grant us guide who shall set US in better
path which leads to life. Send us a physi-
clan who can heal the malady of our soul.
That is what we want And if we do want
that, then, as said at the beginning, there
is hope for us. The prodigal came to him
self. He looked about him, and supreme
discomfort came over him. He realized
where he was, away off from his fathers
home. Then he turned about. So Will we
in proportion as We are convicted of sin.
We will be dissatisfied with our unsatisfy-
ing lives. There will come great longing
into our hearts to be better. We will real
ize the need of help.
That is where religion begins. Religion
is help. That is where the love of Christ,
which is the heart OF religion, has its source.
We need help. and here is the Helper. We
want a guide, and here is the Way, the |
Truth, and the Life. We desire physician,
and here Is the Divine Physician of our |
souls. "We all like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned every one to his own way,
and the Lord hath laid upon him the |
niau&y of us ALL" Here at last is sure |
salvation. And we turn to Christ with |
hands outstretched and hearts full of love. |
D wretched man that / am, who shall deliver |
ne from the body of this death? l thank |
God, cries the apostle, through Jesus Christ |
,ur Lord. For this is true saying and |
rorihy OF all men to be received, that Christ /
Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
GEORGE HODGES.