St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-17

eat. drink and wear. in the houses
which we build, the business
which we transact, the fame we attain
and the pleasures whlch-we enjoy. I'm
seen things may be more important. but
it is easy to yield to visible signs
though they be misleading Neglect of
the God. who demands inner purity, and
religious service which permitted
sel6shnesS and passion. were the
| practical teachings of idolatry. If we
can only free ourselves from a holy.
pure and just God, and can enthrone in
his place theory of religion or of life
which will permit US to indulge IN the
evil which we love, how gladly we
adopt the false instead of the true faith.
Anything is easier for an unrepentant
man than to look up into the heavens
above and realize the confession. Thou,
God, seeSt me- Such ar avOwal is self
condemnation. 1t must lead to a change
of heart or to a struggle against cOhvic-
| tiOns.
And while the spirit of idolatry and
| its practical results are the same now
as in Ahab'S time, it is important to OBJ
7 serve that the human conscience is also
the same. Men learn to love sins. They
try to palliate and apologize for evil.
But these are the times when the
Otllis Ouldll NOlCCs III C1CLy
heart, asserts itself with resistleSS
power. God in his wisdom has made
man so that he can wander very far
away from him. but there is reality from
which no man on earth can escape. That
is His own moral nature. When fully
| aroused and permitted 10 do its COM
plete work, this constant attendant is
the most terrible of all accuSerS. When
God made man in his own image He
made him with a moral nature, a
| necessity of declaring that some things
are right and others wrong. Until
this moral nature has been stupefied.
conscience is liable to be awakened
and in every stage of burning sin
to pour forth the burden of self-cOn-
demnatiOn, so that the guilty man will
for the moment be daZed and Mortified,
! convicted and confronted with clear
! knowledge of his sin. Many con-
science lies Slumbering and inactive.
The narcotic which leads to the lost
sheep seems to be doing its work.
There is inSenSibility, like the freezing
stupOr which precedes death. Human
beings love their idols and cling to their
sin as if they were the treasures of par
adiSe. But if the keys of conscience
can be effectively touched. a sum-
| mons Of inner self-condemnatiOn
may yet startIe, terrify and re-
assert the obligation to serve God and
| man. There is but one agency which
can thus act upon the benumbed con-
science and restore the fullneSs of its
power. 1t is truth, supported and en-
forced by the omnipotent spirit of God,
moving upon the human spirit. 1t is
the living breath of the Creator reSuS-
cltating the dead or dying child of His
own creation. The one agent used i'll
this work is changelesS, eternal, moral
truth.
There is another lesson to be learned,
and it is the persistent power of evil.
Life for everyone of us is REPETITION of
the lessons of the past. In the light Of
present privileges, failure to serve the
Lord Jesus Christ is as ineXcusable as
was Ahab's apostacy. The idolatry of
the Jews was no more heinouS than our
cherished sins and constant neglect of
religious obligations. The spirit of
false religion, the work of conscience,
the authority of truth and the per-
sistent power of evil are the abiding ele-
ments which make the mortal life in
tensely tragic and render the eXpe-
riences of men similar in all lands and
ages.