Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-30
SOME UNBURIED LIES.
Reverend George Hodges Points Out
a Few Popular Mistakes.
THE EXPERIENCE In ISIQUIrY
Expressions Of Doubt in Religion Rarely
BASED on Hard Study.
BENEFIT OF JlIyING THE CHURCH
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.f

WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.I
And the young men arose, wound him
up, and carried him out and buried him.
This is the record of the funeral of Ana
Mas This is what the young men of that
time did with liar And it is what the
young men of this present time ought to do
with lies. They ought to wind them up
and carry them out and bury them.
There are a great many unburied lies
One of them is this: That it is good
thing for young man to have little expe-
rience of iniquity. We will do well if we
can begin by burying that
No one. holds, think, that little ac-
quaintance with sin is good thing for a
young woman. We are all at one in the
sincere desire that young women should be
not only innocent but ignorant of sin. A
young man, however, some people say,
ought to be wiser than that. He ought to
"see life. P" believe that. Every young
man ought to see life. Only contend
that no man can see life who blinds mis-
eyes to all that is best in it, and turns his
back upon it. For they who desire that
our young men should. ."see life" do not
mean at all what Matthew Arnold meant in
his fine verse On Sophocles.
Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole.
That would be, indeed, sight worth
seeing. The young man who is getting his
experience of in1quity catches no glimpse
of that celestial vision. He sees life un-
steadily, and sees only the meauest and
most miserable part OF it. And yet some
men account this as a valuable lesson in
young mans education! Even they. how
ever, do not recommend it as suitable
study for young woman.
But why not? Why permit difference?
Is it possible that sin is dependent upon
sex? Is an action right or wrong according
as it is committed by woman or a man?
This, hold, is one of the unburied lies.
Right is right eternally; and wrong is of the
devil, always, and everywhere and in every
body's heart. The ten commandments, and
the sermon on the mount, and all the ethical
truths of the two Testaments, are of uni
versal application. They are meant to touch
the life OF every son and daughter of God.
This, I am afraid, is not the conventional
standard of morality. A great many men
are not willing to accept it; even women
are found who disagree with it. Men are
received in Christian society who are known
to be guilty of sins Tor the least of which a
woman would be made a social outlaw. And
women themselves are contented with such
code of ethics, which cares more for a
decent coat than for decent character, and
is an impudent contradiction TO all justice,
and a defaLce of religion, and mockery of
God. 1t ought to be wound up, and carried
out, and burned.
The Ideal Life to Lead.
Whatever is sinful in a woman is equally
sinful in man. That is the doctrine of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That will be the meas
ure OF Gods judgment upon human life.
No matter what society may think, that is
what God thinks. No young man has any
right to 60 where he would not like to take
his sister with him: unless he goes by
reason of plain duty. Noyoung E1an las any
right to listen patiently to any talk, still
less to be partaker in it, in which he would
not like to have his sister join. Unless the
young man has abandoned all endeavor
after high ideal, and has given up all in
tention of making q man of himself. Ideal
manhood does not lie along that way.
As for the notion that men are made
manly by adventuring into temptation and
by making friends with evil it is neither
good religion nor good sense. 1t is true
that strength increases in a man by stress of
conflict with the powers of sin. And to live
apart from human life, to try to evade the
inevitable temptations of the race, to build
a wall between US and the wicked world,
and to take no share in the great fight with
the devil is neither wise, nor manly, nor
Christian. That Is not. the way to grow.
We must of necessity come in contact with
sin. We are in the world that we may make
it better, and that can only be BY transfor-
nation of the worse, and we must know what
the plague is before We can begin to find a
cure.
Strength Comes by Mastery.
But all this is very different from that
sort of life which good many young men
take to be the vestibule of manhood. This
is quite different thing from making ac-
quaintance with sin for the pleasure of the
acquaintance. Let young man seek intro
ductions to the society of temptation and
make friends with the devil for the delight
of the devils company-will he gain
strength of character by that? Strength
comes by mastery; by brave, firm and de-
termined resistance; by victories won
against contending odds. and this young
man has made no fight at all-he has sur
rendered. He has shown himself weak and
q coward. He has missed of manhood
For see now what will follow. These
two tragic consequences overtake this man:
He has, poisoned his mind and lie has
weakened his will. To have a clear mind
and strong will is to be man. To see what
ought to be done, and to have the strength
to do it, is the glory of manhood. But the
young man who begins life bv trying to
walk along the path Of temptation into the
kingdom of heaven finds that that mis-
guided journey leaves lin lame.
Seeing With the Animal Eye.
Think of it! How many people know By
experience the bitter truth Of it! A mind
poisoned, and a sight dimmed and distorted.
This man looks out into the world, and
everything he sees is written over with the
sentences of sin. He has lost the sense of
appreciation of the highest pleasures which
God gives to men. He has made himself so
much of an animal, that he thinks like an
animal, and enjoys most what animals en-
joy. And every book, and every picture,
and every delight OF music, and every har-
mony of color on the land or sea, or in the
sky, and all that IS iairest and most blessed,
has curse upon it. The devil stands close
by to be interpreter of all. And the man
looks up into the face of God, and there is
nothing but black sky above him. For He
knew men said that the pure in heart
should see God, and the pure alone. And
this Young man has missed the supreme
And. with all this. weakened will, un-
trained, undiscipllned and out of exercise;
so that he tries to amend his ways, and to
ret back where he was, and he makes reso-
luton after resolution, and breaks them all;
Tor he has got so used.to saying ''yes" to the
invitations of the tempter that he has lost
bis speech for saying ''no." That is what
hat life must lead to. 1t is path into the
NIT stKeeD inrocency and take heed unto
he thing that is right; for that"-and that
.lone-''shall bring man peace at last"
Having Doubts About Religion.