The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-03-26

tondages that are cruel and ruinous.
| He has now three bad masters instead
of no good one. The will that defies
Gods will passes under the dominion of
that trinity of evil, the world, the flesh
and the devil.
S. The world Is wretched master
The world means. the advantages and in
terests of this present life; material in.
terests; material ideas; worship of
perishable things that are seen; deyo-
ton to the self satisfied, we'll fed,
supercilious, self-applauding world;
over-awed by the ostentation, the
pomp, the pageantry, the frippery, the
mummery, the solemn mockery OF this
evenescent worl1. A more complete,
helpless, unworthy slavery cannot be
| imagined. Look at the man who can
not brook the restraint of God or
religion; look at him tremble at the
feet of his master; look at his slavish
obedience to the worlds shallow code;
look at his abject terror OF the thought
OF the worlds censure; look st him
crawl like a cur under society's whip;
look at him toll and sweat for its smile
6 The flesh is another master, low
master for the heaven born soul. The
body was original y good. The human
animal is the masterpiece of nature, the
elimination of all physical develop
ment.
The human body Christ took and
kept 1t pure. But the soul stopped to
the body, then used it as the organ Of
its sins, then degraded it, then became
it's slave, and the corrupted body rules
the enslaved soul with terrible tyranny
z. The third master is the devil
| There Is an influence more aggressive
than the solicitations of the flesh or the
dazzling glamor of the world. 1t is
positive enmity to God and goodness
| positive loyalty to evil. Not merely
the negative of good, but rnaic Sum
| aggressive ain; positive h.,
This is blind slavery. 1t oiInd
Sampson in the treadmill. .s-e devil
| is the deceiver. He has made evil
seem good and good evil. He has per-
verted the vision. Everything is dis
torted. discolored. falsifled. That pro.
found master, that crafty magician
makes forbidden fruit sweet, makes
stolen waters sweet. He has power to
rivet our attention upon the one unlaw-
ful thing. He has power to intensity
our thought on one wrong desire until
all life seems stale and fat unless that
desire is grati6ed This dreadful de-
fusion, thi, deadly fascination, fills
common things with dazzling beauty.
The colored lights of holl are reflected
upon earthly things and make them ap-
| pear heavenly. The gaming table is
made to assume attractions which make
| gold and land and houses seem insignifi-
cant triiles in comparison. A glass Of
| liquor grows in beauty and power that
will eclipse the love of family. the 10Y Of
| home or even the hopes of heaven.
| This is a direful slavery.
8. have teen careful to insist upon
the distinction between sin and it's con-
sequences; between sin and wickedness
between the condition Of alienation from
God and the deeds that grow out of that
condition. But we must not ignore these
deeds. Sin is incarnated in deeds; it is
manifested in deeds. How terrible and
hydra headed they are Sin fruited, sin
made objective, sin in &C ion is the
worlds tragedy. Read the bill of the
play. Egotism; self-iDdulgence; the dis
da1n OF the proud; the merciless ndiffer.
ence TO human misery; the malicious
meanness of envy; the diabolic venom
OF hate; tho foul cesspool of the volup-
tuary's fancy, the lewdness of the
brothel; the pampered stupidity of the
glutton; the fuddled, groggy helpless
ness Of the sot; the abject intamy of
the liar; the baseness of the cheat;
the hopeless degradation of the thief;
the deliberate crime of the robber; the
false hearted perfdy of the traitors
kiss; the human hycnas, bloodhounds,
adiers! The Judases, the azebels, the
Lo:harios, the Messalinas. the Neros,
the Torguemedas! Are these illusions?
Arc they unrealities that only seem real
to belief? Are they good from any stand
point? Never. They are the outward
visible signs, the open sores, tho foster
ing ulcers of sin.
o. 1t is hardly necessary for mo to
dwell much on the next consequence of
sin, viz: punishment. From what has
been said you already see that punish
ment is not an arbitrary thing but that
1T is involved in the sin. may not be-
Immediately apparent. 1t may be like
certain brain diseases, which at partic-
ular stages make the patient actually
buoyant while they are sapping his life.
But however you may feel, the punish
ment OF sin is inevitable. The wages
OF sin is death Not physical death,
except incidentally. but worse-spiri
tual death. The soul that sinneth 1t
shall die" Death of the soul is the
disintegration of the spiritual in YOU,
the loss of what is good and high and
happy; separation from the source of
life. You have got to be miserable il
you sin; you have got to lose your peace;
you have got to suffer.
The skillful physician can see, even
in gay and worldly men, the frat symp.
toms OF this coming doom. He sees it
in the gorged oistaste for subsequence
which full feast leaves on a palled
pallet. He sees it in the deep under
current Of unrest which he tries to
sail gaily above, but whose presence re-
minds him that he is playing at life and
ignoring reality.
10. Sin and suffering-that is hell.
We believe in hell because we have seen