The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-09-18

AoipiuS uldu.
LAW OF RIGHT is UNIVERSAL.
And this law. my friends. is applicable to
every human SOU. All Gods laws and all
of natures laws are omnipresent. They
are good for all ages and all lands. The
law of right is as binding upon a Russisn
as il Is upon an American. and the law of
duty was as operative IN the hrst century
as II Is In this nineteenth century. lhght
IL right In every cline and In every age,
for every nationality and for every man.
And 1t is only when We realize the
boundless egOtism of the human race. TOT
somehow man Is always making an eX-
ception of himself. He is always finding
refuge from the consequences OF bis own
fOIlies and airs IN the sophistry OF the
exception. That sin entails penalties,
that vice results in unhappy consequences.
he knows as a general proposition.
las We SOW. so shall ys also reap" and be
sure yonr sin shall find you out. Yes" he
says. that is true; l know that the robber
In the long run will DO aught; i know that
the burglar In the long run must 90 to the
p~enitenIiary: / know that the man that
transgresses the laws of God must pay
up pound for pound. and ounce for ounce.
and drachm for drachm for the wrong that
he has done, but In my case the general
law may not apply. may. perhaps. escape
the penalty; / may perhaps escape the
popular indignation; / may perhaps escape
the scrutiny of the argus eye OF law" so
man argues. and so man sins. for If IL were
not for this sophlstry or the exception no
man in all Gods world would dare to put
his hand to wrong. And yet: tins argu,
ment of the transgressOr. standing hot. and
anxious. aud ardent on the threshold of his
sin, Is n mistaken one. 1t is full of error.
illusion and deceit. You cannot escape the
laws of God. because Gods laws are all I'M
partial. They fall equally on the great
and on the small: with an equal Justice on
the king and on the peasant; with an equal
pressure on the high and on the low. And
as they are impartial so they are un-
but they only seem. Law Is argus-eyed.
and sure in Its stroke. If every atom. II
every point IN SPACE were a detective of
the living God. law could not be more un:
s s1rin .ss than act it is, oi 1 ao,nS 90 wrong wrong a ans
stroke comes down. TbeIe Is no in.
terval betw cen wrong and the penalty of
wrong. The public may not know
that you have done violence TO law. but
the wrath and scorn of the public Is a small
part of the penalty that the Eternal visits
upon him who transgresses the ever.astlng
will. God is not dependent upon pu bllc
opinions; nor does he take the people into
His confidence; nor does He need your indlg-
nation and mine to make His law effective.
All. no. law smites and smltes hard. and
deep. and sharp. though the worlds eye be
blind. stark blind. TO the operation of its
stroke. The law Of the eternIties is an I'M
TAI heuudu, III tEUCE "Oiuo HOlO
never written by man than these words:
BE sure your sin will lind you out"
Whatsoever a man soweth. shat shall he
also reap" If he sOws to the flesh, OF the
flesh ne shall reap corruption. And it rests
not in the pc YER of man to avert the aveng-
ing stroke of al offended and o wounde
law.
My friends, here is counsel and monition
for ell and especially for the man who will
fully deIes and violates the law of duty
and RIGHT The sin NAV ha Urn9s or IL NAV
be subtle; 1t may be vulgar or 1t may be
refined, but whatever our sin may be
1t is sin. and therefore under the retribu-
tive eye of the Eternal. and must pay
the price. There Is no more foolish enter
prise in all Gods world than a life of sin.
whether 1t be sin fragrant or sin ~furtive.
Of the two kinds of lives tho 1lsgrant is
much TO be preferred to the furtive. There
10 at least a remnant of respect left in the
heart of mar for o sinner who does not try
to play the o art of q saint, for the man who
comes right out and says: IL know l am
goddess. | know | am vicious: but l have
no penance to pay for my godlessness. and
L have no tears of regret to weep over my
vice. | believe that goodness is a failure.
| believe that its virtue is q myth. 1 be.
lieve the best you can say about the saint
is that he is weak. believe In the princl-
pie OF the epicurean-to eat, drink and be
merry, for tomorrow we die. We have but
q few years here. and / intend to enjoy
these years. oven II l buy them at the cost
of my manhood and at the price OF my
soul" You at least must respect that mans
honesty and candor. But the furtive man,
the man who seeks to appear one thing
whilst he is another. the man who is a DR..
Jekyl in the world and q Mr.. Hyde in the
closet. the man who practices his sins, his
in the dark-this is the man that needs to
remember that be, TOO, as well as the
fragrant sinner. must suffer for his sins.
Laws penalties do not miss him, even
though he work his sins in the darkness of
night. The indignation. and the scorn. n
the wrath OF the public. from these he may
be saved. but Gods laws have written on
his heart these words: "Hy pocrlsy. de-
ceit." His SID. too, has found Ill out.
Cunning9 Yes. he was cunning. Sly? Yes.
he was sly. Furtivef Yes, he was ~furtive.
But with all his cunningness. and his sly
ness, and his furtiveness he could not
transcend or outwlt the law whose i'm
perlai word Is do right"
Oh. my young friends, remember this when
you stand upon the threshold of life. that
there are two ways which You can 60.
There IS the broad way that
leads to destruction-the one that
In his speech and in his eye. That broad
way is the way of pleasure, the way of
passion, the way OF self-deslre. 1t is a way
of sheen. and laughter. and songs. and mer-
riment, but it's conclusion Is forever Q con-
clusion OF disaster ana pain. Go that way
you may. it Is your privilege. You are free:
free 10 choose the narrow or the broad,
free to say to the great King Of kings,
"Thy will be DONE" or free to defy that
will and say, My will, not thine, be
done;" but remember what the assertion of
thy will costs. what il has cost from Adams
first sin down to this day in which we live.
whatehas been its invariable penalty since
man first defied and disobeyed the will of
the Eternal King. Remember this and then
choose We the narrow path. Enter ye in at
the straight gate, for Happy il he that
keepeth the law" Disobey the law you
may. but remember this. the cost is pcacc.
HE that keepeth the law. happy ia he."
and only he. Yea. verify. narrow is the
way that leadeth to manhood. and that
eliminates In large and joy Gus life.
CITY BY VICE.
And now let me say that all this, too. is
applicable to the city as we'll as to the in.
dividusl. Cities are no exception to
the law of God. Gravity is just
as applicable to the hugest star
In the heavens as il is to
the smallest atom on this earth.
1t rules one Just as surely as it rules the
other. A moral law is Just as certainly
obligatory upon q thousand men or ten
thousand men as It is upon one. Look about
you and You will see the evidences of the
operation OF our text, that He that keep
eth the law, happy Is he" and only he.
Look at the suffering. the unrest, the dis.
that prevail in almost every city of our
the operation of the law of God; here are
thu nanaleyes wriffan in human tiacb. uyr,e