The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-01-02
PUNISHMENT FOR SINS.
Rev. Skaters Sermon at tho Meth
odist Episcopal Church South
on New Years.
The Penalty for Disobedlence OF
the Creators Commands Is
Inevitable.
How the Proud Nations Of Ancient
Times Were Chastised for Their
Maay SIM.

xI@oB w Gro OuhbtSbSW 1OE AADAS /
Maay Sins.
In his sermon yesterday Rev. Shafsr,
pastor Of the Grand Street Methodist
took AZ his tsxt: "What Wit Thou
Bay When He Shall Punish Thee" JsH.
1921. The tendency Of the natural miad.
aid Mr.. ShGffer. il to throw of. or reject,
all thought Of accountability TO God, or re-
for actions committed. You
see this demonstrates In the family, child
rem disposed to have their way. as
control OF themselves. Few II any
but have passed through such OK
psriencs. Consequently tho wise parent
appeals to the child's faculties, his ONO
Of fear and love, addressing one BY
argument, by touch. pleading. tho other BY
punishment. 70 in tho state.
She promises to her good citizens the privi-
lsgsn OF peace and the pursuit Of happiness
and prosperity, n her strong arm of pro-
in every hour of need; while her
statutes bristls with thrsatsninRs, and her
jails and penitsntia ries are standing rnonu-
msnts OF her authority to the lawless and
disobedient. Passing from these to the re-
Rion Of the moral and spiritual I remark
that God, ~ tho tender and loving father
and majestic governor of his creatures, has
exhausted the of a divine mind in
his appeals, and his word sbounds in
tho swsetest and largest promises upo the
one hand. and upon the other Of awful
threatening to the disobsdisnt and hRslly
impsnitent. My text refers to the future
and il suggestive of grave Significance. to
which We would do we'll to give heed. Pso-
this world. Nations always. Jhs people
before the food ignoring prophets and
preachers and angels Of Gods mercy a.
they stroys and warned, were overwhelmed
and destroyed. Egypt. rsvelling in mi
guilty and disdainina authority. treasured
up wrath against the day Of wrath, until
the black cloud gathered. out Of whose
depths the jagged lightning leaped. do
scsnding upon her helpless head, inlioting
the punishment due for her sins. Rome,
in her pride, conquered, d~ismembsred and
o%verthrown, becoming from mistress to
servant. from head to tail; Sodom. Tyre,
Ninevah. Babylon, all evidence the fact
that sin, disobediencs to moral require
ment must and will be punished. Our own
south land. baptized in blood. burned in
fire. drowned in tears. expiating her sins
and receiving punishment of necessity.
The groans of her slaves, the vail of sep
aratad wives and husbands, of parents and
children, her young men growing up in
luxurious idleness; brave. chivalrous and
m~agnanimous, but too often proud and
ovsrbearing, her sins called for punish
ment. / speak not now of her superior
mo. al culture, of the kindness of treat
ment, OF the larger part Of her slaves nor
OF the great attachments often existing be-
tween owners and owned. These are facts
Of history known to the intelligent. II is
now Of her sins, tho penalty for which she
paid. TIL fires were necessary to her
publication.
But you ask was the south the only sim
full and SHINING part of our %country? Has
the north no punishment to endure? The
answer TO the first is NO. The second
question. yea verify. She bought these
slaves, and sold them when they became
Improbable. She fattensd upon the
spoils of war. Her bondholders
and manufacturers and trust COM
paniss are revelinR, on the spoils
and fostered BY their influence. and the
suffering 10 now there. A Thousand delicate
fingers are dripping with blood in making
shirts At 80 cents per dozen. Tho %shrunken
forms Of enaeiated women, worn out over
the laundry boiler, the droves of girls and
- . QAAS SA1V O&SA onN w
toll in clese factories whose owners are a.
cruel as the former slave driver and az re-
morseless al death. Her multiplied thous-
ands of poor crowded to moral and physical
suffocation, her laborers driven to frenzy
through nforced idleness and consequent
suffering, her inflated bondholders, manu-
faotursrs and multi-millionarss. increasing
their gains and adding to their possessions
BY 4 system Of lsQalized robbery, are bring
ing up families in idlsnsss and self indulg-
ence to be their own dsstroyers. Sin has
its own reward. The way of transQression
gressor." Nations and cities which sow
the dragons teeth may expect the harvest.
The penalty. 10 inevitable, as inevitable
40 the moral ruin that must como to our
city, with nsr 100 salo0ns, gambling houses
and houses of shame. open day and night.
and social life. unless q speedy and radical
reformation 10 contaminated. The history
OF nations all prove the folly of ignoring
the threatsninRs Of . msroiful but Just ore
ator.
But the punishment about which you and
sonal and future one. Many are inclined
to dsspiss the doctrine Of future punishI
ment. A maadlin sentiment ssehs TO have
possessed them. and tho modern theologi.
an. so sailed. has sought to explain away
the plain teaching of Gods word. But if
tneEe IL o0O OOcGIlue more PLAINLY auRht
than another in the Bible. it 10 that mon
are to be punished for sins unrepented OF.
The idea of material FIRE constituting the
punishment of sin. of course, is not be-
lieved or preached by intslligent ministers
of the gospel. 1t 10 impossible that it
should be SO. Material fire cannot burn an
immaterial spirit. 1t 10 simply used AZ tho
most appropriate figure to rept eacnt the
torture of an outraged conscience and sep
aration Of the immortal spirit from its
creator and savior. But that ia suffering,
which could only he family represented by
the exorueiatinR pain that fl Q gives to the
flesh.
The cry OF Dives for a drop of water sig
nihsd an intolerabls spiritual thirst that
must now be forever unquenched-a cry for
tho cessation of remorse. We read of FIRE
that is mover quenched, of punishment of
everlasting destruction from the presence
of God. The word Ia full of plainest teach
ing. and there must be u Judgment and TN
pardonsd sin punished.
The question of my text then ia, What
will you say when judgment is pronounced?
When crime is cha god aud proven upon a
culprit and sentence about to be pro-
nouneed, you will hear, in each instance,
the judge ask, "Havs you anything to say
why sentence should not be pronounced?''
Sometimes the answer 10, ''There were ex-
~tenuatinR circum stances." Another. BE-
fore God, / am not guilty." And in many
instances the innocent have been adjudped
asA ED I1A ERa4