Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-09-24
SIN AND PENALTY.
Wrong Doors Brought to Appreciate the
Enormity of Their Transgressiops

Wrong Doors Brought to Appreciate the
Enorrnity OF Their Transgressiops.
The story of Absalom's treachery un-
wells dark side of human experience.
The connection between sin and it's
punishment cannot always be directly
traced. 1t does not invariably grow di-
rectly out of the evil act. Ahab could
see no relation between his indolatry and
the three years of rainlessnnss and
famine. But we are clearly led to infer
that that great drought, was penalty
for Ahab's sin. The punishment Of
David's sin did not grow Immediately
cut of his transgression. He retained
Bathsheba, and her son became his heir.
hung over his house, and the career and
conspiracy of Absalom, and the dis.
ruption of his kingdom, can be traced
back to his evil self-will. We do not
know what potencies of evil lie con-
cealed in sinful act. What we call the
natural consequences of the act do not
at all measure it's results. The con-
science of the brethren of Joseph spoke
truly when, on finding themselves APP
pretended in Egypt, the deed of years
before came up before them, and they
whispered: 1--WE are verify guilty con-
corning our brother, in that we saw the
anguish of his soul, when he besought
us, and we would not hear; therefore is
this distress come upon u.s." To human
eyes there was no apparent relation be-
tween their imprisonment and their
sin, but conscience told them that there
was relation. In visiting penalty upon
men, the resources of God are bound
less.
And yet, though the causal connec-
ticn between sin and punishment cam
not always be traced. how often it hap
pens that the penaltyis exactly adapted
to bring back upon the man him
self the evil he has done Others Jacob
deceives his father Laban, and even his
own children in turn deceive him. David
proves false to the reasonable trust of
fellow man, and Absalom proves faith
less to the confidence his father places
in him. 1t seems, sometimes, as if the
retributions of God were adjusted with
the most delicate precision to bring
back upon ourselves the bitterness AMI
wrong we have caused others to suffer.
If other proof of the existence of God
were wanting, this tendency of sir,
through the workings of providence, to
recoil upon itself, would point to Him.
And this melting out to men of the meas
ure they have measured to others not
only takes men in their own net, but it
brings to the sinner, in the most vivid
way conceivable, an appreciation of the
enormity of his transgression. Through,
the experience of life Jacob and David
came to an estimate of their own trans
gressioI which was keen and profound.
This narrative of Absalom's treachery
also suggests that just as the keenest
delights of life come through fidelity
to all the obligations of human ties, so
they are also the channel of the greatest
sorrows. The ties of friendship, mar
rage and parentage are the sources of
the purest joys or of the bitterest griefs.'
1t is our relation to other persons which
holds the master secret Of human happi-
ness. If penalty has the subtle relation
to sin that we have just described, Il
wrong done fellow man, betrayal of
trust, a willingness to gain advantage
at another's loss, have concealed within
them terrible power of revenge. In
the discipline of life David discovered
what experience has revealed to many
another man. that in wrongng another
he was poisoning the fountain of his
own happiness.-Boston Waterman.