The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-03-12

And so, little by little, we creep up
to that excuse so common in our day,
"There is no real moral evil, there is no
real sin " What men call sin ID onlS
good in the making. It is the greenne1.
Of an apple that by and by will be ripN,
1t is the foOlishness Of ~ "L.fsG VINO by
and bv will ~ slset. The fall is only a
fall upward. Let rs not trouble our
selves, therefore, but wait There is a
good God, and by and by he will bring
all things right. But when real evil
comes and takes us by the throat, we
talk so no longer. When dishonesty has
cheated my neighbor Of his purse he
does not think that robbery is good in
the making. When slander has taken
away the good name of my friend, he
does not think slander is good in the
making. 1t is only when we talk about
evil in the abstract that we try thus to
get rid Of it. Is Benedict Arnold q
Washington in the making? Is Judas
IscariOt Jesus of Nazareth in the max
ing? Think Canada thistles are wheat
in the making, think a broken arm is
an athletes arm in the making, think
that diphtheria and scarlet fever are
health in the making, but do not think
that to be estranged, self willed and self
indulgent is holiness and righteousness
and goodness in the makingl
Eyes and See Not.
But more than of any other class de-
ceive themselves by not thinking about
the matter at all. They cast up accounts
to see how their finances balance; dis
ease comes into the house, and the doc
tor inquiries as to their health, and so
they ascertain their physical health bal
anCe, but they never strike balance in
he'moral realm. How many of us are
there here this morning that have ever
really considered whether we have made
progress toward God or away from him
in the last 12 months or the last l2
years? This was the complaint, you re-
member, God made against Israel, THE
OK knoweth his owner and the ASS his
masters crib, but my people doth not
know, Israel doth not consider. No
captain on the Atlantic ocean will allow
"a hours to go by without taking his
reckoning, if he can, and finding out
where he is But it will be very strange
if in this congregation this Sabbath
morning, large as is the proportion of
processing Christians, there are not
many of us that never have taken an OBJ
servation and do not know or even ask
ourselves what are our moral latitude
and longitude.
Do you think this is an easy sermon
., do 10
know me. would like always to look
ON the bright side of things. would
: like always to speak Of the virtues.
believe in the dignity of humanity, and
like TO speak of it. But there is dis
ease in the world, and cannot shut my
eyes to it. l wish there was universal
wisdom, but l know there is ignorance.
wish all men we're bending to the oar
that they might row themselves and
carry what freight of human souls they
can to the harbor of Gods great love,
but know there are men pulling the
other way and many a man sitting with
folded arms doing nothing. We try, un-
happily with too much success, to shut
out from our mind the remorse that sin
brings with it, and do not know how
easy, how clear, how simple is the cure
Not in shutting our eyes to our sins, but
in knowing them, is the remedy. II we
could stand for a little while in the
white light that streams from Gods
throne, if we could but for this moment
stand in the clear, calm vision Of the
Christ himself, looking on us and through
us, we could deceive ourselves no longer,
and in that light of that throne we do
truly stand whether we know it or not,
and Christ still is here. "Simon, son Of
Jonas, lowest thou me more than thesel
Lowest thou me? Hast thou even an ..ac.
tion for me?" What do you answer himl
Still he turns to the Pharisee and says,
Thou gavest me no water for my feet,
thou gavest me no kiss''-and still the
Pharisee does not understand, and still
the woman that knows herself to be a
sinner bathes his feet with her tears,
and still he says TO her who weeps her
heart out in penitence because she
knows him as the Saviour and herself
as sinful, go in peace, thy sins be for
given thee. "
Actor James l. COrhett now saws that