The Newtown bee., 1898-02-18

szse61zzz
ooe temptation yielded to makes the
next harder to overcome. One sin
opens the door for whole troop to
come in. Sin is growth. 1t begins,
it grows, it ripens. Sin is ever pointing
to albitter end; in the fearful descrip-
tion of James, "Sn, when it is finished,
bripgeth forth DEATH" The first cup
starts on the road towards the drunk
ards grave, the first impure thought
cherished makes smooth the path to the
obscenities of the brothel, the first oath
uttered by the boy as a mart thing
thickens the air so that profanity may
soon be the very atmosphere of the life.
"He that sinneth against me wrong
eth his own SOUP; for he soon comes to
love his sin and to see no sin in his sin.
That, it seems to me, is the worst injury
which sin inficts; making aIman so dull,
so insensate, so dead, in his sin that he
is not conscious that he is q sinner at
all. And how easily does one pass into
this stated
TAKE THE MEMORY.
Il is mirror that reflects the thoughts
we think and the things we do e;
or, better, it is the sensitive
plate of the photographer which
retains and holds what we wish it to
hold. If we wish it to hold only bad
thoughts, it will hold them; as we think
in our hearts, so are we. Bad thoughts
soon make bad characters, and sin has
put our moral standard low. think one
of the most fearful descriptions in the
Bible is that given by Paul in the first
chapter of Romans, where he pictures the
awful sins Of the heather world and rep
resents God as ''giving them over" to
their wickedness, because they had come
not only to do deeds of monstrous wick
edness, but to have pleasure in them.
1t is the worst of sins to love sin, but
that is al ways Satan's way of going about
it.; he strives to make sin come With
mincing gait and smiling face 80 that we
shall be attracted by its charms. II Sa-
tan only appeared to US as some colossus
obscuring the sun, we might see In him
our arch-enemy; but he often comes ss a
very angel of light. Trust him not. He
is liar from the beginning. He is =
murderer that would destroy our very
souls. You recall the old fable of the
eagle, which took a portion of flesh from
the altar with it to it's nest; bat, wrapped
up In the folds of flesh, there was a live
coal that burned up the eaglets in their
nest.
"He that sinneth against Me, wrongeth
his own soul''-wrongeth it In opportuni-
ties lost. We may know the sweet peace
of pardon. The crimson and scarlet Of
sin may be turned into the wilderness of
snow or wool; but who will give back
the wasted life? Who will recall those
opportunities for speaking kind words,
for doing deeds of love, for serving God
and man. 1.-THE mill never erinds with
the water that is past"
OF the twelve words In the Old Tesla
ment which define sin, three describe the
injury which the sinner iDfiicts, through
his sin, upon others. The first of THESE
NEAR sstreachery." the invasion OF an
others rights; the second means 'trans-
gression," the err sslng over the line Of
action that God has laid down; the third
means an open "revolt'' against God Him
self. Sin comes short OF the mark, makes
man q cripple, breaks and brushes the
soul as the the hammers blow destroys
the beautiful vase; it also defies and dis.
honors God. Sin is not mere foible,
an innuendo, blunder, an er.
ror, mistake; sin--every sin-is an OPP
en- rebellion against God. Sin is the red
handed villain that would fiaunt the red
flag Of anarchy and upset the moral or
der OF universe. Sin would make right