El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-11-29
BAPTIST CHURCH
CONFESS Your Faults One To An
other"

"Confess your faults one to another,
and pray one for another, that ye may
be healed" jas. V:18.
The primary meaning of the word
here rendered faults is TO miss the
mark. There are few of US who do.not
miss the mark, sometime even when
We aim at.the perfect standard OF right
TO magnify our good qualities and min
ify our bad ones. This is one OF the
faults that the advocates of the entire
sanctifcstion movement have. Phsr-
iseeism finds no place in the Bible,
and should find none In the claims OF
men, only to condemn. "Philocrates
and Philocrates, a single man but
double eater" better represents our
condition. Single men though we be
In our individuality we are double and
even quadruple in orr propensity TO,
and our guilt OF sin. There is not q
Just man upon the earth" says Solo
mon, "who doeth good and sinneth
mott" not one who does not miss the
mark sometime.
Now God commands all such to con-
fess their faults one to enotner. This
does not exclude the idea of confessing
our sins to God, nor does 1t establish
the idea that there must be human
mediator before we can reach God In
our appeals for mercy. There was
time when man was compelled TO seek
access to God through q priest as
mediator, and times when none but
the high priest could enter within the
veil to the mercy seat. But during
the conclusions ,of nature that atten-
ded the crucifixion of Jesus this veil
was literally rent In twain teaching US
by Q beautiful symbol that all priestly
service pointed forward to Christ our
great high priest through whom we
now enter with boldness" into the
very presence OF God, confess our sins
and make known our wants with full
assurance of faith" "Call no man
your father upon the earth said
Jesus, ''neither be ye called Rabbi: for
one Is your father which is in heaven,
and all We are brethren"
The confession commanded in our
text Is not that of an inferior" to q
superior" but of an equal to an equal;
of brother to brother. If the fault be
of public nature then it should be
confessed TO the brethren at large, eg,
to the church. But IL, as Is more often
the case, IL 10 of q private nature, 1t
may be confessed to the individual
without any publicity If the offender so
desires. IL the sin be against an In
dividual then the confession should at
least be made to that person. IT two
have engaged In sin together, then
they should at least. acknowledge to
each other their fault and pray the one
for the other. But above all should
confession be made to God against
whom the greatest sin was commit
ted.
But it is hard to obey this command
whatever its meaning. First, Gods
word makes US ashamed OF ourselves. |
1t is said that the Selephsnt when he |
goes to drink from q clear pool, first |
ha irt a
SO that he cannot see himself. So with |
US; when we look into Gods |
word We get 30 ashamed that
OF times we even refuse to go
there to drink. Then the Devil comes
along and makes us ashamed to con-
fess. There is q legend that tells how
the Devil went to the confessional with
q sinner and offered to make restitu-
ton. On being asked what he would |
restore he said Shame; for it is |
shame have stolen from the sinner to |
make him shameless In SHINING; and |
now 1 have come to restore it to him to |
make him ashamed to confess. And SO
many times we hide our faults, asham-
ed to confess them to God or man. But
such shame brings no repentance; no
and is withsl dangerous.
"He that hideth his SINS" said Solo.
mon 'shall not prosper" Says the
Psalmists"W 1 kept silence my
bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long. For day and night
thy hand was heavy upon me. / am
troubled; L am bowed down greatly; 1
60 mourning all the day long. My
moisture Is turned into the drought of
summer. For mine iniQuities have gone
over my head; as q heavy burden they
are too heavy for me-" Jobs friends |
were told to go and confess to Job that
they had wronged him lest God deal
with them according to their folly. o
conscience is dreadful task
God pity the man who comes
under it's lash, But add to this the
chss, ening of God in the way of tenn
poral calamity and that man who hides
his sin Is of all men most miserable. |
Like the hero in The Scarlet Letter,
the only way on earth 10 get relief Is to
confess the wrong at the right place.
There Is q blessing to all who thus
confess their faults. Presumably at
least this secures to you the forgive
ness OF the one you have wronged.
This Is certain II the other party is
obedient to God. 1t must be a hard
hearted, man even though not a Chris
honest and frank to confess. More
over II the parties to whom the oon-
fession Is made be obedient
Christians 1t secures their
prayers and averts the chasten
ug of God. When confession Is made
10 or in the presence OF a Christian God
holds that Christian duty bound to
pray for the offender. "Aud pray one [
'or another" says the text. It is one
,f the sweetest blessings of my life to 6
know that my brethren pray for me.
wonder how many really do. Why? ,
iot only because IL brings US into clos
,r sympathy and makes US more inter-
EST ed in eachother; but be-
,ause God has promised to