The Newtown bee., 1898-02-18

given the care Of the soul, spark struck
off, as it were, from the fire of the Eter-
nal Existence, soul that refuses to be
put into the same calculation with the
value of this world or of all the worlds,
soul that is deathless, that the wave
cannot drown, the fire cannot consume,
disease cannot mar, destruction cannot
waste, beat cannot wither, and the keen
edge of the sword cannot find that it
may wound it. We have the keeping of
time, of life, of soul; but sin can make
as go hating like a cripple through
time, fall wide short of the goal of life,
and crush and break the beautiful
image of the soul.
We do not make enough of this, the
injury which the sinner infiicts upon
himself through sin. This injary is the
same whether the sinner has been par
doned or not; the injury has beeo in.
ficted, the scar is there. It is a false
doctrine that there necessarily comes a
time in young mans life when he
must SOW his ''wild oats" If he sows
wild oats at any time, there is going to
be harvest OF wild oats In his life some
day. 1t is law holding forever true and
well placed by a benefcent Creator in bu-
man life as a deterrent against sin,
Whatsoever man soweth, that shall
he also reap" ''If thine eye offend
thee" said Christ, "pluck it out and
cast it from thee" It is better to be
MANNED and crippled than to carry eyer
with as cause of stumbling and cffence.
Thus, though pardoned by the free
grace of God, we all 60 to Heaven
marred and manned by sin.
1t can never be the same with us here
Or in eternity, as it would have been if
we had not sinned. The doctrine of
justification by faith is a glorious one,
but it must not be abused. We may
know the
SWEET PEACE OF PARDON;
we may know what the experience of
the psalmist was when he cried blessed
10 the man whose transgression is for
given, whose sin is covered;'' but the
jey is ever tinged with the reflection
upon our sin. The Mary out of whom
the seven devils were cast may sit in
peace at Jesus feet and the love-lieht
may fall from His dear eyes into hers,
the man broken and racked by the evil
spirit among the rock-tombs of Gadara
may 60 clothed in quietness to his wife
and little ones at home, but the shadow
ever and anon will float over their lives
to remind them of the dark pass. The
sanity Mary and the disciple whom
Jesus loved cannot be the same in the
realm of grace with him who was once
the prosecuting Saul.
tile that sinneth against me wrong
eth his own soul"-wrongeth his own
soul in the sense OF guilt that he fncurs.
This sense of guilt follows him and
haunts him. Oliver Wendell Holmes
tells as that once going to some famous
place, the ghost of the memories OF the
place seemed to follow him, and he
could not shake it off. DR. Holmes was
so convinced that the ghost was with
him that when ne came to the railway
station, he said to the agent, 1.-TWO
tickets fer Boston, .Ahi'' whispered
the ghost 'swhen you leave this place,
you leave me behind Zone ticket for
Boston, then,'' said Holmes. But the
ghost of our sin does not leave as so
readily when we quit place. It is
like our shadow; It is something from
which we cannot get away. Else, will
you tell me why so often the man who
has committed some crime, though the
crime be not detected, though he be
suspected by no one goes to the author
tiles and wishes himself locked mp,
convicted man?
s.He that sinneth against me wrong
eth his own wrongeth his own
soul in lowering his moral standard.