The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-09-29
MIR. sHELDON'S SERMON.
New York Journal at Last Captures
the Topeka Divine.


The New York Journal has at last
captured Rev. Charles NJ. Sheldon. The
following by the Topeka divine was
printed in the editorial section of that
paper on last Sunday:
My text is from nineteenth verse,
thirtieth chapter Deuteronomy; There
fore, choose life
There are two great fundamental
facts in life in this world. one is the
power Of choice. In the field OF char
acter the power of choice stands by
itself. 1t is independent to great eX-
tent of hereditary tendency. How many
of you who did wrong during the past
week We're conscious at the time that
the power of choosing whether you
should do right or wrong rested Win
you? 1 think every one OF you 4ou
can all say, Il need not nave cnoSeh ~
do wrong; L might have chosen TO 90
right"
Every one in this congregation who
did something that his conscience knew
was wrong was aware that the power
of choice lay with him and that he
could do right if he SO desired. \ man
whose life is devoted to work among
criminals, who has visited all the great
prisons and jails and has met nearly
all the criminals in them, says InaL q
vast majority of those CRIMINALS nau
enough strength within them TO 10
right instead of wrong They Ihenl-
selves felt that they had this power,
and when frank with themselves sald
SO.
it is another wrong to make hereditary
tendency the scapegOat for our ms
deeds Bishop Vincent says there ~
nothing we inherit from our fathers
which is too strong for US to pear
against. I do not deny the existence OF
hereditary tendencies, but / do deny
their Importance. The boy resembles
the father. Habits are handed down
from father to soma fact that is spoken
of in the Bible. But no man 1nherlts
from his father anything that deprlVes
him of the power to choose between
good and evil. Even if you were all
heathens you would still possess TINS
! power.
In his daily life a man is often sur
| rounded by persons who do not help
him to do right. Sometimes they belong
1 to his own family circle. But although
/ they do not aid him to righteous
| career, thew can not make him 90
wrong. He has the power of choice, no
matter what the surroundings or the
/ circumstances or the heredity. Every
/ man knows that he has this power
/ Nothing can take it away from him.
! Jesus always spoke in the imperative
/ mood. He said, DO it, or Thou
J shalt" knowing that the man was a
} law unto himself and could do it or not
! as he chose.
| In making his choice man can select
| only one of two things: right or wrong,
! life or death. People are always trying
! to compromise betwee1 life and death
| and right and wrong, but no man ever
/ succeeded. The first fruit of attempted
/ compromise is Indifference If a man
] does not make a direct choice between
! right and wrong he soon becomes care
! less about his way of life.
/ The second result of indifference in
/ failure to select between right and
! wrong is doubt. The Indifferent man
! speCulates as to who really wrote the
| Word of God. Did Moses write it?'
/ he asks, or did some one else? Was
! Jonah fact or a fiction? Can believe
! in a miracle?" Now, what difference
! does it make to US whether Moses
! wrote the Word of God whether it
j was written by some one else? There
! it is in all its grandeur; of what i'm
| pOrtance is it who wrote it?
But to the man who has not definite
/ ly chosen whether he shall do right or
| wrong doubts come to the mind about
! the Word of God. He hesitates about
| taking a stand for Christ and the
I church. People are so ready to criticise
+ a church member, he thinks. He may
/ be making mistakes in his life and do
/ ing wrong things If he belongs to the
I church his mistakes will seem more
/ glazing, and comments will be made
upon them. By joining the church he
! will actually lose caste, he fears, in the
/ sight of his fellow men.
In choosing between right and wrong
| we should take into consideration the
vast influence that one human life has
/ upon another. Rarely do we realize
how much our actions influence those
| good that does no harm that we should
/ practise; we should be aggressively
good. We should practise all that up
lifts and makes better our fellow men.
! We should endeavOr to make our every
day lives such that we may be ex-
( amples of right living.
We allow our lives to be shaped to
a great extent by our surroundings. In
/ this congregation there may be some
I young man who has not made up his
/ mind whether to choose the right or the
/ wrong: some young man from the col
lege, perhaps, who left his home to
take up new work, leaving a father
and mother praying for him. He may
! think he has not time. that he is too
busy with his studies, to serve God:
but if he should choose the right now
his course might influence a dozen
others.
Make your choice between right and
wrong nOwi We do not know how long
we shall live; not one here can say
that he VIII ever reach home. There
| are few persons of mature years in
this house who can not remember cases
of bright young lives suddenly blotted
| out. [ do not say this to brighten any
one into choosing I state it merely
as a solemn fact. It is a terrible thing
to think of a man confronting the great
perils of life and still putting off his
choice until a tomorrow that may never
come. Thousands of years after we
are dead and gone the choice we make
today may have influence on the lives
of people yet to be born.
CATGHT IN GALE