Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-04-04
A SHARP CONTRAST
Two Men Of Opposite Character
and Opposite Destiny.
Tho Cody Man Whose Destiny is Eternal
Life; the UngodIy Man Whose Destiny is
Everlasting Dcath-sermon by Rev. G..
Graham II. Lambeth, at Lc1lies Memo
rial NJ. E. Church Sunday Night.

AT IeI<ies Memorial NJ. e. Church
Sunday night Rev. Graham Fl. Lam
beth, the pastor. preached an earnest
sermon, founded upon Psalm 1. He
said, in part:
This psalm holds up to view two men
OF opposite character and opposite des-
tiny. The Cody man, whose destiny
is eternal life: the ungodly man., whose
destiny is everlasting death. and this
picture is not of mans painting; this
description does not rest upon human
authority God has noted the contrast
and has revealed 1t to man in this
psalm Hence speak with Divine au-
thority. No man can set aside the con-
| clusions of this psalm. God draws the
sharp contrast between the two classes
| into one of which each one of us falls
and the two destinies toward one of
which each one of us is tending.
The first contrast l notice in this
psalm Is ~ CONTRAST IN CHARAC-
TER-the Cody man and the ungodly
man. Blessed is the man that walk
eth not in the counsel of the ungodly
nor standeth in the way of sinners. nor
sitteth In the seat of the scornful. But
MS delight is in the law of the Lord
and in His law doth he mediate both
| day and night"
Inc dodly man has come into union
WITH God, and harmony with His will
Inc word OF God is the rule of his life
me material out of which he con-
structS his moral standard, his princi-
pies, his hopes is Divine truth This is
| his ultimate appeal in all things. He is
| not deceived by the specious reasoning
| Oh the eveli one, nor ensnared by the
! ilatterlng proposals of the world but
| he is regulating his conduct and deyel-
| oplng his character by the word Of
God. His delight is in the law of the
Lord"
We must all learn to make Gods
truth our own. To make it the mate
rial out of which we build our charac-
tiers and the basis upon which we rest
| our hopes. II we would be blessed in a
real and lasting sense, we must be true
| to the Truth.
The Goddess man practically rejects
the truth of God as binding upon his
own life. He may assent theoretically;
| he may be orthodox in creed. but prac-
tically he rejects the truth He con-
structS such standards, holds such prin-
cirles INDUCES such hopes as may
seem best TO himself; as seem best to
subserve his worldly and temporal
| plans and interests.
The psalmist seems to divide the God
less man into three classes-ungodly.
sinners. scornful-as probably implying
a graduation in evil. The ungodly-not
an open, fragrant violator of Gods law.
| perhaps moral man, respectable
man, but without God in the world"
practically acknowledging no relation
ship to God and making no surrender
to his will. The sinner, the voluntary.
habitual gross violator of Gods law;
the scornful, the blatant self-reliant,
self-complacent reflector of God-who
can ridicule sacred and divine things:
who can mock God.
70
in the phraseology of this verse-"Walk
with ungodly." Stand with sinners"
"Sit with scornful''-and the lesson is
| this-a Goddess life is a downward life.
| There is no standstill A man may
start as an ungodly man-theoretically
accepting the word of God, moral. re-
| spectacle, but simply living without
God. And end as the blatant sooner,
| making mockery Of the most sacred
things, and hurting a scornfuI defiance
in the face OF God. This program has
been enacted thousands of times In the
lives Of men, and there is great danger
| of It's being repeated in the life of any
man who starts out to live without God
| Unless a man is guiding and governing
and guarding his life by the word of
| God, he is on downward grade, and
each successive step downward brings
him nearer to the condition Of the
scorner, whose state is so hopeless that
seated. fixed in his character, weli-nigh
beyond the hope of redemption.
The second contrast I notice is a con-
| trast in condition. And he (the Cody
man) shall be like n tree planted by the
| rivers of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit In his season: his leaf also shall
not Wither; and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper. But the un-Godly are
not SO: but are like the chaff which
the wind driveth away" In this fiGu-
rative language God ascribcs to the
Cody man highly blessed condition,
but to the un-G Cody an exactly opposite
| one. Many of us are disposed to doubt
the real truth of this. We often look
upon the outward lives of men, con-
trast the condition of the sinner and
the saint, and this contrast is fire.
quently in favor of the former. We
wonder why the wicked flourish like
green bay-trees. while the righteous
are brought to want. We incline to be-
lieve that. after all, the condition of
many Goddess men is more blessed.
But if we look beneath the surface it
is only apparently so. God designs the
highest blessedness of the race. He
has instituted such a moral govern
ment as will best subserve this end. To
come into harmony with this law in
sures the highest blessedness
Our mistake is as to the nature OF
blessedness. We make the fatal error
Of supposing that it consists in tenn
poral and material things. hence we
look for 1t In outward conditions. Such
blessedness, If indeed we may so term
it, is uncertain, transient. unsatisfying
and degrading.
True blessedness is an inward and
spiritual possesSion-not a thing OF the
senses. but Of the soul. 1t is the pos
session of divine life, filling the soul
with divine joys and graces and man
ifesting itself in character conformed
to divine truth.