The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-04-12
DOUBLE.MINDED.
From the Herald and l'resbytcr.

This word occurs only twice in
the New Testament, in Jas. i. 8
and w. s. The Greek is "di-
psuchos. "Psuchos" comes
from "psuche," which is usually
translated "soul." The refer
ence is rather to our moral than
to our intellectual nature. In j.
8 James says: GA double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways;
and in iv. S he says, Purify
your hearts, ye double-minded." "
The Apostle has in his thought
not the opinions of those to whom
he writes, but the heart and the
will of those affections and voli-
tions which control the character
and the conduct.
But what does he mean by call
ing q man double-minded? Is it
that he has twice as much char
acter and energy as his fellow
mon? OF course not. Such a
man could not be unstable and
vacillating. The idea evidently
is that this unstable man, whose
heart needs to be purified, has Il
divided moral nature. He is a
half-and-half minded man.
He has Il sort of twOfold con
sciousness. He is drawn by his
inharmonious affections towards
two discordant objects. He
loves with one-half of his heart
what he hates with the other.
He resolves to seek with one
half of his will what he resolves
TO flee from with the other.
Such a man is like a ship with
two rudders. He whose hand is
upon one of them is trying to
steer to windward, while the 9th
er is trying to steer to leeward.
Such a double-ruddered ship
could not make a successful voy-
age, but would be in constant
peril of shipwreck.
Double minded men are not alb
normal rarities, like the Siamese
twins. Even Paul, the great
apostle, was, for a time at least,
such a man. He gives us q
graphic account Of his expert
ence in the seventh chapter of
his Epistle to the Romans. There
was Il law in his members which
warred against the law of his
mind Verse 23); when he would
do good, evil was present with
him. And there are multitudes
of Christians to-day who might,
if they would, make a similar
confession. They love God with
one-half of their hearts, and love
the world with the other. Some
times they love all the brethern,
or think that they do, and then,
at other times, they are filed
with envy because some of the
brethren are more gifted or more
highly honored than themselves.
To-day they have faith, and al
most think that they could re-
move mountains. But tomorrow
they will doubt the reality of
their own conversion, and even
the power of Christ to save.
The explanation of this double
mindedness is that two diverse
and conflicting powers are trying
to control-the spirit of truth and
the spirit Of error, the spirit of
light and the spirit of darkness,
the Holy Spirit from above and
the evil spirit from beneath. OF
these the Holy Spirit is the
stronger, but he"will not coerce
and enslave us. Hence, if we
would put an end to the conflict,
and to the Notwithstanding result
ing from it, we must "resist the
devil. " We are responsible for all
that we permit him to do, since
God is ever ready to help us as
soon as we try to eXpel him from
our hearts.
job says, in one Of his discours-
es about God, Gle is of one mind,
and who can turn him" job xiii.
ID? There is unity, harmony, and
therefore efficiency, in all Gods
operations. A double-minded del
ty could not have made and ruled
the universe as it is to-day. For
mVriadS of appS infinita intnlE-