Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1901-05-20
MISSING THE MARK.
The Greatest Failure One Can Make Is That Implied In the Little
 Word ssSin.'

Testament word signifying literally the missing of a mark. This sug gcsts that other familiar word, Of Latin derivation, transgreSsion, which denotes a stepping over bound or limit. somewhat in the manner of trespasscr, says the New York Ob- server.
 II is perfectly evident that there is in the world great deal of missing of the mark The marks are of all kinds, and they are set by various hands at various stages in the de velepHent of the race, and for very various purposes. So soon as primi- tive man cmcrges from condition of absolute sayaecry up to plane of semi-inteliipcnoe he begins to estab- fish marks or standards, rude and clums3 though they may be, which his it.iiasvs are supposed to regard in their warning. hunting or feasting. In this are observable the crude be- ginnings of human society. As men rise in intelligence these norms or standards, imposed by master=spirits who have seized the reinS of power, or tacitly agreed to by common con sent, increase in number and variety, and may also perhaps improve in moral quality. And in highly de- veloped, civilized society the marks of social or political regulation, or of commercial usage, are so many as to be bewldering. The members of such a society cannot move in any direc- tion without running up against bounds and restrictions and regula- tions curbing zeal or defining duty in a very intricate fashion.
 Man therefore has his little marks everywhere. Many of these are the mere arbitrary chalk-lines drawn here or there at the instance of an arbitrary =Whin4, but some are goals and bounds that are set at the far ther end of life's race courses to in cite the ardent runner 10 utmost eff forts To obtain the coveted prizes there to be bestowed. Many, alas, quite miss the mark in life, stumble and fall in the race, or wander off from the arena altogether. Failures are numerous, misfits are observable everywhere. Humanity finds difficult ty in keeping itself up to regulation standard, even when the norm is sim ply that of a social etiquette, a con ventional morality, or of current eth ics.
 There is moreover mark which vastly transcends these pretty by laws and Dos" and "Don'ts" of men, though it may include some of them, and that is the law of Sinaitic holi- ness, the pure prescription of the ab- solutely righteous commandment of Jehovah. When now it is mans lit- tie mark that is missed we call it bad form," or a great mistake" or perhaps a which is the word of the statute books But when it is Gods great mark of holiness that is missed there is no term for it but that little, awful monosyllable, sin compact with infinite terrors, fraught with endless consequences which is he word of the Bible Sin brings in the idea of a wrong com mitted against God, of an offense which is not contempt of court in the earthly sense, but which strikes at Heaven, d crime against the Gre ator. a failure to attain the goal of that perfection on which God right fully insists.
 There are many earthly marks and standards of which if q man fail no great harm is done. There are more necessary" things in the world which after all could be dispensed with than men think. Many q man has failed in a social or political sense, who has succeeded as regards the essential in terests of life; many man has been disappointed in commercial quests or educational enterprises who has yet retrieved himself by attaining the great moral ends of existence The emphasis after all is not on man $ mark and mans prizes but on Gods high shining mark of holiness None can afford 10 miss that mark. To miss that mark is sin. To continue to miss il is eternal condemnation. No life can be a failure that meets the demands of the divine law through the merits and grace of the S5H ol =ttod, ptlt HHilldh speech tdl= not describe the terror of disappoint- ment and rtmorse which is certain to pursue those who, in presence of all Gods pleas and promises, deIiber- tacly and steadily miss the mark of His will Moreover. this terror deep- ems into keenest anguish as he whe misses the mark of the Divine will sealzes hat moi only does God not will his failure, but rather desires his success in reaching the mark. Does lie not, indeed. stand ready to give him power to hecome child of God2 While fl is true that God warned Israel that the shining sou must die He also told Israel when he persisted in shining that he wa