The Washington times., 1901-08-05
THE NERVOUSNESS OF SIN.
A South Carolina Pastor Addresses
Local Presliyterians.

| The Rev. Mr.. johnson SpcnlSs of the
| RestIessness Underlying Creed Re-
VISION. and saysft Is More Inn
partant to Redeem the World.
| The Rev. Oliver johnson. of Leslie,
| S. C.. who occupied the pulpit of the Cen
| trail Presbyterian Church, Third and
Streets northwest. yesterday morning,
| preached on the Nervousness of sin. show
ing that the sacrifice made on Calvary
was necessary to save the sinner. The
| text was in Habakkuk i:13: Thou art
| of purer eyes than to behold evil. and
canst not look on iniquity." At the con-
| clusion of the sermon the sacrament OF
| the Lords Supper was observed, Dr.
| Pitzer. the pastor administering the ele-
| ments, the Rev Mr.. johnson joining with
| him in words to the communicates. The
invitation to partake was not limited to
| Presbyterians. 1t was the Lords table,
DIR. Pitzer said. and I'VE invite all per-
sons who are in good and regular stand
| ing in any evangelical church to join with
| us in communion"
| In the course of his sermon the Rev.
| Mr. johnson said:
Perhaps you have read and heard a
great deal of late about the revision of the
Westminster Confession of Faith. There
is a restlessnes5 and chafing in good
many quarters under the restraints
| which are put upon man in requiring
| him to subscribe to the Confession as II
has stood for more than 80 years. The
soereignty of God Is the crucial point.
| There are men who say they will tear
their Bibles into paper rags and their
Genevan gowns into shreds before they
will stand in their pulpits and say that
| God from all eternity decreed some men
to eternal salvation and some to eternal
damnation l am not standing here to-
day to defend the Confession of Faith,
nor am 1 here to controvert the opinion
of these men. So far as 1 can see, the
Confession suits me very well as it stands,
and If l meet with man who can't see
as l do, l tell him the heavenly city has
gates on the East and on the North and
on the West and on the South.
Underneath and behind all this unrest
of the religious world L see something,
to my mind, far more radical, far more
fatal than an assault upon the decrees
of God. / see a spurious fatherhood and
sonship being foisted upon this world
through minimizing and a setting aside
of the great doctrine of personal sin and
its awful consequences OF guilt and eter-
nal perdition. These men in high places
are no longer trying to lead US in our
religious experience by that mountain
which shakes with the thunders of Gods
tread and burns with the fires of his
holiness. that we may flee with an intels
ligent and restful confidence to that
Mount Zion, that heavenly Jerusalem
They are no longer telling US that, look
ing down upon this world through Cal
vary and its precious blood, God says.
My children, adopted into my family
through Christ. my Son. that looking up
to God, through Calvary. the world says.
Our Father, through Christ our elder
BROTHER and that when God and the
world meet through any other channel
God is a consuming fire and man is the
chaff and the tares to be gathered and
burned.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and canst not look iniquity.' Sin
is that in man, either of thought, motive,
or act, which is contrary to. or out Of
harmony with. the character of God; and
when l do deed, or have thought, or
am impelled by motive not In line with
the will of God. / am guilty of sin, and
| that Is the thing, and the only thing, in
all this universe which God hates, against
which the fires of his wrath burn and for
| which he has prepared eternal hell.
The fundamental truth of the Old
| Testament and of the New Testament of
religion is that God is holy, unspeakably
holy, and that he manifests his holiness
in hatred of sin.
Over all this world of sin there blazes
the fire of Gods holiress. Oh. that we
might have the vision that Isaiah had in
the temple the year when King Cssiah
a throne, high and lifted up, with his
train filling the temple. Above it stood
the seraphinl; each one had six wings;
with twain he covered his face. with
| twain he covered his feet and tvyafn
he did ty. Even the seraph had four
| wings with which to cover himself from
the holiness Of God, and but two with
which TO do service. And one cried to
another and said: Holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is
full of his glory And Isaiah said. Woe
is me, for | am a man of unclean lips.
and dwell In the midst of people of
unclean lips
81 don't know what is going on in those
beautiful worlds we up yonder when
the shadow of night falls upon US.
don't know whether they have any hills,
and rivers, and valleys. and peaceful
farms; whether they know about steam
| and electricity, and great roaring cities
| Here is the world We know about. We
know that God made 1t and all living
things upon it, and made them for his
glory everything in its place, and accord
ing to its character to serve him, every
thing very good The earth brings forth
and in doing this they serve God. for God
made them for this purpose.
| But here the beautiful and orderly
progression stops. l look out there and
see the earth bringing forth its fruits
| without sound. / see the animals
| awaiting patiently the will OF man. / see
the beauty of the fields and the woods
and hear the harmony of the air. and
then look into the hearts of Gods fin
ished creation. into my heart and the
hearts of my fellow man. and there i
| see turmoil and unrest. selfishness and
self-seeking, burning envies and hatreds,
strife and bloodshed There I see the
strong expressing the weak. and bias
phemies and defiance of God, and resolu-
tions that this man shall not rule over
us-a monstrous rebellion against the
authority of God, n cold, critical neglect
of him.
Whence cometh this awful confusion
In the beautiful order of this world?
When man should be the final link in the
chain tying this beautiful world to the
throne of God, when he should be the
final mouthpiece to gather up the praises
of God from everything below him and
pour them all into the ear of God why
do we find him down In the mire of sell
fshness and ingratitude. full of unrest
and a stranger to God? 1t is sin which
has control of the heart of man Ii is
sin which has put the fleshly man in the
saddle and trampled the spiritual man.
the spirit of God. In the dust It has
robbed God of the honor which is his due
from this world; it has cast him out from
the throne of this earth and put up in
his stead no of ba yoJ of ha