The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-26
SOME SPECIAL SINS
REV. w. r. McCORKLE ON GAMBLING
f AND DRINKING.
OF NO FASHIONABLE CHURCH
WILL HE EVER CONSENT TO BE
THE PASTOR.

BE Has Too Much Respect for the
Gospel of Christ, He Says-ShOuld
the Sins Denounced Become COM
mon in His Present Congregation
lie viii Resign-WOmen That Pop
uIarize Cards or Preside over
Punch Bowl the Recruiting Agents
for the Devil-PrOGressiVe Whist
characterized rs Progressive DAM
nation.
Sins That DO Not Look Like Sins"
was the subject of the sermon of Rev.
w. P. McCorkle, at the First Presby-
terrain Church yesterday morning. His
text was from Prov. xiv:12: There is
a way that seemeth right unto man,
but the end thereof are the ways of
death" Also l Thess. v:22: Abstain
from all appearance of evil"
II bring these two passages togeth-
err" said Mr.. McCorkle, because when
considered together they cover a very
large field of danger. In the first we
are warned against evils that are not
seen to be evils, and in the second
dll SNili llO lAAdbtCA llOW SPSNAO0o
its appearances may be. The second
passage may well be translated Abstain
from every form of evil as in the re-
vised version. Literally, 1t means, abb
stain from the appearances of all evil
that is, refrain from evil, even when
it appears innocent We must look be-
meath appearances. Sin is always mas
fl1aradinO The daxyil a q q n
gel of light oftentimes, and his mission
is, in large part, to confuse moral dis
tinctions in the minds of men, and to
make them think wrong right and
right wrong.
There is no controversy concerning
the great essential principles of right.
Public sentiment condemns all the
coarser forms of vice, which are for
hidden by the law of the land. And be-
yond the restraint upon individual
conduct imposed by public sentiment,
which a man dares to antagonize only
at bis social and business peril lies the
inherent unloveliness of those sins
which are universally reprobated-sins
which justify the poets remark,
VIC - a AlOlSleE Oh SuCH Mucous
mien,
That to be hated needs but to be SEEM"
These evils do not give rise to the most
insdious or the most dangerous temp
tatons which assail refined natures
They repel us by their indecency.
Fashion demands that evil shall be at
least veneered; that wickedness shall
wear at least the guise of innocence;
that even by men and women who
choose to live as they list there should
be some tribute paid to recognized
proprieties, and some outward defer
ence exhibited for the sanctitiesf of re-
ligion. Hence it follows that unless one
is lost to all sense of decency, and has
thrown all regard for Christian ideals
10 the four winds, he is comparatively
exempt from temptation to indulge in
the coarser vices. Lying, he abomi-
mates, drunkenness disgusts him; the
atmosphere of the saloon, with its
glazing advertisements of evil, its pro-
family and lewdness. and vile associa-
tions. is intolerable to him; and he con-
siders the professionally gambler de-
testable character and the painted
courtesan repulsive. But many a man
who is not to be caught by any of these
commoner devices of Satan, may be
shared by others, in which the evil is
not so apparent"
Some Sins Do Not Look Like Sins.
Mr.. McCorkle touched briefly on
falsehoods in social and business life,
which are put down in the category of
white lies" "A lady tells her serv-
ant to say to visitors she is not at
home; compliments are paid when none
are deserved: excuses made that are
not sincere, and professions that are
hypocritical." THE effect of all this
falsehood and hypocracy in social life"
the speaker said, could only be evil.
No matter what excuse may be offered
for these falsehoods, they are indefen-
sible." Relating the anecdote of Car
lyle, who said to a visitor at parting,
Goodbye, and / hope to God l will
never see you again." Mr.. McCorkle re-
marked that even such rudeness was
better than the falsehood and social
hypocrisy so prevalent. THE God we
worship is a God of truth" he said;
land He requires truth in the inward
parts. We trifie with the sanctities of
truth at the peril of our souls. The
same principle applies to business
falsehoods. Men fancy they cannot
succeed unless they utter the same
falsehoods that are used by others.
But the tendency of all this business
falsehood and social hypocrisy is di-
rectly toward breaking down all rev.
erence for truth. The woman who will
put lie into her servants mouth, for
the sake of selfish convenience, will
not scruple to utter a greater lie if
the exigency should seem to demand
1t. And the bushes man who tells a
small lie in a small transaction will tell
a larger one in a larger transaction.
1t is to this disregard for the truth in
social and business affairs that much
of the perjury so common in our courts
is directly traceable. Rich and poor
commit perjury in listing their taxes.
Lawyers, jurors, witnesses and liti-
giants perjure themselves in our courts
of law, and the tendency now is to
make justice a travesty in the land.
and to make righteous decision posi-
BILE only to the righteous sutton who
has the longest purse"
Social Drinking.
Next Mr.. McCorkle took up social
drinking. Conceding that it was not a
sin in itself to drink intoxicating bev-
erages, he acclaimed against the use
of them as daily indulgences. Refer
ring to the fact that wine was COM
monty used by the people in the time