The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-02-10

ing on your health. You must be only
healthily good, you know
What saddened me, especially, was
not the thrust at double living, but the
intimation that there is no such thing
as true, holy living. The editor, virtu-
ally, says to the world that these pro-
Tossing Christians are not really good;
they are forced to give way once in
while. It's not good to be too good, he
says. Such n suggestion as that, IL
widely disseminated, would have the
effect of stemming the moral rise of
the human race. Yellow jour
nalism Is vile, they say, but I say that
1t Is infinitely worse for journal to
say that a mans natural cussedness
must have vent, and that if 1t doesn't
1t will overflow all barriers and cause
terrible flood.
when weak woman decided to
cast her fate with two robbers. this
same pen wrote that the case afforded
no basis for moralizing; that there are
only two kinds of women, the thor
oughly bad and the thoroughly good.
] shuddered when ] read that state
ment and thought 1t was written 1900
years after Christ came upon this world
with his message of love. That's the
doctrine of despair. and If there's any
thing despise and loath, it is despair.
There are some men who are spir-
itual immunes. They are inoculated
with some kind of virus that renders
them unsusceptible to spiritual things.
They believe in the decences of life,
and admit that there is such a thing
as a social conscience. but they have
absolutely no conception of that Divine
spirit which came to earth to be req
nant in the hearts of men and to con-
troll them for the highest purposes.
I'VE must be little bad, once in
awhile. says the writer. There must be
a little spllway. ] would like to see
such a spillway, sufficiently large to let
out some of our moral nature and yet
not large enough to let it all out. I
have seen too much of life to believe
in such a doctrine. l have seen people
willing to do Il little damage to ther.-
selves, to take day off once in thirty
years, like the New England deacon,
and have seen complete desolation re-
suit. 1t is better to be n Puritan than
a Partisan.
"When Christ healed the paralytic
man, he said to him, Sin no more He
did not tell the man to sin a little and
to remember to avoid being too good.
Sin no more without qualification, was
the command, and venture to say that
Christ knew more OF human nature
than any latter-day teacher
REV. DIR. ISRAEL'S COMMENTS.
The morning sermon of Rev. Rogers
Israel. ID. D., at ST. Luke's, also had
The Tribune's editorial for it's theme.
DR.. Israel said it was not his wont to
take issue from the pulpit with news
paper utterances, but in this instance
he felt that it was his duty to show the
fallacy of the reasonings contained in
the editorial in question.
His text was, MY heart showeth NE
the wickedness of the ungodiy that
there is no fear in God before his eyes,
for he flattereth himself in his own
sight until his abominable sin is found
out" Psalms, 36:1-2.
In the course of his remarks; Rev.
Dr. Israel said the editorial was both
bad in morals and bad in logic. 1t was
illogical, he contended, where it said
the man in the illustration was in want
of a spillway for his wickedness, and
in the same breath that he had been
stealing for fifteen years.
1t was immoral, he declared, because
1t discredited the sacramental charac-
ter of our Lords life and the teachings
of Holy Scripture, respecting the de-
velopment of character through the
grace OF God.
He then drew attention to the text,
and said that many men deceive them
selves by doing works, but neglecting
the development of the spiritual ma
ture. The approaching season of Lent,
he went on to say, gives opportunity
for self-eXamination-th reading of
ones own heart-Which would lead to
the discovery of moral weakness and
liability to temptation, thus causing
man to realize his weakness and to seek
God and Il stronger character. in re-
pentence, faith and the use of the sac
ramentS of the church.