The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-31

creeping thing that flies shall be unclean
unto YOU That is to say, whatever ls
naturally and essentially crawling, Shiny,
degrading, and impure, however 1T may
change its form or manifestation-to YOU
il is unclean. The natural intuitions OF
our life make one revolt at the thought OF
feasting on things which creep as snais,
worms. flies, caterpillars. etc. All, but d.
vine teaching here is, that even IL these
creeping, crawling, Shiny, ,repulsive Things
shall change so that they become things OF
beauty which float and fly; yet their nature
is the same, whatever their appearance, and
they shall be unclean unto YOU. 'Ye shall
not eat them And how this principle
applies to the transmutations of sin. Sin
in its true form and when properly known
is offensive and repulsive TO our moral sense
Thou shalt do no murder, and we shudder
at the very thought. Murder! Shocking.
Shocking And yet such is our advanced
knowledge of physiology and the medical
arts. and such withal the imperious dictum
of society, that human life is slaughtered
or prevented to the degeneracy of our race
and the darkening of thousands of lives and
homes. AS murder the creeping, crawling
thing we loathe with inexpressble horror
but a social or financial necessity, many
eat and count themselves clever.
% Thou shalt not bear false witness Oh.
the repulsive thing-lying. In speaking of
her housemaid, certain lady said In my
hearing one day, Why we had to get rid
of her. She would tell the most deliberate
while doing So But that same lady was
not at home one afternoon when certain
women called upon her, and she ordered
that same maid TO the door to tell the call
She was not "at home" to them, don't you
know
GR-A-F-T
Thou shalt not steal Steal, steal.
why certainly not Whoever thought it for
a moment? Steal. / despise the very
thought.-but such is the complexity of our
civilization. and such, forsooth the coinage
and accommodation of our language. that
one of the most common words of our new
vocabulary is spelled with five letters.
'g-r-a-f-t' But call IL by what name
you may; robe it, if you will, in the garb
of political or other necessity, it is the same
creeping. crawlng-though now aerial thing
and God would have us know il as such.
for He says every creeping thing that fly
eth is unclean unto YOU.
:" Thou shalt not commit adultery
Adultery! Why, certainly no-a thousand
times no. and then there steal upon men
innumerable complications and necessities
of Office and travel, and social life, and the
crawling thing is now winged and glides
and floats about ones life to captivation
and a certain curse. What coarse and
repulsive thing sin is one sees it in
persons carted to our warehouses and jails:
but how different as IL sports itself in the
gilded carnivals of life. oh, the coarse
ness and the curse of liquor as we see in
the terrible barrel houses and winerooms of
should be ended. True, true! but look
there at that brilliant palace. Fifty-hve
hundred dollars did you say for lights and
fixtures? A high-grade saloon; gilded.
winged airy, bright, fashionable, respec-
table. Heaven help us that we may ssei
1t is not at the barrel houses that the
best of your boys or your daughters hus-
bands will enter the drinkers road to
weakness and shame. Not there, not there,
but at the fashionable club bars and in the
first-class saloons of your city Every
creeping thing that fyeth shall be unclean
unto YOU How instinctively loathe the
life of the libertine: the lechsroue, the i'm
pure, and then how easy to feast and
feed upon 1t in up-to-date fiction. But then.
of course, one must keep up with the
literature of his age; but be well assured
that whether in lscherous or literary form,
whether creeping or flying, it is impure and
TO you should be unclean. 1T shall not be
eaten
True tits. It's shame; and shame tits.
it's trus-but there Is a sad decaying in
the consciousness of sin in these days. but
consciousness of sin is because of lack of
discrimination and discernment rather than
| from a lessening of sin?
80 how my soul yearns for an increase of
| the spirit of God upon us a people. This is
| the marked need of our age. For when
| He the spirit of truth-the spirit which
| sees things and says things they are
when He is come unto you He will con-
| Wet the world of sin, of righteousness and
| of judgment"