The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-01
MANS OBLIGATIONS
sUBJECT OF SERMON BY REV
 STEWART MCQUEEN.
Rector of Holy Comforter Breaches on the Subject of Mans Personal Individual Moral RespOn-
 ability.

lm01Vn0u0l MOTaI hte8pOn-
 ability.
 Individual responsibility was the theme selected by Rev. Stewart Mo- Queen in his sermon at the church of the Holy Comforter. His text was as follows:
 To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him 1t Is sin. St James iv.17.
 MT. Mcqueen spoke as follows: There is no passage within the whole range of Scripture. perhaps. that so strongly brings before us the fact of our personal individual moral respon- sibility. Its comprehensiveness, too, is most striking. For you observe 1t goes infinitely beyond the popular idea that sin consists only in the violation of some prohibition. and so long as we are not guilty of that we are perfect ly safe, and need give ourselves no special concern about the future. On the contrary we are here taught by the divinely inspired apostle that sin can and does exist as truly through omission as through commission; taught that the failure to do good, when we know to do good" is just as really sin as the wilful breaking of Gods law. In a word. the teaching is
 
 leave undone what we ought to do, as when we do that which we ought not to do. And so. the prayer in the Gen eral Confession of the Prayer Book voices a great truth of Scripture when we ask our heavenly Father to forgive us those things which we have left undone.
 It is to be feared many Christians. | perhaps the majority, do not realize | this. How often do we hear people say with a deluded self-complacency which Is indeed inexpressibly pitiful: T am a pretty good Christian. do not lie or steal. I pay my debts and deal justly with my neighbor" Ad- | mitting their claims to be true-though as a matter of fact they are by no means always true-it shows their conception of what it is to be Christs man or Christ's woman Ca Christian) | Is exceedingly narrow and restricted l Shows they have not gone beyond the alphabet of the Christian religion. It | shows they have no realization of the
 truth taught in the text, that the | knowledge. of good (the opportunity and the ability to do good), and the | not doing of it, is sin. and the further
 truth. 1t Is not enough for a Christian merely not to do wrong, but he must | go far beyond that and do good. and moreover. that God holds us account able for the non-use of our opportunf-
 ties as really as He does for their abuse. We may rebel against this as hard doctrine. as unjust. Neverthe-
 less. we apply it in our own Judgment
 or one another. however much we may | object to Gods applying 1t in His | Judgment of us. For example. how
 common a thing it is for us to say of
 n man who has had exceptional advan-
 tages in the way of education or for | tune, but who has not availed himself
 Of them: He has had his chance. and he did not take it. He is worthless | and Is undeserving of our respect "
 Here we ourselves are using the very l principle we are considering, and
 which we are disposed to resent when
 applied to us: '~ro him that knoweth
 to do good and doeth it not. to him
 1t Is sin."
 But some one will say--for it is hu-
 man nature to raise objections when
 responsibility is pressed home to the Iconscfence-'The text bases sin unor our not doing good when there is knowledge of good. Therefore. i,
 there Is no knowledge there can be nc sin. Whether this be true or untrue
 IS no concern of yours or mine be.
 cause 1t does not apply to us. for the 1 simple reason we have the knowledpe 10 do good. I speak to Christian peo.
 pie In Christian land. We have in. herited the truth as 1t is fin Christ
 Jesus. We have the Word of God as n
 lantern unto our feet and a light te
 our path. Everything therein may moi De perfectly plain. it is true, but if is plaln enough to guide our footsteps by sun1cient light shines to disclose ,it
 we heeu. The trouble is not that light
 IS lacking to use, but that we are l lacking in it's use. We hear also con
 tlhuaiiy the voice of Christ's church 1 saving: There is the way, walk ve fin
 II. Further. the Christian trainino
 we received as children around tha
 iamlly hreside. the prayers we learned
 at our Mothers knee, finger with us
 stlii, however absorbed we may be fin Worldliness, or hardened through seI- | nsh indifference. And conscience on, | christian taught conscience, continual
 " cries: Do right, Do right!" If is
 the sovereign reminder, you observe | mat we must do what we know In he
 rlsht, though 1t does not itself--as
 most people seem to tancy-decido
 what Is right. We do that. And so
 men and brethren. we cannot possibIv V escape the personal. individual annIi- | cation of the text: ITO him tba, | knoweth to do good and doeth 1t moi
 to him 1t Is sin"
 Sin! Mysterious and universal fact
 Of life! Why should there be sin ot all? Why did not God create us per
 Feet and endow us with the capacftv to | continue so to the end? Natural ones. tons, these. but as useless to ask as i'm .
 possible to answer. There are certain Iacts about sin, however. which 1ya | understand, and should consider with ! gravest care. for they are of tremen- | nous import to us. Observe: Tho presence of sin In the world involves
 the presence of Its opposite. This. in | turn, lays upon us free. rational and
 responsible beings. the power and the | necessity of choice between good and evil The result of this choice reaches l beyond time into eternity. It fs ex- pressed in terms of character-that is. what We are. Each of us today Is the | direct, inevitable and imperative out | come of the choice, made up to this | moment, between good and evil . Thus. under God. through the means of grace, He has supplied in His Church | by His Son our Lord, Is our character
 built up-our character. the only thing
 we take with us into eternity. More | over. 1t determines what that eternity | shall be. and where it shall be. whether