The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-21

| P''i eiesi Whose hearts the wavward boy
 was breaking. It Is a peculiar, but in-
 cCnlroNeruble fact that sin, no matter "netHer spasmodic or habtual. produces
 a sense oI humiliation and depreciation
 III the presence of it's victims whom 1t has
 deceived or injured ,rbus Herod tbe
 telrareh' although he was a great Roman
 governor. trembled when he thought the
 oeneauea John the Baptist was risen from
 the dead.
 heinorse IS a terrible castgator She
 mas m her hand the grip of an unbreak-
 apie steel Vise. She yields a whip which
 mas thousand lashes. Each revolution
 or her averaging arm fetches the hearts
 blood thousand times. Even under the
 very brightest of conditions remorse Is a
 merciless and an implacable torturer l
 asked an old soldier this question: aCap.
 tam, dla you ever Kill a man in the civil
 war At once his eyes took on a fara-
 way look. Then he slowly and regret.
 fully answered me: q have asked myself
 that same question a thousand times. but
 l have never dared answer it. even to
 myself. l know, however. that some of
 our company s rifles must have killed
 some soldiers during the civil war
 know, furthermore, than when l was a
 young man l was a crack shot When
 as boy l went hunting, l never used
 a shotgun, but always a rifle. 1 could as
 easily hit flying bird or leaping Jack rabbit with one ball as l could put four out of every five rifle shots Into the bulls eye or a target. l furthermore knew that there were certain battles in which we could see the whites of the enemy's eyes. l was one of the best of sharp shooters. But I never knew absolutely whether I killed a man, because I never wanted to know. 1 would not want to see the face of man whom 1 had turned into corpse and to realize that I had wrecked that mans home. I would not want to know that I had made hls wife widow and his children orphans, After the battles were over l never crossed the fields in the direction where I had been shooting. l was afraid to see the proofs of my craftsmanship" Remorse. even when we are i'll the line of duty, has aw- lul results. How much more terrible is it for one to look upon the face of one whom the sinner has wronged.
 Oh sinner, let me prove to you that you are now. like Adam and Eve, hidden in one of the Satanic retreats Why do you dislike Mrs. So-and-so? She was the wife or one of the best friends you ever had Has she wronged you? No. The reason you dislike her and never want to be seen in her companionship is because that dead friend left you executor of his estate. You mismanaged- -it. You used her money for your own benefit. If that widow had wanted she might have put you in jail. NOW you hate her. You never want to meet her, not because she has wronged Sou' but because you have wronged her.
 Why We Do Not Forgive.
 Why is that lifetime friendship between you and your school chum broken up2 ou were both born in the same country village. You grew up together You played ball together, flew kites together, went fishing in the old brook together, sat side by side behind the same schoo desk' and ate your lunches out of each others basket. You came to the city on the same train, lived in the same board Ing house and went to work at the same city store on the same day. Why are you estranged? l will tell you. You both fell in love with the same girl In order to win that girls affections you lied about your old friend. You circulat- ed evil reports about his past life, when you knew that no squarrer truer man ever lived. You said his family was not respectable, when his mother used to be a second mother to you and helped nurse you when you were sick. You hate your old school friend not because he has done an injustice to you, but because you have done an injustice to him. What is the matter with Mir. So-and-so?" l once ask ed my father He never comes around the house as he used to do?" No" said father, He is my enemy. loaned him some money. He would not pay me back However, for old times sake l forgave him the debt and said 1t was all right. But he .has never forgiven me the inius- tice he has done me-"
 But again l learned that our first an- cestors sought other reruges besides leaf and flower and elinging vine and tree trunk and bush. It is true that the trop- ical forests are so dense that they make excellent hiding places. Sir Gordon Cum ming, the great hunter of wild beasts. tells us that the Ceylon jungles in places are so impenetrable to the eye that the keenest and most experienced hunters may sometimes be unable to distinguish the wounded elephantine monster only a few yards away, though the valleys and the mountain sides may be thunderous with the bellowings of the dying wild beast. But sin never tries to cover up sin by the cover of leaf alone. Sin ai- ways tries to conceal sin behind the bull warks of other sins. Thus, when Adam and Eve hid themselves from the pres ence of God in the garden they tried to | conceal their sin with the sin of falsity | They pretended they did not hear God | when he called. They tried to conceal sin | by saying, The reason we have not an- | swered thee, God, is because we were | unclothed and dare not appear before thee | naked, as thou didst create us' They | tried to conceal sin in exactly e same | way as thousands and tens of thousands | of living men try to conceal sin with sin. | An, the poisonous ivy" behind which | Adam and Eve concealed themselves was | not an arbor of oak, but an arbor of Hes | and deceits. If they had spoken the | truth they would have said 'The shame | we feel, the shame that forced us to | hide ourselves from thy presence, is due | to our consciousness of wrongdoing."
 concealing Sin. 1
 How does man try to conceal his first | sin behind a mighty bulwark of many | sinsF Here is young man who has | been brought up in country home He was raised up right. He had his first gospel lessons instilled into him at the | family altar. in the Sunday school. and | in the church pew. where as a little child, | he used to be taken to hear the service | and would sleep through the long sermon | clasped in his mothers arms Away | from home he falls In to bad companion | ship. He gradually gets into the habit | or spending his evenings in billiard halls | and his Sundays on excursion trains | and picnic parties He drinks a little. | He dresses little better than he can af- ford. He runs little in debt One | night while seeing some of his companions | gambling he says to himself "Why can | not l make little money that way" He Is collector for the store. He plays aha ana ioses, lie plays again and loses. He