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


 l bittered exile spoke to the fugitive Charles 1 Maurice Talleyrand. who was asking hin | for letters of introduction to friends 1T America, is true: "1 am the only mar
 born in America who fought in the Amer
 iean war for liberty, who has not frient
 in all America. 1 am Benedict Arnold
 the traitor"
 But today I do not see alone Arnold tht traitor l do not see merely the betrayei of West Point I see. first. Benedict Ar
 hold the hero of Tleonderoga I see
 Benedict Arnold the hero and commander
 of the wonderful expedition against que.
 bee. which in 1775 in midwinter marched through the Maine woods. l see Benedict
 Arnold wounded before the walls where
 Wolfe fell and where Montcalm breath
 ed his last. I see Benedict Arnold oi Lake Champlain and the conqueror al Ridgefield. Conn. 1 see Benedict Arnold
 who fought In the first battle of sara toga and Benedict Arnold the Phil Sheri- dan of the second battle of s"ratoga
 who turned the ebbing tides of defeat
 into the flood tides of a victory tha
 submerged Burgoyne and his troops ever as Pharoah and his hosts were drowned in the Red sea. Then I see this wounded hero, Benedict Arnold wounded the second time at Saratoga. being appointed to the command of the city of Philadelphia t rest there until his wounds healed. Ther I see the aristoeracy of the American capitol making a pet, q social lion, oi this hero of heroes. Then I see Benedict Arnold running into debt to pay the ex- penses of his social triumphs and not knowing how to extrieate himself Then I see him lead on by sin to conceal sin until at last he had to do something to save himself from financial as well as social disgrace. Then l see him as last resort to conceal sin, trying to barter away the citadel of American indepen- dence. West Point An, my friends, when Benedict Arnold started on h,s downward path of extravaganza he never intended to be a traitor His attempt to be- tray West Point was merely the culmina- ton of a long series of attempts to con eeal sin. Beware of the first glass the first lie, the first taste of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Oh, yes But, more than that, beware of the internal folly of trying to conceal sin with sin.
 But as we push our way through the flower gardens and the hedges of para disc and see our guilty ancestors stand-
 ing before God I feel that they are not willing to leave their hiding places Of sin even after the embowered roofs and the curtains of leaves have been torn aside, and the guilty pair are compelled to confess that the fruit of the forbidden tree has been placed against their lips. Even now they are both trying 10 con- eeal sin within sin. What Is the man try ing to do? Why he is trying to throw all the blame of his sin upon his wife. What is the woman trying to do? She ia no bet ter. They are both tarred with the same black pitch of meanness. Why, she is trying to throw the blame of the sin up- on the serpent. The man said, "The wo- man whom. thou gavest to me she gave me of the tree and did eat" The wo- man said, "The serpent beguiled me and I did eat" The young Adam of the present day says "I believe all my evil desires were inherited from my ances- tors, and they are to blame, and not myself" The young Eve of modern times liftnig the glass of wine to her lips just before her doom says: "I am not to blame Other people drink. Everyone of my friends drink; therefore they set me an example l must follow They are to blame, not myself" The young drunk ard planes the saloon keeper for selling him the whisky. The saloon keeper Jus tifies himself by pleading that the voter approves of his having a incense 10 stand behind theb ar.
 The Responsibility of Sin.
 believe in many cases the responsible ity of sin may be placed upon other shoulders than upon those of the one who has to suffer. That was a terrible indictment Peter Neidermeyer, the Chica- go bandit hurled at the churches, when in April 1904 he stood under the shadow of the gallows, and said: Tt Is all well enough to pray with me now, but 1t is tool ate. Who are my two companions and myself, about to die2 We belong to the great army of the poor, miserable, social outcasts. We grow up in the slums half starved and always miserable We work day after day like slaves, to die miserably. If the churches did some thing more for those who need their aid in the struggle to earn living they would do more good than they can by converting men about to be hanged. An, yes, there was thunderpolt of terri ble truth hurled In that one saying of man who was facing eternity. But though in some cases the responsibility of sin may be laced upon other shoulders this was not true of Adams sin. It was not true of Eyes sin. It Is not true of your sin. It is not true of my sin. God Is willing to give you and me enough spiritual strength to resist any temptation which confrons us if we only go to him for help, as he was ready to help Adam and Eve. And, my friends, in reference to our own sins let us have the manliness to acknowledge them. In the courts even criminal earns the contempt of his fellows, when, as they say, he pleads the baby act" The way to forgiveness Is by humble confession, and there is no other way. If a man will not take that way he ought 10 real ize that he is dooming himself to destruc- tion. that excuses are of no avail and that he himself and no other is responsi- ble. Never charge your doom upon your mother, your wife, your child, your sur when you have no one to blame but your ow sinful self. Do not try to conceal sin with cowardly words such as those which Adam uttered when he said: "Yes, l sinned, but the woman whom thou gavest me to be with me she gave me of the tree and l did eat"
 But why should our first ancestors have concealed themselves in their hiding places of sin? Why should they run away after the fruit of the forbidden tree was eaten? Why did they incrimnate each other and the serpent after they were brought forth from their arborea1 Did God want to destroy them as so many seem to think? l confess that In my younger days used to picture God as a tyrant, monster when he was those two frightened, fleeing sin- ners. I used to think his voice was harsh and condemnatory, that the call. Adam. where art thou?" had in 1t the roar of a wild African lion starting forth at night to seek his pery. But few years ago my mind changed entirely in reference to this. for then 1 heard a great Eng fish preacher say: This call of God in the garden of Eden was not the call to death but to life. Gods call, Adam. where art thou?' was the pleading call of sorrowing father seeking a lost and wayward child" It is the same kind of call that the Pilgrim fathers used when as a searching party they went forth in the dark woods seeking a lost