Milford chronicle., 1904-05-27
Why Dnxid sinned.

Is that your idea of men: Then. my
brother and sister. you have not read
human nature Alright. All men are not
bad But all men will be bad if they
do not stick scrupulously TO the work
God has given them to do. The reason
David sinned was not because he look
ed upon "BathSheba. the wife of Uriah.
the Hittite" The reason David sinned
was because, like Achau among the
Jericho spOils he was idling at home
instead of being with his army. In
the first verse of the eleventh chapter
Of ii Samuel we read the secret of
the whole sinful story: And it came
to pass after the year was expired. at
the time when kings so forth to battle.
that David sent JOab." That sentence
means simply this: When the time Of
military campaign came-the time
when David ought to have taken the
field and led on his own troops to bat
tle-he sent substitute and stayed at
home. The beginning of his danger
was not in looking at Bathsheba, who
was the wife of Uriah, the Hlttite, but
in being, like Achan, among the Jericho
spois, in a place where he had no
right to be.
My brother, when God calls you to do
a work. he will always give you
strength to resist the sinful tempta-
tiOns incident to that work. But when
you so TO place where you have no
right to go you are liable to expert
ence that lust of the eye which may be
the beginning of a long succession OF
other sins.
Young man. beware of the tempta-
ton to absent yourself from the post
of duty. Beware, when Sabbath day
comes around, if your minister does not
see You in the house of God. You may
say you are tired. You may say you
viii stay at home and read the Bible
and have your devotiOns in your room.
but beware In coming to a large city.
do not let your new made friends en-
tice you into q saloon just to look at
the beautiful pictures upon the walls,
and the expensive mOsaics on the
floors, and the gorgeous rugs and the
fine set banquets in the gambling halls.
1t is doubtful whether the step some
cities have taken of ordering the re-
mOval of screens from the doors and
the lifting of curtains from the win
dows of saloons on sundays has not
its disadvantages. 1t enables the pO
liceman TO see whether business is be-
ing done in the prohibited hours. and
is so far an advantage. but it makes
conspicuous the decorations and at
fractions of those places. and so tends
TO allure pasSersby to visit them when
thcy are open. Sin so often begins in
tie looking on temptation that the
s.; fest course for every one is to avoid
the spectacle of it as far as possible.
Aehan's First Step.
Achan's EYE step" in the next place. !
was followed by his "eovetOus step"
We say that the sin of covetousness is |
only one step beyond the first sin. But
the second step of Achan's sin is even
more dangerous than the first stage.
The one may be the bare, repulsive
branch. with its sap frozen and con-
gealed by the frosts of winter. The
other may be the spring blossoms |
growing upon that branch when the
spring has placed the silver trumpet of
the resurrection to natures lip. The !
lust of the eye is nearly always accom-
panied by hesitation and timidity. You
can see that fear in the flushed cheek 4
Of the young man who stands upon the |
street corner debating within himself |
or no he will enter the place
IF evil resort to which his dissipated !
friends are persuading him. When the
mind has taken the second step and 1
iesire is aroused. the hideous defOrm-
ty of sin disappears. and longing sees
n it only what is attractive and en-