The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-16
GOOD AND EVIL WILLS
STRONG SERMON BY REV. sTrw-
 ART M'QUEEN.
Rector of Episcopsl Church Breaches on sConfficting Emotions of the
 Human Breast-Words of # St. Paul,

| '.fhe good that I would. I do not; but the evil which I would not, that do."--Romans wills.
 From this text Rev. Stewart Mo- l Queen, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter. preached strong sermon yesterday morning, his
 subject being "The War of the Two Wills"
 "In these few. simple words" said Mir McQueen. .'St. Paul depicts the struggle which begins in the soul at the dawn of conscious personality and ends only with death itself. He por- | trays that continual war between good and evil, between light and darkness. between Christ and Belial, which ever characterizes the life of the Christian.
 that war between the Two Wills which exist side by side in us all.
 "one will is set forth in the words: The good that would. do not:' the other will in the words. The evil which I would not, that do.' How vfvtdiy these passages. of Scripture describe that continual struggle between right
 and wrong which is going on in us.
 always and everywhere! Hcw they
 make us appreciate the truth of the
 assertion that each one of us carries
 within him a god and devil, which
 means simply that we have two wills
 in us constantly at war. a good will
 and an evil
 And we all know by experience the
 nature of this war. We know 1t means
 nothing in the world but battling with
 sin How mysterious. indeed. are the attacks of sin upon the human soul!
 At times our religious and spiritual
 life moves on smoothly and harmo- niously. We do our duties fairly well.
 We begin to feel encouraged some
 what, begin to hope we are really drawing nearer to Christ. following
 more closely in His footsteps, grow
 ing gradually into His likeness, Then. all at once. sin seems to bear with sudden and overwhelming force upon the two wills. They grapple with one another and the strife begins anew. The calm and peaceful life of the soul is broken up by the fierce tumult. Old temptations assaii us with all the fury and freshness of novelty. The temp tation may be sharp and quick and soon over. Or. 1t may be slow, insid- ious and persistent, never letting up for a moment. Moreover, 1t assumes various forms: lust. lawlessness. am ger, covstousness. Be the forms what they may 1t all means the same thing, sin Is at work. and the war Is on be- tween tho two wills, the good that I would. I do not, but the evil which l would not. that do.'
 And how differently does this strug- | gle manifest itself at different times! For instance we may be sailing calm | ly over the sea of life. The waves of | this troublesome world are peaceful | and smooth. The struggle begins like | a storm It Is gradual At first. the | wind changes. Then. the sky darkens ! The thunders roar, the lightning | flashes. We seek to move onwards, little headway. It is with the utmost | difficulty, amidst strain and stress. ws | are. at length, able to resume our | voyage. Again, the struggle Is like a | veritable hurricane. vastly more vio- lent and severe than storm. It lays | hold upon us with giant strength. It lifts us of our feet and smites us to | the earth. We lie gasping and help less, while we cry, with broken spirit, | from the dust of shame and defeat, My | God my God, why hast Thou forsaken me-? These struggles constitute sharp | crises in our lives. They mean tough ening of the moral fibre and building l in spiritual growth. Their field is the human heart, where good Is set against evil and evil against good; the human heart from whence proceed the issues | of life and death.
 "As a typical example of the war | between good and evil as expressed in the text, take the case of anger, a sin to which all of us are so liable. Usual ly 1t is hard to tell how 1t begins. An accident may klndle 1t into flame. An unhappy word may occasion it, or what seems a mere tride. Indeed. 1t Is difficult to say just exactly what sur prises us. In fact. it is just as if we were overcome by some alien and evil spirit which suddenly leaps upon us out of the dark, taking us unawares. We do not deliberately set out to be- come angry. We do not lash and drive ourselves into passion. We are simply caught. To be sure. we should not be. it. a sudden and violent tumult Is stirred up within us. generally by some small matter, and we become the vic- tims of unreasoning anger, carried hither and thither by the waves of passion. and we realize, in bitter hu- initiation and penitence. with St. Paul.
 The good that I would, do not; but the evil which I would not. that I do.'
 But, lest We be discouraged be- yond measure, must not fail to remind you that this warfare of the Two Wills is quite consistent with a state of salvation, quite consis- tent with knowledge of Christ. In- deed, it would seem, there can be neither without it: that is. 1t enters as an essential factor into both. See how 1t is in our own religious life. Who is it, for instance, that is constantly | perplexed. and hindered, and harassed. F and seemingly overcome? Who Is 1t that has sensitive conscience which arraigns him and condemns him daily? | Why 1t is the consecrated Christian. It is the man who Is striving to draw | nearer to Christ, and conform to His | will more closely, giving Him the loy- alty and obedience due Him asking as | we'll as the love and gratitude due Him | as Savior. Conversely. who is 1t that | Is seif-satiisfied and selfconfident? It I is the man who feels no need of Christ. | feels that all is right with himself. It | Is the man who has no sense of un- worthiness, and no purpose to repent | and amend his ways and his doings. | His conscience is drugged to sleep by | habitual sin, or hardened by continual | indifference. Therefore. he has no | struggles. no fears. no doubts. It was | not Judas. remember. but St. Paul, who | cried: The good that I would. I do | not. but the evil which I would not | that I do, Who is 1t that constantly | finds himself most terribly anxious and | fearful in the strife? It Is he who tolls | most earnestly and faithfully to climb | the heights of righteousness. Who is | 1t that feels the evil in him most fierce | ly arrayed against the good? It Is he | who seeks to draw nearest to God in | Christ Jesus. Who is 1t that knows | his soul is really alive2 It is he who | is most conscious of the difficulties and |