Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-04-27
Calm ace
sermon
by Rev.
Frank De Witt Taimase. d. d.


10 overcome the hidden trouble, the no.
repented fault. is the subject OF the
sermon today. the text chosen being
Psalm &c. s, Our secret sins In the
light of Thy counteuance"
Most Clen are born towards. They
were as babies rocked in the cradle Of
fear. AS boys they always by night
dislikeI TO travel the road which leads
10 the bridge over which Tam O. Shan
ter was chased by the lIobgoblins "Ot
c0vrSe wa DO not believe in ghosts"
once Saal a great English evangelist.
but most OF us feel squeamish when,
alone. We have TO walk past a silent
country graveyard in the dark hours
about midnight. And most of us are
afraid of the valley Of the shadow OF
death when, like the psaimist OF old.
we look at It I'm the dim vista OF the
future. although. like him, we know It
is nothing but black shadow" Of
course there mny be men born. like
Horatio Nelson. who never know what
the name of fear means But n such
men exist they are very Few and far
between. They are almost as scarce
as clover tops growing In n January
snow bank or as diamonds lmbedded
in vein OF copper ore.
The members OF the human race do
not dwell all the time IN the City OF
Courage They nearly all live for n
little while, at least once year. In the
City of Timidity. They more often
cry and tremble before the Imaginar ~
dangers which threaten them than
they suffer from the wounds inflicted
by mortal foe The legend is told that
one day Il traveller met the Black Plague
journeying TO the famous eastern CAPT
tai OF Bagdad. Where are you go
mgr asked the eastern pilgrim. ITO
Bagdad. was the answer, ito Kill
5000 people" few weeks later, so
goes the lo end. the same traveller met
the Black Plague on the same rad. but
now returning from Bagdad and going
home. why" said this traveller, did
YOU not do as you said you intended
TO do? You said you were going to
Bagdad TO Kill 5000 people. From the
awful reports | hear coming from that
doomed region you have killed $4,000
people instead Of 5000" "Ah," an.
swered the Black Plague. with glee-
full. 6endish grin, IL have kept my
word Killed only 5000 people on
account OF ov fatal touch, but the
other $1,000 people who also died per-
ished OF iear They killed themselves.
had nothiu, 90 do with it," Yes, the
old legend is right. \ great many
plaques stlI,; through this land. de-
the dead that lie i'm their tracks are not
all slain by those swinging scythes.
Most people are born natural towards.
More people die from fear than ever
die from the ravagcs Of disease.
The Fear of Punishment.
This assumption is almost n self evil
dent fact or an axiom. Now, as most
OF us are towards in more ways than
one, the greatest check on wrongdoing
in this world is the fear OF future pun
ishment. The would he murderer Is
afraid to shoot his victim for fear he
will he executed; the young clerk who
is getting into the habit OF betting up
on the races is afraid to risk any OF
his employers money for fear be will
he found out and sent to jail: the wom-
en- or the men who would like TO vio-
late the seventh comma ndment often
are afraid TO do IL for fear the newspa-
per reporters will get upon their track
and the whole scandal will be pub
lished I'm the daily newspapers. and
then they will bc ostracizcd from all
decent asSOcia tons, but il n man could
sin without being found out or the
sinner not be brought to Judgment then
where there are now two sins there
would be twenty and where men err
once now they might do wrong ten
lines over. That means. OF course, II
our sins would never be brought to
trial
Now. as ] was thinking along this
line the other day my eyes were scan
hing the Nineteenth Psalm OF David.
Suddenly my attention was attracted
10 these words: Our secret sins In the
light OF thy countenapce." What"
said TO myself-"can II he thai fbere
are sins SO secret. SO completely hid
den. that our most Intimate frlcnds d05
not know OF them. sins that God knows
and sees and that our consciepces
convict us OFF," I do not now refer to
the open sins, the faults that the world
takes note of. but are there not others
hidden away in the inmost recesses OF
the heart that will one day be set in
the penetrating light OF Gods counte-
nance? Let us examine ourselves this
morning as in Gods presence.
Let me, in the first place. speak about
the sin OF robbng God OF those hours
OF sacred devotion In which we should
hold secret communion with him. those
hours or secret prayer and Bible read
Ing which are SO essential for our own
spiritual life. You know that in that
discourse on prayer in which our Lord
describes that exercise he commands
us to pray in secret as well as to pray
openly. In Matthew we read, when
thou prayest enter into thy closet. and
when thou hast shut thy door pray to
thy Father who is in secret. and thy
Father who is in secret shall reward
thee openly" But, though God COM
mRnds us TO have our secret hours of
holy communion with him and though
the Christian world thinks that we, as
processing Christians, have those 50.
cred hours. yet how often do we steal
away from God these hours which
should be devoted to him. In other
words. we want to try to do spiritual
work and win spiritual conquests with
out first making the necessary spiritual
preparation for our own souls.
want "a Short Cut.
We are in exactly the same position
In spiritual sense as is the young
man In n fppporaI eanca who xy;slae