Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1906-03-07

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~ E4Ak his best friend, the truth is al
NY waye visible where the disposition
M is present to avoid it. lie ID
A% device used to deceive the one
9 M who holds truth with reverence
ZNNE It is plain that lie is the embod
c1]Ayu iment OF dishonor, and it is equal
A~1r IL plain that truth is the language
OF honor
How then can liar be honest, or an honest man
a Hiarf
That which is called the s1mora sense is visatle
witness at an earthly court testiying to the divine,
inherent nature Of the soul.
1t should be plain to every one that no one car
be servant Of Christ and servant Of the devil al
the same time for the simple reason that honest
man won't steal. No man can claim divine fellow
ship with Christ, who will lie. A harlot can moi
claim the reward Of virtue The nature Of lie and
the nature OF truth, as far apart as the South
and North poles. They never we're nor never car
be Of the same nature, spirit character or DISPOSE
tion.
To assume that the "Good and Bad, J" "Truth and
FaleehoOd" are so inseperably inwoven = = ouI
natural make up that they will continue to remain
so, in greater or less degree until DEATH is to deny
Gods power until death, is to deny Gods power tC
destroy sin.
Again, this assumption denies the fundamental
truth Of human progress intellectually and morally
You have only to look back one hundred years, and
compare the present with the past to see brutality
fading away from the laws Of man. On the sur
crowned heights Of progress behold the inheren
powers Of man breaking through the mold Of igno
rance and gradually but surely measuring up to th'
divine intuition that animates his being, and eveI
and forever struggling to leave behind the cOprse
vulgar and brutal knight, ever looking for the per
feet Light to satisfy the longings OF the SOUL
Theology teaches many strange things, but Of al
the strange doctrines the one, ''That man is no
wholly bad nor wholly good is the most peculiar
as well as mischievous, in as much as it acts as an
apology for the continual exiatance Of both.
Two opposing elements can not occupy the mind
in peace. One must give way to the other. GOOD
must control or evil must control. The effort fol
supremacy brings on the conflict, and the result il
measure Of strength. To assume, therefore, that I
man is as good as he s bad, is the equivalent fol
his acts Of violence and as one balances the other
there can be no need for court Of justice, eithel
human or divine.
This ssnot wholly bad nor wholly good" argumen
proves too much, and fails to have any support o.
recognition in any court, human or divine. Sin i
sin. Every criminal has record that runs back X
his fret crime, when sin became his master. Hill
servant ye are whom ye obey. The human mind
caninotserVe with the same loyalty, what it hate
and what IL loves. But, says one, do not believs
10 total depravity. And answer, You don't have
to believe in total depravity, yOu can 60 TO hell be-
lieving anything you please about total depravity
Is it not also time yOu do believe in total good
nessio For this il the crux Of the whole matter
with the orthodox world.
we now stand al the muzzle oi the church cannon
and notice how the gun is loaded and pointed, and
before the gunner ] stand and ask to be informed
Consent being given, asked, was Christ God man
iiested in the feshi Yes. Was Christ begotten by
the Holy Ghoati Yes Was he crnsI6sd and bur
Iiedi Yea. DO YOU believe Christ has power ovei
lie and death and the gravel Yea. You then bel
|leye Christ is All powerful, don't youi zee. You
believe IN conversion chat Christ saves The sInnei
and makes him ft for the society d angelsi Yes,
certainly do. Well, then, doyOn believe soul
guilty 81 sin can enter heaveni NO, do not
have one more question 70 aak You. You have
heard that man, By nature, II rot wholly bad ncl
eeeeee>~eeS1 >H4&p~eet
sby advice Il oounbeIu The other ia looking faith
fully after the spiritual welfare Of HE Sunday School