Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-04-26

est man. Are you honest? mean, in
tho higher sense OF the word, are you
honest with yourselfi The cit. in
which you live is in "a death grappe
with the saloon or, as IL Los Angeles,
with an Infamous gambling corpora
ton. Dare you lift up your voice ia
protest. "Oh, no." you answer; "if |
did those men would boycott me, and
they are my customers. They buy lots
Of goods Mt my store" In your silence
are you not before God committing n
secret sin? For years and years in our
northern states there were hundreds
upon hundreds of ministers who were
afraid TO speak upon the slavery ques-
ton, because il they did they knew
they would split their congregations In
twain. When my father az young
man was called to the city of Philadel-
pha Just before the war the paddock OF
silence was upon many ministers lips.
After my father had been there n few
weeks he preached an abolition sermon.
That afternoon thirty of his most prom.
inent families took their hymn books
out OF their racks and walked out OF
the church and never came back Tell
me, are you ready like that to attack
sin wherever you see it? Are you ready
to denounce sin in high places or in
low? Are you ready to defy the sin Of
your friends as well as the sin of your
enemies. or are you going to be mum
bcred among the "trimmers" the hedg-
crS, the polite men, who dare not he
lin the right with two or three" IL
you do thus the world may say You
are honest, but in the sight Of God you
are guilty OF black, heinous secret
sin. Iou are guilty of the sin of cow
ardice, the sin Of not being an out and
out disciple of Jesus Christ.
But we IIust not stop here. In this
catalogue Of secret sins we must name
the uniformed offspring Of our minds
called "evil thoughts" By this name
do not mean those "cvi thoughts
which some Of us are willing TO voice
in public, but | do mean those carnal
thoughts. those licentious thoughts,
those revengeful and brutal thoughts.
those debasing thoughts, which some
OF us at times, 10 a greater or less de-
gree are ready to foster and let live
in our hearts.
The Sin of EVIL Thought
When there are born into the nursery
Of the brain liccntious thoughts. re
vengeful thoughts. brutal and accursed
thoughts, thoughts which come to us
from reading bad books or going with
improper companions, or evil thoughts
which come to us we know not from
whence, then we shield these thoughts.
We are foolish enough TO suppose that
because the world does not know about
them we are safe. All, no. my friends!
Though the world may not see mans
evil thoughts, vet God sees them. And
as man thinketh in his heart SO is he
in the sight OF God" For God shall
bring every work into Judgment with
every secret thing, whether it be good
or whether it be evil" Beware how
You trifis with those bad thoughts
those evil thoughts. BY the grace OF
God crush them out of your life as you
would mash the poisonous fang of
deadly adder under your heel God
do. but also for what you think in the
inmost recesses OF your mind. o
God, make us pure in mind as well as
pure in deed,
But there are still two other classes
Of secret sins to which ! would call
your attention. One of them is the
sin of cOvetousuess. The other is the
sin Of selfish Indifference to the misery
and wants OF others Now. this ain of
covetOusnesS is such repelent sin in
Gods sight that he wrote n whole COM
mandment against II. IhiE command
ment was not put in the words of n
genera statement, but went into spe.
citic detail. Let me read 10 you the
command rs il was given 10 Moses on
a table of stone: Thou shalt not covet
thy neighbours house, thou shalt not
covet thy neighbors wife. nor his man
servant nor his maidservant, nor his
OK, nor his ass, nor anything that is
thy neighbours" But. though God IN
these vehement words has hurled his
denunciatiOps against covetousness.
yet there are many people who almost
every hour OF every day Of their lives
are guilty Of this secret sin. They
never walk along the streets or see IL
fine home but they keep saying TO
themselves. II wish | lived in "A house
like that; | wish I could ride in a car
riage like that. wish ] might be able
to dress like that; wish | might have
servant to wait upon me like that"
And all their lives. instead of thanking
God for his merces. some men and
women are in secret rebellion against
God because he has not done as much
for them as he has done for some one
else. Now. my friends, ! firmly be-
leve that this sin of covetousncss is
| one of the most infamous aud repellcnt
| OF all sins in Gods Sight. And yet il Is
a sin which today thousands of us are
practicing in secret, Our neighbors do
not know we are casting lustful eyes
upon their possessions but God knows.
and God will condemn US unless we
cease TO practice this infamy.
Complaining Woman.
But the second secret sin is like the
first. The same evil characteristics
which makes person wander around