Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-04-27

bered among the "trimmers," the hcdg-
ers. the polite men. who dare not he
in the right with two or threef" IL
you do thus. the world may say YOU
are honest but i'm the sight OF God YOU
are guilty OF black. heinous secret
sin. You are guilty of the sin OF cow
ardice. the sin OF not being an out and
out disciple of Jesus Christ
But we must not stop here. In this
catalogue OF secret sins we must name
the malformed offspring OF our minds
called "evil thoughts" BY this name I
do not mean those "evil thoughts"
which some OF us IRE willing to voice
In public. but | do mean those carnaI
thoughts. those lIcentious thoughts.
those revengeful and brutal thoughts.
those debas!ng thoughts. which some
or us at times. To n 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 licentious 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 10 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 arc safe. All. no. my friendsl
Though the world may not see q mans
evil thoughts. yet God sees them. "And
az 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 II be good
or whether II be evil" Beware how
you trlfie with those bad thourhts-
those evil thoughts. BY the grace of
God crush them out OF your life as you
would mash the poisonous fang of n
deadly adder under your heel. God
VIII condemn you not for what you
do. but also for what you think In the
inmost releases OF your mind. O
God. make us pure In mind as we'll an
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 covetousness. The other Is the
sin OF selfish Indifference to the misery
and wants OF others. Now, this sin OF
coyetousness is such repellent sin In
Gods sight that he wrote a whole COM
mandment against IL. This command
ment was not put In the words of a
general statement. but went into spe-
cif1c detail. Let me read to you the
command as it was given to Moses on
table or stone: Thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's house. thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man
servant, nor his maidservant. nor his
OK. nor his ass nor anything that Is
thy neighbors." But, though God in
these vehement words has hurled his
denunciations 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 a
fne home but they keep saying to
themselves. II wish ! lived In a house
like that; ] wish / could ride In a car.
riage like that; I wish might be able
TO dress like that; ! wish I might have
servant to walt upon me ike that"
And all their lives, instead of thanking
God for his mercies. 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-
lieve that this sin of covetousness Is
one of the most infamous and repellept
OF all sins in Gods sight And vet il is
sin which today thousands OF US srs
practiclng in secret Our neighbors dc
not know we are casting iustful 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 ike the
nrst. The same evil characteristic
which makes a person wander around
the streets saying. IT wish I could
have my neighbor's house, my neigh
boris wife. my neighbours manservant
and his maidservant." is the same evil
Characteristic which makes a person
ignore the calls for help which are be-
ing spoken to him on every hand.
Therefore. though. the hands for succor