Milford chronicle., 1906-04-27

ticed away from the sacred nOurs OF
holy communion with Christ. No mat
ter how early the march was to take
place for the rescue Of Lucknow. Gen
eral Havelock always arose two hours
earlier to read his Bible and kneel in
prayer. No matter how hard the con-
fiict was raging, Martin Luther always
took at least two hours away from the
world each day to pour out his soul to
God in prayer. Tell me, o man, what
art thou doing with those sacred hours
which Jesus Christ bids you give to
| him alone? The world does not know
what you are doing with those hours,
but Christ knows. Are you neglectlng
your proper spiritual preparation for
Christian work? Are you taking the
proper spiritual nourishment for your
own soul? Then, if you are not doing
this, in the sight of God you are com
mitting a secret sin. You may hide
that sin from the world. but you can
never hide it from Christ.
The Unpopular side.
Next to our neglect Of secret prayer
and quiet Bible reading / believe our
greatest secret sin is our unwillingness
to bravely and firmly go forth to advo-
cate the causes of right which are or
the unpopular side. We see blatant
sins stalking around everywhere, bur
because those sins are we'll dressed or
the perpetrators of those sins are In
huential men and women in the COM
munity in which we live we close our
mouths and say nothing. We are
afraid to antagonize them and those
men and women who are their power
full supporters.
The man who dares to attack sin
that is strongly inuenched is liable to
be assailed in character and person.
His friends come to him and say: Let
1t alone. You will make enemies who
can ruin you" Have you never had
Iuch advice given to you? If you have
not you have been all your life trim
mer," a hedger, a polite man. You
have not come forth boldly and de-
cisvely and attacked wrong wherever
you have seen it lift its hideous head.
In other words, you can be classed
among those moral towards whom
James Russell Lowell eXcOriated when
he said:
They are slaves who fear to speak
For the fallen and the weak;
They are slaves who will not choose
Hatred, scofing and abuse
Rather than in silence shrink
From the truth they needs must think. |
They are slaves who dare not be
In fIa ierbf Nyff fr21n
Are You HOnestF
The world looks upon you as an hon |
est man. Are you honest? 1 mean, in |
the higher sense of the word, are you |!
honest with yourself? The city in
which you live is in a death grapple |
with the saloon or, as is Los Angeles, |
with an infamous gambling corpora
tion. Dare you lift up your voice in
protest? "Oh, no." you answer; IF l
did those men would boycott me, and
they are my customers. They buy lots
of goods at my store" In your silence
are YOU not before God committing a
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 if they did they knew
they would split their congregations in
twain. When my father as a young
man was called to the city of Philadel-
Dhia Just before the war the paddock OF
silence was upon many ministers lips.
After my father had been there a few
weeks he preached an abolition sermon.
That afternoon thirty of his most prom
nent families took their hymn books
)ut of their racks and walked out of
he church and never came back. Tell
ne, are you ready like that to attack
lin wherever you see it? Are you ready
o denounce sin in high places or in
ow? Are you ready to defy the sin of
,Our friends as well as the sin of your
,nemies, or are you going to be num-
Dered among the ''trimmers," the hedg-
rs, the polite men, who dare not be
in the right with two or three" If
-ou do thus, the world may say you
re honest, but in the sight of God you
re guilty of a black, heinOus secret
in. You are guilty of the sin of cow
rdice, the sin of not being an out and
ut disciple of Jesus Christ.
But we must not stop here. In this
analogue of secret sins we must name
be malformed offspring of our minds I
allied "evil thoughts" By this name 1 !
o not mean those "evil thoughts" &
Thich some of us are willing to voice Z
4 public, but 1 do mean those carnal e
lOughts, those licentious thoughts, n
hose revengeful and brutal thoughts,
nose debasing thoughts, which some Il
{ us at times, to a greater or less de-
rec, are ready to foster and let live y
l our hearts.
The SIN OF EVIL Thought. Ia
When there are born into the nursery
( the brain licentious thoughts, re- y
engeful thoughts, brutal and accursed
loughts, thoughts which come to us
'Om reading bad books or going with *
improper companions. or evil thoughts y
hich come to us we know not from
hence, then we shield these thoughts.
7e are foolish enough to suppose that sl
ecause the world does not know about n