Arizona republican., 1908-03-28
MESA
BAPTIST CONVENTION

The Fifteenth Annual convention oi
 the Baptist church convened in the
 local church of that denomination yes
 terday morning at 10:30. with large
 delegation of representatives from
 the leading towns in the territory, as
 well as from several neighboring
 states.
 Devotional services were led by Rev
 F. T. Gillette. and the welcome ad-
 dress was delivered by Rev. C. Sidney
 Maddox of Mesa, which was respond
 ed to by Rev. C. WardlaW of Stafford
 This was followed by the reading of
 several church letters after which the
 new pastors in Arizona were intro-
 duced.
 The annual convention sermon was then delivered by Rev. J. c. Chopin of
 Tempe The text was taken from l John, 5:19. Rev. Chopin speaking as
 follows:
 According to the text, two facts are objects of knowledge, We are of God. and the whole world lieth in the evil one. Upon this Knowledge depends in large measure the intensity of our religious life. To appreciate the full significance of these two facts would be to commence a religious. revival Zeal, earnestness, and consecrated activity would follow from such a knowledge, if it amounted to real ap- preciation. our trouble is that too many of us do not know Our eyes are blind to these two great spiritual facts, and so we are indifferent and cold, formal and inactive. We know girha1- that z that the whole world lieth in the evil one Many protesting Christian nowadays knows nothing of His Spirit, which ''witnesseth with our spirits that we are the sons of God He hesitates to say T know in whom I have believed" He would consider it a rash presumption to say: Hence forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge. shall give me at that day" Spiritual knowledge has de- generated into a deluded. sublimated hope that brings small peace and kin dies no enthusiasm.
 And the consciousness of sin and the appreciation of its sinfulness. eX- cept in some extreme form with which We have no personal intimacy. are in great danger of being altogether lost in this generation. So far from know ing that the whole world lieth in the evil one, there are people today who would actually dispute the fact. who would say: T do not recognize any great sin in myself, nor am I disagree ably conscious of its presence in the world as l know it. l think the great to-do that old fashioned religion makes about sin, is folly. Sin is largely imaginary, and hell is a hor- hible fiction that no one will believe in much longer" We do not go so far as that. We profess still to believe in sin and hell and yet. how much does the sin of the world or of our own hearts distress us? We look upon sin and the eternal ruin to which it is leading in a very comfortable sort of spirit I am afraid that We are not very confident in our knowledge that the whole world lieth in the evil one and meanwhile, drink is claiming an- nually its thousands of victims. Our criminal courts grind out their daily grist, our penitentiaries are full to bursting. We cannot build our insane asylums fast enough to hold those whom vice has robbed of their senses. Greed is chiseling its hard lines innto the features of many faces that We look upon on the street, or in the mirror. Selfishness is daily nullifying the Golden Rule Everywhere man has some word of complaint against his brother. Few are the hearts that nourish no bitterness and few have learned the lessons of true content ment. Honesty is still 9 rare virtue. The reports of war awaken in us too savage interest and death is just as busy in the world. as it was six thou sand years ago. l think that if John were alive today and should look the world over carefully he would see no reason to make his statement less emphatic: We know that the whole world lieth in the evil one"
 l wish for the sake of our religious zeal to impress both these facts on our consciousness. that we may with more reason be able to say we know
 The second of the two facts first: The whole world lieth in the evil one that is in the dominion and power of the evil one. CNotice the phraseol- ogy) The evil one, a personification, SuSSeSllIiS d DtISDIdl utNll. IIldL Is. an intelligence and will. a personality in the world that makes for evil as God makes for righteousness. The literal translation of the Creek is the one who works evil, the troubIer. who brings annoyance and distress. Trou- ble-making is the devils business"
 The world lieth in this evil power. The picture is one of helplessness. not the helplessness, however. of an inno- ment and unwilling captive in the arms of a heartless and relentless captor. Do not picture the world as a pure and beautiful maiden. seized and carried roughly away by a rObber chieftain to his mountain fastness. de- spite her struggles and cries, there to be starved and forced into subjection to his desires, according to the story of our boyhOOd days It is a worse than that, rather as maiden who has opened her heart to