Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-08-07
az ~
Rl0bgJlar
l1{Ipff;U(IS>'
-
SINS OF OMISSION.
BY Rev. Adam Reock,


By Rev Adam Reock.
Therefore do him that knoweth to do
good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
james Ii.
In the presence of such text all
sins separate themselves into two
classes, like the sheep and the goats
in the judgment, and sins of omission
take the left hand, for they are worse.
Few people realize the gravity Of these
sins. See said the young man who
came running to Christ, "all these COM
mandments have l kept from my youth
up; what lack l yet?" He never
dreamed there were sins of omission.
1t is not impossible to keep the ten
Thousands there are who do not wor-
ship false gods. who do not swear or
break the Sabbath, who honor their
parents and hold sacred the family re-
lations, who would scorn to steal or
lie. and if possessed of good health
are not tempted to coyet. But, having
done this, have they fulfilled all right
eousness?
When Jesus had great truth to ut
ter He made parable and at the same
time poured it full of vital truth, so
that the truth would keep the parable
alive and the parable embOdy truth for
ages; just as the soul vitaliZes the body
and the body contains the soul. We
have some of these parallels as fresh
and pertinent as if uttered for the
hour. If we balance the emphasis of
all the parallels of Jesus the over
whelming weight rests on this very
sins of omission.
Everyone knows we'll the poor fell
low with the one talent. His sin was
sin Of omission. He neglected to i'm
prove his talent. Five expectant viz
gins were shut out from the wedding.
What was their mistake? They took
no oil with them. 1t was sin Of omis-
sion. In that scene of the judgment
those who condemned were turned
away because they failed to help their
sin Of omission.
While sins of commission have slain
their thousands sins of omission have
slain their tens of thousands The
study of misfortunes and evils always
reveals the sin Of omission as the un-
DERIVING cause. If events could be re-
yersed as easily as moving pictures
may be we would in every case dis
cover the place where an ounce of pre-
vention would have outweighed a ton
of cure.
We can measure the results of sins
of commission, and we often are greatly
impressed, but the sins Of omission will
not plead their case until we all stand
before the Judge. There is no premon-
itory intimatfon, and the disclosures
will be astounding These seems one
discoverable reason why the attain
ments of present civilization should not
have been reached q thousand years
sooner. We say lit takes time" to do
things In nine cases out of ten it is
simply an excuse for our unwilling
ness to act promptly at the call of duty
and according to the light we have.
There is nothing the matter with
this world, except that it ''knows to do
good" but hesitates, celebrates and ar
rives too late by some circuitous route.
We must teach our youth to harness
knowledge, and doing the marvels of
the present will be eclipsed by great
err. We must swing the whole fabric
of modern life from the negative basis
in action, ethics and religion-the
Thou shalt not regime of the past to
the positive basis of life suggested in
one test: ITO him that knoweth to
do good and doeth it not, to him it is
sim
Certainly no man or institution can
achieve greatness or endure for any
length of time who knoweth to do good
and doeth it not.