The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-09-15
9bort germons
For
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Theme:
SINS OF OMMISSION.

SINS OF OMMISSION.
+ f. +
BY Rev. Adam Reoch.
Text: Therefore to him that know
eth to do good and doeth II not, to
him it Is sin.-James iv., II.
r. r r
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 the
worse. Few people realize the grav-
ity of these sins. See" said the
young man who came running to
Christ, "all these commandments
have l kept from my youth up; what
lack | yet?" He never dreamed
there were sins of omission.
1t is not impossible to keep the
Ten Commandments, at least in the
letter. Thousands there are who do
not worship false gods, who do not
swear, or break the Sabbath; who
honor their parents and hold sacred
the family relations; who would scorn
to steal or lie. and if possessed Of
good health are not tempted to covet.
But having done this, have they full
filled all righteousness?
When Jesus had great truth to
utter He made a parable and at the
same time poured it full of vital truth,
so that the truth would keep the para
Bile alive and the parable embody the
truth for ages; just as the soul vital
ICES the body and the body contains
the soul. We have some of these
parallels as fresh and pertinent as II
uttered for the hour. If we balance
the emphasis of all the parallels of
Jesus the overwhelming weight rests
on this very point-the seriousness
and danger Of sins of omission. Every
one knows we'll the poor fellow with
the one talent-his sin was sin OF
omission. He neglected to improve
his talent Five eXpectant virgins
were shut out from the wedding. What
was their mistake? They took nc
oil with them. 1t was a sin of omis
those who were condemned were
turned away because they failed tC
help their unfortunate fellows. This
also was a 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 al
ways reveals the sin of omission as
the underlying cause. If events coult
be reversed as easily as moving pic
lures may be we would in every case
discover the place where an ounce o
prevention would have outweighed s
ton of cure.
We can measure the results of sin:
of commission and we often are great
ly impressed. But the sins of omis
sion will not plead their case unit
we all stand before the Judge. There
is no premonitory intimation, and thu
disclosures will be astounding. Their
seems no discoverable reason VIII,
the attainments Of present civiliza
ton should not have been reached ;
thousand years sooner. We say Il
; takes time" to do things. In MIN
cases out of ten it is simply an eS
J cuse for our unwillingness to ac
promptly at the call of duty and &C
cording to the light we have.
There is nothing the matter wit
this world except that it knows t
do good" but hesitates, deliberates
r al arrives too late by some circuit
: Gus route. We must teach our yout
2 to harness knowledge and doing, an
the marvels of the present will b
) eclipsed by greater. We must swim
4 the whole fabric of modern life fror
} the negative basis in action, ethic
and religion-the thou shalt not
! regime of the past-to the positiv
g basis of life suggested in our text
"To him that knoweth to do good an
g doeth it not, to him it is SIM" Ce
tainly no man or institution ca
achieve greatness or endure for an
length of time who knoweth to d
good and doeth 1t not