Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1909-04-05
THE LAWS OF GOD 4
ARE NOT TO Be BROKEN
The Certain Punishment Which Fol-
lows Their Violation.

tor of the First Presbyterian church,
last night preached on the theme,
THE Way of the Transgressor Is
Hard" using as his text the above
words taken from the fifteenth verse of
the thirteenth chapter Of Proverbs.
The following quotations from the
sermon outline the thought presented
for considerations:
Il do not know but that some of
you are expecting that the text is sug-
gested by what has taken place in our
city during the past week. 1t is true.
For hours the expression in the text
has been ringing in my ears. You
know To what l refer. | would not
refer to ii had it not been that 1t had
been referred to in the papers during
the past week You all know how one
Of the men who was entrusted with
the law making for the territory in the
recent session of the legislature has
died an awful death. We ought to
take home to our hearts as individ-
uals the lesson that We need to learn.
| need not dwell on the facts. but let
this score another evidence as to the
wisdom Of driving out from our midst
the thing that is so destructive. Let
this be another reason that henceforth,
as you cast your ballots. you shall set
your face like flint against that which
God tells us at the last biteth like
serpent and stingeth like an adder.
The way of the trangressor is hard
There is scarcely any sense in which
that is not true. / do not think that
we can imagine a sense in which that
is not true The man who is seeking
TO please God is the man who has an
easy time in the fullest and truest
sense of the word, and the man who
is disobeying the laws Of God has the
hard time. You are walking one way
or the other
Let us look first at the significance
of the text. There is action connected
with the very expression 'transgress-
or What is it that he transgresses?
The law What law2 The law OF
nature. The man who transgresses the
laws Of health as God has established
them is bound TO find that the way
of the transgressor is hard. The way
of the man who transgresses the law
of conscience is hard. Let ii be sum
med up in this, the way of the man
who transgresses the law of God as
laid down in the ten commandments
is hard
This expression is the presentation
of a law and not the arbitrary EXPIRES
sion of the will of God. God is back
of all law, of all activity, of all the
experiences of the world. he is over
all. and in all. and through all. and
10 Low which
if you and break, we must expect the
penalties. They are the laws that Al
might God mad to make in the light of
his nature, in the light Of the fact
that he is God, he is love. he is truth.
That the way of the trensgressOr Is
hard is the law which connects the ac-
tivities Of men with the results and
of their lives. II is simply
a necessary law of God. and not an
arbitrary expression OF his will.
The way of the transgressOr is |
hard Do you believe it, ! must say |
that / am sure that there is not one
of US that believes il in the fullest |
sense of the word, for we do not act |
on il in the most practical sense. The |
fact that We fail to believe it, or the |
fact that We are ignorant of the law. |
does not destroy the results of the law |
We recognize the certainty of the full |
fillment of natural law. 1t is just as |
certain that the law relative to our
actions is sure Of fulfillment. How |
often we have seen the demonstration /
Of the fact that the way Of the trans
is hard. About fourteen years
ago was in bank and Frank James /
came in to have a check cashed. He
had gone up and down the land side
by side with Jesse James robbing and
numbering He trembled from head to
foot He had no peace He said to
the president of the bank a few days
ater that he was continually afraid |
that some one would come up behind |
him and shoot him, for he himself had
shot so many men The way of the
transgressor is hard right down here
md now Even if it were not true
now. it is true when we come down to
he end Think of il in reference to
he man to whom reference has been
made: think of it in connection with
he whole James gang and their ex-
1eriences as to the ends of their lives;
cad il in your Bible as IL tells of
sOdom and Gomorrah. Of Tyre and
sidon, of Saul and Solomon, and then
# Judas: read of il in the life of Nero
md in the story of the death of
Ierod. God says that he would have
rs remember that the way Of the
ransgressor hard. The wages OF sin
s death Ignorance of the law will
Tot save you from il. A man sows
harley and he thinks he is sowing
wheat; he will get a crop of barley.
\ man thinks he is taking quinine.
nut he takes strychnine: he dies. 1t is
our business to know the seed that
-ou are sowing; it is your business to
now the law of God
How may we be kept from the way
( the transgressor. You will keep i'm
he way Of righteousness, you will ,
urn your back on sin, you will hate
he evil and cling to the good. other
hings being equal. in proportion as
gu realize that your life is to tell
through the eternal years. AS we go
n in life we come to realize more
nd more the Significance of the things
hat are lasting and the insignificance
the things that are passing. and if
re want to turn our backs upon the
vii, let US live with our minds on the
ternal world.
1t pays to refuse to transgress the
NV | know a man who stood firm in
he face of the loss of a position nav