The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-03-23
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. A. n. C. MORSE.
Theme: The Little Foxes.

Brooklyn. N. T.-The Rev. A. II.
c. Morse, pastor Of the Strong Place
Baptist Church, Sunday preached a
sermon on the subject of The Little
Foxes" The text was from the Song
of Songs, 2:15: Take the foxes, the
little foxes that spoil the Vineyards
Dr.. Morse said:
No one knows just what the Song
of Songs teaches, but the picture in
these words is plain. Here is a flou-
rishing vineyard which is thick with
blossoms, and the prospect is that in
a few weeks the heavy clusters will
ripen and rejoice the heart Of the
owner. But there is a peril which
threatens this vineyard, for the
neighboring wood is filled with foxes;
and they steal into the vineyard and
nibble the vines and devour the bios
SONS and spoil the whole worth of
the field.
The heart is a vineyard; and the
enemies are many. And l shall speak
this evening of the little foxes that
devour the vines, and the little SINS
that ruin the life. For little sins Will
burrow into the soul and make it a
den of evil things; and like the foxes,
they will multiply till the whole life
is overrun with ruin.
| am not so much afraid OF great
sins; but I would have all men filled
with a wholesome dread of the little
wrongs that deaden the conscience
and entangle the soul and multiply so
fast that they overrun the life and
br;no II to irrp0orah1p ruin.
Good men have always been afraid
Of little sins, and the army OF mar
tyrs have been willing rather to en-
dure torment than to turn aside so
much as a rifle from the shining
road CT holiness. Joseph? He would
rather languish in a dungeon than do
an easy wrong. Daniel! He would
rather die in a lions den than cease
his habit Of prayer. And the three
holy children-they were simply
asked to bend the knee and join in
worship of The image the king had
set up. 1t was an easy thing to do,
but these three lads had rather be
cast into a furnace heated seven times
over than do what they knew was
wrong: they had rather burn for
right than to do a little sin.
I am afraid of the little foxes, be-
cause they grow to full grown foxes.
And I am afraid of little sins because
they grow so great. No one a tell
whereunto sin will lead. The begin
nings of sin are like the leakings of
water from q mighty reservoir; first
an innocent ooze, then a drip, then a
tiny stream, then a larger vein, then
a flood, and the rampant gives
way and the town is swept to ruin.
The habits of sin are like the habits
of burglars, who sometimes take a
little fellow and put him through a
window too small for a man to enter,
and the child must open the door for
the burglar gang to pass. So with
little sins: they creep in and open
the door for larger sins to enter. A
little sin is the thin wedge,and when
once inserted it can be driven home
till it splits and ruins the life.
I am afraid of the little foxes be-
causethey multiply so fast; and I am
afraid of little sins because they are
so easily repeated, and they become
mighty for their multitude. All the
little foxes in this mans vineyard
would do as much harm as one great,
laundering elephant; and a thousand
little sins in my life would do 1t as
much ruin as the n great sin in the
life of the man just sent to the Fed
eraI prison. I remember, when a lad,
the ~so-called army worms first swept
across the fields. They went straight
ahead, and moved like a mighty host
with captains. They were little
things. but when they we're gone the
fields looked as though they had been
swept by a fire. So a thousand little
wrongs in the life a rob it of beau
iy as really as one great, blazing, pub
lie transgressfon.
When Australia first was discov-
cred there was no thistle in all its
wide domain. But when it began to
De colonized some foolish Scotchman
took a package Of the seed OF his ma
TONS emblem. and now the thistle is
the farmers plague. 1t was only a
little thing, but it grew. And I would
have all beware of little sins, for they
grow; and when they creep into the
soul they spread and multiply till
they ruin the very garden of God.
/ am afraid Of little sins because
they involve a great principle. Let
me illustrate what I mean: You go
into a bank with & check for $1,000,
and in his hurry the clerk passes out
Sl100. and you walk out Of the bank
with that sum. You agree with me,
I suppose, that you do a dishonest
thing-that you have stolen 800.
Would it not be the same if your
check called for SIS, and he gave you
Sc by mistake? You ride on a train
to Boston, and by some oversight
your ticket is not collected, and you
ride back on that very same ticket.
You agree with me that the thing is
wrong. Is it not the same when you
ride on a trolley car and elude the
conductor, or slip past the gateman
and enter the train? In either case
the nan is a thief, and the little thief
is worse, for he has been willing to
sell himself for a nickel. That mai
has cheated the devil.
But you say Corporations do not
have any souls" Listen. The mai
who. does wrong in that small way
won't have any soul worth while if
he continues a habit like that. What
shall we think Of a man who counts
his honesty at less than a nickel?
The man who makes counterfeit
money is 6. great wrong-doer. But
how about the mar who discovers at
the close of the day that he has a bad
csin and determines to pass it along?
He says, Some one passed it ON me
and Ill pass il along He does pre-