The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1910-11-12
SATURDAY NIGHT
SERMONS
AW- BY
= REVSAMUEL
I" WpURvIS,DD
THE STRANGE STORY SIN.

Text. ''Sin is the transgression of the
iaw."-I John ill., 4.
One thing requires no argument-sin
Is here. 1t doesn't take much proof to
show that the poor hulk in the surf
with snapped masts, torn rigging, gap
Ing holes In the side, is a wreck. The
bodies washed ashore bear mute evi-
dence that something has happened.
The revelations of the police court, the
moan Of the prisoner, the quivering
form In the electric chair, the poor
scarlet girl of the street, the CHASTITY
contents of the morgue, show a wreck
somewhere. Let him who will deny
1t. The Bible proceeds from Genesis
to Revelation with that assumption.
II sin isn't real thing, veritable
cancer eating at the vitals of human
ity, then the Bible has no meaning
and Is a book of fables. The gospel
then becomes the queerest halluclna-
ton that ever deluded this race of
mortals, and the crucifixion was q
suicide-nay, fearful burlesque In
deed, civilization begins its calcula-
lions with sin as principal integer.
They are cutting prison stone now for
boys not yet born. Horrible to con-
template, the hemp is growing to
make the moose for the little fellow
now nursing at his mothers breast.
Is sin inherent or part of our growth?
Have we fallen from "a little lower
than the angels" or have we risen from
"a little higher than the brute?" The
Bible says the former, science the lat
ter. The good book gives only few
verses to the fall, but whole chapters
to the fallen. That seems sensible.
The important thing is not, Did
storm strike the vessel? but What
can be done for the passengers?
Sin 10 Suffering.
Sin is life's deepest malady. Not the
white plague" nor pneumonia nor
cancer has the most victims, but sin.
The devilish part is that that wasn't
the bargain. Beginning bright as the
morn. it ends dark as the midnight.
Sin promised life pleasure and profit,
but we find its wages are death, tor
ment and destruction, with the epitaph
Thou fool" We think of sin as
adultery, uncleanness, murder, drunk
enness-things that belong down in the
slums, and that mustn't be mentioned
except with a quick look around and
a guarded tone. Christ began his list
with evil thoughts and from that work
ed out toward the surface. And now
comes modern psycho-therapeutics and
tells us that sin can be, outwardly, a
mighty respectable thing, but that 1t Is
fruitful of disorders to our brain cen
tiers, hinders our mental processes, pro-
duces vapors and miasmas of the soul,
and that these make directly for i'm
paired health, dyspepsia, rheumatism
and great host of nerve troubles;
that sin has tremendous effect on the
excretory organs and marked chemical
effect on saliva and the gastric juices.
That is only the start-the sin in the
thought. The end of sin committed is
like your shadow toward evening
monstrous in its growth. And, like the
stone thrown in the water, one circle
produces another. When hatred was
in Gains heart murder wasn't far off.
David found the seventh command
ment lay next to the sixth.
Sin Is Solitude.
That is, 1t shuts out. That's a queer
thing. Most sin requires companion
ship, but once you've sinned you stand
alone. A young fellow told me in the
Tombs one day that his first feeling In
the cell was one of fearful loneliness.
uttpr friandlaccuaaa Whan vo,, foil q
lie you are separated from truth and
those that want the truth. When you
commit adultery fear Of exposure shuts
you away from the clean When Gains
mark is on your soul every mans hand
is against you. Cattle go in herds.
sheep in droves, birds in flocks, bees
in swarms. The instinct of humanity
Graves comranionship. But you are
alone. That is fearful. Prisoners sen.
fenced to solitary confinement go mad,
and Matteawan spells hell. We read
Of Judas that after supper he went
out and it was night. He went out
Out-note Inside were light and
warmth and gladness and fellowship,
the best on earth. There's a stroke of
genius in the writer's pen, st was
night" No push, no curse, drove him
out-just the momentum of sin. His
bed that night was in hell. So, too
Peter went out from the court. having
lied and sworn that he didn't know
his Lord. He went out into the dark
ness and wept bitterly. When your
fathers door is shut upon you, when
friends cross to the other side Of the
, street, when there's no door open save
the trapdoor Of perdition, then it's
night-the blacklist night of your souls
eclipse. Sin is solitude-it shuts out
The saddest words that ever fell from
Christ's lips are, depart from me-"
Departure into the blackness of dark
ness forever The iron curtain of
eternity drops.