The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-09-05
TELLS OF THE FIRST vow RE-
CORDED IN EARLY BiBLI-
CAL HISTORY.
URGES SANCTITY OF The vow
Vows Made To Oneself, And We
Break Them At Soul Peril And The
Loss OF Self Respect

Dr.. A. F. Watkins, pastor of the |
Main Street Methodist church, |
preached at the eleven o'clock hour, |
Sunday morning, after which he ad- |
ministered the Sacrament of the
Lords Supper.
The text for the sermon was taken
from goth and 21st verses of chapter
2Sth of the book of Genesis, which
contain the vow of Jacob made at Luz,
which he named Bethel and where he
set up the memorial stone.
The subject announced was the i'm
portance of keeping VOWS made to
ourselves, and acknowledgment was
made of the great help derived by the
preacher from a reading many years
ago of a thesis on this subject by DR..
Walker, of Harvard University.
The text gives us the first recorded
vow found in Bible history. It can
not possibly have been the first vow
made by man, since the making Of
I vows is instructive. The ancients
had a conception of God which
made Him like a man only big
ger. God of Greece and Rome pos
sessed all the human attributes, not
only those having moral excellence
but the same vices possessed by men
Deity was to them a being to be pla
Gated. The making of votary offer
ings to keep God in a good humor
was one form of their belief. They
at least wanted a God who would keeI
His hands off of their business. |
God will let me alone I will be yer!
much obliged to Him. Have We no
evidences of the projection of thi
heather idea of God, into our 2Otl
century thought or conception o
Deity?
Men do not register their VOWS, be
cause of the supposed additional obi
. cations thereby laid upon then
Whether formal or not we make vow
that should or must be kept. 1t is n
uncommon thing to make VOWS o
promises to friends and just as Gel
tainly to ourselves. It is a commo
practice to talk to ourselves and tn
promise to do or not to do is equal
as common. The lazy boy is col
fronted with a failure to meet the r.
- quired standard in school. He prom
II ises himself-(his better nature) thf
he will mend his ways, study his lie
u sons and redeem his loss of place an
prestige. Remorse after a night {
debauch, has caused many man
pledge himself to amend his ways an
never do it again. young man b
trayed into a game of cards, is SUI
denly confronted with the fact that
- is a gambler. his better self arist
and he at once covenants therewit
that he will never touch cards agai
The preacher here threw in an e
n hortation to the good women to r
III member the power Of example az
~ urged his hearers to forever banis
re cards from the home and social III
Ill A quick tempered man loses his pois
lc- gives way to a violent outburst
temper, and as quickly resolves
ct strive for greater self control.
lp- young man finds himself confront
ds with new and untried duties involvi
all graver responsibilities. His person
In VOW to himself is a resolve to me
ne every demand of his new positi
with fidelity and promptness. NJ
. often notoriously violate promis
made to themselves, on the theC
that. promises like pie crust
easily broken" The conduct of N
often justices the belief, Il
- since promises are easily ms
they may be as easily brok
and that the breaking of prom
ills Continued on Page Eight)