The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-05-01
MSATURDAY
@R NIGHT
4 SERMONS
BY
- xAhunw .pURyEll
THE SKELETON In THE CLOSET.


Text, There is nothing hidden that
shall not be revealed. X, 26.
There's a skeleton in every closet"
True. CHASTITY, grewsome, hideous, 1t
stands, staring with eyeless sockets,
grinning with lipless jowls. You open
the door of memory, forgetful for a
moment, and there stands that fear
ful thing, reminder Of the past. 20
God! I thought 1t was dead" No,
only hidden. Smash it in one closet,
1t appears in another Never did
Doyle or Hugo write detective story
30 thrilling. The Javert of your sim
full past forever on the track Of the
Vatican of your better self. Quick!
Shut the door on the horrid phantom!
Did any one get a glimpse2 By any
subtle telepathy could another read
your thoughts? Your heart thumps
outrageously. The door is slammed
tight and the key turned. You breathe
easier. You even smile to think how
foolish were your fears And yet it's
there This world Is mighty poor
place for hiding secrets. The sin of
yesterday, of last year, Of five, ten,
fifty, years ago will come back. 1t
sits in the chair, Banquo-like, at your
feast. It's stamped on your inner
breast, a blazing scarlet letter. The
marks on your hand. You rub. "Out
damned spot!" But it won't out.
Mighty fortunate you can wear
cloak or gloves. But it's there!
Hiding Our Sins.
Naturally we try to conceal the skele-
ton. We don't succeed. Proteus-l1ke,
when you conceal sin in one form 1t
wriggles out in another. The diff
Guilty is that sin is not a lifeless lump,
but q force and a cause and comes
under definite laws Of conservation Of
energy and correlation Of forces. Some
day comes the crash. And it's the
crash we dread, for to be brutally
frank 1t isn't so much the thing itself
that men fear and are ashamed Of, but
the exposure. The objectionable sin
of social ethics today is In being found
out. Then, too, God forgive us, much
depends in your sin whether you are a
man or woman, rich or poor, infiu-
entail or friendless. But doesn't the
man and the sinner In silk and the
prominent culprit suffer shame and
sorrow, too, preacher? Yes, but more
often the weeping is onion caused.
The eyes sheds tears because it smarts!
The provoking cause is external, not
internal, objective rather than subjec-
tive. Nevertheless out it will come.
No ostrich with head in sand was
ever more self deceived than he who
buries his secret in the sands Of silence
and thinks it concealed. There's q
subtle miasmatic poisonous odor that
affects the mans own self and makes
others feel somehow there's something
wrong. The finger Of fate pointed
plainly toward the tent Of Achan and
his buried booty. And It's the hellish
mockery Of the devil that q man may
lose the very thing that he risked his
all to get
TelItale Finger Prints.
We chuckle In the darkness Of our
concealment, but every laundering fin
ger touch leaves its mark. Sin is its
own detective. A queer thing is that
|
Self exposure. In Leonardo's 'The
Last Supper" every voice is saying
Lord, is 1t II" Every face is in con
sternation but one. Judas is lookin-
with unaffected mien-how bold i
guilt!-but his hand betrays him. II,
has upset the salt! Sin once commit
ted Is a wild beast released. Tomol
row morning you may find 1t crouch
ing at the door, Are you ready for it;
lancet claws and crunching jaws? Blu
the sin was secret In the home, in TIL
crowd of the city, it's forgotten. Nc
not forgotten-hidden. Hide a seet
and you have plant. whatsoever I
/. man soweth"-you know the rest. TIL
l proposition that murder will out
means simply mental and Temperament
tai lapses that leave unexpected flaw
In the hiding Of a wrong. It's due T.
f some mystic thing within. Out in tn
forest the deeds done. No one hear
the death groan. Dead men tell n
tales. He wipes his knife. It's a,
over! No. BY the Eternal, it's just bs
gum His neighbours blood cries on
the ground. He's no longer in solitude
!. The whole air is alive. Every rustlin
=. leaf and passing wind tells the comm
:, footsteps Of vengeance. There's
mocking laugh He starts. VIII
e laughs? Only the call Of crow in tn
e dead oak Perhaps, as Hugo suggests
e it's the souls laughter at itself
IS Judgment or Mercy?
You cannot avoid the escapeless gaz
e of the Almighty. Thou God sees
IS me-" God is not Knocked. Been te
h years now? The mills of God grin
slowly. The chariot wheels drag Br