The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-04-27

1ne wages OF SIN Is death, Dut Ine
gift of God is eternal life" Modern
preachers are accused Of dwelling at
great length on the love, mercy and
longsuffering of God to the exclusion
of his wrath and Justice Perhaps the
justice of God is so little discussed
because man is incapable Of conceiv-
ing of absolute Justice. His heritage,
environment and training bias HIS
opinion of his own and 1T her mems
rights. and, from the cradle TO the
grave, love or hate. pride or preju-
dice, tends to prevent his welding
exact justice. Oftentimes the men
mentally qualified TO administer JUS
tive and trained with that idea in view
devote their energies to the miscar-
rage Of justice instead of the execu-
ton OF It.
In these days when man can be
convicted of crime solely on the i'm
preston made by his finger tips, II
is very difficult to avoid detection Day
by day the advance OF human knowl-
edge diminiShes the safety of the Grim
fnal. The time has passed when the
criminal or imposter could construct
false chain of circumstances that
could be successfully maintained
against patient, intelligent inquiry
Nature alone is able to retain her
secrets. Mans remarkable success In
tracking criminal and capturing him
Is quite recent, and even now the In
nocent occasionally suffers in place of
the guilty. God, however, has always
known the sinner since the time of
Adam and without the help of teleg-
raphy, photography. rapid transit or
any other invention of modern science.
Your sin may have been covered for
ages but the finger Of God will point
10 it some day and expose it In all
its Nervousness. God has ALWAYS
ufr Nn
your youth committed before your
Judgment was sound or your expert
enCe yaried--the sins If your natu-
rify, palliated and excused before the
bar OF conscience sins now under care
ful consideration. sins of omission,
sins Of commission, sins against God
sins against your neighhur, husband,
wife. child or self, all Of them are
exposed to Gods eve. Tou have sin
ned successfully for twenty or thirty
years. and have hidden every trace OF
your sin from the. eye Of man. bat do
not rest a. ease under the impression
that you have deceived God His at
tention cannot lie diverted from your
pet sin by the most strenuous efforts
on your part in certain charitable
work
Punishment inflicted by human jus
tice often seems supe rfuous for let
man succeed in hiding his sin from
the world. he may yet suffer a hun
dredfold for Il. according To God s
plan OF squarinE accounts. So certain
Is the penalty Of sin that wrong doing
seems utterly stupid. Every oTense
Is Ike an iron bail hurled into the air
Gravity pulls IL down on the sinners
head Nearly every law made by man
Is for the prevention and punishment
Of sin, and changing conditions have
made II necessary to modify most Of
these laws, while Gods law made
thousands Of years ago. applying to
all sorts ard conditions Of sinners
still holds good. In the working Of
that law there is no Discrimination
the price is fixed and unalterahie. the
payment sure. God declared in the
days Of Cain that the wages Of sin was
death, and he has never seen fit to
make a single exception to this law
or modify IT, II Is always enforced.
Wages is the stipulated payment for
services rendered. That ls the idea
Of wages presupposes a bargain, Men
understand what wages they are 10
receive before they enter into COM
pact. so they have no right TO COM
plain of unjust wages when the con-
tract Is sealed. We can either enter
into partnership with God and enjoy
all the privileges of that close rela-
tionship, or we can work for wages.
Some men try TO make themselves be-
#tFt4 NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. {tAI = W ora.
that the wages God pays are not in
accordance with the idea of goodness
and mercy.
In this argument they forget that
God is also truthful and just. They
argue that God like indulgcnt pa
rents, employs his threats and warn
inss only to keep men from SHINING
and with no intention Of carrying out
his threats. This belief destroys the
beauty of Gods character and places
justice and truth second TO mercy.
Human love would gladly shield US
from our sin, but divine love knows
better. Every sinner. is abundantly
warned by the thorns which pierce his
feet when he steps aside from the
path OF safety. sharp pains follow
each excess and teach him the wisdom
of sound living"
God does not overlook the pleasure
Of sin. for he knows how ingenious
Satan is in assuming pleasing aspects
He pictures the brief hfiIerbliss of a
great sin and shows ursthe hideous-
ness of it, His goodness and mercy
are evinced by the warning he gives
the transgrwssor and the obstacles
which he puts in his way. He fire.
quently cautions the sinner thai
temptations Will not come to him ir
the early days of his sinful career
like an army with open attack. but
are more apt To ttESp ON HiHl IRON
am hnsh Sin is aptly compared to
typhoid fever. One drinks with
pleasure the polluted water from the
river and even introduces the deadly
stuff into his house at much expense
Then he shuts himself in and shuts
out Gods pure air till his whole sys
tenn is undermined, and without warn.
ing he succumbs TO the wasting fever
Had the fever attacked him like {
snake he could have avoided il. haC
1t come like the north wind he woulc
have sought shelter. had II come il
battle array he would have fought II
but it stole on him unawares witt
every drop Of water he drank. Hi!
whole system was perneated with the
poison before he knew of its pres
enCe, The best way to handle such {
disease is to fortify ourselves agains
ii. Satan could not move Job. be
cause back of the trial was a life o
patience with which he was fortified.
God not only warns the sinner by pre-
cept and example in his word, but h
emphasizes the warning to each indi
vidual He may have snatched VOL
from the jaws of death after yol
promised that If he would only re
store your health you would devot'
the rest of your life to his service
AS soon as you began to recover you
physical strength and feel that afte
all God was not the Physician wh'