The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-05-17


same problems in the commercial, po-
litical and social world as the children
OF this world but being citizens of the
kingdom OF the Lord Jesus Christ
they are governed by entirely different
standards Of conduct. Let us con-
slider:
i. The Worlds Standards.
The man Of the world. and by the
man of the world 1 mean not only
the unChurched but also he who has
not entered by n living faith the king
dom of God and does not accept God
as his supreme lawgiver, will be
governed i'm his attitude upon every
question by one or more Of these four
things:
4. That Which Is Profitable.
For him there Is no supreme ruler
and no day of accounting to be faced
The only real things are materia,
things. Therefore when any question
arises he considers one thing only
material profit and loss. You will
find him choosing that which promises
To add dollars and cents To his bank
account. Some time ago / was talk
ing to n man who has no place in
his life for Jesus, i'm regard TO his DO
sition toward a certain question and
when every argument had been swept
away he admitted that the hope Of
personal and community gain was the
impelling motive. The worldly mans
motto Is, Every man for himself and
the devil take the hindermost."
2. That Which is Popular.
The man OF the world often makes
mis- decision according to the drift Of
popular opinion. He counts heads.
he goes with the or 1wd, he is afraid
or ashamed to be in the minority or
to stand alone. He wants to be with
! the winning side regardless OF right
or wrong. The voice of the people is
always the voice OF God.
j. That Which Is Pleasant.
For the man of the world there
Is no mighty, divine. imperative. The
path OF least resistance is the way in
which to walk. His physical and
material comforts must have the first
place, the right of way. And so he
shuns the path of sclf-denial and sac
rifice for the common good end
chooses only that which yields tenn
poral and physical pleasure.
3. The Lesser of Evils.
There are many men who frank
ly admit that they choose an evil be-
cause il is the lesser of evils. These,
IL seems to me are more noble than
the others. Many OF them are NOR
al men-they are good. law abiding
citicens-they see and admit the
evil OF certain things but suppor.
them because human judgment says
they accomplish less harm than 9TH
er evils. lie me illustrate. They
stand for pure homes and q clean life
and yet they say IT is better to segre-
gate vice and wink at il and make 1t
safe by medical supervision because
1t is the lesser of two evils
The worlds standards are. choose
the proiitable-the popular-the
pleasant and the lesser of evils
III. The Christians Standard
Whenever man who is a child of
God. finds "a thou shalt or a thou shalt
not from God there connot be the
slightest doubt as To his duty. When
God says thou shalt not commit adult
cry no christian can favor Il law which
encourages that sin or which stands to
protect the offender from the punish
mcnt God has visited upon it.
What shall determine our conduct
when We have no positive command
from God touching the particular evil ?
our life is more complex today per
haps than i'm the history of the world
and our temptations are greater be
cause individual responsibility is
greatly concealed by the multitudcs
involved. our personal responsibility
seems To bc divided So often that We
lose all sense of personal guilt So that
men support as citizens things they
would not do as individuals.
Paul. preaching i'm Jerusalem, IN
Corinth, In Athens and in Rome. fac
ed many. if not all of these problems
we are facing and was directed of
God To lay down certain guiding priu.
ciplcs for the Christian.
Do the Things That are Right
The Christian is not To- do things he.
cause they are cXpcdicnt or seen