Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-01-16

Inc INTERNATIONAL Suuudy SCAOO
lesson for January 10 is Mans First
Sin," Genesis ILL.,
This is the problem era. Mankind
has never been conscious of SO many
II definite problems demanding Of him
Ia solution, as in this year of our
h Lord, 1913. We have analysed, IN
Interpreted and labelled our problems
Ranging them in long and formidable
array. There is the comprehensive
social problem, the vice problem, the
liquor problem, the housing problem
the baby-saying problem, the prison
problem, the drug problem and hun
bred more. Each has it's specialists
and each it's own legion of servants
When we run to the root Of all the
problems, we find that the greatest
and the least of them are alike spelled
elementally in three letters-s-in
Sometimes this root, sin, is black and
gross; sometimes it is in the potter
garb Of selfishness. Always and every
where the problem of problems is this
fundamental one of the moral obli.
guilty called sin.
OF course it is very old-fashioned
to talk about sim That little word
was oftener used in an older day.
The modern mode Is to speak of
"tendencies'' and environment and
"heredity" and deficiency" and "ab-
normality." We have new lingo;
but the thing itself remains as OF
yore. In his heart of hearts every
honest person knows that sin is real
and present and basic fact in the life
of our time, as of all times, and that
all other problems wait for their solu-
ton upon this one underlying problem
of sin.
The Test In the Garden.
"a myth "a. fable cries one con-
corning the story of the first tempta-
ton. Whatever the literary construc-
ton of the old story, we know it to
be the history of a great reality.
Whether the temptation was enacted
thousands of years ago in an actual
garden, with an actual serpent speak
ing, matters little when we realize that
the same tragedy was enacted only
Yesterday within our own circle; and
1T it is the most real and present ex-
rience of many person who reads
these words,
In the garden of life there needs
not eat. That is the test of his man
hood. The ability to deny himself,
nd to obey a higher law than mere
dea'se is the proof of mans descent
from q sovereign God. The animals
take what they want, if they can get
it. Man alone remembers in his hour
of power and liberty, :" Thou shalt
not.
Wiz uut a moral law paradise would
be a garden of death. The. highest
tribute paid by the creator to mortal
is that he has implanted within him
the divine quality Of sovereign will.
Only the silly and the shallow sigh for
a sinless man in a temptationless
world Such a life would be "as
;,ainted ship upon painted ocean," It
s"0uId make of man mere autOma-
ION, manikin, such as we buy at holt
ny season in the toy stores. For the
mage of the divine in the human is
revealed by the ability to choose be-
tH-een go5d and evil That is the
a:ollest truth about man. He can fall
to lowest depths; he can rise to loftiest
heights
The Devil in Paradise.
The l1Sgue of our day curls it's lip
at tie thought of the devil in the
cax,Gn of Eden. 1t is distinctly bad
f-,.r, to believe in satan--worse bad
to-r, the cynic might observe, than
IL obey him. A personal devil is
c.zir-,s TO. some of us, who neverthe-
snd ourselves capable of very
- ;,is,, thinking and doing. We do
vealize that we are impaled upon
- other, horn of the dilemma, which
hat if there is not power out
s:'e of ourselves. walking amidst all
life and making for whatsoever things
gre evil. then we humans must in our
ctsn nature possess diabolical ca
70 city or. aspect. Given choice be-
1v.een. a devil apart from humanity,
end humanity that is potentially
Gavilish. I vote for the old-fashioned
scripture teaching, that there is an
art,,al arch enemy of man and Of God,
I, no has urged his besetments upon
t,,o human race since the beginning
Social service Of the world, to be
ultimately and constructively effec-
tive. must needs strike at breaking
the power of that old serpent, satan
a few days ago we read In the news
rspers that in a revival in west
e~n Pennsylvania city, the mayor had
become converted, and had undertake
en- 10 break the power Of crime in his
community. The evidence is undis-
nrted that here, as In hundreds of
Other communities, revival of right
eo,,sness and cleansing of the hearts
Ct individual men and women, and the
creation of enmity between man and
satan. has done more for the neighbor-
hood than any amount of social legis-
lati0n.
The preacher, the teacher, the par
emit the writer and all the other SER
wants of the gospel who would erect
In the hearts of men the sovereign
power of Christ, thus breaking the
sway of satan, are serving their
world in the most practical manner
passible. A friend who has recently
seen in a certain western city, where
Hill has long held shameless sway,
told me that thousands Of the best
psople are moving from the COM
n1isnity, and that real estate and other
values have suffered terrifically,
simply because the forces of evil con-
troll the town. Goodness is always