The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-12-09
in THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
Much that is easy to virtue is impossi
bic to even hidden sin.
When Virtue Is Defeated.

Dle 10 even NADER SIN. /
When Virtue Is Defeated.
On a clear-cut moral issue, recently. |
in a certain community. the people
voted wrong. The immediate results !
or the election are comparatively neg /
ligible; but the effect upon the future |
IS tremendous. The anguish OF the
civic leaders is like that Of Joshua |
when he heard the news from Ais. For |
II meant hat virtue had lost caste. |
while unrighteousness had been pub |
hcly established. All the enemies Of
good and OF God had been heartened.
The prestige of had been di-
minished. All the futures Of Gods
people in Canaan was threatened by
h rOut Of the Jews at Ais. No moral
or religious question is being decided
Tor n present moment alone; the
! consequences are as ~far-reaching and
u~ntraceable as the wireless message
on the waves of ether.
The old story brings us face to face
with the wonderful truth that not only
is all humanity tied up in the one
bundle Of life, but also that the glory
of God is inextricably involved. In
the eyes of the people of Canaan.
these lsraelites were samples OF Gods
handiwOrk. They represented him.
| Joshua p%ertinently put it up to Je-
hovah, And what wilt Thou do for
Thy great name?" Rather a serious
matter for both God and man, this.
Of bearing his name and being his
chosen. Wonder Of life. such a miser-
able fellow as Achan could rob the
J Eternal Of his reputation.
Can We Stand Stern Law.
Some teachers of this lesson will
have difficulties ahead of them be-
cause of the divine law. violated by
Achan, that Jericho and it's people
shOuld all perish in the
Even more SO will s-entimentalists rail
over the punishment of Achan. He
was stoned to death, extripated and
his line persisted with him. Now tina,
is not the way some mOdernS would
believe. They think they can counsel
the Almighty, and teach mercy to the
AI-merciful. The days mood is to
] COddfe the criminal, to call him more
: sinned against than SHINING, and tt
blame his heredity and environment
We are in a molly-coddle age in som.
, respects. flabby in it's thinking ant
mushy in it's measures.
Therein we differe from God. w
. make light Of moral obliquity. Adult
4 terry We esteem merely spice for tn
= popular novels, or a Pullman car ep
|, isode. Plain stealing is called "hig1
finance" of practical politics." Shee
> falsehood and dishonor are cloake'
!. under business is business"
We ICED more OF the h~arshness Q
= the surgeons knife, which cut out tn
cancer to W. the body. The exceed
u ing sinfulness of SIM. anu the com
plete and direct personal response
bility Of every free moral agent, ar
II old doctrines which need ne'
&c preaching. 1.-The sou hat n
shall die" cries out from this Acha
>, story. If our young men were hear
oftener to say in the face of tempta
A. ton, "How can I do this thing and 81
. against God?" our social Outloo
would be brighter. The o~ld-fashione
u teaching OF clean hands and pun
- hearts holds more Of solution for til
ia days ~perplexities than any sociolog
.e cal program. Put God on the thron
II, drive the Achan from the camp, at
hold the Divine Law as pure and tel
~ rible, as we'll as sweet and mercifu
and then our religious and social an
e national stability will be assured.