Evening journal., 1916-01-06

have now. But the fact is that our civ
iization is now in bad way With the
spirit of lawlessless and godlessness
that is prevalent on every hand, let
some occasion arise and the streets of
our cities will run so red with blood that
IL will make the French Revolution pale
into insignihcance by the side OF it,.
How is all this to be avertedl There Is
but one way and that is a genuine re-
vival of religion that will bring men
to their knees, repenting of their sins
and turning them to Jesus Christ.
God has shown His love, not only
upon Calvary, but also upon Sinai. lie
has shown His supreme affection, not
only by the crucitiNion, but also by the
commandments.
Bismarck said that Germany could be
saved only by blood and iron. That is
true of our theology. 50 long have we
emphasized the fatherhood of God that
the conception of God in many minds
has degeneratcd into the idea of Il doting
old grandfather without power or au'
thority. We need to emphasize the
truth of the sovereignty of God. He is
on the throne and whoever violates His
laws does so at his peril. Browning has
said. "All is love, but all is law" We
need. not only more of the law of love
but also more of the love of law"
With these few Introductory remarks
we will now proceed to the consideration
of the Ten Commandments. Note tn,
first law. "Thou shalt have no Other
pods before me-" We can readily SEE
| why this commandment was put first
| for it embraces all the rest IL is d
mathematical axiom, that the whole in
/ cludes all the parts. If a man is put
/ ting God first in his life, as a natura
sequence. he will keep all the other com
mandments
And the second law is like unto tn
4 first, "Ihou shalt not make unto the'
\ any craven image We talk about tn
! idolatry of heather countries. | do no
know but wnat we have asst as muel
idolatry in the cities of America as il
Pel>in, Calcutta or Bombay. What i
an idoly In sense p. is your ideal l
is what you love suprcmely, what yo'
worship. An idol may be something goo
in itself, but ii it comes between yo
and God il is proving a snare and
curse. For example. some people max
idols of their children.
In my first pastorate. there was th
home Of society family that had
beautiful little girl | said to tina
mother one day. Il could take that chill
and love her as my own" "Oh,' sal
she. cher father and ! worship her
"But." / replied, my good woman, yo
must not worship the child. God loan
MS these Jewels, but they belong
, Him." Not many weeks after this
was called TO that home 20 find tina
child in her little white casket, cold
death. It was that death that, first {
| all, brought those parents 10 a rcalizi
tion of their need of God"
The god worshipped by some people
intellectual culture. When the ancier
Greek sailors came into the Athena
harbor and saw on the Acropolis, Ill
b statue Of Minerva, the goddess of wi
dom. they bowed in homage TO it. W
S call this heathenism, but there is q en-
= tured heathenism right here in Americ
e that is putting intellectual knowledl
- above regeneration. No one will 90 b
e vond me in his praise Of learning. Gu
2, ture Is splendid thing for a side-trac
j. but it is mighty poor for a main lin
d No amount of education can save a sol
When a person puts the works of Eme
e son above the Bible, or has time for h
II club and no time for prayer mcetin
I there is something radically wrong wi
II his religion.
n The god of many other people is DIRE
4 and display. My hostess in a certa
city said TO me as she saw lady pas
ing the house one day. 81 wish we cou
get that woman 10 come to the NEE
y ines." doesn't she Gomez ask'
- "Oh. no" she replied, "she has SON
= thing more important on hand. She
Is working scheme gotten mp by NJ
, York mail order house to get s.
n dresses" II was a sort Of n conhder
&, game. If the hearts desire of III
ar woman could be photographed, Y
b, would probably see a picture merely
new silk dress. If many women spe