The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1919-06-26
THE PEOPLES FORUM.
WORLD COrQUERORS

AllSblS0SAOllo anu DAAAlSS NOMll
upon his head the anathemas of
church, and in the moment of forced
abjuration compelled him to cry out,
''but it does move" His ideas pre-
vailed and the world came to recog-
nize him as a conqueror. So it has
been with the discoveries, inventors
and great leaders of thought and
action.
But who has overcome the world
in the sense of emancipating himself
from its allurements and evils and
subjecting it to a spiritual domina-
ton except those who have believed
that Jesus is the Son of God?"
These are the ones who have over
come. Theirs ever has been and will
be a victorious life. To conquer i'm
plies a conquest. This also implies
enemies and the Christian has enc
mics he must meet and overcome.
This is the ''lust of the f1esh," which
is like sugar-coated pills, sweet with
out, yet full of bitterness. ''No sooner
is it enjoyed, than repentance is at
hand, for pleasure and sorrow are
twins"
1t comes to US as Elind to Eglon.
with a concealed dagger, which in a
moment we least expect, thrusts US
through to our death. Yet in spite of
the many warnings of the fearful
consequences of yielding to this en-
envy; in the face of the evidence of
its insidious power, yet men plunge
into lust that bring their bodies into
sickness or into such state that
they would not dare tell their init
mate friend of the loathsomeness that
even now doth breed upon frames, and
though they abhor themselves, yet
will the fool go again to the stocks,
and as sheep, will lick the knife that
is to slay it. So will those in the
meshes of fieshly lust go on in their
sins despite warnings or advice until
they perish in their guilt. Strange, is
it not, that grownups are even worse
than children. You have seen chill
dren go for a merry skate on the ice,
but if told it will not bear them, they
desist, or if they venture on, thew
quickly get off when they hear the
first cracking of the ice.
But men with consciences which
tell them of the vileness of their sins
which will be their ruin, hear the
crackings of sin, as its thin sheet of
pleasure gives way beneath them, and
though they have seen their COM
rades sink in the flood and lost. vet
they go sliding on, worse than chill
dren, worse than mad, for such pre-
sumptuously play with their own ev-
erlasting state. Sin, in it's various
forms, is our deadly enemy. It's al
lurements and deceitfulness are force
fully illustrated by the Judas tree.
Its blossoms appear before the leaves
and are of brilliant crimson. The
flaming beauty of the flowers attract
many insects and the bee is drawn to
it to gather honey. But every bee
that alights on its blossoms imbibes
a fatal opiate and drops to the earth
dead from among the crimson flowers.
Beneath this enticing tree. the
earth is strewn with victims of it's
fatal destinations. That fatal plant
that attracts only to destroy, is a
vivid emblem of the deadliness of sin
which has a thousand treacherous
charms. For the poison of its flowers
there is but one remedy-it is found
in the leaves of the tree of life.
Accused thing that it is, enemy of
our souls, besetting us at every turn:
ceaseless in its efforts; artful in its
practice; powerful in its operations, it
sweeps us on noiselessly, yet surely,
to our ruin. This is the enemy that
has erected barrier between us and
God; that puts out the light of our
household joys: that has unstrung
our harps and filled the air with dis
cordant cries. Sin is the foe that has
unsheathed the sword and bathed it
in human blood; that has dug every
grave. Oh, accursed enemy! Had
it not been for this we would never
have known the name orphan and
widow; tear and sigh; sorrow and
death Nor would our hearts ever
have been wrung with pang. but
our joys would have been as pure as
the ecstasies of heaven.
The only wages it offers its votaries
il death. The genius of an old
hesthen fashioned a goblet, which
TAUGHT moral of which many life
and deathbed since have been mel
ancholy illustration. He fixed a
model of a serpent in the bottom of
a cup, coited for spring, its eyes
flashing s~es and with open mouth,
it's fangs ritsed to strike, it lay be-
meath the rub, wine. He who raised
the cup to quaf the tempting nectar