Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-09


that change of heart which makes
whole peoples desire first the well
fare of all men. The law of God is
still displaced by the attempt to
supersede it and crafty selfish de-
sires. The devil continues to do
business with the vanity and pride
and desires of men and women.
Critics of the League of Nations are
right in saying that there will have
to be changed heart in humanity
before there can be the ideal world;
though in the meantime we should
set up as much of the machinery of
O truly Christian civilization as is
possible and workable. Let us have
the League of Nations, and then
consider whether it is not the mis-
sion of this favored western conti-
nent to fill it and thrill it with the
fires of benevolence and altruism.
The Worlds Blacklist Fact
1t was none other than the Grand
Vizier of Turkey who himself told
me, a few days ago, that the black
est deed in all history was the Ar
atrocities. lie was wrong;
for one bit of fruit from flourish
ing tree is less important than the
tree itself. Central to all the woes
of the world, and the producer of
them every one, is the black and
ugly fact of sin. Any philosophy
which does not recognize the real
ity of sin, does not adequately ap-
prehend the conditions of the world
in which we live. 1t is the presence
of sin that mars all our Edens.
New-fashioned preachers do not
talk much about sin; wherein they
differ from every one of the proph-
cts, preachers and teachers in the
Bible. There is a power within us
and about us which makes us choose
the worse rather than the better,
the hurtful rather than the helpful.
That power is sin; and they best
know it who have been most affect
ed by it, Theological seminaries
may have doubts about sin, but PEN
itentiaries and hospitals and asy-
lumS do not. The consequences of
sin clank like ball and chain at the
feet of the onmarching world.
We are less concerned with the
origin and nature of sin than with
the fact of its existence, and with
the havoc it is working in the life
of our own day. We read with in
terest the story of the first tempta-
tion and fall; and If we are intro
spective we may trace a similar
course in our own eXperience-de-
sire for what we should not have,
doubt that God really means what
he says, and determination to have
our own way. regardless of conse-
quences.
The Laws OF the Jungle
Casting aside all the phrases that
the preachers use, we ask ourselves,
what Is the nature of sin? Where
in exactly lies its distinctive quail
ity? At root, and running out
through every twig and branch of
its life; sin is refusing to believe
that what God says is really true.
This takes for granted that we may
know what God wants of us; which
is another subject not to be taken
up here. Underlying all sin is un-
belief. That is how Grandmother
Eve fell: that is how the latest OF
her descendants stumbled,
An alluring trap of the tempter's
and II Is having an amazing
vogue to-day-was that Eve would
become as wise rs God himself; that
she would be emancipated for all
and free to follow her
desires. 1t was a religion of the ex-
of human nature that the
devil preached in the Garden. His
arguments made God little and man
big, God Is only fooling you; the
fact Is. he is n bit Jealous lest you
should eat of this tree and become
as wise as he Is. For all experience
is sacred and permitted; the fact
that you desire this fruit is suffi-
cient reason why you should have
it. See how beautiful it is to look
upon, and how pleasant to taste.
Come, cast aside your fogy, narrow
notions and be free and divine-like
fn
miliar seduction.
Cutting directly across this
sophistry is the stern truth that
nothing in the universe, not even
the becoming like God himself, is
50 important as obeying the clear
will of God. Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice" cried God s
prophet to Saul, The greatest voice
in modern literature writes, in those
peerless parallels called jungle
Tales"
These are the laws OF the Jungle;
many and mighty are they;
But the head and the hoof, the
haunch and the hump is
Obey"
To find out what God wants to do,
and to do that thing despite hell
and all it's devils, is the one SUI
preme duty and happiness of man.
A revival of obedience to God would
do more for the world than all the
Peace Conferences that can be con-
The Price We Pay
Bitter as never morning after has
been in all the ages since was the
awakening of Eve. She learned, too
late, that she had lost that which
she could never have back again;
and that she had gained nothing
worth the price. She had paid
dearly for that which was not worth
buying at all. Out of her Eden
what a parable of many a PERSONS
experience to-day!-out of inno-
cehce, out of favor with her hus-
band, and out of joyful relation
ship with God, Eve learned, what
few of us are willing to believe at
second hand, that the devil is a
liar and the father of lies.
When a child does not welcome
its returning father home, because
of its own misdeeds, it is repeating
the experience of the race. Loss of
innocence is the well-spring of un-
Like the jaded appetite
which requires ever stronger and
stronger stimulant, so the spirit
from which innocence has fled goes
from worse to worse. Has any