Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-15
THERE'S AHYDE
And DR.. JEKYLL
IN EVERY LIFE
Sunday Says the Fight Of the Bet
ter Over the GrOsser Nature
Is Always Going on.
BY GOTTA BARTHOLOMEW.

CTlLlClSm WOulQ vanish II we only
made it a rule in our life never to
brand man or woman as hope
lessly and helplessIy bad until
after we had bankrupted our pow
ers trying to make them decent and
live a decent life" said Mr.. Sunday
last evening in driving home the
lessons which he wished to teach
in the story Of Robert Louis Stew
enson's DIR. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, !"
which he had chosen for his sub
ject. Il believe that nine-tenths
Of the people in the world want to
be better than they are. l make no
exceptions. You may brand a man
as hard and cruel and reckless,
still l will plead the cause for that
man or woman, 1 repeat that 999
out of the thousand want to be
good
Mr. Sunday in an interesting way
and in his usual graphic and tell
ing manner unfolded the story of
DR.. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde and ap-
piled It to the lives Of men and
women, the constant fight of the
better self in every person against
the evil, wicked side that is inner
ent in every being. There are DIR.
WChJ LID anu NIL Llg0CS III CNCA
person, he said, each is trying to
master the other and unless the
Dr. JekyIl natures don't look out
the Mr.. Hyde will conquer and win
in the fight
Things don't happen by chance,
Mr.. Sunday said, they are done be-
cause the person who did them
will to do them. Life is not n
game of chance. Do you mean to
tell me that fellow is down there
hitting the booze because of
chance? No he chose to do it. Do
you mean TO tell me that girl is
selling her WOmanhoOd because or
chance No, sir, she made her
choice.
DIR. JekylI in Everybody.
Thank God there is a DR.. Jekyll
in every man and woman. The
possibilities of heaven and hell lie
concealed in everybody. The green
ish of human nature is found on
the tear stained pages Of human
history. For cruelty OF heart who
could equal old Nero who fiddled
while Rome burned; or old AttiIa,
king Of the Huns, the scourge OF
God; for bigotry Queen Isabel of
Spain, for heartless cruelty who
ever equaled Borgia dropped poison
into the cups of his friends as
they sat at his table and laughed
as they writhed in their agony"
"Oh, | think man might be sat
isfied just to be a snake, but to he
half serpent and half dove, half
vile and half pure. that is the
writhe and struggle in the hell of
contention" he continued in carry
ing further the story of the dual
nature of the character in Steven
sons book. But thank God, he
said, there is a ray of light to the
story and I bring it to you. Your
will is supreme That's the ray
Of light. Your will is the pivot of
your destiny, that's the ray of
light. You are the one that can say
who will take the throne of your
life, and if you weren't I wouldn't
be here preaching to you.
"In front of you tonight stands
the mild hammered. pure, virtuous,
refined, gentle. God fearing, trust
ing Dr. Jekyll nature that wants
to pray, wants to be a Christian,
wants to be decent. On the other
side crOucheS the dwarfed, meanf
vile. low. misshapen. ungodly, de-
based, foul, IOathsome Hyde and he
asks control. Neither Of them can
take control until you say which.
You can say who will win heaven
or who will win hell. You can say
whether hell will weep tonight or
heaven will weep, or whether
heaven will smile or hell will
smile. Your will is supreme, the
- JoE &c To
old top, it's up to you. God has de-
creed the freedom Of your will.
Don't Shift Responsibility.
Don't try to shift the RESPONSE
bility; George Eliot in Adam
Bede,' tells of a Mrs. Poyser who
sent Molly. a sort Of awkward,
Clydesdale kind of girl, after a mug
OF beer and when she returned old
Mother Poyser began one Of her
famous tongue lashings at which
4 she was g past master, and in her
humiliation and excitement Molly
got nervous and dropped the mug
and it broke into a thousand pieces
on the fagstone.
Then old Sister Poyser cut
i loose like a battleship clearing for
A action, and in her agitation she
dropped a beautiful and costly piece
of crockery which she held in her
hand and it broke into a thousand
4 pieces and Immediately she changed
n her tune and put on the soft pedal,
II and she said:
We'll, l swan, there do be times
N when it seems like crockery is be-
N witched and it flies out of ones
u hand like a bird and then she end
ed her TRADE, with one of our COM
forting Presbyterian doctrines
What is to be broke will be brokei
ats up to you to say whether
you will be a Christian or not. Re-
member, all the devil can do is to
tempt you, and there are not devils
enough in hell to mako you sin IL,
/ you don't want to sin, and there are
not angels enough in heaven TO
make you decent if you don't want
to be decent. It's up to you. It's
up TO you.
You know It isn't fashionable to
talk about a devil and hell, you've
heard more devil and hell down
here than you've ever heard in your
life. I want you to hear it, for
\ when some of you go back to the
chuI ehes you'll never hear it again. |
\ It's not fashionable to talk about a