The Washington herald., 1921-08-01
"A Psrssle 81 IsrseL

l LlpAfn 70 tht ctorys ~ Ualic Is
ragins Israel is. defending herself
against her enemies. In the course
Of theseonnict an. important prs
oneE gs,s taken His capture is a
gresttbiow to the enemy 1t is a
great help to themselves. There
fore tits OF tremendous importance
that this prisoner be kept under
strictest guard. For this purpose
a soldier is detailed He has only
one task, and that is to see that
this prisoner does not escape. In
order that he may be diligent and
earnest in his task he Is told that
in case the. prisoner does escape,
his own life will be the forfeit.
What wa the result? One day
pass and see this captive tn
| chains. see the appointed
guardsman diligently keeping watch
The next day l pass and the cap
tive has gone. And he who before
was his guard is wearing chains
heavier than those of his former
prisoner. He Is under sentence of
death
'I cannot pass him by without
question have a yearning to hear
his story. feel the keenest pity
for him and wonder what foul hand
struck him from out or the dark.
I wonder what overwhelming forces
combined against him that made 1t
impossible for him to keep the pris-
oner that had been committed to
his charge. How many were
/ GL
answered who felled you to the
ground7" Nobody" well. how.
then, did the prisoner escape7" And
this is his confession: .'As thy SER
want was busy here and there, he
was gone"
Condemned for Failsre.
Tt is hard for me to believe the
| mans own confession. 1t seems SO
cheap. II seems to mark him as
one so utterly Indifferent in matters
| of supreme Importance, with sucn
an absence Of earnestness. 'As thy
servant was busy here and there,
he was gone"
so this gusrdsman is sentenced
to death. He is sentenced not be-
cause he committed murder. He is
1
stolen. He is sentenced not be-
cause directly he had betrayed his
country. The truth of the matter
Is. he is not sentenced because of
anything that he had done. He is
condemned for what he failed to do.
And there is nothing at all re-
markable about that That is the
very law of life. In order for a
man to commit suicide physically.
IL is not necessary that he blow his
brains out. He can just stop obey
ing the laws of nature. In order
for him to commit suicide mentally
IL is only needful that he stop using
his mind. In order for him to COM
nit suicide morally il is only nee
essary that he fail TO hear the call
to the highest
u Called to Judgment ..
I'VE have recorded in the twenty
ffth chapter of Matthew a wonder
ful story. II is a picture of the
judgment scene. Certain ones are
welcomed and certain others are
condemned Those who are con-
demned were condemned for no pos
itive crimes. There is absolutely
no charge of cruelty or aggressive
wrong against them. Their sentence
is this: ''Inasmuch as ye did IL
not" for ito HIM that knoweth
to DO good and doeth il not. to him
it is sim" No amount of don't can
make a man a Christian. This man
was sentenced to death because he
failed in his duty.
Why did he fail? He did not
fail. in the first place. because he
did not know what his duty was.
1t was clearly stated to him. He
knew exactly what he ought to do.
There was absolutely no doubt Ia
his mind as to what was the will
of his king. He failed but he did
not fail through ignorance.
Nor did you and / fail through
ignorance. 1t is not more knowledge
we need tonight one thousandth
part as more willingness to live up
to what we know. There is not a
man at this moment that does not
know. at least in general. what his
duty Is. You know that IL is your
part to help and not to hinder. You
know that IL is your part to work