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172 THE PRESBYTERIA
Young People's Societies
SINS OF THE BODY.
Topic for Sunday, February 20: Intemperance and other sins
of the body. Romans 8:1-14.
DAILY READINGS.
Monday: Drunken folly. Esther 1:10-12.
Tuesday: Wine's weakness. I Kings 20:10-21.
Wednesday: The temple desecrated. I Corinthians 6:9-20.
Thursday: A solemn warning. Ephesians 5:3-12.
Friday: An unruly member. James 3:2-12.
Saturday: A three-fold foe. 1 John 2:15-17.
"Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your
own?"
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's." "What agreement
hath the temple of God with idols?"
God wants the whole man, not the soul without the body,
nor yet the body without the soul. Whatever defiles either
one or vitiates it is evil in the sight of Him with whom we have
to do.
Because it will one day die doss not render the body any
the less God's. Though we die we shall live again. We shall
follow Christ in the resurrection, our body made like unto His
glorious body.
Those cults which deny the material, saying there is nothing
but spirit, that sense perception is a myth, that what we call the
body is but "mortal mind," and the like, do as much violence
to common sense and philosophy as to the word of God.
The sins which are peculiarly the sins of the body come
from the heart. The best corrective, then, is to get the heart
in the right condition towards God. Then both heart and
body will be what He would have in His desire to have the
whole man.
It is through our outward life that we touch our fellow
men. They know our inner life, our character, and our principles,
through what they witness in the material relations and
conditions in which we stand. Let them witness a pure physical
life.
It is hard to get a wheel out of a rut. The best plan is to
keep it from falling in. In the streets where there are railway
tracks, the careful driver always seeks to cross them at the
widest angle possible. Safety to his vehicle requires this.
The relation of spiritual habit to physical conditions is a
most mysterious one. But while we cannot understand it, it is
most practical and potent. Good or bad thoughts no less than
good or bad acts seem to work "grooves" in our souls, ruts
into which the wheels of life drop easily.
Intemperance, uncleanness, over-eating, slothfulness, Jimproper
dress, immodesty in action or apparel, neglect of proper
health conditions, sometimes excessive work, are among the
special sins of the body. All of them are to be watched
with care, lest the tendency towards them develop before we
know it.
The general habit of teaching the body to do without things
is a wholesome one. It is one that can be practically acquired
and that once acquired makes it far easier to r'esist temptation
when the latter assails us. Self-denial brings strength to the
soul and vigor to the body. It is keeping oneself under control.
While the material is real, it is yet lower than the spiritual.
When, therefore, the body is kept under the higher part of life
has its opportunity to develop. The body may then be made
to contribute to the soul, and thus all the powers of man
become subordinated to the best that is in us and becomes contiibutory
to the glory of God.
I have said one hundred times, and am willing to say again,
tnat if anynoay will take charge or the poverty and crime
which result from drunkenness, the South Congregational
church, of which I have the honor to be the minister, will alone
take charge of the poverty which needs relief in the city of
Boston.?Edward Everett Hale.
N OF THE SOUTH February 9, 1910.
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Prayer Meeting
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IS THE YOUNG MAN SAFE?
2 Sam. 18:29-33.
The title is the well known inquiry of David for the welfareof
his treacherous son Absalom. "The men of Israel" were in
consipiracy against King David with a large following and
Absalom was at their head. Many cowardly and cruel designs
were formed against the king, for the conspirators feared him
because of his well known military prowess. As Hushai said to
Absalom: "Thou knowest thy father and his men, that they
be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear
robbed of her whelps in the field, and thy father is a man of
war."
David had exhibited wonderful paternal devotion to his son,
and when the time for the decisive battle came between the
king's loyal troops and the conspirators with Absalom, and the
leaders of the divisions of the loyal army would not consent
that David should lead them in battle lest he should be slain,
David pleaded for the life of Absalom in these tender and
pathetic words: "Deal gently, for my sake, with the young man,
even with Absalom."
"The battle was in the wood of Ephraim, where the people
of Israel were slain before the servants of David; and there
was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men."
Among the slain was Absalom, who, as he was riding in battle,
was caught in the branches of a tree and was slain by Joab,
one of the division commanders of David's army.
To bring tidings to the king that his son was slain, after
his pleading that the life of the miscreant might be spared,
was a delicate task and it was performed with the utmost tact;
but no sort of diplomacy could avert the shock that paternal
love was to receive, and the result was the pathetic lament repeated
over and over that we find in the text.
Perhaps more impressive than the passionate grief of David,
is the fact that with all the tremendous issues involved in the
battle, weighing upon his mind, his first inquiry after the news
of victory was received was not as to its extent or completeness
but as to the safety of the life of his dear dissolute son,
"Is the young man Absalom safe?"
As we admire, and are almost amazed at, the tenacious affection
and solicitude of David for Absalom let us reflect that
every boy is, or has been, crowned with the benediction of a
parent's unfathomed love, and the welfare of that boy is, or
has probably been, the subject of profound solicitude. We
may call it mere parental instinct if we will it is none the less
admirable, for it is find's ??* j ?-A **
^uunuiGui ucsiuweu ior me mgu
end that parental counsel, sympathy and helpfulness may contribute
to the well-being of the object of that love.
We are all so constituted by the wise ordination of God that
we may share the loyalty and solicitude of parents for their
children. A youth is always an object of interest. Such boundless
possibilities wait to be unfolded in the life of a favored
boy or girl?possibilities of happiness or service?of influence
or leadership, of counsel or example, of attainment or achievement,
of hope or joy experienced and communicated, that a
young life may well become a subject of exhaustless and ever
deepening interest.
i uai ilb suieiy snan De made secure is of supreme consequence.
Perils await our youth, especially our young men.
The tempter is ever appearing in new or unexpected guises.
Deception is his mightiest weapon, so that if it were possible
he would deceive the very elect. He transforms himself into
an angel of light. There is no hypnotism equal to that of
Satan. He benumbs the faculties of the soul, blinds the intellect,
perverts the Judgment, corrupt the affections and defiles
the qpnseience. He is vigilant and ceaselessly active. Oh,
that the time may soon come when he shall be bound!
On the safety of our youth depends the security of all the
future. The truth that we cherish, the service that we render
and the character that we form are to be transmitted to the
future through them. Their life is worth preserving. Their
character is worth building and fortifying.
.-ci