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4 THE TEXT SATAN HATES. A a w ' issm ■ i mi ■ B fWpwll f - 1 ' .--■ •' i jßiWgfef ■ n ~ Westminster Chapel, Dr. Campbell Morgan's Church. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’’ Gal. 6:7. HIS is the one text Satan hates. He hates it because it is so easy to under stand. He can not blur it or sham it. It is a thing w’e see every day. There is not a man, whether Jew or Gentile, saint or sinner, that does not know it to be true. It is true in the history of nations and communities, and it is true in the history of individuals. The Sins of Nations. T At one time in the history of France she decided to rule the Bible out of her national life. It was taken from the homes of her people, and the ene mies of truth thought they had won a mighty vic tory. Alas, alas, how mistaken France was! From that day when the Bible was ruled out until this present hour, the French people have been damned. One bloody revolution after another has charac terized her history. The moral history has kept pace with the down ward course of her political history. At one time France was so immoral, it is said, that ten thousand dead infants were fished out of the sewer pipes of the city of Paris in one year. What is this? It is a demonstration of the truthfulness of the text. This ought to open our eyes. If nothing else opens them, this -would. There are people in this city by the hundreds and thousands -who have no higher interest in the city than the money they get out of it. Their plans and schemes are all cut to the pattern of the almighty dollar. We may go on here with our sowing of sin, but, as sure as God lives, we have got to reap it. There are prominent men here who would sell the city, hide and hoof, to Satan, if they could get enough for it. What are Christian people going to do about it? Are we going to sit with our hands folded and let ourselves be sold to Satan? If so, let us remember, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Expecting a Harvest. It is true that a man expects to reap when he sows. You see a man sowing wheat, you do not have to ask him what he expects to reap. If you see a young man working as an apprentice in a One of a Series of Sermons Being Preached by Di. Broughton in Westminster Chapel, London. The Golden Age for October 4, 1906. machine shop for four years, getting scarcely a liv ing, yon know that lie is learning a trade. When you see a student burning midnight oil, you know that he is working for an education. God help us to remember that this is likewise true of our conduct. There are some who do not believe this, because they do not stop to think. Once when I was speaking along this line, there was a young man sitting in the congregation who said, “I am sick and tired of such silly preacher talk.” He got up and went home. The next morn ing when the paper came out with flaring headlines giving an account of his misdeeds, it was plain that he had been taught the sad lesson. He had been a night drinker for twelve months and had been spending his employer’s money, and that very night his employer found it out. The next morning he was to be put behind prison bars. He begged his employer’s pardon; offered to refund the money; and promised to live honestly. His employer said, “No, sir, you have deceived me. You have lived a double life, and I can not trust you ever again.” That man knew then this text was true. There are thousands of young men who are enjoy ing what they call “sowing wild oats.” They are just as sure to reap a harvest of sin as they live. Some sad things have come under my observation in the last few years. Think of the many young men, who in the course of their wild oat sowing, have gone a step too far and brought upon themselves shame and disgrace! Expecting What is Sown. It is also true that a man has to reap after the manner of his sowing. If a man sows barley he expects to reap barley. A colored man was once told to plant barley and he planted oats. At harvest time his master came to see how the harvest was, and to his 'astonishment found oats. He said to the old man: “Did I not tell you to sow barley?” “Yes, sir,” said the colored man, “but I be lieve you are the wisest man I ever seed, and I heard you say you was going to heaven, and you had been living for Satan, and if this is true, a man can plant oats and reap barley.” The old master stepped aside and began to think. The result was, he resolved to be a better man. I ask you men and women, how do you ever ex pect to be anything, sowing a life of dissipation? Cut out the text from the Word of God, and take experience, and tell me, how you are going to heaven sowing Satan’s seed? Expecting More Than is Sown. A man has to reap more than he sows. A man plants a quart and reaps a bushel. A man plants a grain of corn and reaps a hundred or more. One day a whole community in the West was greatly shocked by an awful murder. A boy wis found by the roadside with his skull fractured and his heart cut out of his body. It was discovered that the lad’s playmate did it. When they traced the history of the lad’s playmate and of the mur der to its origin, it was found that in the library of the boy’s father was a book, giving an account of the life of Jesse James, the notorious robber and murderer. It is said every hideous passage in the book was marked with a pencil. The book showed that it had been used oftener than any other book in the library. Perhaps the father never read it. He remembered buying it, but denied ever reading it. But the boy got the hideous thing and fed upon it until his whole mind was on fire to do the devilish deed. And in a moment of rage, the pent up fire was fanned into a flame, and the awful deed was committed. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. ’ ’ Father and mother, I pray you, in behalf of your son and your daughter, in behalf of the community in which you live, be careful what you let the young mind feed on. I believe the newspapers are responsible for many crimes by the manner in which the hideous deeds of today are written up. I remember a young man was sentenced to die for the murder of a young woman. On the gallows, when asked if he wished to make a statement, he said: “Yes, but I do not care to make it to the whole crowd. I want to make it to a friend. Just say, for the good it. may do some one else, the cause of my coming to this place was whiskey, bad wom en, and lowdown, trashy novels.” “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” No wonder Satan hates this text. Brother, you keep on in the same road of sin you are going—just keep on! You say, “It is hard to break off.” Then just keep on. It will be harder tomorrow; and still harder the next day. It will cost you a mighty struggle to quit now, but it will cost you more than a struggle finally. If you can not quit today, pray tell me, how do you expect to quit tomorrow? I would not be mastered by any thing. I would not be a coward. “Cannot quit!” God help you! Jesus Christ Ready to Save. There is one thing more I want you to know. Jesus Christ is ready to save the sinner. God be praised for the fact. If any one tells you it is too late to be saved, just put it down that man does not know the Bible. Jesus can save the sinner, and will save the sinner when he comes to him, it makes no difference what the sin is. He will help you quit. Just ask his guidance and hear him say, “I will, if thou wilt.” This is true, but, sinner, listen: He never prom ises to save, from sin’s consequence in this life. May I be better understood? Jesus Christ prom ises to save from sin’s consequences in this life erate the scar sin has made. If you get drunk and somebody cuts off your nose, the Lord will forgive you for getting drunk, but He will not stick the nose back on: Some of you are going headlong in sin and are expecting to stop after awhile, and think it will be all right. Hear me, you have got to reap the fruits of sin here, as sure as this text is in the Word of God. Inherited Sin. When I was engaged in the practice of medicine I was appointed on a committee to examine appli cants for West Point. I examined them physically. There were twenty men who applied. The last young man to be examined was one of the handsom est fellows I ever saw. He was six feet in height and weighed about two hundred pounds. When I saw that young man come in I said to myself, “My, quite a giant of a chap to be only twenty years old!” One of the committee said to me, “He has made a round hundred on all our branches. We leave him now to you to make your examination.” I said, “You are such a handsome fellow it hard ly seems necessary to make a physical examination, but I must. Let me look at your teeth.” He said, “There is not a decayed spot in my mouth. Were I as sound everywhere as in my mouth, I would be the soundest man in this country.” He opened his mouth, and just as I loked into it I was struck with horror! Said I, 1 ‘ My friend, no use going any further. ’ ’ “What are you talking about?” asked he. Then I said. “You have teeth that point to a certain sin which is back of you.” He broke down and cried, and I felt like crying with him. He went home and told his father what I said. His father wrote me a letter saying I had slandered his family. I said to him, “I am as sorry about it as you are, but I could not pass him. ’ ’ They called together some of the leading doctors of the town, and among them their family physi cian, who had never thought to examine him in that way. They said, “There is no use going any fur ther, it is true.” Jesus Christ had doubtless forgiven the sin of his parent, but he did not stop the reaping.