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Organ of the Baptist Denomination in
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Self-Mastery.
The American minister at St.
Petersburg was summoned one
morning to save a young, disso
lute, reckless American youth.
Poe, from the penalties incurred
in a drunken debauch. By the
minister’s aid young Poe returned
to the United States. Not long
after this the author of the best
story and poem competed for in
the Baltimore Visitor was sent
for, and behold, the youth who
had taken both prizes was that
same dissolute, reckless, penni
less, orphan youth, who had been
arrested in St. Petersburg—pale,
ragged, with no stockings, and
with his threadbare, but well
brushed coat buttoned to the chin
to conceal the lack of a shirt.
Young Poe took fresh courage
and resolution, and for a while
showed that he was superior to
the apetite which was striving to
drag him down. But, alas, that
fatal bottle! his mind was stored
with riches, yet he died in moral
poverty. This was a soldier’s epi
taph:
'* Here Iles a s lltiler whom al! must applaud.
Who fought many battles at home and
abroad:
But the hottest engagement he ever was in.
Was tae conquest of self, In the tattle of
sin. - ’
• In 1860, when a committee vis
ited Abraham Lincoln at his home
in Springfield, 111., to notify him
of his nomination as President,
he ordered a pitcher of water and
glasses, "that the)' might drink
each other’s health in the best
beverage God ever gave to man.”
“Let us,” he continued, “make it
as unfashionable to withhold our
names from the temperance
pledge as for husbands to wear
their wives’ bonnets in church,
and instances will be as rare in
one case as the other.”
Burns exercised no control over
his appetites, but gave them the
rein:
“Thus thoughtless follies laid him low
And stained his name.”
“The first and best of victories,”
says Plato, “is for a man to con
quer himself; to be conquered by
himself is, of all things, the most
shameful and vile.”
Self-control is at the root of all
the virtues. Let a man yield to
his impulses and passions, and
from that moment he gives up his
moral freedom.
“Teach self-denial and make its
practice pleasurable,” says Wal
ter Scott, “and you create for the
world a destiny more sublime
than ever issued from the brain
of the wildest dreamer.”
Stonewall Jackson, early in
life, determined to conquer every
weakness he had —physical
mental, and moral, lie held all
of his powers with a firm hand.
To his great self-discipline and
self mastery he owed his success.
So determined was he to harden
himself to the weather that he
could not be induced to wear an
overcoat in winter. “I will not
give in to the cold,” he said. For
a year, on account of dyspepsia,
he lived on buttermilk and stale
bread, and wore a wet shirt next
his body because his doctor ad
vised it, although everybody else
ridiculed the idea. This was
while he was professor at the Vir
ginia Military Institute. His
doctor advised him to retire at
9 o’clock; and, no matter where
he was, or who was present, he
always sought his bed on the
minute. He adhered rigidly
through life to this stern system
of discipline. Such self-training,
such self-conquest, gives one
great power over others. It is
equal to genius itself.
It is a good plan to form the
habit of ranking our various
qualities, marking our strongest
point one hundred and all the
others in proportion, in order to
make the lowest mark more ap
parent, and enabling us to try to
raise or strengthen it. A man’s
industry, for example, may be his
strongest point, one hundred;
his physical courage may be fifty;
his moral courage, seventy-five;
his temper, twenty-five; with but
ten for self-control —which, if he
has strong appetites and passions
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will lie i/.ely to be the rock on
which he will split. He should
strive in every way to raise it
from one of the weakest qualities
to one of the strongest. It would
take but two or three minutes a
day to rank ourselves in such a
table by noting the exercise of
each faculty for the day. If you
have worked hard and faithfully,
mark industry one hundred. If
you have lost your temper, and,
in consequence, lost your self-con
trol, and made a fool of yourself,
indicate it by a low mark. This
will be an incentive to try to
raise it the next day. If you have
been irritable, indicate it by a
corresponding mark, and redeem
yourself on the morrow. If you
have lucn cowardly where you
should have been brave, hesitat
ing where you should have shown
decision, false where yon should
have been true, foolish where you
should have been wise, tardy
where you should have been
prompt; if you have prevaricated
where you should have told the
exact truth; if you have taken the
advantage where you should
have been fair, have been unjust
where you should have been just,
impatient where you should have
been patient, cross where you
should have been cheerful, So in
dicate by your marks. You will
find this a great aid to character
building.
It is a subtle and profound re
mark of Hegel’s that the riddle
which Hie Sphinx, the Egyptian
symbol of the mysteriousness of
nature, profounds to Oedipus is
only another way of expressing
the command of the Delphic ora
cle, “Know thyself.” And when
the answer is given the Sphinx
casts herself down from her rock.
When man knows himself, the
mysteriousness of nature and her
terrors vanish.
The command by the ancient
oracle at Delphos is of eternal
significance. Add to it its natu
ral complement —help thyself—
and the path to sucess is open to
those who obey.
Guard your weak point. Moral
contagion borrows fully half its
strength from the weakness of
its victims. Have you a hot, pas
sionate temper? If so, a mo
ment’s outbreak, like a rat-hole in
a dam, may flood all the work of
years. One angry word some
times raises a storm that time
Hsrii Ciinuol allay. A single an
gry word has lost many a friend.
A Quaker was asked by a mer
chant whom he had conquered by
his patience how he had been able
to bear the other’s abuse, and re
plied: “Friend, I will tell thee.
I was naturally as hot and vio
lent as thou art. I observed
that men in a passion always
speak loud, and I thought if I
could control my voice I should
repress my passion. I have,
therefore, made it a rule never to
let my voice rise above a certain
'key, and by a careful observance
of this rule, I have, by the bless
ing of God, entirely mastered my
natural tongue.” Mr. Christmas,
of the Bank of England, explains
that the secret of his self-control
under very trying circumstances
was due to a rule learned from
the great Bitt, never to lose his
temper during banking hours —
from nine to three.
When Socrates found in him
self any disposition to anger, he
would check it by speaking low,
in opposition to the motions of
his displeasure. If you are con
scious of being in a passion, keep
your mouth shut, lest you in
crease it. Many a person has
dropped dead in a rage. Fits of
anger bring fits of disease.
“Whom the gods would destroy
they first make mad.” “Keep
cool,” says Webster; “anger is
not argument.” “Be calm in ar
guing,” says George Herbert,
“for fierceness makes error a fault
and truth discourtesy.”
To be angry with a weak man
is to prove that you are not strong
yourself. “Anger,” says Pytha
goras, “begins with folly and
ends with repentance.” You
should measure the strength of a
man by the power of the feelings
he subdues, not by the power of
those which subdue him.
De Leon, a distinguished Span
ish poet, after lying years in dun
geons of the Inquisition, dreary,
and alone, without light, for
translating part of the Scriptures
into his native tongue, was re
leased and restored to his profes
sorship. /V great crowd thronged
to hear his first lecture, out of
curiosity to learn what he might
say about his imprisonment. But
the great man merely resumed
the lecture which had been so
cruelly broken off five years be
fore, just where he left it, with
the words “Heri discebamus”
(yesterday we were teaching).
What a lesson in this remarkable
example of self-control for those
who allow their tongues to jabber
whatever happens to be upper
most in their minds! —Architects
of Fate, or Steps to Success and
Power —Marden.
ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY. DECEMBER 10. 1806.
For the Index.
Princeton and its Sequlcentennlal
Celebration.
BY P. I) POLLOCK, CHAIRMAN OF
FACULTY MERCER UNIVERSITY.
In the recent sesqui-centennial
celebration at Princeton, the
memories of a hundred and fifty
years have been brought out by
the distinguished men who par
ticipated in the ceremonies of
that occasion, and by others in
the public magazines.
Professor Hibben. an alumnus
of Princeton, has written an arti
cle for the October Forum, in
which he speaks with enthusiasm
and pride of the part played by
tjie college in the American
revolution. He begins his arti
cle with a quotation from
Green’s “History of the English
People,” to the’effect that “the
democratic spirit of the universi
ties was a constant protest
against feudalism. Oxford es
poused the cause of the barons
against the crown; and the Uni
versity of Glasgow was almost
annihilated during the Reforma
tion because of its Protestant
partisanship. And such a spirit
has not only characterized the
history of the universities in
Scotland and England, but, on
the continent as well, the aca
demic centers have always been
the promoters of freedom and
progress. This was manifested
in the long struggle for demo
cratic government in France, in
the war for Italian unity, and at
the present in the university
towns of Russia, where the stu
dents have fostered that spirit of
enlightenment which is moving
mightily toward the establish
ment of a constitutional govern
ment, and the realization of the
will of the people.” He speaks,
with an admiration which he
takes no pains to conceal, of the
stalwart figure of Witherspoon,
who was president of the college
preceding and during the revolu
tionary period. He quotes from
a letter of James Madison, of the
class of 1771, and afterwards
President of the United States,
to show the prevailing spirit
among the students of the insti
tution to some of the great ques
tions that were stirring the public
heart preceding the Revolution.
“We have no public news but the
base conduct of the merchants in
Ne.w York in breaking through
their spirited resolutions not to
import; a distinct account of
which I suppose will be in the
Virginia Gazette before this ar
rives. The letter to the mer
chants in Philadelphia request
ing their concurrence, was lately
burned by the students of this
place in the college yard, all of
them appearing in their black
gowns and the bell tolling. There
are about 115 in the college and
the grammar school, and all of
them in American cloth.” Fred
erick Frelinghuysen, of the class
of 1770, and afterwards United
States Senator, is quoted as say
ing, when he left college at the
time of his graduation, “I have
learned patriotism in Princeton
as well as Greek.” The author
attributes the famous resolutions
which were passed in Mecklen
burg county, in North Carolina,
a year before the Declaration of
Independence was signed, “pledg
ing ‘life, fortune and sacred
honor’ to the country’s need,” to
the influence of three Princeton
graduates, who had churches in
North Carolina. Their author,
and the secretary of the conven
tion adopting these resolutions,
was Ephriam Brevard, a gradu
ate of Princeton, of the class of
1768, and in his efforts to secure
their adoption he was ably sec
onded by two other Princeton
graduates, Balch and Avery, of
lhe class of 1766. The Declara
tion of Independence itself was
signed by Witherspoon, Prince
ton’s president, and two of the
alumni. The part that Princeton
played in the Constitutional Con
vention is given also at length
in the article. Os the fifty-five
members composing this Consti
tutional Convention, thirty-two
were men of college or university
training. There were one each
from London, Oxford, Glasgow,
Edinburgh and Aberdeen, five
from William and Mary, one from
the University of Pennsylvania,
two from Columbia, three from
Harvard, four from Yale and
nine from Princeton.
On the same ocasion, however,
several notable addresses were
delivered, but in the main they
emphasized the function to be
performed upon our civilization
by all such institutions, if they
are to prove themselves worthy
of their trust.
One of the most no /able of
these addresses was delivered by
Professor Woodrow Wilson, the
general topic of which was “The
World’s Memory,” emphasizing
the fact that there is no more im
portant task to be performed by
the college than that of drawing
the attention of its students to
the past, and encouraging them
to a sympathetic understanding
of its lessons. “Unschooled men
have only their habits to remind
them of the past, only their de
sires and instinctive judgments
of what is to guide them in the
future; the college should serve
the state as its organ of recollec
tion, its seat of vital memory. It
should give to the country men
who know the probabilities of
failure and success, who can sep
arate the tendencies which are
permanent from the tendencies
which are of the moment merely,
wno can distinguish promises
from threats, knowing the life
men have lived, the hopes they
have tested, and the principles
they have proved.” With a force
of logic and eloquence rarely
surpassed in a public address,
this thought of keeping alive the
world’s memory, the danger of
breaking with the past, of disre
garding the teachings of history,
and the danger of rejecting the
experiences of the past, because
of tlie important lessons they
have for us—all of these things
were brought out with great
power. A not that is clearly
emphasized in this part of the ad
dress is, that those who do not
sympathize with the past, who
would not learn its lessons, and
who would once for all be free
from its shackles, that these are
those who do not really under
stand .the essential and funda
mental principles which should
guide us now; that these are
those who would be inclined
rather to look upon the principles
of social organization, upon cer
tain fundamental principles of
State, upon economic laws, as
merely whims and caprices; mat
ters of fashion that can be put on
and off, according to the varying
moods of the populace. He sees
in such unwise and one-sided
judgments certain dangers,
which, if they are cured at all,
must be cured by the conserva
tive college man, made conserva
tive by his training, conservative
because he can see the world in a
broad perspective; who, knowing
the past with its lesons, may hope
to solve wisely the problems of
the present as relalgß to the
problems of the pasWpd the fu
ture.
But by far the niombeantiful
tiling in the
s < I
•■■ii : W
thought, of
is the passage in which he, in
general terms, speaks of the great
function and mission of the col
lege. “I have had sight of the
perfect place of learning in my
thought; a free place, and a vari
ous, where no man could be and
not know with how great a des
tiny knowledge had come into the
world —itself a little world; but
not perplexed, living with a sin
gleness of aim not known with
out ; the home of sagacious men,
hard-headed, and with a will to
know, debaters of the world’s
questions every day, and used to
the rough ways of democracy;
and yet a place removed —calm
science seated there, recluse, as
cetic, like a nun, not knowing
that the world passes, not caring
if the truth but came in answer to
her prayer; and literature, walk
ing within her open doors, in
quiet chambers, with men of old
en time, storied walls about her,
and calm voices infinitely sweet;
here ‘magic casements opening
on the foam of perilous seas, in
fairy lands forlorn,’ to which you
may withdraw and use your youth
for pleasure; there windows open
straight upon the street, where
many stand and talk intent upon
the world of men and business. A
place where ideals are kept in
heart in an air they can breathe,
but no fools’ paradise. A place
where to hear lhe truth about the
past, and hold debate upon the
affairs of the present, with
knowledge and without passion;
like the world in having all men’s
lives at heart, but unlike the
world in its self-possession, its
thorough way of talk, its care to
know more than the moment
brings to light; slow to take ex
citement, its air pure and whole
some, with a breath of faith;
every eye within it bright in the
clear day, and quick to look to
ward heaven for the confirmation
of its hope.”
I have been lead as never be
fore to think of the real mission
of a great institution of learning
how rich its opportunities, how
i ital its manifold relations to the
history of the world, how glori
ous its hopes, as related to all
things good and great. I have
glanced over the record of that
host of students sent out from
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, a host
of more than thirty thousand
men of strong, vigorous intellects
and glowing hearts, not to speak
of the multitude that might be
added to these from other insti
tutions whose history is confined
to a shorter period. I have look
ed at the literary record of the
New England States. I find
such names as Holmes, Emerson,
Lowell, etc., and I have wonder
ed if the history of Harvard were
written, would it not be a history
of literature. I have looked again
at the long line of statesmen who
so have illustrated and dignified
the history of our Country, and
I have wondered if the history
of Harvard is not the history of
statesmanship. Thi'i 1 have look
ed at the long line of consecrated
men, their hearts aglow witli
love of the truth, with a joyous
desire to promulgate the Gospel,
and I have wondered if the his
tory of Harvard is not the history
of the church. I have likewise
gone through the records of Yale
and Princeton, and the same
questions have presented them
selves with renewed fotee, and
have led me to exclaim, How won
derful and glorious a part the
colleges have played in the his
tory of our nation!
Dr. Tliwing lias said that one
out of forty of all the college men
of the country have deserved- a
memorial more or less perma
nent, while one out of ten thou
sand only who have not had col
lege training have deserved such
a memorial. The chances, there
fore, for great service, for a life
filled with great power and pre
eminent usefulness to one’s age,
are two hundred and fifty to one
in favor of tlie college man.
I have just been looking
through the long record of grad
uates at Mercer. Our brother
Bernard, who has lovingly exam
ined the records, feels convinced
that the history of Mercer has
been pre-eminently a history of
missions. This is undoubtedly
true in a marked degree. Great
movements in the life of the
church and the life of the denom
ination in the South cannot be
written, without writing the bi
ography, now and then, of a Mer
cer graduate.
But as I look through the long
list of names of men who have
served with honor and distinc
tion in councils of war and in the
offices of State, the history of
the institution is also a history
of statesmanship. Literature
also has in its records the names
of men who have been students
at Mercer. But the influence of
the institution in the lives of the
men who have been sent out has
gone further than in the respects
Ke iirfW-MC' in the respects
nTOied can in a measure be deli
nitely traced, because it grows
out of high positions and public
offices, and thus its concrete ef
fects can be in a measure ascer
tained. To these influences,
however, must be added the wise,
conservative, gracious and un
seen influence of our graduates
in what men call the humbler
callings of life, such as com
merce, agriculture, etc. The sum
total, however, is progress, safe
and sound to the core, not nar
row and foolish, but broad in
sentiment, discriminating in
judgment, hopeful and Christian
in purpose. God grant that
Mercer may continue to be a lov
ing, gracious, powerful and re
deeming force in bearing aloft the
light of truth, and in subduing,
through her children, the world
to righteousness in thought and
action.
Mercer University.
For the INDEX.
Reminiscences of Georgia Baptists.
BY S. G. HILLYER.
No. 18.
THE SUNBURY BAPTIST CHURCH.
Sunbury was settled in 1758,
about one hundred and thirty
eight years ago. It was located
on the northeast border of Liberty
county, upon a high bluff that is
washed by Midway river. That
bluff fronts nearly east, so that
one standing upon it can look
down the wide river out into the
Atlantic ocean, twelve miles dis
tant. A more beautiful view of
land and water can hardly be
found along our Georgia sea
boa rd.
Sunbury once promised to be
more prosperous than it proved
to be. In the beginning of this,
or the close of the last century,
square rigged vessels were often
seen in its beautiful harbor.
But it was not able to com
pete with its elder sister, Savan
nah. Moreover, it was soon dis
covered that Hie water over its
bar was too shallow to admit
larger vessels; so its commercial
advantages soon dwindled away
to almost nothing.
For these reasons the popula
tion never, perhaps, exceeded 500
white citizens. These were, for
the most part, people whose plan
tations, scattered around on both
sides of Midway river, afforded
them the means of living together
in Sunbury for the sake of social,
educational and religious privi
leges.
In the year 1801, there was not
a Baptist in Sunbury. The relig
ious part of the community were
members of the Congregational
church that worshiped at Midway
meting-house ten miles from
Sunbury.
A little later than 1801, Mr.
Charles O. Screven became a cit
izen of Sunbury. He inherited a
tine (‘state. It lay across the
river in Bryan county almost in
sight of Sunbury. He was a man
of fine education, of deep piety,
and a Baptist; and lie had also
been licensed to preach by the
Baptist church in Charleston, S.
C. As he looked around upon
the condition of things in Sun
bury, his spirit had no rest. He
soon made arrangements to
preach to Hie people. This he
continued for a season; but being
only a licensed preacher, he con
cluded to apply for ordination to
the church in Charleston of
which, I suppose, he was still a
member. Accordingly he was
ordained by authority of that
church, and returned to Sun
bury fully authorized to perform
all the functions of a Gospel min
ister.
His labors were tin remitted.
His first converts were several
negroes. But there was no Bap
tist church at that time, perhaps,
nearer than Savannah which they
could join. lie, therefore, sent
for Mr. Clay, who was then pas
tor of the church in Savannah, to
come out to Sunbury and help
him witli his presence and his
counsel. These two ministers ex
amined tlie colored converts and
decided that they should be bap
tized. And Mr. Screven perform
ed the service. Other colored
converts were soon added to
these, and in about two years
seventy persons were baptized,
among whom were only two
whites —Mr. Jacob Dunham and
his wife.
With these converts, all being
colored people except two, the
Sunbury Baptist church was con
stituted. Exactly at what date it
constituted, I do not find dis
tinctly stated, but I infer it was
somewhere between 1806 and
1810. The white element in the
church soon began to increase,
and in a few years it included a
goodly number of intelligent
white people.
I did not know Dr. Charles O.
Screven personally. He died in
July, 1830, and my acquaintance
with the Sunbury church began
in January, 1832, about eighteen
mnr.ihs afi» r his duith. Vnt I
knew Mrs. Screven, who survived
him, many years. I knew also his
sons and daughters, and many
whom he had baptized; and
among these was Rev. J. 11.
Campbell, to whom I am indebt
ed for much of what has been
said about Dr. Screven in the
foregoing paragraphs.
In 1832 Sunbury was a small
village. There were probably
not more than two hundred peo
ple that were actual residents.
These were divided, religiously,
between the Congregationalists
and Baptists. The former were
members of Midway church ten
miles from Sunbury. The Bap
tists had their meeting-house in
the village.
In 1832 there was in the Sun
bury church an interesting group
of Baptists. They were not nu
merous, for, leaving out the col
ored people, the whole white
membership was very small. But
of these there were quite a num
ber who richly deserved to be re
membered. The oldest one of this
group was
REV. SAMUEL S. LAW.
There were several branches of
the Laws in that region of coun
try who were the kindred of Rev.
Samuel Law. They were, how
ever, for the most part, Congre
gationa lists, or Presbyterians, or
Episcopalians. Indeed, lam sure
that brother Law was the first of
his name that became a Baptist.
He was led to do so by a thorough
examination of the Scriptures
that he might find out what the
Lord would have him to do. His
wife, it is true, several years be
fore, had joined the Baptist
church; but he was very much
averse to her doing so. He said
to her, “You may do as you
please; but remember, when I be
come a Christian, I shall join an
other church.”
He became a Christian rather
late in life. 11 is means enabled
him to associate with the “gen
try” of the seaboard; and for
something more than forty years,
he was a man of the world. At
length, however, he began to
think about God and the world
to come. He first tried, as 1
learn from Dr. J. H. Campbell,
to make his peace with God by a
strict practical morality. He
worked along this line faithfully
for a time, but it brought him no
comfort. Presently his distress
became intense. He discovered
that, in spite of his morality, he
was a great sinner. He then
turned to the Gospel, and with
prayer and supplication he
sought the w'ay of salvation
VOL. 76-NO.
through its teachings. Then it
was not long before he found
peace with God, not by his mor
ality, but by faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ, whose blood cleans
eth us from all sin. It was then,
throwing aside the bias of his ear
ly years acquired in his father’s
family, who was an Episcopalian,
he sought his duty in the Word
of God. The result was he ap
plied for baptism at the Baptist
church. He was baptized in
April, 1815, by Dr. C. O. Screven.
Brother Law’s experience (I
have given only a sketch of it) is
intensely interesting in all its de
tails. We see in it an unregen
erate heart, a strong mind and a
resolute will endeavoring to find
another path to heaven than the
one marked out for us by the New
Testament. This is a common
mistake with the unconverted.
Bro. Law’s experience illustrates
its utter futility. He found his
garment of self-righteousness
woven of his boasted morality “a
filthy rag.” But he was led at
last to tlie Rock that was higher
than he. Then he could adopt
the words of the poet and sing:
“ My hope Is built on nothing less
Thun Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
1 dare not trust the s »eetest frame,
But wholly lean on J sus’s namt;
On Ch. Ist, the solid Roek I stand,
All other ground Is sinking sand.”
Having joined the church, he
became, at once, an active Chris
tian —so much so that his breth
ren soon called him to ordination.
From that time to the end of his
life he was a devoted, self-deny
ing and useful preacher. His ed
ucation was very limited, but he
knew his Bible. He knew the
God whom it revealed, and com
prehended the great scheme of
human redemption by the gift of
his beloved Son, “that whosoever
believeth in him should not per
ish, but have eternal life.” With
this preparation he went forth
upon a laborious service. He
served various churches, and af
ter Dr. Screven’s death he was
pastor for a year or two of the
Sunbury church.
But I would specially empha
size brother Law’s faithful labors
among the colored people. He
was to them as a messenger from
heaven. The churches which he
served abounded with them; and
those humble people heard him
gladly. It has been said of him,
by one who knew him well, that
his chief design, in consenting to
be ordained, was that he might
preach the Gospel to the .negroes.
They had the privilege, is true,
of attending the morning service
with the white people—at least
as many of them as could find
room in the house. But many
were excluded by the want of
room. To meet this difficulty he
would often preach in the after
noon to the negroes only, and
then they would fill the house to
its utmost capacity. We do not
know and can never know till .
we get to heaven how many chil
dren of the “uark continent” this
great and good man led to Jesus.
Such was the work of Samuel
Spry Law, one of the worthy men
of the Sunbury church who de
serves to be held in affectionate
remembrance along with the
sainted Screven, by Georgia Bap
tists.
563 S. Pryor St., Atlanta.
For the Index.
To Your Own Hurt.
BY C. H. WETHERBE.
God says through Jeremiah:
“Ye have not hearkened unto me,
saith the Lord, that ye might pro
voke me to anger with the work
of your hands, to your own hurt.”
No one ever yet sinned against
God without doing so to his own
hurt. It is certainly a very bad
thing to sin against God. It
hurts his feelings. It provokes
him. Wilful rebellion angers
him. And yet no one is so badly
hurt by sin as the sinner himself.
And it is none the less hurtful
when the sinner does not realize
its injury upon himself than it
is when he is sensible of the hurt.
One effect upon the sinner of his
sinning is its benumbing power.
Sin paralyzes the spiritual facul
ties. It callouses the finer sensi
bilities of the soul. He who ha
bitually tells falsehoods, not only
sins against God, but he fearful
ly hurts himself. He hardens
his heart. He paralyzes his con
science. He destroys his useful
ness. He loses self-respect and
forfeits the respect of others. A
liar may injure others by his
falsehoods, where his true char
acter is not known, and yet it is
not long before his sin finds him
out and hurts him all the more.
And the tattler always hurts
himself by his mischievous tale
bearing. One cannot make a
practice of retailing gossip
around the neighborhood without
hurting himself. He hurts others,
but he hurts himself the most.
And the same principle applies
to all manner of evil doing. It is
a universal law that no one can
exclude from himself the entire
effects of his wrong-doing. Take
heed to yourself!