CHRISTMAS
NUMBER
GRESHAM
OUTLOOK
DECEMBER
18,
1914
PAGE
SEVEN
A Sermon by Rev. M elville T . W ire, preached Nov. 2 2 , 1914, at Gresham M eth dist Church
V
Hnd lips say holy grace.
Che halo that a S ta r of Beth­
lehem shed
6nctrcles her young face.
houghts of world quests
those wee feet may pursue,
Set heart to beating wild,
fo r C hrist unto the earth is
born anew
*
Cdith each new little child.
Text Isaiah 47:14 • • • T h ey, ing upon a happy event of life when dom and well-being.
When
w«
shall not deliver them selves from the really he would be looking on the properly locate sin we see how hein­
power of the flame
free of death. Let no young man de- ous it is, how wanton it is, how un­
These words were spoken by the <*»’ • himself. The venture into the necessary it is. It is just as bad to­
prophet Isaiah against Babylon ano forbidden domain, the eating of the day as it ever was— if not a shade
Chaldea; but they may fittingly serve Ifrult o{
knowledge has only one worse. With all the enlightm ent and
as a text in dealing with the subjec. outcome. It means death. In tli fill material progress of modem times
of gju
indulgence he may think he Is ' see- sin still enthrones itself in the place
A contemporary writer says: "We ing 1 ’’
*hen ir. reality he is see- where m en’s m otives emanate, In the
are rather inclined to the view that
death. Not merely physical <or- place where they really live. And
what our age needs is a universal rllPtion, that strikes us with liorroi because It does this, it reaches its
and poignant gospel of man's sinful- because ot its concretness, 1 lit slimy hand through all ranks ot
uess and his Inability to escape it ’he death of purity, the slaying of society ail the way to the internal
except by divine help.
fa l,h . the ecll‘,se of h°Pe ' the de8ceut regions aud back again ! 1
After our first parents had pos­
In the third chapter of Genesis we from the spiritual to the beastial. the
find the account of sin's beginning. ’° 88 of Heaven and future abode sessed them selves ot the coveted
Not merely an account of the subtil- wlth the 8Pir,t8 ot Ju8t “ en madt- knowledge they went forth Into an
They had been
ty of a serpent and the actual eating i perfect and the descent to the abyst altered universe.
of forbidden fruit, but the great epic "Hth all the Judases of all the ages on the inside of Eden, now they
were on the outside. The streams
of man's disobedience, of his depar- " h o P° to their own place,
ture from the command of God, of i When Adam and Eve ate and flowed as of old, the palms waved
his subjugation to the ills of mortal possessed the dear bought knov.l- their long fronds in the gentle breez­
life, of his spiritual death, of his go- edge It was like the eating of tho nr- es, the sylan dells beckoned a wel­
ing forth into an altered universe of 5 pies of Sodom, which appear fair hut come, but Eden was no more theirs
thorns and briars and cursed ground. ) turn to ashes at the touch, soow - to enjoy. They saw each other with
We see in sin an alien elem ent in |one says: “There is always son.e- new eyes, for primal Innocence had
Thorns and briars and
God's world; som ething unnatural, thing blighting about the knowledge departed.
abnormal and fraught with disastrous i of evil. Such knowledge solla the the curse of the ground typified the
¡naturalness of human relationships, new physical disabilities which were
consequences to the race.
“ ‘But,’ we are told by some the- * * * it harms the mind, • * to be theirs; and were ever after to
orists, 'the first sin was really the it trails over the whole scope of the be the lot of hum anity. Sweat stood
They had defied
aw akening of man to moral con- : thought, ideals and achievem ent of on their brows.
sciousness, that it marked his pas- | man. it was a fine inspiration God, now his world was to defy
sage from the stage of non-moral which prompted the scripture to say them. Paul's words are true, "Xhe
life to a clear knowledge of the dif­ that the guilty ones could not par­ whole creation groaneth and travail-
ference between right and wrong, take of the tree of life after taking eth in pain together till now.”
But this was not all, the bible
and that, consequently, so far from of the forbidden tree.”
In view of all this we emphatically says, “ Sin entered into the world
being a disaster, it was, in fact the
breaking of a new day of larger life deny that man’s know ledge of sin and death by sin .” W henever we
and freedom .’ ” We do not believe was a step upward. If anyone wants sin som ething within us dies. Doc;or
that the bible lends countenance to this statem ent validated by a philoso­ Hillis says in his book, “The Invest­
any such idea. In the Genesis ac­ pher they can be pointed to the late ment of Influence," “ In the olden
count and in all the rest of sacred William James who says: “If we art days, when the poisoner was in ev­
writ we find the plain teaching that mit that evil is an essential part of ery palace, the Doge of Venice of­
sin is an interloper, that it changed our being and the key to the Interpre­ fered a reward for a crystal goblet
the relation of God's original plan to tation of life, we load ourselves that would break the moment a poi­
Perhaps the idea
men, that it made necessary the death down with a difficulty that has al- son touched it.
of Christ for a world helpless and ways proved burdensome in phlloso- was suggested to the Prince because
his soul
already fulfilled
the
lost, which could not deliver itself phies of religion.”
thought,
for
one
drop
ot
sin
always
In view of the fact that sin has
from the “power of the flame.” Sin
is not a stepping stone to freedom, come to man, it is Important that we shatters the cup of joy and wastes
but to bondage. It cannot lead up­ properly locate the seat of sin in hu­ life’s precious w ine.” As the warm
ward, it leads downward. Man sin­ man nature. Sin cannot be located breath destroys the delicate frost
ned deliberately, wantonly, culpably, in matter, nor in the sensuous ele­ tracery on the the window pane so
and w illingly against the will of God ments of m an’s nature. Sense has sin dulls and deadens the fineness ot
and stands guilty before Him. The no independent volitions. The BenBe the moral nature.
Dr. Cuyler once gave a description
first sin is a type of all. We can in­ of taste was appealed to in Eve but
terpret It by our experience and veri that had no power to determine of one of the poisonous trees aptly
called the Judas tree. The blossoms
fy anew the evil result of it. We choice.
have no sym pathy with the assump­
Nevertheless the view that sin is of It are a brilliant red. From far
tion that the knowledge of evil is lodged literally in the flesh had great and near the fatal beauty of those
necessary for high moral ends. To currency in ancient times, that helpB flowers attracts Insects, yet every
know that there is such a thing as us to understand early monasticism. bee wandering In search of honey
evil, and that it is awful, Is all the With that view of sin, salvation inav that alights upon the blossoms im­
know ledge of evil man needs. All logically come by fastings and Bcourg- bibes a fatal opiate and drops to the
we need to know about it is that we ings and the mortification of the earth. Beneath this enticing tree the
are to keep away from it.
flesh. The next step is easy and earth is strewn with the victims of
The possibility of the entrance of logical if you admit the premise. this fatal fascination.
If sin had not come, death would
sin into the world comes through Those who desired to be holy left the
not
have come. “ Death has passed
God’s gift to man of freedom of tem ptations of society and sought the
choice. If this freedom was to be wilderness. P alestine and the w il­ upon all men for that all have sin­
real and not fictitious it would cer­ derness of Sinai is fairly honey­ ned.” Just what would have been
tainly involve the moral choice. Man combed with the cells of such relig­ the exact condition and state of man
If sin had never entered, we cannot
could either choose to be good or ionists.
Men differ widely in their
bad. In fact without this freedom
The use of the word “flesh” In say.
man would not really be a moral be­ Paul's eplBtles seem s to give sanction opinions. But of this much we are
ing at all in the sen^e of good hav­ to this; but a careful exegesis plainly sure, death as we know it— death
ing merit and sin demerit.
He indicates that Paul m eant more by the terrifying and unbearable tragedy
would then only be a moral au­ the term than simply the human body — would never have come if our first
tomaton. When God said of the tree or the appetites lodged in It. The parents had obeyed God.
Behind death and an altered uni­
in the midst of the garden, “ye shall flesh may be an Instrument of evil,
not eat of it,” he acknowledged man's an avenue of evil but it is certainly verse there lb an estranged God.
Though this is the first effect of sin,
endowm ent with the power of choice. not the seat of it.
This was a supreme gift and like all
It may Influence moral choice, It is the last one we realize. “ But
things of transcendent value it but it Is not the determining when the sinner does realize It he is
brought with it vast responsibility. factor.
Sin
is
tracked back at last prepared to believe that he
When God said “thou shalt not” it of that to man's conscious volitional cannot deliver hlrasel f from ‘the
was for man’s good. Man was be­ life within. The flesh is the engine, power of the flame.’ ’’ Then he
ing warned of danger. We cannot but the will is the engineer. The en­ knows that he needs more than a
conceive of disobedience to the com­ gine may strike som ething on the word of wisdom or a vision of beau­
mand of a loving divine Father as track, but the railroad company ty; he needs Christ and His redeem ­
bringing anything but disaster; for doesn't hold the engine responsible, ing cross.
Has sin altered his universe? Is
j God was trying to show humanity it arraigns the engineer. A m an’s
the
flaming sword between him and
. how to wear the new mantle of hand may be raised in violence, but
1 freedom; He strove to guard man the hand Is not to blame, the will be­ Eden? Through Christ old things
because He loved him, yet man's hind It Is to blame— the will that dic­ may pass away, and behold all things
, will could not by forced, for freedom tated the blow. Sin’s entrance into may become new. Has death enter­
of choice had been conferred upon the world was not an "accident,” nor ed His world? We hear the words:
him. If knowledge of evil had been a sort of swashbucklerlng Immatur­ As in Adam ail die, so in Christ shall
a step upward In the moral evolu­ ity. It was man’s abuse of freedom, all be made alive.”
And the exultant apostle with res­
tion of the ages as some philosophers and his defiance of God. God said,
assert, it seem s passing strange that “thou shalt not eat" and man did urrection faith cries out, "O death
God should have commanded man eat. There was no excuse for it. Let where Is thy sting? O grave where
not to eat of the tree. The fact that | us suppose a kind-hearted man who is thy victory? The sting of death is
God did so command is the best evi-1 turns a hungry boy Into his orchard sin; the strength of sin is the law.
dence that not to touch forbidden and says to him: “ You will find here But thanks be to God which glveth us
fruit is the only knowledge of for­ all the apples you want of every va­ the victory through our Lord Jesus
bidden fruit that is necessary.
riety; help yourself but here is a tree Christ.”
Satan enters the garden with the in the center of the orchard with
The Oregon State m ilitia Is havlr
false promise, "ye shall not die, ye only a few on It, I am saving them
¡shall be as Gods.” That is the age- i to exhibit, the variety is rare and pe- a little war scare of Its own, accor
old temptation of the evil one; h old -|cu liar, please do not eat of them, j ing to unofficial reports from Por
|in g forth the lure of knowledge The boy wanders about in the enjoy-) land. Forty members of the guai
gained from excursion into the for- j ment of his freedom. He eats all the j have been engaged In making fu
bidden country. It is the appeal to fruit he can hold and sits down to ' preparations for a quick move, bi
the Instinct of curiosity and thirst rest. But I be forbidden tree attracts they don't know where they are gi
for knowledge based on a widening bis notice. The fact that the fruit is ing, if anywhere.
experience whether right or wrong, forbidden makes it attractive. He
That is the appeal of Satan to men thinks that he w ill just touch it. So
Hick H eadache.
today, to step behind the veil; "to he approaches tho tree with fast beat-
Sick headache Is nearly always
know all sides of life,” as the man of ing heart and takes one of the np-
caused by disorders of the stomach.
] the world phrases it. Such know I pies In his hand. He presses It with
Correct them and the periodic at­
¡edge is of death not life. It used to bis thumb to see if it is m ellow —
) be a grim Sycthian custom to ban- the stem breaks, It falls into his tacks of sick headache will disap­
pear.
Mrs. John Bishop of Rose­
quet a great man after bis death, hand, he looks everywhere In guilt, ville, Ohio, writes: "About a year
, The corpse would be propped up in a and deliberately eata It, though he ago I was troubled with indigestion
chair at tne place of honor and an is already sated with fruit. Such a and had sick headache that lasted
for two or three days at a time. I
¡outw ardly gay throng would to s t ' hypothetical Incident illum ines the doctored and tried a number of rem­
him in forced merriment. To a great epic of Eden. Human nature, edies but nothing helped me until
chance onlooker the banquet would happy, free and well nourished yet one of those sick spells a friend ad­
have all the hall-marks of joyous | deliberately disobeying the author vised me to take Chamberlain's Tab­
lets. This medicine relieved me In a
revelry He might think ha was look- and giver of that happineaa, free- short fin *.'' Far eale by all Dealers.