THE NATURAL CONSEQUENCES OF SIN.
THE man who listens to the voice of right and obeys it will enjoy intense internal delights which spring from active moral faculties. There is no possession which brings so much real joy as an approving conscience. Its approbations are sweeter and richer than the sweetest strains of music. They thrill the whole soul with delight. To be able to stand erect, to look every man in the face without fear, to be conscious of having done our duty to God and our fellow-men, is the supremest happiness that it is permitted mortal man to enjoy. On the other hand, commit sin, violate God's moral laws, and groanings and tears await you. Just so soon as you think the malicious thought, indulge the vicious feeling, and execute the wicked purpose, you feel the shock. In a moment the harmony of life has fled, the chorus of the soul is thrown into discord, and all melody is gone. When the excitement is passed, and the lights are out, you will hear the discord within. You will have strange and mysterious longings for that which you have not; your soul will utter its sighs for rest and peace. The great effort of most men is to hide themselves from themselves. They hate to be alone. The reason of this is that they feel that all is not right within. They know that there are unpleasant guests there making all kinds of discords. To close their ears to these they rush from business to pleasure and from pleasure back to business. Another effect of sin is that it incapacitates the soul for right action. It perverts the conscience, warps the judgment, enslaves the will, and cuts the wings of the imagination. This becomes very evident when anyone gives loose rein to his passions. Then the path between honor and disgrace, respect and infamy, is very short. Sin drives him at headlong speed down to shame and ruin. Another characteristic of the divine laws is that they act independently. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." If a man obey the laws of health, he will enjoy good health, though at the same time he might cheat and lie and steal. What he has sown, that shall he also reap. On the other hand, the man who is honest and truthful, if he neglect the laws of health, must suffer the consequences of his neglect. The men who sow only to this world shall reap this world's goods. They have sown for time, and shall reap the rewards of time; they have not sown for eternity, and they shall not reap the rewards of eternity. Another characteristic of the divine laws is that they are universal. The same physical, organic, and moral laws prevail in all parts of the earth. Water boils at the same temperature at the level of the sea in the torrid as in the frigid zone. The overladen, leaky vessel will go down in the Pacific as in the Atlantic. Poison taken into the stomach will destroy life as readily in China as America. Not less universal are God's moral laws. It is impossible to conceive a place where truthfulness is not right, and where untruthfulness is not wrong; where gratitude is not praiseworthy, and ingratitude is not blameworthy. We cannot imagine a place in the universe of God where the false, dishonest, censorious, and selfish man can be happy, nor where the honest, sincere, charitable, and self-sacrificing person can be miserable. A fourth characteristic of these laws is that they are eternal. So long as God endures, these laws shall endure. In them is everlasting blessedness; in them is everlasting punishment. God is love, has been, and always will be love. But whether his love shall be to a soul joy and blessedness, or pain and misery, depends upon its character. The same fire that melts the gold, hardens the clay. The same beautiful sunlight, so cheering to the eye in a healthy condition, becomes the most exquisite torture to the diseased eye. So God's love, which is sweeter than the sunshine, and dearer than life to the good man, is to the wicked the most painful of all things, because there is nothing that so kindles the fires of remorse within him.—Selected.