Show G AND I1At ORA6lj i Sermon at the First Presbyterian Church By Rev W M Paden II I GOOD MEN OFTEN TIM A 2EE2T ON THE CO1TTSAHY AB TOO PETE1T BOLD Good People Are Ashamed of Their Moral While the Wicked Are Unashamed Un-ashamed of Their Sins Ten Hen Are Ridiculed Awcy Prom Religion Where One Is Hcasoncd Away Prom It I Rev William M Paden of the Holland I > Hol-land Memorial church of Philadelphia preached yesterday in the First Pres I I byterian church mornins and evening On both occasions the church was well filled and the words of the eloquent and thoughtful preacher made a deep impression He took for his text in the evening tie words They declare their sin as Sodom they hide it not Isaiah 39 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord 1 Timothy 18 Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people I Samuel Sam-uel 1012 The reverend gentleman said in cart Our first thought Is the contrast between be-tween good and Dad courage good cour aged unashamed ot declaring us oyacy to Christ baU courage unashamed of declaring de-claring its preference foir sin good courage cour-age endeavoring to play the man with good people bad courage as villingiy pitching Its tents towarus Sodom And the contrast has another and more serious anoler rious phase good men are too oaen tnt id bad men are too often bold good radii are asiiamed of their moiUu tad men unasntimea of tlmr sins LOS partisan laugntKr of tWs world Is more feared by tIle good than the evil suul J I i As Jcm B Hough once said in my < hearing Ten men are ndicuied away tmm reigion whtce one ts reasoned away from rcigon r e v e tne dwii laughter is more potent than his logic and OIOWB are rcc so hard to meet as shrugs and sneer and sarcastic tnUes They a the aevUs vltroi w c ii tiiuwu m our j faces to check Of eo our upward course all the various obstacles which l are thrown between the soul and Its God I I none are more successful Tnousands of men who are more or less interested m reicgCous things are hindered from declaring declar-ing iliai inters l hrough fear tae prde and shame They are ashamed of uialr good Impulsions araira61 of ridicule Paul makes ncie of this timidity as tae beginners 1 e sthl ml rJ eor I ners weakness and the words of our second text are this grand old mans injunction I in-junction to his young trend timothy OI ir up the gilt that is in thee for God tiatii not given us the spirit of fear i > uc at power and off love and of a sound mind be ncc thou therelUre aclicned of the testimony of our Lord Chvvst had found It necessary to speak similar words ito i-to his eany disciples Fear ye not therefore I there-fore fear not tam which kul the body i but are not able to kill die soul What I toII vnil in tih < qrlrnwi that snpmlr VI In the eight i what ye hear In the ear that preach ye upon the housetops For p whosoever laU confess me before men him will I confess also before my father which Is in heaven Matt x 3j Such words mean when put into our own way of speaking donc be ashamed of the good there i in you your good Impulses your aspirations yaur conscience the remnants of the image in wtiich you were cr ate Dont be ashamed of your religion re-ligion or religious inclinations dont be attiained of your wish to serve and be served by ChrIst The love of gone and of God Is not a thing to be ashamed of out with it Very few men are XK I terly coicupt and godless we all have good in us and most of u have more or I less religion many of us have less than enough to do us any good none of us have as much as we < need to mae us what we ought to be Yet ve cannot Without deihumatizlng ourselves become a the oats that perish we must look back and repent look In and be dlssatis I fled look ow and sympathize or pity look forward and hope or fear and lookup look-up to worship We are made in the image of God and until we destroy tat I likeness we cannot rid ourselves of religious re-ligious instincts we will In spite of ourselves our-selves have some kind of religion if we fdo not cannot have the true we drift towards the false if we do receive the graces of the divine spirit we will receive re-ceive the owls and bats of superstition or the nires of fate Only a religion can overthrow a reiljrfon The race is reriglcus in spite of itself To be aahamed of ones religious nature i like being ashamed of oneis affections oc reason Away with such charnel And as a religious nature is our birthright birth-right religious Inspiration and instruction a our coecal gitc We have not been left to the guidance of a few unasusted instincts our religious instincts have been fed and fostered Gads image in our sous ha been again and again retouched Like Timothy we are many of us children of Christian parents and have so received I our education in Chrtsiian homes all of u have been reared within touch of Christian Influences and few do not Know the cardinal truths of Christianity and the central duties of the Christian religion relig-ion Few < k > not know thu commandments command-ments and i Is the exception to find a man who has never prayed I never knew a man who did not know enough to cave him if used or to condemn him I abused I never knew a man who could truthfully say that Gods spirit had never spoken to his soul You can count upon finding not only religious instincts but I the inspirations and Instructions of our I holy reugion in the roughest crowd or in ttie blackest heart You will find the very I spirit of holiness In hearts which you are ready to give over as utterly noisome i and the grace < > f God dwelling In homes from iwihldh you flee There Is enough j of hidden inspiration and the unappropri ated grace of God in our dens of vice to make them savory were men true to ther mak tem better natures What a revival of religion I re-ligion there would be in this world if we each rallied the good in the depths of himself and responded to the Insnirations I of God Instead of this conscience is too often repressed and the Inspirations of the spirit given no expression Men act as if haM oi their chief njXP were the suppression rather than the expression of virtue AH that is gentle uplifting and Christlike Is thrown into the background while all that is Selfish frivolous and flesliflily Is brought to the front TOe evil treasures t ures of our hearts are poured forth like a poison while the good treasures are I kept back and hidden until they are eaten up by moth or rust Moreover such expression of corruption spreads It is infectious and contagious so men who I might meet each other a breezes from heaven breathe upon each others souls the very malaria upn hell You can tell I they have been together by the lowered tone of their morals Or to change the llgure as you hasten the decay of imperfect im-perfect fruit by bringing the rotten spots II together so many a brace of friends or circle of companions hasten each others decay of character by bringing their bad sides together Such shameless sharing of sin is the certain forerunner fr destruction de-struction Yet In site of all this much of the shameflistness of the world is nut of place and much of the shame which race should follow evil doing leans up to check I our impulses to well doing Men would rather be caught doing wrong than right Trammeling an enemy than praying wHh I j a friend sneering at some other sinner than confessing their own sins Men who I j would be ashamed to be sean reading the Bible will sit down in a crowded car or I I shop and devour a flash paper and men I I who conceal their finer experiences as if they were fiomething to be ashamed of will retail with the greatest gusto stories of the days when they dealt In wild oats I could wish tat such c spirit were exceptional ex-ceptional my charity leads me to think It Is yet It sometimes seems as If bold meant bad The devil has appropriated and adapted boldness to hIs own evil I uses When we sneak of a girl as bold we suggest that sine Is on the way t the bad Shakespeare is authority for calling a villain a bold bad man j I would seem as if we should reverse the proverb of Solomon For the wicked all ore as bold a lions while the right eoivs flee when no man pursueth Christian courage Is no natural virtue curage virue CrEran I like pJJjer graces It must be cultivated One might suppose thht Of all men St Paul would have least reason to pray for ffI Jv again and again he asks for the ply l of the church that he may speak with boldness and he mentions with ev dent admiration the fUfct that Isaiahwas very bold1 St Peter and St John pjaQe similar requests forcourage when they found themselves swept forward by the revival of pentecost Grant unto thy sfyants that wiUa all boldness they may speak thy word was their eon This and not natural courageJs the secret of apoatoHc auda curag lipdStlee were < heron by the grace of God and s may we be but If we are we must make more use o the Psahnsts prayer 0 God let none that wan on thee be ashamed let them be ashamed which transgress without cause Only let us get the cour Cuse ge ajre and the shame of tbj wnrld in the t j ngivt piace or In the hearts of tfie right persons and the music ot the millemum will begin the song of the angels will again be heard For the kingdom of this world will have become the kingdom of heaven when at length all courage is al CQurge good J3y the way the devil has no fault to devI finct with religion while it lets him alone I Let us alone was the demons prayer Let us alone Is the prayer of the careless world and let us alone is the most dangerous dan-gerous plea which Is made by our bosom I sitn or Mire yoU cannot be zealous without getting Into more or less hot or cui vruto iuc juke warm will find I fault with you because your earnestness reveals their lack of U Some who have t been asleep will wake up crabbed and others who arc going to sleep will yawn I l In your face with undisguiahed weariness I You will possibly be called a fanatic or enthusiast or I will be whispered about that you are over zealous but you need not mind little things like these 3ou I A a matter of fact a religion whose Jimbol of power Is a tongue of tire tne J I r of whose commands I thou shalt I love and whose gospel Is a gospel of ab I jolute self sacrifice cannot be served with I half a heart Those who accent Christs I rcrvlce in any such way will neither honor It nor enjoy I As an old writer has suggested a half religion is a joyless an Inglorious thing persons of this mixed character are strangers to the highest I I gion pleasure I to make They sin bitter have just and enough enough sin roll to i render religion unpleasant As a frank I spoken evangelist has said I declare that the hardest work a man ever tried j to do is to be a Christian without ren I gion to be a good man with a bad heart 1 God serving and devil serving cannot get on together they will not agree Therefore let us stir up the gift that I is In us Why should we be shamefaced or tmll God hath not given us the spirit I of fear we need not fear him for though he is judge he is also a forgiving father I We need not fear penalties If only we I are penitent we believe In the forgiveness j i forgive-ness of sins and why should we lose courage In the presence of evil 1 God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love Love casts out fear and shame and all their weakling crew for love is strong stronger than death love will nut courasre into the I heart of a bird and make a mother of a i lamb as bold as a lion Love of country will make heroes of hodmen love of home makes heroines of hoidens I will do its service regardless of costs I will lay down its life for the object of Its affection Even today there are men and women who would die for the love of God But we have no heart to talk of our love for him i Is so completely overshadowed ty his love for us The very thought should make us ashamed of our shame I have heard of a mother who risked her life to save her child from a burning house she saved him but her face was disfigured for life when the child grew he was ashamed of that disfigured mother Shame upon him Yet we are In danger of greater ingratitude in-gratitude His face was marred his Dody urns bruised and his spirit shame fully treated yet for the love he had for us he endured the cross despising the shame God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind Come let us reason together salth the lord The service he asks Is a reasonable I service All he asks Is that you give Iss claims your serious and candid i can-did consideration Seek the truth with a sober mind and with vigorous intention inten-tion and you have Gods word that you will surely find i You will find him and find in him more than it hath entered into your heart to ask or think No true seeker for goodness and God was ever disappointed with or ashamed of the results re-sults of his quest for those who seek him find him and those who find him find all good things including courage |