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Show ENVY, THE SUBJECT OF m. CAWS SERIN Speaking last nislu upon The Com mon Sins that Crucified the Christ R '. Caner selected Envy as tho theme of the f i rst sermon in the ser ies. and the text was Matthew 37-18, "For envv they delivered him to death " .Misses Hanul and Pierce rendered musical numbers Rev Carver said In part Pindar, the am lent seer, best describes envy-In envy-In his passage. "Env, the attendant of the empty mind '' Plutarch, wr!-ing wr!-ing from long study of many li es. best names enTy's punishment. He Bays. 'If you hate jour enemies or enemy, your fellows, you will contract 3in.il a vicious nauu oi mina as o degrees will break out on those who are your friends, or on those who are Indifferent to you " We are busy today with legislation against open and visible evils and sins but the real evils and sins cannot be legislated against for they are the deep trends of our lives that, unseen because hidden in our hearts, never theless form the real problem of any far reaching reform We can only legislate against the fruits and rl pened harvests of these basic trends The real problem is how to counteract counter-act theee underlying powers by giving to the Inner and real life pure thought and nobler affections Reaching evil by legislation is like a fanner wait ing until the weeds have borne their seed before he eradicates them. Wo do need all the better lgislatlon possl ble and enforceable, but we need most of all 6ome power that will rectify and cleanse the inner and deeper life of man. Herein is the supreme place and power of the Holy Spirit and ihf Christ. We are prone to think that It was some extraordinary sin that led to the crucifixion of the Christ. We find, however, when we read closely that It was the common sins of our day, the deep hidden formative power of evil was responsible if the Bible speaks truly. "For envy the chter priests had de llvered him up to death. ' says Mark Who, then, can plead "not guilty' to the same sin that ts spoken of here as being a factor In the death of Christ En is not an unknown sin. We have on the contrary known It so well that we hardly have called it a sin at all. It has been so uuhersal ! a trait In human life that wc have forgotten that much rrlmo and more bitterness arc tho ripened fnilts of rlils common human trait. It is in the list of the se en cardinal sins." a list accepted for ages as namine the seven chief sin6. envy stands fourth. Like mosr sins it is wrong use of a good trend. Envy Is mall cious covetousness and jealous deslrj or thought of another's success or at talnment Now that same success ot another could cause us to feel only the desire of emulation and thus stlm Ulate us to do better ourselves. Ihe world has advanced by emulating and following leaders and learning from their methods Eny. however finds evil where It should find good The same virtues In the Christ that led Paul to strive after him as an Ideal led the priests to envy. Christ tolled denied praved and triumphed Many have found In him the world s most inspiring ideal of 1 i re to be patterned after. These onh saw In him one whom they might envy Like most sins. eny is its own best punishment Gossip, hatred, mallco and all that envy genders makes earth a hell and the bodv a home of mental torment. It has most bitterly puti-I puti-I Ished those who have opened their lives to it Witness the end of Cain who en led his brother Abel. Saul who envied David, and the king who envied Noboth s vineyard. Envy is a common sin The great feel it. Mexander could not bear to bear a general of his army praised The masses feel It Most of our class strife and struggle has envy as a real cause We find It in our social relations and It embitters many mem hers of society In fact, envy makes much of our modern Bocial events to become mockeries of friendship It Is a sin that divides homes and separates brothers, rends churches and spreads Its bitterness In every' life that opens to It. The Christian teaching of seeking others good, of rejoicing with them that do rejoice, of striving for not our own self, but for the glory of God. Is the best antidote for envy. As long as worldly standards and rewards are the all of llfo. so long will envy i continue When we view life as a I field of service, rather thau as a' field of personal conquest, envy will j vanish. ' John the Baptist rejoiced that the Chris; Increased while he decreased, 1 , for so the Kingdom of God as ad- i vanned hn we larn to lore sue-1 ces9 for the good I; gives, when recount re-count rather our mercies than others' triumphs, when we realize hoT much we owe rhe God and Christ and try! . to serve ihrn w hpn we realwe that . only eternal r;ch3 that can sUndthejlj fierce day of the judgment of God irsj 1 real values for an immortal soul to desire, when we remember how short I Is life and how long Is eternity, on r! how mueh we need a Saviour then id this realization of the Cbriitlan truth I our envy of others will cease. |