said, "Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth."
Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. To define sin as selfishness or to restrict sin to known sins is inadequate. Sin is defined in terms of the law of God. And no mere man since the fall is able perfectly in this life to keep God's commandments—even for a day. Only Christ was sinless.
ANGLERS (By the Editor of The Testament For Fishers Of Men)
Lesson No. 86
What Prayer Can Do
Dear Anglers: There is a young man in our community who gets drunk for several days at a time. His mother fell this year and broke her hip, and fell again several days ago while her son was in bed, drunk. The Methodists held a revival last week, and he was drinking the first two days. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would cause him to go to the revival. On Wednesday he asked his aunt if she would go to church and sit with him, and together they went to the service on Thursday night, and when the preacher made the altar call he walked up and knelt before the pulpit. He was there at all the remaining services of the meeting and I am confident he is saved.
Another young man in our community stays drunk several days at a time. His mother is a devoted Christian. She asked us to pray for him and I asked the Lord to direct him to the revival, and he went to the last Sunday night service. I believe in prayer and I know that the Lord answered my prayer in both of these cases. I always look forward to reading Anglers each week. (Name withheld by request)
(Comment) It is indisputable that comparatively few Christians have ever recognized the power of prayer. It is apparently a lesson difficult to learn. Yet this power is within the grasp of the humblest and the least accomplished worker. The Lord never spake any truth more clearly than this. "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Matt. 21:22. "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and yc shall have them." Mark 11:24. "Believing"—that means FAITH. Real, achieving faith is given by the Holy Spirit. Ask Him for it. Simple as that, just for the asking. "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another FAITH by the same Spirit" I Cor. 12:8,9. Now if you pray, believing (in faith) in the power of the Spirit, which is given you for the simple asking, for the salvation of a soul; according to the Word you cannot be denied. If there is one thing which the Holy Spirit wants to see accomplished through you—you timid, stammering Christian—it is the saving of a soul. Do you suppose that the Faith He imparts to you, for the asking, will fail to accomplish its purpose? Wake up, Brother! Sister! the answer and the power are right there at your hand.
LIQUOR
Alcohol in beer wine and whiskey is a narcotic, a poison, a habit-forming drug. Dr. Emil Bogen, a noted toxicologist, says: "The very first thing that alcohol does is to attack the highest abilities, the parts of the brain that have to do with judgment, reason and the control of behavior. IT SLOWS DOWN THE BRAIN, and destroys the kind of brain power needed to tell a drinker when he has had enough."
Alcohol cuts down youth in its prime, manhood in its strength and age in its weakness. It produces weakness, not strength; sickness, not health; death, not life. It makes wives, widows; children, orphans; fathers, fiends; and all of them paupers and beggars. It feeds rheumatism; nurses gout; welcomes epidemics; invites cholera, imports pestilence; and embraces consumption. It covers the land with idleness, poverty, disease and crime; fills jails; supplies almshouses, demands asylums."
