I was once preaching in Chicago, and a woman who was nearly out of her
mind came to me. You know there are some people who mock at religious
meetings, and say that religion drives people mad. It is _sin_ that
drives people mad. It is the want of Christ that sinks people into
despair.
This was the woman's story:
She had a family of children. One of her neighbors had died, and her
husband had brought home a little child. She said, "I don't want the
child," but her husband said, "You must take it and look after it."
She said she had enough to do with her own, and she told her husband
to take that child away. But he would not. She confessed that she
tried to starve the child; but it lingered on. One night it cried all
night; I suppose it wanted food. At last she took the clothes and
threw them over the child and smothered it. No one saw her; no one
knew anything about it. The child was buried. Years had passed away,
and she said:
"I hear the voice of that child day and night. It has driven me nearly
mad."
No one saw the act; but God saw it, and this retribution followed it.
History is full of these things. You need not go to the Bible to find
it out.
Don't Swear!
I was greatly amazed not long ago, in talking to a man who thought he
was a Christian, to find that once in a while, when he got angry, he
would swear. I said: "My friend, I don't see how you can tear down
with one hand what you are trying to build up with the other. I don't
see how you can profess to be a child of God and let those words come
out of your lips."
He replied: "Mr. Moody, if you knew me, you would understand. I have a
very quick temper. I inherited it from my father and mother, and it is
uncontrollable but my swearing comes only from the lips."
When God said, "I will not hold him guiltless that takes My name in
vain," He meant what He said, and I don't believe any one can be a
true child of God who takes the name of God in vain.