{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13204/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13204","id":"gutenberg_13204","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13204","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","Presbyterian Church -- Sermons","Sermons, American"],"text":"SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN.\n\nBY\n\nWILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D. D.,\n\nAUTHOR OF \"A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE,\" \"HOMILETICS AND PASTORAL.\nTHEOLOGY,\" \"DISCOURSES AND ESSAYS,\" \"PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY,\" ETC.\n\n\nNEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY. 1871.\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nIt is with a solemn feeling of responsibility that I send forth this\nvolume of Sermons. The ordinary emotions of authorship have little place\nin the experience, when one remembers that what he says will be either a\nmeans of spiritual life, or an occasion of spiritual death.\n\nI believe that the substance of these Discourses will prove to accord\nwith God's revealed truth, in the day that will try all truth. The title\nindicates their general aim and tendency. The purpose is psychological. I\nwould, if possible, anatomize the natural heart. It is in vain to offer\nthe gospel unless the law has been applied with clearness and cogency. At\nthe present day, certainly, there is far less danger of erring in the\ndirection of religious severity, than in the direction of religious\nindulgence. If I have not preached redemption in these sermons so fully\nas I have analyzed sin, it is because it is my deliberate conviction\nthat just now the first and hardest work to be done by the preacher, for\nthe natural man, is to produce in him some sensibility upon the subject\nof sin. Conscience needs to become consciousness. There is considerable\ntheoretical unbelief respecting the doctrines of the New Testament; but\nthis is not the principal difficulty. Theoretical skepticism is in a\nsmall minority of Christendom, and always has been. The chief obstacle to\nthe spread of the Christian religion is the practical unbelief of\nspeculative believers. \"Thou sayest,\"--says John Bunyan,--\"thou dost in\ndeed and in truth believe the Scriptures. I ask, therefore, Wast thou\never killed stark dead by the law of works contained in the Scriptures?\nKilled by the law or letter, and made to see thy sins against it, and\nleft in an helpless condition by the law? For, the proper work of the law\nis to slay the soul, and to leave it dead in an helpless state. For, it\ndoth neither give the soul any comfort itself, when it comes, nor doth it\nshow the soul where comfort is to be had; and therefore it is called the\n'ministration of condemnation,' the 'ministration of death.' For, though\nmen may have a notion of the blessed Word of God, yet before they be\nconverted, it may be truly said of them, Ye err, not knowing the\nScriptures, nor the power of God.\"\n\nIf it be thought that such preaching of the law can be dispensed with, by\nemploying solely what is called in some quarters the preaching of the\ngospel, I do not agree with the opinion. The benefits of Christ's\nredemption are pearls which must not be cast before swine. The gospel is\nnot for the stupid, or for the doubter,--still less for the scoffer.\nChrist's atonement is to be offered to conscious guilt, and in order to\nconscious guilt there must be the application of the decalogue. John\nBaptist must prepare the way for the merciful Redeemer, by legal and\nclose preaching. And the merciful Redeemer Himself, in the opening of His\nministry, and before He spake much concerning remission of sins, preached\na sermon which in its searching and self-revelatory character is a more\nalarming address to the corrupt natural heart, than was the first\nedition of it delivered amidst the lightnings of Sinai. The Sermon on the\nMount is called the Sermon of the Beatitudes, and many have the\nimpression that it is a very lovely song to the sinful soul of man. They\nforget that the blessing upon obedience implies a _curse_ upon\ndisobedience, and that every mortal man has disobeyed the Sermon on the\nMount. \"God save me,\"--said a thoughtful person who knew what is in the\nSermon on the Mount, and what is in the human heart,--\"God save me from\nthe Sermon on the Mount when I am judged in the last day.\" When Christ\npreached this discourse, He preached the law, principally. \"Think\nnot,\"--He says,--\"that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am\nnot come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven\nand earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law\ntill all be fulfilled.\" John the Baptist describes his own preaching,\nwhich was confessedly severe and legal, as being far less searching than\nthat of the Messiah whose near advent he announced. \"I indeed baptize you\nwith water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than\nI, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the\nHoly Ghost and with _fire_; whose _fan_ is in his hand, and he will\n_thoroughly purge_ his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but\nhe will _burn up the chaff_ with unquenchable fire.\"\n\nThe general burden and strain of the Discourse with which the Redeemer\nopened His ministry is preceptive and mandatory. Its keynote is: \"Thou\nshalt do this,\" and, \"Thou shalt not do that;\" \"Thou shalt be thus, in\nthine heart,\" and, \"Thou shalt not be thus, in thine heart.\" So little is\nsaid in it, comparatively, concerning what are called the doctrines of\ngrace, that it has often been cited to prove that the creed of the Church\nhas been expanded unduly, and made to contain more than the Founder of\nChristianity really intended it should. The absence, for example, of any\ndirect and specific statement of the doctrine of Atonement, in this\nimportant section of Christ's teaching, has been instanced by the\nSocinian opponent as proof that this doctrine is not so vital as the\nChurch has always claimed it to be. But, Christ was purposely silent\nrespecting grace and its methods, until he had _spiritualized Law_, and\nmade it penetrate the human consciousness like a sharp sword. Of what use\nwould it have been to offer mercy, before the sense of its need had been\nelicited? and how was this to be elicited, but by the solemn and\nauthoritative enunciation of law and justice? There are, indeed, cheering\nintimations, in the Sermon on the Mount, respecting the Divine mercy, and\nso there are in connection with the giving of the Ten Commandments. But\nlaw, rather than grace, is the main substance and burden of both. The\ngreat intention, in each instance, is to convince of sin, preparatory to\nthe offer of clemency. The Decalogue is the legal basis of the Old\nDispensation, and the Sermon on the Mount is the legal basis of the New.\nWhen the Redeemer, in the opening of His ministry, had provided the\napparatus of conviction, then He provided the apparatus of expiation. The\nGreat High-Priest, like the Levitical priest who typified Him, did not\nsprinkle atoning blood indiscriminately. It was to bedew only him who\nfelt and confessed guilt.\n\nThis legal and minatory element in the words of Jesus has also been\nnoticed by the skeptic, and an argument has been founded upon it to prove\nthat He was soured by ill-success, and, like other merely human reformers\nwho have found the human heart too hard, for them, fell away from the\ngentleness with which He began His ministry, into the anger and\ndenunciation of mortified ambition with which it closed. This is the\npicture of Jesus Christ which R\u00e9nan presents in his apocryphal Gospel.\nBut the fact is, that the Redeemer _began_ with law, and was rigorous\nwith sin from the very first. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered not\nfar from twelve months from the time of His inauguration, by baptism, to\nthe office of Messiah. And all along through His ministry of three years\nand a half, He constantly employs the law in order to prepare his hearers\nfor grace. He was as gentle and gracious to the penitent sinner, in the\nopening of His ministry, as he was at the close of it; and He was as\nunsparing and severe towards the hardened and self-righteous sinner, in\nHis early Judaean, as He was in His later Galilean ministry.\n\nIt is sometimes said that the surest way to produce conviction of sin is\nto preach the Cross. There is a sense in which this is true, and there is\na sense in which it is false. If the Cross is set forth as the cursed\ntree on which the Lord of Glory hung and suffered, to satisfy the demands\nof Eternal Justice, then indeed there is fitness in the preaching to\nproduce the sense of guilt. But this is to preach the _law_, in its\nfullest extent, and the most tremendous energy of its claims. Such\ndiscourse as this must necessarily analyze law, define it, enforce it,\nand apply it in the most cogent manner. For, only as the atonement of\nChrist is shown to completely meet and satisfy all these _legal_ demands\nwhich have been so thoroughly discussed and exhibited, is the real virtue\nand power of the Cross made manifest.\n\nBut if the Cross is merely held up as a decorative ornament, like that on\nthe breast of Belinda, \"which Jews might kiss and infidels adore;\" if it\nbe proclaimed as the beautiful symbol of the Divine indifference and\nindulgence, and there be a studious _avoiding_ of all judicial aspects\nand relations; if the natural man is not searched by law and alarmed by\njustice, but is only soothed and narcotized by the idea of an\nEpicurean deity destitute of moral anger and inflicting no righteous\nretribution,--then, there will be no conviction of sin. Whenever the\npreaching of the law is positively _objected_ to, and the preaching of\nthe gospel is proposed in its place, it will be found that the \"gospel\"\nmeans that good-nature and that easy virtue which some mortals dare to\nattribute to the Holy and Immaculate Godhead! He who really, and in good\nfaith, preaches the Cross, never opposes the preaching of the law.\n\nStill another reason for the kind of religious discourse which we are\ndefending is found in the fact that multitudes are expecting a happy\nissue of this life, upon ethical as distinguished from evangelical\ngrounds. They deny that they deserve damnation, or that they need\nChrist's atonement. They say that they are living virtuous lives, and are\nready to adopt language similar to that of Mr. Mill spoken in another\nconnection: \"If from this position of integrity and morality we are to be\nsent to hell, to hell we will go.\" This tendency is strengthened by the\ncurrent light letters, in distinction from standard literature. A certain\nclass, through ephemeral essays, poems, and novels, has been plied with\nthe doctrine of a natural virtue and an innate goodness, until it has\nbecome proud and self-reliant. The \"manhood\" of paganism is glorified,\nand the \"childhood\" of the gospel is vilified. The graces of humility,\nself-abasement before God, and especially of penitence for sin, are\ndistasteful and loathed. Persons of this order prefer to have their\nreligious teacher silent upon these themes, and urge them to courage,\nhonor, magnanimity, and all that class of qualities which imply\nself-consciousness and self-reliance. To them apply the solemn words of\nthe Son of God to the Pharisees: \"If ye were blind, ye should have no sin:\nbut now ye say, We _see_, therefore your sin remaineth.\"\n\nIt is, therefore, specially incumbent upon the Christian ministry, to\nemploy a searching and psychological style of preaching, and to apply the\ntests of ethics and virtue so powerfully to men who are trusting to\nethics and virtue, as to bring them upon their knees. Since these men are\ndesiring, like the \"foolish Galatiana,\" to be saved by the law, then let\nthe law be laid down to them, in all its breadth and reach, that they may\nunderstand the real nature and consequences of the position they have\ntaken. \"Tell me,\" says a preacher of this stamp,--\"tell me, ye that\ndesire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law,\"--do ye not hear its\nthundering,--\"_cursed_ is every one that continueth not in ALL things\nthat are written in the law, to do them!\" Virtue must be absolutely\nperfect and spotless, if a happy immortality is to be made to depend upon\nvirtue. If the human heart, in its self-deception and self-reliance,\nturns away from the Cross and the righteousness of God, to morals and the\nrighteousness of works, then let the Christian thinker follow after it\nlike the avenger of blood. Let him set the heights and depths of ethical\n_perfection_ before the deluded mortal; let him point to the inaccessible\ncliffs that tower high above, and bid him scale them if he can; let him\npoint to the fathomless abysses beneath, and tell him to descend and\nbring up perfect virtue therefrom; let him employ the very instrument\nwhich this _virtuoso_ has chosen, until it becomes an instrument of\ntorture and self-despair. In this way, he is breaking down the \"manhood\"\nthat confronts and opposes, and is bringing in the \"childhood\" that is\ndocile, and recipient of the kingdom.\n\nThese Sermons run the hazard of being pronounced monotonous, because of\nthe pertinacity with which the attempt is made to force self-reflection.\nBut this criticism can easily be endured, provided the attempt succeeds.\nReligious truth becomes almighty the instant it can get _within_ the\nsoul; and it gets within the soul, the instant real thinking begins. \"As\nyou value your peace of mind, stop all scrutiny into your personal\ncharacter,\" is the advice of what Milton denominates \"the sty of\nEpicurus.\" The discouraging religious condition of the present age is\ndue to the great lack, not merely in the lower but the higher classes, of\ncalm, clear self-intelligence. Men do not know themselves. The Delphic\noracle was never less obeyed than now, in this vortex of mechanical arts\nand luxury. For this reason, it is desirable that the religious teacher\ndwell consecutively upon topics that are connected with that which is\n_within_ man,--his settled motives of action, and all those spontaneous\non-goings of his soul of which he takes no notice, unless he is persuaded\nor impelled to do so. Some of the old painters produced powerful effects\nby one solitary color. The subject of moral evil contemplated in the\nheart of the individual man,--not described to him from the outside, but\nwrought out of his own being into incandescent letters, by the fierce\nchemistry of anxious perhaps agonizing reflection,--sin, the one awful\nfact in the history of man, if caused to pervade discourse will always\nimpart to it a hue which, though it be monochromatic, arrests and holds\nthe eye like the lurid color of an approaching storm-cloud.\n\nWith this statement respecting the aim and purport of these Sermons, and\ndeeply conscious of their imperfections, especially for spiritual\npurposes, I send them out into the world, with the prayer that God the\nSpirit will deign to employ them as the means of awakening some souls\nfrom the lethargy of sin.\n\nUnion Theological Seminary,\nNew York, _February 17_, 1871.\n\n           *   *   *   *   *\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n I. THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE\n\n II. THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE (continued)\n\nIII. GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN\n\n IV. GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN (continued)\n\n V. ALL MANKIND GUILTY; OR, EVERY MAN KNOWS MORE THAN HE PRACTISES\n\n VI. SIN IN THE HEART THE SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE HEAD\n\nVII. THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES\n\nVIII. THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES (continued)\n\nIX. THE IMPOTENCE OF THE LAW\n\nX. SELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE\n\nXI. SIN IS SPIRITUAL SLAVERY\n\nXII. THE ORIGINAL AND THE ACTUAL RELATION OF MAN TO LAW\n\nXIII. THE SIN OF OMISSION\n\nXIV. THE SINFULNESS OF ORIGINAL SIN\n\nXV. THE APPROBATION OF GOODNESS IS NOT THE LOVE OF IT\n\nXVI. THE USE OF FEAR IN RELIGION\n\nXVII. THE PRESENT LIFE AS BELATED TO THE FUTURE\n\nXVIII. THE EXERCISE OF MERCY OPTIONAL WITH GOD\n\nXIX. CHRISTIANITY REQUIRES THE TEMPER OF CHILDHOOD\n\nXX. FAITH THE SOLE SAVING ACT\n\n\nSERMONS.\n\nTHE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE.\n\n1 Cor. xiii. 12.--\"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also\nI am known.\"\n\n\nThe apostle Paul made this remark with reference to the blessedness of\nthe Christian in eternity. Such assertions are frequent in the\nScriptures. This same apostle, whose soul was so constantly dilated\nwith the expectation of the beatific vision, assures the Corinthians, in\nanother passage in this epistle, that \"eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,\nneither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath\nprepared for them that love Him.\" The beloved disciple John, also, though\nhe seems to have lived in the spiritual world while he was upon the\nearth, and though the glories of eternity were made to pass before him in\nthe visions of Patmos, is compelled to say of the sons of God, \"It doth\nnot yet appear what we shall be.\" And certainly the common Christian, as\nhe looks forward with a mixture of hope and anxiety to his final state in\neternity, will confess that he knows but \"in part,\" and that a very small\npart, concerning it. He endures as seeing that which is invisible, and\ncherishes the hope that through Christ's redemption his eternity will\nbe a condition of peace and purity, and that he shall know even as also\nhe is known.\n\nBut it is not the Christian alone who is to enter eternity, and to whom\nthe exchange of worlds will bring a luminous apprehension of many things\nthat have hitherto been seen only through a glass darkly. Every human\ncreature may say, when he thinks of the alteration that will come over\nhis views of religious subjects upon entering another life, \"Now\nI know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. I am now\nin the midst of the vapors and smoke of this dim spot which men call\nearth, but then shall I stand in the dazzling light of the face of God,\nand labor under no doubt or delusion respecting my own character or that\nof my Eternal Judge.\"\n\nA moment's reflection will convince any one, that the article and fact of\ndeath must of itself make a vast accession to the amount of a man's\nknowledge, because death introduces him into an entirely new state of\nexistence. Foreign travel adds much to our stock of ideas, because we go\ninto regions of the earth of which we had previously known only by the\nhearing of the ear. But the great and last journey that man takes carries\nhim over into a province of which no book, not even the Bible itself,\ngives him any distinct cognition, as to the style of its scenery or the\ntexture of its objects. In respect to any earthly scene or experience,\nall men stand upon substantially the same level of information, because\nthey all have substantially the same data for forming an estimate. Though\nI may never have been in Italy, I yet know that the soil of Italy is a\npart of the common crust of the globe, that the Apennines are like other\nmountains which I have seen, that the Italian sunlight pours through the\npupil like any other sunlight, and that the Italian breezes fan the brow\nlike those of the sunny south the world over. I understand that the\ngeneral forms of human consciousness in Europe and Asia, are like those\nin America. The operations of the five senses are the same in the Old\nWorld that they are in the New. But what do I know of the surroundings\nand experience of a man who has travelled from time into eternity? Am I\nnot completely baffled, the moment I attempt to construct the\nconsciousness of the unearthly state? I have no materials out of which to\nbuild it, because it is not a world of sense and matter, like that which\nI now inhabit.\n\nBut death carries man over into the new and entirely different mode of\nexistence, so that he knows by direct observation and immediate\nintuition. A flood of new information pours in upon the disembodied\nspirit, such as he cannot by any possibility acquire upon earth, and yet\nsuch as he cannot by any possibility escape from in his new residence.\nHow strange it is, that the young child, the infant of days, in the heart\nof Africa, by merely dying, by merely passing from time into eternity,\nacquires a kind and grade of knowledge that is absolutely inaccessible\nto the wisest and subtlest philosopher while here on earth![1] The dead\nHottentot knows more than the living Plato.\n\nBut not only does the exchange of worlds make a vast addition to our\nstores of information respecting the nature of the invisible realm, and\nthe mode of existence there, it also makes a vast addition to the kind\nand degree of our knowledge respecting _ourselves_, and our personal\nrelationships to God. This is by far the most important part of the new\nacquisition which we gain by the passage from time to eternity, and it is\nto this that the Apostle directs attention in the text. It is not so much\nthe world that will be around us, when we are beyond the tomb, as it is\nthe world that will be within us, that is of chief importance. Our\ncircumstances in this mode of existence, and in any mode of existence,\nare arranged by a Power above us, and are, comparatively, matters of\nsmall concern; but the persons that we ourselves verily are, the\ncharacters which we bring into this environment, the little inner world\nof thought and feeling which is to be inclosed and overarched in the\ngreat outer world of forms and objects,--all this is matter of infinite\nmoment and anxiety to a responsible creature.\n\nFor the text teaches, that inasmuch as the future life is the _ultimate_\nstate of being for an immortal spirit, all that imperfection and\ndeficiency in knowledge which appertains to this present life, this\n\"ignorant present\" time, must disappear. When we are in eternity, we\nshall not be in the dark and in doubt respecting certain great questions\nand truths that sometimes raise a query in our minds here. Voltaire now\nknows whether there is a sin-hating God, and David Hume now knows whether\nthere is an endless hell. I may, in certain moods of my mind here upon\nearth, query whether I am accountable and liable to retribution, but the\ninstant I shall pass from this realm of shadows, all this skepticism will\nbe banished forever from my mind. For the future state is the _final_\nstate, and hence all questions are settled, and all doubts are resolved.\nWhile upon earth, the arrangements are such that we cannot see every\nthing, and must walk by faith, because it is a state of probation; but\nwhen once in eternity, all the arrangements are such that we cannot but\nsee every thing, and must walk by sight, because it is the state of\nadjudication. Hence it is, that the preacher is continually urging men to\nview things, so far as is possible, in the light of eternity, as the only\nlight that shines clearly and without refractions. Hence it is, that he\nimportunes his hearers to estimate their duties, and their relationships,\nand their personal character, as they will upon the death-bed, because in\nthe solemn hour of death the light of the future state begins to dawn\nupon the human soul.\n\nIt is very plain that if a spiritual man like the apostle Paul, who in a\nvery remarkable degree lived with reference to the future world, and\ncontemplated subjects in the light of eternity, was compelled to say that\nhe knew but \"in part,\" much more must the thoughtless natural man confess\nhis ignorance of that which will meet him when his spirit returns to God.\nThe great mass of mankind are totally vacant of any just apprehension of\nwhat will be their state of mind, upon being introduced into God's\npresence. They have never seriously considered what must be the effect\nupon their views and feelings, of an entire withdrawment from the scenes\nand objects of earth, and an entrance into those of the future state.\nMost men are wholly engrossed in the present existence, and do not allow\ntheir thoughts to reach over into that invisible region which revelation\ndiscloses, and which the uncontrollable workings of conscience sometimes\n_force_ upon their attention for a moment. How many men there are, whose\nsinful and thoughtless lives prove that they are not aware that the\nfuture world will, by its very characteristics, fill them with a species\nand a grade of information that will be misery unutterable. Is it not the\nduty and the wisdom of all such, to attempt to conjecture and anticipate\nthe coming experience of the human soul in the day of judgment and the\nfuture life, in order that by repentance toward God and faith in the Lord\nJesus Christ they may be able to stand in that day? Let us then endeavor\nto know, at least \"in part,\" concerning the eternal state.\n\nThe latter clause of the text specifies the general characteristic of\nexistence in the future world. It is a mode of existence in which the\nrational mind \"_knows_ even as it is known.\" It is a world of\nknowledge,--of conscious knowledge. In thus unequivocally asserting that\nour existence beyond the tomb is one of distinct consciousness,\nrevelation has taught us what we most desire and need to know. The first\nquestion that would be raised by a creature who was just to be launched\nout upon an untried mode of existence would be the question: \"Shall I be\n_conscious_?\" However much he might desire to know the length and breadth\nof the ocean upon which his was to set sail, the scenery that was to be\nabove him and around him in his coming history,--nay, however much he\nmight wish to know of matters still closer to himself than these; however\nmuch he might crave to ask of his Maker, \"With what body shall I come?\"\nall would be set second to the simple single inquiry: \"Shall I think,\nshall I feel, shall I know?\" In answering this question in the\naffirmative, without any hesitation or ambiguity, the apostle Paul has\nin reality cleared up most of the darkness that overhangs the future\nstate. The structure of the spiritual body, and the fabric of the\nimmaterial world, are matters of secondary importance, and may be left\nwithout explanation, provided only the rational mind of man be distinctly\ninformed that it shall not sleep in unconsciousness, and that the\nimmortal spark shall not become such stuff as dreams are made of.\n\nThe future, then, is a mode of existence in which the soul \"knows even as\nit is known.\" But this involves a perception in which there is no error,\nand no intermission. For, the human spirit in eternity \"is known\" by the\nomniscient God. If, then, it knows in the style and manner that God\nknows, there can be no misconception or cessation in its cognition. Here,\nthen, we have a glimpse into the nature of our eternal existence. It is a\nstate of distinct and unceasing knowledge of moral truth and moral\nobjects. The human spirit, be it holy or sinful, a friend or an enemy of\nGod, in eternity will always and forever be aware of it. There is no\nforgetting in the future state; there is no dissipation of the mind\nthere; and there is no aversion of the mind from itself. The cognition is\na fixed quantity. Given the soul, and the knowledge is given. If it be\nholy, it is always conscious of the fact. If it be sinful, it cannot for\nan instant lose the distressing consciousness of sin. In neither instance\nwill it be necessary, as it generally is in this life, to make a special\neffort and a particular examination, in order to know the personal\ncharacter. Knowledge of God and His law, in the future life, is\nspontaneous and inevitable; no creature can escape it; and therefore the\nbliss is _unceasing_ in heaven, and the misery is _unceasing_ in\nhell. There are no states of thoughtlessness and unconcern in the future\nlife, because there is not an instant of forgetfulness or ignorance of\nthe personal character and condition. In the world beyond this, every man\nwill constantly and distinctly know what he is, and what he is not,\nbecause he will \"be known\" by the omniscient and unerring God, and will\nhimself know in the same constant and distinct style and manner.\n\nIf the most thoughtless person that now walks the globe could only have a\nclear perception of that kind of knowledge which is awaiting him upon the\nother side of the tomb, he would become the most thoughtful and the most\nanxious of men. It would sober him like death itself. And if any\nunpardoned man should from this moment onward be haunted with the\nthought, \"When I die I shall enter into the light of God's countenance,\nand obtain a knowledge of my own character and obligations that will be\nas accurate and unvarying as that of God himself upon this subject,\" he\nwould find no rest until he had obtained an assurance of the Divine\nmercy, and such an inward change as would enable him to endure this deep\nand full consciousness of the purity of God and of the state of his\nheart. It is only because a man is unthinking, or because he imagines\nthat the future world will be like the present one, only longer in\nduration, that he is so indifferent regarding it. Here is the difficulty\nof the case, and the fatal mistake which the natural man makes. He\nsupposes that the views which he shall have upon religious subjects in\nthe eternal state, will be very much as they are in this,--vague,\nindistinct, fluctuating, and therefore causing no very great anxiety. He\ncan pass days and weeks here in time without thinking of the claims of\nGod upon him, and he imagines that the same thing is possible in\neternity. While here upon earth, he certainly does not \"know even as\nalso he is known,\" and he hastily concludes that so it will be beyond the\ngrave. It is because men imagine that eternity is only a very long space\nof _time_, filled up, as time here is, with dim, indistinct\napprehensions, with a constantly shifting experience, with shallow\nfeelings and ever diversified emotions, in fine, with all the _variety_\nof pleasure and pain, of ignorance and knowledge, that pertains to this\nimperfect and probationary life,--it is because mankind thus conceive of\nthe final state, that it exerts no more influence over them. But such is\nnot its true idea. There is a marked difference between the present and\nthe future life, in respect to uniformity and clearness of knowledge.\n\"Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.\" The\ntext and the whole teaching of the New Testament prove that the invisible\nworld is the unchangeable one; that there are no alterations of\ncharacter, and consequently no alternations of experience, in the future\nlife; that there are no transitions, as there are in this checkered scene\nof earth, from happiness to unhappiness and back again. There is but one\nuniform type of experience for an individual soul in eternity. That soul\nis either uninterruptedly happy, or uninterruptedly miserable, because it\nhas either an uninterrupted sense of holiness, or an uninterrupted sense\nof sin. He that is righteous is righteous still, and knows it\ncontinually; and he that is filthy is filthy still, and knows it\nincessantly. If we enter eternity as the redeemed of the Lord, we take\nover the holy heart and spiritual affections of regeneration, and there\nis no change but that of progression,--a change, consequently, only in\ndegree, but none of kind or type. The same knowledge and experience that\nwe have here \"in part\" we shall have there in completeness and\npermanency. And the same will be true, if the heart be evil and the\naffections inordinate and earthly. And all this, simply because the\nmind's knowledge is clear, accurate, and constant. That which the\ntransgressor knows here of God and his own heart, but imperfectly, and\nfitfully, and briefly, he shall know there perfectly, and constantly, and\neverlastingly. The law of constant evolution, and the characteristic of\nunvarying uniformity, will determine and fix the type of experience in\nthe evil as it does in the good.\n\nSuch, then, is the general nature of knowledge in the future state. It is\ndistinct, accurate, unintermittent, and unvarying. We shall know even as\nwe are known, and we are known by the omniscient and unerring Searcher of\nhearts. Let us now apply this general characteristic of cognition in\neternity to some particulars. Let us transfer our minds into the future\nand final state, and mark what goes on within them there. We ought often\nto enter this mysterious realm, and become habituated to its mental\nprocesses, and by a wise anticipation become prepared for the reality\nitself.\n\nI. The human mind, in eternity, will have a distinct and unvarying\nperception of the _character of God_. And that one particular attribute\nin this character, respecting which the cognition will be of the most\nluminous quality, is the Divine holiness. In eternity, the immaculateness\nof the Deity will penetrate the consciousness of every rational creature\nwith the subtlety and the thoroughness of fire. God's essence is\ninfinitely pure, and intensely antagonistic to sin, but it is not until\nthere is a direct contact between it and the human mind, that man\nunderstands it and feels it. \"I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the\near, but now mine eye seeth Thee, and I abhor myself.\" Even the best of\nmen know but \"in part\" concerning the holiness of God. Yet it is\nnoticeable how the apprehension of it grows upon the ripening Christian,\nas he draws nearer to the time of his departure. The vision of the\ncherubim themselves seems to dawn upon the soul of a Leighton and an\nEdwards, and though it does not in the least disturb their saintly and\nseraphic peace, because they are sheltered in the clefts of the Rock of\nAges, as the brightness passes by them, it does yet bring out from their\ncomparatively holy and spiritual hearts the utterance, \"Behold I am vile;\ninfinite upon, infinite is my sin.\" But what shall be said of the common\nand ordinary knowledge of mankind, upon this subject! Except at certain\ninfrequent times, the natural man does not know even \"in part,\"\nrespecting the holiness of God, and hence goes on in transgression\nwithout anxiety or terror. It is the very first work of prevenient grace,\nto disclose to the human mind something of the Divine purity; and\nwhoever, at any moment, is startled by a more than common sense of God's\nholy character, should regard it and cherish it as a token of benevolence\nand care for his soul.\n\nNow, in eternity this species of knowledge must exist in the very highest\ndegree. The human soul will be encircled by the character and attributes\nof God. It cannot look in any direction without beholding it. It is not\nso here. Here, in this life, man may and does avert his eye, and refuse\nto look at the sheen and the splendor that pains his organ. He fastens\nhis glance upon the farm, or the merchandise, or the book, and\nperseveringly determines not to see the purity of God that rebukes him.\nAnd _here_ he can succeed. He can and does live days and months without\nso much as a momentary glimpse of his Maker, and, as the apostle says,\nis \"without God\" in this world. And yet such men do have, now and then, a\nview of the face of God. It may be for an instant only. It may be merely\na thought, a gleam, a flash; and yet, like that quick flash of lightning,\nof which our Lord speaks, that lighteneth out of the one part of heaven,\nand shineth unto the other part, that cometh out of the East and shineth\neven unto the West,--like that swift momentary flash which runs round the\nwhole horizon in the twinkling of an eye, this swift thought and gleam of\nGod's purity fills the whole guilty soul full of light. What spiritual\ndistress seizes the man in such moments, and of what a penetrating\nperception of the Divine character is he possessed for an instant! It is\na distinct and an accurate knowledge, but, unlike the cognition of the\nfuture state, it is not yet an inevitable and unintermittent one. He can\nexpel it, and become again an ignorant and indifferent being, as he was\nbefore. He knows but \"in part\" at the very best, and this only\ntemporarily.\n\nBut carry this rational and accountable creature into eternity, denude\nhim of the body of sense, and take him out of the busy and noisy world of\nsense into the silent world of spirits, and into the immediate presence\nof God, and then he will know upon this subject even as he is known. That\nsight and perception of God's purity which he had here for a brief\ninstant, and which was so painful because he was not in sympathy with it,\nhas now become everlasting. That distinct and accurate knowledge of\nGod's character has now become his only knowledge. That flash of\nlightning has become light,--fixed, steady, permanent as the orb of day.\nThe rational spirit cannot for an instant rid itself of the idea of God.\nNever for a moment, in the endless cycles, can it look away from its\nMaker; for in His presence what other object is there to look at? Time\nitself, with its pursuits and its objects of thought and feeling, is no\nlonger, for the angel hath sworn it by Him who liveth for ever and ever.\nThere is nothing left, then, to occupy and engross the attention but the\ncharacter and attributes of God; and, now, the immortal mind, created for\nsuch a purpose, must yield itself up to that contemplation which in this\nlife it dreaded and avoided. The future state of every man is to be an\nopen and unavoidable vision of God. If he delights in the view, he will\nbe blessed; if he loathes it, he will be miserable. This is the substance\nof heaven and hell. This is the key to the eternal destiny of every human\nsoul. If a man love God, he shall gaze at him and adore; if he hate God,\nhe shall gaze at him and gnaw his tongue for pain.\n\nThe subject, as thus far unfolded, teaches the following lessons:\n\n1. In the first place, it shows that _a false theory of the future state\nwill not protect a man from future misery_. For, we have seen that the\neternal world, by its very structure and influences, throws a flood of\nlight upon the Divine character, causing it to appear in its ineffable\npurity and splendor, and compels every creature to stand out in that\nlight. There is no darkness in which man can hide himself, when he leaves\nthis world of shadows. A false theory, therefore, respecting God, can no\nmore protect a man from the reality, the actual matter of fact, than a\nfalse theory of gravitation will preserve a man from falling from a\nprecipice into a bottomless abyss. Do you come to us with the theory\nthat every human creature will be happy in another life, and that the\ndoctrine of future misery is false? We tell you, in reply, that God is\n_holy_, beyond dispute or controversy; that He cannot endure the sight of\nsin; and that in the future world every one of His creatures must see Him\nprecisely as He is, and know Him in the real and eternal qualities of His\nnature. The man, therefore, who is full of sin, whose heart is earthly,\nsensual, selfish, must, when he approaches that pure Presence, find that\nhis theory of future happiness shrivels up like the heavens themselves,\nbefore the majesty and glory of God. He now stands face to face with a\nBeing whose character has never dawned upon him with such a dazzling\npurity, and to dispute the reality would be like disputing the fierce\nsplendor of the noonday sun. Theory must give way to fact, and the\ndeluded mortal must submit to its awful force.\n\nIn this lies the _irresistible_ power of death, judgment, and eternity,\nto alter the views of men. Up to these points they can dispute and argue,\nbecause there is no ocular demonstration. It is possible to debate the\nquestion this side of the tomb, because we are none of us face to face\nwith God, and front to front with eternity. In the days of Noah, before\nthe flood came, there was skepticism, and many theories concerning the\nthreatened deluge. So long as the sky was clear, and the green earth\nsmiled under the warm sunlight, it was not difficult for the unbeliever\nto maintain an argument in opposition to the preacher of righteousness.\nBut when the sky was rent with lightnings, and the earth was scarred with\nthunder-bolts, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, where\nwas the skepticism? where were the theories? where were the arguments?\nWhen God teaches, \"Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the\ndisputer of this world?\" They then knew as they were known; they stood\nface to face with the facts.\n\nIt is this _inevitableness_ of the demonstration upon which we would\nfasten attention. We are not always to live in this world of shadows. We\nare going individually into the very face and eyes of Jehovah, and\nwhatever notions we may have adopted and maintained must all disappear,\nexcept as they shall be actually verified by what we shall see and know\nin that period of our existence when we shall perceive with the accuracy\nand clearness of God Himself. Our most darling theories, by which we may\nhave sought to solace our souls in reference to our future destiny, if\nfalse, will be all ruthlessly torn away, and we must see what verily and\neternally is. All mankind come upon one doctrinal platform when they\nenter eternity. They all have one creed there. There is not a skeptic\neven in hell. The devils believe and tremble. The demonstration that God\nis holy is so irrefragable, so complete and absolute, that doubt or\ndenial is impossible in any spirit that has passed the line between time\nand eternity.\n\n2. In the second place, this subject shows that _indifference and\ncarelessness respecting the future life will not protect the soul from\nfuture misery_. There may be no false theory adopted, and yet if there be\nno thoughtful preparation to meet God, the result will be all the same. I\nmay not dispute the Newtonian theory of gravitation, yet if I pay no heed\nto it, if I simply forget it, as I clamber up mountains, and walk by the\nside of precipices, my body will as surely be dashed to pieces as if I\nwere a theoretical skeptic upon the subject of gravitation.\n\nThe creature's indifference can no more alter the immutable nature of\nGod, than can the creature's false reasoning, or false theorizing. That\nwhich is settled in heaven, that which is fixed and eternal, stands the\nsame stern, relentless fact under all circumstances. We see the operation\nof this sometimes here upon earth, in a very impressive manner. A youth\nor a man simply neglects the laws and conditions of physical well-being.\nHe does not dispute them. He merely pays no attention to them. A. few\nyears pass by, and disease and torturing pain become his portion. He\ncomes now into the awful presence of the powers and the facts which the\nCreator has inlaid in the world, of physical existence. He knows now even\nas he is known. And the laws are stern. He finds no place of repentance\nin them, though he seek it carefully with tears. The laws never repent,\nnever change their mind. The principles of physical life and growth which\nhe has never disputed, but which he has never regarded, now crush him\ninto the ground in their relentless march and motion.\n\nPrecisely so will it be in the moral world, and with reference to the\nholiness of God. That man who simply neglects to prepare himself to see a\nholy God, though he never denies that there is such a Being, will find\nthe vision just as unendurable to him, as it is to the most determined of\nearthly skeptics. So far as the final result in the other world is\nconcerned, it matters little whether a man adds unbelief to his\ncarelessness, or not. The carelessness will ruin his soul, whether with\nor without skepticism. Orthodoxy is valuable only as it inspires the hope\nthat it will end in timely and practical attention to the concerns of the\nsoul. But if you show me a man who you infallibly know will go through\nlife careless and indifferent, I will show you a man who will not be\nprepared to meet God face to face, even though his theology be as\naccurate as that of St. Paul himself. Nay, we have seen that there is a\ntime coming when all skeptics will become believers like the devils\nthemselves, and will tremble at the ocular demonstration of truths which\nthey have heretofore denied. Theoretical unbelief must be a temporary\naffair in every man; for it can last only until he dies. Death will make\nall the world theoretically orthodox, and bring them all to one and the\nsame creed. But death will not bring them all to one and the same happy\nexperience of the truth, and lave of the creed. For those who have made\npreparation for the vision of God and the ocular demonstration of Divine\ntruth, these will rise upon their view with a blessed and glorious light.\nBut for those who have remained sinful and careless, these eternal truths\nand facts will be a vision of terror and despair. They will not alter. No\nman will find any place of repentance in them, though, like Esau, he seek\nit carefully and with tears.\n\n3. In the third place, this subject shows that _only faith in Christ and\na new heart can protect the soul from future misery_. The nature and\ncharacter of God cannot be altered, and therefore the change must be\nwrought in man's soul. The disposition and affections of the heart must\nbe brought into such sweet sympathy and harmony with God's holiness, that\nwhen in the next world that holiness shall be revealed as it is to the\nseraphim, it will fall in upon the soul like the rays of a vernal sun,\nstarting every thing into cheerful life and joy. If the Divine holiness\ndoes not make this impression, it produces exactly the contrary effect.\nIf the sun's rays do not start the bud in the spring, they kill it. If\nthe vision of a holy God is not our heaven, then it must be our hell.\nLook then directly into your heart, and tell us which is the impression\nfor you. Can you say with David, \"We give thanks and rejoice, at the\nremembrance of Thy holiness?\" Are you glad that there is such a pure and\nimmaculate Being upon the throne, and when His excellence abashes you,\nand rebukes your corruption and sin, do you say, \"Let the righteous One\nsmite me, it shall be a kindness?\" Do you _love_ God's holy character? If\nso, you are a new creature, and are ready for the vision of God, face to\nface. For you, to know God even as you are known by Him will not be a\nterror, but a glory and a joy. You are in sympathy with Him. You have\nbeen reconciled to Him by the blood of atonement, and brought into\nharmony with Him by the washing of regeneration. For you, as a believer\nin Christ, and a new man in Christ Jesus, all is well. The more you see\nof God, the more you desire to see of Him; and the more you know of Him,\nthe more you long to know.\n\nBut if this is not your experience, then all is ill with you. We say\n_experience_. You must _feel_ in this manner toward God, or you cannot\nendure the vision which is surely to break upon you after death. You must\n_love_ this holiness without which no man can see the Lord. You may\napprove of it, you may praise it in other men, but if there is no\naffectionate going out of your own heart toward, the holy God, you are\nnot in right relations to Him. You have the carnal mind, and that is\nenmity, and enmity is misery.\n\nLook these facts in the eye, and act accordingly. \"Make the _tree_ good,\nand his fruit good,\" says Christ. Begin at the beginning. Aim at nothing\nless than a change of disposition and affections. Ask for nothing less,\nseek for nothing less. If you become inwardly holy as God is holy; if you\nbecome a friend of God, reconciled to Him by the blood of Christ; then\nyour nature will be like God's nature, your character like God's\ncharacter. Then, when you shall know God even as you are known by Him,\nand shall see Him as He is, the knowledge and the vision will be\neverlasting joy.\n\n[Footnote 1:\n\n  \"She has seen the mystery hid,\n  Under Egypt's pyramid;\n  By those eyelids pale and close,\n  Now she knows what Rhamses knows.\"\n  ELIZABETH BROWNING: On the Death of a Child.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE.\n\n1 COR. xiii. 12.--\"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also\nI am known.\"\n\nIn the preceding discourse, we found in these words the principal\ncharacteristic of our future existence. The world beyond the tomb is a\nworld of clear and conscious knowledge. When, at death, I shall leave\nthis region of time and sense and enter eternity, my knowledge, the\napostle Paul tells me instead of being diminished or extinguished by the\ndissolution, of the body, will not only be continued to me, but will be\neven greater and clearer than before. He assures me that the kind and\nstyle of my cognition will be like that of God himself. I am to know as I\nam known. My intelligence will coincide with that of Deity.\n\nBy this we are not to understand that the creature's knowledge, in the\nfuture state, will be as extensive as that of the Omniscient One; or that\nit will be as profound and exhaustive as His. The infinitude of things\ncan be known only by the Infinite Mind; and the creature will forever be\nmaking new acquisitions, and never reaching the final limit of truths and\nfacts. But upon certain moral subjects, the perception of the creature\nwill be like that of his Maker and Judge, so far as the _kind_ or\n_quality_ of the apprehension is concerned. Every man in eternity, for\nillustration, will see sin to be an odious and abominable thing, contrary\nto the holy nature of God, and awakening in that nature the most holy and\nawful displeasure. His knowledge upon this subject will be so identical\nwith that of God, that he will be unable to palliate or excuse his\ntransgressions, as he does in this world. He will see them precisely as\nGod sees them. He must know them as God knows them, because he will \"know\neven as he is known.\"\n\nII. In continuing the examination of this solemn subject, we remark as a\nsecond and further characteristic of the knowledge which every man will\npossess in eternity, that he will know _himself_ even as he is known by\nGod. His knowledge of God we have found to be direct, accurate, and\nunceasing; his knowledge of his own heart will be so likewise. This\nfollows from the relation of the two species of cognition to each other.\nThe true knowledge of God involves the true knowledge of self. The\ninstant that any one obtains a clear view of the holy nature of his\nMaker, he obtains a clear view of his own sinful nature. Philosophers\ntell us, that our consciousness of God and our consciousness of self\nmutually involve and imply each other[1]; in other words, that we cannot\nknow God without immediately knowing ourselves, any more than we can know\nlight without knowing darkness, any more than we can have the idea of\nright without having the idea of wrong. And it is certainly true that so\nsoon as any being can intelligently say, \"God is holy,\" he can and must\nsay, \"I am holy,\" or, \"I am unholy,\" as the fact may be. Indeed, the only\nway in which man can truly know himself is to contrast himself with his\nMaker; and the most exhaustive self-knowledge and self-consciousness is\nto be found, not in the schools of secular philosophy but, in the\nsearchings of the Christian heart,--in the \"Confessions\" of Augustine; in\nthe labyrinthine windings of Edwards \"On the Affections.\" Hence the\nfrequent exhortations in the Bible to look at the character of God, in\norder that we may know ourselves and be abased by the contrast. In\neternity, therefore, if we must have a clear and constant perception of\nGod's character, we must necessarily have a distinct and unvarying\nknowledge of our own. It is not so here. Here in this world, man knows\nhimself but \"in part.\" Even when he endeavors to look within, prejudice\nand passion often affect his judgment; but more often, the fear of what\nhe shall discover in the secret places of his soul deters him from making\nthe attempt at self-examination. For it is a surprising truth that the\ntransgressor dares not bring out into the light that which is most truly\nhis own, that which he himself has originated, and which he loves and\ncherishes with all his strength and might. He is afraid of his own heart!\nEven when God forces the vision of it upon him, he would shut his eyes;\nor if this be not possible, he would look through distorting media and\nsee it with a false form and coloring.\n\n  \"But 'tis not so above;\n  There is no shuffling; there the action lies\n  In his true nature: and we ourselves compelled,\n  Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,\n  To give in evidence.\"[2]\n\nThe spirit that has come into the immediate presence of God, and beholds\nHim face to face, cannot deceive Him, and therefore cannot deceive\nitself. It cannot remain ignorant of God's character any longer, and\ntherefore cannot remain ignorant of its own.\n\nWe do not sufficiently consider and ponder the elements of anguish that\nare sleeping in the fact that in eternity a sinner _must_ know God's\ncharacter, and therefore _must_ know his own. It is owing to their\nneglect of such subjects, that mankind so little understand what an awful\npower there is in the distinct perception of the Divine purity, and the\nallied consciousness of sin. Lord Bacon tells us that the knowledge\nacquired in the schools is power; but it is weakness itself, if compared\nwith that form and species of cognition which is given to the mind of man\nby the workings of conscience in the light of the Divine countenance. If\na transgressor knew clearly what disclosures of God's immaculateness and\nof his own character must be made to him in eternity, he would fear them,\nif unprepared, far more than physical sufferings. If he understood what\ncapabilities for distress the rational spirit possesses in its own\nmysterious constitution, if when brought into contact with the Divine\npurity it has no sympathy with it, but on the contrary an intense\nhostility; if he knew how violent will be the antagonism between God's\nholiness and man's sin when, the two are finally brought together, the\nassertion that there is no external source of anguish in hell, even if it\nwere true, would afford him no relief. Whoever goes into the presence of\nGod with a corrupt heart carries thither a source of sorrow that is\ninexhaustible, simply because that corrupt heart must be _distinctly\nknown_, and _perpetually understood_ by its possessor, in that Presence.\nThe thoughtless man may never know while upon earth, even \"in part,\" the\ndepth and the bitterness of this fountain,--he may go through this life\nfor the most part self-ignorant and undistressed,--but he must know in\nthat other, final, world the immense fulness of its woe, as it\nunceasingly wells up into everlasting death. One theory of future\npunishment is, that our globe will become a penal orb of fire, and the\nwicked with material bodies, miraculously preserved by Omnipotence, will\nburn forever in it. But what is this compared with the suffering soul?\nThe spirit itself, thus alienated from God's purity and _conscious_ that\nit is, wicked, and _knowing_ that it is wicked, becomes an \"orb of fire.\"\n\"It is,\"--says John Howe, who was no fanatic, but one of the most\nthoughtful and philosophic of Christians,--\"it is a throwing hell into\nhell, when a wicked man comes to hell; for he was his own hell\nbefore.\"[3]\n\nIt must ever be borne in mind, that the principal source and seat of\nfuture torment will be the sinner's _sin_. We must never harbor the\nthought, or fall into the notion, that the retributions of eternity are a\nwanton and arbitrary infliction upon the part of God. Some men seem to\nsuppose, or at any rate they represent, that the woes of hell are a\nspecies of undeserved suffering; that God, having certain helpless and\ninnocent creatures in His power, visits them with wrath, in the exercise\nof an arbitrary sovereignty. But this is not Christ's doctrine of endless\npunishment. There is no suffering inflicted, here or hereafter, upon any\nthing but _sin,_--unrepented, incorrigible sin,--and if you will show\nme a sinless creature, I will show you one who will never feel the least\ntwinge or pang through all eternity. Death is the wages of _sin_. The\nsubstance of the wretchedness of the lost will issue right out of their\nown character. They will see their own wickedness steadily and clearly,\nand this will make them miserable. It will be the carrying out of the\nsame principle that operates here in time, and in our own daily\nexperience. Suppose that by some method, all the sin of my heart, and all\nthe sins of my outward conduct, were made clear to my own view; suppose\nthat for four-and-twenty hours continuously I were compelled to look at\nmy wickedness intently, just as I would look intently into a burning\nfurnace of fire; suppose that for this length of time I should see\nnothing, and hear nothing, and experience nothing of the world, about me,\nbut should be absorbed in the vision of my own disobedience of God's good\nlaw, think you that (setting aside the work of Christ) I should be happy?\nOn the contrary, should I not be the most wretched of mortals? Would not\nthis self-knowledge be pure living torment? And yet the misery springs\nentirely out of the _sin_. There is nothing arbitrary or wanton in the\nsuffering. It is not brought in upon me from the outside. It comes out of\nmyself. And, while I was writhing under the sense and power of my\ntransgressions, would you mock me, by telling me that I was a poor\ninnocent struggling in the hands of omnipotent malice; that the suffering\nwas unjust, and that if there were any justice in the universe, I should\nbe delivered from it? No, we shall suffer in the future world only as we\nare sinners, and because we are sinners. There will be weeping and\nwailing and gnashing of teeth, only because the sinful creature will be\ncompelled to look at himself; to know his sin in the same manner that it\nis known by the Infinite Intelligence. And is there any injustice in\nthis? If a sinful being cannot bear the sight of himself, would you have\nthe holy Deity step in between him and his sins, so that he should not\nsee them, and so that he might be happy in them? Away with such folly and\nsuch wickedness. For it is the height of wickedness to desire that some\nmethod should be invented, and introduced into the universe of God,\nwhereby the wages of sin shall be life and joy; whereby a sinner can look\ninto his own wicked heart and be happy.\n\nIII. A third characteristic of the knowledge which every man will possess\nin eternity will be a clear understanding of _the nature and wants of the\nsoul._ Man has that in his constitution, which needs God, and which\ncannot be at rest except in God. A state of sin is a state of alienation\nand separation from the Creator. It is, consequently, in its intrinsic\nnature, a state of restlessness and dissatisfaction. \"There is no peace\nsaith my God to the wicked; the wicked are like the troubled sea.\" In\norder to know this, it is only necessary to bring an apostate creature,\nlike man, to a consciousness of the original requirements and necessities\nof his being. But upon this subject, man while upon earth most certainly\nknows only \"in part.\" Most men are wholly ignorant of the constitutional\nneeds of a rational spirit, and are not aware that it is as impossible\nfor the creature, when in eternity, to live happily out of God, as it is\nfor the body to live at all in the element of fire. Most men, while here\nupon earth, do not know upon this subject as they are known. God knows\nthat the whole created universe cannot satisfy the desires of an immortal\nbeing, but impenitent men do not know this fact with a clear perception,\nand they will not until they die and go into another world.\n\nAnd the reason is this. So long as the worldly natural man lives upon\nearth, he can find a sort of substitute for God. He has a capacity for\nloving, and he satisfies it to a certain degree by loving himself; by\nloving fame, wealth, pleasure, or some form of creature-good. He has a\ncapacity for thinking, and he gratifies it in a certain manner by\npondering the thoughts of other minds, or by original speculations of his\nown. And so we might go through with the list of man's capacities, and we\nshould find, that he contrives, while here upon earth, to meet these\nappetences of his nature, after a sort, by the objects of time and sense,\nand to give his soul a species of satisfaction short of God, and away\nfrom God. Fame, wealth, and pleasure; the lust of the flesh, the lust of\nthe eye, and the pride of life; become a substitute for the Creator, in\nhis search, for happiness. As a consequence, the unregenerate man knows\nbut \"in part\" respecting the primitive and constitutional necessities of\nhis being. He is feeding them with a false and unhealthy food, and in\nthis way manages to stifle for a season their true and deep cravings. But\nthis cannot last forever. When a man dies and goes into eternity, he\ntakes nothing with him but his character and his moral affinities. \"We\nbrought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry\nnothing out.\" The original requirements and necessities of his soul are\nnot destroyed by death, but the earthly objects by which he sought to\nmeet them, and by which he did meet them after a sort, are totally\ndestroyed. He still has a capacity for loving; but in eternity where is\nthe fame, the wealth, the pleasure upon which he has hitherto expended\nit? He still has a capacity for thinking; but where are the farm, the\nmerchandise, the libraries, the works of art, the human literatures, and\nthe human philosophies, upon which he has heretofore employed it? The\ninstant you cut off a creature who seeks his good in the world, and not\nin God, from intercourse with the world, you cause him to know even as he\nis known respecting the true and proper portion of his soul. Deprived of\nhis accustomed and his false object of love and support, he immediately\nbegins to reach out in all directions for something to love, something to\nthink of, something to trust in, and finds nothing. Like that insect in\nour gardens which spins a slender thread by which to guide itself in its\nmeanderings, and which when the clew is cut thrusts out its head in every\ndirection, but does not venture to advance, the human creature who has\nsuddenly been cut off by death from his accustomed objects of support and\npleasure stretches out in every direction for something to take their\nplace. And the misery of his case is, that when in his reachings out he\nsees God, or comes into contact with God, he starts back like the little\ninsect when you present a coal of fire to it. He needs as much as ever,\nto love some being or some thing. But he has no heart to love God and\nthere is no other being and no other thing in eternity to love. He needs,\nas much as ever, to think of some object or some subject. But to think of\nGod is a distress to him; to reflect upon divine and holy things is\nweariness and woe. He is a carnal, earthly-minded man, and therefore\ncannot find enjoyment in such meditations. Before he can take relish in\nsuch objects and such thinking, he must be born again; he must become a\nnew creature. But there is no new-birth of the soul in eternity. The\ndisposition and character which a man takes along with him when he dies\nremains eternally unchanged. The constitutional wants still continue. The\nman must love, and must think. But the only object in eternity upon which\nsuch capability can be expended is God; and the carnal mind, saith the\nScripture, is _enmity_ against God, and is not subject to the law of God,\nneither indeed can be.\n\nNow, whatever may be the course of a man in this life; whether he becomes\naware of these created imperatives, and constitutional necessities of his\nimmortal spirit or not; whether he hears its reproaches and rebukes\nbecause he is feeding them with the husks of earth, instead of the bread\nof heaven, or not; it is certain that in the eternal world they will be\ncontinually awake and perpetually heard. For that spiritual world will be\nfitted up for nothing but a rational spirit. There will be nothing\nmaterial, nothing like earth, in its arrangements. Flesh and blood cannot\ninherit either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan. The enjoyments\nand occupations of this sensuous and material state will be found neither\nin heaven nor in hell. Eternity is a spiritual region, and all its\nobjects, and all its provisions, will have reference solely to the\noriginal capacities and destination of a spiritual creature. They will,\ntherefore, all be terribly reminiscent of apostasy; only serving to\nremind the soul of what it was originally designed to be, and of what it\nhas now lost by worshipping and loving the creature more than the\nCreator. How wretched then must man be, when, with the awakening of this\nrestlessness and dissatisfaction of an immortal spirit, and with the\nbright pattern of what he ought to be continually before his eye, there\nis united an intensity of self-love and enmity toward God, that drives\nhim anywhere and everywhere but to his Maker, for peace and comfort. How\nfull of woe must the lost creature be, when his immortal necessities are\nawakened and demand their proper food, but cannot obtain it, because of\nthe aversion of the heart toward the only Being who can satisfy them.\nFor, the same hatred of holiness, and disinclination toward spiritual\nthings, which prevents a man from choosing God for his portion here,\nwill prevent him hereafter. It is the bold fancy of an imaginative\nthinker,[4] that the material forces which lie beneath external nature\nare conscious of being bound down and confined under the crust of the\nearth, like the giant Enceladus under Mt. Etna, and that there are times\nwhen they roar from the depths where they are in bondage, and call aloud\nfor freedom; when they rise in their might, and manifest themselves in\nthe earthquake and the volcano. It will be a more fearful and terrific\nstruggle, when the powers of an apostate being are roused in eternity;\nwhen the then eternal sin and guilt has its hour of triumph, and the\neternal reason and conscience have their hour of judgment and remorse;\nwhen the inner world of man's spirit, by this schism and antagonism\nwithin it, has a devastation and a ruin spread over it more awful than\nthat of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.\n\nWe have thus, in this and the preceding discourse, considered the kind\nand quality of that knowledge which every human being will possess in the\neternal world. He will know God, and he will know himself, with a\ndistinct, and accurate, and unceasing intelligence like that of the\nDeity. It is one of the most solemn and startling themes that can be\npresented to the human mind. We have not been occupied with what will be\n_around_ a creature, what will be _outside_ of a man, in the life to\ncome; but we have been examining what will be _within_ him. We have been\nconsidering what he will think of beyond the tomb; what his own feelings\nwill be when he meets God face to face. But a man's immediate\nconsciousness determines his happiness or his misery. As a man thinketh\nin his heart so is he. We must not delude ourselves with the notion, that\nthe mere arrangements and circumstances of the spiritual world will\ndecide our weal or our woe, irrespective of the tenor of our thoughts and\naffections; that if we are only placed in pleasant gardens or in golden\nstreets, all will be well. As a man thinketh in his heart, so will he be\nin his experience. This vision of God, and of our own hearts, will be\neither the substance of heaven, or the substance of hell. The great\nfuture is a world of open vision. Now, we see through a glass darkly, but\nthen, face to face. The vision for every human creature will be beatific,\nif he is prepared for it; will be terrific, if he is unprepared.\n\nDoes not the subject, then, speak with solemn warning to every one who\nknows that he is not prepared for the coming revelations that will be\nmade to him when he dies; for this clear and accurate knowledge of God,\nand of his own character? Do you believe that there is an eternal world,\nand that the general features of this mode of existence have been\nscripturally depicted? Do you suppose that your present knowledge of the\nholiness of God, and of your own sinful nature, is equal to what it will\nbe when your spirit returns to God who gave it? Are you prepared for the\nimpending and inevitable disclosures and revelations of the day of\njudgment? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God, who\ncame forth from eternity eighteen centuries since, and went back into\neternity, leaving upon record for human instruction an unexaggerated\ndescription of that invisible world, founded upon the personal knowledge\nof an eye-witness?\n\nWhoever thus believes, concerning the record which Christ and His\napostles have left for the information of dim-eyed mortals who see only\n\"through a glass darkly,\" and who know only \"in part,\" ought immediately\nto adopt their descriptions and ponder them long and well. We have\nalready observed, that the great reason why the future state exerts so\nlittle influence over worldly men lies in the fact, that they do not\nbring it into distinct view. They live absorbed in the interests and\noccupations of earth, and their future abode throws in upon them none of\nits solemn shadows and warnings. A clear luminous perception of the\nnature and characteristics of that invisible world which is soon to\nreceive them, would make them thoughtful and anxious for their souls; for\nthey would become aware of their utter unfitness, their entire lack of\npreparation, to see God face to face. Still, live and act as sinful men\nmay, eternity is over and around them all, even as the firmament is bent\nover the globe. If theirs were a penitent and a believing eye, they would\nlook up with adoration into its serene depths, and joyfully behold the\nsoft gleam of its stars, and it would send down upon them the sweet\ninfluences of its constellations. They may shut their eyes upon all this\nglory, and feel only earthly influences, and continue to be \"of the\nearth, earthy.\" But there is a time coming when they cannot but look at\neternity; when this firmament will throw them into consternation by the\nlivid glare of its lightnings, and will compel them to hear the quick\nrattle and peal of its thunder; when it will not afford them a vision of\nglory and joy, as it will the redeemed and the holy, but one of despair\nand destruction.\n\nThere is only one shelter from this storm; there is only one covert from\nthis tempest. He, and only he, who trusts in Christ's blood of atonement,\nwill be able to look into the holy countenance of God, and upon the dread\nrecord of his own sins, without either trembling or despair. The merits\nand righteousness of Christ so clothe the guilty soul, that it can endure\nthe otherwise intolerable brightness of God's pure throne and presence.\n\n  \"Jesus! Thy blood and righteousness,\n  My beauty are, my glorious dress;\n  Mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed,\n  With joy shall I lift up my head.\"\n\nAmidst those great visions that are to dawn upon every human creature,\nthose souls will be in perfect peace who trust in the Great Propitiation.\nIn those great tempests that are to shake down the earth and the sky,\nthose hearts will be calm and happy who are hid in the clefts of the Rock\nof Ages. Flee then to Christ, ye prisoners of hope. Make preparation to\nknow even as you are known, by repentance toward God and faith in the\nLord Jesus Christ. A voice comes to you out of the cloud, saying, \"This\nis my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.\" Remember, and\nforget not, that this knowledge of God and your own heart is\n_inevitable._ At death, it will all of it flash upon the soul like\nlightning at midnight. It will fill the whole horizon of your being full\nof light. If you are in Christ Jesus, the light will not harm you. But if\nyou are out of Christ, it will blast you. No sinful mortal can endure\nsuch a vision an instant, except as he is sprinkled with atoning blood,\nand clothed in the righteousness of the great Substitute and Surety for\nguilty man. Flee then to CHRIST, and so be prepared to know God and your\nown heart, even as you are known.\n\n[Footnote 1: Noverim me, noverim Te.--BERNARD.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act III., Sc. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Howe: On Regeneration. Sermon xliii.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Bookschammer: On the Will.]\n\n\n\n\nGOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN.\n\nPSALM cxxxix. I-6.--\"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou\nknowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought\nafar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted\nwith, all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord,\nthou knowest it altogether. Thou, hast beset me behind and before, and\nlaid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is\nhigh, I cannot attain unto it.\"\n\n\nOne of the most remarkable characteristics of a rational being is the\npower of self-inspection. The brute creation possesses many attributes\nthat are common to human nature, but it has no faculty that bears even\nthe remotest resemblance to that of self-examination. Instinctive action,\nundoubtedly, approaches the nearest of any to human action. That\nwonderful power by which the bee builds up a structure that is not\nexceeded in accuracy, and regularity, and economy of space, by the best\ngeometry of Athens or of Rome; by which the beaver, after having chosen\nthe very best possible location for it on the stream, constructs a dam\nthat outlasts the work of the human engineer; by which the faithful dog\ncontrives to perform many acts of affection, in spite of obstacles, and\nin the face of unexpected discouragements,--the _instinct_, we say, of\nthe brute creation, as exhibited in a remarkably wide range of action and\ncontrivance, and in a very varied and oftentimes perplexing conjuncture\nof circumstances, seems to bring man and beast very near to each other,\nand to furnish some ground for the theory of the materialist, that there\nis no essential difference between the two species of existences. But\nwhen we pass beyond the mere power of acting, to the additional power of\n_surveying_ or _inspecting_ an act, and of forming an estimate of its\nrelations to moral law, we find a faculty in man that makes him differ in\nkind from the brute. No brute animal, however high up the scale, however\ningenious and sagacious he may be, can ever look back and think of what\nhe has done, \"his thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing him.\"\n\nThe mere power of performance, is, after all, not the highest power. It\nis the superadded power of calmly looking over the performance, and\nseeing _what_ has been done, that marks the higher agency, and denotes a\nloftier order of existence than that of the animal or of material nature.\nIf the mere ability to work with energy, and produce results, constituted\nthe highest species of power, the force of gravitation would be the\nloftiest energy in the universe. Its range of execution is wider than\nthat of any other created principle. But it is one of the lower and least\nimportant of agencies, because it is blind. It is destitute of the power\nof self-inspection. It does not know _what_ it does, or _why_. \"Man,\"\nsays Pascal,[1] \"is but a reed, and the weakest in all nature; yet he is\na reed that _thinks_. The whole material universe does not need to arm\nitself, in order to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water is enough to\ndestroy him. But if the whole universe of matter should combine to crush\nhim, man would be more noble than that which destroyed him. For he would\nbe _conscious_ that he was dying, while, of the advantage which the\nmaterial universe had obtained over him, that universe would know\nnothing.\" The action of a little child is altogether nothing and vanity\ncompared with the energy of the earthquake or the lightning, so far as\nthe exhibition of force and the mere power to act is concerned; but, on\nthe other hand, it is more solemn than centuries of merely natural\nprocesses, and more momentous than all the material phenomena that have\never filled the celestial spaces, when we remember that it is the act of\na thinking agent, and a self-conscious creature. The power to _survey_\nthe act, when united with the power to act, sets mind infinitely above\nmatter, and places the action of instinct, wonderful as it is, infinitely\nbelow the action of self-consciousness. The proud words of one of the\ncharacters in the old drama are strictly true:\n\n  \"I am a nobler substance than the stars,\n  Or are they better since they are bigger?\n  I have a will and faculties of choice,\n  To do or not to do; and reason why\n  I do or not do this: the stars have none.\n  They know not why they shine, more than this taper,\n  Nor how they, work, nor what.\"[2]\n\n\nBut this characteristic of a rational being, though thus distinctive and\ncommon to every man that lives, is exceedingly marvellous. Like the air\nwe breathe, like the light we see, it involves a mystery that no man has\never solved. Self-consciousness has been the problem and the thorn of the\nphilosophic mind in all ages; and the mystery is not yet unravelled. Is\nnot that a wonderful process by which a man knows, not some other thing\nbut, _himself_? Is not that a strange act by which he, for a time,\nduplicates his own unity, and sets himself to look at himself? All other\nacts of consciousness are comparatively plain and explicable. When we\nlook at an object other than ourselves,--when we behold a tree or the\nsky,--the act of knowledge is much more simple and easy to be explained.\nFor then there is something outside of us, and in front of us, and\nanother thing than we are, at which we look, and which we behold. But in\nthis act of _self_-inspection there is no second thing, external, and\nextant to us, which we contemplate. That which is seen is one and the\nsame identical object with that which sees. The act of knowledge which in\nall other instances requires the existence of two things,--a thing to be\nknown and a thing to know,--in this instance is performed with only one.\nIt is the individual soul that sees, and it is that very same individual\nsoul that is seen. It is the individual man that knows, and it is that\nvery identical man that is known. The eyeball looks at the eyeball.\n\nAnd when this power of self-inspection is connected with the power of\nmemory, the mystery of human existence becomes yet more complicated, and\nits explanation still more baffling. Is it not exceedingly wonderful,\nthat we are able to re-exhibit our own thoughts and feelings; that we can\ncall back what has gone clear by in our experience, and steadily look at\nit once more? Is it not a mystery that we can summon before our mind's\neye feelings, purposes, desires, and thoughts, which occurred in the soul\nlong years ago, and which, perhaps, until this moment, we have not\nthought of for years? Is it not a marvel, that they come up with all the\nvividness with which they first took origin in our experience, and that\nthe lapse of time has deprived them of none of their first outlines or\ncolors? Is it not strange, that we can recall that one particular feeling\nof hatred toward a fellow-man which, rankled in the heart twenty years\nago; that we can now eye it, and see it as plainly as if it were still\nthrobbing within us; that we can feel guilty for it once more, as if we\nwere still cherishing it? If it were not so common, would it not be\nsurprising, that we can reflect upon acts of disobedience toward God\nwhich we committed in the days of childhood, and far back in the dim\ntwilights of moral agency; that we can re-act them, as it were, in our\nmemory, and fill ourselves again with the shame and distress that\nattended their original commission? Is it not one of those mysteries\nwhich overhang human existence, and from which that of the brute is\nwholly free, that man can live his life, and act his agency, over,\nand over, and over again, indefinitely and forever, in his\nself-consciousness; that he can cause all his deeds to pass and re-pass\nbefore his self-reflection, and be filled through and through with the\nagony of self-knowledge? Truly _such_ knowledge is too wonderful for me;\nit is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I _go_ from my _own_\nspirit, and whither shall I flee from my _own_ presence. If I ascend up\ninto heaven, it is there looking at me. If I make my bed in hell, behold\nit is there torturing me. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in\nthe uttermost parts of the sea, even there must I know myself, and acquit\nor condemn myself.\n\nBut if that knowledge whereby man knows himself is mysterious, then\ncertainly that whereby God knows him is far more so. That act whereby\n_another_ being knows my secret thoughts, and inmost feelings, is most\ncertainly inexplicable. That cognition whereby _another_ person\nunderstands what takes place in the corners of my heart, and sees the\nminutest movements of my spirit, is surely high; most surely I cannot\nattain unto it.\n\nAnd yet, it is a truth of revelation that God searches the heart of man;\nthat He knows his down-sitting and uprising, and understands his thought\nafar off; that He compasses his path and his lying-down, and is\nacquainted with all his ways. And yet, it is a deduction of reason, also,\nthat because God is the creator of the human mind, He must perfectly\nunderstand its secret agencies; that He in whose Essence man lives and\nmoves and has his being, must behold every motion, and feel every\nstirring of the human spirit. \"He that planted the ear, shall He not\nhear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?\" Let us, then, ponder the\nfact of God's exhaustive knowledge of man's soul, that we may realize it,\nand thereby come under its solemn power and impression. For all religion,\nall holy and reverential fear of God, rises and sets, as in an\natmosphere, in the thought: \"Thou God seest me.\"\n\nI. In analyzing and estimating the Divine knowledge of the human soul, we\nfind, in the first place, that God accurately and exhaustively knows _all\nthat man knows of himself_.\n\nEvery man in a Christian land, who is in the habit of frequenting the\nhouse of God, possesses more or less of that self-knowledge of which we\nhave spoken. He thinks of the moral character of some of his own\nthoughts. He reflects upon the moral quality of some of his own feelings.\nHe considers the ultimate tendency of some of his own actions. In other\nwords, there is a part of his inward and his outward life with which he\nis uncommonly well acquainted; of which he has a distinct perception.\nThere are some thoughts of his mind, at which he blushes at the very time\nof their origin, because he is vividly aware what they are, and what they\nmean. There are some emotions of his heart, at which he trembles and\nrecoils at the very moment of their uprising, because he perceives\nclearly that they involve a very malignant depravity. There are some\nactings of his will, of whose wickedness he is painfully conscious at the\nvery instant of their rush and movement. We are not called upon, here, to\nsay how many of a man's thoughts, feelings, and determinations, are thus\nsubjected to his self-inspection at the very time of their origin, and\nare known in the clear light of self-knowledge. We are not concerned, at\nthis point, with the amount of this man's self-inspection and\nself-knowledge. We are only saying that there is some experience such as\nthis in his personal history, and that he does know something of himself,\nat the very time of action, with a clearness and a distinctness that\nmakes him start, or blush, or fear.\n\nNow we say, that in reference to all this intimate self-knowledge, all\nthis best part of a man's information respecting himself, he is not\nsuperior to God. He may be certain that in no particular does he know\nmore of himself than the Searcher of hearts knows. He may be an\nuncommonly thoughtful person, and little of what is done within his soul\nmay escape his notice,--nay, we will make the extreme supposition that he\narrests every thought as it rises, and looks at it, that he analyzes\nevery sentiment as it swells his heart, that he scrutinizes every purpose\nas it determines his will,--even if he should have such a thorough and\nprofound self-knowledge as this, God knows him equally profoundly, and\nequally thoroughly. Nay more, this process of self-inspection may go on\nindefinitely, and the man may grow more and more thoughtful, and obtain\nan everlastingly augmenting knowledge of what he is and what he does, so\nthat it shall seem to him that he is going down so far along that path\nwhich the vulture's eye hath not seen, is penetrating so deeply into\nthose dim and shadowy regions of consciousness where the external life\ntakes its very first start, as to be beyond the reach of any eye, and\nthe ken of any intelligence but his own, and then he may be sure that God\nunderstands the thought that is afar off, and deep down, and that at this\nlowest range and plane in his experience He besets him behind and before.\n\nO, this man, like the most of mankind, may be an unreflecting person.\nThen, in this case, thoughts, feelings, and purposes are continually\nrising up within his soul like the clouds and exhalations of an\nevaporating deluge, and at the time of their rise he subjects them to no\nscrutiny of conscience, and is not pained in the least by their moral\ncharacter and significance. He lacks self-knowledge altogether, at these\npoints in his history. But, notice that the fact that he is not\nself-inspecting at these points cannot destroy the fact that he is acting\nat them. The fact that he is not a spectator of his own transgression,\ndoes not alter the fact that he is the author of it. If this man, for\ninstance, thinks over his worldly affairs on God's holy day, and perhaps\nin God's holy house, with such an absorption and such a pleasure that he\nentirely drowns the voice of conscience while he is so doing, and\nself-inspection is banished for the time, it will not do for him to plead\nthis absence of a distinct and painful consciousness of what his mind was\nactually doing in the house of God, and upon the Lord's day, as the\npalliative and excuse of his wrong thoughts. If this man, again, indulges\nin an envious or a sensual emotion, with such an energy and entireness,\nas for the time being to preclude all action of the higher powers of\nreason and self-reflection, so that for the time being he is not in the\nleast troubled by a sense of his wickedness, it will be no excuse for him\nat the eternal bar, that he was not thinking of his envy or his lust at\nthe time when he felt it. And therefore it is, that accountableness\ncovers the whole field of human agency, and God holds us responsible\nfor our thoughtless sin, as well as for our deliberate transgression.\n\nIn the instance, then, of the thoughtless man; in the case where there is\nlittle or no self-examination; God unquestionably knows the man as well\nas the man knows himself. The Omniscient One is certainly possessed of an\namount of knowledge equal to that small modicum which is all that a\nrational and immortal soul can boast of in reference to itself. But the\nvast majority of mankind fall into this class. The self-examiners are\nvery few, in comparison with the millions who possess the power to look\ninto their hearts, but who rarely or never do so. The great God our\nJudge, then, surely knows the mass of men, in their down-sitting and\nuprising, with a knowledge that is equal to their own. And thus do we\nestablish our first position, that God knows all that the man knows;\nGod's knowledge is equal to the very best part of man's knowledge.\n\nIn concluding this part of the discussion, we turn to consider some\npractical lessons suggested by it.\n\n1. In the first place, the subject reminds us that _we are fearfully and\nwonderfully made_. When we take a solar microscope and examine even the\ncommonest object--a bit of sand, or a hair of our heads-we are amazed at\nthe revelation that is made to us. We had no previous conception of the\nwonders that are contained in the structure of even such ordinary things\nas these. But, if we should obtain a corresponding view of our own mental\nand moral structure; if we could subject our immortal natures to a\nmicroscopic self-examination; we should not only be surprised, but we\nshould be terrified. This explains, in part, the consternation with which\na criminal is filled, as soon as he begins to understand the nature of\nhis crime. His wicked act is perceived in its relation to his own mental\npowers and faculties. He knows, now, what a hazardous thing it is to\npossess a free-will; what an awful thing it is to own a conscience. He\nfeels, as he never did before, that he is fearfully and wonderfully made,\nand cries out: \"O that I had never been born! O that I had never been\ncreated a responsible being! these terrible faculties of reason, and\nwill, and conscience, are too heavy for me to wield; would that I had\nbeen created a worm, and no man, then, I should not have incurred the\nhazards under which I have sinned and ruined myself.\"\n\nThe constitution of the human soul is indeed a wonderful one; and such a\nmeditation as that which we have just devoted to its functions of\nself-examination and memory, brief though it be, is enough to convince us\nof it. And remember, that this constitution is not peculiar to you and to\nme. It belongs to every human creature on the globe. The imbruted pagan\nin the fiery centre of Africa, who never saw a Bible, or heard of the\nRedeemer; the equally imbruted man, woman, or child, who dwells in the\nslime of our own civilization, not a mile from where we sit, and hear the\ntidings of mercy; the filthy savage, and the yet filthier profligate, are\nboth of them alike with ourselves possessed of these awful powers of\nself-knowledge and of memory.\n\nThink of this, ye earnest and faithful laborers in the vineyard of the\nLord. There is not a child that you allure into your Sabbath Schools, and\nyour Mission Schools, that is not fearfully and wonderfully made; and\nwhose marvellous powers you are doing much to render to their possessor a\nblessing, instead of a curse. When Sir Humphrey Davy, in answer to an\ninquiry that had been made of him respecting the number and series of his\ndiscoveries in chemistry, had gone through with the list, he added: \"But\nthe greatest of my discoveries is Michael Faraday.\" This Michael Faraday\nwas a poor boy employed in the menial services of the laboratory where\nDavy made those wonderful discoveries by which he revolutionized the\nscience of chemistry, and whose chemical genius he detected, elicited,\nand encouraged, until he finally took the place of his teacher and\npatron, and acquired a name that is now one of the influences of England.\nWell might he say: \"My greatest discovery was when I detected the\nwonderful powers of Michael Faraday.\" And never will you make a greater\nand more beneficent discovery, than when, under the thick scurf of\npauperism and vice, you detect the human soul that is fearfully and\nwonderfully made; than when you elicit its powers of self-consciousness\nand of memory, and, instrumentally, dedicate them to the service of\nChrist and the Church.\n\n2. In the second place, we see from the subject, that _thoughtlessness in\nsin will never excuse sin_. There are degrees in sin. A deliberate,\nself-conscious act of sin is the most intense form of moral evil. When a\nman has an active conscience; when he distinctly thinks over the nature of\nthe transgression which he is tempted to commit; when he sees clearly\nthat it is a direct violation of a command of God which he is about to\nengage in; when he says, \"I know that this is positively forbidden\nby my Maker and Judge, but I _will do it_,\"--we have an instance of the\nmost heaven-daring sin. This is deliberate and wilful transgression. The\nservant knows his lord's will and does it not, and he shall be beaten\nwith \"many stripes,\" says Christ.\n\nBut, such sin as this is not the usual form. Most of human transgressions\nare not accompanied with such a distinct apprehension, and such a\ndeliberate determination. The sin of ignorance and thoughtlessness is the\nspecies which is most common. Men, generally, do not first think of what\nthey are about to do, and then proceed to do it; but they first proceed\nto do it, and then think nothing at all about it. But, thoughtlessness\nwill not excuse sin; though, it is a somewhat less extreme form of it,\nthan deliberate transgression. Under the Levitical law, the sin of\nignorance, as it was called, was to be expiated by a somewhat different\nsacrifice from that offered for the wilful and deliberate sin; but it\nmust be expiated. A victim must be offered for it. It was guilt before\nGod, and needed atonement. Our Lord, in His prayer for His murderers,\nsaid, \"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.\" The act of\ncrucifying the Lord of glory was certainly a sin, and one of an awful\nnature. But the authors of it were not fully aware of its import. They\ndid not understand the dreadful significance of the crucifixion of the\nSon of God, as we now understand it, in the light of eighteen centuries.\nOur Lord alludes to this, as a species of mitigation; while yet He\nteaches, by the very prayer which He puts up for them, that this\nignorance did not excuse His murderers. He asks that they may be\n_forgiven_. But where there is absolutely no sin there is no need of\nforgiveness. It is one of our Lord's assertions, that it will be more\ntolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than it will be\nfor those inhabitants of Palestine who would not hear the words of His\napostles,--because the sin of the former was less deliberate and wilful\nthan that of the latter. But He would not have us infer from this, that\nSodom and Gomorrah are not to be punished for sin. And, finally, He sums\nup the whole doctrine upon this point, in the declaration, that \"he who\nknew his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes;\nbut he who knew not his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with\nfew stripes.\" The sin of thoughtlessness shall be beaten with fewer\nstripes than the sin of deliberation,--but it shall be _beaten_, and\ntherefore it is _sin_.\n\nThe almost universal indifference and thoughtlessness with which men live\non in a worldly and selfish life, will not excuse them in the day of\naccurate accounts. And the reason is, that they are capable of _thinking_\nupon the law of God; of _thinking_ upon their duties; of _thinking_ upon\ntheir sins. They possess the wonderful faculties of self-inspection and\nmemory, and therefore they are capable of bringing their actions into\nlight. It is the command of God to every man, and to every rational\nspirit everywhere, to walk in the light, and to be a child of the light.\nWe ought to examine ourselves; to understand our ruling motives and\nabiding purposes; to scrutinize our feelings and conduct. But if we do\nlittle or nothing of this, we must not expect that in the day of judgment\nwe can plead our thoughtless ignorance of what we were, and what we did,\nhere upon earth, as an excuse for our disobedience. God expects, and\ndemands, that every one of His rational creatures should be all that he\nis capable of being. He gave man wonderful faculties and endowments,--ten\ntalents, five talents, two talents,--and He will require the whole\noriginal sum given, together with a faithful use and improvement of it.\nThe very thoughtlessness then, particularly under the Gospel\ndispensation,--the very neglect and non-use of the power of\nself-inspection,--will go in to constitute a part of the sin that will be\npunished. Instead of being an excuse, it will be an element of the\ncondemnation itself.\n\n3. In the third place, even the sinner himself _ought to rejoice in the\nfact that God is the Searcher of the heart_. It is instinctive and\nnatural, that a transgressor should attempt to conceal his character\nfrom his Maker; but next to his sin itself, it would be the greatest\ninjury that he could do to himself, should he succeed in his attempt.\nEven after the commission of sin, there is every reason for desiring that\nGod should compass our path and lying down, and be acquainted with all\nour ways. For, He is the only being who can forgive sin; the only one who\ncan renew and sanctify the heart. There is the same motive for having the\ndisease of the soul understood by God, that there is for having the\ndisease of the body examined by a skilful physician. Nothing is gained,\nbut every thing is lost, by ignorance.\n\nThe sinner, therefore, has the strongest of motives for rejoicing in the\ntruth that God sees him. It ought not to be an unwelcome fact even to\nhim. For how can his sin be pardoned, unless it is clearly understood by\nthe pardoning power? How can his soul be purified from its inward\ncorruption, unless it is searched by the Spirit of all holiness?\n\nInstead, therefore, of being repelled by such a solemn truth as that\nwhich we have been discussing, even the natural man should be allured by\nit. For it teaches him that there is help for him in God. His own\nknowledge of his own heart, as we have seen, is very imperfect and very\ninadequate. But the Divine knowledge is thoroughly adequate. He may,\ntherefore, devolve his case with confidence upon the unerring One. Let\nhim take words upon his lips, and cry unto Him: \"Search me, O God, and\ntry me; and see what evil ways there are in me, and lead me in the way\neverlasting.\" Let him endeavor to come into possession of the Divine\nknowledge. There is no presumption in this. God desires that he should\nknow himself as He knows him; that he should get possession of His views\nupon this point; that he should see himself as He sees him. One of the\nprincipal sins which God has to charge upon the sinner is, that his\napprehensions respecting his own character are in conflict with the\nDivine. Nothing would more certainly meet the approbation of God, than a\nrenunciation of human estimates of human nature, and the adoption of\nthose contained in the inspired word. Endeavor, therefore, to obtain the\nvery same knowledge of your heart which God Himself possesses. And in\nthis endeavor, He will assist you. The influences of the Holy Spirit to\nenlighten are most positively promised and proffered. Therefore be not\nrepelled by the truth; but be drawn by it to a deeper, truer knowledge of\nyour heart. Lift up your soul in prayer, and beseech God to impart to you\na profound knowledge of yourself, and then to sprinkle all your\ndiscovered guilt, and all your undiscovered guilt, with atoning blood.\nThis is _salvation_; first to know yourself, and then to know Christ as\nyour Prophet, Priest, and King.\n\n[Footnote 1: PENS\u00c9ES: Grandeur de l'homme, 6. Ed. Wetstein.]\n\n[Footnote 2: CHAPMAN: Byron's Conspiracy.]\n\n\n\n\nGOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN. [*continued]\n\nPSALM cxxxix. 1--6.--\"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou\nknowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought\nafar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted\nwith all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord,\nthou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and\nlaid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is\nhigh, I cannot attain unto it.\"\n\n\nIn the preceding discourse upon this text, we directed attention to the\nfact that man is possessed of the power of self-knowledge, and that he\ncannot ultimately escape from using it. He cannot forever flee from his\nown presence; he cannot, through all eternity, go away from his own\nspirit. If he take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost\nparts of the earth, he must, sooner or later, know himself, and acquit or\ncondemn himself.\n\nOur attention was then directed to the fact, that God's knowledge of man\nis certainly equal to man's knowledge of himself. No man knows more of\nhis own heart than the Searcher of hearts knows. Up to this point,\ncertainly, the truth of the text is incontrovertible. God knows all that\nman knows.\n\nII. We come now to the second position: That _God accurately and\nexhaustively knows all that man might, but does not, know of himself_.\n\nAlthough the Creator designed that every man should thoroughly understand\nhis own heart, and gave him the power of self-inspection that he might\nuse it faithfully, and apply it constantly, yet man is extremely ignorant\nof himself. Mankind, says an old writer, are nowhere less at home, than\nat home. Very few persons practise serious self-examination at all; and\nnone employ the power of self-inspection with that carefulness and\nsedulity with which they ought. Hence men generally, and unrenewed men\nalways, are unacquainted with much that goes on within their own minds\nand hearts. Though it is sin and self-will, though it is thought and\nfeeling and purpose and desire, that is going on and taking place during\nall these years of religious indifference, yet the agent himself, so far\nas a sober reflection upon the moral character of the process, and a\ndistinct perception of the dreadful issue of it, are concerned, is much\nof the time as destitute of self-knowledge as an irrational brute itself.\nFor, were sinful men constantly self-examining, they would be constantly\nin torment. Men can be happy in sin, only so long as they can sin without\nthinking of it. The instant they begin to perceive and understand _what_\nthey are doing, they begin to feel the fang of the worm. If the frivolous\nwicked world, which now takes so much pleasure in its wickedness, could\nbe forced to do here what it will be forced to do hereafter, namely, to\n_eye_ its sin while it commits it, to _think_ of what it is doing while\nit does it, the billows of the lake of fire would roll in upon time, and\nfrom gay Paris and luxurious Vienna there would instantaneously ascend\nthe wailing cry of Pandemonium.\n\nBut it is not so at present. Men here upon earth are continually thinking\nsinful thoughts and cherishing sinful feelings, and yet they are not\ncontinually in hell. On the contrary, \"they are not in trouble as other\nmen are, neither are they plagued like other men. Their eyes stand out\nwith fatness; they have more than heart could wish.\" This proves that\nthey are self-ignorant; that they know neither their sin nor its bitter\nend. They sin without the _consciousness_ of sin, and hence are happy in\nit. Is it not so in our own personal experience? Have there not been in the\npast ten years of our own mental history long trains of thought,--sinful\nthought,--and vast processions of feelings and imaginings,--sinful\nfeelings and imaginings,--that have trailed over the spaces of the soul,\nbut which have been as unwatched and unseen by the self-inspecting eye of\nconscience, as the caravans of the African desert have been, during the\nsame period, by the eye of our sense? We have not felt a pang of guilt\nevery single time that we have thought a wrong thought; yet we should\nhave felt one inevitably, had we _scrutinized_ every such single thought.\nOur face has not flushed with crimson in every particular instance in\nwhich we have exercised a lustful emotion; yet it would have done so had\nwe carefully _noted_ every such emotion. A distinct self-knowledge has by\nno means run parallel with all our sinful activity; has by no means been\nco-extensive with it. We perform vastly more than we inspect. We have\nsinned vastly more than we have been aware of at the time.\n\nEven the Christian, in whom this unreflecting species of life and conduct\nhas given way, somewhat, to a thoughtful and vigilant life, knows and\nacknowledges that perfection is not yet come. As he casts his eye over\neven his regenerate and illuminated life, and sees what a small amount of\nsin has been distinctly detected, keenly felt, and heartily confessed, in\ncomparison with that large amount of sin which he knows he must have\ncommitted, during this long period of incessant action of mind, heart,\nand limbs, he finds no repose for his misgivings with respect to the\nfilial examination and account, except by enveloping himself yet more\nentirely in the ample folds of his Redeemer's righteousness; except by\nhiding himself yet more profoundly in the cleft of that Rock of Ages\nwhich protects the chief of sinners from the unsufferable splendors and\nterrors of the Divine glory and holiness as it passes by. Even the\nChristian knows that he must have committed many sins in thoughtless\nmoments and hours,--many sins of which he was not deliberately thinking\nat the time of their commission,--and must pray with David, \"Cleanse thou\nme from secret faults.\" The functions and operations of memory evince\nthat such is the case. Are we not sometimes, in our serious hours when\nmemory is busy, convinced of sins which, at the time of their commission,\nwere wholly unaccompanied with a sense of their sinfulness? The act in\nthis instance was performed blindly, without self-inspection, and\ntherefore without self-conviction. Ten years, we will say, have\nintervened,--years of new activity, and immensely varied experiences. And\nnow the magic power of recollection sets us back, once more, at that\npoint of responsible action, and bids do what we did not do at the\ntime,--analyze our performance and feel consciously guilty, experience the\nfirst sensation of remorse, for what we did ten years ago. Have we not,\nsometimes, been vividly reminded that upon such an occasion, and at such\na time, we were angry, or proud, but at the time when the emotion was\nswelling our veins were not filled with, that clear and painful sense of\nits turpitude which now attends the recollection of it? The re-exhibition\nof an action in memory, as in a mirror, is often accompanied with a\ndistinct apprehension of its moral character that formed no part of the\nexperience of the agent while absorbed in the hot and hasty original\naction itself. And when we remember how immense are the stores of memory,\nand what an amount of sin has been committed in hours of thoughtlessness\nand moral indifference, what prayer is more natural and warm than the\nsupplication: \"Search me O God, and try me, and see what evil ways there\nare within me, and lead me in the way everlasting.\"\n\nBut the careless, unenlightened man, as we have before remarked, leads a\nlife almost entirely destitute of self-inspection, and self-knowledge. He\nsins constantly. He does only evil, and that continually, as did man\nbefore the deluge. For he is constantly acting. A living self-moving\nsoul, like his, cannot cease action if it would. And yet the current is\nall one way. Day after day sends up its clouds of sensual, worldly,\nselfish thoughts. Week after week pours onward its stream of low-born,\ncorrupt, unspiritual feelings. Year after year accumulates that hardening\nmass of carnal-mindedness, and distaste for religion, which is sometimes\na more insuperable obstacle to the truth, than positive faults and vices\nwhich startle and shock the conscience. And yet the man _thinks_ nothing\nabout all this action of his mind and heart. He does not subject it to\nany self-inspection. If he should, for but a single hour, be lifted up to\nthe eminence from which all this current of self-will, and moral agency,\nmay be seen and surveyed in its real character and significance, he would\nstart back as if brought to the brink of hell. But he is not thus lifted\nup. He continues to use and abuse his mental and his moral faculties,\nbut, for most of his probation, with all the blindness and heedlessness\nof a mere animal instinct.\n\nThere is, then, a vast amount of sin committed without self-inspection;\nand, consequently, without any distinct perception, at the time, that it\nis sin. The Christian will find himself feeling guilty, for the first\ntime, for a transgression that occurred far back in the past, and will\nneed a fresh application of atoning blood. The sinner will find, at some\nperiod or other, that remorse is fastening its tooth in his conscience\nfor a vast amount of sinful thought, feeling, desire, and motive, that\ntook origin in the unembarrassed days of religious thoughtlessness and\nworldly enjoyment.\n\nFor, think you that the insensible sinner is always to be thus\ninsensible,--that this power of self-inspection is eternally to \"rust\nunused?\" What a tremendous revelation will one day be made to an\nunreflecting transgressor, simply because he is a man and not a brute,\nhas lived a human life, and is endowed with the power of self-knowledge,\nwhether he has used it or not! What a terrific vision it will be for him,\nwhen the limitless line of his sins which he has not yet distinctly\nexamined, and thought of, and repented of, shall be made to pass in slow\nprocession before that inward eye which he has wickedly kept shut so\nlong! Tell us not of the disclosures that shall be made when the sea\nshall give up the dead that are in it, and the graves shall open and\nsurrender their dead; what are these material disclosures, when compared\nwith the revelations of self-knowledge! What is all this external\ndisplay, sombre and terrible as it will be to the outward eye, when\ncompared with all that internal revealing that will be made to a hitherto\nthoughtless soul, when, of a sudden, in the day of judgment, its deepest\ncaverns shall heave in unison with the material convulsions of the day,\nand shall send forth to judgment their long slumbering, and hidden\niniquity; when the sepulchres of its own memory shall burst open, and\ngive up the sin that has long lain buried there, in needless and guilty\nforgetfulness, awaiting this second resurrection!\n\nFor (to come back to the unfolding of the subject, and the movement of\nthe argument), God perfectly knows all that man might, but does not, know\nof himself. Though the transgressor is ignorant of much of his sin,\nbecause at the time of its commission he sins blindly as well as\nwilfully, and unreflectingly as well as freely; and though the\ntransgressor has forgotten much of that small amount of sin of which he\nwas conscious, and by which he was pained, at the time of its\nperpetration; though on the side of man the powers of self-inspection and\nmemory have accomplished so little towards the preservation of man's sin,\nyet God knows it all, and remembers it all. He compasseth man's path, and\nhis lying-down, and is acquainted with all his ways. \"There is nothing\ncovered, therefore, that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall\nnot be known. Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the\nlight; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be\nproclaimed upon the house-tops.\" The Creator of the human mind has\ncontrol over its powers of self-inspection, and of memory; and when the\nproper time comes He will compel these endowments to perform their\nlegitimate functions, and do their appointed work. The torturing\nself-survey will begin, never more to end. The awful recollection will\ncommence, endlessly to go on.\n\nOne principal reason why the Biblical representations of human sinfulness\nexert so little influence over men, and, generally speaking, seem to them\nto be greatly exaggerated and untrue, lies in the fact that the Divine\nknowledge of human character is in advance of the human knowledge. God's\nconsciousness and cognition upon this subject is exhaustive; while man's\nself-knowledge is superficial and shallow. The two forms of knowledge,\nconsequently, when placed side by side, do not agree, but conflict. There\nwould be less difficulty, and less contradiction, if mankind generally\nwere possessed of even as much self-knowledge as the Christian is\npossessed of. There would be no difficulty, and no contradiction, if the\nknowledge of the judgment-day could be anticipated, and the\nself-inspection of that occasion could commence here and now. But such is\nnot the fact. The Bible labors, therefore, under the difficulty of\npossessing an advanced knowledge; the difficulty of being addressed to a\nmind that is almost entirely unacquainted with the subject treated of.\nThe Word of God knows man exhaustively, as God knows him; and hence all\nits descriptions of human character are founded upon such a knowledge.\nBut man, in his self-ignorance, does not perceive their awful truth. He\nhas not yet attained the internal correspondent to the Biblical\nstatement,--that apprehension of total depravity, that knowledge of the\nplague of the heart, which always and ever says \"yea\" to the most vivid\ndescription of human sinfulness, and \"amen\" to God's heaviest malediction\nupon it. Nothing deprives the Word of its nerve and influence, more than\nthis general lack of self-inspection and self-knowledge. For, only that\nwhich is perceived to be _true_ exerts an influence upon the human mind.\nThe doctrine of human sinfulness is preached to men, year after year, to\nwhom it does not come home with the demonstration of the Spirit and with\npower, because the sinfulness which is really within them is as yet\nunknown, and because not one of a thousand of their transgressions has\never been scanned in the light of self-examination. But is the Bible\nuntrue, because the man is ignorant? Is the sun black, because the eye is\nshut?\n\nHowever ignorant man may be, and may desire and strive to be, of himself,\nGod knows him altogether, and knows that the representations of His word,\nrespecting the character and necessities of human nature, are the\nunexaggerated, sober, and actual fact. Though most of the sinner's life\nof alienation from God, and of disobedience, has been a blind and a\nreckless agency, unaccompanied with self-scrutiny, and to a great extent\npassed from his memory, yet it has all of it been looked at, as it\nwelled, up from the living centres of free agency and responsibility, by\nthe calm and dreadful eye of retributive Justice, and has all of it been\nindelibly written down in the book of God's sure memory, with a pen of\niron, and the point of a diamond.\n\nAnd here, let us for a moment look upon the bright, as well as the dark\nside of this subject. For if God's exhaustive knowledge of the human\nheart waken dread in one of its aspects, it starts infinite hope in\nanother. If that Being has gone down into these depths of human\ndepravity, and seen it with a more abhorring glance than could ever shoot\nfrom a finite eye, and yet has returned with a cordial offer to forgive\nit all, and a hearty proffer to cleanse it all away, then we can lift up\nthe eye in adoration and in hope. There has been an infinite forbearance\nand condescension. The worst has been seen, and that too by the holiest\nof Beings, and yet eternal glory is offered to us! God knows, from\npersonal examination, the worthlessness of human character, with a\nthoroughness and intensity of knowledge of which man has no conception;\nand yet, in the light of this knowledge, in the very flame of this\nintuition, He has devised a plan of mercy and redemption. Do not think,\nthen, because of your present ignorance of your guilt and corruption,\nthat the incarnation and death of the Son of God was unnecessary, and\nthat that costly blood of atonement which you are treading under foot wet\nthe rocks of Calvary for a peccadillo. Could you, but for a moment only,\nknow yourself _altogether_ and _exhaustively_, as the Author of this\nRedemption knows you, you would cry out, in the words of a far holier man\nthan you are, \"I am undone.\" If you could but see guilt as God sees it,\nyou would also see with Him that nothing but an infinite Passion can\nexpiate it. If you could but fathom the human heart as God fathoms it,\nyou would know as He knows, that nothing less than regeneration can\npurify its fountains of uncleanness, and cleanse it from its ingrain\ncorruption.\n\nThus have we seen that God knows man altogether,--that He knows all that\nman knows of himself, and all that man might but does not yet know of\nhimself. The Searcher of hearts knows all the thoughts that we have\nthought upon, all the reflections that we have reflected upon, all the\nexperience that we have ourselves analyzed and inspected. And He also\nknows that far larger part of our life which we have not yet subjected to\nthe scrutiny of self-examination,--all those thoughts, feelings, desires,\nand motives, innumerable as they are, of which we took no heed at the\ntime of their origin and existence, and which we suppose, perhaps, we\nshall hear no more of again. Whither then shall we go from God's spirit?\nor whither shall we flee from His presence and His knowledge? If we\nascend up into heaven, He is there, and knows us perfectly. If we make\nour bed in hell, behold He is there, and reads the secret thoughts and\nfeelings of our heart. The darkness hideth not from Him; our ignorance\ndoes not affect His knowledge; the night shineth as the day; the darkness\nand the light are both alike to Him.\n\nThis great truth which we have been considering obtains a yet more\nserious emphasis, and a yet more solemn power over the mind, when we take\ninto view the _character_ of the Being who thus searches our hearts, and\nis acquainted with all our ways. Who of us would not be filled with\nuneasiness, if he knew that an imperfect fellow-creature were looking\nconstantly into his soul? Would not the flush of shame often burn upon\nour cheek, if we knew that a sinful man like ourselves were watching all\nthe feelings and thoughts that are rising within us? Should we not be\nmore circumspect than we are, if men were able mutually to search each\nother's hearts? How often does a man change his course of conduct, when\nhe discovers, accidentally, that his neighbor knows what he is doing.\n\nBut it is not an imperfect fellow-man, it is not a perfect angel, who\nbesets us behind and before, and is acquainted with, all our ways. It is\nthe immaculate God himself. It is He before whom archangels veil their\nfaces, and the burning seraphim cry, \"Holy.\" It is He, in whose sight the\npure cerulean heavens are not clean, and whose eyes are a flame of fire\ndevouring all iniquity. We are beheld, in all this process of sin, be it\nblind or be it intelligent, by infinite Purity. We are not, therefore, to\nsuppose that God contemplates this our life of sin with the dull\nindifference of an Epicurean deity; that He looks into our souls, all\nthis while, from mere curiosity, and with no moral _emotion_ towards\nus. The God who knows us altogether is the Holy One of Israel, whose\nwrath is both real, and revealed, against all unrighteousness.\n\nIf, therefore, we connect the holy nature and pure essence of God with\nall this unceasing and unerring inspection of the human soul, does not\nthe truth which, we have been considering speak with a bolder emphasis,\nand acquire an additional power to impress and solemnize the mind? When\nwe realize that the Being who is watching us at every instant, and in\nevery act and element of our existence, is the very same Being who\nrevealed himself amidst the lightenings of Sinai as _hating_ sin and\nnot clearing the thoughtless guilty, do not our prospects at the bar of\njustice look dark and fearful? For, who of the race of man is holy enough\nto stand such an inspection? Who of the sons of men will prove pure in\nsuch a furnace?\n\nAre we not, then, brought by this truth close up to the central doctrine\nof Christianity, and made to see our need of the atonement and\nrighteousness of the Redeemer? How can we endure such a scrutiny as God\nis instituting into our character and conduct? What can we say, in the\nday of reckoning, when the Searcher of hearts shall make known, to us all\nthat He knows of us? What can we do, in that day which shall reveal the\nthoughts and the estimates of the Holy One respecting us?\n\nIt is perfectly plain, from the elevated central point of view where we\nnow stand, and in the focal light in which we now see, that no man can be\njustified before God upon the ground of personal character; for that\ncharacter, when subjected to God's exhaustive scrutiny, withers and\nshrinks away. A man may possibly be just before his neighbor, or his\nfriend, or society, or human laws, but he is miserably self-deceived who\nsupposes that his heart will appear righteous under such a scrutiny and\nin such a Presence as we have been considering.[1] However it may be\nbefore other tribunals, the apostle is correct when he asserts that\n\"every mouth, must be stopped, and the whole world plead guilty before\nGod.\" Before the Searcher of hearts, all mankind must appeal to mere and\nsovereign mercy. Justice, in this reference, is out of the question.\n\nNow, in this condition of things, God so loved the world that He gave His\nonly-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but\nhave everlasting life. The Divine mercy has been manifested in a mode\nthat does not permit even the guiltiest to doubt its reality, its\nsufficiency, or its sincerity. The argument is this. \"If when, we were\nyet sinners,\" _and known to be such, in the perfect and exhaustive manner\nthat has been described,_ \"Christ died for us, much more, being now\njustified by His blood, shall we be saved from Wrath through Him.\"\nAppropriating this atonement which the Searcher of hearts has Himself\nprovided for this very exigency, and which He knows to be thoroughly\nadequate, no man, however guilty, need fear the most complete disclosures\nwhich the Divine Omniscience will have to make of human character in the\nday of doom. If the guilt is \"infinite upon infinite,\" so is the\nsacrifice of the God-man. Who is he that condemmeth? it is the Son of God\nthat died for sin. Who shall lay anything to God's elect? it is God that\njustifieth. And as God shall, in the last day, summon up from the deep\nplaces of our souls all of our sins, and bring us to a strict account for\neverything, even to the idle words that we have spoken, we can look Him\nfull in the eye, without a thought of fear, and with love unutterable, if\nwe are really relying upon the atoning sacrifice of Christ for\njustification. Even in that awful Presence, and under that Omniscient\nscrutiny, \"there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.\"\n\nThe great lesson, then, taught by the text and its unfolding, is _the\nimportance of attaining self-knowledge here upon earth, and while there\nremaineth a sacrifice for sins_. The duty and wisdom of every man is, to\nanticipate the revelations of the judgment day; to find out the sin of\nhis soul, while it is an accepted time and a day of salvation. For we\nhave seen that this self-inspection cannot ultimately be escaped. Man was\nmade to know himself, and he must sooner or later come to it.\nSelf-knowledge is as certain, in the end, as death. The utmost that can\nbe done, is to postpone it for a few days, or years. The article of death\nand the exchange of worlds will pour it all in, like a deluge, upon every\nman, whether he will or not. And he who does not wake up to a knowledge\nof his heart, until he enters eternity, wakes up not to pardon but to\ndespair.\n\nThe simple question, then, which, meets us is: Wilt thou know thyself\n_here_ and _now_, that thou mayest accept and feel God's pity in Christ's\nblood, or wilt thou keep within the screen, and not know thyself until\nbeyond the grave, and then feel God's judicial wrath? The self-knowledge,\nremember, must come in the one way or the other. It is a simple question\nof time; a simple question whether it shall come here in this world,\nwhere the blood of Christ \"freely flows,\" or in the future world, where\n\"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.\" Turn the matter as we will,\nthis is the sum and substance,--a sinful man must either come to a\nthorough self-knowledge, with a hearty repentance and a joyful pardon, in\nthis life; or he must come to a thorough, self-knowledge, with a total\ndespair and an eternal damnation, in the other. God is not mocked. God's\ngreat pity in the blood of Christ must not be trifled with. He who\nrefuses, or neglects, to institute that self-examination which leads to\nthe sense of sin, and the felt need of Christ's work, by this very fact\nproves that he does not desire to know his own heart, and that he has no\nwish to repent of sin. But he who will not even look at his sin,--what\ndoes not he deserve from that Being who poured out His own blood for it?\nHe who refuses even to open his eyes upon that bleeding Lamb of\nGod,--what must not he expect from the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in the\nday of judgment? He who by a life of apathy, and indifference to sin,\nputs himself out of all relations to the Divine pity,--what must he\nexperience in eternity, but the operations of stark, unmitigated law?\n\nFind out your sin, then. God will forgive all that is found. Though your\nsins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. The great God\ndelights to forgive, and is waiting to forgive. But, _sin must be seen by\nthe sinner, before it can be pardoned by the Judge_. If you refuse at\nthis point; if you hide yourself from yourself; if you preclude all\nfeeling and conviction upon the subject of sin, by remaining ignorant of\nit; if you continue to live an easy, thoughtless life in sin, then you\n_cannot_ be forgiven, and the measure of God's love with which He would\nhave blessed you, had you searched yourself and repented, will be the\nmeasure of God's righteous wrath with which He will search you, and\ncondemn you, because you have not.\n\n[Footnote 1: \"It is easy,\"--says one of the keenest and most incisive of\ntheologians,--\"for any one in the cloisters of the schools to indulge\nhimself in idle speculations on the merit of works to justify men; but\nwhen he comes _into the presence of God_, he must bid farewell to these\namusements, for there the business is transacted with seriousness. To\nthis point must our attention be directed, if we wish to make any useful\ninquiry concerning true righteousness: How we can answer the _celestial\nJudge_ when He shall call us to an account? Let us place that Judge\nbefore our eyes, not according to the inadequate imaginations of our\nminds, but according to the descriptions given of him in the Scriptures,\nwhich represent him as one whose refulgence eclipses the stars, whose\npurity makes all things appear polluted, and who searches the inmost soul\nof his creatures,--let us so conceive of the Judge of all the earth, and\nevery one must present himself as a criminal before Him, and voluntarily\nprostrate and humble himself in deep solicitude concerning; his\nabsolution.\" CALVIN: Institutes, iii. 12.]\n\n\n\n\nALL MANKIND GUILTY; OR, EVERY MAN KNOWS MORE THAN HE PRACTISES.\n\n\nROMANS i. 24.--\"When they knew God, they glorified him not as God.\"\n\n\nThe idea of God is the most important and comprehensive of all the ideas\nof which the human mind is possessed. It is the foundation of religion;\nof all right doctrine, and all right conduct. A correct intuition of it\nleads to correct religious theories and practice; while any erroneous or\ndefective view of the Supreme Being will pervade the whole province of\nreligion, and exert a most pernicious influence upon the entire character\nand conduct of men.\n\nIn proof of this, we have only to turn to the opening chapters of St.\nPaul's Epistle to the Romans. Here we find a profound and accurate\naccount of the process by which human nature becomes corrupt, and runs\nits downward career of unbelief, vice, and sensuality. The apostle traces\nback the horrible depravity of the heathen world, which he depicts with a\npen as sharp as that of Juvenal, but with none of Juvenal's bitterness\nand vitriolic sarcasm, to a distorted and false conception of the being\nand attributes of God. He does not, for an instant, concede that this\ndistorted and false conception is founded in the original structure and\nconstitution of the human soul, and that this moral ignorance is\nnecessary and inevitable. This mutilated idea of the Supreme Being was\nnot inlaid in the rational creature on the morning of creation, when God\nsaid, \"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.\" On the\ncontrary, the apostle affirms that the Creator originally gave all\nmankind, in the moral constitution of a rational soul and in the works of\ncreation and providence, the media to a correct idea of Himself, and\nasserts, by implication, that if they had always employed these media\nthey would have always possessed this idea. \"The wrath of God,\" he says,\n\"is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of\nmen who hold the truth in unrighteousness; _because_ that which may be\nknown of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them. _For_\nthe invisible things of him, even his eternal power and Godhead, are\nclearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the\nthings that are made, so that they are without excuse; _because_ that\nwhen they _knew_ God, they glorified him not as God\" (Rom. i. 18-21).\nFrom this, it appears that the mind of man has not kept what was\ncommitted to its charge. It has not employed the moral instrumentalities,\nnor elicited the moral ideas, with which it has been furnished. And,\nnotice that the apostle does not confine this statement to those who live\nwithin the pale of Revelation. His description is unlimited and\nuniversal. The affirmation of the text, that \"when man knew God he\nglorified him not as God,\" applies to the Gentile as well as to the Jew.\nNay, the primary reference of these statements was to the pagan world. It\nwas respecting the millions of idolaters in cultivated Greece and Rome,\nand the millions of idolaters in barbarous India and China,--it was\nrespecting the whole world lying in wickedness, that St. Paul remarked:\n\"The invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are\nclearly seen from the creation of the world down to the present moment,\nbeing understood by the things that are made; _so that they are without\nexcuse_.\"\n\nWhen Napoleon was returning from his campaign in Egypt and Syria, he was\nseated one night upon the deck of the vessel, under the open canopy of\nthe heavens, surrounded by his captains and generals. The conversation\nhad taken a skeptical direction, and most of the party had combated the\ndoctrine of the Divine existence. Napoleon had sat silent and musing,\napparently taking no interest in the discussion, when suddenly raising\nhis hand, and pointing at the crystalline firmament crowded with its\nmildly shining planets and its keen glittering stars, he broke out, in\nthose startling tones that so often electrified a million of men:\n\"Gentlemen, who made all that?\" The eternal power and Godhead of the\nCreator are impressed by the things that are made, and these words of\nNapoleon to his atheistic captains silenced them. And the same impression\nis made the world over. Go to-day into the heart of Africa, or into the\ncentre of New Holland; select the most imbruted pagan that can be found;\ntake him out under a clear star-lit heaven and ask him who made all that,\nand the idea of a Superior Being,--superior to all his fetishes and\nidols,--possessing eternal power and supremacy ([Greek: theotaes])\nimmediately emerges in his consciousness. The instant the missionary\ntakes this lustful idolater away from the circle of his idols, and brings\nhim face to face with the heavens and the earth, as Napoleon brought his\ncaptains, the constitutional idea dawns again, and the pagan trembles\nbefore the unseen Power.[1]\n\nBut it will be objected that it is a very dim, and inadequate idea of the\nDeity that thus rises in the pagan's mind, and that therefore the\napostle's affirmation that he is \"without excuse\" for being an idolater\nand a sensualist requires some qualification. This imbruted creature,\nsays the objector, does not possess the metaphysical conception of God as\na Spirit, and of all his various attributes and qualities, like the\ndweller in Christendom. How then can he be brought in guilty before the\nsame eternal bar, and be condemned to the same eternal punishment, with\nthe nominal Christian? The answer is plain, and decisive, and derivable\nout of the apostle's own statements. In order to establish the guiltiness\nof a rational creature before the bar of justice, it is not necessary to\nshow that he has lived in the seventh heavens, and under a blaze of moral\nintelligence like that of the archangel Gabriel. It is only necessary to\nshow that he has enjoyed _some_ degree of moral light, and that he _has\nnot lived up to it_. Any creature who knows more than he practises is a\nguilty creature. If the light in the pagan's intellect concerning God and\nthe moral law, small though it be, is yet actually in advance of the\ninclination and affections of his heart and the actions of his life, he\ndeserves to be punished, like any and every other creature, under the\nDivine government, of whom the same thing is true. Grades of knowledge\nvary indefinitely. No two men upon the planet, no two men in Christendom,\npossess precisely the same degree of moral intelligence. There are men\nwalking the streets of this city to-day, under the full light of the\nChristian revelation, whose notions respecting God and law are\nexceedingly dim and inadequate; and there are others whose views are\nclear and correct in a high degree. But there is not a person in this\ncity, young or old, rich or poor, ignorant or cultivated, in the purlieus\nof vice or the saloons of wealth, whose knowledge of God is not in\nadvance of his own character and conduct. Every man, whatever be the\ngrade of his intelligence, knows more than he puts in practice. Ask the\nyoung thief, in the subterranean haunts of vice and crime, if he does not\nknow that it is wicked to steal, and if he renders an honest answer, it\nis in the affirmative. Ask the most besotted soul, immersed and\npetrified in sensuality, if his course of life upon earth has been in\naccordance with his own knowledge and conviction of what is right, and\nrequired by his Maker, and he will answer No, if he answers truly. The\ngrade of knowledge in the Christian land is almost infinitely various;\nbut in every instance the amount of knowledge is greater than the amount\nof virtue. Whether he knows little or much, the man knows more than he\nperforms; and _therefore_ his mouth must be stopped in the judgment, and\nhe must plead guilty before God. He will not be condemned for not\npossessing that ethereal vision of God possessed by the seraphim; but he\nwill be condemned because his perception of the holiness and the holy\nrequirements of God was sufficient, at any moment, to rebuke his\ndisregard of them; because when he knew God in some degree, he glorified\nhim not as God up to that degree.\n\nAnd this principle will be applied to the pagan world. It is so applied\nby the apostle Paul. He himself concedes that the Gentile has not enjoyed\nall the advantages of the Jew, and argues that the ungodly Jew will be\nvisited with a more severe punishment than the ungodly Gentile. But he\nexpressly affirms that the pagan is _under law_, and _knows_ that he is;\nthat he shows the work of the law that is written on the heart, in the\noperations of an accusing and condemning conscience. But the knowledge of\nlaw involves the knowledge of _God_ in an equal degree. Who can feel\nhimself amenable to a moral law, without at the same time thinking of its\nAuthor? The law and the Lawgiver are inseparable. The one is the mirror\nand index of the other. If the eye opens dimly upon the commandment, it\nopens dimly upon the Sovereign; if it perceives eternal right and law\nwith clear and celestial vision, it then looks directly into the face of\nGod. Law and God are correlative to each other; and just so far,\nconsequently, as the heathen understands the law that is written on the\nheart does he apprehend the Being who sitteth upon the circle of the\nheavens, and who impinges Himself upon the consciousness of men. This\nbeing so, it is plain that we can confront the ungodly pagan with the\nsame statements with which we confront the ungodly nominal Christian. We\ncan tell him with positiveness, wherever we find him, be it upon the\nburning sands of Africa or in the frozen home of the Esquimaux, that he\nknows more than he puts in practice. We will concede to him that the\nquantum of his moral knowledge is very stinted and meagre; but in the\nsame breath we will remind him that small as it is, he has not lived up\nto it; that he too has \"come short\"; that he too, knowing God in the\ndimmest, faintest degree, has yet not glorified him as God in the\nslightest, faintest manner. The Bible sends the ungodly and licentious\npagan to hell, upon the same principle that it sends the ungodly and\nlicentious nominal Christian. It is the principle enunciated by our Lord\nChrist, the judge of quick and dead, when he says, \"He who knew his\nmaster's will [clearly], and did it not, shall be beaten with many\nstripes; and he who knew not his master's will [clearly, but knew it\ndimly,] and did it not, shall be beaten with few stripes.\" It is the\njust principle enunciated by St. Paul, that \"as many as have sinned\nwithout [written] law shall also _perish_ without [written] law.\"[2] And\nthis is right and righteous; and let all the universe say, Amen.\n\nThe doctrine taught in the text, that no human creature, in any country\nor grade of civilization, has ever glorified God to the extent of his\nknowledge of God, is very fertile in solemn and startling inferences, to\nsome of which we now invite attention.\n\n1. In the first place, it follows from this affirmation of the apostle\nPaul, that _the entire heathen world is in a state of condemnation and\nperdition_. He himself draws this inference, in saying that in the\njudgment \"_every_ mouth must be stopped, and the _whole_ world become\nguilty before God.\"\n\nThe present and future condition of the heathen world is a subject that\nhas always enlisted the interest of two very different classes of men.\nThe Church of God has pondered, and labored, and prayed over this\nsubject, and will continue to do so until the millennium. And the\ndisbeliever in Revelation has also turned his mind to the consideration\nof this black mass of ignorance and misery, which welters upon the globe\nlike a chaotic ocean; these teeming millions of barbarians and savages\nwho render the aspect of the world so sad and so dark. The Church, we\nneed not say, have accepted the Biblical theory, and have traced the lost\ncondition of the pagan world, as the apostle Paul does, to their sin and\ntransgression. They have held that every pagan is a rational being, and\nby virtue of this fact has known something of the moral law; and that to\nthe extent of the knowledge he has had, he is as guilty for the\ntransgression of law, and as really under its condemnation, as the\ndweller under the light of revelation and civilization. They have\nmaintained that every human creature has enjoyed sufficient light, in the\nworkings of natural reason and conscience, and in the impressions that\nare made by the glory and the terror of the natural world above and\naround him, to render him guilty before the Everlasting Judge. For this\nreason, the Church has denied that the pagan is an innocent creature, or\nthat he can stand in the judgment before the Searcher of hearts. For this\nreason, the Church has believed the declaration of the apostle John, that\n\"the _whole_ world lieth in wickedness\" (1 John v. 19), and has\nendeavored to obey the command of Him who came to redeem pagans as much\nas nominal Christians, to go and preach the gospel to _every_ creature,\nbecause every creature is a lost creature.\n\nBut the disbeliever in Revelation adopts the theory of human innocency,\nand looks upon all the wretchedness and ignorance of paganism, as he\nlooks upon suffering, decay, and death, in the vegetable and animal\nworlds. Temporary evil is the necessary condition, he asserts, of all\nfinite existence; and as decay and death in the vegetable and animal\nworlds only result in a more luxuriant vegetation, and an increased\nmultiplication of living creatures, so the evil and woe of the hundreds\nof generations, and the millions of individuals, during the sixty\ncenturies that have elapsed since the origin of man, will all of it\nminister to the ultimate and everlasting weal of the entire race. There\nis no need therefore, he affirms, of endeavoring to save such feeble and\nignorant beings from judicial condemnation and eternal penalty. Such\nfiniteness and helplessness cannot be put into relations to such an awful\nattribute as the eternal nemesis of God. Can it be,--he asks,--that the\nmillions upon millions that have been born, lived their brief hour,\nenjoyed their little joys and suffered their sharp sorrows, and then\ndropped into \"the dark backward and abysm of time,\" have really been\n_guilty_ creatures, and have gone down to an endless hell?\n\nBut what does all this reasoning and querying imply? Will the objector\nreally take the position and stand to it, that the pagan man is not a\nrational and responsible creature? that he does not possess sufficient\nknowledge of moral truth, to justify his being brought to the bar of\njudgment? Will he say that the population that knew enough to build the\npyramids did not know enough to break the law of God? Will he affirm that\nthe civilization of Babylon and Nineveh, of Greece and Rome, did not\ncontain within it enough of moral intelligence to constitute a foundation\nfor rewards and punishments? Will he tell us that the people of Sodom and\nGomorrah stood upon the same plane with the brutes that perish, and the\ntrees of the field that rot and die, having no idea of God, knowing\nnothing of the distinction between right and wrong, and never feeling the\npains of an accusing conscience? Will he maintain that the populations\nof India, in the midst of whom one of the most subtile and ingenious\nsystems of pantheism has sprung up with the luxuriance and involutions of\none of their own jungles, and has enervated the whole religious sentiment\nof the Hindoo race as opium has enervated their physical frame,--will he\nmaintain that such an untiring and persistent mental activity as this is\nincapable of apprehending the first principles of ethics and natural\nreligion, which, in comparison with the complicated and obscure\nratiocinations of Boodhism, are clear as water, and lucid as atmospheric\nair? In other connections, this theorist does not speak in this style. In\nother connections, and for the purpose of exaggerating natural religion\nand disparaging revealed, he enlarges upon the dignity of man, of every\nman, and eulogizes the power of reason which so exalts him in the scale\nof being. With Hamlet, he dilates in proud and swelling phrase: \"What a\npiece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in\nform and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel!\nin apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of\nanimals!\" It is from that very class of theorizers who deny that the\nheathen are in danger of eternal perdition, and who represent the whole\nmissionary enterprise as a work of supererogation, that we receive the\nmost extravagant accounts of the natural powers and gifts of man. Now if\nthese powers and gifts do belong to human nature by its constitution,\nthey certainly lay a foundation for responsibility; and all such\ntheorists must either be able to show that the pagan man has made a\nright use of them, and has walked according to this large amount of truth\nand reason with which, according to their own statement, he is endowed,\nor else they consign him, as St. Paul does, to \"the wrath of God which is\nrevealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of _men\nwho hold the truth in unrighteousness_.\" If you assert that the pagan man\nhas had no talents at all committed to him, and can prove your assertion,\nand will stand by it, you are consistent in denying that he can be\nsummoned to the bar of God, and be tried for eternal life or death. But\nif you concede that he has had one talent, or two talents, committed to\nhis charge; and still more, if you exaggerate his gifts and endow him\nwith five or ten talents, then it is impossible for you to save him from\nthe judgment to come, except you can prove a _perfect_ administration and\nuse of the trust.[3]\n\n2. In the second place, it follows from the doctrine of the text, that\n_the degraded and brutalized population of large cities is in a state of\ncondemnation and perdition_.\n\nThere are heathen near our own doors whose religious condition is as sad,\nand hopeless, as that of the heathen of Patagonia or New Zealand. The\nvice and crime that nestles and riots in the large cities of Christendom\nhas become a common theme, and has lost much of its interest for the\nworldly mind by losing its novelty. The manners and way of life of the\noutcast population of London and Paris have been depicted by the\nnovelist, and wakened a momentary emotion in the readers of fiction. But\nthe reality is stern and dreadful, beyond imagination or conception.\nThere is in the cess-pools of the great capitals of Christendom a mass of\nhuman creatures who are born, who live, and who die, in moral\nputrefaction. Their existence is a continued career of sin and woe. Body\nand soul, mind and heart, are given up to earth, to sense, to corruption.\nThey emerge for a brief season into the light of day, run their swift and\nfiery career of sin, and then disappear. Dante, in that wonderful Vision\nwhich embodies so much of true ethics and theology, represents the\nwrathful and gloomy class as sinking down under the miry waters and\ncontinuing to breathe in a convulsive, suffocating manner, sending up\nbubbles to the surface, that mark the place where they are drawing out\ntheir lingering existence.[4] Something like this, is the wretched life\nof a vicious population. As we look in upon the fermenting mass, the only\nsigns of life that meet our view indicate that the life is feverish,\nspasmodic, and suffocating. The bubbles rising to the dark and turbid\nsurface reveal that it is a life in death.\n\nBut this, too, is the result of sin. Take the atoms one by one that\nconstitute this mass of pollution and misery, and you will find that each\none of them is a self-moving and an unforced will. Not one of these\nmillions of individuals has been necessitated by Almighty God, or by any\nof God's arrangements, to do wrong. Each one of them is a moral agent,\nequally with you and me. Each one of them is _self_-willed and\n_self_-determined in sin. He does not _like_ to retain religious truth in\nhis mind, or to obey it in his heart. Go into the lowest haunt of vice and\nselect out the most imbruted person there; bring to his remembrance that\nclass of truths with which he is already acquainted by virtue of his\nrational nature, and add to them that other class of truths taught in\nRevelation, and you will find that he is predetermined against them. He\ntakes sides, with all the depth and intensity of his being, with that\nsinfulness which is common to man, and which it is the aim of both ethics\nand the gospel to remove. This vicious and imbruted man _loves_ the sin\nwhich is forbidden, more than he loves the holiness that is commanded. He\n_inclines_ to the sin which so easily besets him, precisely as you and I\nincline to the bosom-sin which so easily besets us. We grant that the\ntemptations that assail him are very powerful; but are not some of the\ntemptations that beset you and me very powerful? We grant that this\nwretched slave of vice and pollution cannot break off his sins by\nrighteousness, without the renewing and assisting grace of God; but\nneither can you or I. It is the action of _his own_ will that has made\nhim a slave. He loves his chains and his bondage, even as you and I\nnaturally love ours; and this proves that his moral corruption, though\nassuming an outwardly more repulsive form than ours, is yet the same\nthing in principle. It is the rooted aversion of the human heart, the\nutter disinclination of the human will, towards the purity and holiness\nof God; it is \"the carnal mind which is enmity against God; for it is not\nsubject to the law of God, neither indeed can be\" (Rom. viii. 7).\n\nBut there is no more convincing proof of the position, that the degraded\ncreature of whom we are speaking is a self-deciding and unforced sinner,\nthan the fact that he _resists_ efforts to reclaim him. Ask these\nfaithful and benevolent missionaries who go down into these dens of vice\nand pollution, to pour more light into the mind, and to induce these\noutcasts to leave their drunkenness and their debauchery,--ask them if\nthey find that human nature is any different there from what it is\nelsewhere, so far as _yielding_ to the claims of God and law is\nconcerned. Do they tell you that they are uniformly successful in\ninducing these sinners to leave their sins? that they never find any\nself-will, any determined opposition to the holy law of purity, any\npreference of a life of licence with its woes here upon earth and\nhereafter in hell, to a life of self-denial with its joys eternal? On the\ncontrary, they testify that the old maxim upon which so many millions of\nthe human family have acted: \"Enjoy the present and jump the life to\ncome,\" is the rule for this mass of population, of whom so very few can\nbe persuaded to leave their cups and their orgies. Like the people of\nIsrael, when expostulated with by the prophet Jeremiah for their idolatry\nand pollution, the majority of the degraded population of whom we are\nspeaking, when endeavors have been made to reclaim them, have said to the\nphilanthropist and the missionary: \"There is no hope: no; for I have\nloved strangers, and after them I will go\" (Jer. ii. 25). There is not a\nsingle individual of them all who does not love the sin that is\ndestroying him, more than he loves the holiness that would save him.\nNotwithstanding all the horrible accompaniments of sin--the filth, the\ndisease, the poverty, the sickness, the pain of both body and mind,--the\nwretched creature prefers to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,\nrather than come out and separate himself from the unclean thing, and\nbegin that holy warfare and obedience to which his God and his Saviour\ninvite him. This, we repeat, proves that the sin is not forced upon this\ncreature. For if he hated his sin, nay if he felt weary and heavy laden\nin the least degree because of it, he might leave it. There is a free\ngrace, and a proffered assistance of the Holy Ghost, of which he might\navail himself at any moment. Had he the feeling of the weary and penitent\nprodigal, the same father's house is ever open for his return; and the\nsame father seeing him on his return, though still a great way off, would\nrun and fall upon his neck and kiss him. But the heart is hard, and the\nspirit is utterly _selfish_, and the will is perverse and determined, and\ntherefore the natural knowledge of God and his law which this sinner\npossesses by his very constitution, and the added knowledge which his\nbirth in a Christian land and the efforts of benevolent Christians have\nimparted to him, are not strong enough to overcome his inclination, and\nhis preference, and induce him to break off his sins by righteousness.\nTo him, also, as well as to every sin-loving man, these solemn words will\nbe spoken in the day of final adjudication: \"The wrath of God is revealed\nfrom heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness, of men who hold\ndown ([Greek: katechein]) the truth in unrighteousness; because that\nwhich may be known of God is manifest _within_ them; for God hath shewed\nit unto them. For the invisible things of him, even his eternal power and\nGodhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being\nunderstood by the things that are made; so that they are without excuse,\nbecause that when they knew God. they glorified him not as God.\"\n\n3. In the third and last place, it follows from this doctrine of the\napostle Paul, as thus unfolded, that _that portion of the enlightened and\ncultivated population of Christian lands who have not believed on the\nLord Jesus Christ, and repented of sin, are in the deepest state of\ncondemnation and perdition._\n\n\"Behold thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy\nboast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are\nmore excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that\nthou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in\ndarkness: an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes: which hast\nthe form of knowledge, and of the truth, in the law: thou therefore that\nteachest another teachest thou not thyself? thou that makest thy boast of\nthe law, through breaking the law dishonored thou God?\"\n\nIf it be true that the pagan knows more of God and the moral law than he\nhas ever put in practice; if it be true that the imbruted child of vice\nand pollution knows more of God and the moral law than he has ever put in\npractice; how much more fearfully true is it that the dweller in a\nChristian home, the visitant of the house of God, the possessor of the\nwritten Word, the listener to prayer and oftentimes the subject of it,\npossesses an amount of knowledge respecting his origin, his duty, and\nhis destiny, that infinitely outruns his character and his conduct. If\neternal punishment will come down upon those classes of mankind who know\nbut comparatively little, because they have been unfaithful in that which\nis least, surely eternal punishment will come down upon that more favored\nclass who know comparatively much, because they have been unfaithful in\nthat which is much. \"If these things are done in the green tree, what\nshall be done in the dry?\"\n\nThe great charge that will rest against the creature when he stands\nbefore the final bar will be, that \"when he knew God, he _glorified_ Him\nnot as God.\" And this will rest heaviest against those whose knowledge\nwas the clearest. It is a great prerogative to be able to know the\ninfinite and glorious Creator; but it brings with it a most solemn\nresponsibility. That blessed Being, of right, challenges the homage and\nobedience of His creature. What he asks of the angel, that he asks of\nman; that he should glorify God in his body and spirit which are His, and\nshould thereby enjoy God forever and forever. This is the condemnation,\nunder which man, and especially enlightened and cultivated man, rests,\nthat while he knows God he neither glorifies Him nor enjoys Him. Our\nRedeemer saw this with all the clearness of the Divine Mind; and to\ndeliver the creature from the dreadful guilt, of his self-idolatry, of\nhis disposition to worship and love the creature more than the Creator,\nHe became incarnate, suffered and died. It cannot be a small crime, that\nnecessitated, such an apparatus of atonement and Divine influences as\nthat of Christ and His redemption. Estimate the guilt of coming short of\nthe glory of God, which is the same as the guilt of idolatry and\ncreature-worship, by the nature of the provision that has been made\nto cancel it. If you do not actually feel that this crime is great, then\nargue yourself towards a juster view, by the consideration that it cost\nthe blood of Christ to expiate it. If you do not actually feel that the\nguilt is great, then argue yourself towards a juster view, by the\nreflection that you have known God to be supremely great, supremely good,\nand supremely excellent, and yet you have never, in a single feeling of\nyour heart, or a single thought of your mind, or a single purpose of your\nwill, _honored_ Him. It is honor, reverence, worship, and love that\nHe requires. These you have never rendered; and there is an infinity of\nguilt in the fact. That guilt will be forgiven for Christ's sake, if you\nask for forgiveness. But if you do not ask, then it will stand recorded\nagainst you for eternal ages: \"When he, a rational and immortal creature,\nknew God, he glorified Him not as God.\"\n\n\n[Footnote 1: The early Fathers, in their defence of the Christian\ndoctrine of one God, against the objections of the pagan advocate of the\npopular mythologies, contend that the better pagan writers themselves\nagree with the new religion, in teaching that there is one Supreme Being.\nLACTANTIUS (Institutiones i. 5), after quoting the Orphic poets, Hesiod,\nVirgil, and Ovid, in proof that the heathen poets taught the unity of\nthe Supreme Deity, proceeds to show that the better pagan philosophers,\nalso, agree with them in this. \"Aristotle,\" he says, \"although he\ndisagrees with himself, and says many things that are self-contradictory,\nyet testifies that one Supreme Mind rules over the world. Plato, who is\nregarded as the wisest philosopher of them all, plainly and openly\ndefends the doctrine of a divine monarchy, and denominates the Supreme\nBeing; not ether, nor reason, nor nature, but, as he is, _God_; and\nasserts that by him this perfect and admirable world was made. And Cicero\nfollows Plato, frequently confessing the Deity, and calls him the Supreme\nBeing, in his treatise on the Laws.\" TERTULLIAN (De Test. An. c. 1; Adv.\nMarc. i. 10; Ad. Scap. c. 2; Apol. c. 17), than whom no one of the\nChristian Fathers was more vehemently opposed to the philosophizing of\nthe schools, earnestly contends that the doctrine of the unity of God is\nconstitutional to the human mind. \"God,\" he says, \"proves himself to be\nGod, and the one only God, by the very fact that He is known to _all_\nnations; for the existence of any other deity than He would first have to\nbe demonstrated. The God of the Jews is the one whom the _souls_ of men\ncall their God. We worship one God, the one whom ye all naturally know,\nat whose lightnings and thunders ye tremble, at whose benefits ye\nrejoice. Will ye that we prove the Divine existence by the witness of the\nsoul itself, which, although confined by the prison of the body, although\ncircumscribed by bad training, although enervated by lusts and passions,\nalthough made the servant of false gods, yet when it recovers itself as\nfrom a surfeit, as from a slumber, as from some infirmity, and is in its\nproper condition of soundness, calls God by _this_ name only, because it\nis the proper name of the true God. 'Great God,' 'good God,' and 'God\ngrant' [deus, not dii], are words in every mouth. The soul also witnesses\nthat He is its judge, when it says, 'God sees,' 'I commend to God,' 'God\nshall recompense me.' O testimony of a soul naturally Christian [i.e.,\nmonotheistic]! Finally, in pronouncing these words, it looks not to the\nRoman capitol, but to heaven; for it knows the dwelling-place of the true\nGod: from Him and from thence it descended.\" CALVIN (Inst. i. 10) seems\nto have had these statements in his eye, in the following remarks: \"In\nalmost all ages, religion has been generally corrupted. It is true,\nindeed, that the name of one Supreme God has been universally known and\ncelebrated. For those who used to worship a multitude of deities,\nwhenever they spake according to the genuine sense of nature, used simply\nthe name of God in the _singular_ number, as though they were contented\nwith one God. And this was wisely remarked by Justin Martyr, who for this\npurpose wrote a book 'On the Monarchy of God,' in which he demonstrates,\nfrom numerous testimonies, that the unity of God is a principle\nuniversally impressed on the hearts of men. Tertullian (De Idololatria)\nalso proves the same point, from the common phraseology. But since all\nmen, without exception, have become vain in their understandings, all\ntheir natural perception of the Divine Unity has only served to render\nthem inexcusable.\" In consonance with these views, the Presbyterian\nCONFESSION OF FAITH (ch. i.) affirms that \"the light of nature, and the\nworks of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness,\nwisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable.\"]\n\n[Footnote 2: The word [Greek: apolountai], in Rom. ii. 12, is opposed to\nthe [Greek: sotaeria] spoken of in Rom. i. 16, and therefore signifies\n_eternal_ perdition, as that signifies _eternal_ salvation.-Those\ntheorists who reject revealed religion, and remand man back to the first\nprinciples of ethics and morality as the only religion that he needs,\nsend him to a tribunal that damns him. \"Tell me,\" says St. Paul, \"ye\nthat desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? The law is not\nof faith, but the man that _doeth_ them shall live by them. Circumcision\nverily profiteth if thou _keep_ the law; but if thou be a breaker of the\nlaw, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.\" If man had been true to\nall the principles and precepts of natural religion, it would indeed be\nreligion enough for him. But he has not been thus true. The entire list\nof vices and sins recited by St. Paul, in the first chapter of Romans, is\nas contrary to natural religion, as it is to revealed. And it is\nprecisely because the pagan world has not obeyed the principles of\nnatural religion, and is under a curse and a bondage therefor, that it is\nin perishing need of the truths of revealed religion. Little do those\nknow what they are saying, when they propose to find a salvation for the\npagan in the mere light of natural reason and conscience. What pagan has\never realized the truths of natural conscience, in his inward character\nand his outward life? What pagan is there in all the generations that\nwill not be found guilty before the bar of natural religion? What heathen\nwill not need an atonement, for his failure to live up even to the light\nof nature? Nay, what is the entire sacrificial cultus of heathenism, but\na confession that the whole heathen world finds and feels itself to be\nguilty at the bar of natural reason and conscience? The accusing voice\nwithin them wakes their forebodings and fearful looking-for of Divine\njudgment, and they endeavor to propitiate the offended Power by their\nofferings and sacrifices.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Infidelity is constantly changing its ground. In the 18th\ncentury, the skeptic very generally took the position of Lord Herbert\nof Cherbury, and maintained that the light of reason is very clear, and\nis adequate to all the religious needs of the soul. In the 19th century,\nhe is now passing to the other extreme, and contending that man is\nkindred to the ape, and within the sphere of paganism does not possess\nsufficient moral intelligence to constitute him responsible. Like\nLuther's drunken beggar on horseback, the opponent of Revelation sways\nfrom the position that man is a god, to the position that he is a\nchimpanzee.]\n\n[Footnote 4: DANTE: Inferno, vii. 100-130.]\n\n\n\n\nSIN IN THE HEART THE SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE HEAD\n\nROMANS i. 28.--\"As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,\nGod gave them over to a reprobate mind.\"\n\n\nIn the opening of the most logical and systematic treatise in the New\nTestament, the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul enters upon a line\nof argument to demonstrate the ill-desert of every human creature without\nexception. In order to this, he shows that no excuse can be urged upon\nthe ground of moral ignorance. He explicitly teaches that the pagan knows\nthat there is one Supreme God (Rom. i. 20); that He is a spirit (Rom. i.\n23); that He is holy and sin-hating (Rom. i. 18); that He is worthy to be\nworshipped (Rom. i. 21, 25); and that men ought to be thankful for His\nbenefits (Rom. i. 21). He affirms that the heathen knows that an idol is\na lie (Rom. i. 25); that licentiousness is a sin (Rom. i. 26, 32); that\nenvy, malice, and deceit are wicked (Rom. i. 29, 32); and that those who\npractise such sins deserve eternal punishment (Rom. i. 32).\n\nIn these teachings and assertions, the apostle has attributed no small\namount and degree of moral knowledge to man as _man_,--to man outside of\nRevelation, as well as under its shining light. The question very\nnaturally arises: How comes it to pass that this knowledge which Divine\ninspiration postulates, and affirms to be innate and constitutional to\nthe human mind, should become so vitiated? The majority of mankind are\nidolaters and polytheists, and have been for thousands of years. Can\nit be that the truth that there is only one God is native to the human\nspirit, and that the pagan \"_knows_\" this God? The majority of men are\nearthly and sensual, and have been for thousands of years. Can it be that\nthere is a moral law written upon their hearts forbidding such carnality,\nand enjoining purity and holiness?\n\nSome theorizers argue that because the pagan man has not obeyed the law,\ntherefore he does not know the law; and that because he has not revered\nand worshipped the one Supreme Deity, therefore he does not possess the\nidea of any such Being. They look out upon the heathen populations and\nsee them bowing down to stocks and stones, and witness their immersion in\nthe abominations of heathenism, and conclude that these millions of human\nbeings really know no better, and that therefore it is unjust to hold\nthem responsible for their polytheism and their moral corruption. But why\ndo they confine this species of reasoning to the pagan world? Why do they\nnot bring it into nominal Christendom, and apply it there? Why does not\nthis theorist go into the midst of European civilization, into the heart\nof London or Paris, and gauge the moral knowledge of the sensualist by\nthe moral character of the sensualist? Why does he not tell us that\nbecause this civilized man acts no better, therefore he knows no better?\nWhy does he not maintain that because this voluptuary breaks all the\ncommandments in the decalogue, therefore he must be ignorant of all the\ncommandments in the decalogue? that because he neither fears nor loves\nthe one only God, therefore he does not know that there is any such\nBeing?\n\nIt will never do to estimate man's moral knowledge by man's moral\ncharacter. He knows more than he practises. And there is not so much\ndifference in this particular between some men in nominal Christendom,\nand some men in Heathendom, as is sometimes imagined. The moral knowledge\nof those who lie in the lower strata of Christian civilization, and those\nwho lie in the higher strata of Paganism, is probably not so very far\napart. Place the imbruted outcasts of our metropolitan population beside\nthe Indian hunter, with his belief in the Great Spirit, and his worship\nwithout images or pictorial representations;[1] beside the stalwart\nMandingo of the high table-lands of Central Africa, with his active and\nenterprising spirit, carrying on manufactures and trade with all the\nkeenness of any civilized worldling; beside the native merchants and\nlawyers of Calcutta, who still cling to their ancestral Boodhism, or else\nsubstitute French infidelity in its place; place the lowest of the\nhighest beside the highest of the lowest, and tell us if the difference\nis so very marked. Sin, like holiness, is a mighty leveler. The \"dislike\nto retain God\" in the consciousness, the aversion of the heart towards\nthe purity of the moral law, vitiates the native perceptions alike in\nChristendom and Paganism.\n\nThe theory that the pagan is possessed of such an amount and degree of\nmoral knowledge as has been specified has awakened some apprehension in\nthe minds of some Christian theologians, and has led them,\nunintentionally to foster the opposite theory, which, if strictly\nadhered, to, would lift off all responsibility from the pagan world,\nwould bring them in innocent at the bar of God, and would render the\nwhole enterprise of Christian missions a superfluity and an absurdity.\nTheir motive has been good. They have feared to attribute any degree\nof accurate knowledge of God and the moral law, to the pagan world, lest\nthey should thereby conflict with the doctrine of total depravity. They\nhave mistakenly supposed, that if they should concede to every man, by\nvirtue of his moral constitution, some correct apprehensions of ethics\nand natural religion, it would follow that there is some native goodness\nin him. But light in the intellect is very different from life in the\nheart. It is one thing to know the law of God, and quite another thing to\nbe conformed to it. Even if we should concede to the degraded pagan, or\nthe degraded dweller in the haunts of vice in Christian lands, all the\nintellectual knowledge of God and the moral law that is possessed by the\nruined archangel himself, we should not be adding a particle to his moral\ncharacter or his moral excellence. There is nothing of a holy quality in\nthe mere intellectual perception that there is one Supreme Deity, and\nthat He has issued a pure and holy law for the guidance of all rational\nbeings. The mere doctrine of the Divine Unity will save no man. \"Thou\nbelievest,\" says St. James, \"that there is one God; thou doest well, the\ndevils also believe and tremble.\" Satan himself is a monotheist, and\nknows very clearly all the commandments of God; but his heart and will\nare in demoniacal antagonism with them. And so it is, only in a lower\ndegree, in the instance of the pagan, and of the natural man, in every\nage, and in every clime. He knows more than he practises. This\nintellectual perception therefore, this inborn constitutional\napprehension, instead of lifting up man into a higher and more favorable\nposition before the eternal bar, casts him down to perdition. If he knew\nnothing at all of his Maker and his duty, he could not be held\nresponsible, and could, not be summoned to judgment. As St. Paul affirms:\n\"Where there is no law there is no transgression.\" But if, when he knew\nGod in some degree, he glorified him not as God to that degree; and if,\nwhen the moral law was written upon the heart he went counter to its\nrequirements, and heard the accusing voice of his own conscience; then\nhis mouth must be stopped, and he must become guilty before his Judge,\nlike any and every other disobedient creature.\n\nIt is this serious and damning fact in the history of man upon the globe,\nthat St. Paul brings to view, in the passage which we have selected as\nthe foundation of this discourse. He accounts for all the idolatry and\nsensuality, all the darkness and vain imaginations of paganism, by\nreferring to _the aversion of the natural heart_ towards the one only\nholy God. \"Men,\" he says,--these pagan men--\"did not _like to retain_ God\nin their knowledge.\" The primary difficulty was in their affections, and\nnot in their understandings. They knew too much for their own comfort in\nsin. The contrast between the Divine purity that was mirrored in their\nconscience, and the sinfulness that was wrought into their heart and\nwill, rendered this inborn constitutional idea of God a very painful one.\nIt was a fire in the bones. If the Psalmist, a renewed man, yet not\nentirely free from human corruption, could say: \"I thought of God and was\ntroubled,\" much more must the totally depraved man of paganism be filled\nwith terror when, in the thoughts of his heart, in the hour when the\naccusing conscience was at work, he brought to mind the one great God of\ngods whom he did not glorify, and whom he had offended. It was no wonder,\ntherefore, that he did not like to retain the idea of such a Being in his\nconsciousness, and that he adopted all possible expedients to get rid of\nit. The apostle informs us that the pagan actually called in his\nimagination to his aid, in order to extirpate, if possible, all his\nnative and rational ideas and convictions upon religious subjects. He\nbecame vain in his imaginations, and his foolish heart as a consequence\nwas darkened, and he changed the glory of the incorruptible God, the\nspiritual unity of the Deity, into an image made like to corruptible man,\nand to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Rom. i. 21-23).\nHe invented idolatry, and all those \"gay religions full of pomp and\ngold,\" in order to blunt the edge of that sharp spiritual conception of\nGod which was continually cutting and lacerating his wicked and sensual\nheart. Hiding himself amidst the columns of his idolatrous temples, and\nunder the smoke of his idolatrous incense, he thought like Adam to escape\nfrom the view and inspection of that Infinite One who, from the creation\nof the world downward, makes known to all men his eternal power and\ngodhead; who, as St. Paul taught the philosophers of Athens, is not far\nfrom anyone of his rational creatures (Acts xvii. 27); and who, as the\nsame apostle taught the pagan Lycaonians, though in times past he\nsuffered all nations to walk in their own ways, yet left not himself\nwithout witness, in that he did good, and gave them rain from heaven,\nand fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. (Acts\nxiv. 16, 17).\n\nThe first step in the process of mutilating the original idea of God, as\na unity and an unseen Spirit, is seen in those pantheistic religions\nwhich lie behind all the mythologies of the ancient world, like a\nnebulous vapor out of which the more distinct idols and images of\npaganism are struggling. Here the notion of the Divine unity is still\npreserved; but the Divine personality and holiness are lost. God becomes\na vague impersonal Power, with no moral qualities, and no religious\nattributes; and it is difficult to say which is worst in its moral\ninfluence, this pantheism which while retaining the doctrine of the\nDivine unity yet denudes the Deity of all that renders him an object of\neither love or reverence, or the grosser idolatries that succeeded it.\nFor man cannot love, with all his mind and heart and soul and strength, a\nvast impersonal force working blindly through infinite space and\neverlasting time.\n\nAnd the second and last stage in this process of vitiating the true idea\nof God appears in that polytheism in the midst of which St. Paul lived,\nand labored, and preached, and died; in that seductive and beautiful\npaganism, that classical idolatry, which still addresses the human taste\nin such a fascinating manner, in the Venus de Medici, and the Apollo\nBelvidere. The idea of the unity of God is now mangled and cut up into\nthe \"gods many\" and the \"lords many,\" into the thirty thousand divinities\nof the pagan pantheon. This completes the process. God now gives his\nguilty creature over to these vain imaginations of naturalism,\nmaterialism, and idolatry, and to an increasingly darkening mind, until\nin the lowest forms of heathenism he so distorts and suppresses the\nconcreated idea of the Deity that some speculatists assert that it does\nnot belong to his constitution, and that his Maker never endowed him with\nit. How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed!\n\nBut it will be objected that all this lies in the past. This is the\naccount of a process that has required centuries, yea millenniums, to\nbring about. A hundred generations have been engaged in transmuting\nthe monotheism with which the human race started, into the pantheism and\npolytheism in which the great majority of it is now involved. How do\nyou establish the guilt of those at the end of the line? How can you\ncharge upon the present generation of pagans the same culpability that\nPaul imputed to their ancestors eighteen centuries ago, and that Noah the\npreacher of righteousness denounced, upon the antediluvian pagan? As the\ndeteriorating process advances, does not the guilt diminish? and now, in\nthese ends of the ages, and in these dark habitations of cruelty, has not\nthe culpability run down to a minimum, which God in the day of judgment\nwill \"wink at?\"\n\nWe answer No: Because the structure of the human mind is precisely the\nsame that it was when the Sodomites held down the truth in\nunrighteousness, and the Roman populace turned up their thumbs that they\nmight see the last drops of blood ebb slowly from the red gash in the\ndying gladiator's side. Man, in his deepest degradation, in his most\nhardened depravity, is still a rational intelligence; and though he\nshould continue to sin on indefinitely, through cycles of time as long as\nthose of geology, he cannot unmake himself; he cannot unmould his\nimmortal essence, and absolutely eradicate all his moral ideas. Paganism\nitself has its fluctuations of moral knowledge. The early Roman, in the\ndays of Numa, was highly ethical in his views of the Deity, and his\nconceptions of moral law. Varro informs us that for a period of one\nhundred and seventy years the Romans worshipped their gods without any\nimages;[2] and Sallust denominates these pristine Romans \"religiosissimi\nmortales.\" And how often does the missionary discover a tribe or a race,\nwhose moral intelligence is higher than that of the average of paganism.\nNay, the same race, or tribe, passes from one phase of polytheism to\nanother; in one instance exhibiting many of the elements and truths of\nnatural religion, and in another almost entirely suppressing them. These\nfacts prove that the pagan man is under supervision; that he is under the\nrighteous despotism of moral ideas and convictions; that God is not far\nfrom him; that he lives and moves and has his being in his Maker; and\nthat God does not leave himself without witness in his constitutional\nstructure. Therefore it is, that this sea of rational intelligence thus\nsurges and sways in the masses of paganism; sometimes dashing the\ncreature up the heights, and sometimes sending him down into the depths.\n\nBut while this subject has this general application to mankind outside of\nRevelation; while it throws so much light upon the question of the\nheathens' responsibility and guilt; while it tends to deepen our interest\nin the work of Christian missions, and to stimulate us to obey our\nRedeemer's command to go and preach the gospel to them, in order to\nsave them from the wrath of God which abideth upon them as it does upon\nourselves; while this subject has these profound and far-reaching\napplications, it also presses with sharpness and energy upon the case,\nand the position, of millions of men in Christendom. And to this more\nparticular aspect of the theme, we ask attention for a moment.\n\nThis same process of corruption, and vitiation of a correct knowledge of\nGod, which we have seen to go on upon a large scale in the instance of\nthe heathen world, also often goes on in the instance of a single\nindividual under the light of Revelation itself. Have you never known a\nperson to have been well educated in childhood and youth respecting the\ncharacter and government of God, and yet in middle life and old age to\nhave altered and corrupted all his early and accurate apprehensions, by\nthe gradual adoption of contrary views and sentiments? In his childhood,\nand youth, he believed that God distinguishes between the righteous and\nthe wicked, that he rewards the one and punishes the other, and hence he\ncherished a salutary fear of his Maker that agreed well with the dictates\nof his unsophisticated reason, and the teachings of nature and\nrevelation. But when, he became a man, he put away these childish things,\nin a far different sense from that of the Apostle. As the years rolled,\nalong, he succeeded, by a career of worldliness and of sensuality, in\nexpelling this stock of religious knowledge, this right way of conceiving\nof God, from his mind, and now at the close of life and upon the very\nbrink of eternity and of doom, this very same person is as unbelieving\nrespecting the moral attributes of Jehovah, and as unfearing with regard\nto them, as if the entire experience and creed of his childhood and youth\nwere a delusion and a lie. This rational and immortal creature in the\nmorning of his existence looked up into the clear sky with reverence,\nbeing impressed by the eternal power and godhead that are there, and when\nhe had committed a sin he felt remorseful and guilty; but the very same\nperson now sins recklessly and with flinty hardness of heart, casts\nsullen or scowling glances upward, and says: \"There is no God.\" Compare\nthe Edward Gibbon whose childhood expanded under the teachings of a\nbeloved Christian matron trained in the school of the devout William Law,\nand whose youth exhibited unwonted religions sensibility,--compare this\nEdward Gibbon with the Edward Gibbon whose manhood was saturated with\nutter unbelief, and whose departure into the dread hereafter was, in his\nown phrase, \"a leap in the dark.\" Compare the Aaron Burr whose blood was\ndeduced from one of the most saintly lineages in the history of the\nAmerican church, and all of whose early life was embosomed in ancestral\npiety,--compare this Aaron Burr with the Aaron Burr whose middle life and\nprolonged old age was unimpressible as marble to all religious ideas and\ninfluences. In both of these instances, it was the aversion of the heart\nthat for a season (not for _eternity_, be it remembered) quenched out the\nlight in the head. These men, like the pagan of whom St. Paul speaks, did\nnot like to retain a holy God in their knowledge, and He gave them over\nto a reprobate mind.\n\nThese fluctuations and changes in doctrinal belief, both in the general\nand the individual mind, furnish materials for deep reflection by both\nthe philosopher and the Christian; and such an one will often be led to\nnotice the exact parallel and similarity there is between religious\ndeterioration in races, and religious deterioration in individuals. The\n_dislike to retain_ a knowledge already furnished, because it is painful,\nbecause it rebukes worldliness and sin, is that which ruins both mankind\nin general, and the man in particular. Were the heart only conformed to\nthe truth, the truth never would be corrupted, never would be even\ntemporarily darkened in the human soul. Should the pagan, himself,\nactually obey the dictates of his own reason and conscience, he would\nfind the light that was in him growing still clearer and brighter. God\nhimself, the author of his rational mind, and the Light that lighteth\nevery man that cometh into the world, would reward him for his obedience\nby granting him yet more knowledge. We cannot say in what particular\nmode the Divine providence would bring it about, but it is as certain as\nthat God lives, that if the pagan world should act up to the degree of\nlight which they enjoy, they would be conducted ultimately to the truth\nas it is in Jesus, and would be saved by the Redeemer of the world. The\ninstance of the Roman centurion Cornelius is a case in point. This was a\nthoughtful and serious pagan. It is indeed very probable that his\nmilitary residence in Palestine had cleared up, to some degree, his\nnatural intuitions of moral truth; but we know that he was ignorant of\nthe way of salvation through Christ, from the fact that the apostle Peter\nwas instructed in a vision to go and preach it unto him. The sincere\nendeavor of this Gentile, this then pagan in reference to Christianity,\nto improve the little knowledge which he had, met with the Divine\napprobation, and was crowned with a saving acquaintance with the\nredemption that is in Christ Jesus. Peter himself testified to this,\nwhen, after hearing from the lips of Cornelius the account of his\nprevious life, and of the way in which God had led him, \"he opened his\nmouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of\npersons: but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh\nrighteousness is accepted with him\" (Acts x. 34, 35).[3]\n\nBut such instances as this of Cornelius are not one in millions upon\nmillions. The light shines in the darkness that comprehends it not.\nAlmost without an exception, so far as the human eye can see, the\nunevangelized world holds the truth in unrighteousness, and does not like\nto retain the idea of a holy God, and a holy law, in its knowledge.\nTherefore the knowledge continually diminishes; the light of natural\nreason and conscience grows dimmer and dimmer; and the soul sinks down in\nthe mire of sin and sensuality, apparently devoid of all the higher ideas\nof God, and law, and immortal life.\n\nWe have thus considered the truth which St. Paul teaches in the text,\nthat the ultimate source of all human error is in the character of the\nhuman heart. Mankind do not _like to retain_ God in their knowledge, and\ntherefore they come to possess a reprobate mind. The origin of idolatry,\nand of infidelity, is not in the original constitution with which the\nCreator endowed the creature, but in that evil heart of unbelief by which\nhe departed from the living God. Sinful man shapes his creed in\naccordance with his wishes, and not in accordance with the unbiased\ndecisions of his reason and conscience. He does not _like_ to think of a\nholy God, and therefore he denies that God is holy. He does not _like_ to\nthink of the eternal punishment of sin, and therefore he denies that\npunishment is eternal. He does not _like_ to be pardoned through the\nsubstituted sufferings of the Son of God, and therefore he denies the\ndoctrine of atonement. He does not _like_ the truth that man is so\ntotally alienated from God that he needs to be renewed in the spirit of\nhis mind by the Holy Ghost, and therefore he denies the doctrines of\ndepravity and regeneration. Run through the creed which the Church has\nlived by and died by, and you will discover that the only obstacle to its\nreception is the aversion of the human heart. It is a rational creed in\nall its parts and combinations. It has outlived the collisions and\nconflicts of a hundred schools of infidelity that have had their brief\nday, and died with their devotees. A hundred systems of philosophy\nfalsely so called have come and gone, but the one old religion of the\npatriarchs, and the prophets, and the apostles, holds on its way through\nthe centuries, conquering and to conquer. Can it be that sheer imposture\nand error have such a tenacious vitality as this? If reason is upon the\nside of infidelity, why does not infidelity remain one and the same\nunchanging thing, like Christianity, from age to age, and subdue all men\nunto it? If Christianity is a delusion and a lie, why does it not die\nout, and disappear? The difficulty is not upon the side of the human\nreason, but of the human heart. Skeptical men do not _like_ the religion\nof the New Testament, these doctrines of sin and grace, and therefore\nthey shape their creed by their sympathies and antipathies; by what they\nwish to have true; by their heart rather than by their head. As the\nFounder of Christianity said to the Jews, so he says to every man who\nrejects His doctrine of grace and redemption: \"Ye _will_ not come unto me\nthat ye might have life.\" It is an inclination of the will, and not a\nconviction of the reason, that prevents the reception of the Christian\nreligion.\n\nAmong the many reflections that are suggested by this subject and its\ndiscussion, our limits permit only the following:\n\n1. It betokens deep wickedness, in any man, to change the truth of God\ninto a lie,--_to substitute a false theory in religion for the true one_.\n\"Woe unto them,\" says the prophet, \"that call evil good, and good evil;\nthat put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for\nsweet, and sweet for bitter.\" There is no form of moral evil that is more\nhateful in the sight of Infinite Truth, than that intellectual depravity\nwhich does not like to retain a holy God in its knowledge, and therefore\nmutilates the very idea of the Deity, and attempts to make him other than\nhe is. There is no sinner that will be visited with a heavier vengeance\nthan that cool and calculating man, who, because he dislikes the\nunyielding purity of the moral law, and the awful sanctions by which it\nis accompanied, deliberately alters it to suit his wishes and his\nself-indulgence. If a person is tempted and falls into sin, and yet does\nnot change his religious creed in order to escape the reproaches of\nconscience and the fear of retribution, there is hope that the orthodoxy\nof his head may result, by God's blessing upon his own truth, in sorrow\nfor the sin and a forsaking thereof. A man, for instance, who amidst all\nhis temptations and transgressions still retains the truth taught him\nfrom the Scriptures, at his mother's knees, that a finally impenitent\nsinner will go down to eternal torment, feels a powerful check upon his\npassions, and is often kept from outward and actual transgressions by his\ncreed. But if he deliberately, and by an act of will, says in his heart:\n\"There is no hell;\" if he substitutes for the theory that renders the\ncommission of sin dangerous and fearful, a theory that relieves it from\nall danger and all fear, there is no hope that he will ever cease from\nsinning. On the contrary, having brought his head into harmony with his\nheart; having adjusted his theory to his practice; having shaped his\ncreed by his passions; having changed the truth of God into a lie; he\nthen plunges into sin with an abandonment and a momentum that is awful.\nIn the phrase of the prophet, he \"draws iniquity with cords of vanity,\nand sin as it were with a cart-rope.\"\n\nIt is here that we see the deep guilt of those, who, by false theories of\nGod and man and law and penalty, tempt the young or the old to their\neternal destruction. It is sad and fearful, when the weak physical nature\nis plied with all the enticements of earth and sense; but it is yet\nsadder and more fearful, when the intellectual nature is sought to be\nperverted and ensnared by specious theories that annihilate the\ndistinction between virtue and vice, that take away all holy fear of God,\nand reverence for His law, that represent the everlasting future either\nas an everlasting elysium for all, or else as an eternal sleep. The\ndemoralization, in this instance, is central and radical. It is in the\nbrain, in the very understanding itself. If the foundations themselves of\nmorals and religion are destroyed, what can be done for the salvation of\nthe creature? A heavy woe is denounced against any and every one who\ntempts a fellow-being. Temptation implies malice. It is Satanic. It\nbetokens a desire to ruin an immortal spirit. When therefore the siren\nwould allure a human creature from the path of virtue, the inspiration of\nGod utters a deep and bitter curse against her. But when the cold-blooded\nMephistopheles endeavors to sophisticate the reason, to debauch the\njudgment, to sear the conscience; when the temptation is addressed to the\nintellect, and the desire of the tempter is to overthrow the entire\nreligious creed of a human being,--perhaps a youth just entering upon\nthat hazardous enterprise of life in which he needs every jot and tittle\nof eternal truth to guide and protect him,--when the enticement assumes\nthis purely mental form and aspect, it betokens the most malignant and\nheaven-daring guilt in the tempter. And we may be certain that the\nretribution that will be meted out to it, by Him who is true and The\nTruth; who abhors all falsehood and all lies with an infinite intensity;\nwill be terrible beyond conception. \"Woe unto you ye _blind guides_! Ye\nserpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of\nhell! If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the\nplagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away\nfrom the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part\nout of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things\nthat are written in this book.\"\n\n2. In the second place, we perceive, in the light of this subject, _the\ngreat danger of not reducing religious truth to practice_. There are two\nfatal hazards in not obeying the doctrines of the Bible while yet there\nis an intellectual assent to them. The first is, that these doctrines\nshall themselves become diluted and corrupted. So long as the\naffectionate submission of the heart is not yielded to their authority;\nso long as there is any dislike towards their holy claims; there is great\ndanger that, as in the instance of the pagan, they will not be retained\nin the knowledge. The sinful man becomes weary of a form of doctrine that\ncontinually rebukes him, and gradually changes it into one that is less\ntruthful and restraining. But a second and equally alarming danger is,\nthat the heart shall become accustomed to the truth, and grow hard and\nindifferent towards it. There are a multitude of persons who hear the\nword of God and never dream of disputing it, who yet, alas, never dream\nof obeying it. To such the living truth of the gospel becomes a\npetrifaction, and a savor of death unto death.\n\nWe urge you, therefore, ye who know the doctrines of the law and the\ndoctrines of the gospel, to give an affectionate and hearty assent to\nthem _both_. When the divine Word asserts that you are guilty, and that\nyou cannot stand in the judgment before God, make answer: \"It is so, it\nis so.\" Practically and deeply acknowledge the doctrine of human guilt\nand corruption. Let it no longer be a theory in the head, but a humbling\nsalutary consciousness in the heart. And when the divine Word affirms\nthat God so loved the world that he gave his Only-Begotten Son to redeem\nit, make a quick and joyful response: \"It is so, it is so.\" Instead of\nchanging the truth of God into a lie, as the guilty world have been doing\nfor six thousand years, change it into a blessed consciousness of the\nsoul. Believe_ what you know; and then what you know will be the wisdom\nof God to your salvation.\n\n\n[Footnote 1: \"There are no profane words in the (Iowa) Indian language:\nno light or profane way of speaking of the 'Great Spirit.'\"--FOREIGN\nMISSIONARY: May, 1863, p. 337.]\n\n[Footnote 2: PLUTARCH: Numa, 8; AUGUSTINE: De Civitate, iv. 31.]\n\n[Footnote 3: It should be noticed that Cornelius was not prepared for\nanother life, by the moral virtue which he had practised before meeting\nwith Peter, but by his penitence for sin and faith in Jesus Christ, whom\nPeter preached to him as the Saviour from sin (Acts x. 43). Good works\ncan no more prepare a pagan for eternity than they can a nominal\nChristian. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius could no more be justified\nby their personal character, than Saul of Tarsus could be. First, because\nthe virtue is imperfect, at the best: and, secondly, it does not begin at\nthe beginning of existence upon earth, and continue unintermittently to\nthe end of it. A sense of _sin_ is a far more hopeful indication, in the\ninstance of a heathen, than a sense of virtue. The utter absence of\nhumility and sorrow in the \"Meditations\" of the philosophic Emperor, and\nthe omnipresence in them of pride and self-satisfaction, place him out of\nall relations to the Divine _mercy_. In trying to judge of the final\ncondition of a pagan outside of revelation, we must ask the question: Was\nhe penitent? rather than the question: Was he virtuous?]\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES.\n\nLUKE xi. 13.--\"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto\nyour children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy\nSpirit to them that ask him?\"\n\n\nThe reality, and necessity, of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the\nhuman heart, is a doctrine very frequently taught in the Scriptures. Our\nLord, in the passage from which the text is taken, speaks of the third\nPerson in the Trinity in such a manner as to convey the impression that\nHis agency is as indispensable, in order to spiritual life, as food is in\norder to physical; that sinful man as much needs the influences of the\nHoly Ghost as he does his daily bread. \"If a son shall ask bread of any\nof you that is a father, will he give him a stone?\" If this is not at all\nsupposable, in the case of an affectionate earthly parent, much less is\nit supposable that God the heavenly Father will refuse renewing and\nsanctifying influences to them that ask for them. By employing such a\nsignificant comparison as this, our Lord implies that there is as\npressing need of the gift in the one instance as in the other. For,\nhe does not compare spiritual influences with the mere luxuries of\nlife,--with wealth, fame, or power,--but with the very staff of life\nitself. He selects the very bread by which the human body lives, to\nillustrate the helpless sinner's need of the Holy Ghost. When God, by\nhis prophet, would teach His people that he would at some future time\nbestow a rich and remarkable blessing upon them, He says: \"I will pour\nout my Spirit upon all flesh.\" When our Saviour was about to leave his\ndisciples, and was sending them forth as the ministers of his religion,\nhe promised them a direct and supernatural agency that should \"reprove\nthe world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.\"\n\nAnd the history of Christianity evinces both the necessity and reality of\nDivine influences. God the Spirit has actually been present by a special\nand peculiar agency, in this sinful and hardened world, and hence the\nheart of flesh and the spread of vital religion. God the Spirit has\nactually been absent, so far as concerns his special and peculiar agency,\nand hence the continuance of the heart of stone, and the decline, and\nsometimes the extinction of vital religion. Where the Holy Spirit has\nbeen, specially and peculiarly, there the true Church of Christ has been,\nand where the Holy Spirit has not been, specially and peculiarly, there,\nthe Church of Christ has not been; however carefully, or imposingly, the\nexternals of a church organization may have been maintained.\n\nBut there is no stronger, or more effective proof of the need of the\npresence and agency of the Holy Spirit, than that which is derived from\nthe _nature of the case_, as it appears in the individual. Just in\nproportion as we come to know our own moral condition, and our own moral\nnecessities, shall we see and feel that the origin and growth of holiness\nwithin our earthly and alienated souls, without the agency of God the\nHoly Spirit, is an utter impossibility. Let us then look into the\nargument from the nature of the case, and consider this doctrine of a\ndirect Divine operation, in its relations to ourselves personally. Why,\nthen, does every man need these influences of the Holy Spirit which are\nso cordially offered in the text?\n\n1. He needs them, in the first place, in order that _he may be convinced\nof the reality of the eternal world._\n\nThere is such a world. It has as actual an existence as Europe or Asia.\nThough not an object for any one of the five senses, the invisible world\nis as substantial as the great globe itself, and will be standing when\nthe elements shall have been melted with fervent heat, and the heavens\nare no more. This eternal world, furthermore, is not only real, but it is\nfilled with realities that are yet more solemn. God inhabits it. The\njudgment-seat of Christ is set up in it. Heaven is in it. Hell is in it.\nMyriads of myriads of holy and happy spirits are there. Myriads of sinful\nand wretched spirits are there. Nay, this unseen world is the _only_ real\nworld, and the objects in it the _only_ real objects, if we remember that\nonly that which is immutable deserves the name of real. If we employ the\neternal as the measure of real being, then all that is outside of\neternity is unreal and a vanity. This material world acquires\nimpressiveness for man, by virtue of the objects that fill it. His farm\nis in it, his houses are upon it, solid mountains rise up from it, great\nrivers run through it, and the old rolling heavens are bent over it. But\nwhat is the transient reality of these objects, these morning vapors,\ncompared with the everlasting reality of such beings as God and the soul,\nof such facts as holiness and sin, of such states as heaven and hell?\nHere, then, we have in the unseen and eternal world a most solemn and\nreal object of knowledge; but where, among mankind, is the solemn and\nvivid knowledge itself? Knowledge is the union of a fact with a feeling.\nThere may be a stone in the street, but unless I smite it with my foot,\nor smite it with my eye, I have no knowledge of the stone. So, too, there\nis an invisible world, outstanding and awfully impressive; but unless I\nfeel its influences, and stand with awe beneath its shadows, it is as\nthough it were not. Here is an orb that has risen up into the horizon,\nbut all eyes are shut.\n\nFor, no thoughtful observer fails to perceive that an earthly, and\nunspiritual mode of thought and feeling is the prevalent one among men.\nNo one who has ever endeavored to arrest the attention of a fellow-man,\nand give his thoughts an upward tendency towards eternity, will say that\nthe effort is easily and generally successful. On the contrary, if an\nethereal and holy inhabitant of heaven were to go up and down our earth,\nand witness man's immersion in sense and time, the earthliness of his\nviews and aims, his neglect of spiritual objects and interests, his\nabsorption in this existence, and his forgetfulness of the other, it\nwould be difficult to convince him that he was among beings made in the\nimage of God, and was mingling with a race having an immortal destination\nbeyond the grave.\n\nIn this first feature of the case, then, as we find it in ourselves, and\nsee it in all our fellow-men, we have the first evidence of the need of\n_awakening_ influences from on high. Since man, naturally, is destitute\nof a solemn sense of eternal things, it is plain that there can be no\nmoral change produced in him, unless he is first wakened from this\ndrowze. He cannot become the subject of that new birth without which he\ncannot see the kingdom of God, unless his torpor respecting the Unseen is\nremoved. Entirely satisfied as he now is with this mode of existence, and\nthinking little or nothing about another, the first necessity in his case\nis a startle, and an alarm. Difficult as he now finds it to be, to bring\nthe invisible world before his mind in a way to affect his feelings, he\nneeds to have it loom upon his inward vision with such power and\nimpressiveness that he cannot take his eye off, if he would. Lethargic as\nhe now is, respecting his own immortality, it is impossible for him to\nlive and act with constant reference to it, unless he is wakened to its\nsignificance. Is it not self-evident, that if the sinner's present\nindifference towards the invisible world, and his failure to feel its\nsolemn reality, continues through life, he will certainly enter that\nstate of existence with his present character? Looking into the human\nspirit, and seeing how dead it is towards God and the future, must we\nnot say, that if this deadness to eternity lasts until the death of the\nbody, it will certainly be the death of the soul?\n\nBut, in what way can man be made to realize that there is an eternal\nworld, to which he is rapidly tending, and realities there, with which,\nby the very constitution of his spirit, he is forever and indissolubly\nconnected either for bliss or woe? How shall thoughtless and earthly man,\nas he treads these streets, and transacts all this business, and enjoys\nlife, be made to feel with misgiving, foreboding, and alarm, that there\nis an eternity, and that he must soon enter it, as other men do, either\nas a heaven or a hell for his soul? The answer to this question, so often\nasked in sadness and sorrow by the preacher of the word, drives us back\nto the throne of God and to a mightier agency than that of man.\n\nFor one thing is certain, that this apathy and deadness will never of\nitself generate sensibility and life. Satan never casts out Satan. If\nthis slumberer be left to himself, he is lost. Should any man be given\nover to the natural inclination of his heart, he would never be awakened.\nShould his earthly mind receive no check, and his corrupt heart take its\nown way, he would never realize that there is another world than this,\nuntil he entered it. For, the worldly mind and the corrupt heart busy\nthemselves solely and happily with this existence. They find pleasure in\nthe things of this life, and therefore never look beyond them. Worldly\nmen do not interfere with their own present actual enjoyment. Who of this\nclass voluntarily makes himself unhappy, by thinking of subjects that are\ngloomy to his mind? What man of the world starts up from his sweet sleep\nand his pleasant dreams, and of his own accord looks the stern realities\nof death and the judgment in the eye? No natural man begins to wound\nhimself, that he may be healed. No earthly man begins to slay himself,\nthat he may be made alive. Even when the natural heart is roused and\nwakened by some foreign agency; some startling providence of God or some\nDivine operation in the conscience, how soon, if left to its own motion\nand tendency, does it relapse into its old slumber and sleep. The needle\nhas received a shock, but after a slight trembling and vibration it soon\nsettles again upon its axis, ever and steady to the north. It is plain,\nthat the sinner's worldly mind and apathetic nature will never conduct\nhim to a proper sense of Divine things.\n\nThe awakening, then, of the human soul, to an effectual apprehension of\neternal realities, must take its first issue from some other Being than\nthe drowzy and slumbering creature himself. We are not speaking of a few\nserious thoughts that now and then fleet across the human mind, like\nmeteors at midnight, and are seen no more. We are speaking of that\npermanent, that everlasting dawning of eternity, with its terrors and its\nsplendors, upon the human soul, which allows it no more repose, until it\nis prepared for eternity upon good grounds and foundations; and with\nreference to such a profound consciousness of the future state as this,\nwe say with confidence, that the awakening must proceed from some Being\nwho is far more alive to the solemnity and significance of eternal\nduration than earthly man is. Without impulses from on high, the sinner\nnever rouses up to attend to the subject of religion. He lives on\nindifferent to his religious interests, until _God_, who is more merciful\nto his deathless soul than he himself is, by His providence startles him,\nor by His Spirit in his conscience alarms him. Never, until God\ninterferes to disturb his dreams, and break up his slumber, does he\nprofoundly and permanently feel that he was made for another world, and\nis fast going into it. How often does God say to the careless man:\n\"Arise, O sleeper, and Christ shall give thee light;\" and how often does\nhe disregard the warning voice! How often does God stimulate his\nconscience, and flare light into his mind; and how often does he stifle\ndown these inward convictions, and suffer the light to shine in the\ndarkness that comprehends it not! These facts in the personal history of\nevery sin-loving man show, that the human soul does not of its own\nisolated action wake up to the realities of eternity. They also show that\nGod is very merciful to the human soul, in positively and powerfully\ninterfering for its welfare; but that man, in infinite folly and\nwickedness, loves the sleep, and inclines to remain in it.\nThe Holy Spirit strives, but the human spirit resists.\n\nII. In the second place, man needs the influences of the Holy Spirit\n_that he may be convinced of sin_.\n\nMan universally is a sinner, and yet he needs in every single instance to\nbe made aware of it. \"There is none good, no, not one;\" and yet out of\nthe millions of the race how very few _feel_ this truth! Not only does\nman sin, but he adds to his guilt by remaining ignorant of it. The\ncriminal in this instance also, as in our courts of law, feels and\nconfesses his crime no faster than it is proved to him. Through what\nblindness of mind, and hardness of heart, and insensibility of\nconscience, is the Holy Spirit obliged to force His way, before there is\na sincere acknowledgment of sin before God! The careful investigations,\nthe persevering questionings and cross-questionings, by which, before a\nhuman tribunal, the wilful and unrepenting criminal is forced to see and\nacknowledge his wickedness, are but faint emblems of that thorough work\nthat must be wrought by the Holy Ghost, before the human soul, at a\nhigher tribunal, forsaking its refuges of lies, and desisting from its\nsubterfuges and palliations, smites upon the breast, and cries, \"God be\nmerciful to me a sinner!\" Think how much of our sin has occurred in total\napathy, and indifference, and how unwilling we are to have any distinct\nconsciousness upon this subject. It is only now and then that we feel\nourselves to be sinners; but it is by no means only now and then that we\nare sinners. We sin habitually; we are conscious of sin rarely. Our\naffections and inclinations and motives are evil, and only evil,\ncontinually; but our experimental _knowledge_ that they are so comes not\noften into our mind, and what is worse stays not long, because we dislike\nit.\n\nThe conviction of sin, with what it includes and leads to, is of more\nworth to man than all other convictions. Conviction of any sort,--a\nliving practical consciousness of any kind,--is of great value, because\nit is only this species of knowledge that moves mankind. Convince a man,\nthat is, give him a consciousness, of the truth of a principle in\npolitics, in trade, or in religion, and you actuate him politically,\ncommercially, or religiously. Convince a criminal of his crime, that is,\nendue him with a conscious feeling of his criminality, and you make him\nburn with electric fire. A convicted man is a man thoroughly conscious;\nand a thoroughly conscious man is a deeply moved one. And this is true,\nwith emphasis, of the conviction of sin. This consciousness produces a\ndeeper and more lasting effect than all others. Convince a community of\nthe justice or injustice of a certain class of political principles, and\nyou stir it very deeply, and broadly, as the history of all democracies\nclearly shows; but let society be once convinced of sin before the holy\nand righteous God, and deep calleth unto deep, all the waters are moved.\nNever is a mass of human beings so centrally stirred, as when the Spirit\nof God is poured out upon it, and from no movement in human society do\nsuch lasting and blessed consequences flow, as from a genuine revival of\nreligion.\n\nBut here again, as in reference to the eternal state, there is no\nrealizing sense. Conviction of sin is not a characteristic of mankind at\nlarge. Men generally will acknowledge in words that they are sinners, but\nthey wait for some far-distant day to come, when they shall be pricked in\nthe heart, and feel the truth of what they say. Men generally are not\nconscious of the dreadful reality of sin, any more than they are of the\nsolemn reality of eternity. A deep insensibility, in this respect also,\nprecludes a practical knowledge of that guilt in the soul, which, if\nunpardoned and unremoved, will just as surely ruin it as God lives and\nthe soul is immortal. Since, then, if man be left to his own inclination,\nhe never will be convinced of sin, it is plain that some Agent who has\nthe power must overcome his aversion to self-knowledge, and bring him to\nconsciousness upon this unwelcome subject. If any one of us, for the\nremainder of our days, should be given over to that ordinary indifference\ntowards sin with which we walk these streets, and transact business, and\nenjoy life; if God's truth should never again in this world stab the\nconscience, and God's Spirit should never again make us anxious; is it\nnot infallibly certain that the future would be as the past, and that we\nshould go through this \"accepted time and day of salvation\" unconvicted\nand therefore unconverted?\n\nBut besides this destitution of the experimental sense of sin, another\nground of the need of Divine agency is found in the _blindness_ of the\nnatural mind. Man's vision of spiritual things, even when they are set\nbefore his eyes, is dim and inadequate. The Christian ministry is greatly\nhindered, because it cannot illuminate the human understanding, and\nimpart the power of a keen spiritual insight. It is compelled to present\nthe objects of sight, but it cannot give the eye to see them. Vision\ndepends altogether upon the condition of the organ. The eye sees only\nwhat it brings the means of seeing. The scaled eye of a worldling, or a\ndebauchee, or a self-righteous man, cannot see that sin of the heart,\nthat \"spiritual wickedness,\" at which men like Paul and Isaiah stood\naghast. These were men whose character compared with that of the\nworldling was saintly; men whose shoes' latchets the worldling is not\nworthy to stoop down and unloose. And yet they saw a depravity within\ntheir own hearts which he does not see in his; a depravity which he\ncannot see, and which he steadily denies to exist, until he is\nenlightened by the Holy Ghost.\n\nBut the preacher has no power to impart this clear spiritual discernment.\nHe cannot arm the eye of the natural man with that magnifying and\nmicroscopic power, by which hatred shall be seen to be murder, and lust,\nadultery, and the least swelling of pride, the sin of Lucifer. He is\ncompelled, by the testimony of the Bible, of the wise and the holy of all\ntime, and of his own consciousness, to tell every unregenerate man that\nhe is no better than his race; that he certainly is no better than the\nChristian Church which continually confesses and mourns over indwelling\nsin. The faithful preacher of the word is obliged to insist that there is\nno radical difference among men, and that the depravity of the man of\nirreproachable morals but unrenewed heart is as total as was that of the\ngreat preacher to the Gentiles,--a man of perfectly irreproachable\nmorals, but who confessed that he was the chief of sinners, and feared\nlest he should be a cast-away. But the preacher of this unwelcome message\nhas no power to open the blind eye. He cannot endow the self-ignorant and\nincredulous man before him, with that consciousness of the \"plague of the\nheart\" which says \"yea\" to the most vivid description of human\nsinfulness, and \"amen\" to God's heaviest malediction upon it. The\npreacher's position would be far easier, if there might be a transfer of\nexperience; if some of that bitter painful sense of sin with which the\nstruggling Christian is burdened might flow over into the easy, unvexed,\nand thoughtless souls of the men of this world. Would that the\nconsciousness upon this subject of sin, of a Paul or a Luther, might\ndeluge that large multitude of men who doubt or deny the doctrine of\nhuman depravity. The materials for that consciousness, the items that go\nto make up that experience, exist as really and as plentifully in your\nmoral state and character, as they do in that of the mourning and\nself-reproaching Christian who sits by your side,--your devout father, your\nsaintly mother, or sister,--whom you know, and who you know is a better\nbeing than you are. Why should they be weary and heavy-laden with a sense\nof their unworthiness before God, and you go through life indifferent and\nlight-hearted? Are they deluded in respect to the doctrine of human\ndepravity, and are you in the right? Think you that the deathbed and the\nday of judgment will prove this to be the fact? No! if you shall ever\nknow anything of the Christian struggle with innate corruption; if you\nshall ever, in the expressive phrase of Scripture, have your senses\nexercised as in a gymnasium [1] to discern good and evil, and see\nyourself with self-abhorrence; your views will harmonize most profoundly\nand exactly with theirs. And, furthermore, you will not in the process\ncreate any _new_ sinfulness. You will merely see the _existing_ depravity\nof the human heart. You will simply see what _is_,--is now, in your\nheart, and in all human hearts, and has been from the beginning.\n\nBut all this is the work of a more powerful and spiritual agency than\nthat of man. The truth may be exhibited with perfect transparency and\nplainness, the hearer himself may do his utmost to have it penetrate and\ntell; and yet, there be no vivid and vital consciousness of sin. How\noften does the serious and alarmed man say to us: \"I know it, but I do\nnot _feel_ it.\" How long and wearily, sometimes, does the anxious man\nstruggle after an inward sense of these spiritual things, without\nsuccess, until he learns that an inward sense, an experimental\nconsciousness, respecting religious truth, is as purely a gift and\nproduct of God the Spirit as the breath of life in his nostrils.\nConsidering, then, the natural apathy of man respecting the sin that is\nin his own heart, and the exceeding blindness of his mental vision, even\nwhen his attention has been directed to it, is it not perfectly plain\nthat there must be the exertion of a Divine agency, in order that he may\npass through even the first and lowest stages of the religious\nexperience?\n\nIn view of the subject, as thus far unfolded, we remark:\n\n1. First, that it is the duty of every one, _to take the facts in respect\nto man's character as he finds them_. Nothing is gained, in any province\nof human thought or action, by disputing actual verities. They are\nstubborn things, and will not yield to the wishes and prejudices of the\nnatural heart. This is especially true in regard to the facts in man's\nmoral and religious condition. The testimony of Revelation is explicit,\nthat \"the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the\nlaw of God, neither indeed can be;\" and also, that \"the natural man\nreceiveth not the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them, because\nthey are spiritually discerned.\" According to this Biblical statement,\nthere is corruption and blindness together. The human heart is at once\nsinful, and ignorant that it is so. It is, therefore, the very worst form\nof evil; a fatal disease unknown to the patient, and accompanied with the\nbelief that there is perfect health; sin and guilt without any just and\nproper sense of it. This is the testimony, and the assertion, of that\nBeing who needs not that any should testify to Him of man, for he knows\nwhat is in man. And this is the testimony, also, of every mind that has\nattained a profound self-knowledge. For it is indisputable, that in\nproportion as a man is introspective, and accustoms himself to the\nscrutiny of his motives and feelings, he discovers that \"the whole head\nis sick, and the whole heart is faint.\"\n\nIt is, therefore, the duty and wisdom of every one to set to his seal\nthat God is true,--to have this as his motto. Though, as yet, he is\ndestitute of a clear conviction of sin, and a godly sorrow for it, still\nhe should _presume_ the fact of human depravity. Good men in every age\nhave found it to be a fact, and the infallible Word of God declares that\nit is a fact. What, then, is gained, by proposing another than the\nBiblical theory of human nature? Is the evil removed by denying its\nexistence? Will the mere calling men good at heart, and by nature, make\nthem such?\n\n  \"Who can hold a fire in his hand,\n  By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?\n  Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite,\n  By bare imagination of a feast?\n  Or wallow naked in December snow,\n  By thinking on fantastic summer heat?\"[2]\n\n\n2. In the second place, we remark that it is the duty of every one, _not\nto be discouraged by these facts and truths relative to the moral\ncondition of man._ For, one fact conducts to the next one. One truth\nprepares for a second. If it is a solemn and sad fact that men are\nsinners, and blind and dead in their trespasses and sin, it is also a\ncheering fact that the Holy Spirit can enlighten the darkest\nunderstanding, and enliven the most torpid and indifferent soul; and it\nis a still further, and most encouraging truth and fact, that the Holy\nSpirit is given to those who ask for it, with more readiness than a\nfather gives bread to his hungry child. Here, then, we have the fact of\nsin, and of blindness and apathy in sin; the fact of a mighty power in\nGod to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and the\nblessed fact that this power is accessible to prayer. Let us put these\nthree facts together, all of them, and act accordingly. Then we shall be\ntaught by the Spirit, and shall come to a salutary consciousness of sin;\nand then shall be verified in our own experience the words of God: \"I\ndwell in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite\nand humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the\nheart of the contrite ones.\"\n\n\n[Footnote 1: [Greek: Ta aisthaeria gegurasmena.] Heb. v. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 2: SHAKSPEARE: Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES. [*continued]\n\nLuke xi. 13.--\"If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto\nyour children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy\nSpirit to them that ask him.\"\n\n\nIn expounding the doctrine of these words, in the preceding discourse,\nthe argument for the necessity of Divine influences had reference to the\nmore general aspects of man's character and condition. We were concerned\nwith the origin of seriousness in view of a future life, and the\nproduction of a sense of moral corruption and unfitness to enter\neternity. We have now to consider the work of the Spirit, in its\nrelations, first, to that more distinct sense of sin which is denominated\nthe consciousness of _guilt_, and secondly, to that saving act of\n_faith_ by which the atonement of Christ is appropriated by the soul.\n\nI. Sin is not man's misfortune, but his fault; and any view that falls\nshort of this fact is radically defective. Sin not only brings a\ncorruption and bondage, but also a condemnation and penalty, upon the\nself-will that originates it. Sin not only renders man unfit for rewards,\nfont also deserving of punishment. As one who has disobeyed law of his\nown determination, he is liable not merely to the negative loss of\nblessings, but also to the positive infliction of retribution. It is not\nenough that a transgressor be merely let alone; he must be taken in hand\nand punished. He is not simply a diseased man; he is a criminal. His sin,\ntherefore, requires not a removal merely, but also an _expiation_.\n\nThis relation and reference of transgression to law and justice is a\nfundamental one; and yet it is very liable to be overlooked, or at least\nto be inadequately apprehended. The sense of _ill-desert_ is too apt to\nbe confused and shallow, in the human soul. Man is comparatively ready to\nacknowledge the misery of sin, while he is slow to confess the guilt of\nit. When the word of God asserts he is poor, and blind, and wretched, he\nis comparatively forward to assent; but when, in addition, it asserts\nthat he deserves to be punished everlastingly, he reluctates. Mankind are\nwilling to acknowledge their wretchedness, and be pitied; but they are\nnot willing to acknowledge their guiltiness, and stand condemned before\nlaw.\n\nAnd yet, guilt is the very essence of sin. Extinguish the criminality,\nand you extinguish the inmost core and heart of moral evil. We may have\nfelt that sin is bondage, that it is inward dissension and disharmony,\nthat it takes away the true dignity of our nature, but if we have not\nalso felt that it is _iniquity_ and merits penalty, we have not become\nconscious of its most essential quality. It is not enough that we come\nbefore God, saying: \"I am wretched in my soul; I am weary of my bondage;\nI long for deliverance.\" We must also say, as we look up into that holy\nEye: \"I am guilty; O my God I deserve thy judgments.\" In brief, the human\nmind must recognize all the Divine attributes. The entire Divine\ncharacter, in both its justice and its love, must rise full-orbed before\nthe soul, when thus seeking salvation. It is not enough, that we ask God\nto free us from disquietude, and give us repose. Before we do this, and\nthat we may do it successfully, we must employ the language of David,\nwhile under the stings of guilt: \"O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath:\nneither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Be merciful unto me, O God be\nmerciful unto me.\"\n\nWhat is needed is, more consideration of sin in its objective, and less\nin its subjective relations; more sense of it in its reference to the\nbeing and attributes of God, and less sense of it in its reference to our\nown happiness or misery, or even to the harmony of our own powers and\nfaculties. The adorable being and attributes of God are of more\nimportance than any human soul, immortal though it be; and what is\nrequired in the religious experience is, more anxiety lest the Divine\nglory should be tarnished, and less fear that a worm of the dust be made\nmiserable by his transgressions. And whatever may be our theory of the\nmatter, \"to this complexion must we come at last,\" even in order to our\nown peace of mind. We must lose our life, in order to find it. Even in\norder to our own inward repose of conscience and of heart, there must\ncome a point and period in our mental history, when we do actually sink\nself out of sight, and think of sin in its relation to the character and\ngovernment of the great and holy God,--when we do see it to be _guilt_,\nas well as corruption.\n\nFor guilt is a distinct, and a distinguishable quality. It is a thing by\nitself, like the Platonic idea of Beauty.[1] It is sin stripped of its\naccompaniments,--the restlessness, the dissatisfaction, and the\nunhappiness which it produces,--and perceived in its pure odiousness and\nill-desert. And when thus seen, it does not permit the mind to think of\nany thing but the righteous law, and the Divine character. In the hour of\nthorough conviction, the sinful spirit is lost in the feeling of\nguiltiness: wholly engrossed in the reflection that it has incurred the\ncondemnation of the Best Being in the universe. It is in distress, not\nbecause an Almighty Being can make it miserable but, because a Holy and\nGood Being has _reason_ to be displeased with it. When it gives utterance\nto its emotion, it says to its Sovereign and its Judge: \"I am in anguish,\nmore because Thou the Holy and the Good art unreconciled with me, than\nbecause Thou the Omnipotent canst punish me forever. I refuse not to The\npunished; I deserve the inflictions of Thy justice; only _forgive_, and\nThou mayest do what Thou wilt unto me.\" A soul that is truly penitent has\nno desire to escape penalty, at the expense of principle and law. It says\nwith David: \"Thou desirest not sacrifice;\" such atonement as I can make\nis inadequate; \"else would I give it.\" It expresses its approbation of\nthe pure justice of God, in the language of the gentlest and sweetest of\nMystics:\n\n  \"Thou hast no lightnings, O Thou Just!\n  Or I their force should know;\n  And if Thou strike me into dust,\n  My soul approves the blow.\n\n  The heart that values less its ease,\n  Than it adores Thy ways;\n  In Thine avenging anger, sees\n  A subject of its praise.\n\n  Pleased I could lie, concealed and lost,\n  In shades of central night;\n  Not to avoid Thy wrath, Thou know'st,\n  But lest I grieve Thy sight.\n\n  Smite me, O Thou whom I provoke!\n  And I will love Thee still;\n  The well deserved and righteous stroke\n  Shall please me, though it kill.\"[2]\n\nNow, it is only when the human spirit is under the illuminating, and\ndiscriminating influences of the Holy Ghost, that it possesses this pure\nand genuine sense of guilt. Worldly losses, trials, warnings by God's\nprovidence, may rouse the sinner, and make him solemn; but unless the\nSpirit of Grace enters his heart he does not feel that he is\nill-deserving. He is sad and fearful, respecting the future life, and\nperhaps supposes that this state of mind is one of true conviction, and\nwonders that it does not end in conversion, and the joy of pardon. But if\nhe would examine it, he would discover that it is full of the lust of self.\nHe would find that he is merely unhappy, and restless, and afraid\nto die. If he should examine the workings of his heart, he would discover\nthat they are only another form of self-love; that instead of being\nanxious about self in the present world, he has become anxious about self\nin the future world; that instead of looking out for his happiness here,\nhe has begun to look out for it hereafter; that in fact he has merely\ntransferred sin, from time and its relations, to eternity and its\nrelations. Such sorrow as this needs to be sorrowed for, and such\nrepentance as this needs to be repented of. Such conviction as this needs\nto be laid open, and have its defect shown. After a course of wrongdoing,\nit is not sufficient for man to come before the Holy One, making mention\nof his wretchedness, and desire for happiness, but making no mention of\nhis culpability, and desert of righteous and holy judgments. It is not\nenough for the criminal to plead for life, however earnestly, while he\navoids the acknowledgment that death is his just due. For silence in such\na connection as this, is _denial_. The impenitent thief upon the cross\nwas clamorous for life and happiness, saying, \"If thou be the Christ,\nsave thyself and us.\" He said nothing concerning the crime that had\nbrought him to a malefactor's death, and thereby showed that it did not\nweigh heavy upon his conscience. But the real penitent rebuked him,\nsaying: \"Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same\ncondemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our\ndeeds.\" And then followed that meek and broken-hearted supplication:\n\"Lord remember me,\" which drew forth the world-renowned answer: \"This day\nshalt thou be with me in paradise.\"\n\nIn the fact, then, that man's experience of sin is so liable to be\ndefective upon the side of guilt, we find another necessity for the\nteaching of the Holy Spirit; for a spiritual agency that cannot be\ndeceived, which pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit,\nand is a discerner of the real intent and feeling of the heart.\n\nII. In the second place, man needs the influences of the Holy Spirit, in\norder that _he may actually appropriate Christ's atonement for sin_.\n\nThe feeling of ill-desert, of which we have spoken, requires an\nexpiation, in order to its extinction, precisely as the burning sensation\nof thirst needs the cup of cold water, in order that it may be allayed,\nthe sense of guilt is awakened in its pure and genuine form, by the Holy\nSpirit's operation, the soul _craves_ the atonement,--it _wants_ the\ndying Lamb of God. We often speak of a believer's longings after purity,\nafter peace, after joy. There is an appetency for them. In like manner,\nthere is in the illuminated and guilt-smitten conscience an appetency for\nthe piacular work of Christ, as that which alone can give it\npacification. Contemplated from this point of view, there is not a more\nrational doctrine within the whole Christian system, than that of the\nAtonement. Anything that ministers to a distinct and legitimate craving\nin man is reasonable, and necessary. That theorist, therefore, who would\nevince the unreasonableness of the atoning work of the Redeemer, must\nfirst evince the unreasonableness of the consciousness of guilt, and of\nthe judicial craving of the conscience. He must show the groundlessness\nof that fundamental and organic feeling which imparts such a blood-red\ncolor to all the religions of the globe; be they Pagan, Jewish, or\nChristian. Whenever, therefore, this sensation of ill-desert is elicited,\nand the soul feels consciously criminal before the Everlasting Judge, the\ndifficulties that beset the doctrine of the Cross all vanish in the\n_craving_, in the _appetency_, of the conscience, for acquittal through\nthe substituted sufferings of the Son of God. He who has been taught by\nthe Spirit respecting the iniquity of sin, and views it in its relations\nto the Divine holiness, has no wish to be pardoned at the expense of\njustice. His conscience is now jealous for the majesty of God, and the\ndignity of His government. He now experimentally understands that great\ntruth which has its foundation in the nature of guilt, and consequently\nin the method of Redemption,--the great ethical truth, that after an\naccountable agent has stained himself with crime, there is from the\nnecessity of the case no remission without the satisfaction of law.\n\nBut it is one thing to acknowledge this in theory, and even to feel the\nneed of Christ's atonement, and still another thing to _really\nappropriate_ it. Unbelief and despair have great power over a\nguilt-stricken mind; and were it not for that Spirit who \"takes of the\nthings of Christ and shows them to the soul,\" sinful man would in every\ninstance succumb under their awful paralysis. For, if the truth and Spirit\nof God should merely convince the sinner of his guilt, but never apply the\natoning blood of the Redeemer, hell would be in him and he would be in\nhell. If God, coming forth as He justly might only in His judicial\ncharacter, should confine Himself to a convicting operation in the\nconscience,--should make the transgressor feel his guilt, and then leave\nhim to the feeling and with the feeling, forevermore,--this would be\neternal death. And if, as any man shall lie down upon his death-bed, he\nshall find that owing to his past quenching of the Spirit the\nilluminating energy of God is searching him, and revealing him to\nhimself, but does not assist him to look up to the Saviour of sinners;\nand if, in the day of judgment, as he draws near the bar of an eternal\ndoom, he shall discover that the sense of guilt grows deeper and deeper,\nwhile the atoning blood is not applied,--if this shall be the experience\nof any one upon his death-bed, and in the day of judgment, will he need\nto be told what he is and whither he is going?\n\nNow it is with reference to these disclosures that come in like a deluge\nupon him, that man needs the aids and operation of the Holy Spirit.\nOrdinarily, nearly the whole of his guilt is latent within him. He is,\ncommonly, undisturbed by conscience; but it would be a fatal error to\ninfer that therefore he has a clear and innocent conscience. There is a\nvast amount of undeveloped guilt within every impenitent soul. It is\nslumbering there, as surely as magnetism is in the magnet, and the\nelectric fluid is in the piled-up thunder-cloud. For there are moments\nwhen the sinful soul feels this hidden criminality, as there are moments\nwhen the magnet shows its power, and the thunder-cloud darts its nimble\nand forked lightnings. Else, why do these pangs and fears shoot and flash\nthrough it, every now and then? Why does the drowning man instinctively\nask for God's mercy? Were his conscience pure and clear from guilt, like\nthat of the angel or the seraph,--were there no latent crime within\nhim,--he would sink into the unfathomed depths of the sea, without the\nthought of such a cry. When the traveller in South America sees the smoke\nand flame of the volcano, here and there, as he passes along, he is\njustified in inferring that a vast central fire is burning beneath the\nwhole region. In like manner, when man discovers, as he watches the\nphenomena of his conscience, that guilt every now and then emerges like a\nflash of flame into consciousness, filling him with fear and\ndistress,--when he finds that he has no security against this invasion,\nbut that in an hour when he thinks not, and commonly when he is weakest\nand faintest, in his moments of danger or death, it stings him and wounds\nhim, he is justified in inferring, and he must infer, that the deep places\nof his spirit, the whole _potentiality_ of his soul is full of crime.\n\nNow, in no condition of the soul is there greater need of the agency of\nthe Comforter (O well named the Comforter), than when all this latency is\nsuddenly manifested to a man. When this deluge of discovery comes in, all\nthe billows of doubt, fear, terror, and despair roll over the soul, and\nit sinks in the deep waters. The sense of guilt,--that awful guilt, which\nthe man has carried about with him for many long years, and which he has\ntrifled with,--now proves too great for him to control. It seizes him\nlike a strong-armed man. If he could only believe that the blood of the\nLamb of God expiates all this crime which is so appalling to his mind, he\nwould be at peace instantaneously. But he is unable to believe this. His\nsin, which heretofore looked too small to be noticed, now appears too\ngreat to be forgiven. Other men may be pardoned, but not he. He\n_despairs_ of mercy; and if he should be left to the natural workings of\nhis own mind; if he should not be taught and assisted by the Holy Ghost,\nin this critical moment, to behold the Lamb of God; he would despair\nforever. For this sense of ill-desert, this fearful looking-for of\njudgment and fiery indignation, with which he is wrestling, is organic to\nthe conscience, and the human will has no more power over it than it has\nover the sympathetic nerve. Only as he is taught by the Divine Spirit, is\nhe able with perfect calmness to look up from this brink of despair, and\nsay: \"There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. The\nblood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Therefore, being justified\nby faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I know\nwhom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which\nI have committed unto him against that day.\"\n\nIn view of the truths which we have now considered, it is worthy of\nobservation:\n\n1. First, that _the Holy Spirit constitutes the tie, and bond of\nconnection, between man and God_. The third Person in the Godhead is very\noften regarded as more distant from the human soul, than either the\nFather or the Son. In the history of the doctrine of the Trinity, the\ndefinition of the Holy Spirit, and the discrimination of His relations in\nthe economy of the Godhead, was not settled until after the doctrine of\nthe first and second Persons had been established. Something analogous to\nthis appears in the individual experience. God the Father and God the Son\nare more in the thoughts of many believers, than God the Holy Ghost. And\nyet, we have seen that in the economy of Redemption, and from the very\nnature of the case, the soul is brought as close to the Spirit, as to the\nFather and Son. Nay, it is only through the inward operations of the\nformer, that the latter are made real to the heart and mind of man. Not\nuntil the third Person enlightens, are the second and first Persons\nbeheld. \"No man,\" says St. Paul, \"can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by\nthe Holy Ghost.\"\n\nThe sinful soul is entirely dependent upon the Divine Spirit, and from\nfirst to last it is in most intimate communication with Him during the\nprocess of salvation. It is enlightened by His influence; it is enlivened\nby Him; it is empowered by Him to the act of faith in Christ's Person and\nWork; it is supported and assisted by Him, in every step of the Christian\nrace; it is comforted by Him in all trials and tribulations; and, lastly,\nit is perfected in holiness, and fitted for the immediate presence of\nGod, by Him. Certainly, then, the believer should have as full faith in\nthe distinct personality, and immediate efficiency, of the third Person,\nas he has in that of the first and second. His most affectionate feeling\nshould centre upon that Blessed Agent, through whom he appropriates the\nblessings that have been provided for sinners by the Father and Son, and\nwithout whose influence the Father would have planned the Redemptive\nscheme, and the Son have executed it, in vain.\n\n2. In the second place, it is deserving of very careful notice that _the\ninfluences of the Holy Spirit may be obtained by asking for them_. This\nis the only condition to be complied with. And this gift, furthermore, is\npeculiar, in that it is _invariably_ bestowed whenever it is sincerely\nimplored. There are other gifts of God which may be asked for with deep\nand agonizing desire, and it is not certain that they will be granted.\nThis is the case with temporal blessings. A sick man may turn his face to\nthe wall, with Hezekiah, and pray in the bitterness of his soul, for the\nprolongation of his life, and yet not obtain the answer which Hezekiah\nreceived. But no man ever supplicated in the earnestness of his soul for\nthe influences of the Holy Spirit, and was ultimately refused. For this\nis a gift which it is always safe to grant. It involves a spiritual and\neverlasting good. It is the gift of righteousness, of the fear and love\nof God in the heart. There is no danger in such a bestowment. It\ninevitably promotes the glory of God. Hence our Lord, after bidding his\nhearers to \"ask,\" to \"seek,\" and to \"knock,\" adds, as the encouraging\nreason why they should do so: \"For, _every one_ that asketh receiveth;\nand he that seeketh, [always] findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall\n[certainly] be opened.\" This is a reason that cannot be assigned in the\ninstance of other prayers. Our Lord commands his disciples to pray for\ntheir daily bread; and we know that the children of God do generally find\ntheir wants supplied. Still, it would not be true that _every one_ who in\nthe sincerity of his soul has asked for daily bread has received it. The\nchildren of God have sometimes died of hunger. But no soul that has ever\nhungered for the bread of heaven, and supplicated for it, has been sent\nempty away. Nay more: Whoever finds it in his heart to ask for the Holy\nSpirit may know, from this very fact, that the Holy Spirit has\nanticipated him, and has prompted the very prayer itself. And think you\nthat God will not grant a request which He himself has inspired? And\ntherefore, again, it is, that _every one_ who asks invariably receives.\n\n3. The third remark suggested by the subject we have been considering is,\nthat _it is exceedingly hazardous to resist Divine influences_. \"Quench\nnot the Spirit\" is one of the most imperative of the Apostolic\ninjunctions. Our Lord, after saying that a word spoken against Himself is\npardonable, adds that he that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost shall\nnever be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come. The\nNew Testament surrounds the subject of Divine influences with very great\nsolemnity. It represents the resisting of the Holy Ghost to be as\nheinous, and dangerous, as the trampling upon Christ's blood.\n\nThere is a reason for this. We have seen that in this operation upon the\nmind and heart, God comes as near, and as close to man, as it is possible\nfor Him to come. Now to grieve or oppose such a merciful, and such an\n_inward_ agency as this, is to offer the highest possible affront to the\nmajesty and the mercy of God. It is a great sin to slight the gifts of\nDivine providence,--to misuse health, strength, wealth, talents. It is a\ndeep sin to contemn the truths of Divine Revelation, by which the soul is\nmade wise unto eternal life. It is a fearful sin to despise the claims of\nGod the Father, and God the Son. But it is a transcendent sin to resist\nand beat back, _after it has been given_, that mysterious, that holy,\nthat immediately Divine influence, by which alone the heart of stone can\nbe made the heart of flesh. For, it indicates something more than the\nordinary carelessness of a sinner. It evinces a determined _obstinacy_ in\nsin,--nay, a Satanic opposition to God and goodness. It is of such a\nguilt as this, that the apostle John remarks: \"There is a sin unto death;\nI do not say that one should pray for it.\"[3]\n\nAgain, it is exceedingly hazardous to resist Divine influences, because\nthey depend wholly upon the good pleasure of God, and not at all upon any\nestablished and uniform law. We must not, for a moment, suppose that the\noperations of the Holy Spirit upon the human soul are like those of the\nforces of nature upon the molecules of matter. They are not uniform and\nunintermittent, like gravitation, and chemical affinity. We may avail\nourselves of the powers of nature at any moment, because they are\nsteadily operative by an established law. They are laboring incessantly,\nand we may enter into their labors at any instant we please. But it is\nnot so with supernatural and gracious influences. God's awakening and\nrenewing power does not operate with the uniformity of those blind\nnatural laws which He has impressed upon the dull clod beneath our feet.\nGod is not one of the forces of nature. He is a Person and a Sovereign.\nHis special and highest action upon the human soul is not uniform. His\nSpirit, He expressly teaches us, does not always strive with man. It is a\nwind that bloweth when and where it listeth. For this reason, it is\ndangerous to the religious interests of the soul, in the highest degree,\nto go counter to any impulses of the Spirit, however slight, or to\nneglect any of His admonitions, however gentle. If God in mercy has once\ncome in upon a thoughtless mind, and wakened it to eternal realities; if\nHe has enlightened it to perceive the things that make for its peace; and\nthat mind slights this merciful interference, and stifles down these\ninward teachings, then God withdraws, and whether He will ever return\nagain to that soul depends upon His mere sovereign volition. He has bound\nhimself by no promise to do so. He has established no uniform law of\noperation, in the case. It is true that He is very pitiful and of tender\nmercy, and waits and bears long with the sinner; and it is also true,\nthat He is terribly severe and just, when He thinks it proper to be so,\nand says to those who have despised His Spirit: \"Because I have called\nand ye refused, and have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, I\nwill laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh.\"\n\nLet no one say: \"God has promised to bestow the Holy Ghost to every one\nwho asks: I will ask at some future time.\" To \"ask\" for the Holy Spirit\nimplies some already existing desire that He would enter the mind and\nconvince of sin, and convert to God. It implies some _craving_, some\n_yearning_, for Divine influences; and this implies some measure of such\ninfluence already bestowed. Man asks for the Holy Spirit, only as he is\nmoved by the Holy Spirit. The Divine is ever prevenient to the human.\nSuppose now, that a man resists these influences when they are _already_\nat work within him, and says: \"I will seek them at a more convenient\nseason.\" Think you, that when that convenient season comes round,--when\nlife is waning, and the world is receding, and the eternal gulf is\nyawning,--think you that that man who has already resisted grace can make\nhis own heart to yearn for it, and his soul to crave it? Do men at such\ntimes find that sincere desires, and longings, and aspirations, come at\ntheir beck? Can a man say, with any prospect of success: \"I will now\nquench out this seriousness which the Spirit of God has produced in my\nmind, and will bring it up again ten years hence. I will stifle this\ndrawing of the Eternal Father of my soul which I now feel at the roots of\nmy being, and it shall re-appear at a future day.\"\n\nNo! While it is true that any one who \"asks,\" who really _wants_ a\nspiritual blessing, will obtain it, it is equally true that a man may\nhave no heart to ask,--may have no desire, no yearning, no aspiration at\nall, and be unable to produce one. In this case there is no promise.\nWhosoever _thirsts_, and _only_ he who thirsts, can obtain the water of\nlife. Cherish, therefore, the faintest influences and operations of the\nComforter. If He enlightens your conscience so that it reproaches you for\nsin, seek to have the work go on. Never resist any such convictions, and\nnever attempt to stifle them. If the Holy Spirit urges you to confession\nof sin before God, yield _instantaneously_ to His urging, and pour\nout your soul before the All-Merciful. And when He says, \"Behold the Lamb\nof God,\" look where He points, and be at peace and at rest. The secret of\nall spiritual success is an immediate and uniform submission to the\ninfluences of the Holy Ghost.\n\n\n[Footnote 1: [Greek: _Anto, kath anto, meth anton, monoeides_.]--PLATO:\nConvivium, p. 247, Ed. Bipont.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Guyon: translated by Cowper. is expressed by VAUGHAN in\nWorks III. 85.--A similar thought \"The Eclipse.\"\n\n  \"Thy anger I could kiss, and will;\n  But O Thy grief, Thy grief doth kill.\"]\n\n[Footnote 3: The sin against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable, not because\nthere is a grade of guilt in it too scarlet to be washed white by\nChrist's blood of atonement but, because it implies a total quenching of\nthat operation of the third Person of the Trinity which is the only power\nadequate to the extirpation of sin from the human soul. The sin against\nthe Holy Ghost is tantamount, therefore, to _everlasting_ sin. And it is\nnoteworthy, that in Mark iii. 29 the reading [Greek: _amartaemartos_],\ninstead of [Greek: kriseos], is supported by a majority of the\noldest manuscripts and versions, and is adopted by Lachmann,\nTischendorf, and Tregelles. \"He that shall blaspheme against the Holy\nGhost.... is in danger of eternal _sin_.\"]\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE IMPOTENCE OF THE LAW.\n\nHEBREWS vii. 19.--\"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in\nof a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God.\"\n\n\nIt is the aim of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to teach the insufficiency\nof the Jewish Dispensation to save the human race from the wrath of God\nand the power of sin, and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel Dispensation\nto do this. Hence, the writer of this Epistle endeavors with special\neffort to make the Hebrews feel the weakness of their old and much\nesteemed religion, and to show them that the only benefit which God\nintended by its establishment was, to point men to the perfect and final\nreligion of the Gospel. This he does, by examining the parts of the Old\nEconomy. In the first place, the _sacrifices_ under the Mosaic law were\nnot designed to extinguish the sense of guilt,--\"for it is not possible\nthat the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin,\"--but were\nintended merely to awaken the sense of guilt, and thereby to lead the Jew\nto look to that mercy of God which at a future day was to be exhibited in\nthe sacrifice of his eternal Son. The Jewish _priesthood_, again,\nstanding between the sinner and God, were not able to avert the Divine\ndispleasure,--for as sinners they were themselves exposed to it. They\ncould only typify, and direct the guilty to, the great High Priest, the\nMessiah, whom God's mercy would send in the fulness of time. Lastly, the\nmoral _law_, proclaimed amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai,\nhad no power to secure obedience, but only a fearful power to produce the\nconsciousness of disobedience, and of exposure to a death far more awful\nthan that threatened against the man who should touch the burning\nmountain.\n\nIt was, thus, the design of God, by this legal and preparatory\ndispensation, to disclose to man his ruined and helpless condition, and\nhis need of looking to Him for everything that pertains to redemption.\nAnd he did it, by so arranging the dispensation that the Jew might, as it\nwere, make the trial and see if he could be his own Redeemer. He\ninstituted a long and burdensome round of observances, by means of which\nthe Jew might, if possible, extinguish the remorse of his conscience, and\nproduce the peace of God in his soul. God seems by the sacrifices under\nthe law, and the many and costly offerings which the Jew was commanded to\nbring into the temple of the Lord, to have virtually said to him: \"Thou\nart guilty, and My wrath righteously abides within thy conscience,--yet,\ndo what thou canst to free thyself from it; free thyself from it if thou\ncanst; bring an offering and come before Me. But when thou hast found\nthat thy conscience still remains perturbed and unpacified, and thy heart\nstill continues corrupt and sinful, then look away from thy agency and\nthy offering, to My clemency and My offering,--trust not in these finite\nsacrifices of the lamb and the goat, but let them merely remind thee of\nthe infinite sacrifice which in the fulness of time I will provide for\nthe sin of the world,--and thy peace shall be as a river, and thy\nrighteousness as the waves of the sea.\"\n\nBut the proud and legal spirit of the Jew blinded him, and he did not\nperceive the true meaning and intent of his national religion. He made it\nan end, instead of a mere means to an end. Hence, it became a mechanical\nround of observances, kept up by custom, and eventually lost the power,\nwhich it had in the earlier and better ages of the Jewish commonwealth,\nof awakening the feeling of guilt and the sense of the need of a\nRedeemer. Thus, in the days of our Saviour's appearance upon the earth,\nthe chosen guardians of this religion, which was intended to make men\nhumble, and feel their personal ill-desert and need of mercy, had become\nself-satisfied and self-righteous. A religion designed to prompt the\nutterance of the greatest of its prophets: \"Woe is me! I am a man of\nunclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,\" now\nprompted the utterance of the Pharisee: \"I thank Thee that I am not as\nother men are.\"\n\nThe Jew, in the times of our Saviour and his Apostles, had thus entirely\nmistaken the nature and purpose of the Old dispensation, and hence was\nthe most bitter opponent of the New. He rested in the formal and\nceremonial sacrifice of bulls and goats, and therefore counted the blood\nof the Son of God an unholy thing. He thought to appear before Him in\nwhose sight the heavens are not clean, clothed in his own righteousness,\nand hence despised the righteousness of Christ. In reality, he appealed\nto the justice of God, and therefore rejected the religion of mercy.\n\nBut, this spirit is not confined to the Jew. It pervades the human race.\nMan is naturally a legalist. He desires to be justified by his own\ncharacter and his own works, and reluctates at the thought of being\naccepted upon the ground of another's merits. This Judaistic spirit is\nseen wherever there is none of the publican's feeling when he said, \"God\nbe merciful to me a sinner.\" All confidence in personal virtue, all\nappeals to civil integrity, all attendance upon the ordinances of the\nChristian religion without the exercise of the Christian's penitence and\nfaith, is, in reality; an exhibition of that same legal unevangelic\nspirit which in its extreme form inflated the Pharisee, and led him to\ntithe mint anise and cummin. Man's so general rejection of the Son of God\nas suffering the just for the unjust, as the manifestation of the Divine\nclemency towards a criminal, is a sign either that he is insensible of\nhis guilt, or else that being somewhat conscious of it he thinks to\ncancel it himself.\n\nStill, think and act as men may, the method of God in the Gospel is the\nonly method. Other foundation can no man lay than is laid. For it rests\nupon stubborn facts, and inexorable principles. _God_ knows that however\nanxiously a transgressor may strive to pacify his conscience, and prepare\nit for the judgment-day, its deep remorse can be removed only by the\nblood of incarnate Deity; that however sedulously he may attempt to obey\nthe law, he will utterly fail, unless he is inwardly renewed and\nstrengthened by the Holy Ghost. _He_ knows that mere bare law can make no\nsinner perfect again, but that only the bringing in of a \"better hope\"\ncan,--a hope by the which we draw nigh to God.\n\nThe text leads us to inquire: _Why cannot the moral law make fallen man\nperfect_? Or, in other words: _Why cannot the ten commandments save a\nsinner_?\n\nThat we may answer this question, we must first understand what is meant\nby a perfect man. It is one in whom there is no defect or fault of any\nkind,--one, therefore, who has no perturbation in his conscience, and no\nsin in his heart. It is a man who is entirely at peace with himself, and\nwith God, and whose affections are in perfect conformity with the Divine\nlaw.\n\nBut fallen man, man as we find him universally, is characterized by both\na remorseful conscience and an evil heart. His conscience distresses him,\nnot indeed uniformly and constantly but, in the great emergencies of his\nlife,--in the hour of sickness, danger, death,--and his heart is selfish\nand corrupt continually. He lacks perfection, therefore, in two\nparticulars; first, in respect to acquittal at the bar of justice, and\nsecondly, in respect to inward purity. That, therefore, which proposes to\nmake him perfect again, must quiet the sense of guilt upon valid grounds,\nand must produce a holy character. If the method fails in either of these\ntwo respects, it fails altogether in making a perfect man.\n\nBut how can the moral law, or the ceremonial law, or both united, produce\nwithin the human soul the cheerful, liberating, sense of acquittal, and\nreconciliation with God's justice? Why, the very function and office-work\nof law, in all its forms, is to condemn and terrify the transgressor; how\nthen can it calm and soothe him? Or, is there anything in the performance\nof duty,--in the act of obeying law,--that is adapted to produce this\nresult, by taking away guilt? Suppose that a murderer could and should\nperform a perfectly holy act, would it be any relief to his anguished\nconscience, if he should offer it as an oblation to Eternal Justice for\nthe sin that is past? if he should plead it as an offset for having\nkilled a man? When we ourselves review the past, and see that we have not\nkept the law up to the present point in our lives, is the gnawing of the\nworm to be stopped, by resolving to keep it, and actually keeping it from\nthis point? Can such a use of the law as this is,--can the performance of\ngood works, imaginary or real ones, imperfect or perfect ones,--discharge\nthe office of an _atonement_, and so make us perfect in the forum of\nconscience, and fill us with a deep and lasting sense of reconciliation\nwith the offended majesty and justice of God? Plainly not. For there is\nnothing compensatory, nothing cancelling, nothing of the nature of a\nsatisfaction of justice, in the best obedience that was ever rendered to\nmoral law, by saint, angel, or seraph. _Because the creature owes the\nwhole_. He is obligated from the very first instant of his existence,\nonward and evermore, to love God supremely, and to obey him perfectly in\nevery act and element of his being. Therefore, the perfectly obedient\nsaint, angel, and seraph must each say: \"I am an unprofitable servant, I\nhave done only that which it was my duty to do; I can make no amends for\npast failures; I can do no work that is meritorious and atoning.\"\nObedience to law, then, by a creature, and still less by a sinner, can\nnever atone for the sins that are past; can never make the guilty perfect\n\"in things pertaining to conscience.\" And if a man, in this indirect and\nroundabout manner, neglects the provisions of the gospel, neglects the\noblation of Jesus Christ, and betakes himself to the discharge of his own\nduty as a substitute therefor, he only finds that the flame burns hotter,\nand the fang of the worm is sharper. If he looks to the moral law in any\nform, and by any method, that he may get quit of his remorse and his\nfears of judgment, the feeling of unreconciliation with justice, and the\nfearful looking-for of judgment is only made more vivid and deep. Whoever\nattempts the discharge of duties _for the purpose of atoning for his\nsins_ takes a direct method of increasing the pains and perturbations\nwhich he seeks to remove. The more he thinks of law, and the more he\nendeavors to obey it for the purpose of purchasing the pardon of past\ntransgression, the more wretched does he become. Look into the lacerated\nconscience of Martin Luther before he found the Cross, examine the\nanxiety and gloom of Chalmers before he saw the Lamb of God, for proof\nthat this is so. These men, at first, were most earnest in their use of\nthe law in order to re-instate themselves in right relations with God's\njustice. But the more they toiled in this direction, the less they\nsucceeded. Burning with inward anguish, and with God's arrows sticking\nfast in him, shall the transgressor get relief from the attribute of\nDivine justice, and the qualities of law? Shall the ten commandments of\nSinai, in any of their forms or uses, send a cooling and calming virtue\nthrough the hot conscience? With these kindling flashes in his\nguilt-stricken spirit, shall he run into the very identical fire that\nkindled them? Shall he try to quench them in that \"Tophet which is ordained\nof old; which is made deep and large; the pile of which is fire and much\nwood, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle\nit?\" And yet such is, in reality, the attempt of every man who, upon\nbeing convicted in his conscience of guilt before God, endeavors to\nattain peace by resolutions to alter his course of conduct, and strenuous\nendeavors to obey the commands of God,--in short by relying upon the law\nin any form, as a means of reconciliation. Such is the suicidal effort\nof every man who substitutes the law for the gospel, and expects to\nproduce within himself the everlasting peace of God, by anything short of\nthe atonement of God.\n\nLet us fix it, then, as a fact, that the feeling of culpability and\nunreconciliation can never be removed, so long as we do not look entirely\naway from our own character and works to the mere pure mercy of God in\nthe blood of Christ. The transgressor can never atone for crime by\nanything that he can suffer, or anything that he can do. He can never\nestablish a ground of justification, a reason why he should be forgiven,\nby his tears, or his prayers, or his acts. Neither the law, nor his\nattempts to obey the law, can re-instate him in his original relations to\njustice, and make him perfect again in respect to his conscience. The ten\ncommandments can never silence his inward misgivings, and his moral\nfears; for they are given for the very purpose of producing misgivings,\nand causing fears. \"The law worketh wrath.\" And if this truth and\nfact be clearly perceived, and boldly acknowledged to his own mind, it\nwill cut him off from all these legal devices and attempts, and will shut\nhim up to the Divine mercy and the Divine promise in Christ, where alone\nhe is safe.\n\nWe have thus seen that one of the two things necessary in order that\napostate man may become perfect again,--viz., the pacification of his\nconscience,--cannot be obtained in and by the law, in any of its forms or\nuses. Let us now examine the other thing necessary in order to human\nperfection, and see what the law can do towards it.\n\nThe other requisite, in order that fallen man may become perfect again,\nis a holy heart and will. Can the moral law originate this? That we may\nrightly answer the question, let us remember that a holy will is one that\nkeeps the law of God spontaneously and that a perfect heart is one that\nsends forth holy affections and pure thoughts as naturally as the sinful\nheart sends forth unholy affections and impure thoughts. A holy will,\nlike an evil will, is a wonderful and wonderfully fertile power. It does\nnot consist in an ability to make a few or many separate resolutions of\nobedience to the divine law, but in being itself one great inclination\nand determination continually and mightily going forth. A holy will,\ntherefore, is one that _from its very nature and spontaneity_ seeks God,\nand the glory of God. It does not even need to make a specific resolution\nto obey; any more than an affectionate child needs to resolve to obey its\nfather.\n\nIn like manner, a perfect and holy heart is a far more profound and\ncapacious thing than men who have never seriously tried to obtain it deem\nit to foe. It does not consist in the possession of a few or many holy\nthoughts mixed with some sinful ones, or in having a few or many holy\ndesires together with some corrupt ones. A perfect heart is one undivided\nagency, and does not produce, as the imperfectly sanctified heart of the\nChristian does, fruits of holiness and fruits of sin, holy thoughts and\nunholy thoughts. It is itself a root and centre of holiness, and\n_nothing_ but goodness springs up from it. The angels of God are totally\nholy. Their wills are unceasingly going forth towards Him with ease and\ndelight; their hearts are unintermittently gushing out emotions of love,\nand feelings of adoration, and thoughts of reverence, and therefore the\nsong that they sing is unceasing, and the smoke of their incense\nascendeth forever and ever.\n\nSuch is the holy will, and the perfect heart, which fallen man must\nobtain in order to be fit for heaven. To this complexion must he come at\nlast. And now we ask: Can the law generate all this excellence within the\nhuman soul? In order to answer this question, we must consider the nature\nof law, and the manner of its operation. The law, as antithetic to the\ngospel, and as the word is employed in the text, is in its nature\nmandatory and minatory. It commands, and it threatens. This is the style\nof its operation. Can a perfect heart be originated in a sinner by these\ntwo methods? Does the stern behest, \"Do this or die,\" secure his willing\nand joyful obedience? On the contrary, the very fact that the law of God\ncomes up before him coupled thus with a _threatening_ evinces that his\naversion and hostility are most intense. As the Apostle says, \"The law is\nnot made for a righteous man; but for the lawless and disobedient, for\nthe ungodly and for sinners.\" Were man, like the angels on high, sweetly\nobedient to the Divine will, there would be no arming of law with terror,\nno proclamation of ten commandments amidst thunderings and lightnings. He\nwould be a law unto himself, as all the heavenly host are,--the law\nworking impulsively within him by its own exceeding lawfulness and\nbeauty. The very fact that God, in the instance of man, is compelled to\nemphasize the _penalty_ along with the statute,--to say, \"Keep my\ncommandments _upon pain of eternal death_,\"--is proof conclusive that man\nis a rebel, and intensely so.\n\nAnd now what is the effect of this combination of command and threatening\nupon the agent? Is he moulded by it? Does it congenially sway and incline\nhim? On the contrary, is he not excited to opposition by it? When the\ncommandment \"_comes_,\" loaded down with menace and damnation, does not\nsin \"revive,\" as the Apostle affirms?[1] Arrest the transgressor in the\nvery act of disobedience, and ring in his ears the \"Thou shalt _not_\" of\nthe decalogue, and does he find that the law has the power to alter his\ninclination, to overcome his carnal mind, and make him perfect in\nholiness? On the contrary, the more you ply him with the stern command,\nand the more you emphasize the awful threatening, the more do you make\nhim conscious of inward sin, and awaken his depravity. \"The law,\"--as St.\nPaul affirms in a very remarkable text,--\"is the _strength_ of sin,[2]\"\ninstead of being its destruction. Nay, he had not even ([Greek: te])\nknown sin, but by the law: for he had not known lust, except the law had\nsaid, \"Thou shalt not lust.\" The commandment stimulates instead of\nextirpating his hostility to the Divine government; and so long as the\n_mere_ command, and the _mere_ threat,--which, as the hymn tells us, is\nall the law can do,--are brought to bear, the depravity of the rebellious\nheart becomes more and more apparent, and more and more intensified.\n\nThere is no more touching poem in all literature than that one in which\nthe pensive and moral Schiller portrays the struggle of an ingenuous\nyouth who would find the source of moral purification in the moral law;\nwho would seek the power that can transform him, in the mere imperatives\nof his conscience, and the mere struggling and spasms of his own will. He\nrepresents him as endeavoring earnestly and long to feel the force of\nobligation, and as toiling sedulously to school himself into virtue, by\nthe bare power, by the dead lift, of duty. But the longer he tries, the\nmore he loathes the restraints of law. Virtue, instead of growing lovely\nto him, becomes more and more severe, austere, and repellant. His life,\nas the Scripture phrases it, is \"under law,\" and not under love. There is\nnothing spontaneous, nothing willing, nothing genial in his religion. He\ndoes not enjoy religion, but he endures religion. Conscience does not, in\nthe least, renovate his will, but merely checks it, or goads it. He\nbecomes wearied and worn, and conscious that after all his self-schooling\nhe is the same creature at heart, in his disposition and affections, that\nhe was at the commencement of the effort, he cries out, \"O Virtue, take\nback thy crown, and let me sin.\"[3] The tired and disgusted soul would\nonce more do a _spontaneous_ thing.\n\nWas, then, that which is good made death unto this youth, by a _Divine_\narrangement? Is this the _original_ and _necessary_ relation which law\nsustains to the will and affections of an accountable creature? Must the\npure and holy law of God, from the very nature of things, be a weariness\nand a curse? God forbid. But sin that it might _appear_ sin, working\ndeath in the sinner by that which is good,--that sin by the commandment\nmight become, might be seen to be, exceeding sinful. The law is like a\nchemical test. It eats into sin enough to show what sin is, and there\nstops. The lunar caustic bites into the dead flesh of the mortified limb;\nbut there is no healing virtue in the lunar caustic. The moral law makes\nno inward alterations in a sinner. In its own distinctive and proper\naction upon the heart and will of an apostate being, it is fitted only to\nelicit and exasperate his existing enmity. It can, therefore, no more be\na source of sanctification, than it can be of justification.\n\nOf what use, then, is the law to a fallen man?--some one will ask. Why is\nthe commandment enunciated in the Scriptures, and why is the Christian\nministry perpetually preaching it to men dead in trespasses and sins? If\nthe law can subdue no man's obstinate will, and can renovate no man's\ncorrupt heart,--if it can make nothing perfect in human character,--then,\n\"wherefore serveth the law?\" \"It was added because of\ntransgressions,\"--says the Apostle in answer to this very question.[4] It\nis preached and forced home in order to _detect_ sin, but not to remove\nit; to bring men to a consciousness of the evil of their hearts, but not\nto change their hearts. \"For,\" continues the Apostle, \"if there had been\na law given which could have given _life_\"--which could produce a\ntransformation of character,--\"then verily righteousness should have been\nby the law,\" It is not because the stern and threatening commandment can\nimpart spiritual vitality to the sinner, but because it can produce within\nhim the keen vivid sense of spiritual death, that it is enunciated in the\nword of God, and proclaimed from the Christian pulpit. The Divine law is\nwaved like a flashing sword before the eyes of man, not because it can\nmake him alive but, because it can slay him, that he may then be made\nalive, not by the law but by the Holy Ghost,--by the Breath that cometh\nfrom the four winds and breathes on the slain.\n\nIt is easy to see, by a moment's reflection, that, from the nature of the\ncase, the moral law cannot be a source of spiritual life and\nsanctification to a soul that has _lost_ these. For law primarily\nsupposes life, supposes an obedient inclination, and therefore does not\nproduce it. It is not the function of any law to impart that moral force,\nthat right disposition of the heart, by which its command is to be\nobeyed. The State, for example, enacts a law against murder, but this\nmere enactment does not, and cannot, produce a benevolent disposition in\nthe citizens of the commonwealth, in case they are destitute of it. How\noften do we hear the remark, that it is impossible to legislate either\nmorality or religion into the people. When the Supreme Governor first\nplaced man under the obligations and sovereignty of law, He created him\nin His own image and likeness: endowing him with that holy heart and\nright inclination which obeys the law of God with ease and delight. God\nmade man upright, and in this state he could and did keep the commands\nof God perfectly. If, therefore, by any _subsequent action_ upon their\npart, mankind have gone out of the primary relationship in which they\nstood to law, and have by their _apostasy_ lost all holy sympathy with\nit, and all affectionate disposition to obey it, it only remains for the\nlaw (not to change along with them, but) to continue immutably the same\npure and righteous thing, and to say, \"Obey perfectly, and thou shalt\nlive; disobey in a single instance, and thou shalt die.\"\n\nBut the text teaches us, that although the law can make no sinful man\nperfect, either upon the side of justification, or of sanctification,\n\"the bringing in of a better _hope_\" can. This hope is the evangelic\nhope,--the yearning desire, and the humble trust,--to be forgiven through\nthe atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be sanctified by the\nindwelling power of the Holy Ghost. A simple, but a most powerful thing!\nDoes the law, in its abrupt and terrible operation in my conscience,\nstart out the feeling of guiltiness until I throb with anguish, and moral\nfear? I hope, I trust, I ask, to be pardoned through the blood of the\nEternal Son of God my Redeemer. I will answer all these accusations\nof law and conscience, by pleading what my Lord has done.\n\nAgain, does the law search me, and probe me, and elicit me, and reveal\nme, until I would shrink out of the sight of God and of myself? I hope, I\ntrust, I ask, to be made pure as the angels, spotless as the seraphim, by\nthe transforming grace of the Holy Spirit. This confidence in Christ's\nPerson and Work is the anchor,--an anchor that was never yet wrenched\nfrom the clefts of the Rock of Ages, and never will be through the aeons\nof aeons. By this hope, which goes away from self, and goes away from the\nlaw, to Christ's oblation and the Holy Spirit's energy, we do indeed draw\nvery nigh to God,--\"heart to heart, spirit to spirit, life to life.\"\n\n1. The unfolding of this text of Scripture shows, in the first place, the\nimportance of having a _distinct and discriminating conception of law,\nand especially of its proper function in reference to a sinful being_.\nVery much is gained when we understand precisely what the moral law, as\ntaught in the Scriptures, and written in our consciences, can do, and\ncannot do, towards our salvation. It can do nothing positively and\nefficiently. It cannot extinguish a particle of our guilt, and it cannot\npurge away a particle of our corruption. Its operation is wholly negative\nand preparatory. It is merely a schoolmaster to conduct us to Christ. And\nthe more definitely this truth and fact is fixed in our minds, the more\nintelligently shall we proceed in our use of law and conscience.\n\n2. In the second place, the unfolding of this text shows the importance\nof _using the law faithfully and fearlessly within its own limits; and in\naccordance with its proper function_. It is frequently asked what the\nsinner shall do in the work of salvation. The answer is nigh thee, in thy\nmouth, and in thy heart. Be continually applying the law of God to your\npersonal character and conduct. Keep an active and a searching conscience\nwithin your sinful soul. Use the high, broad, and strict commandment of\nGod as an instrumentality by which all ease, and all indifference, in sin\nshall be banished from the breast. Employ all this apparatus of torture,\nas perhaps it may seem to you in some sorrowful hours, and break up that\nmoral drowze and lethargy which is ruining so many souls. And then cease\nthis work, the instant you have experimentally found out that the law\nreaches a limit beyond which it cannot go,--that it forgives none of the\nsins which it detects, produces no change in the heart whose vileness it\nreveals, and makes no lost sinner perfect again. Having used the law\nlegitimately, for purposes of illumination and conviction merely, leave\nit forever as a source of justification and sanctification, and seek\nthese in Christ's atonement, and the Holy Spirit's gracious operation in\nthe heart. Then sin shall not have dominion over you; for you shall not\nbe under law, but under grace. After that _faith_ is come, ye are no\nlonger under a schoolmaster. For ye are then the children of God by faith\nin Christ Jesus.[5]\n\nHow simple are the terms of salvation! But then they presuppose this\nwork of the law,--this guilt-smitten conscience, and this wearying sense\nof bondage to sin. It is easy for a _thirsty_ soul to drink down the\ndraught of cold water. Nothing is simpler, nothing is more grateful to\nthe sensations. But suppose that the soul is satiated, and is not a\nthirsty one. Then, nothing is more forced and repelling than this same\ndraught. So is it with the provisions of the gospel. Do we feel ourselves\nto be guilty beings; do we hunger, and do we thirst for the expiation of\nour sins? Then the blood of Christ is drink indeed, and his flesh is\nmeat with emphasis. But are we at ease and self-contented? Then nothing\nis more distasteful than the terms of salvation. Christ is a root out of\ndry ground. And so long as we remain in this unfeeling and torpid state,\nsalvation is an utter impossibility. The seed of the gospel cannot\ngerminate and grow upon a rock.\n\n[Footnote 1: Rom. vii. 9-12.]\n\n[Footnote 2: 1 Cor. xv. 56.]\n\n[Footnote 3: SCHILLER: Der Kampf.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Galatians iii. 19.]\n\n[Footnote 5: Galatians iii. 25, 26.]\n\n\n\n\nSELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE.\n\nISAIAH, i. 11.--\"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord;\nthough your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though\nthey be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.\"\n\n\nThese words were at first addressed to the Church of God. The prophet\nIsaiah begins his prophecy, by calling upon the heavens and the earth to\nwitness the exceeding sinfulness of God's chosen people. \"Hear, O\nheavens, and give ear O earth: for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished\nand brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox\nknoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not\nknow, my people doth not consider.\" Such ingratitude and sin as this, he\nnaturally supposes would shock the very heavens and earth.\n\nThen follows a most vehement and terrible rebuke. The elect people of God\nare called \"Sodom,\" and \"Gomorrah.\" \"Hear the word of the Lord ye rulers\nof Sodom: give ear unto the law of our God ye people of Gomorrah. Why\nshould ye be stricken, any more? ye will revolt more and more.\" This\noutflow of holy displeasure would prepare us to expect an everlasting\nreprobacy of the rebellious and unfaithful Church, but it is strangely\nfollowed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the\nMost High to the creatures of His footstool: \"Come now, and let us reason\ntogether, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;\nthough they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.\"\n\nThese words have, however, a wider application; and while the unfaithful\nchildren of God ought to ponder them long and well, it is of equal\nimportance that \"the aliens from the commonwealth of Israel\" should\nreflect upon them, and see their general application to all\ntransgressors, so long as they are under the Gospel dispensation. Let us,\nthen, consider two of the plain lessons taught, in these words of the\nprophet, to every unpardoned man.\n\nI. The text represents God as saying to the transgressor of his law,\n\"Come and let us reason _together_.\" The first lesson to be learned,\nconsequently, is the duty of examining our moral character and conduct,\n_along with God_.\n\nWhen a responsible being has made a wrong use of his powers, nothing is\nmore reasonable than that he should call himself to account for this\nabuse. Nothing, certainly, is more necessary. There can be no amendment\nfor the future, until the past has been cared for. But that this\nexamination may be both thorough and profitable, it must be made _in\ncompany with the Searcher of hearts_.\n\nFor there are always two beings who are concerned with sin; the being who\ncommits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. We sin, indeed,\nagainst ourselves; against our own conscience, and against our own best\ninterest. But we sin in a yet higher, and more terrible sense, against\nAnother than ourselves, compared with whose majesty all of our faculties\nand interests, both in time and eternity, are altogether nothing and\nvanity. It is not enough, therefore, to refer our sin to the law written\non the heart, and there stop. We must ultimately pass beyond conscience\nitself, to God, and say, \"Against _Thee_ have I sinned.\" It is not the\nhighest expression of the religious feeling, when we say, \"How can I do\nthis great wickedness, and sin against my conscience?\" He alone has\nreached the summit of vision who looks beyond all finite limits,\nhowever wide and distant, beyond all finite faculties however noble and\nelevated, and says, \"How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against\nGod?\"\n\nWhenever, therefore, an examination is made into the nature of moral evil\nas it exists in the individual heart, both parties concerned should share\nin the examination. The soul, as it looks within, should invite the\nscrutiny of God also, and as fast as it makes discoveries of its\ntransgression and corruption should realize that the Holy One sees also.\nSuch a joint examination as this produces a very keen and clear sense of\nthe evil and guilt of sin. Conscience indeed makes cowards of us all, but\nwhen the eye of God is felt to be upon us, it smites us to the ground.\n\"When _Thou_ with rebukes,\"--says the Psalmist,--\"dost correct man for\nhis iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.\" One\ngreat reason why the feeling which the moralist has towards sin is so\ntame and languid, when compared with the holy abhorrence of the\nregenerate mind, lies in the fact that he has not contemplated human\ndepravity in company with a sin-hating Jehovah. At the very utmost, he\nhas been shut up merely with a moral sense which he has insulated from\nits dread ground and support,--the personal character and holy emotions\nof God. What wonder is it, then, that this finite faculty should lose\nmuch of its temper and severity, and though still condemning sin (for it\nmust do this, if it does anything), fails to do it with that spiritual\nenergy which characterizes the conscience when God is felt to be\nco-present and co-operating. So it is, in other provinces. We feel the\nguilt of an evil action more sharply, when we know that a fellow-man\nsaw us commit it, than when we know that no one but ourselves is\ncognizant of the deed. The flush of shame often rises into our face, upon\nlearning accidentally that a fellow-being was looking at us, when we did\nthe wrong action without any blush. How much more criminal, then, do we\nfeel, when distinctly aware that the pure and holy God knows our\ntransgression. How much clearer is our perception of the nature of moral\nevil, when we investigate it along with Him whose eyes are a flame of\nfire.\n\nIt is, consequently, a very solemn moment, when the human spirit and the\nEternal Mind are reasoning together about the inward sinfulness. When\nthe soul is shut up along with the Holy One of Israel, there are great\nsearchings of heart. Man is honest and anxious at such a time. His usual\nthoughtlessness and torpidity upon the subject of religion leaves him,\nand he becomes a serious and deeply-interested creature. Would that the\nmultitudes who listen so languidly to the statements of the pulpit, upon\nthese themes of sin and guilt, might be closeted with the Everlasting\nJudge, in silence and in solemn reflection. You who have for years been\ntold of sin, but are, perhaps, still as indifferent regarding it as if\nthere were no stain, upon the conscience,--would that you might enter\ninto an examination of yourself, alone with your Maker. Then would you\nbecome as serious, and as anxious, as you will be in that moment when you\nshall be informed that the last hour of your life upon earth has come.\n\nAnother effect of this \"reasoning together\" with God, respecting our\ncharacter and conduct, is to render our views _discriminating_. The\naction of the mind is not only intense, it is also intelligent. Strange\nas it may sound, it is yet a fact, that a review of our past lives\nconducted under the eye of God, and with a recognition of His presence\nand oversight, serves to deliver the mind from confusion and panic, and\nto fill it with a calm and rational fear. This is of great value. For,\nwhen a man begins to be excited upon the subject of religion,--it may be\nfor the first time, in his unreflecting and heedless life,--he is\noftentimes terribly excited. He is now brought _suddenly_ into the midst\nof the most solemn things. That sin of his, the enormity of which he had\nnever seen before, now reveals itself in a most frightful form, and he\nfeels as the murderer does who wakes in the morning and begins to realize\nthat he has killed a man. That holy Being, of whose holiness he had no\nproper conception, now rises dim and awful before his half-opened inward\neye, and he trembles like the pagan before the unknown God whom he\nignorantly worships. That eternity, which he had heard spoken of with\ntotal indifference, now flashes penal flames in his face. Taken and held\nin this state of mind, the transgressor is confusedly as well as terribly\nawakened, and he needs first of all to have this experience clarified,\nand know precisely for what he is trembling, and why. This panic and\nconsternation must depart, and a calm intelligent anxiety must take its\nplace. But this cannot be, unless the mind turns towards God, and invites\nHis searching scrutiny, and His aid in the search after sin. So long as\nwe shrink away from our Judge, and in upon ourselves, in these hours of\nconviction,--so long as we deal only with the workings of our own minds,\nand do not look up and \"reason together\" with God,--we take the most\ndirect method of producing a blind, an obscure, and a selfish agony. We\nwork ourselves, more and more, into a mere phrenzy of excitement. Some of\nthe most wretched and fanatical experience in the history of the Church\nis traceable to a solitary self-brooding, in which, after the sense of\nsin had been awakened, the soul did not discuss the matter with God.\n\nFor the character and attributes of God, when clearly seen, repress all\nfright, and produce that peculiar species of fear which is tranquil\nbecause it is deep. Though the soul, in such an hour, is conscious that\nGod is a fearful object of sight for a transgressor, yet it continues to\ngaze at Him with an eager straining eye. And in so doing, the superficial\ntremor and panic of its first awakening to the subject of religion passes\noff, and gives place to an intenser moral feeling, the calmness of which\nis like the stillness of fascination. Nothing has a finer effect upon a\ncompany of awakened minds, than to cause the being and attributes of God,\nin all their majesty and purity, to rise like an orb within their\nhorizon; and the individual can do nothing more proper, or more salutary,\nwhen once his sin begins to disquiet him, and the inward perturbation\ncommences, than to collect and steady himself, in an act of reflection\nupon that very Being who _abhors_ sin. Let no man, in the hour of\nconviction and moral fear, attempt to run away from the Divine holiness.\nOn the contrary, let him rush forward and throw himself down prostrate\nbefore that Dread Presence, and plead the merits of the Son of God,\nbefore it. He that finds his life shall lose it; but he that loses his\nlife shall find it. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,\nit remains a single unproductive corn of wheat; but if it _die_, it\ngerminates and brings forth much fruit. He who does not avoid a contact\nbetween the sin of his soul and the holiness of his God, but on the\ncontrary seeks to have these two things come together, that each may be\nunderstood in its own intrinsic nature and quality, takes the only safe\ncourse. He finds that, as he knows God more distinctly, he knows himself\nmore distinctly; and though as yet he can see nothing but displeasure in\nthat holy countenance, he is possessed of a well-defined experience. He\nknows that he is wrong, and his Maker is right; that he is wicked, and\nthat God is holy. He perceives these two fundamental facts with a\nsimplicity, and a certainty, that admits of no debate. The confusion and\nobscurity of his mind, and particularly the queryings whether these\nthings are so, whether God is so very holy and man is so very sinful,\nbegin to disappear, like a fog when disparted and scattered by sunrise.\nObjects are seen in their true proportions and meanings; right and wrong,\nthe carnal mind and the spiritual mind, heaven and hell,--all the great\ncontraries that pertain to the subject of religion,--are distinctly\nunderstood, and thus the first step is taken towards a better state of\nthings in the soul.\n\nLet no man, then, fear to invite the scrutiny of God, in connection with\nhis own scrutiny of himself. He who deals only with the sense of duty,\nand the operations of his own mind, will find that these themselves\nbecome more dim and indistinct, so long as the process of examination is\nnot conducted in this joint manner; so long as the mind refuses to accept\nthe Divine proposition, \"Come now, and let us reason _together_.\" He, on\nthe other hand, who endeavors to obtain a clear view of the Being against\nwhom he has sinned, and to feel the full power of His holy eye as well as\nof His holy law, will find that his sensations and experiences are\ngaining a wonderful distinctness and intensity that will speedily bring\nthe entire matter to an issue.\n\nII. For then, by the blessing of God, he learns the second lesson taught\nin the text: viz., that _there is forgiveness with God_. Though, in this\nprocess of joint examination, your sins be found to be as scarlet, they\nshall be as white as snow; though they be discovered to be red like\ncrimson, they shall be as wool.\n\nIf there were no forgiveness of sins, if mercy were not a manifested\nattribute of God, all self-examination, and especially all this conjoint\ndivine scrutiny, would be a pure torment and a pure gratuity. It is\nwretchedness to know that we are guilty sinners, but it is the endless\ntorment to know that there is no forgiveness, either here or hereafter.\nConvince a man that he will never be pardoned, and you shut him up with\nthe spirits in prison. Compel him to examine himself under the eye of his\nGod, while at the same time he has no hope of mercy,--and there would be\nnothing _unjust_ in this,--and you distress him with the keenest and most\nliving torment of which a rational spirit is capable. Well and natural\nwas it, that the earliest creed of the Christian Church emphasized the\ndoctrine of the Divine Pity; and in all ages the Apostolic Symbol has\ncalled upon the guilt-stricken human soul to cry, \"I believe in the\nforgiveness of sins.\"\n\nWe have the amplest assurance in the whole written Revelation of God,\n_but nowhere else_, that \"there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be\nfeared.\" \"Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy;\" and\nonly with such an assurance as this from His own lips, could we summon\ncourage to look into our character and conduct, and invite God to do the\nsame. But the text is an exceedingly explicit assertion of this great\ntruth. The very same Being who invites us to reason with Him, and canvass\nthe subject of our criminality, in the very same breath, if we may so\nspeak, assures us that He will forgive all that is found in this\nexamination. And upon _such_ terms, cannot the criminal well afford to\nexamine into his crime? He has a promise beforehand, that if he will but\nscrutinize and confess his sin it shall be forgiven. God would have been\nsimply and strictly just, had He said to him: \"Go down into the depths of\nthy transgressing spirit, see how wicked thou hast been and still art,\nand know that in my righteous severity I will never pardon thee, world\nwithout end.\" But instead of this, He says: \"Go down into the depths of\nthy heart, see the transgression and the corruption all along the line of\nthe examination, confess it into my ear, and I will make the scarlet and\ncrimson guilt white in the blood of my own Son.\" These declarations of\nHoly Writ, which are a direct verbal statement from the lips of God, and\nwhich specify distinctly what He will do and will not do in the matter of\nsin, teach us that however deeply our souls shall be found to be stained,\nthe Divine pity outruns and exceeds the crime. \"For as the heavens are\nhigh above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him.\nHe that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how\nshall he not with him also freely give us all things?\" Here upon earth,\nthere is no wickedness that surpasses the pardoning love of God in\nChrist. The words which Shakspeare puts into the mouth of the remorseful,\nbut _impenitent_, Danish king are strictly true:\n\n  \"What if this cursed hand\n  Were thicker than itself with brother's blood?\n  Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens\n  To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy,\n  But to confront the visage of offence?\"[1]\n\nAnywhere this side of the other world, and at any moment this side of the\ngrave, a sinner, _if penitent_ (but penitence is not always at his\ncontrol), may obtain forgiveness for all his sins, through Christ's blood\nof atonement. He must not hope for mercy in the future world, if he\nneglects it here. There are no acts of pardon passed in the day of\njudgment. The utterance of Christ in _that_ day is not the utterance,\n\"Thy sins are forgiven thee,\" but, \"Come ye blessed,\" or \"Depart ye\ncursed.\" So long, and only so long, as there is life there is hope, and\nhowever great may be the conscious criminality of a man while he is under\nthe economy of Redemption, and before he is summoned to render up his\nlast account, let him not despair but hope in Divine grace.\n\nNow, he who has seriously \"reasoned together\" with God, respecting his\nown character, is far better prepared to find God in the forgiveness of\nsins, than he is who has merely brooded over his own unhappiness, without\nany reference to the qualities and claims of his Judge. It has been a\nplain and personal matter throughout, and having now come to a clear and\nsettled conviction that he is a guilty sinner, he turns directly to the\ngreat and good Being who stands immediately before him, and prays to be\nforgiven, and _is_ forgiven. One reason why the soul so often gropes days\nand months without finding a sin-pardoning God lies in the fact, that its\nthoughts and feelings respecting religious subjects, and particularly\nrespecting the state of the heart, have been too vague and indistinct.\nThey have not had an immediate and close reference to that one single\nBeing who is most directly concerned, and who alone can minister to a\nmind diseased. The soul is wretched, and there may be some sense of sin,\nbut there is no one to go to,--no one to address with an appealing cry.\n\"Oh that I knew where I might find him,\" is its language. \"Oh that I\nmight come even to his seat. Behold I go forward, but he is not there;\nand backward, but I cannot perceive him.\" But this groping would cease\nwere there a clear view of God. There might not be peace and a sense of\nreconciliation immediately; but there would be a distinct conception of\n_the one thing needful_ in order to salvation. This would banish all\nother subjects and objects. The eye would be fixed upon the single fact\nof sin, and the simple fact that none but God can forgive it. The whole\ninward experience would thus be narrowed down to a focus. Simplicity and\nintensity would be introduced into the mental state, instead of the\nprevious confusion and vagueness. Soliloquy would end, and prayer,\nimportunate, agonizing prayer, would begin. That morbid and useless\nself-brooding would cease, and those strong cryings and wrestlings till\nday-break would commence, and the kingdom of heaven would suffer this\nviolence, and the violent would take it by force. \"When I _kept silence_;\nmy bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and\nnight thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought\nof summer. I _acknowledged_ my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity I no\nlonger _hid_. I said, I will _confess_ my transgressions unto the Lord;\nand thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this,\"--because this is\nThy method of salvation,--\"shall every one that is godly pray unto\nthee, in a time when thou mayest be found.\" (Ps. xxxii. 3-6.)\n\nSelf-examination, then, when joined with a distinct recognition of the\nDivine character, and a conscious sense of God's scrutiny, paradoxical as\nit may appear, is the surest means of producing a firm conviction in a\nguilty mind that God is merciful, and is the swiftest way of finding Him\nto be so. Opposed as the Divine nature is to sin, abhorrent as iniquity\nis to the pure mind of God, it is nevertheless a fact, that that sinner\nwho goes directly into this Dread Presence with all his sins upon his\nhead, in order to know them, to be condemned and crushed by them, and to\nconfess them, is the one who soonest returns with peace and hope in his\nsoul. For, he discovers that God is as cordial and sincere in His offer\nto forgive, as He is in His threat to punish; and having, to his sorrow,\nfelt the reality and power of the Divine anger, he now to his joy feels\nthe equal reality and power of the Divine love.\n\nAnd this is the one great lesson which every man must learn, or perish\nforever. The _truthfulness_ of God, in every respect, and in all\nrelations,--His strict _fidelity to His word_, both under the law and\nunder the gospel,--is a quality of which every one must have a vivid\nknowledge and certainty, in order to salvation. Men perish through\nunbelief. He that doubteth is damned. To illustrate. Men pass through\nthis life doubting and denying God's abhorrence of sin, and His\ndetermination to punish it forever and ever. Under the narcotic and\nstupefying influence of this doubt and denial, they remain in sin, and at\ndeath go over into the immediate presence of God, only to discover that\nall His statements respecting His determination upon this subject are\n_true_,--awfully and hopelessly true. They then spend an eternity, in\nbewailing their infatuation in dreaming, while here upon earth, that\nthe great and holy God did not mean what he said.\n\nUnbelief, again, tends to death in the other direction, though it is far\nless liable to result in it. The convicted and guilt-smitten man\nsometimes doubts the truthfulness of the Divine promise in Christ. He\nspends days of darkness and nights of woe, because he is unbelieving in\nregard to God's compassion, and readiness to forgive a penitent; and\nwhen, at length, the light of the Divine countenance breaks upon him, he\nwonders that he was so foolish and slow of heart to believe all that God\nhimself had said concerning the \"multitude\" of his tender mercies.\nChristian and Hopeful lay long and needlessly in the dungeon of Doubting\nCastle, until the former remembered that the key to all the locks was in\nhis bosom, and had been all the while. They needed only to take God at\nhis word. The anxious and fearful soul must believe the Eternal Judge\n_implicitly_, when he says: \"I will justify thee through the blood of\nChrist.\" God is truthful under the gospel, and under the law; in His\npromise of mercy, and in His threatening of eternal woe. And \"if we\nbelieve not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself.\" He hath\npromised, and He hath threatened; and, though heaven and earth pass away,\none jot or one tittle of that promise shall not fail in the case of those\nwho confidingly trust it, nor shall one iota or scintilla of the\nthreatening fail in the instance of those who have recklessly and rashly\ndisbelieved it.\n\nIn respect, then, to both sides of the revelation of the Divine\ncharacter,--in respect to the threatening and the promise,--men need to\nhave a clear perception, and an unwavering belief. He that doubteth in\neither direction is damned. He who does not believe that God is truthful,\nwhen He declares that He will \"punish iniquity, transgression and sin,\"\nand that those upon the left hand shall \"go away into everlasting\npunishment,\" will persist in sin until he passes the line of probation\nand be lost. And he who does not believe that God is truthful, when He\ndeclares that He will forgive scarlet and crimson sins through the blood\nof Christ, will be overcome by despair and be also lost. But he who\nbelieves _both_ Divine statements with equal certainty, and perceives\n_both_ facts with distinct vision, will be saved.\n\nFrom these two lessons of the text, we deduce the following practical\ndirections:\n\n1. First: In all states of religious anxiety, we should _betake ourselves\ninstantly and directly to God_. There is no other refuge for the human\nsoul but God in Christ, and if this fails us, we must renounce all hope\nhere and hereafter.\n\n                \"If this fail,\n  The pillared firmament is rottenness,\n  And earth's base built on stubble.\"[2]\n\n\nWe are, therefore, from the nature of the case, shut up to this course.\nSuppose the religious anxiety arise from a sense of sin, and the fear of\nretribution. God is the only Being that can forgive sins. To whom, then,\ncan such an one go but unto Him? Suppose the religious anxiety arises\nfrom a sense of the perishing nature of earthly objects, and the soul\nfeels as if all the foundation and fabric of its hope and comfort were\nrocking into irretrievable ruin. God is the only Being who can help in\nthis crisis. In either or in any case,--be it the anxiety of the\nunforgiven, or of the child of God,--whatever be the species of mental\nsorrow, the human soul is by its very circumstances driven to its Maker,\nor else driven to destruction.\n\nWhat more reasonable course, therefore, than to conform to the\nnecessities of our condition. The principal part of wisdom is to take\nthings as they are, and act accordingly. Are we, then, sinners, and in\nfear for the final result of our life? Though it may seem to us like\nrunning into fire, we must nevertheless betake ourselves first and\nimmediately to that Being who hates and punishes sin. Though we see\nnothing but condemnation and displeasure in those holy eyes, we must\nnevertheless approach them _just and simply as we are_. We must say with\nking David in a similar case, when he had incurred the displeasure of\nGod: \"I am in a great strait; [yet] let me fall into the hand of the\nLord, for very great are his mercies\" (1 Chron. xx. 13). We must suffer\nthe intolerable brightness to blind and blast us in our guiltiness, and\nlet there be an actual contact between the sin of our soul and the\nholiness of our God. If we thus proceed, in accordance with the facts of\nour case and our position, we shall meet with a great and joyful\nsurprise. Flinging ourselves helpless, and despairing of all other\nhelp,--_rashly_, as it will seem to us, flinging ourselves off from the\nposition where we now are, and upon which we must inevitably perish, we\nshall find ourselves, to our surprise and unspeakable joy, caught in\neverlasting, paternal arms. He who loses his life,--he who _dares_ to\nlose his life,--shall find it.\n\n2. Secondly: In all our religious anxiety, we should _make a full and\nplain statement of everything to God_. God loves to hear the details of\nour sin, and our woe. The soul that pours itself out as water will find\nthat it is not like water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered\nup again. Even when the story is one of shame and remorse, we find it to\nbe mental relief, patiently and without any reservation or palliation, to\nexpose the whole not only to our own eye but to that of our Judge. For,\nto this very thing have we been invited. This is precisely the \"reasoning\ntogether\" which God proposes to us. God has not offered clemency to a\nsinful world, with the expectation or desire that there be on the part of\nthose to whom it is offered, such a stinted and meagre confession, such a\nglozing over and diminution of sin, as to make that clemency appear a\nvery small matter. He well knows the depth and the immensity of the sin\nwhich He proposes to pardon, and has made provision accordingly. In the\nphrase of Luther, it is no painted sinner who is to be forgiven, and it\nis no painted Saviour who is offered. The transgression is deep and real,\nand the atonement is deep and real. The crime cannot be exaggerated,\nneither can the expiation. He, therefore, who makes the plainest and most\nchild-like statement of himself to God, acts most in accordance with the\nmind, and will, and gospel of God. If man only be hearty, full, and\nunreserved in confession, he will find God to be hearty, full, and\nunreserved in absolution.\n\nMan is not straitened upon the side of the Divine mercy. The obstacle in\nthe way of his salvation is in himself; and the particular, fatal\nobstacle consists in the fact that he does not feel that he _needs_\nmercy. God in Christ stands ready to pardon, but man the sinner stands up\nbefore Him like the besotted criminal in our courts of law, with no\nfeeling upon the subject. The Judge assures him that He has a boundless\ngrace and clemency to bestow, but the stolid hardened man is not even\naware that he has committed a dreadful crime, and needs grace and\nclemency. There is food in infinite abundance, but no hunger upon the\npart of man. The water of life is flowing by in torrents, but men have no\nthirst. In this state of things, nothing can be done, but to pass a\nsentence of condemnation. God cannot forgive a being who does not even\nknow that he needs to be forgiven. Knowledge then, self-knowledge, is the\ngreat requisite; and the want of it is the cause of perdition. This\n\"reasoning together\" with God, respecting our past and present character\nand conduct, is the first step to be taken by any one who would make\npreparation for eternity. As soon as we come to a right understanding of\nour lost and guilty condition, we shall cry: \"Be merciful to me a sinner;\ncreate within me a clean heart, O God.\" Without such an\nunderstanding,--such an intelligent perception of our sin and guilt,--we\nnever shall, and we never can.\n\n\n[Footnote 1: SHAKSPEARE: Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 2: MILTON: Comus, 597-599.]\n\n\n\n\n\nSIN IS SPIRITUAL SLAVERY\n\nJohn viii. 34.--\"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you,\nwhosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.\"\n\n\nThe word [Greek: doulos] which is translated \"servant,\" in the text,\nliterally signifies a slave; and the thought which our Lord actually\nconveyed to those who heard Him is, \"Whosoever committeth sin is the\n_slave_ of sin.\" The apostle Peter, in that second Epistle of his which\nis so full of terse and terrible description of the effects of unbridled\nsensuality upon the human will, expresses the same truth. Speaking of the\ninfluence of those corrupting and licentious men who have \"eyes full of\nadultery, and that _cannot_ cease from sin,\" he remarks that while they\npromise their dupes \"liberty, they themselves are the servants [slaves]\nof corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he _brought\nin bondage_.\"\n\nSuch passages as these, of which there are a great number in the Bible,\ndirect attention to the fact that sin contains an element of\n_servitude_,--that in the very act of transgressing the law of God there\nis a _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself, whereby it becomes\nless able than before to keep that law. Sin is the suicidal action of the\nhuman will. It destroys the power to do right, which is man's true\nfreedom. The effect of vicious habit in diminishing a man's ability to\nresist temptation is proverbial. But what is habit but a constant\nrepetition of wrong decisions, every single one of which _reacts_ upon\nthe faculty that put them forth, and renders it less strong and less\nenergetic, to do the contrary. Has the old debauchee, just tottering\ninto hell, as much power of active resistance against the sin which has\nnow ruined him, as the youth has who is just beginning to run that awful\ncareer? Can any being do a wrong act, and be as sound in his will and as\nspiritually strong, after it, as he was before it? Did that abuse of free\nagency by Adam, whereby the sin of the race was originated, leave the\nagent as it found him,--uninjured and undebilitated in his voluntary\npower?\n\nThe truth and fact is, that sin in and by its own nature and operations,\ntends to destroy all virtuous force, all holy energy, in any moral being.\nThe excess of will to sin is the same as the defect of will to holiness.\nThe degree of intensity with which any man loves and inclines to evil is\nthe measure of the amount of power to good which he has thereby lost. And\nif the intensity be total, then the loss is entire. Total depravity\ncarries with it total impotence and helplessness. The more carefully we\nobserve the workings of our own wills, the surer will be our conviction\nthat they can ruin themselves. We shall indeed find that they cannot be\n_forced_, or ruined from the outside. But, if we watch the influence upon\nthe _will itself_, of its own wrong decisions, its own yielding to\ntemptations, we shall discover that the voluntary faculty may be ruined\nfrom within; may be made impotent to good by its own action; may\nsurrender itself with such an intensity and entireness to appetite,\npassion, and self-love, that it becomes unable to reverse itself, and\novercome its own wrong disposition and direction. And yet there is no\n_compulsion_, from first to last, in the process. The man follows\nhimself. He pursues his own inclination. He has his own way and does\nas he pleases. He loves what he inclines to love, and hates what he\ninclines to hate. Neither God, nor the world, nor Satan himself, force\nhim to do wrong. Sin is the most spontaneous of self-motion. But\nself-motion has _consequences_ as much as any other motion. Because\ntransgression is a _self_-determined act, it does not follow that it has\nno reaction and results, but leaves the will precisely as it found it. It\nis strictly true that man was not necessitated to apostatize; but it is\nequally true that if by his own self-decision he should apostatize, he\ncould not then and afterwards be as he was before. He would lose a\n_knowledge_ of God and divine things which he could never regain of\nhimself. And he would lose a spiritual _power_ which he could never again\nrecover of himself. The bondage of which Christ speaks, when He says,\n\"Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin,\" is an effect within the\nsoul itself of an unforced act of self-will, and therefore is as truly\nguilt as any other result or product of self-will,--as spiritual\nblindness, or spiritual hardness, or any other of the qualities of sin.\nWhatever springs from will, we are responsible for. The drunkard's\nbondage and powerlessness issues from his own inclination and\nself-indulgence, and therefore the bondage and impotence is no excuse for\nhis vice. Man's inability to love God supremely results from his intense\nself-will and self-love; and therefore his impotence is a part and\nelement of his sin, and not an excuse for it.\n\n  \"If weakness may excuse,\n  What murderer, what traitor, parricide,\n  Incestuous, sacrilegious, may not plead it?\n  All wickedness is weakness.\"[1]\n\nThe doctrine, then, which is taught in the text, is the truth that _sin\nis spiritual slavery_; and it is to the proof and illustration of this\nposition that we invite attention.\n\nThe term \"spiritual\" is too often taken to mean unreal, fanciful,\nfigurative. For man is earthly in his views as well as in his feelings,\nand therefore regards visible and material things as the emphatic\nrealities. Hence he employs material objects as the ultimate standard, by\nwhich he measures the reality of all other things. The natural man has\nmore consciousness of his body, than he has of his soul; more sense of\nthis world, than of the other. Hence we find that the carnal man\nexpresses his conception of spiritual things, by transferring to them, in\na weak and secondary signification, words which he applies in a strong\nand vivid way only to material objects. He speaks of the \"joy\" of the\nspirit, but it is not such a reality for him as is the \"joy\" of the body.\nHe speaks of the \"pain\" of the spirit, but it has not such a poignancy\nfor him as that anguish which thrills through his muscles and nerves.\nHe knows that the \"death\" of the body is a terrible event, but transfers\nthe word \"death\" to the spirit with a vague and feeble meaning, not\nrealizing that the second death is more awful than the first, and is\naccompanied with a spiritual distress compared with which, the sharpest\nagony of material dissolution would be a relief. He understands what is\nmeant by the \"life\" of the body, but when he hears the \"eternal life\" of\nthe spirit spoken of, or when he reads of it in the Bible, it is with the\nfeeling that it cannot be so real and lifelike as that vital principle\nwhose currents impart vigor and warmth to his bodily frame. And yet,\nthe life of the spirit is more intensely real than the life of the body\nis; for it has power to overrule and absorb it. Spiritual life, when in\nfull play, is bliss ineffable. It translates man into the third heavens,\nwhere the fleshly life is lost sight of entirely, and the being, like St.\nPaul, does not know whether he is in the body or out of the body.\n\nThe natural mind is deceived. Spirit has in it more of reality than\nmatter has; because it is an immortal and indestructible essence, while\nmatter is neither. Spiritual things are more real than visible things;\nbecause they are eternal, and eternity is more real than time. Statements\nrespecting spiritual objects, therefore, are more solemnly true than any\nthat relate to material things. Invisible and spiritual realities,\ntherefore, are the standard by which all others should be tried; and\nhuman language when applied to them, instead of expressing too much,\nexpresses too little. The imagery and phraseology by which the Scriptures\ndescribe the glory of God, the excellence of holiness, and the bliss of\nheaven, on the one side, and the sinfulness of sin with the woe of hell,\non the other, come short of the sober and actual matter of fact.\n\nWe should, therefore, beware of the error to which in our unspirituality\nwe are specially liable; and when we hear Christ assert that \"whosoever\ncommitteth sin is the slave of sin,\" we should believe and know, that\nthese words are not extravagant, and contain no subtrahend,--that they\nindicate a self-enslavement of the human will which is so real, so total,\nand so absolute, as to necessitate the renewing grace of God in order to\ndeliverance from it.\n\nThis bondage to sin may be discovered by every man. It must be\ndiscovered, before one can cry, \"Save me or I perish.\" It must be\ndiscovered, before one can feelingly assent to Christ's words, \"Without\nme ye can do nothing.\" It must be discovered, before one can understand\nthe Christian paradox, \"When I am weak, then am I strong.\" To aid the\nmind, in coming to the conscious experience of the truth taught in the\ntext, we remark:\n\nI. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to man's _sense of\nobligation to be perfectly holy_.\n\nThe obligation to be holy, just, and good, as God is, rests upon every\nrational being. Every man knows, or may know, that he ought to be perfect\nas his Father in heaven is perfect, and that he is a debtor to this\nobligation until he has _fully_ met it. Hence even the holiest of men are\nconscious of sin, because they are not completely up to the mark of this\nhigh calling of God. For, the sense of this obligation is an exceeding\nbroad one,--like the law itself which it includes and enforces. The\nfeeling of duty will not let us off, with the performance of only a part\nof our duty. Its utterance is: \"Verily I say unto you, till heaven and\nearth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till\n_all_ be fulfilled.\" Law spreads itself over the whole surface and course\nof our lives, and insists imperatively that every part and particle of\nthem be pure and holy.\n\nAgain, this sense of obligation to be perfect as God is perfect, is\nexceedingly deep. It is the most profound sense of which man is\npossessed, for it outlives all others. The feeling of duty to God's\nlaw remains in a man's mind either to bless him or to curse him, when all\nother feelings depart. In the hour of death, when all the varied passions\nand experiences which have engrossed the man his whole lifetime are dying\nout of the soul, and are disappearing, one after another, like\nsignal-lights in the deepening darkness, this one particular feeling of\nwhat he owes to the Divine and the Eternal law remains behind, and grows\nmore vivid, and painful, as all others grow dimmer and dimmer. And\ntherefore it is, that in this solemn hour man forgets whether he has been\nhappy or unhappy, successful or unsuccessful, in the world, and remembers\nonly that he has been a _sinner_ in it. And therefore it is, that a man's\nthoughts, when he is upon his death-bed, do not settle upon his worldly\nmatters, but upon his sin. It is because the human conscience is the very\ncore and centre of the human being, and its sense of obligation to be\nholy is deeper than all other senses and sensations, that we hear the\ndying man say what the living and prosperous man is not inclined to say:\n\"I have been wicked; I have been a sinner in the earth.\"\n\nNow it might seem, at first sight, that this broad, deep, and abiding\nsense of obligation would be sufficient to overcome man's love of sin,\nand bring him up to the discharge of duty,--would be powerful enough to\nsubdue his self-will. Can it be that this strong and steady draft of\nconscience,--strong and steady as gravitation,--will ultimately prove\nineffectual? Is not truth mighty, and must it not finally prevail, to the\npulling down of the stronghold which Satan has in the human heart? So\nsome men argue. So some men claim, in opposition to the doctrine of\nDivine influences and of regeneration by the Holy Ghost.\n\nWe are willing to appeal to actual experience, in order to settle the\npoint. And we affirm in the outset, that exactly in proportion as a man\nhears the voice of conscience sounding its law within his breast, does he\nbecome aware, not of the strength but, of the bondage of his will, and\nthat in proportion as this sense of obligation to be _perfectly_ holy\nrises in his soul, all hope or expectation of ever becoming so by his own\npower sets in thick night.\n\nIn our careless unawakened state, which is our ordinary state, we sin on\nfrom day to day, just as we live on from day to day, without being\ndistinctly aware of it. A healthy man does not go about, holding his\nfingers upon his wrist, and counting every pulse; and neither does a\nsinful man, as he walks these streets and transacts all this business,\nthink of and sum up the multitude of his transgressions. And yet, that\npulse all the while beats none the less; and yet, that will all the while\ntransgresses none the less. So long as conscience is asleep, sin is\npleasant. The sinful activity goes on without notice, we are happy in\nsin, and we do not feel that it is slavery of the will. Though the chains\nare actually about us, yet they do not gall us. In this condition, which\nis that of every unawakened sinner, we are not conscious of the \"bondage\nof corruption.\" In the phrase of St. Paul, \"we are alive without the\nlaw.\" We have no feeling sense of duty, and of course have no feeling\nsense of sin. And it is in this state of things, that arguments are\nframed to prove the mightiness of mere conscience, and the power of bare\ntruth and moral obligation, over the perverse human heart and will.\n\nBut the Spirit of God awakens the conscience; that sense of obligation to\nbe _perfectly_ holy which has hitherto slept now starts up, and begins to\nform an estimate of what has been done in reference to it. The man hears\nthe authoritative and startling law: \"Thou shalt be perfect, as God is.\"\nAnd now, at this very instant and point, begins the consciousness of\nenslavement,--of being, in the expressive phrase of Scripture, \"_sold_\nunder sin.\" Now the commandment \"comes,\" shows us first what we ought to\nbe and then what we actually are, and we \"die.\"[2] All moral strength\ndies out of us. The muscle has been cut by the sword of truth, and the\nlimb drops helpless by the side. For, we find that the obligation is\nimmense. It extends to all our outward acts; and having covered the whole\nof this great surface, it then strikes inward and reaches to every\nthought of the mind, and every emotion of the heart, and every motive of\nthe will. We discover that we are under obligation at every conceivable\npoint in our being and in our history, but that we have not met\nobligation at a single point. When we see that the law of God is broad\nand deep, and that sin is equally broad and deep within us; when we learn\nthat we have never thought one single holy thought, nor felt one single\nholy feeling, nor done one single holy deed, because self-love is the\nroot and principle of all our work, and we have never purposed or desired\nto please God by any one of our actions; when we find that everything\nhas been required, and that absolutely nothing has been done, that we are\nbound to be perfectly holy this very instant, and as matter of fact are\ntotally sinful, we know in a most affecting manner that \"whosoever\ncommitteth sin is the _slave_ of sin\".\n\nBut suppose that after this disheartening and weakening discovery of the\ndepth and extent of our sinfulness, we proceed to take the second step,\nand attempt to extirpate it. Suppose that after coming to a consciousness\nof all this obligation resting upon us, we endeavor to comply with it.\nThis renders us still more painfully sensible of the truth of our\nSaviour's declaration. Even the regenerated man, who in this endeavor has\nthe aid of God, is mournfully conscious that sin is the enslavement of\nthe human will. Though he has been freed substantially, he feels that the\nfragments of the chains are upon him still. Though the love of God is the\npredominant principle within him, yet the lusts and propensities of the\nold nature continually start up like devils, and tug at the spirit, to\ndrag it down to its old bondage. But that man who attempts to overcome\nsin, without first crying, \"Create within me a clean heart, O God,\" feels\nstill more deeply that sin is spiritual slavery. When _he_ comes to know\nsin in reference to the obligation to be perfectly holy, it is with\nvividness and hopelessness. He sees distinctly that he ought to be a\nperfectly good being instantaneously. This point is clear. But instead of\nlooking up to the hills whence cometh his help, he begins, in a cold\nlegal and loveless temper, to draw upon his own resources. The first step\nis to regulate his external conduct by the Divine law. He tries to put a\nbridle upon his tongue, and to walk carefully before his fellow-men. He\nfails to do even this small outside thing, and is filled with\ndiscouragement and despondency.\n\nBut the sense of duty reaches beyond the external conduct, and the law of\nGod pierces like the two-edged sword of an executioner, and discerns\nthe thoughts and motives of the heart. Sin begins to be seen in its\nrelation to the inner man, and he attempts again to reform and change the\nfeelings and affections of his soul. He strives to wring the gall of\nbitterness out of his own heart, with his own hands. But he fails\nutterly. As he resolves, and breaks his resolutions; as he finds evil\nthoughts and feelings continually coming up from the deep places of his\nheart; he discovers his spiritual impotence,--his lack of control over\nwhat is deepest, most intimate, and most fundamental in his own\ncharacter,--and cries out: \"I _am_ a slave, I am a _slave_ to myself.\"\n\nIf then, you would know from immediate consciousness that \"whosoever\ncommitteth sin is the slave of sin,\" simply view sin in the light of that\nobligation to be _perfectly_ pure and holy which necessarily, and\nforever, rests upon a responsible being. If you would know that spiritual\nslavery is no extravagant and unmeaning phrase, but denotes a most real\nand helpless bondage, endeavor to get entirely rid of sin, and to be\nperfect as the spirits of just men made perfect.\n\nII. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _aspirations_\nof the human soul.\n\nTheology makes a distinction between common and special grace,--between\nthose ordinary influences of the Divine Spirit which rouse the\nconscience, and awaken some transient aspirations after religion, and\nthose extraordinary influences which actually renew the heart and will.\nIn speaking, then, of the aspirations of the human soul, reference is had\nto all those serious impressions, and those painful anxieties concerning\nsalvation, which require to be followed up by a yet mightier power from\nGod, to prevent their being entirely suppressed again, as they are in a\nmultitude of instances, by the strong love of sin and the world. For\nthough man has fallen into a state of death in trespasses and sins, so\nthat if cut off from _every_ species of Divine influence, and left\n_entirely_ to himself, he would never reach out after anything but the\nsin which he loves, yet through the common influences of the Spirit of\nGrace, and the ordinary workings of a rational nature not yet reprobated,\nhe is at times the subject of internal stirrings and aspirations that\nindicate the greatness and glory of the heights whence he fell. Under the\npower of an awakened conscience, and feeling the emptiness of the world,\nand the aching void within him, man wishes for something better than he\nhas, or than he is. The minds of the more thoughtful of the ancient\npagans were the subjects of these impulses, and aspirations; and they\nconfess their utter inability to realize them. They are expressed\nupon every page of Plato, and it is not surprising that some of the\nChristian Fathers should have deemed Platonism, as well as Judaism, to be\na preparation for Christianity, by its bringing man to a sense of his\nneed of redemption. And it would stimulate Christians in their efforts to\ngive revealed religion to the heathen, did they ponder the fact which the\njournals of the missionary sometimes disclose, that the Divine Spirit is\nbrooding with His common and preparatory influence over the chaos of\nPaganism, and that here and there the heathen mind faintly aspires to be\nfreed from the bondage of corruption,--that dim stirrings, impulses, and\nwishes for deliverance, are awake in the dark heart of Paganism, but that\nowing to the strength and inveteracy of sin in that heart they will prove\nineffectual to salvation, unless the gospel is preached, and the Holy\nSpirit is specially poured out in answer to the prayers of Christians.\n\nNow, all these phenomena in the human soul go to show the rigid bondage\nof sin, and to prove that sin has an element of servitude in it. For when\nthese impulses, wishes, and aspirations are awakened, and the man\ndiscovers that he is unable to realize them in actual character and\nconduct, he is wretchedly and thoroughly conscious that \"whosoever\ncommitteth sin is the _slave_ of sin.\" The immortal, heaven-descended\nspirit, feeling the kindling touch of truth and of the Holy Ghost,\nthrills under it, and essays to soar. But sin hangs heavy upon it, and it\ncannot lift itself from the earth. Never is man so sensible of his\nenslavement and his helplessness, as when he has a _wish_ but has no\n_will_.[3]\n\nLook, for illustration, at the aspirations of the drunkard to be\ndelivered from the vice that easily besets him. In his sober moments,\nthey come thick and fast, and during his sobriety, and while under the\nlashings of conscience, he wishes, nay, even _longs_, to be freed from\ndrunkenness. It may be, that under the impulse of these aspirations he\nresolves never to drink again. It may be, that amid the buoyancy that\nnaturally accompanies the springing of hope and longing in the human\nsoul, he for a time seems to himself to be actually rising up from his\n\"wallowing in the mire,\" and supposes that he shall soon regain his\nprimitive condition of temperance. But the sin is strong; for the\nappetite that feeds it is in his blood. Temptation with its witching\nsolicitation comes before the will,--the weak, self-enslaved will. He\n_aspires_ to resist, but _will_ not; the spirit _would_ soar, but the\nflesh _will_ creep; the spirit has the _wish_, but the flesh has the\n_will_; the man longs to be sober, but actually is and remains a\ndrunkard. And never,--be it noticed,--never is he more thoroughly\nconscious of being a slave to himself, than when he thus _ineffectually_\naspires and wishes to be delivered from himself.\n\nWhat has been said of drunkenness, and the aspiration to be freed from\nit, applies with full force to all the sin and all the aspirations of the\nhuman soul. There is no independent and self-realizing power in a mere\naspiration. No man overcomes even his vices, except as he is assisted by\nthe common grace of God. The self-reliant man invariably relapses into\nhis old habits. He who thinks he stands is sure to fall. But when, under\nthe influence of God's common grace, a man aspires to be freed from the\ndeepest of all sin, because it is the source of all particular acts of\ntransgression,--when he attempts to overcome and extirpate the original\nand inveterate depravity of his heart,--he feels his bondage more\nthoroughly than ever. If it is wretchedness for the drunkard to aspire\nafter freedom from only a single vice, and fail of reaching it, is it not\nthe depth of woe, when a man comes to know \"the plague of his heart,\" and\nhis utter inability to cleanse and cure it? In this case, the bondage of\nself-will is found to be absolute.\n\nAt first sight, it might seem as if these wishes and aspirations of the\nhuman spirit, faint though they be, are proof that man is not totally\ndepraved, and that his will is not helplessly enslaved. So some men\nargue. But they forget, that these aspirations and wishes are _never\nrealized_. There is no evidence of power, except from its results. And\nwhere are the results? Who has ever realized these wishes and\naspirations, in his heart and conduct? The truth is, that every\n_unattained_ aspiration that ever swelled the human soul is proof\npositive, and loud, that the human soul is in bondage. These\n_ineffectual_ stirrings and impulses, which disappear like the morning\ncloud and the early dew, are most affecting evidences that \"whosoever\ncommitteth sin is the _slave_ of sin.\" They prove that apostate man has\nsunk, in one respect, to a lower level than that of the irrational\ncreation. For, high ideas and truths cannot raise him. Lofty impulses\nresult in no alteration, or elevation. Even Divine influences leave him\njust where they find him, unless they are exerted in their highest grade\nof irresistible grace. A brute surrenders himself to his appetites and\npropensities, and lives the low life of nature, without being capable of\naspirations for anything purer and nobler. But man does this very\nthing,--nay, immerses himself in flesh, and sense, and self, with an\nentireness and intensity of which the brute is incapable,--in the face of\nimpulses and stirrings of mind that point him to the pure throne of God,\nand urge him to soar up to it! The brute is a creature of nature, because\nhe knows no better, and can desire nothing better; but man is \"as the\nbeasts that perish,\" in spite of a better knowledge and a loftier\naspiration!\n\nIf then, you would know that \"whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of\nsin,\" contemplate sin in reference to the aspirations of an apostate\nspirit originally made in the image of God, and which, because it is not\neternally reprobated, is not entirely cut off from the common influences\nof the Spirit of God. Never will you feel the bondage of your will more\nprofoundly, than when under these influences, and in your moments of\nseriousness and anxiety respecting your soul's salvation, you aspire\nand endeavor to overcome inward sin, and find that unless God grant you\nHis special and renovating grace, your heart will be sinful through all\neternity, in spite of the best impulses of your best hours. These upward\nimpulses and aspirations cannot accompany the soul into the state of\nfinal hopelessness and despair, though Milton represents Satan as\nsometimes looking back with a sigh, and a mournful memory, upon what he\nhad once been,[4]--yet if they should go with us there, they would\nmake the ardor of the fire more fierce, and the gnaw of the worm more\nfell. For they would help to reveal the strength of our sin, and the\nintensity of our rebellion.\n\nIII. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _fears_ of\nthe human soul.\n\nThe sinful spirit of man fears the death of the body, and the Scriptures\nassert that by reason of this particular fear we are all our lifetime in\nbondage. Though we know that the bodily dissolution can have no effect\nupon the imperishable essence of an immortal being, yet we shrink back\nfrom it, as if the sentence, \"Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt\nreturn,\" had been spoken of the spirit,--as if the worm were to \"feed\nsweetly\" upon the soul, and it were to be buried up in the dark house of\nthe grave. Even the boldest of us is disturbed at the thought of bodily\ndeath, and we are always startled when the summons suddenly comes: \"Set\nthy house in order, for thou must die.\"\n\nAgain, the spirit of man fears that \"fearful something after death,\" that\neternal judgment which must be passed upon all. We tremble at the\nprospect of giving an account of our own actions. We are afraid to reap\nthe harvest, the seed of which we have sown with our own hands. The\nthought of going to a just judgment, and of receiving from the Judge of\nall the earth, who cannot possibly do injustice to any of His creatures,\nonly that which is our desert, shocks us to the centre of our being! Man\nuniversally is afraid to be judged with a righteous judgment! Man\nuniversally is terrified by the equitable bar of God!\n\nAgain, the apostate spirit of man has an awful dread of eternity. Though\nthis invisible realm is the proper home of the human soul, and it was\nmade to dwell there forever, after the threescore and ten years of its\nresidence in the body are over, yet it shrinks back from an entrance into\nthis untried world, and clings with the desperate force of a drowning man\nto this \"bank and shoal of time.\" There are moments in the life of a\nguilty man when the very idea of eternal existence exerts a preternatural\npower, and fills him with a dread that paralyzes him. Never is the human\nbeing stirred to so great depths, and roused to such intensity of action,\nas when it feels what the Scripture calls \"the power of an _endless_\nlife.\" All men are urged by some ruling passion which is strong. The love\nof wealth, or of pleasure, or of fame, drives the mind onward with great\nforce, and excites it to mighty exertions to compass its end. But never\nis a man pervaded by such an irresistible and overwhelming influence as\nthat which descends upon him in some season of religious gloom,--some\nhour of sickness, or danger, or death,--when the great eternity, with\nall its awful realities, and all its unknown terror, opens upon his\nquailing gaze. There are times in man's life, when he is the subject of\nmovements within that impel him to deeds that seem almost superhuman; but\nthat internal ferment and convulsion which is produced when all eternity\npours itself through his being turns his soul up from the centre. Man\nwill labor convulsively, night and day, for money; he will dry up the\nbloom and freshness of health, for earthly power and fame; he will\nactually wear his body out for sensual pleasure. But what is the\nintensity and paroxysm of this activity of mind and body, if compared\nwith those inward struggles and throes when the overtaken and startled\nsinner sees the eternal world looming into view, and with strong crying\nand tears prays for only a little respite, and only a little preparation!\n\"Millions for an inch of time,\"--said the dying English Queen. \"O\nEternity! Eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet\nwith in _eternity_,\"--says the man in the iron cage of Despair. This\nfinite world has indeed great power to stir man, but the other world has\nan infinitely greater power. The clouds which float in the lower regions\nof the sky, and the winds that sweep them along, produce great ruin and\ndestruction upon the earth, but it is only when the \"windows of heaven\nare opened\" that \"the fountains of the great deep are broken up,\" and\n\"all in whose nostrils is the breath of life die,\" and \"every living\nsubstance is destroyed which is upon the face of the ground.\" When fear\narises in the soul of man, in view of an eternal existence for which he\nis utterly unprepared, it is overwhelming. It partakes of the immensity\nof eternity, and holds the man with an omnipotent grasp.\n\nIf, now, we view sin in relation to these great fears of death, judgment,\nand eternity, we see that it is spiritual slavery, or the bondage of the\nwill. We discover that our terror is no more able to deliver us from the\n\"bondage of corruption,\" than our aspiration is. We found that in spite\nof the serious stirrings and impulses which sometimes rise within us, we\nstill continue immersed in sense and sin; and we shall also find that in\nspite of the most solemn and awful fears of which a finite being is\ncapable, we remain bondmen to ourselves, and our sin. The dread that goes\ndown into hell can no more ransom us, than can the aspiration that goes\nup into heaven. Our fear of eternal woe can no more change the heart,\nthan our wish for eternal happiness can. We have, at some periods,\nfaintly wished that lusts and passions had no power over us; and perhaps\nwe have been the subject of still higher aspirings. But we are the same\nbeings, still. We are the same self-willed and self-enslaved sinners,\nyet. We have all our lifetime feared death, judgment, and eternity, and\nunder the influence of this fear we have sometimes resolved and promised\nto become Christians. But we are the very same beings, still; we are the\nsame self-willed and self-enslaved sinners yet.\n\nOh, never is the human spirit more deeply conscious of its bondage to its\ndarling iniquity, than when these paralyzing fears shut down upon it,\nlike night, with \"a horror of great darkness.\" When under their\ninfluence, the man feels most thoroughly and wretchedly that his sin is\nhis ruin, and yet his sinful determination continues on, because\n\"whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin,\" Has it never happened\nthat, in \"the visions of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men,\" a\nspirit passed before your face, like that which stood still before the\nTemanite; and there was silence, and a voice saying, \"Man! Man! thou must\ndie, thou must be judged, thou must inhabit eternity?\" And when the\nspirit had departed, and while the tones of its solemn and startling cry\nwere still rolling through your soul, did not a temptation to sin solicit\nyou, and did you not drink in its iniquity like water? Have you not found\nout, by mournful experience, that the most anxious forebodings of the\nhuman spirit, the most alarming fears of the human soul, and the most\nsolemn warnings that come forth from eternity, have no prevailing power\nover your sinful nature, but that immediately after experiencing them,\nand while your whole being is still quivering under their agonizing\ntouch, you fall, you rush, into sin? Have you not discovered that even\nthat most dreadful of all fears,--the fear of the holy wrath of almighty\nGod,--is not strong enough to save you from yourself? Do you know that\nyour love of sin has the power to stifle and overcome the mightiest of\nyour fears, when you are strongly tempted to self-indulgence? Have you no\nevidence, in your own experience, of the truth of the poet's words:\n\n\"The Sensual and the Dark rebel in vain, Slaves by their own compulsion.\"\n\nIf, then, you would know that \"whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of\nsin,\" contemplate sin in relation to the fears which of necessity rest\nupon a spirit capable, as yours is, of knowing that it must leave the\nbody, that it must receive a final sentence at the bar of judgment, and\nthat eternity is its last and fixed dwelling-place. If you would know\nwith sadness and with profit, that sin is the enslavement of the will\nthat originates it, consider that all the distressing fears that have\never been in your soul, from the first, have not been able to set you\nfree in the least from innate depravity: but, that in spite of them all\nyour will has been steadily surrendering itself, more and more, to the\nevil principle of self-love and enmity to God. Call to mind the great\nfight of anguish and terror which you have sometimes waged with sin, and\nsee how sin has always been victorious. Remember that you have often\ndreaded death,--but you are unjust still. Remember that you have often\ntrembled at the thought of eternal judgment,--but you are unregenerate\nstill. Remember that you have often started back, when the holy and\nretributive eternity dawned like the day of doom upon you,--but\nyou are impenitent still. If you view your own personal sin in reference\nto your own personal fears, are you not a slave to it? Will or can your\nfears, mighty as they sometimes are, deliver you from the bondage of\ncorruption, and lift you above that which you love with all your heart,\nand strength, and might?\n\nIt is perfectly plain, then, that \"whosoever committeth sin is the slave\nof sin,\" whether we have regard to the feeling of obligation to be\nperfectly holy which is in the human conscience; or to the ineffectual\naspirations which sometimes arise in the human spirit; or to the dreadful\nfears which often fall upon it. Sin must have brought the human will into\na real and absolute bondage, if the deep and solemn sense of indebtedness\nto moral law; if the \"thoughts that wander through eternity;\" if the\naspirations that soar to the heaven of heavens, and the fears that\ndescend to the very bottom of hell,--if all these combined forces and\ninfluences cannot free it from its power.\n\nIt was remarked in the beginning of this discourse, that the bondage of\nsin is the result of the _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself.\nIt is not a slavery imposed from without, but from within. The bondage of\nsin is only a _particular aspect_ of sin itself. The element of\nservitude, like the element of blindness, or hardness, or rebelliousness,\nis part and particle of that moral evil which deserves the wrath and\ncurse of God. It, therefore, no more excuses or palliates, than does any\nother self-originated quality in sin. Spiritual bondage, like spiritual\nenmity to God, or spiritual ignorance of Him, or spiritual apathy towards\nHim, is guilt and crime.\n\nAnd in closing, we desire to repeat and emphasize this truth. Whoever\nwill enter upon that process of self-wrestling and self-conflict which\nhas been described, will come to a profound sense of the truth which our\nLord taught in the words of the text. All such will find and feel that\nthey are in slavery, and that their slavery is their condemnation. For\nthe anxious, weary, and heavy-laden sinner, the problem is not\nmysterious, because it finds its solution in the depths of his own\n_self-consciousness_. He needs no one to clear it up for him, and he has\nneither doubts nor cavils respecting it.\n\nBut, an objection always assails that mind which has not the key of an\ninward moral struggle to unlock the problem for it. When Christ asserts\nthat \"whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin,\" the easy and\nindifferent mind is swift to draw the inference that this bondage is its\nmisfortune, and that the poor slave does not deserve to be punished, but\nto be set free. He says as St. Paul did in another connection: \"Nay\nverily, but let them come themselves, and fetch us out.\" But this slavery\nis a _self_-enslavement. The feet of this man have not been thrust into\nthe stocks by another. This logician must refer everything to its own\nproper author, and its own proper cause. Let this spiritual bondage,\ntherefore, be charged upon the _self_ that originated it. Let it be\nreferred to that self-will in which it is wrapped up, and of which it is\na constituent element. It is a universally received maxim, that the agent\nis responsible for the _consequences_ of a voluntary act, as well as for\nthe act itself. If, therefore, the human will has inflicted a suicidal\nblow upon itself, and one of the consequences of its own determination is\na total enslavement of itself to its own determination, then this\nenslaving _result_ of the act, as well the act itself, must all go in to\nconstitute and swell the sum-total of human guilt. The miserable\ndrunkard, therefore, cannot be absolved from the drunkard's condemnation,\nupon the plea that by a long series of voluntary acts he has, in the end,\nso enslaved himself that no power but God's grace can save him. The\nmarble-hearted fiend in hell, the absolutely lost spirit in despair,\ncannot relieve his torturing sense of guilt, by the reflection that he\nhas at length so hardened his own heart that he cannot repent. The\nunforced will of a moral being must be held responsible for both its\ndirect, and its _reflex_ action; for both its sin, and its _bondage_ in\nsin.\n\nThe denial of guilt, then, is not the way out. He who takes this road\n\"kicks against the goads.\" And he will find their stabs thickening, the\nfarther he travels, and the nearer he draws to the face and eyes of God.\nBut there is a way out. It is the way of self-knowledge and confession.\nThis is the point upon which all the antecedents of salvation hinge. He\nwho has come to know, with a clear discrimination, that he is in a guilty\nbondage to his own inclination and lust, has taken the very first step\ntowards freedom. For, the Redeemer, the Almighty Deliverer, is near the\ncaptive, so soon as the captive feels his bondage and confesses it. The\nmighty God walking upon the waves of this sinful, troubled life,\nstretches out _His_ arm, the very instant any sinking soul cries, \"Lord\nsave me.\" And unless that appeal and confession of helplessness _is_\nmade, He, the Merciful and the Compassionate, will let the soul go\ndown before His own eyes to the unfathomed abyss. If the sinking Peter\nhad not uttered that cry, the mighty hand of Christ would not have been\nstretched forth. All the difficulties disappear, so soon as a man\nunderstands the truth of the Divine affirmation: \"O Israel thou hast\ndestroyed thyself,\"--it is a real destruction, and it is thy own\nwork,--\"but in ME is thy help.\"\n\n\n[Footnote 1: MILTON: Samson Agonistes, 832-834.--One key to the solution\nof the problem, how there can be bondage in the very seat of\nfreedom,--how man can be responsible for sin, yet helpless in\nit,--is to be found in this fact of a reflex action of the will upon\nitself, or, a reaction of self-action. Philosophical speculation upon\nthe nature of the human will has not, hitherto, taken this fact\nsufficiently into account. The following extracts corroborate the view\npresented above. \"My _will_ the enemy held, and _thence_ had made a\nchain for me, and bound me. For, of a perverse _will_ comes _lust_; and a\nlust yielded to becomes _custom_; and custom not resisted becomes\n_necessity_. By which links, as it were, joined together as in a chain, a\nhard bondage held me enthralled.\" AUGUSTINE: Confessions, VIII. v. 10.\n\"Every degree of inclination contrary to duty, which is and must be\nsinful, implies and involves an equal degree of difficulty and inability\nto obey. For, indeed, such inclination of the heart to disobey, and the\ndifficulty or inability to obey, are precisely one and the same. This\nkind of difficulty or inability, therefore, always is great according\nto the strength and fixedness of the inclination to disobey; and it\nbecomes _total_ and _absolute_ [inability], when the heart is totally\ncorrupt and wholly opposed to obedience.... No man can act contrary to\nhis present inclination or choice. But who ever imagined that this\nrendered his inclination and choice innocent and blameless, however wrong\nand unreasonable it might be.\" SAMUEL HOPKINS: Works, I. 233-235.\n\"Moral inability\" is the being \"unable to be willing.\" EDWARDS: Freedom\nof the Will, Part I, sect. iv. \"Propensities,\"--says a writer very\ndifferent from those above quoted,--\"that are easily surmounted lead us\nunresistingly on; we yield to temptations so trivial that we despise\ntheir danger. And so we fall into perilous situations from which we might\neasily have preserved ourselves, but from which we now find it impossible\nto extricate ourselves without efforts so superhuman as to terrify us,\nand we finally fall into the abyss, saying to the Almighty, 'Why hast\nThou made me so weak?' But notwithstanding our vain pretext, He addresses\nour conscience, saying, 'I have made thee _too weak to rise from the\npit_, because I made thee _strong enough not to fall therein_.\" ROUSSEAU:\nConfessions, Book II.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Romans vii. 9-11.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Some of the Schoolmen distinguished carefully between the\ntwo things, and denominated the former, _velleitas_, and the latter,\n_voluntas_.]\n\n[Footnote 4: MILTON: Paradise Lost, IV. 23-25; 35-61.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORIGINAL AND THE ACTUAL RELATION OF MAN TO LAW.\n\nROMANS vii. 10.--\"The commandment which, was ordained to life, I found to\nbe unto death.\"\n\n\nThe reader of St. Paul's Epistles is struck with the seemingly\ndisparaging manner in which he speaks of the moral law. In one place, he\ntells his reader that \"the law entered that the offence might abound;\" in\nanother, that \"the law worketh wrath;\" in another, that \"sin shall not\nhave dominion\" over the believer because he is \"not under the law;\" in\nanother, that Christians \"are become dead to the law;\" in another, that\n\"they are delivered from the law;\" and in another, that \"the strength\nof sin is the law.\" This phraseology sounds strangely, respecting that\ngreat commandment upon which the whole moral government of God is\nfounded. We are in the habit of supposing that nothing that springs from\nthe Divine law, or is in any way connected with it, can be evil or the\noccasion of evil. If the law of holiness is the strength of sin; if it\nworketh wrath; if good men are to be delivered from it; what then shall\nbe said of the law of sin? Why is it, that St. Paul in a certain class of\nhis representations appears to be inimical to the ten commandments, and\nto warn Christians against them? \"Is the law sin?\" is a question that\nvery naturally arises, while reading some of his statements; and it is a\nquestion which he himself asks, because he is aware that it will be\nlikely to start in the mind of some of his readers. And it is a question\nto which he replies: \"God forbid. Nay I had not known sin, but by the\nlaw.\"\n\nThe difficulty is only seeming, and not real. These apparently\ndisparaging representations of the moral law are perfectly reconcilable\nwith that profound reverence for its authority which St. Paul felt and\nexhibited, and with that solemn and cogent preaching of the law for which\nhe was so distinguished. The text explains and resolves the difficulty.\n\"The commandment which was ordained to _life_, I found to be unto death.\"\nThe moral law, in its own _nature_, and by the Divine _ordination_, is\nsuited to produce holiness and happiness in the soul of any and every\nman. It was ordained to life. So far as the purpose of God, and the\noriginal nature and character of man, are concerned, the ten commandments\nare perfectly adapted to fill the soul with peace and purity. In the\nunfallen creature, they work no wrath, neither are they the strength of\nsin. If everything in man had remained as it was created, there would\nhave been no need of urging him to \"become dead to the law,\" to be\n\"delivered from the law,\" and not be \"under the law.\" Had man kept his\noriginal righteousness, it could never be said of him that \"the strength\nof sin is the law.\" On the contrary, there was such a mutual agreement\nbetween the unfallen nature of man and the holy law of God, that the\nlatter was the very joy and strength of the former. The commandment was\nordained to life, and it was the life and peace of holy Adam.\n\nThe original relation between man's nature and the moral law was\nprecisely like that between material nature and the material laws. There\nhas been no apostasy in the system of matter, and all things remain there\nas they were in the beginning of creation. The law of gravitation, this\nvery instant, rules as peacefully and supremely in every atom of matter,\nas it did on the morning of creation. Should material nature be\n\"delivered\" from the law of gravitation, chaos would come again. No\nportion of this fair and beautiful natural world needs to become \"dead\"\nto the laws of nature. Such phraseology as this is inapplicable to the\nrelation that exists between the world of matter, and the system of\nmaterial laws, because, in this material sphere, there has been no\nrevolution, no rebellion, no great catastrophe analogous to the fall of\nAdam. The law here was ordained to life, and the ordinance still stands.\nAnd it shall stand until, by the will of the Creator, these elements\nshall melt with fervent heat, and these heavens shall pass away with a\ngreat noise; until a new system of nature, and a new legislation for it,\nare introduced.\n\nBut the case is different with man. He is not standing where he was, when\ncreated. He is out of his original relations to the law and government of\nGod, and therefore that which was ordained to him for life, he now finds\nto be unto death. The food which in its own nature is suited to minister\nto the health and strength of the well man, becomes poison and death\nitself to the sick man.\n\nWith this brief notice of the fact, that the law of God was ordained to\nlife, and that therefore this disparaging phraseology of St. Paul does\nnot refer to the intrinsic nature of law, which he expressly informs us\n\"is holy just and good,\" nor to the original relation which man sustained\nto it before he became a sinner, let us now proceed to consider some\nparticulars in which the commandment is found to be unto death, to every\n_sinful_ man.\n\nThe law of God shows itself in the human soul, in the form of a _sense of\nduty_. Every man, as he walks these streets, and engages in the business\nor pleasures of life, hears occasionally the words: \"Thou shalt; them\nshalt not.\" Every man, as he passes along in this earthly pilgrimage,\nfinds himself saying to himself: \"I ought, I ought not.\" This is the\nvoice of law sounding in the conscience; and every man may know, whenever\nhe hears these words, that he is listening to the same authority that cut\nthe ten commandments into the stones of Sinai, and sounded that awful\ntrumpet, and will one day come in power and great glory to judge the\nquick and dead. Law, we say, expresses itself for man, while here upon\nearth, through the sense of duty. \"A sense of duty pursues us ever,\" said\nWebster, in that impressive allusion to the workings of conscience, in\nthe trial of the Salem murderers. This is the accusing and condemning\n_sensation_, in and by which the written statute of God becomes a living\nenergy, and a startling voice in the soul. Cut into the rock of Sinai, it\nis a dead letter; written and printed in our Bibles, it is still a dead\nletter; but wrought in this manner into the fabric of our own\nconstitution, waylaying us in our hours of weakness, and irresolution,\nand secrecy, and speaking to our inward being in tones that are as\nstartling as any that could be addressed to the physical ear,--undergoing\nthis transmutation, and becoming a continual consciousness of duty and\nobligation, the law of God is more than a letter. It is a possessing\nspirit, and according as we obey or disobey, it is a guardian angel, or a\ntormenting fiend. We have disobeyed, and therefore the sense of duty is a\ntormenting sensation; the commandment which was ordained to life, is\nfound to be unto death.\n\nI. In the first place, to go into the analysis, the sense of duty is a\nsorrow and a pain to sinful man, because it _places him under a continual\nrestraint_.\n\nNo creature can be happy, so long as he feels himself under limitations.\nTo be checked, reined in, and thwarted in any way, renders a man\nuneasy and discontented. The universal and instinctive desire for\nfreedom,--freedom from restraint,--is a proof of this. Every creature\nwishes to follow out his inclination, and in proportion as he is hindered\nin so doing, and is compelled to work counter to it, he is restless and\ndissatisfied.\n\nNow the sense of duty exerts just this influence, upon sinful man. It\nopposes his wishes; it thwarts his inclination; it imposes a restraint\nupon his spontaneous desires and appetites. It continually hedges up his\nway, and seeks to stop him in the path of his choice and his pleasure. If\nhis inclination were only in harmony with his duty; if his desires and\naffections were one with the law of God; there would be no restraint from\nthe law. In this case, the sense of duty would be a joy and not a sorrow,\nbecause, in doing his duty, he would be doing what he liked. There are\nonly two ways, whereby contentment can be introduced into the human soul.\nIf the Divine law could be altered so that it should agree with man's\nsinful inclination, he could be happy in sin. The commandment having\nbecome like his own heart, there would, of course, be no conflict between\nthe two, and he might sin on forever and lap himself in Elysium. And\nundoubtedly there are thousands of luxurious and guilty men, who, if they\ncould, like the Eastern Semiramis, would make lust and law alike in their\ndecree;[1] would transmute the law of holiness into a law of sin; would\nput evil for good, and good for evil, bitter for sweet and sweet for\nbitter; in order to be eternally happy in the sin that they love. They\nwould bring duty and inclination into harmony, by a method that would\nannihilate duty, would annihilate the eternal distinction between right\nand wrong, would annihilate God himself. But this method, of course, is\nimpossible. There can be no transmutation of law, though there can be of\na creature's character and inclination. Heaven and earth shall pass away,\nbut the commandment of God can never pass away. The only other mode,\ntherefore, by which duty and inclination can be brought into agreement,\nand the continual sense of restraint which renders man so wretched be\nremoved, is to change the inclination. The instant the desires and\naffections of our hearts are transformed, so that they accord with the\nDivine law, the conflict between our will and our conscience is at an\nend. When I come to love the law of holiness and delight in it, to obey\nit is simply to follow out my inclination. And this, we have seen, is to\nbe happy.\n\nBut such is not the state of things, in the unrenewed soul. Duty and\ninclination are in conflict. Man's desires appetites and tendencies are\nin one direction, and his conscience is in the other. The sense of duty\nholds a whip over him. He yields to his sinful inclination, finds a\nmomentary pleasure in so doing, and then feels the stings of the\nscorpion-lash. We see this operation in a very plain and striking manner,\nif we select an instance where the appetite is very strong, and the voice\nof conscience is very loud. Take, for example, that particular sin which\nmost easily besets an individual. Every man has such a sin, and knows\nwhat it is, Let him call to mind the innumerable instances in which that\nparticular temptation has assailed him, and he will be startled to\ndiscover how many thousands of times the sense of duty has put a\nrestraint upon him. Though not in every single instance, yet in hundreds\nand hundreds of cases, the law of God has uttered the, \"Thou shalt not,\"\nand endeavored to prevent the consummation of that sin. And what a\nwearisome experience is this. A continual forth-putting of an unlawful\ndesire, and an almost incessant check upon it, from a law which is hated\nbut which is feared. For such is the attitude of the natural heart toward\nthe commandment. \"The carnal mind is _enmity_ against the law of God.\"\nThe two are contrary to one another; so that when the heart goes out in\nits inclination, it is immediately hindered and opposed by the law.\nSometimes the collision between them is terrible, and the soul becomes;\nan arena of tumultuous passions. The heart and will are intensely\ndetermined to do wrong, while the conscience is unyielding and\nuncompromising, and utters its denunciations, and thunders its warnings.\nAnd what a dreadful destiny awaits that soul, in whom this conflict and\ncollision between the dictates of conscience, and the desires of the\nheart, is to be eternal! for whom, through all eternity, the holy law of\nGod, which was ordained to life peace and joy, shall be found to be unto\ndeath and woe immeasurable!\n\nII. In the second place, the sense of duty is a pain and sorrow to a\nsinful man, because it _demands a perpetual effort_ from him.\n\nNo creature likes to tug, and to lift. Service must be easy, in order to\nbe happy. If you lay upon the shoulders of a laborer a burden that\nstrains his muscles almost to the point of rupture, you put him in\nphysical pain. His physical structure was not intended to be subjected to\nsuch a stretch. His Creator designed that the burden should be\nproportioned to the power, in such a manner that work should be play. In\nthe garden of Eden, physical labor was physical pleasure, because the\npowers were in healthy action, and the work assigned to them was not a\nburden. Before the fall, man was simply to dress and keep a garden; but\nafter the fall, he was to dig up thorns and thistles, and eat his bread\nin the sweat of his face. This is a _curse_,--the curse of being\ncompelled to toil, and lift, and put the muscle to such a tension that\nit aches. This is not the original and happy condition of the body, in\nwhich man was created. Look at the toiling millions of the human family,\nwho like the poor ant \"for one small grain, labor, and tug, and strive;\"\nsee them bending double, under the heavy weary load which they must carry\nuntil relieved by death; and tell me if this is the physical elysium, the\nearthly paradise, in which unfallen man was originally placed, and for\nwhich he was originally designed. No, the curse of labor, of perpetual\neffort, has fallen upon the body, as the curse of death has fallen upon\nthe soul; and the uneasiness and unrest of the groaning and struggling\nbody is a convincing proof of it. The whole physical nature of man\ngroaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the\nadoption, that is the _redemption of the body_ from this penal necessity\nof perpetual strain and effort.\n\nThe same fact meets us when we pass from the physical to the moral nature\nof man, and becomes much more sad and impressive. By creation, it was\na pleasure and a pastime for man to keep the law of God, to do spiritual\nwork. As created, he was not compelled to summon his energies, and strain\nhis will, and make a convulsive resolution to obey the commands of his\nMaker. Obedience was joy. Holy Adam knew nothing of _effort_ in the path\nof duty. It was a smooth and broad pathway, fringed with flowers, and\nleading into the meadows of asphodel. It did not become the \"straight and\nnarrow\" way, until sin had made obedience a toil, the sense of duty a\nrestraint, and human life a race and a fight. By apostasy, the obligation\nto keep the Divine law perfectly, became repulsive. It was no longer easy\nfor man to do right; and it has never been easy or spontaneous to him\nsince. Hence, the attempt to follow the dictates of conscience always\ncosts an unregenerate man an effort. He is compelled to make a\nresolution; and a resolution is the sign and signal of a difficult and\nunwelcome service. Take your own experience for an illustration. Did you\never, except as you were sweetly inclined and drawn by the renewing grace\nof God, attempt to discharge a duty, without discovering that you were\naverse to it, and that you must gather up your energies for the work, as\nthe leaper strains upon the tendon of Achilles to make the mortal leap.\nAnd if you had not become weary, and given over the effort; if you had\nentered upon that sad but salutary passage in the religious experience\nwhich is delineated in the seventh chapter of Romans; if you had\ncontinued to struggle and strive to do your duty, until you grew faint\nand weak, and powerless, and cried out for a higher and mightier power to\nsuccor you; you would have known, as you do not yet, what a deadly\nopposition there is between the carnal mind and the law of God, and what\na spasmodic effort it costs an unrenewed man even to _attempt_ to\ndischarge the innumerable obligations that rest upon him. Mankind\nwould know more of this species of toil and labor, and of the cleaving\ncurse involved in it, if they were under the same physical necessity in\nregard to it, that they lie under in respect to manual labor. A man\n_must_ dig up the thorns and thistles, he _must_ earn his bread in the\nsweat of his face, or he must die. Physical wants, hunger and thirst,\nset men to work physically, and keep them at it; and thus they well\nunderstand what it is to have a weary body, aching muscles, and a tired\nphysical nature. But they are not under the same species of necessity, in\nrespect to the wants and the work of the soul. A man may neglect these,\nand yet live a long and luxurious life upon the earth. He is not driven\nby the very force of circumstances, to labor with his heart and will, as\nhe is to labor with his hands. And hence he knows little or nothing of a\nweary and heavy-laden soul; nothing of an aching heart and a tired will.\nHe well knows how much strain and effort it costs to cut down forests,\nopen roads, and reduce the wilderness to a fertile field; but he does not\nknow how much toil and effort are involved, in the attempt to convert the\nhuman soul into the garden of the Lord.\n\nNow in this demand for a _perpetual effort_ which is made upon the\nnatural man, by the sense of duty, we see that the law which was ordained\nto life is found to be unto death. The commandment, instead of being a\npleasant friend and companion to the human soul, as it was in the\nbeginning, has become a strict rigorous task-master. It lays out an\nuncongenial work for sinful man to do, and threatens him with punishment\nand woe if he does not do it. And yet the law is not a tyrant. It is\nholy, just, and good. This work which it lays out is righteous work, and\nought to be done. The wicked disinclination and aversion of the sinner\nhave compelled the law to assume this unwelcome and threatening attitude.\nThat which is good was not made death to man by God's agency, and by a\nDivine arrangement, but by man's transgression.[2] Sin produces this\nmisery in the human soul, through an instrument that is innocent, and in\nits own nature benevolent and kind. Apostasy, the rebellion and\ncorruption of the human heart, has converted the law of God into an\nexacting task-master and an avenging magistrate. For the law says to\nevery man what St. Paul says of the magistrate: \"Rulers are not a terror\nto good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou, then, not be afraid of the\npower? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For\nhe is the minister of God to thee for good: _but if thou do that which is\nevil, be afraid_.\" If man were only conformed to the law; if the\ninclination of his heart were only in harmony with his sense of duty; the\nten commandments would not be accompanied with any thunders or\nlightnings, and the discharge of duty would be as easy, spontaneous,\nand as much without effort, as the practice of sin now is.\n\nThus have we considered two particulars in which the Divine law,\noriginally intended to render man happy, and intrinsically adapted to do\nso, now renders him miserable. The commandment which was ordained to\nlife, he now finds to be unto death, because it places him under a\ncontinual restraint, and drives him to a perpetual effort. These two\nparticulars, we need not say, are not all the modes in which sin has\nconverted the moral law from a joy to a sorrow. We have not discussed the\ngreat subject of guilt and penalty. This violated law charges home the\npast disobedience and threatens an everlasting damnation, and thus fills\nthe sinful soul with fears and forebodings. In this way, also, the law\nbecomes a terrible organ and instrument of misery, and is found to be\nunto death. But the limits of this discourse compel us to stop the\ndiscussion here, and to deduce some practical lessons which are\nsuggested by it.\n\n1. In the first place, we are taught by the subject, as thus considered,\nthat _the mere sense of duty is not Christianity_. If this is all that a\nman is possessed of, he is not prepared for the day of judgment, and the\nfuture life. For the sense of duty, alone and by itself, causes misery in\na soul that has not performed its duty. The law worketh wrath, in a\ncreature who has not obeyed the law. The man that doeth these things\nshall indeed live by them; but he who has not done them must die by them.\n\nThere have been, and still are, great mistakes made at this point. Men\nhave supposed that an active conscience, and a lofty susceptibility\ntowards right and wrong, will fit them to appear before God, and have,\ntherefore, rejected Christ the Propitiation. They have substituted ethics\nfor the gospel; natural religion for revealed. \"I know,\" says Immanuel\nKant, \"of but two beautiful things; the starry heavens above my head, and\nthe sense of duty within my heart.\"[3] But, is the sense of duty\n_beautiful_ to apostate man? to a being who is not conformed to it? Does\nthe holy law of God overarch him like the firmament, \"tinged with a blue\nof heavenly dye, and starred with sparkling gold?\" Nay, nay. If there be\nany beauty in the condemning law of God, for man the _transgressor_, it\nis the beauty of the lightnings. There is a splendor in them, but there\nis a terror also. Not until He who is the end of the law for\nrighteousness has clothed me with His panoply, and shielded me from their\nglittering shafts in the clefts of the Rock, do I dare to look at them,\nas they leap from crag to crag, and shine from the east even unto the\nwest.\n\nWe do not deny that the consciousness of responsibility is a lofty one,\nand are by no means insensible to the grand and swelling sentiments\nconcerning the moral law, and human duty, to which this noble thinker\ngives utterance.[4] But we are certain that if the sense of duty had\npressed upon him to the degree that it did upon St. Paul; had the\ncommandment \"come\" to him with the convicting energy that it did to St.\nAugustine, and to Pascal; he too would have discovered that the law which\nwas ordained to life is found to be unto death. So long as man stands at\na distance from the moral law, he can admire its glory and its beauty;\nbut when it comes close to him; when it comes home to him; when it\nbecomes a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; then its\nglory is swallowed up in its terror, and its beauty is lost in its truth.\nThen he who was alive without the law becomes slain by the law. Then this\nethical admiration of the decalogue is exchanged for an evangelical trust\nin Jesus Christ.\n\n2. And this leads us to remark, in the second place, that this subject\nshows _the meaning of Christ's work of Redemption_. The law for an\nalienated and corrupt soul is a burden. It cannot be otherwise; for it\nimposes a perpetual restraint, urges up to an unwelcome duty, and charges\nhome a fearful guilt. Christ is well named the _Redeemer_, because He\nfrees the sinful soul from all this. He delivers it from the penalty, by\nassuming it all upon Himself, and making complete satisfaction to the\nbroken law. He delivers it from the perpetual restraint and the irksome\neffort, by so renewing and changing the heart that it becomes a delight\nto keep the law. We observed, in the first part of the discourse, that if\nman could only bring the inclination of his heart into agreement with his\nsense of duty, he would be happy in obeying, and the consciousness of\nrestraint and of hateful effort would disappear. This is precisely what\nChrist accomplishes by His Spirit. He brings the human heart into harmony\nwith the Divine law, as it was in the beginning, and thus rescues it from\nits bondage and its toil. Obedience becomes a pleasure, and the service\nof God, the highest Christian liberty. Oh, would that by the act of\nfaith, you might experience this liberating effect of the redemption that\nis in Christ Jesus. So long as you are out of Christ, you are under a\nburden that will every day grow heavier, and may prove to be fixed and\nunremovable as the mountains. That is a fearful punishment which the poet\nDante represents as being inflicted upon those who were guilty of pride.\nThe poor wretches are compelled to support enormous masses of stone which\nbend them over to the ground, and, in his own stern phrase, \"crumple up\ntheir knees into their breasts.\" Thus they stand, stooping over, every\nmuscle trembling, the heavy stone weighing them down, and yet they are\nnot permitted to fall, and rest themselves upon the earth.[5] In this\ncrouching posture, they must carry the weary heavy load without relief,\nand with a distress so great that, in the poet's own language,\n\n                                   \"it seemed\n    As he, who showed most patience in his look,\n    Wailing exclaimed: I can endure no more.\"[6]\n\nSuch is the posture of man unredeemed. There is a burden on him, under\nwhich he stoops and crouches. It is a burden compounded of guilt and\ncorruption. It is lifted off by Christ, and by Christ only. The soul\nitself can never expiate its guilt; can never cleanse its pollution. We\nurge you, once more, to the act of faith in the Redeemer of the world. We\nbeseech you, once more, to make \"the redemption that is in Christ Jesus\"\nyour own. The instant you plead the merit of Christ's oblation, in simple\nconfidence in its atoning efficacy, that instant the heavy burden is\nlifted off by an Almighty hand, and your curved, stooping, trembling,\naching form once more stands erect, and you walk abroad in the liberty\nwherewith Christ makes the human creature free.\n\n\n[Footnote 1:\n                               \"She in vice\n    Of luxury was so shameless, that she made\n    Liking to be lawful by promulged decree,\n    To clear the blame she had herself incurr'd.\"\n    DANTE: Inferno, v. 56.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Romans vii. 13, 14.]\n\n[Footnote 3: KANT: Kritik der Praktischen Vernunft (Beschlusz).--De\nStael's rendering, which is so well known, and which I have employed,\nis less guarded than the original.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Compare the fine apostrophe to Duty. PRAKTISCHE VERNUNFT,\np. 214, (Ed. Rosenkranz.)]\n\n[Footnote 5: \"Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow\ndown their back alway.\" Rom. xi. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 6: DANTE: Purgatory x. 126-128.]\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SIN OF OMISSION.\n\nMatthew xix. 20.--\"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I\nkept from my youth up: what lack I yet?\"\n\n\nThe narrative from which the text is taken is familiar to all readers of\nthe Bible. A wealthy young man, of unblemished morals and amiable\ndisposition, came to our Lord, to inquire His opinion respecting his own\ngood estate. He asked what good thing he should do, in order to inherit\neternal life. The fact that he applied to Christ at all, shows that he\nwas not entirely at rest in his own mind. He could truly say that he had\nkept the ten commandments from his youth up, in an outward manner; and\nyet he was ill at ease. He was afraid that when the earthly life was\nover, he might not be able to endure the judgment of God, and might fail\nto enter into that happy paradise of which the Old Testament Scriptures\nso often speak, and of which he had so often read, in them. This young\nman, though a moralist, was not a self-satisfied or a self-conceited\none. For, had he been like the Pharisee a thoroughly blinded and\nself-righteous person, like him he never would have approached Jesus of\nNazareth, to obtain His opinion respecting his own religious character\nand prospects. Like him, he would have scorned to ask our Lord's judgment\nupon any matters of religion. Like the Pharisees, he would have said, \"We\nsee,\"[1] and the state of his heart and his future prospects would have\ngiven him no anxiety. But he was not a conceited and presumptuous\nPharisee. He was a serious and thoughtful person, though not a pious and\nholy one. For, he did not love God more than he loved his worldly\npossessions. He had not obeyed that first and great command, upon which\nhang all the law and the prophets, conformity to which, alone,\nconstitutes righteousness: \"Thou shalt _love_ the Lord thy God with all\nthy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength.\" He\nwas not right at heart, and was therefore unprepared for death and\njudgment. This he seems to have had some dim apprehension of. For why, if\nhe had felt that his external morality was a solid rock for his feet to\nstand upon, why should he have betaken himself to Jesus of Nazareth, to\nask: \"What lack I yet?\"\n\nIt was not what he had done, but what he had left undone, that wakened\nfears and forebodings in this young ruler's mind. The outward observance\nof the ten commandments was right and well in its own way and place; but\nthe failure to obey, from the heart, the first and great command was the\ncondemnation that rested upon him. He probably knew this, in some\nmeasure. He was not confidently certain of eternal life; and therefore he\ncame to the Great Teacher, hoping to elicit from Him an answer that would\nquiet his conscience, and allow him to repose upon his morality while\nhe continued to love this world supremely. The Great Teacher pierced him\nwith an arrow. He said to him, \"If them wilt be perfect, go and sell that\nthou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:\nand come and follow me.\" This direction showed him what he _lacked_.\n\nThis incident leads us to consider the condemnation that rests upon every\nman, for his _failure_ in duty; the guilt that cleaves to him, on\naccount of what he has _not_ done. The Westminster Catechism defines sin\nto be \"any _want of conformity_ unto, or any transgression of, the law of\nGod.\" Not to be conformed, in the heart, to the law and will of God, is\nas truly sin, as positively to steal, or positively to commit murder.\nFailure to come up to the line of rectitude is as punishable, as to step\nover that line. God requires of His creature that he stand squarely\n_upon_ the line of righteousness; if therefore he is off that line,\nbecause he has not come up to it, he is as guilty as when he\ntransgresses, or passes across it, upon the other side. This is the\nreason that the sin of omission is as punishable as the sin of\ncommission. In either case alike, the man is off the line of rectitude.\nHence, in the final day, man will be condemned for what he lacks, for\nwhat he comes short of, in moral character. Want of conformity to the\nDivine law as really conflicts with the Divine law, as an overt\ntransgression does, because it carries man off and away from it. One\nof the Greek words for sin [Greek: (amurtanein)] signifies, to miss the\nmark. When the archer shoots at the target, he as really fails to strike\nit, if his arrow falls short of it, as when he shoots over and beyond it.\nIf he strains upon the bow with such a feeble force, that the arrow drops\nupon the ground long before it comes up to the mark, his shot is as total\na failure, as when he strains upon the bow-string with all his force, but\nowing to an ill-directed aim sends his weapon into the air. One of the\nNew Testament terms for sin contains this figure and illustration, in\nits etymology. Sin is a want of conformity unto, a failure to come clear\nup to, the line and mark prescribed by God, as well a violent and\nforcible breaking over and beyond the line and the mark. The _lack_ of\nholy love, the _lack_ of holy fear, the _lack_ of filial trust and\nconfidence in God,--the negative absence of these and other qualities in\nthe heart is as truly sin and guilt, as is the positive and open\nviolation of a particular commandment, in the act of theft, or lying, or\nSabbath-breaking.\n\nWe propose, then, to direct attention to that form and aspect of human\ndepravity which consists in coming short of the aim and end presented to\nman by his Maker,--that form and aspect of sin which is presented in the\nyoung ruler's inquiry: \"What lack I yet?\"\n\nIt is a comprehensive answer to this question to say, that every natural\nman lacks _sincere and filial love of God_. This was the sin of the\nmoral, but worldly, the amiable, but earthly-minded, young man. Endow\nhim, in your fancy, with all the excellence you please, it still lies\nupon the face of the narrative, that he loved money more than he loved\nthe Lord God Almighty. When the Son of God bade him go and sell his\nproperty, and give it to the poor, and then come and follow Him as a\ndocile disciple like Peter and James and John, he went away sad in his\nmind; for he had great possessions. This was a reasonable requirement,\nthough a very trying one. To command a young man of wealth and standing\nimmediately to strip himself of all his property, to leave the circle in\nwhich he had been born and brought up, and to follow the Son of Man, who\nhad not where to lay His head, up and down through Palestine, through\ngood report and through evil report,--to put such a burden upon such a\nyoung man was to lay him under a very heavy load. Looking at it from a\nmerely human and worldly point of view, it is not strange that the young\nruler declined to take it upon his shoulders; though he felt sad in\ndeclining, because he had the misgiving that in declining he was sealing\nhis doom. But, had he _loved_ the Lord God with all his heart; had he\nbeen _conformed unto_ the first and great command, in his heart and\naffections; had he not _lacked_ a spiritual and filial affection towards\nhis Maker; he would have obeyed.\n\nFor, the circumstances under which this command was given must be borne\nin mind. It issued directly from the lips of the Son of God Himself. It\nwas not an ordinary call of Providence, in the ordinary manner in which\nGod summons man to duty. There is reason to suppose that the young ruler\nknew and felt that Christ had authority to give such directions. We know\nnot what were precisely his views of the person and office of Jesus of\nNazareth; but the fact that he came to Him seeking instruction respecting\nthe everlasting kingdom of God and the endless life of the soul, and the\nyet further fact that he went away in sadness because he did not find it\nin his heart to obey the instructions that he had received, prove that he\nwas at least somewhat impressed with the Divine authority of our Lord.\nFor, had he regarded Him as a mere ordinary mortal, knowing no more than\nany other man concerning the eternal kingdom of God, why should His words\nhave distressed him? Had this young ruler taken the view of our Lord\nwhich was held by the Scribes and Pharisees, like them he would never\nhave sought instruction from Him in a respectful and sincere manner; and,\nlike them, he would have replied to the command to strip himself of all\nhis property, leave the social circles to which he belonged, and follow\nthe despised Nazarene, with the curling lip of scorn. He would not have\ngone away in sorrow, but in contempt. We must assume, therefore, that\nthis young ruler felt that the person with whom he was conversing, and\nwho had given him this extraordinary command, had authority to give it.\nWe do not gather from the narrative that he doubted upon this point. Had\nhe doubted, it would have relieved the sorrow with which his mind was\ndisturbed. He might have justified his refusal to obey, by the\nconsideration that this Jesus of Nazareth had no right to summon him, or\nany other man, to forsake the world and attach himself to His person and\npurposes, if any such consideration had entered his mind. No, the sorrow,\nthe deep, deep sorrow and sadness, with which he went away to the\nbeggarly elements of his houses and his lands, proves that he knew too\nwell that this wonderful Being who was working miracles, and speaking\nwords of wisdom that never man spake, had indeed authority and right to\nsay to him, and to every other man, \"Go and sell that thou hast, and give\nto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow\nme.\"\n\nThough the command was indeed an extraordinary one, it was given in an\nextraordinary manner, by an extraordinary Being. That young ruler was not\nrequired to do any more than you and I would be obligated to do, _in the\nsame circumstances_. It is indeed true, that in the _ordinary_ providence\nof God, you and I are not summoned to sell all our possessions, and\ndistribute them to the poor, and to go up and down the streets of this\ncity, or up and down the high-ways and by-ways of the land, as\nmissionaries of Christ. But if the call were _extra-ordinary_,--if\nthe heavens should open above our heads, and a voice from the skies\nshould command us in a manner not to be doubted or disputed to do this\nparticular thing, we ought immediately to do it. And if the love of God\nwere in our hearts; if we were inwardly \"conformed unto\" the Divine law;\nif there were nothing lacking in our religious character; we should obey\nwith the same directness and alacrity with which Peter and Andrew, and\nJames and John, left their nets and their fishing-boat, their earthly\navocations, their fathers and their fathers' households, and followed\nChrist to the end of their days. In the present circumstances of the\nchurch and the world, Christians must follow the ordinary indications of\nDivine Providence; and though these do unquestionably call upon them to\nmake far greater sacrifices for the cause of Christ than they now make,\nyet they do not call upon them to sell _all_ that they have, and give it\nto the poor. But they ought to be ready and willing to do so, in case God\nby any remarkable and direct expression should indicate that this is\nHis will and pleasure. Should our Lord, for illustration, descend again,\nand in His own person say to His people, as He did to the young ruler:\n\"Sell all that ye have, and give to the poor, and go up and down the\nearth preaching the gospel,\" it would be the duty of every rich Christian\nto strip himself of all his riches, and of every poor Christian to make\nhimself yet poorer, and of the whole Church to adopt the same course that\nwas taken by the early Christians, who \"had all things common, and sold\ntheir possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had\nneed.\" The direct and explicit command of the Lord Jesus Christ to do any\nparticular thing must be obeyed at all hazards, and at all cost. Should\nHe command any one of His disciples to lay down his life, or to undergo\na severe discipline and experience in His service, He must be obeyed.\nThis is what He means when He says, \"If any man come to me, and hate not\nhis father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and\nsisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And\nwhosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my\ndisciple\" (Luke xiv. 26, 27).\n\nThe young ruler was subjected to this test. It was his privilege,--and it\nwas a great privilege,--to see the Son of God face to face; to hear His\nwords of wisdom and authority; to know without any doubt or ambiguity\nwhat particular thing God would have him do. And he refused to do it. He\nwas moral; he was amiable; but he refused _point-blank_ to obey the\ndirect command of God addressed to him from the very lips of God. It was\nwith him as it would be with us, if the sky should open over our heads,\nand the Son of God should descend, and with His own lips should command\nus to perform a particular service, and we should be disobedient to the\nheavenly vision, and should say to the Eternal Son of God: \"We will not.\"\nThink you that there is nothing _lacking_ in such a character as this? Is\nthis religious perfection? Is such a heart as this \"conformed unto\" the\nlaw and will of God?\n\nIf, then, we look into the character of the young ruler, we perceive that\nthere was in it no supreme affection for God. On the contrary, he loved\n_himself_ with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. Even his\nreligious anxiety, which led him to our Lord for His opinion concerning\nhis good estate, proved to be a merely selfish feeling. He desired\nimmortal felicity beyond the tomb,--and the most irreligious man upon\nearth desires this,--but he did not possess such an affection for God as\ninclined, and enabled, him to obey His explicit command to make a\nsacrifice of his worldly possessions for His glory. And this lack of\nsupreme love to God was _sin_. It was a deviation from the line of\neternal rectitude and righteousness, as really and truly as murder,\nadultery, or theft, or any outward breach of any of those commandments\nwhich he affirmed he had kept from his youth up. This coming short of the\nDivine honor and glory was as much contrary to the Divine law, as any\novert transgression of it could be.\n\nFor love is the fulfilling of the law. The whole law, according to\nChrist, is summed up and contained, in these words: \"Thou shall _love_\nthe Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself.\" To be\ndestitute of this heavenly affection is, therefore, to break the law at\nthe very centre and in the very substance of it. Men tell us, like this\nyoung ruler, that they do not murder, lie, or steal,--that they observe\nall the commandments of the second table pertaining to man and their\nrelations to man,--and ask, \"What lack we yet?\" Alexander Pope, in the\nmost brilliant and polished poetry yet composed by human art, sums up the\nwhole of human duty in the observance of the rules and requirements of\ncivil morality, and affirms that \"an honest man is the noblest work of\nGod.\" But is this so? Has religion reached its last term, and ultimate\nlimit, when man respects the rights of property? Is a person who keeps\nhis hands off the goods and chattels of his fellow-creature really\nqualified for the heavenly state, by reason of this fact and virtue of\nhonesty? Has he attained the chief end of man?[2] Even if we could\nsuppose a perfect obedience of all the statutes of the second table,\nwhile those of the first table were disobeyed; even if one could fulfil\nall his obligations to his neighbor, while failing in all his obligations\nto his Maker; even if we should concede a perfect morality, without any\nreligion; would it be true that this morality, or obedience of only one\nof the two tables that cover the whole field of human duty, is sufficient\nto prepare man for the everlasting future, and the immediate presence of\nGod? Who has informed man that the first table of the law is of no\nconsequence; and that if he only loves his neighbor as himself, he need\nnot love his Maker supremely?\n\nNo! Affection in the heart towards the great and glorious God is the sum\nand substance of religion, and whoever is destitute of it is irreligious\nand sinful in the inmost spirit, and in the highest degree. His fault\nrelates to the most excellent and worthy Being in the universe. He comes\nshort of his duty, in reference to that Being who _more than any other\none_ is entitled to his love and his services. We say, and we say\ncorrectly, that if a man fails of fulfilling his obligations towards\nthose who have most claims upon him, he is more culpable than when he\nfails of his duty towards those who have less claims upon him. If a son\ncomes short of his duty towards an affectionate and self-sacrificing\nmother, we say it is a greater fault, than if he comes short of his duty\nto a fellow-citizen. The parent is nearer to him than the citizen, and he\nowes unto her a warmer affection of his heart, and a more active service\nof his life, than he owes to his fellow-citizen. What would be thought of\nthat son who should excuse his neglect, or ill-treatment, of the mother\nthat bore him, upon the ground that he had never cheated a fellow-man and\nhad been scrupulous in all his mercantile transactions! This but feebly\nillustrates the relation which every man sustains to God, and the claim\nwhich God has upon every man. Our first duty and obligation relates to\nour Maker. Our fellow-creatures have claims upon us; the dear partners of\nour blood have claims upon us; our own personality, with its infinite\ndestiny for weal or woe, has claims upon us. But no one of these; not all\nof them combined; have upon us that _first_ claim, which God challenges\nfor Himself. Social life,--the state or the nation to which we\nbelong,--cannot say to us: \"Thou shalt love me with all thy heart, and\nsoul, and mind, and strength.\" The family, which is bone of our bone, and\nflesh of our flesh, cannot say to us: \"Thou shalt love us, with all thy\nsoul, mind, heart, and strength.\" Even our own deathless and priceless\nsoul cannot say to us: \"Thou shalt love me supremely, and before all\nother beings and things.\" But the infinite and adorable God, the Being\nthat made us, and has redeemed us, can of right demand that we love and\nhonor Him first of all, and chiefest of all.\n\nThere are two thoughts suggested by the subject which we have been\nconsidering, to which we now invite candid attention.\n\n1. In the first place, this subject _convicts every man of sin_. Our\nLord, by his searching reply to the young ruler's question, \"What lack I\nyet?\" sent him away very sorrowful; and what man, in any age and country,\ncan apply the same test to himself, without finding the same\nunwillingness to sell all that he has and give to the poor,--the same\nindisposition to obey any and every command of God that crosses his\nnatural inclinations? Every natural man, as he subjects his character to\nsuch a trial as that to which the young ruler was subjected, will\ndiscover as he did that he lacks supreme love of God, and like him, if he\nhas any moral earnestness; if he feels at all the obligation of duty;\nwill go away very sorrowful, because he perceives very plainly the\nconflict between his will and his conscience. How many a person, in the\ngenerations that have already gone to the judgment-seat of Christ, and in\nthe generation that is now on the way thither, has been at times brought\nface to face with the great and first command, \"Thou shall love the Lord\nthy God with all thy heart,\" and by some particular requirement has been\nmade conscious of his utter opposition to that great law. Some special\nduty was urged upon him, by the providence, or the word, or the Spirit\nof God, that could not be performed unless his will were subjected to\nGod's will, and unless his love for himself and the world were\nsubordinated to his love of his Maker. If a young man, perhaps he was\ncommanded to consecrate his talents and education to a life of\nphilanthropy and service of God in the gospel, instead of a life devoted\nto secular and pecuniary aims. God said to him, by His providence, and by\nconscience, \"Go teach my gospel to the perishing; go preach my word, to\nthe dying and the lost.\" But he loved worldly ease pleasure and\nreputation more than he loved God; and he refused, and went away\nsorrowful, because this poor world looked very bright and alluring,\nand the path of self-denial and duty looked very forbidding. Or, if he\nwas a man in middle life, perhaps he was commanded to abate his interest\nin plans for the accumulation of wealth, to contract his enterprises, to\ngive attention to the concerns of his soul and the souls of his children,\nto make his own peace with God, and to consecrate the remainder of his\nlife to Christ and to human welfare; and when this plain and reasonable\ncourse of conduct was dictated to him, he found his whole heart rising up\nagainst the proposition. Our Lord, alluding to the fact that there was\nnothing in common between His spirit, and the spirit of Satan, said to\nHis disciples, \"The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me\"\n(John xiv. 30). So, when the command to love God supremely comes to this\nman of the world, in any particular form, \"it hath nothing in him.\" This\nfirst and great law finds no ready and genial response within his heart,\nbut on the contrary a recoil within his soul as if some great monster had\nstarted up in his pathway. He says, in his mind, to the proposition:\n\"Anything but that;\" and, with the young ruler, he goes away sorrowful,\nbecause he knows that refusal is perdition.\n\nIs there not a wonderful power to _convict_ of sin, in this test? If you\ntry yourself, as the young man did, by the command, \"Thou shalt not\nkill,\" \"Thou shalt not steal,\" \"Thou shalt not commit adultery,\" you may\nsucceed, perhaps, in quieting your conscience, to some extent, and in\npossessing yourself of the opinion of your fitness for the kingdom of\nGod. But ask yourself the question, \"Do I love God supremely, and am I\nready and willing to do any and every particular thing that He shall\ncommand me to do, even if it is plucking out a right eye, or cutting off\na right hand, or selling all my goods to give to the poor?\" try yourself\nby _this_ test, and see if you lack anything in your moral character.\nWhen this thorough and proper touch-stone of character is applied, there\nis not found upon earth a just man that doeth good and sinneth not. Every\nhuman creature, by this test is concluded under sin. Every man is found,\nlacking in what he ought to possess, when the words of the commandment\nare sounded in his ear: \"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy\nheart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength.\" This\nsum and substance of the Divine law, upon which hang all the other laws,\nconvinces every man of sin. For there is no escaping its force. Love of\nGod is a distinct and definite feeling, and every person knows whether he\never experienced it. Every man knows whether it is, or is not, an\naffection of his heart; and he knows that if it be wanting, the\nfoundation of religion is wanting in his soul, and the sum and substance\nof sin is there.\n\n2. And this leads to the second and concluding thought suggested, by the\nsubject, namely, that _except a man be born again, he cannot see the\nkingdom of God._ If there be any truth in the discussion through which we\nhave passed, it is plain and incontrovertible, that to be destitute of\nholy love to God is a departure and deviation from the moral law. It is a\ncoming short of the great requirement that rests upon every accountable\ncreature of God, and this is as truly sin and guilt as any violent and\nopen passing over and beyond the line of rectitude. The sin of omission\nis as deep and damning as the sin of commission. \"Forgive,\"--said the\ndying archbishop Usher,--\"forgive all my sins, especially my sins of\nomission.\"\n\nBut, how is this lack to be supplied? How is this great hiatus in human\ncharacter to be filled up? How shall the fountain of holy and filial\naffection towards God be made to gush up into everlasting life, within\nyour now unloving and hostile heart? There is no answer to this question\nof questions, but in the Person and Work of the Holy Ghost. If God shall\nshed abroad His love in your heart, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto\nyou, you will know the blessedness of a new affection; and will be able\nto say with Peter, \"Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love\nthee.\" You are shut up to this method, and this influence. To generate\nwithin yourself this new spiritual emotion which you have never yet felt,\nis utterly impossible. Yet you must get it, or religion, is impossible,\nand immortal life is impossible. Would that you might feel your straits,\nand your helplessness. Would that you might perceive your total lack of\nsupreme love of God, as the young ruler perceived his; and would that,\nunlike him, instead, of going away from the Son of God, you would go to\nHim, crying, \"Lord create within me a clean heart, and renew within me a\nright spirit.\" Then the problem would be solved, and having peace with\nGod through the blood of Christ, the love of God would be shed abroad in\nyour hearts, through the Holy Ghost given unto you.\n\n\n[Footnote 1: John ix. 41.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Even if we should widen the meaning of the word \"honest,\" in\nthe above-mentioned dictum of Pope, and make it include the Latin\n\"honestum,\" the same objection would lie against dictum. Honor and\nhigh-mindedness towards man is not love and reverence towards God. The\nspirit of chivalry is not the spirit of Christianity.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SINFULNESS OF ORIGINAL SIN.\n\n\nMATTHEW xix. 20.--\"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I\nkept from my youth up: what lack I yet?\"\n\n\nIn the preceding discourse from these words, we discussed that form and\naspect of sin which consists in \"coming short\" of the Divine Law; or, as\nthe Westminster Creed states it, in a \"want of conformity\" unto it. The\ndeep and fundamental sin of the young ruler, we found, lay in what he\nlacked. When our Lord tested him, he proved to be utterly destitute of\nlove to God. His soul was a complete vacuum, in reference to that great\nholy affection which fills the hearts of all the good beings before the\nthrone of God, and without which no creature can stand, or will wish to\nstand, in the Divine presence. The young ruler, though outwardly moral\nand amiable, when searched in the inward parts was found wanting in the\nsum and substance of religion. He did not love God; and he did love\nhimself and his possessions.\n\nWhat man has omitted to do, what man is destitute of,--this is a species\nof sin which he does not sufficiently consider, and which is weighing him\ndown to perdition. The unregenerate person when pressed to repent of his\nsins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, often beats back the kind\neffort, by a question like that which Pilate put to the infuriated Jews:\n\"Why, what evil have I done?\" It is the subject of his actual and overt\ntransgressions that comes first into his thoughts, and, like the young\nruler, he tells his spiritual friend and adviser that he has kept all the\ncommandments from his youth up. The conviction of sin would be more\ncommon if the natural man would consider his _failures_; if he would look\ninto his heart and perceive what he is _destitute_ of, and into his\nconduct and see what he has left _undone_.\n\nIn pursuing this subject, we propose to show, still further, the\nguiltiness of every man, from the fact that he _lacks the original\nrighteousness that once belonged to him_. We shall endeavor to prove\nthat every child of Adam is under condemnation, or, in the words of\nChrist, that \"the wrath of God abides upon him\" (John iii. 36), because\nhe is not possessed of that pure and perfect character which, his Maker\ngave him in the beginning. Man is culpable for not continuing to stand\nupon the high and sinless position, in which he was originally placed.\nWhen the young ruler's question is put to the natural man, and the\ninquiry is made as to his defects and deficiency, it is invariably\ndiscovered that he lacks the image of God in which he was created. And\nfor a rational being to be destitute of the image of God is sin, guilt,\nand condemnation, because every rational being has once received this\nimage.\n\nGod has the right to demand from every one of his responsible creatures,\nall that the creature _might_ be, had he retained possession of the\nendowments which he received at creation, and had he employed them with\nfidelity. The perfect gifts and capacities originally bestowed upon man,\nand not the mutilated and damaged powers subsequently arising from\na destructive act of self-will, furnish the proper rule of measurement,\nin estimating human merit or demerit. The faculties of intelligence and\nwill as _unfallen_, and not as fallen, determine the amount of\nholiness and of service that may be demanded, upon principles of strict\njustice, from every individual. All that man \"comes short\" of this is so\nmuch sin, guilt, and condemnation.\n\nWhen the great Sovereign and Judge looks down from His throne of\nrighteousness and equity, upon any one of the children of men, He\nconsiders what that creature was by _creation_, and compares his\npresent character and conduct with the character with which he was\noriginally endowed, and the conduct that would naturally have flowed\ntherefrom. God made man holy and perfect. God created man in his own\nimage (Gen. i. 26), \"endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true\nholiness, having the law of God written in his heart, and power to fulfil\nit.\" This is the statement of the Creed which we accept as a fair and\naccurate digest of the teachings of Revelation, respecting the primitive\ncharacter of man, and his original righteousness. And all evangelical\ncreeds, however they may differ from each other in their definitions of\noriginal righteousness, and their estimate of the perfections and powers\ngranted to man by creation, do yet agree that he stood higher when he\ncame from the hand of God than he now stands; that man's actual character\nand conduct do not come up to man's created power and capacities. Solemn\nand condemning as it is, it is yet a fact, that inasmuch as every man was\noriginally made in the holy image of God, he ought, this very instant to\nbe perfectly holy. He ought to be standing upon a position that is as\nhigh above his actual position, as the heavens are high above the earth.\nHe ought to be possessed of a moral perfection without spot or wrinkle,\nor any such thing. He ought to be as he was, when created in\nrighteousness and true holiness. He ought to be dwelling high up on those\nlofty and glorious heights where he was stationed by the benevolent\nhand of his Maker, instead of wallowing in those low depths where he has\nfallen by an act of apostasy and rebellion. Nothing short of this\nsatisfies the obligations that are resting upon him. An imperfect\nholiness, such as the Christian is possessed of while here upon earth,\ndoes not come up to the righteous requirement of the moral law; and\ncertainly that kind of moral character which belongs to the natural man\nis still farther off from the sum-total that is demanded.\n\nLet us press this truth, that we may feel its convicting and condemning\nenergy. When our Maker speaks to us upon the subject of His claims and\nour obligations, He tells us that when we came forth from nonentity into\nexistence, from His hand, we were well endowed, and well furnished. He\ntells us distinctly, that He did not create us the depraved and sinful\nbeings that we now are. He tells us that these earthly affections, this\ncarnal mind, this enmity towards the Divine law, this disinclination\ntowards religion and spiritual concerns, this absorbing love of the world\nand this supreme love of self,--that these were not implanted or infused\ninto the soul by our wise, holy, and good Creator. This is not His work.\nThis is no part of the furniture with which mankind were set up for an\neverlasting existence. \"God saw everything that he had made, and behold\nit was very good.\" (Gen. i. 31). We acknowledge the mystery that\noverhangs the union and connection of all men with the first man. We know\nthat this corruption of man's nature, and this sinfulness of his heart,\ndoes indeed, appear at the very beginning of his individual life. He is\nconceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity (Ps. li. 5). This selfish\ndisposition, and this alienation of the heart from God, is _native_\ndepravity, is _inborn_ corruption. This we know both from Revelation,\nand observation. But we also know, from the same infallible Revelation,\nthat though man is born a sinner from the sinful Adam, he was created\na saint in the holy Adam. By origin he is holy, and by descent he is\nsinful; because there has intervened, between his creation and his birth,\nthat \"offence of one man whereby all men were made sinners\" (Rom. v. 18,\n19). Though we cannot unravel the whole mystery of this subject, yet if\nwe accept the revealed fact, and concede that God did originally make man\nin His own image, in righteousness and true holiness, and that man has\nsince unmade himself, by the act of apostasy and rebellion,[1]--if we\ntake this as the true and correct statement of the facts in the case,\nthen we can see how and why it is, that God has claims upon His creature,\nman, that extend to what this creature originally was and was capable of\nbecoming, and not merely to what he now is, and is able to perform.\n\nWhen, therefore, the young ruler's question, \"What lack I?\" is asked and\nanswered upon a broad scale, each and every man must say: \"I lack\noriginal righteousness; I lack the holiness with which God created man; I\nlack that perfection of character which belonged to my rational and\nimmortal nature coming fresh from the hand of God in the person of Adam;\nI lack all that I should now be possessed of, had that nature not\napostatized from its Maker and its Sovereign.\" And when God forms His\nestimate of man's obligations; when He lays judgment to the line, and\nrighteousness to the plummet; He goes back to the _beginning_, He goes\nback to _creation_, and demands from His rational and immortal creature\nthat perfect service which, he was capable of rendering by creation, but\nwhich now he is unable to render because of subsequent apostasy. For,\nGod cannot adjust His demands to the alterations which sinful man makes\nin himself. This would be to annihilate all demands and obligations.\nA sliding-scale would be introduced, by this method, that would reduce\nhuman duty by degrees to a minimum, where it would disappear. For, the\nmore sinful a creature becomes, the less inclined, and consequently the\nless able does he become to obey the law of God. If, now, the Eternal\nJudge shapes His requisitions in accordance with the shifting character\nof His creature, and lowers His law down just as fast as the sinner\nenslaves himself to lust and sin, it is plain that sooner or later all\nmoral obligation will run out; and whenever the creature becomes totally\nenslaved to self and flesh, there will no longer be any claims resting\nupon him. But this cannot be so. \"For the kingdom of heaven,\"--says our\nLord,--\"is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his\nown servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five\ntalents, and to another two, and to another one; and straightway took his\njourney.\" When the settlement was made. Each and every one of the parties\nwas righteously summoned to account for all that had originally been\nintrusted to him, and to show a faithful improvement of the same. If any\none of the servants had been found to have \"lacked\" a part, or the whole,\nof the original treasure, because he had culpably lost it, think you that\nthe fact that it was now gone from his possession, and was past recovery,\nwould have been accepted as a valid excuse from the original obligations\nimposed upon him? In like manner, the fact, that man cannot reinstate\nhimself in his original condition of holiness and blessedness, from which\nhe has fallen by apostasy, will not suffice to justify him before God for\nbeing in a helpless state of sin and misery, or to give him any claims\nupon God for deliverance from it. God can and does _pity_ him, in his\nruined and lost estate, and if the creature will cast himself upon His\n_mercy_, acknowledging the righteousness of the entire claims of God upon\nhim for a sinless perfection and a perfect service, he will meet and find\nmercy. But if he takes the ground that he does not owe such an immense\ndebt as this, and that God has no right to demand from him, in his\napostate and helpless condition, the same perfection of character and\nobedience which holy Adam possessed and rendered, and which the unfallen\nangels possess and render, God will leave him to the workings of\nconscience, and the operations of stark unmitigated law and justice. \"The\nkingdom of heaven,\"--says our Lord,--\"is likened unto a certain king\nwhich would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to\nreckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents; but\nforasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and\nhis wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The\nservant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have\npatience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant\nwas moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt\"\n(Matt, xviii. 28-27). But suppose that that servant had _disputed_ the\nclaim, and had put in an appeal to justice instead of an appeal to mercy,\nupon the ground that inasmuch as he had lost his property and had nothing\nto pay with, therefore he was not obligated to pay, think you that the\nking would have conceded the equity of the claim? On the contrary, he\nwould have entered into no argument in so plain a case, but would have\n\"delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due\nunto him.\" So likewise shall the heavenly Father do also unto you, and to\nevery man, who attempts to diminish the original claim of God to a\nperfect obedience and service, by pleading the fall of man, the\ncorruption of human nature, the strength of sinful inclination and\naffections, and the power of earthly temptation. All these are man's\nwork, and not that of the Creator. This helplessness and bondage grows\ndirectly out of the nature of sin. \"Whosoever committeth sin is the\nslave of sin. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves slaves to\nobey, his slaves ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of\nobedience unto righteousness?\" (John viii. 34; Rom. vi. 16).\n\nIn view of the subject as thus discussed, we invite attention to some\npractical conclusions that flow directly out of it. For, though we have\nbeen speaking upon one of the most difficult themes in Christian\ntheology, namely man's creation in holiness and his loss of holiness by\nthe apostasy in Adam, yet we have at the same time been speaking of one\nof the most humbling, and practically profitable, doctrines in the whole\ncircle of revealed truth. We never shall arrive at any profound sense of\nsin, unless we know and feel our guilt and corruption by nature; and we\nshall never arrive at any profound sense of our guilt and corruption by\nnature, unless we know and understand the original righteousness and\ninnocence in which we were first created. We can measure the great depth\nof the abyss into which, we have fallen, only by looking up to those\ngreat heights in the garden of Eden, upon which our nature once stood\nbeautiful and glorious, the very image and likeness of our Creator.\n\n1. We remark then, in the first place, that it is the duty of every man\n_to humble himself on account of his lack of original righteousness, and\nto repent of it as sin before God._\n\nOne of the articles of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith reads thus:\n_Every_ sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the\nrighteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature,\nbring _guilt_ upon the sinner, whereby he is \"bound over to the wrath of\nGod, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all\nmiseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal.\"[2] The Creed which we accept\nsummons us to repent of original as well as actual sin; and it defines\noriginal sin to be \"the want of original righteousness, together with the\ncorruption of the whole nature.\" The want of original righteousness,\nthen, is a ground of condemnation, and therefore a reason for shame, and\ngodly sorrow. It is something which man once had, ought still to have,\nbut now lacks; and therefore is ill-deserving, for the very same reason\nthat the young ruler's lack of supreme love to God was ill-deserving.\n\nIf we acknowledge the validity of the distinction between a sin of\nomission and a sin of commission, and concede that each alike is\nculpable,[3] we shall find no difficulty with this demand of the Creed.\nWhy should not you and I mourn over the total want of the image of God in\nour hearts, as much as over any other form and species of sin? This\nimage of God consists in holy reverence. When we look into our hearts,\nand find no holy reverence there, ought we not to be filled with shame\nand sorrow? This image of God consists in filial and supreme affection\nfor God, such as the young ruler lacked; and when we look into our\nhearts, and find not a particle of supreme love to God in them, ought\nwe not to repent of this original, this deep-seated, this innate\ndepravity? This image of God, again, which was lost in our apostasy,\nconsisted in humble constant trust in God; and when we search our\nsouls, and perceive that there is nothing of this spirit in them, but on\nthe contrary a strong and overmastering disposition to trust in\nourselves, and to distrust our Maker, ought not this discovery to waken\nin us the very same feeling that Isaiah gave expression to, when he said\nthat the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint; the very same\nfeeling that David gave expression to, when he cried: \"Behold I was\nshapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me?\"\n\nThis is to repent of original sin, and there is no mystery or absurdity\nabout it. It is to turn the eye inward, and see what is _lacking_ in our\nheart and affections; and not merely what of outward and actual\ntransgressions we have committed. Those whose idea of moral excellence is\nlike that of the young ruler; those who suppose holiness to consist\nmerely in the outward observance of the commandments of the second table;\nthose who do not look into the depths of their nature, and contrast the\ntotal corruption that is there, with the perfect and positive\nrighteousness that ought to be there, and that was there by\ncreation,--all such will find the call of the Creed to repent of original\nsin as well as of actual, a perplexity and an impossibility. But every\nman who knows that the substance of piety consists in positive and holy\naffections,--in holy reverence, love and trust,--and who discovers that\nthese are wanting in him by nature, though belonging to him by creation,\nwill mourn in deep contrition and self-abasement over that act of\napostasy by which this great change in human character, this great lack\nwas brought about. 2. In the second place, it follows from the subject\nwe have discussed, that every man must, by some method, _recover his\noriginal righteousness, or be ruined forever_. \"Without holiness no man\nshall see the Lord.\" No rational creature is fit to appear in the\npresence of his Maker, unless he is as pure and perfect as he was\noriginally made. Holy Adam was prepared by his creation in the image\nof God, to hold blessed communion with God, and if he and his posterity\nhad never lost this image, they would forever be in fellowship with their\nCreator and Sovereign. Holiness, and holiness alone, enables the creature\nto stand with angelic tranquillity, in the presence of Him before whom\nthe heavens and the earth flee away. The loss of original righteousness,\ntherefore, was the loss of the wedding garment; it was the loss of the\nonly robe in which the creature could appear at the banquet of God.\nSuppose that one of the posterity of sinful Adam, destitute of holy love\nreverence and faith, lacking positive and perfect righteousness, should\nbe introduced into the seventh heavens, and there behold the infinite\nJehovah. Would he not feel, with a misery and a shame that could not be\nexpressed, that he was naked? that he was utterly unfit to appear in such\na Presence? No wonder that our first parents, after their apostasy, felt\nthat they were unclothed. They were indeed stripped of their character,\nand had not a rag of righteousness to cover them. No wonder that they hid\nthemselves from the intolerable purity and brightness of the Most High.\nPreviously, they had felt no such emotion. They were \"not ashamed,\" we\nare told. And the reason lay in the fact that, before their apostasy,\nthey were precisely as they were made. They were endowed with the image\nof God; and their original righteousness and perfect holiness qualified\nthem to stand before their Maker, and to hold blessed intercourse with\nHim. But the instant they lost their created endowment of holiness, they\nwere conscious that they lacked that indispensable something wherewith to\nappear before God.\n\nAnd precisely so is it, with their posterity. Whatever a man's theory of\nthe future life may be, he must be insane, if he supposes that he is fit\nto appear before God, and to enter the society of heaven, if destitute of\nholiness, and wanting the Divine image. When the spirit of man returns to\nGod who gave it, it must return as good as it came from His hands, or it\nwill be banished from the Divine presence. Every human soul, when it goes\nback to its Maker, must carry with it a righteousness, to say the very\nleast, equal to that in which it was originally created, or it will be\ncast out as an unprofitable and wicked servant. _All_ the talents\nentrusted must be returned; and returned with usury. A modern philosopher\nand poet represents the suicide as justifying the taking of his own life,\nupon the ground that he was not asked in the beginning, whether he wanted\nlife. He had no choice whether he would come into existence or not;\nexistence was forced upon him; and therefore he had a right to put an end\nto it, if he so pleased. To this, the reply is made, that he ought to\nreturn his powers and faculties to the Creator in as _good condition_ as\nhe received them; that he had no right to mutilate and spoil them by\nabuse, and then fling the miserable relics of what was originally a noble\ncreation, in the face of the Creator. In answer to the suicide's\nproposition to give back his spirit to God who gave it, the poet\nrepresents God as saying to him:\n\n  \"Is't returned as 'twas sent? Is't no worse for the wear?\n  Think first what you are! Call to mind what you were!\n  I gave you innocence, I gave you hope,\n  Gave health, and genius, and an ample scope.\n  Return you me guilt, lethargy, despair?\n  Make out the invent'ry; inspect, compare!\n  Then die,--if die you dare!\"[4]\n\nYes, this is true and solemn reasoning. You and I, and every man, must by\nsome method, or other, go back to God as good as we came forth from Him.\nWe must regain our original righteousness; we must be reinstated in our\nprimal relation to God, and our created condition; or there is nothing in\nstore for us, but the blackness of darkness. We certainly cannot stand in\nthe judgment clothed with original sin, instead of original\nrighteousness; full of carnal and selfish affections, instead of pure and\nheavenly affections. This great lack, this great vacuum, in our\ncharacter, must by some method be filled up with solid, and everlasting\nexcellencies, or the same finger that wrote, in letters of fire, upon the\nwall of the Babylonian monarch, the awful legend: \"Thou art weighed in\nthe balance, and art found wanting,\" will write it in letters of fire\nupon our own rational spirit.\n\nThere is but one method, by which man's original righteousness and\ninnocency can be regained; and this method you well know. The blood of\nJesus Christ sprinkled by the Holy Ghost, upon your guilty conscience,\nreinstates you in innocency. When that is applied, there is no more guilt\nupon you, than there was upon Adam the instant he came from the creative\nhand. \"There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.\" Who\nis he that condemneth, when it is Christ that died, and God that\njustifies? And when the same Holy Spirit enters your soul with renewing\npower, and carries forward His work of sanctification to its final\ncompletion, your original righteousness returns again, and you are again\nclothed in that spotless robe with which your nature was invested, on\nthat sixth day of creation, when the Lord God said, \"Let us make man in\nour image, and after our likeness.\" Ponder these truths, and what is yet\nmore imperative, _act_ upon them. Remember that you must, by some method,\nbecome a perfect creature, in order to become a blessed creature in\nheaven. Without holiness you cannot see the Lord. You must recover the\ncharacter which you have lost, and the peace with God in which you were\ncreated. Your spirit, when it returns to God, must by some method be made\nequal to what it was when it came forth from Him. And there is no method,\nbut the method of redemption by the blood and righteousness of Christ.\nMen are running to and fro after other methods. The memories of a golden\nage, a better humanity than they now know of, haunt them; and they sigh\nfor the elysium that is gone. One sends you to letters, and culture, for\nyour redemption. Another tells you that morality, or philosophy, will\nlift you again to those paradisaical heights that tower high above your\nstraining vision. But miserable comforters are they all. No golden age\nreturns; no peace with God or self is the result of such instrumentality.\nThe conscience is still perturbed, the forebodings still overhang the\nsoul like a black cloud, and the heart is as throbbing and restless as\never. With resoluteness, then, turn away from these inadequate, these\nfeeble methods, and adopt the method of God Almighty. Turn away with\ncontempt from human culture, and finite forces, as the instrumentality\nfor the redemption of the soul which is precious, and which ceaseth\nforever if it is unredeemed. Go with confidence, and courage, and a\nrational faith, to God Almighty, to God the Redeemer. He hath power. He\nis no feeble and finite creature. He waves a mighty weapon, and sweats\ngreat drops of blood; travelling in the greatness of His strength. Hear\nHis words of calm confidence and power: \"Come unto me, all ye that labor\nand are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.\"\n\n\n[Footnote 1: The Augustinian doctrine, that the entire human species was\ncreated on the sixth day, existed as a _nature_ (not as individuals) in\nthe first human pair, acted in and fell with them in the first\ntransgression, and us thus fallen and vitiated by an act of self-will has\nbeen procreated or individualized, permits the theologian, to say that\nall men are equally concerned in the origin of sin, and to charge the\nguilt of its origin upon all alike.]\n\n[Footnote 2: CONFESSION OF FAITH. VI. vi.]\n\n[Footnote 3: One of the points of difference between the Protestant and\nthe Papist, when the dogmatic position of each was taken, related to the\nguilt of original sin,--the former affirming, and the latter denying. It\nis also one of the points of difference between Calvinism and\nArminianism.]\n\n[Footnote 4: Coleridge; Works, VII. 295.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE APPROBATION OF GOODNESS IS NOT THE LOVE OF IT.\n\nROMANS ii. 21--23.--\"Thou therefore which, teachest another, teachest\nThou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou\nsteal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou\ncommit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?\nthou that makest thy boast of the law, through, breaking the law\ndishonorest thou God?\"\n\n\nThe apostle Paul is a very keen and cogent reasoner. Like a powerful\nlogician who is confident that he has the truth upon his side, and like a\npureminded man who has no sinister ends to gain, he often takes his stand\nupon the same ground with his opponent, adopts his positions, and\ncondemns him out of his own mouth. In the passage from which the text is\ntaken, he brings the Jew in guilty before God, by employing the Jew's own\nclaims and statements. \"Behold thou art called a Jew, and restest in the\nlaw, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the\nthings that are more excellent, and art confident that thou thyself art a\nguide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor\nof the foolish. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not\nthyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou\nsteal? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law\ndishonorest thou God?\" As if he had said: \"You claim to be one of God's\nchosen people, to possess a true knowledge of Him and His law; why do you\nnot act up to this knowledge? why do you not by your character and\nconduct prove the claim to be a valid one?\"\n\nThe apostle had already employed this same species of argument against\nthe Gentile world. In the first chapter of this Epistle to the Romans,\nSt. Paul demonstrates that the pagan world is justly condemned by God,\nbecause, they too, like the Jew, knew more than they practised. He\naffirms that the Greek and Roman world, like the Jewish people, \"when\nthey knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;\" that as\n\"they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over\nto a reprobate mind;\" and that \"knowing the judgment of God, that they\nwhich commit such things\" as he had just enumerated in that awful\ncatalogue of pagan vices \"are worthy of death, not only do the same, but\nhave pleasure in them that do them.\" The apostle does not for an instant\nconcede, that the Gentile can put in the plea that he was so entirely\nignorant of the character and law of God, that he ought to be excused\nfrom the obligation to love and obey Him. He expressly affirms that where\nthere is absolutely no law, and no knowledge of law, there can be no\ntransgression; and yet affirms that in the day of judgment every mouth\nmust be stopped, and the whole world must plead guilty before God. It is\nindeed true, that he teaches that there is a difference in the degrees of\nknowledge which the Jew and the Gentile respectively possess. The light\nof revealed religion, in respect to man's duty and obligations, is far\nclearer than the light of nature, and increases the responsibilities of\nthose who enjoy it, and the condemnation of those who abuse it; but the\nlight of nature is clear and true as far as it goes, and is enough to\ncondemn every soul outside of the pale of Revelation. For, in the day of\njudgment, there will not be a single human creature who can look his\nJudge in the eye, and say: \"I acted up to every particle of moral light\nthat I enjoyed; I never thought a thought, felt a feeling, or did a deed,\nfor which my conscience reproached me.\"\n\nIt follows from this, that the language of the apostle, in the text, may\nbe applied to every man. The argument that has force for the Jew has\nforce for the Gentile. \"Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not\nthyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou\nsteal?\" You who know the character and claims of God, and are able to\nstate them to another, why do you not revere and obey them in your own\nperson? You who approve of the law of God as pure and perfect, why do you\nnot conform your own heart and conduct to it? You who perceive the\nexcellence of piety in another, you who praise and admire moral\nexcellence in your fellow-man, why do you not seek after it, and toil\nafter it in your own heart? In paying this tribute of approbation to the\ncharacter of a God whom you do not yourself love and serve, and to a\npiety in your neighbor which you do not yourself possess and cultivate,\nare you not writing down your own condemnation? How can you stand before\nthe judgment-seat of God, after having in this manner confessed through\nyour whole life upon earth that God is good, and His law is perfect, and\nyet through that whole life have gone counter to your own confession,\nneither loving that God, nor obeying that law? \"To him that knoweth to do\ngood and doeth it not, to him it is sin.\" (James iv. 17.)\n\nThe text then, together with the chains of reasoning that are connected\nwith it, leads us to consider the fact, that a man may admire and praise\nmoral excellence without possessing or practising it himself; that _the\napprobation of goodness is not the same as the love of it_.[1]\n\nI. This is proved, in the first place, from the _testimony_ of both God\nand man. The assertions and reasonings of the apostle Paul have already\nbeen alluded to, and there are many other passages of Scripture which\nplainly imply that men may admire and approve of a virtue which they do\nnot practise. Indeed, the language of our Lord respecting the Scribes and\nPharisees, may be applied to disobedient mankind at large: \"Whatsoever\nthey bid you observe, that observe and do; but do ye not after their\nworks: for they say, and do not.\" (Matt, xxiii. 3.) The testimony of man\nis equally explicit. That is a very remarkable witness which the poet\nOvid bears to this truth. \"I see the right,\"--he says,--\"and approve of\nit, but I follow and practise the wrong.\" This is the testimony of a\nprofligate man of pleasure, in whom the light of nature had been greatly\ndimmed in the darkness of sin and lust. But he had not succeeded in\nannihilating his conscience, and hence, in a sober hour, he left upon\nrecord his own damnation. He expressly informed the whole cultivated\nclassical world, who were to read his polished numbers, that he that had\ntaught others had not taught himself; that he who had said that a man\nshould not commit adultery had himself committed adultery; that an\neducated Roman who never saw the volume of inspiration, and never heard\nof either Moses or Christ, nevertheless approved of and praised a virtue\nthat he never put in practice. And whoever will turn to the pages of\nHorace, a kindred spirit to Ovid both in respect to a most exquisite\ntaste and a most refined earthliness, will frequently find the same\nconfession breaking out. Nay, open the volumes of Rousseau, and even of\nVoltaire, and read their panegyrics of virtue, their eulogies of\ngoodness. What are these, but testimonies that they, too, saw the right\nand did the wrong. It is true, that the eulogy is merely sentimentalism,\nand is very different from the sincere and noble tribute which a good man\nrenders to goodness. Still, it is valid testimony to the truth that the\nmere approbation of goodness is not the love of it. It is true, that\nthese panegyrics of virtue, when read in the light of Rousseau's\nsensuality and Voltaire's malignity, wear a dead and livid hue, like\nobjects seen in the illumination from phosphorus or rotten wood; yet,\nnevertheless, they are visible and readable, and testify as distinctly as\nif they issued from elevated and noble natures, that the teachings of\nman's conscience are not obeyed by man's heart,--that a man may praise\nand admire virtue, while he loves and practises vice.\n\nII. A second proof that the approbation of goodness is not the love of it\nis found in the fact, that _it is impossible not to approve of goodness_,\nwhile it is possible not to love it. The structure of man's conscience is\nsuch, that he can commend only the right; but the nature of his will is\nsuch, that he may be conformed to the right or the wrong. The conscience\ncan give only one judgment; but the heart and will are capable of two\nkinds of affection, and two courses of action. Every rational creature is\nshut up, by his moral sense, to but one moral conviction. He must approve\nthe right and condemn the wrong. He cannot approve the wrong and condemn\nthe right; any more than he can perceive that two and two make five. The\nhuman conscience is a rigid and stationary faculty. Its voice may be\nstifled or drowned, for a time; but it can never be made to titter two\ndiscordant voices. It is for this reason, that the approbation of\ngoodness is necessary and universal. Wicked men and wicked angels must\ntestify that benevolence is right, and malevolence is wrong; though they\nhate the former, and love the latter.\n\nBut it is not so with the human _will_. This is not a rigid and\nstationary faculty. It is capable of turning this way, and that way. It\nwas created holy, and it turned from holiness to sin, in Adam's\napostasy. And now, under the operation of the Divine Spirit, it turns\nback again, it _converts_ from sin to holiness. The will of man is thus\ncapable of two courses of action, while his conscience is capable of only\none judgment; and hence he can see and approve the right, yet love and\npractise the wrong. If a man's conscience changed along with his heart\nand his will, so that when he began to love and practise sin, he at the\nsame time began to approve of sin, the case would be different. If, when\nAdam apostatised from God, his conscience at that moment began to take\nsides with his sin, instead of condemning it, then, indeed, neither Ovid,\nnor Horace, nor Rousseau, nor any other one of Adam's posterity, would\nhave been able to say: \"I see the right and _approve_ of it, while I\nfollow the wrong.\" But it was not so. After apostasy, the conscience of\nAdam passed the same judgment upon sin that it did before. Adam heard its\nterrible voice speaking in concert with the voice of God, and hid\nhimself. He never succeeded in bringing his conscience over to the side\nof his heart and will, and neither has any one of his posterity. It is\nimpossible to do this. Satan himself, after millenniums of sin, still\nfinds that his conscience, that the accusing and condemning law written\non the heart, is too strong for him to alter, too rigid for him to bend.\nThe utmost that either he, or any creature, can do, is to drown its\nverdict for a time in other sounds, only to hear the thunder-tones again,\nwaxing longer and louder like the trumpet of Sinai.\n\nHaving thus briefly shown that the approbation of goodness is not the\nlove of it, we proceed to draw some conclusions from the truth.\n\n1. In the first place, it follows from this subject, that _the mere\nworkings of conscience are no proof of holiness_. When, after the\ncommission of a wrong act, the soul of a man is filled with\nself-reproach, he must not take it for granted that this is the stirring of\na better nature within him, and is indicative of some remains of original\nrighteousness. This reaction of conscience against his disobedience\nof law is as necessary, and unavoidable, as the action of his eyelids\nunder the blaze of noon, and is worthy neither of praise nor blame, so\nfar as he is concerned. It does not imply any love for holiness, or any\nhatred of sin. Nay, it may exist without any sorrow for sin, as in the\ninstance of the hardened transgressor who writhes under its awful power,\nbut never sheds a penitential tear, or sends up a sigh for mercy. The\ndistinction between the human conscience, and the human heart, is as wide\nas between the human intellect, and the human heart.[2] We never think of\nconfounding the functions and operations of the understanding with\nthose of the heart. We know that an idea or a conception, is totally\ndifferent from an emotion, or a feeling. How often do we remark, that a\nman may have an intellectual perception, without any correspondent\nexperience or feeling in his heart. How continually does the preacher\nurge his hearers to bring their hearts into harmony with their\nunderstandings, so that their intellectual orthodoxy may become their\npractical piety.\n\nNow, all this is true of the distinction between the conscience and the\nheart. The conscience is an _intellectual_ faculty, and by that better\nelder philosophy which comprehended all the powers of the soul under the\ntwo general divisions of understanding and will, would be placed in the\ndomain of the understanding. Conscience is a _light_, as we so often call\nit. It is not a _life_; it is not a source of life. No man's heart and\nwill can be renewed or changed by his conscience. Conscience is simply a\nlaw. Conscience is merely legislative; it is never executive. It simply\nsays to the heart and will: \"Do thus, feel thus,\" but it gives no\nassistance, and imparts no inclination to obey its own command.\n\nThose, therefore, commit a grave error both in philosophy and religion,\nwho confound the conscience with the heart, and suppose that because\nthere is in every man self-reproach and remorse after the commission of\nsin, therefore there is the germ of holiness within him. Holiness is\n_love_, the positive affection of the heart. It is a matter of the heart\nand the will. But this remorse is purely an affair of the conscience, and\nthe heart has no connection with it. Nay, it appears in its most intense\nform, in those beings whose feelings emotions and determinations are in\nutmost opposition to God and goodness. The purest remorse in the universe\nis to be found in those wretched beings whose emotional and active\npowers, whose heart and will, are in the most bitter hostility to truth\nand righteousness. How, then, can the mere reproaches and remorse of\nconscience be regarded as evidence of piety?\n\n2. But, we may go a step further than this, though in the same general\ndirection, and remark, in the second place, that _elevated moral\nsentiments are no certain proof of piety toward God and man_. These, too,\nlike remorse of conscience, spring out of the intellectual structure, and\nmay exist without any affectionate love of God in the heart. There is a\nspecies of nobleness and beauty in moral excellence that makes an\ninvoluntary and unavoidable impression. When the Christian martyr seals\nhis devotion to God and truth with his blood; when a meek and lowly\ndisciple of Christ clothes his life of poverty, and self-denial, with a\ndaily beauty greater than that of the lilies or of Solomon's array; when\nthe poor widow with feeble and trembling steps comes up to the treasury\nof the Lord, and casts in all her living; when any pure and spiritual act\nis performed out of solemn and holy love of God and man, it is impossible\nnot to be filled with sentiments of admiration, and oftentimes, with an\nenthusiastic glow of soul. We see this in the impression which the\ncharacter of Christ universally makes. There are multitudes of men, to\nwhom that wonderful sinless life shines aloft like a star. But they do\nnot _imitate_ it. They admire it, but they do not love it.[3] The\nspiritual purity and perfection of the Son of God rays out a beauty which\nreally attracts their cultivated minds, and their refined taste; but when\nHe says to them: \"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek\nand lowly of heart; take up thy cross daily and follow me;\" they turn\naway sorrowful, like the rich young man in the Gospel,--sorrowful,\nbecause their sentiments like his are elevated, and they have a certain\nawe of eternal things, and know that religion is the highest concern; and\nsorrowful, because their hearts and wills are still earthly, there is no\ndivine love in their souls, self is still their centre, and the\nself-renunciation that is required of them is repulsive. Religion is\nsubmission,--absolute submission to God,--and no amount of mere\nadmiration of religion can be a substitute for it.\n\nAs a thoughtful observer looks abroad over society, he sees a very\ninteresting class who are not far from the kingdom of God; who,\nnevertheless, are not _within_ that kingdom, and who, therefore, if they\nremain where they are, are as certainly lost as if they were at an\ninfinite distance from the kingdom. The homely proverb applies to them:\n\"A miss is as good as a mile.\" They are those who suppose that elevated\nmoral sentiments, an aesthetic pleasure in noble acts or noble truths, a\nglow and enthusiasm of the soul at the sight or the recital of examples\nof Christian virtue and Christian grace, a disgust at the gross and\nrepulsive forms and aspects of sin,--that such merely intellectual and\naesthetic experiences as these are piety itself. All these may be in the\nsoul, without any godly sorrow over sin, any cordial trust in Christ's\nblood, any self-abasement before God, any daily conflict with indwelling\ncorruption, any daily cross-bearing and toil for Christ's dear sake.\nThese latter, constitute the essence of the Christian experience, and\nwithout them that whole range of elevated sentiments and amiable\nqualities, to which we have alluded, only ministers to the condemnation\ninstead of the salvation of the soul. For, the question of the text comes\nhome with solemn force, to all such persons. \"Thou that makest thy boast\nof the law, through breaking of the law, dishonorest thou God?\" If the\nbeauty of virtue, and the grandeur of truth, and the sublimity of\ninvisible things, have been able to make such an impression upon your\nintellects, and your tastes,--upon that part of your constitution which\nis fixed and stationary, which responds organically to such objects, and\nwhich is not the seat of moral character,--then why is there not a\ncorresponding influence and impression made by them upon your heart? If\nyou can admire and praise them, in this style, why do you not _love_\nthem? Why is it, that when the character of Christ bows your intellect,\nit does not bend your will, and sway your affections? Must there not be\nan inveterate opposition and resistance in the _heart_? in the heart\nwhich can refuse submission to such high claims, when so distinctly seen?\nin the heart which can refuse to take the yoke, and learn of a Teacher\nwho has already made such an impression upon the conscience and the\nunderstanding?\n\nThe human heart is, as the prophet affirms, _desperately_ wicked,\n_desperately_ selfish. And perhaps its self-love is never more plainly\nseen, than in such instances as those of that moral and cultivated young\nman mentioned in the Gospel, and that class in modern society who\ncorrespond to him. Nowhere is the difference between the approbation of\ngoodness, and the love of it, more apparent. In these instances the\napprobation is of a high order. It is refined and sublimated by culture\nand taste. It is not stained by the temptations of low life, and gross\nsin. If there ever could be a case, in which the intellectual approbation\nof goodness would develop and pass over into the affectionate and hearty\nlove of it, we should expect to find it here. But it is not found. The\nyoung man goes away,--sorrowful indeed,--but he goes away from the\nRedeemer of the world, _never to return_. The amiable, the educated, the\nrefined, pass on from year to year, and, so far as the evangelic sorrow,\nand the evangelic faith are concerned, like the dying Beaufort depart to\njudgment making no sign. We hear their praises of Christian men, and\nChristian graces, and Christian actions; we enjoy the grand and swelling\nsentiments with which, perhaps, they enrich the common literature of the\nworld; but we never hear them cry: \"God be merciful to me a sinner; O\nLamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant me thy peace;\nThou, O God, art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.\"\n\n3. In the third place, it follows from this subject, that in order to\nholiness in man there must be a change in his _heart and will_. If our\nanalysis is correct, no possible modification of either his conscience,\nor his intellect, would produce holiness. Holiness is an affection of the\nheart, and an inclination of the will. It is the love and practice of\ngoodness, and not the mere approbation and admiration of it. Now, suppose\nthat the conscience should be stimulated to the utmost, and remorse\nshould be produced until it filled the soul to overflowing, would there\nbe in this any of that gentle and blessed affection for God and goodness,\nthat heartfelt love of them, which is the essence of religion? Or,\nsuppose that the intellect merely were impressed by the truth, and very\nclear perceptions of the Christian system and of the character and claims\nof its Author were imparted, would the result be any different? If the\n_heart_ and _will_ were unaffected; if the influences and impressions\nwere limited merely to the conscience and the understanding; would not\nthe seat of the difficulty still be untouched? The command is not: \"Give\nme thy conscience,\" but, \"Give me thy _heart_.\"\n\nHence, that regeneration of which our Lord speaks in his discourse with\nNicodemus is not a radical change of the conscience, but of the _will_\nand _affections_. We have already seen that the conscience cannot undergo\na radical change. It can never be made to approve what it once condemned,\nand to condemn what it once approved. It is the stationary legislative\nfaculty, and is, of necessity, always upon the side of law and of God.\nHence, the apostle Paul sought to commend the truth which he preached, to\nevery man's conscience, knowing that every man's conscience was with him.\nThe conscience, therefore, does not need to be converted, that is to say,\nmade opposite to what it is. It is indeed greatly stimulated, and\nrendered vastly more energetic, by the regeneration of the heart; but\nthis is not radically to alter it. This is to develop and educate the\nconscience; and when holiness is implanted in the will and affections, by\nthe grace of the Spirit, we find that both the conscience and\nunderstanding are wonderfully unfolded and strengthened. But they undergo\nno revolution or conversion. The judgments of the conscience are the same\nafter regeneration, that they were before; only more positive and\nemphatic. The convictions of the understanding continue, as before, to be\nupon the side of truth; only they are more clear and powerful.\n\nThe radical change, therefore, must be wrought in the heart and will.\nThese are capable of revolutions and radical changes. They can apostatise\nin Adam, and be regenerated in Christ. They are not immovably fixed and\nsettled, by their constitutional structure, in only one way. They have\nonce turned from holiness to sin; and now they must be turned back again\nfrom sin to holiness. They must become exactly contrary to what they now\nare. The heart must love what it now hates, and must hate what it now\nloves. The will must incline to what it now disinclines, and disincline\nto what it now inclines. But this is a radical change, a total change, an\nentire revolution. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature,\nin his will and affections, in his inclination and disposition. While,\ntherefore, the conscience must continue to give the same old everlasting\ntestimony as before, and never reverse its judgments in the least, the\naffections and will, the pliant, elastic, plastic part of man, the seat\nof vitality, of emotion, the seat of character, the fountain out of which\nproceed the evil thoughts or the good thoughts,--this executive, emotive,\nresponsible part of man, must be reversed, converted, radically changed\ninto its own contrary.\n\nSo long, therefore, as this change remains to be effected in an\nindividual, there is and can be no _holiness_ within him,--none of that\nholiness without which no man can see the Lord. There may be within him a\nvery active and reproaching conscience; there may be intellectual\northodoxy and correctness in religious convictions; he may cherish\nelevated moral sentiments, and many attractive qualities springing out of\na cultivated taste and a jealous self-respect may appear in his\ncharacter; but unless he _loves_ God and man out of a pure heart\nfervently, and unless his will is entirely and sweetly submissive to the\nDivine will, so that he can say: \"Father not my will, but thine be done,\"\nhe is still a natural man. He is still destitute of the spiritual mind,\nand to him it must be said, as it was to Nicodemus: \"Except a man be born\nagain, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\" The most important side of his\nbeing is still alienated from God. The heart with its affections; the\nwill with its immense energies,--the entire active and emotive portions\nof his nature,--are still earthly, unsubmissive, selfish, and sinful.\n\n4. In the fourth, and last place, we see from this subject _the necessity\nof the operation of the Holy Spirit, in order to holiness in man_.\n\nThere is no part of man's complex being which is less under his own\ncontrol, than his own will, and his own affections. This he discovers, as\nsoon as he attempts to _convert_ them; as soon as he tries to produce a\nradical change in them. Let a man whose will, from centre to\ncircumference, is set upon self and the world, attempt to reverse it, and\nset it with the same strength and energy upon God and heaven, and he will\nknow that his will is too strong for him, and that he cannot overcome\nhimself. Let a man whose affections cleave like those of Dives to earthly\ngood, and find their sole enjoyment in earthly pleasures, attempt to\nchange them into their own contraries, so that they shall cleave to God,\nand take a real delight in heavenly things,--let a carnal man try to\nrevolutionize himself into a spiritual man,--and he will discover that\nthe affections and feelings of his heart are beyond his control. And the\nreason of this is plain. The affections and will of a man show what he\n_loves_, and what he is _inclined_ to. A sinful man cannot, therefore,\novercome his sinful love and inclination, because he cannot _make a\nbeginning_. The instant he attempts to love God, he finds his love of\nhimself in the way. This new love for a new object, which he proposes to\noriginate within himself, is prevented by an old love, which already has\npossession. This new inclination to heaven and Divine things is precluded\nby an old inclination, very strong and very set, to earth and earthly\nthings. There is therefore no _starting-point,_ in this affair of\nself-conversion. He proposes, and he tries, to think a holy thought, but\nthere is a sinful thought already in the mind. He attempts to start out a\nChristian grace,--say the grace of humility,--but the feeling of pride\nalready stands in the way, and, what is more, remains in the way. He\ntries to generate that supreme love of God, of which he has heard so\nmuch, but the supreme love of himself is ahead of him, and occupies the\nwhole ground. In short, he is baffled at every point in this attempt\nradically to change his own heart and will, because at every point this\nheart and will are already committed and determined. Go down as low as he\npleases, he finds sin,--_love_ of sin, and _inclination_ to sin. He never\nreaches a point where these cease; and therefore never reaches a point\nwhere he can begin a new love, and a new inclination. The late Mr.\nWebster was once engaged in a law case, in which he had to meet, upon the\nopposing side, the subtle and strong understanding of Jeremiah Mason. In\none of his conferences with his associate counsel, a difficult point to\nbe managed came to view. After some discussion, without satisfactory\nresults, respecting the best method of handling the difficulty, one of\nhis associates suggested that the point might after all, escape the\nnotice of the opposing counsel. To this, Mr. Webster replied: \"Not so; go\ndown as deep as you will, you will find Jeremiah Mason below you.\"\nPrecisely so in the case of which we are speaking. Go down as low as you\nplease into your heart and will, you will find your _self_ below you; you\nwill find sin not only lying at the door, but lying in the way. If you\nmove in the line of your feelings and affections, you will find earthly\nfeelings and affections ever below you. If you move in the line of your\nchoice and inclination, you will find a sinful choice and inclination\never below you. In chasing your sin through the avenues of your fallen\nand corrupt soul, you are chasing your horizon; in trying to get clear of\nit by your own isolated and independent strength, you are attempting\n(to use the illustration of Goethe, who however employed it for a false\npurpose) to jump off your own shadow.\n\nThis, then, is the reason why the heart and will of a sinful man are so\nentirely beyond his own control. They are _preoccupied_ and\n_predetermined_, and therefore he cannot make a beginning in the\ndirection of holiness. If he attempts to put forth a holy determination,\nhe finds a sinful one already made and making,--and this determination is\n_his_ determination, unforced, responsible and guilty. If he tries to\nstart out a holy emotion, he finds a sinful emotion already beating and\nrankling,--and this emotion is _his_ emotion, unforced, responsible,\nand guilty. There is no physical necessity resting upon him. Nothing but\nthis love of sin and inclination to self stands in the way of a supreme\nlove of God and holiness; but _it stands in the way._ Nothing but the\nsinful affection of the heart prevents a man from exercising a holy\naffection; but _it prevents him effectually_. An evil tree cannot bring\nforth good fruit; a sinful love and inclination cannot convert itself\ninto a holy love and inclination; Satan cannot cast out Satan.\n\nThere is need therefore of a Divine operation to renew, to radically\nchange, the heart and will. If they cannot renew themselves, they must\n_be_ renewed; and there is no power that can reach them but that\nmysterious energy of the Holy Spirit which like the wind bloweth where it\nlisteth, and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh\nor whither it goeth. The condition of the human heart is utterly\nhopeless, were it not for the promised influences of the Holy Ghost to\nregenerate it.\n\nThere are many reflections suggested by this subject; for it has a wide\nreach, and would carry us over vast theological spaces, should we attempt\nto exhaust it. We close with the single remark, that it should be man's\nfirst and great aim _to obtain the new heart_. Let him seek this first of\nall, and all things else will be added unto him. It matters not how\nactive your conscience may be, how clear and accurate your intellectual\nconvictions of truth may be, how elevated may be your moral sentiments\nand your admiration of virtue, if you are destitute of an _evangelical\nexperience_. Of what value will all these be in the day of judgment,\nif you have never sorrowed for sin, never appropriated the atonement for\nsin, and never been inwardly sanctified? Our Lord says to every man:\n\"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or else make the tree\ncorrupt, and its fruit corrupt.\" The _tree itself_ must be made good.\nThe heart and will themselves must be renewed. These are the root and\nstock into which everything else is grafted; and so long as they remain\nin their apostate natural condition, the man is sinful and lost, do\nwhat else he may. It is indeed true, that such a change as this is beyond\nyour power to accomplish. With man it is impossible; but with God\nit is a possibility, and a reality. It has actually been wrought in\nthousands of wills, as stubborn as yours; in millions of hearts, as\nworldly and selfish as yours. We commend you, therefore, to the Person\nand Work of the Holy Spirit. We remind you, that He is able to renovate\nand sweetly incline the obstinate will, to soften and spiritualize the\nflinty heart. He saith: \"I will put a new spirit within you; and I will\ntake the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you an heart of\nflesh; that ye may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do\nthem; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.\" Do not listen\nto these declarations and promises of God supinely; but arise and\nearnestly _plead_ them. Take words upon your lips, and go before God. Say\nunto Him: \"I am the clay, be _thou_ the potter. Behold thou desirest\ntruth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts _thou_ shalt make me\nto know wisdom. I will run in the way of thy commandments, when _thou_\nshalt enlarge my heart. Create within me a clean heart, O God, and renew\nwithin me a right spirit.\" _Seek_ for the new heart. _Ask_ for the new\nheart. _Knock_ for the new heart. \"For, if ye, being evil, know how to\ngive good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly\nFather give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.\" And in giving the Holy\nSpirit, He gives the new heart, with all that is included in it, and all\nthat issues from it.\n\n\n[Footnote 1: See, upon this whole subject of conscience as distinguished\nfrom will, and of amiable instincts as distinguished from holiness, the\nprofound and discriminating views of EDWARDS: The Nature of Virtue,\nChapters v. vi. vii.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Compare, on this distinction, the AUTHOR'S' Discourses and\nEssays, p. 284 sq.]\n\n[Footnote 3: The reader will recall the celebrated panegyric upon Christ\nby Rousseau.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE USE OF FEAR IN RELIGION.\n\nPROVERBS ix. 10.--\"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\" Luke\nxii. 4, 5.--\"And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that\nkill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will\nforewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed\nhath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.\"\n\n\nThe place which the feeling of fear ought to hold in the religious\nexperience of mankind is variously assigned. Theories of religion are\ncontinually passing from one extreme to another, according as they\nmagnify or disparage this emotion. Some theological schools are\ndistinguished for their severity, and others for their sentimentalism.\nSome doctrinal systems fail to grasp the mercy of God with as much vigor\nand energy as they do the Divine justice, while others melt down\neverything that is scriptural and self-consistent, and flow along vaguely\nin an inundation of unprincipled emotions and sensibilities.\n\nThe same fact meets us in the experience of the individual. We either\nfear too much, or too little. Having obtained glimpses of the Divine\ncompassion, how prone is the human heart to become indolent and\nself-indulgent, and to relax something of that earnest effort with which\nit had begun to pluck out the offending right eye. Or, having felt the\npower of the Divine anger; having obtained clear conceptions of the\nintense aversion of God towards moral evil; even the child of God\nsometimes lives under a cloud, because he does not dare to make a right\nuse of this needed and salutary impression, and pass back to that\nconfiding trust in the Divine pity which is his privilege and his\nbirth-right, as one who has been sprinkled with atoning blood.\n\nIt is plain, from the texts of Scripture placed at the head of this\ndiscourse, that the feeling and principle of fear is a legitimate one.[1]\nIn these words of God himself, we are taught that it is the font and\norigin of true wisdom, and are commanded to be inspired by it. The Old\nTestament enjoins it, and the New Testament repeats and emphasizes the\ninjunction; so that the total and united testimony of Revelation forbids\na religion that is destitute of fear.\n\nThe New Dispensation is sometimes set in opposition to the Old, and\nChrist is represented as teaching a less rigid morality than that of\nMoses and the prophets. But the mildness of Christ is not seen,\ncertainly, in the ethical and preceptive part of His religion. The Sermon\non the Mount is a more searching code of morals than the ten\ncommandments. It cuts into human depravity with a more keen and terrible\nedge, than does the law proclaimed amidst thunderings and lightnings.\nLet us see if it does not. The Mosaic statute simply says to man: \"Thou\nshalt not kill.\" But the re-enactment of this statute, by incarnate\nDeity, is accompanied with an explanation and an emphasis that precludes\nall misapprehension and narrow construction of the original law, and\nrenders it a two-edged sword that pierces to the dividing asunder of soul\nand spirit. When the Hebrew legislator says to me: \"Thou shalt not kill,\"\nit is possible for me, with my propensity to look upon the outward\nappearance, and to regard the external act alone, to deem myself innocent\nif I have never actually murdered a fellow-being. But when the Lord of\nglory tells me that \"whosoever is angry with his brother\" is in danger\nof the judgment, my mouth is stopped, and it is impossible for me to\ncherish a conviction of personal innocency, in respect to the sixth\ncommandment. And the same is true of the seventh commandment, and the\neighth commandment, and of all the statutes in the decalogue. He who\nreads, and ponders, the whole Sermon on the Mount, is painfully conscious\nthat Christ has put a meaning into the Mosaic law that renders it a far\nmore effective instrument of mental torture, for the guilty, than it is\nas it stands in the Old Testament. The lightnings are concentrated. The\nbolts are hurled with a yet more sure and deadly aim. The new meaning is\na perfectly legitimate and logical deduction, and in this sense there is\nno difference between the Decalogue and the Sermon,--between the ethics\nof the Old and the ethics of the New Testament. But, so much more\nspiritual is the application, and so much more searching is the reach of\nthe statute, in the last of the two forms of its statement, that it looks\nalmost like a new proclamation of law.\n\nOur Lord did not intend, or pretend, to teach a milder ethics, or an\neasier virtue, on the Mount of Beatitudes, than that which He had taught\nfifteen centuries before on Mt. Sinai. He indeed pronounces a blessing;\nand so did Moses, His servant, before Him. But in each instance, it is a\nblessing upon condition of obedience; which, in both instances, involves\na curse upon disobedience. He who is meek shall be blest; but he who is\nnot shall be condemned. He who is pure in heart, he who is poor in\nspirit, he who mourns over personal unworthiness, he who hungers and\nthirsts after a righteousness of which he is destitute, he who is\nmerciful, he who is the peace-maker, he who endures persecution\npatiently, and he who loves his enemies,--he who is and does all this in\na perfect manner, without a single slip or failure, is indeed blessed\nwith the beatitude of God. But where is the man? What single individual\nin all the ages, and in all the generations since Adam, is entitled to\nthe great blessing of these beatitudes, and not deserving of the dreadful\ncurse which they involve? In applying such a high, ethereal test to human\ncharacter, the Founder of Christianity is the severest and sternest\npreacher of law that has ever trod upon the planet. And he who stops with\nthe merely ethical and preceptive part of Christianity, and rejects its\nforgiveness through atoning blood, and its regeneration by an indwelling\nSpirit,--he who does not unite the fifth chapter of Matthew, with the\nfifth chapter of Romans,--converts the Lamb of God into the Lion of the\ntribe of Judah. He makes use of everything in the Christian system that\ncondemns man to everlasting destruction, but throws away the very and the\nonly part of it that takes off the burden and the curse.\n\nIt is not, then, a correct idea of Christ that we have, when we look upon\nHim as unmixed complacency and unbalanced compassion. In all aspects,\nHe was a complex personage. He was God, and He was man. As God, He could\npronounce a blessing; and He could pronounce a curse, as none but God\ncan, or dare. As man, He was perfect; and into His perfection of feeling\nand of character there entered those elements that fill a good being with\npeace, and an evil one with woe. The Son of God exhibits goodness and\nseverity mingled and blended in perfect and majestic harmony; and that\nman lacks sympathy with Jesus Christ who cannot, while feeling the purest\nand most unselfish indignation towards the sinner's sin, at the same time\ngive up his own individual life, if need be, for the sinner's soul. The\ntwo feelings are not only compatible in the same person, but necessarily\nbelong to a perfect being. Our Lord breathed out a prayer for His\nmurderers so fervent, and so full of pathos, that it will continue to\nsoften and melt the flinty human heart, to the end of time; and He also\npoured out a denunciation of woes upon the Pharisees (Matt, xxiii.),\nevery syllable of which is dense enough with the wrath of God, to sink\nthe deserving objects of it \"plumb down, ten thousand fathoms deep, to\nbottomless perdition in adamantine chains and penal fire.\" The\nutterances, \"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do: Ye\nserpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of\nhell?\" both fell from the same pure and gracious lips.\n\nIt is not surprising, therefore, that our Lord often appeals to the\nprinciple of fear. He makes use of it in all its various forms,--from\nthat servile terror which is produced by the truth when the soul is\njust waked up from its drowze in sin, to that filial fear which Solomon\naffirms to be the beginning of wisdom.\n\nThe subject thus brought before our minds, by the inspired Word, has a\nwide application to all ages and conditions of human life, and all\nvarieties of human character. We desire to direct attention to _the use\nand value of religious fear, in the opening periods of human life_. There\nare some special reasons why youth and early manhood should come\nunder the influence of this powerful feeling. \"I write unto you young\nmen,\"--says St. John,--\"because ye are _strong_.\" We propose to urge upon\nthe young, the duty of cultivating the fear of God's displeasure, because\nthey are able to endure the emotion; because youth is the springtide and\nprime of human life, and capable of carrying burdens, and standing up\nunder influences and impressions, that might crush a feebler period, or a\nmore exhausted stage of the human soul.\n\nI. In the first place, the emotion of fear ought to enter into the\nconsciousness of the young, because _youth is naturally light-hearted_.\n\"Childhood and youth,\" saith the Preacher, \"are vanity.\" The opening\nperiod in human life is the happiest part of it, if we have respect\nmerely to the condition and circumstances in which the human being is\nplaced. He is free from all public cares, and responsibilities. He is\nencircled within the strong arms of parents, and protectors. Even if he\ntries, he cannot feel the pressure of those toils and anxieties which\nwill come of themselves, when he has passed the line that separates youth\nfrom manhood. When he hears his elders discourse of the weight, and the\nweariness, of this working-day world, it is with incredulity and\nsurprise. The world is bright before his eye, and he wonders that it\nshould ever wear any other aspect. He cannot understand how the\nfreshness, and vividness, and pomp of human life, should shift into its\nsoberer and sterner forms; and he will not, until the\n\n  \"Shades of the prison-house begin to close\n     Upon the growing Boy.\"[2]\n\nNow there is something, in this happy attitude of things, to fill the\nheart of youth with gayety and abandonment. His pulses beat strong and\nhigh. The currents of his soul flow like the mountain river. His mood is\nbuoyant and jubilant, and he flings himself with zest, and a sense of\nvitality, into the joy and exhilaration all around him. But such a mood\nas this, unbalanced and untempered by a loftier one, is hazardous to the\neternal interests of the soul. Perpetuate this gay festal abandonment\nof the mind; let the human being, through the whole of his earthly\ncourse, be filled with the sole single consciousness that _this_ is the\nbeautiful world; and will he, can he, live as a stranger and a pilgrim\nin it? Perpetuate that vigorous pulse, and that youthful blood which\n\"runs tickling up and down the veins;\" drive off, and preclude, all that\ncare and responsibility which renders human life so earnest; and will the\nyoung immortal go through it, with that sacred fear and trembling with\nwhich he is commanded to work out his salvation?\n\nYet, this buoyancy and light-heartedness are legitimate feelings. They\nspring up, like wild-flowers, from the very nature of man. God intends\nthat prismatic hues and auroral lights shall flood our morning sky. He\nmust be filled with a sour and rancid misanthropy, who cannot bless the\nCreator that there is one part of man's sinful and cursed life which\nreminds of the time, and the state, when there was no sin and no curse.\nThere is, then, to be no extermination of this legitimate experience.\nBut there is to be its moderation and its regulation.\n\nAnd this we get, by the introduction of the feeling and the principle of\nreligious fear. The youth ought to seek an impression from things unseen\nand eternal. God, and His august attributes; Christ, and His awful\nPassion; heaven, with its sacred scenes and joys; hell, with its just woe\nand wail,--all these should come in, to modify, and temper, the jubilance\nthat without them becomes the riot of the soul. For this, we apprehend,\nis the meaning of our Lord, when He says, \"I will forewarn you whom ye\nshall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into\nhell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.\" It is not so much any particular\nspecies of fear that we are shut up to, by these words, as it is the\ngeneral habit and feeling. The fear of _hell_ is indeed specified,--and\nthis proves that such a fear is rational and proper in its own\nplace,--but our Lord would not have us stop with this single and isolated\nform of the feeling. He recommends a solemn temper. He commands\na being who stands continually upon the brink of eternity and immensity,\nto be aware of his position. He would have the great shadow of eternity\nthrown in upon time. He desires that every man should realize, in those\nvery moments when the sun shines the brightest and the earth looks the\nfairest, that there is another world than this, for which man is not\nnaturally prepared, and for which he must make a preparation. And what He\nenjoins upon mankind at large, He specially enjoins upon youth. They need\nto be sobered more than others. The ordinary cares of this life, which do\nso much towards moderating our desires and aspirations, have not yet\npressed upon the ardent and expectant soul, and therefore it needs, more\nthan others, to fear and to \"stand in awe.\"\n\nII. Secondly, youth is _elastic, and readily recovers from undue\ndepression_. The skeptical Lucretius tells us that the divinities are the\ncreatures of man's fears, and would make us believe that all religion has\nits ground in fright.[3] And do we not hear this theory repeated by the\nmodern unbeliever? What means this appeal to a universal, and an\nunprincipled good-nature in the Supreme Being, and this rejection of\neverything in Christianity that awakens misgivings and forebodings within\nthe sinful human soul? Why this opposition to the doctrine of an\nabsolute, and therefore endless punishment, unless it be that it awakens\na deep and permanent dread in the heart of guilty man?\n\nNow, we are not of that number who believe that thoughtless and lethargic\nman has been greatly damaged by his moral fears. It is the lack of a\nbold and distinct impression from the solemn objects of another world,\nand the utter absence of fear, that is ruining man from generation to\ngeneration. If we were at liberty, and had the power, to induce into the\nthousands and millions of our race who are running the rounds of sin and\nvice, some one particular emotion that should be medicinal and salutary\nto the soul, we would select that very one which our Lord had in view\nwhen He said: \"I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which\nafter he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you,\nFear him.\" If we were at liberty, and had the power, we would\ninstantaneously stop these human souls that are crowding our avenues,\nintent only upon pleasure and earth, and would fill them with the\nemotions of the day of doom; we would deluge them with the fear of God,\nthat they might flee from their sins and the wrath to come.\n\nBut while we say this, we also concede that it is possible for the human\nsoul to be injured, by the undue exercise of this emotion. The bruised\nreed may be broken, and the smoking flax may be quenched; and hence it is\nthe very function and office-work of the Blessed Comforter, to prevent\nthis. God's own children sometimes pass through a horror of great\ndarkness, like that which enveloped Abraham; and the unregenerate mind is\nsometimes so overborne by its fears of death, judgment, and eternity,\nthat the entire experience becomes for a time morbid and confused. Yet,\neven in this instance, the excess is better than the lack. We had better\ntravel this road to heaven, than none at all. It is better to enter into\nthe kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into\nhell-fire. When the saints from the heavenly heights look back upon their\nsevere religious experience here on earth,--upon their footprints stained\nwith their own blood,--they count it a small matter that they entered\ninto eternal joy through much tribulation. And if we could but for one\ninstant take their position, we should form their estimate; we should not\nshrink, if God so pleased, from passing through that martyrdom and\ncrucifixion which has been undergone by so many of those gentle spirits,\nbroken spirits, holy spirits, upon whom the burden of mystery once lay\nlike night, and the far heavier burden of guilt lay like hell.\n\nThere is less danger, however, that the feeling and principle of fear\nshould exert an excessive influence upon youth. There is an elasticity,\nin the earlier periods of human life, that prevents long-continued\ndepression. How rare it is to see a young person smitten with insanity.\nIt is not until the pressure of anxiety has been long continued,\nand the impulsive spring of the soul has been destroyed, that reason is\ndethroned. The morning of our life may, therefore, be subjected to a\nsubduing and repressing influence, with very great safety. It is well to\nbear the yoke in youth. The awe produced by a vivid impression from the\neternal world may enter into the exuberant and gladsome experience of the\nyoung, with very little danger of actually extinguishing it, and\nrendering life permanently gloomy and unhappy.\n\nIII. Thirdly, youth is _exposed to sudden temptations, and surprisals\ninto sin_. The general traits that have been mentioned as belonging to\nthe early period in human life render it peculiarly liable to\nsolicitations. The whole being of a healthful hilarious youth, who feels\nlife in every limb, thrills to temptation, like the lyre to the plectrum.\nBody and soul are alive to all the enticements of the world of sense; and\nin certain critical moments, the entire sensorium, upon the approach of\nbold and powerful excitements, flutters and trembles like an electrometer\nin a thunder-storm. All passionate poetry breathes of youth and spring.\nMost of the catastrophes of the novel and the drama turn upon the violent\naction of some temptation, upon the highly excitable nature of youth. All\nliterature testifies to the hazards that attend the morning of our\nexistence; and daily experience and observation, certainly, corroborate\nthe testimony. It becomes necessary, therefore, to guard the human soul\nagainst these liabilities which attend it in its forming period. And,\nnext to a deep and all-absorbing _love_ of God, there is nothing so well\nadapted to protect against sudden surprisals, as a profound and definite\nfear of God.\n\nIt is a great mistake, to suppose that apostate and corrupt beings like\nourselves can pass through all the temptations of this life unscathed,\nwhile looking _solely_ at the pleasant aspects of the Divine Being, and\nthe winning forms of religious truth. We are not yet seraphs; and we\ncannot always trust to our affectionateness, to carry us through a\nviolent attack of temptation. There are moments in the experience of the\nChristian himself, when he is compelled to call in the _fear_ of God to\nhis aid, and to steady his infirm and wavering virtue by the recollection\nthat \"the wages of sin is death.\" \"By the fear of the Lord, men,\"--and\nChristian men too,--\"depart from evil.\" It will not always be so. When\nthat which is perfect is come, perfect love shall cast out fear; but,\nuntil the disciple of Christ reaches heaven, his religious experience\nmust be a somewhat complex one. A reasonable and well-defined\napprehensiveness must mix with his affectionateness, and deter him from\ntransgression, in those severe passages in his history when love is\nlanguid and fails to draw him. Says an old English divine: \"The fear of\nGod's judgments, or of the threatenings of God, is of much efficiency,\nwhen some present temptation presseth upon us. When conscience and the\naffections are divided; when conscience doth withdraw a man from sin,\nand when his carnal affections draw him forth to it; then should the fear\nof God come in. It is a holy design for a Christian, to counterbalance\nthe pleasures of sin with the terrors of it, and thus to cure the poison\nof the viper by the flesh of the viper. Thus that admirable saint and\nmartyr, Bishop Hooper, when he came to die, one endeavored to dehort him\nfrom death by this: O sir, consider that life is sweet and death is\nbitter; presently he replied, Life to come is more sweet, and death to\ncome is more bitter, and so went to the stake and patiently endured the\nfire. Thus, as a Christian may sometimes outweigh the pleasures of sin by\nthe consideration of the reward of God, so, sometimes, he may quench the\npleasures of sin by the consideration of the terrors of God.\"[4]\n\nBut much more is all this true, in the instance of the hot-blooded youth.\nHow shall he resist temptation, unless he has some _fear_ of God before\nhis eyes? There are moments in the experience of the young, when all\npower of resistance seems to be taken away, by the very witchery and\nblandishment of the object. He has no heart, and no nerve, to resist the\nbeautiful siren. And it is precisely in these emergencies in his\nexperience,--in these moments when this world comes up before him clothed\nin pomp and gold, and the other world is so entirely lost sight of, that\nit throws in upon him none of its solemn shadows and warnings,--it is\nprecisely now, when he is just upon the point of yielding to the mighty\nyet fascinating pressure, that he needs to feel an impression, bold and\nstartling, from the _wrath_ of God. Nothing but the most active remedies\nwill have any effect, in this tumult and uproar of the soul. When the\nwhole system is at fever-heat, and the voice of reason and conscience is\ndrowned in the clamors of sense and earth, nothing can startle and stop\nbut the trumpet of Sinai.[5]\n\nIt is in these severe experiences, which are more common to youth than\nthey are to manhood, that we see the great value of the feeling and\nprinciple of fear. It is, comparatively, in vain for a youth under the\ninfluence of strong temptations,--and particularly when the surprise is\nsprung upon him,--to ply himself with arguments drawn from the beauty of\nvirtue, and the excellence of piety. They are too ethereal for him, in\nhis present mood. Such arguments are for a calmer moment, and a more\ndispassionate hour. His blood is now boiling, and those higher motives\nwhich would influence the saint, and would have some influence with him,\nif he were not in this critical condition, have little power to deter him\nfrom sin. Let him therefore pass by the love of God, and betake himself\nto the _anger_ of God, for safety. Let him say to himself, in this moment\nwhen the forces of Satan, in alliance with the propensities of his own\nnature, are making an onset,--when all other considerations are being\nswept away in the rush and whirlwind of his passions,--let him coolly\nbethink himself and say: \"If I do this abominable thing which the soul of\nGod hates, then God, the Holy and Immaculate, will burn my spotted soul\nin His pure eternal flame.\" For, there is great power, in what the\nScriptures term \"the terror of the Lord,\" to destroy the edge of\ntemptation. \"A wise man feareth and departeth from evil.\" Fear kills out\nthe delight in sin. Damocles cannot eat the banquet with any pleasure, so\nlong as the naked sword hangs by a single hair over his head. No one can\nfind much enjoyment in transgression, if his conscience is feeling the\naction of God's holiness within it. And well would it be, if, in every\ninstance in which a youth is tempted to fling himself into the current of\nsin that is flowing all around him, his moral sense might at that very\nmoment be filled with some of that terror, and some of that horror, which\nbreaks upon the damned in eternity. Well would it be, if the youth in the\nmoment of violent temptation could lay upon the emotion or the lust that\nentices him, a distinct and red coal of hell-fire.[6] No injury would\nresult from the most terrible fear of God, provided it could always fall\nupon the human soul in those moments of strong temptation, and of\nsurprisals, when all other motives fail to influence, and the human will\nis carried headlong by the human passions. There may be a fear and a\nterror that does harm, but man need be under no concern lest he\nexperience too much of this feeling, in his hours of weakness and\nirresolution, in his youthful days of temptation and of dalliance. Let\nhim rather bless God that there is such an intense light, and such a pure\nfire, in the Divine Essence, and seek to have his whole vitiated and\npoisoned nature penetrated and purified by it. Have you never looked with\na steadfast gaze into a grate of burning anthracite, and noticed the\nquiet intense glow of the heat, and how silently the fire throbs and\npulsates through the fuel, burning up everything that is inflammable,\nand, making the whole mass as pure, and clean, and clear, as the element\nof fire itself? Such is the effect of a contact of God's wrath with man's\nsin; of the penetration of man's corruption by the wrath of the Lord.\n\nIV. In the fourth place, the feeling and principle of fear ought to enter\ninto the experience of both youth and manhood, _because it relieves from\nall other fear_. He who stands in awe of God can look down, from a very\ngreat height, upon all other perturbation. When we have seen Him from\nwhose sight the heavens and the earth flee away, there is nothing, in\neither the heavens or the earth, that can produce a single ripple upon\nthe surface of our souls. This is true, even of the unregenerate mind.\nThe fear in this instance is a servile one,--it is not filial and\naffectionate,--and yet it serves to protect the subject of it from all\nother feelings of this species, because it is greater than all others,\nand like Aaron's serpent swallows up the rest. If we must be liable to\nfears,--and the transgressor always must be,--it is best that they should\nall be concentrated in one single overmastering sentiment. Unity is ever\ndesirable; and even if the human soul were to be visited by none but the\nservile forms of fear, it would be better that this should be the \"terror\nof the Lord.\" If, by having the fear of God before our eyes, we could\nthereby be delivered from the fear of man, and all those apprehensions\nwhich are connected with time and sense, would it not be wisdom to choose\nit? We should then know that there was but one quarter from which our\npeace could be assailed. This would lead us to look in that direction;\nand, here upon earth, sinful man cannot look at God long, without coming\nto terms and becoming reconciled with Him.\n\nV. The fifth and last reason which we assign for cherishing the feeling\nand principle of fear applies to youth, to manhood, and to old age,\nalike: _The fear of God conducts to the love of God_. Our Lord does not\ncommand us to fear \"Him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into\nhell,\" because such a feeling as this is intrinsically desirable, and is\nan ultimate end in itself. It is, in itself, undesirable, and it is only\na means to an end. By it, our torpid souls are to be awakened from their\ntorpor; our numbness and hardness of mind, in respect to spiritual\nobjects, is to be removed. We are never for a moment, to suppose that the\nfear of perdition is set before us as a model and permanent form of\nexperience to be toiled after,--a positive virtue and grace intended to\nbe perpetuated through the whole future history of the soul. It is\nemployed only as an antecedent to a higher and a happier emotion; and\nwhen the purpose for which it has been elicited has been answered, it\nthen disappears. \"Perfect love casteth out fear; for fear hath torment,\"\n(1 John iv. 18.[7])\n\nBut, at the same time, we desire to direct attention to the fact that he\nwho has been exercised with this emotion, thoroughly and deeply, is\nconducted by it into the higher and happier form of religious experience.\nReligious fear and anxiety are the prelude to religious peace and joy.\nThese are the discords that prepare for the concords. He, who in the\nPsalmist's phrase has known the power of the Divine anger, is visited\nwith the manifestation of the Divine love. The method in the\nthirty-second psalm is the method of salvation. Day and night God's hand\nis heavy upon the soul; the fear and sense of the Divine displeasure is\npassing through the conscience, like electric currents. The moisture,\nthe sweet dew of health and happiness, is turned into the drought of\nsummer, by this preparatory process. Then the soul acknowledges its sin,\nand its iniquity it hides no longer. It confesses its transgressions unto\nthe Lord,--it justifies and approves of this wrath which it has\nfelt,--and He forgives the iniquity of its sin.\n\nIt is not a vain thing, therefore, to fear the Lord. The emotion of which\nwe have been discoursing, painful though it be, is remunerative. There is\nsomething in the very experience of moral pain which brings us nigh to\nGod. When, for instance, in the hour of temptation, I discern God's calm\nand holy eye bent upon me, and I wither beneath it, and resist the\nenticement because I fear to disobey, I am brought by this chapter in my\nexperience into very close contact with my Maker. There has been a vivid\nand personal transaction between us. I have heard him say: \"If thou doest\nthat wicked thing thou shalt surely die; refrain from doing it, and I\nwill love thee and bless thee.\" This is the secret of the great and swift\nreaction which often takes place, in the sinner's soul. He moodily and\nobstinately fights against the Divine displeasure. In this state of\nthings, there is nothing but fear and torment. Suddenly he gives way,\nacknowledges that it is a good and a just anger, no longer seeks to beat\nit back from his guilty soul, but lets the billows roll over while he\ncasts himself upon the Divine pity. In this act and instant,--which\ninvolves the destiny of the soul, and has millenniums in it,--when he\nrecognizes the justice and trusts in the mercy of God, there is a great\nrebound, and through his tears he sees the depth, the amazing depth, of\nthe Divine compassion. For, paradoxical as it appears, God's love is best\nseen in the light of God's displeasure. When the soul is penetrated by\nthis latter feeling, and is thoroughly sensible of its own\nworthlessness,--when, man knows himself to be vile, and filthy, and fit\nonly to be burned up by the Divine immaculateness,--then, to have the\nGreat God take him to His heart, and pour out upon him the infinite\nwealth of His mercy and compassion, is overwhelming. Here, the Divine\nindignation becomes a foil to set off the Divine love. Read the sixteenth\nchapter of Ezekiel, with an eye \"purged with euphrasy and rue,\" so that\nyou can take in the full spiritual significance of the comparisons and\nmetaphors, and your whole soul will dissolve in tears, as you perceive\nhow the great and pure God, in every instance in which He saves an\napostate spirit, is compelled to bow His heavens and come down into a\nloathsome sty of sensuality.[8] Would it be love of the highest order, in\na seraph, to leave the pure cerulean and trail his white garments through\nthe haunts of vice, to save the wretched inmates from themselves and\ntheir sins? O then what must be the degree of affection and compassion,\nwhen the infinite Deity, whose essence is light itself, and whose nature\nis the intensest contrary of all sin, tabernacles in the flesh upon the\nerrand of redemption! And if the pure spirit of that seraph, while filled\nwith an ineffable loathing, and the hottest moral indignation, at what he\nsaw in character and conduct, were also yearning with an unspeakable\ndesire after the deliverance of the vicious from their vice,--the moral\nwrath, thus setting in still stronger relief the moral compassion that\nholds it in check,---what must be the relation between these two emotions\nin the Divine Being! Is not the one the measure of the other? And does\nnot the soul that fears God in a _submissive_ manner, and acknowledges\nthe righteousness of the Divine displeasure with entire acquiescence and\nno sullen resistance, prepare the way, in this very act, for an equally\nintense manifestation of the Divine mercy and forgiveness?\n\nThe subject treated of in this discourse is one of the most important,\nand frequent, that is presented in the Scriptures. He who examines is\nstartled to find that the phrase, \"fear of the Lord,\" is woven into the\nwhole web of Revelation from Genesis to the Apocalypse. The feeling and\nprinciple under discussion has a Biblical authority, and significance,\nthat cannot be pondered too long, or too closely. It, therefore, has an\ninterest for every human being, whatever may be his character, his\ncondition, or his circumstances. All great religious awakenings begin\nin the dawning of the august and terrible aspects of the Deity upon the\npopular mind, and they reach their height and happy consummation,\nin that love and faith for which the antecedent fear has been the\npreparation. Well and blessed would it be for this irreverent and\nunfearing age, in which the advance in mechanical arts and vice is\ngreater than that in letters and virtue, if the popular mind could be\nmade reflective and solemn by this great emotion.\n\nWe would, therefore, pass by all other feelings, and endeavor to fix the\neye upon the distinct and unambiguous fear of God, and would urge the\nyoung, especially, to seek for it as for hid treasures. The feeling is a\npainful one, because it is a _preparatory_ one. There are other forms of\nreligious emotion which are more attractive, and are necessary in their\nplace; these you may be inclined to cultivate, at the expense of the one\nenjoined by our Lord in the text. But we solemnly and earnestly entreat\nyou, not to suffer your inclination to divert your attention from your\nduty and your true interest. We tell you, with confidence, that next to\nthe affectionate and filial love of God in your heart, there is no\nfeeling or principle in the whole series that will be of such real solid\nservice to you, as that one enjoined by our Lord upon \"His disciples\nfirst of all.\" You will need its awing and repressing influence, in many\na trying scene, in many a severe temptation. Be encouraged to cherish it,\nfrom the fact that it is a very effective, a very powerful emotion. He\nwho has the fear of God before his eyes is actually and often kept from\nfalling. It will prevail with your weak will, and your infirm purpose,\nwhen other motives fail. And if you could but stand where those do, who\nhave passed through that fearful and dangerous passage through which you\nare now making a transit; if you could but know, as they do, of what\nuntold value is everything that deters from the wrong and nerves to the\nright, in the critical moments of human life; you would know, as they do,\nthe utmost importance of cherishing a solemn and serious dread of\ndispleasing God. The more simple and unmixed this feeling is in your own\nexperience, the more influential will it be. Fix it deeply in the mind,\nthat the great God is holy. Recur to this fact continually. If the dread\nwhich it awakens casts a shadow over the gayety of youth, remember that\nyou need this, and will not be injured by it. The doctrine commends\nitself to you, because you are young, and because you are strong. If it\nfills you with misgivings, at times, and threatens to destroy your peace\nof mind, let the emotion operate. Never stifle it, as you value your\nsalvation. You had better be unhappy for a season, than yield to\ntemptation and grievous snares which will drown you in perdition. Even if\nit hangs dark and low over the horizon of your life, and for a time\ninvests this world with sadness, be resolute with yourself, and do not\nattempt to remove the feeling, except in the legitimate way of the\ngospel. Remember that every human soul out of Christ ought to fear, \"for\nhe that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him.\" And\nremember, also, that every one who believes in Christ ought not to fear;\nfor \"there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and he\nthat believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.\"\n\nAnd with this thought would we close. This fear of God may and should end\nin the perfect love that casteth out fear. This powerful and terrible\nemotion, which we have been considering, may and ought to prepare the\nsoul to welcome the sweet and thrilling accents of Christ saying, \"Come\nunto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden,\" with your fears of death,\njudgment, and eternity, \"and I will give you rest.\" Faith in Christ lifts\nthe soul above all fears, and eventually raises it to that serene world,\nthat blessed state of being, where there is no more curse and no more\nforeboding.\n\n  \"Serene will be our days, and bright,\n    And happy will our nature be,\n  When love is an unerring light,\n    And joy its own security.\"\n\n\n[Footnote 1: The moral and healthful influence of fear is implied in the\ncelebrated passage in Aristotle's Poetics, whatever be the\ninterpretation. He speaks of a _cleansing [Greek: (katharsin)]_ of the\nmind, by means of the emotions of pity and terror [Greek: (phobos)]\nawakened by tragic poetry. Most certainly, there is no portion of\nClassical literature so purifying as the Greek Drama. And yet, the\npleasurable emotions are rarely awakened by it. Righteousness and justice\ndetermine the movement of the plot, and conduct to the catastrophe; and\nthe persons and forms that move across the stage are, not Venus and the\nGraces but,\n\n                       \"ghostly Shapes\n  To meet at noontide; Death the Skeleton\n  And Time the Shadow.\"\n\nAll literature that tends upward contains the tragic element; and all\nliterature that tends downward rejects it. \u00c6schylus and Dante assume a\nworld of retribution, and employ for the purposes of poetry the fear it\nawakens. Lucretius and Voltaire would disprove the existence of such a\nsolemn world, and they make no use of such an emotion.]\n\n[Footnote 2: WORDSWORTH: Intimations of Immortality.]\n\n[Footnote 3: LUCRETIUS: De Rerum Natura, III. 989 sq.; V. 1160 sq.]\n\n[Footnote 4: BATES: Discourse of the Fear of God.]\n\n[Footnote 5: \"Praise be to Thee, glory to Thee, O Fountain of mercies: I\nwas becoming more miserable and Thou becoming nearer, Thy right hand was\ncontinually ready to pluck me out of the mire, and to wash me thoroughly,\nand I knew it not; nor did anything call me back from a yet deeper gulf\nof carnal pleasures, but _the fear of death, and of Thy judgment to\ncome_; which, amid all my changes, never departed from my breast.\"\nAUGUSTINE: Confessions, vi. 16., (Shedd's Ed., p. 142.)]\n\n[Footnote 6: \"Si te luxuria tentat, objice tibi memoriam mortis tuae,\npropone tibi futuruin judicium, reduc ad memoriam futura tormenta,\npropone tibi acterna supplicia; et etiaim propone aute oculos tuos\nperpetuosignes infernorum; propone tibi horribiles poenas gehennae.\nMemoria ardoris gehennae extinguat in te ardorem luxuriane.\"\n\nBERNARD: De Modo Bene Vivendi. Sermo lxvii.]\n\n[Footnote 7: BAXTER (Narrative, Part I.) remarks \"that fear, being an\neasier and irresistible passion, doth oft obscure that measure of love\nwhich is indeed within us; and that the soul of a believer groweth up by\ndegrees from the more troublesome and safe operation of fear, to the more\nhigh and excellent operations of complacential love.\"]\n\n[Footnote 8: \"Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy\nnativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy\nmother an Hittite. Thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing\nof thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee\nand saw thee polluted in thy own blood, I said unto thee when, thou wast\nin thy blood, Live; yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood,\nLive.\" Ezekiel xvi. 1, 5, 6.]\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRESENT LIFE AS RELATED TO THE FUTURE.\n\nLUKE xvi. 25.--\"And Abraham said, Son remember that thou in thy lifetime\nreceivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he\nis comforted, and thou art tormented.\"\n\n\nThe parable of Dives and Lazarus is one of the most solemn passages in\nthe whole Revelation of God. In it, our Lord gives very definite\nstatements concerning the condition of those who have departed this life.\nIt makes no practical difference, whether we assume that this was a real\noccurrence, or only an imaginary one,--whether there actually was such a\nparticular rich man as Dives, and such a particular beggar as Lazarus, or\nwhether the narrative was invented by Christ for the purpose of conveying\nthe instruction which he desired to give. The instruction is given in\neither case; and it is the instruction with which we are concerned. Be\nit a parable, or be it a historical fact, our Lord here teaches, in a\nmanner not to be disputed, that a man who seeks enjoyment in this life as\nhis chief end shall suffer torments in the next life, and that he who\nendures suffering in this life for righteousness' sake shall dwell in\nparadise in the next,--that he who finds his life here shall lose his\nlife hereafter, and that he who loses his life here shall find it here\nafter.\n\nFor, we cannot for a moment suppose that such a Being as Jesus Christ\nmerely intended to play upon the fears of men, in putting forth such a\npicture as this. He knew that this narrative would be read by thousands\nand millions of mankind; that they would take it from His lips as\nabsolute truth; that they would inevitably infer from it, that the souls\nof men do verily live after death, that some of them are in bliss and\nsome of them are in pain, and that the difference between them is due to\nthe difference in the lives which they lead here upon earth. Now, if\nChrist was ignorant upon these subjects, He had no right to make such\nrepresentations and to give such impressions, even through a merely\nimaginary narrative. And still less could He be justified in so doing,\nif, being perfectly informed upon the subject, He knew that there is no\nsuch place as that in which He puts the luxurious Dives, and no such\nimpassable gulf as that of which He speaks. It will not do, here, to\nemploy the Jesuitical maxim that the end justifies the means, and say, as\nsome teachers have said, that the wholesome impression that will be made\nupon the vicious and the profligate justifies an appeal to their fears,\nby preaching the doctrine of endless retribution, although there is no\nsuch thing. This was a fatal error in the teachings of Clement of\nAlexandria, and Origen. \"God threatens,\"--said they,--\"and punishes, but\nonly to improve, never for purposes of retribution; and though, in public\ndiscourse, the fruitlessness of repentance after death be asserted, yet\nhereafter not only those who have not heard of Christ will receive\nforgiveness, but the severer punishment which befalls the obstinate\nunbelievers will, it may be hoped, not be the conclusion of their\nhistory.\"[1] But can we suppose that such a sincere, such a truthful and\nsuch a holy Being as the Son of God would stoop to any such artifice as\nthis? that He who called Himself The Truth would employ a lie, either\ndirectly or indirectly, even to promote the spiritual welfare of men? He\nnever spake for mere sensation. The fact, then, that in this solemn\npassage of Scripture we find the Redeemer calmly describing and minutely\npicturing the condition of two persons in the future world, distinctly\nspecifying the points of difference between them, putting words into\ntheir mouths that indicate a sad and hopeless experience in one of them,\nand a glad and happy one in the other of them,--the fact that in this\ntreatment of the awful theme our Lord, beyond all controversy, _conveys\nthe impression_ that these scenes and experiences are real and true,--is\none of the strongest of all proofs that they are so.\n\nThe reader of Dante's Inferno is always struck with the sincerity and\nrealism of that poem. Under the delineation of that luminous, and that\nintense understanding, hell has a topographic reality. We wind along down\nthose nine circles as down a volcanic crater, black, jagged, precipitous,\nand impinging upon the senses at every step. The sighs and shrieks jar\nour own tympanum; and the convulsions of the lost excite tremors in our\nown nerves. No wonder that the children in the streets of Florence, as\nthey saw the sad and earnest man pass along, his face lined with passion\nand his brow scarred with thought, pointed at him and said: \"There goes\nthe man who has been in hell.\" But how infinitely more solemn is the\nimpression that is made by these thirteen short verses, of the sixteenth\nchapter of Luke's gospel, from the lips of such a Being as Jesus Christ!\nWe have here the terse and pregnant teachings of one who, in the phrase\nof the early Creed, not only \"descended into hell,\" but who \"hath the\nkeys of death and hell.\" We have here not the utterances of the most\ntruthful, and the most earnest of all human poets,--a man who, we may\nbelieve, felt deeply the power of the Hebrew Bible, though living in a\ndark age, and a superstitious Church,--we have here the utterances of the\nSon of God, very God, of very God, and we may be certain that He intended\nto convey no impression that will not be made good in the world to come.\nAnd when every eye shall see Him, and all the sinful kindreds of the\nearth shall wail because of Him, there will not be any eye that can look\ninto His and say: \"Thy description, O Son of God, was overdrawn; the\nimpression was greater than the reality.\" On the contrary, every human\nsoul will say in the day of judgment: \"We were forewarned; the statements\nwere exact; even according to Thy fear, so is Thy wrath\" (Ps. xc. 11).\n\nBut what is the lesson which we are to read by this clear and solemn\nlight? What would our merciful Redeemer have us learn from this passage\nwhich He has caused to be recorded for our instruction? Let us listen\nwith a candid and a feeling heart, because it comes to us not from an\nenemy of the human soul, not from a Being who delights to cast it into\nhell, but from a friend of the soul; because it comes to us from One who,\nin His own person and in His own flesh, suffered an anguish superior\nin dignity and equal in cancelling power to the pains of all the hells,\nin order that we, through repentance and faith, might be spared their\ninfliction.\n\nThe lesson is this: _The man who seeks enjoyment in this life, as his\nchief end, must suffer in the next life; and he who endures suffering in\nthis life, for righteousness' sake, shall be happy in the next._ \"Son,\nremember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and\nlikewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art\ntormented.\"\n\nIt is a fixed principle in the Divine administration, that the scales of\njustice shall in the end be made equal. If, therefore, sin enjoys in this\nworld, it must sorrow in the next; and if righteousness sorrows in this\nworld, it must enjoy in the next. The experience shall be reversed, in\norder to bring everything to a right position and adjustment. This is\neverywhere taught in the Bible. \"Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have\nreceived your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall\nhunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Blessed\nare ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep\nnow; for ye shall laugh\" (Luke vi. 21, 24, 25). These are the explicit\ndeclarations of the Founder of Christianity, and they ought not to\nsurprise us, coming as they do from Him who expressly declares that His\nkingdom is not of this world; that in this world His disciples must have\ntribulation, as He had; that through much tribulation they must enter\ninto the kingdom of God; that whosoever doth not take up the cross daily,\nand follow Him, cannot be His disciple.\n\nLet us notice some particulars, in which we see the operation of this\nprinciple. What are the \"good things\" which Dives receives here, for\nwhich he must be \"tormented\" hereafter? and what are the \"evil things\"\nwhich Lazarus receives in this world, for which he will be \"comforted\" in\nthe world to come?\n\nI. In the first place, the worldly man _derives a more intense physical\nenjoyment_ from this world's goods, than does the child of God. He\npossesses more of them, and gives himself up to them with less\nself-restraint. The majority of those who have been most prospered by\nDivine Providence in the accumulation of wealth have been outside of the\nkingdom and the ark of God. Not many rich and not many noble are called.\nIn the past history of mankind, the great possessions and the great\nincomes, as a general rule, have not been in the hands of humble and\npenitent men. In the great centres of trade and commerce,--in Venice,\nAmsterdam, Paris, London,--it is the world and not the people of God who\nhave had the purse, and have borne what is put therein. Satan is described\nin Scripture, as the \"prince of this world\" (John xiv. 30); and his words\naddressed to the Son of God are true: \"All this power and glory is\ndelivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it.\" In the parable\nfrom which we are discoursing, the sinful man was the rich man, and the\nchild of God was the beggar. And how often do we see, in every-day\nlife, a faithful, prayerful, upright, and pure-minded man, toiling in\npoverty, and so far as earthly comforts are concerned enjoying little or\nnothing, while a selfish, pleasure-seeking, and profligate man is\nimmersed in physical comforts and luxuries. The former is receiving evil\nthings, and the latter is receiving good things, in this life.\n\nAgain, how often it happens that a fine physical constitution, health,\nstrength, and vigor, are given to the worldling, and are denied to the\nchild of God. The possession of worldly good is greatly enhanced in\nvalue, by a fine capability of enjoying it. When therefore we see wealth\njoined, with health, and luxury in all the surroundings and appointments\ncombined with taste to appreciate them and a full flow of blood to enjoy\nthem, or access to wide and influential circles, in politics and fashion,\ngiven to one who is well fitted by personal qualities to move in\nthem,--when we see a happy adaptation existing between the man and his\ngood fortune, as we call it,--we see not only the \"good things,\" but the\n\"good things\" in their gayest and most attractive forms and colors. And\nhow often is all this observed in the instance of the natural man; and\nhow often is there little or none of this in the instance of the\nspiritual man. We by no means imply, that it is impossible for the\npossessor of this world's goods to love mercy, to do justly, and to walk\nhumbly; and we are well aware that under the garb of poverty and toil\nthere may beat a murmuring and rebellious heart. But we think that from\ngeneration to generation, in this imperfect and probationary world, it\nwill be found to be a fact, that when _merely_ earthly and physical good\nis allotted in large amounts by the providence of God; that when great\nincomes and ample means of luxury are given; in the majority of instances\nthey are given to the enemies of God, and not to His dear children. So\nthe Psalmist seems to have thought. \"I was envious,\"--he says,--\"when I\nsaw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death;\nbut their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither\nare they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as\na chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with\nfatness; they have more than heart could wish. Behold these are the\n_ungodly_ who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily _I_\nhave cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all\nday long have _I_ been plagued, and chastened every morning\" (Ps.\nlxxiii). And it should be carefully noticed, that the Psalmist, even\nafter further reflection, does not _alter_ his statement respecting the\nrelative positions of the godly and the ungodly in this world. He sees no\nreason to correct his estimate, upon this point. He lets it stand. So far\nas this merely _physical_ existence is concerned, the wicked man has the\nadvantage. It is only when the Psalmist looks _beyond_ this life, that he\nsees the compensation, and the balancing again of the scales of eternal\nright and justice. \"When I thought to know this,\"--when I reflected upon\nthis inequality, and apparent injustice, in the treatment of the friends\nand the enemies of God,--\"it was too painful for me, until I went into\nthe sanctuary of God,\"--until I took my stand in the _eternal_ world, and\nformed my estimate there,--\"_then_ understood I their end. Surely thou\ndidst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down to\ndestruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment! They\nare utterly consumed with terrors.\" Dives passes from his fine linen and\nsumptuous fare, from his excessive physical enjoyment, to everlasting\nperdition.\n\nII. In the second place, the worldly man _derives more enjoyment from\nsin, and suffers less from it_, in this life, than does the child of God.\nThe really renewed man cannot _enjoy_ sin. It is true that he does sin,\nowing to the strength of old habits, and the remainders of his\ncorruption. But he does not really delight in it; and he says with St.\nPaul: \"What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.\" His sin\nis a sorrow, a constant sorrow, to him. He feels its pressure and burden\nall his days, and cries: \"O wretched man, who shall deliver me from the\nbody of this death.\" If he falls into it, he cannot live in it; as a man\nmay fall into water, but it is not his natural element.\n\nAgain, the good man not only takes no real delight in sin, but his\nreflections after transgression are very painful. He has a tender\nconscience. His senses have been trained and disciplined to discern good\nand evil. Hence, the sins that are committed by a child of God are\nmourned over with a very deep sorrow. The longer he lives, the more\nodious does sin become to him, and the more keen and bitter is his\nlamentation over it. Now this, in itself, is an \"evil thing.\" Man was not\nmade for sorrow, and sorrow is not his natural condition. This wearisome\nstruggle with indwelling corruption, these reproaches of an impartial\nconscience, this sense of imperfection and of constant failure in the\nservice of God,--all this renders the believer's life on earth a season\nof trial, and tribulation. The thought of its lasting forever would be\npainful to him; and if he should be told that it is the will of God, that\nhe should continue to be vexed and foiled through all eternity, with the\nmotions of sin in his members, and that his love and obedience would\nforever be imperfect, though he would be thankful that even this was\ngranted him, and that he was not utterly cast off, yet he would wear a\nshaded brow, at the prospect of an imperfect, though a sincere and a\nstruggling eternity.\n\nBut the ungodly are not so. The worldly man loves sin; loves pleasure;\nloves self. And the love is so strong, and accompanied with so much\nenjoyment and zest, that it is _lust_, and is so denominated in the\nBible. And if you would only defend him from the wrath of God; if you\nwould warrant him immunity in doing as he likes; if you could shelter him\nas in an inaccessible castle from the retributions of eternity; with what\na delirium of pleasure would he plunge into the sin that he loves. Tell\nthe avaricious man, that his avarice shall never have any evil\nconsequences here or hereafter; and with what an energy would he apply\nhimself to the acquisition of wealth. Tell the luxurious man, full of\npassion and full of blood, that his pleasures shall never bring down any\nevil upon him, that there is no power in the universe that can hurt him,\nand with what an abandonment would he surrender himself to his carnal\nelysium. Tell the ambitious man, fired with visions of fame and glory,\nthat he may banish all fears of a final account, that he may make himself\nhis own deity, and breathe in the incense of worshipers, without any\nrebuke from Him who says: \"I am God, and my glory I will not give to\nanother,\"-assure the proud and ambitious man that his sin will never find\nhim out, and with what a momentum will he follow out his inclination.\nFor, in each of these instances there is a _hankering_ and a _lust_. The\nsin is _loved and revelled in_, for its own deliciousness. The heart is\nworldly, and therefore finds its pleasure in its forbidden objects and\naims. The instant you propose to check or thwart this inclination; the\ninstant you try to detach this natural heart from its wealth, or its\npleasure, or its earthly fame; you discover how closely it clings, and\nhow strongly it loves, and how intensely it enjoys the forbidden object.\nLike the greedy insect in our gardens, it has fed until every fibre and\ntissue is colored with its food; and to remove it from the leaf is to\ntear and lacerate it.\n\nNow it is for this reason, that the natural man receives \"good things,\"\nor experiences pleasure, in this life, at a point where the spiritual man\nreceives \"evil things,\" or experiences pain. The child of God does not\nrelish and enjoy sin in this style. Sin in the good man is a burden; but\nin the bad man it is a pleasure. It is all the pleasure he has. And when\nyou propose to take it away from him, or when you ask him to give it up\nof his own accord, he looks at you and asks: \"Will you take away the only\nsolace I have? I have no joy in God. I take no enjoyment in divine\nthings. Do you ask me to make myself wholly miserable?\"\n\nAnd not only does the natural man enjoy sin, but, in this life, he is\nmuch less troubled than is the spiritual man with reflections and\nself-reproaches on account of sin. This is another of the \"good things\"\nwhich Dives receives, for which he must be \"tormented;\" and this is\nanother of the \"evil things\" which Lazarus receives, for which he must\nbe \"comforted.\" It cannot be denied, that in this world the child of God\nsuffers more mental sorrow for sin, in a given period of time, than does\nthe insensible man of the world. If we could look into the soul of a\nfaithful disciple of Christ, we should discover that not a day passes, in\nwhich his conscience does not reproach him for sins of thought, word, or\ndeed; in which he does not struggle with some bosom sin, until he is so\nweary that he cries out: \"Oh that I had wings like a dove, so that I\nmight fly away, and be at rest.\" Some of the most exemplary members of\nthe Church go mourning from day to day, because their hearts are still so\nfar from their God and Saviour, and their lives fall so far short of what\nthey desire them to be.[2] Their experience is not a positively wretched\none, like that of an unforgiven sinner when he is feeling the stings of\nconscience. They are forgiven. The expiating blood has soothed the\nulcerated conscience, so that it no longer stings and burns. They have\nhope in God's mercy. Still, they are in grief and sorrow for sin; and\ntheir experience, in so far, is not a perfectly happy one, such as will\nultimately be their portion in a better world. \"If in this life\nonly,\"--says St. Paul,--\"we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most\nmiserable\" (1 Cor. xv. 19).\n\nBut the stupid and impenitent man, a luxurious Dives, knows nothing of\nall this. His days glide by with no twinges of conscience. What does he\nknow of the burden of sin? His conscience is dead asleep; perchance\nseared as with a hot iron. He does wrong without any remorse; he disobeys\nthe express commands of God, without any misgivings or self-reproach. He\nis \"alive, without the law,\"-as St. Paul expresses it. His eyes stand out\nwith fatness; and his heart, in the Psalmist's phrase, \"is as fat as\ngrease\" (Ps. cxix. 70). There is no religious sensibility in him. His sin\nis a pleasure to him without any mixture of sorrow, because unattended by\nany remorse of conscience. He is receiving his \"good things\" in this\nlife. His days pass by without any moral anxiety, and perchance as he\nlooks upon some meek and earnest disciple of Christ who is battling with\nindwelling sin, and who, therefore, sometimes wears a grave countenance,\nhe wonders that any one should walk so soberly, so gloomily, in such a\ncheery, such a happy, such a jolly world as this.\n\nIt is a startling fact, that those men in this world who have most reason\nto be distressed by sin are the least troubled by it; and those who have\nthe least reason to be distressed are the most troubled by it. The child\nof God is the one who sorrows most; and the child of Satan is the one who\nsorrows least. Remember that we are speaking only of _this_ life. The\ntext reads: \"Thou _in thy lifetime_ receivedst thy good things, and\nlikewise Lazarus evil things.\" And it is unquestionably so. The meek and\nlowly disciple of Christ, the one who is most entitled by his character\nand conduct to be untroubled by religious anxiety, is the very one who\nbows his head as a bulrush, and perhaps goes mourning all his days,\nfearing that he is not accepted, and that he shall be a cast-a-way; while\nthe selfish and thoroughly irreligious man, who ought to be stung through\nand through by his own conscience, and feel the full energy of the law\nwhich he is continually breaking,--this man, who of all men ought to be\nanxious and distressed for sin, goes through a whole lifetime, perchance,\nwithout any convictions or any fears.\n\nAnd now we ask, if this state of things ought to last forever? Is it\nright, is it just, that sin should enjoy in this style forever and\nforever, and that holiness should grieve and sorrow in this style\nforevermore? Would you have the Almighty pay a bounty upon\nunrighteousness, and place goodness under eternal pains and penalties?\nOught not this state of things to be reversed? When Dives comes to the\nend of this lifetime; when he has run his round of earthly pleasure,\nfaring sumptuously every day, clothed in purple and fine linen, without a\nthought of his duties and obligations, and without any anxiety and\npenitence for his sins,--when this worldly man has received all his \"good\nthings,\" and is satiated and hardened by them, ought he not then to be\n\"tormented?\" Ought this guilty carnal enjoyment to be perpetuated through\nall eternity, under the government of a righteous and just God? And, on\nthe other hand, ought not the faithful disciple, who, perhaps, has\npossessed little or nothing of this world's goods, who has toiled hard,\nin poverty, in affliction, in temptation, in tribulation, and sometimes\nlike Abraham in the horror of a great darkness, to keep his robes white,\nand his soul unspotted from the world,--when the poor and weary Lazarus\ncomes to the end of this lifetime, ought not his trials and sorrows to\ncease? ought he not then to be \"comforted\" in the bosom of Abraham, in\nthe paradise of God? There is that within us all, which answers, Yea, and\nAmen. Such a balancing of the scales is assented to, and demanded by the\nmoral convictions. Hence, in the parable, Dives himself is represented as\nacquiescing in the eternal judgment. He does not complain of injustice.\nIt is true, that at first he asks for a drop of water,--for some slight\nmitigation of his punishment. This is the instinctive request of any\nsufferer. But when his attention is directed to the right and the wrong\nof the case; when Abraham reminds him of the principles of justice by\nwhich his destiny has been decided; when he tells him that having taken\nhis choice of pleasure in the world which he has left, he cannot now have\npleasure in the world to which he has come; the wretched man makes no\nreply. There is nothing to be said. He feels that the procedure is just.\nHe is then silent upon the subject of his own tortures, and only begs\nthat his five brethren, whose lifetime is not yet run out, to whom there\nis still a space left for repentance, may be warned from his own lips not\nto do as he has done,--not to choose pleasure on earth as their chief\ngood; not to take their \"good things\" in this life. Dives, the man in\nhell, is a witness to the justice of eternal punishment.\n\n1. In view of this subject, as thus discussed, we remark in the first\nplace, that no man can have his \"good things,\" in other words, his chief\npleasure, in _both_ worlds. God and this world are in antagonism. \"For\nall that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,\nand the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. If any\nman love the world, the love of the Father is not in him\" (1 John i. 15,\n16). It is the height of folly, therefore, to suppose that a man can make\nearthly enjoyment his chief end while he is upon earth, and then pass to\nheaven when he dies. Just so far as he holds on upon the \"good things\" of\nthis life, he relaxes his grasp upon the \"good things\" of the next. No\nman is capacious enough to hold both worlds in his embrace. He cannot\nserve God and Mammon. Look at this as a _matter of fact_. Do not take it\nas a theory of the preacher. It is as plain and certain that you cannot\nlay up your treasure in heaven while you are laying it up upon earth,\nas it is that your material bodies cannot occupy two portions of space at\none and the same time. Dismiss, therefore, all expectations of being able\nto accomplish an impossibility. Put not your mind to sleep with the\nopiate, that in some inexplicable manner you will be able to live the\nlife of a worldly man upon earth, and then the life of a spiritual man in\nheaven. There is no alchemy that can amalgamate substances that refuse to\nmix. No man has ever yet succeeded, no man ever will succeed, in securing\nboth the pleasures of sin and the pleasures of holiness,--in living the\nlife of Dives, and then going to the bosom of Abraham.\n\n2. And this leads to the second remark, that every man must _make his\nchoice_ whether he will have his \"good things\" now, or hereafter. Every\nman is making his choice. Every man has already made it. The heart is now\nset either upon God, or upon the world. Search through the globe, and\nyou cannot find a creature with double affections; a creature with _two_\nchief ends of living; a creature whose treasure is both upon earth and in\nheaven. All mankind are single-minded. They either mind earthly things,\nor heavenly things. They are inspired with one predominant purpose, which\nrules them, determines their character, and decides their destiny. And\nin all who have not been renewed by Divine grace, the purpose is a wrong\none, a false and fatal one. It is the choice and the purpose of Dives,\nand not the choice and purpose of Lazarus.\n\n3. Hence, we remark in the third place, that it is the duty and the\nwisdom of every man to let this world go, and seek his \"good things\"\n_hereafter_. Our Lord commands every man to sit down, like the steward in\nthe parable, and make an estimate. He enjoins it upon every man to reckon\nup the advantages upon each side, and see for himself which is superior.\nHe asks every man what it will profit him, \"if he shall gain the whole\nworld and lose his own soul; or, what he shall give in exchange for his\nsoul.\" We urge you to make this estimate,--to compare the \"good things\"\nwhich Dives enjoyed, with the \"torments\" that followed them; and the\n\"evil things\" which Lazarus suffered, with the \"comfort\" that succeeded\nthem. There can be no doubt upon which side the balance will fall. And we\nurge you to take the \"evil things\" _now_, and the \"good things\"\n_hereafter_. We entreat you to copy the example of Moses at the court of\nthe Pharaohs, and in the midst of all regal luxury, who \"chose rather to\nsuffer affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin\nfor a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the\ntreasures in Egypt: _for he had respect unto the recompense of reward_.\"\nTake the _narrow_ way. What though it be strait and narrow; you are not\nto walk in it forever. A few short years of fidelity will end the\ntoilsome pilgrimage; and then you will come put into a \"wealthy place.\"\nWe might tell you of the _joys_ of the Christian life that are mingled\nwith its trials and sorrows even here upon earth. For, this race to which\nwe invite you, and this fight to which we call you have their own\npeculiar, solemn, substantial joy. And even their sorrow is tinged with\nglory. In a higher, truer sense than Protesilaus in the poem says it of\nthe pagan elysium, we may say even of the Christian race, and the\nChristian fight,\n\n  \"Calm pleasures there abide--_majestic pains_.\"[3]\n\nBut we do not care, at this point, to influence you by a consideration of\nthe amount of enjoyment, in _this_ life, which you will derive from a\nclose and humble walk with God. We prefer to put the case in its baldest\nform,--in the aspect in which we find it in our text. We will say nothing\nat all about the happiness of a Christian life, here in time. We will\ntalk only of its tribulations. We will only say, as in the parable, that\nthere are \"evil things\" to be endured here upon earth, in return for\nwhich we shall have \"good things\" in another life. There is to be a\nmoderate and sober use of this world's goods; there is to be a searching\nsense of sin, and an humble confession of it before God; there is to\nbe a cross-bearing every day, and a struggle with indwelling corruption.\nThese will cost effort, watchfulness, and earnest prayer for Divine\nassistance. We do not invite you into the kingdom of God, without telling\nyou frankly and plainly beforehand what must be done, and what must be\nsuffered. But having told you this, we then tell you with the utmost\nconfidence and assurance, that you will be infinitely repaid for your\nchoice, if you take your \"evil things\" in this life, and choose your\n\"good things\" in a future. We know, and are certain, that this light\naffliction which endures but for a moment, in comparison with the\ninfinite duration beyond the tomb, will work out a far more exceeding and\neternal weight of glory. We entreat you to look no longer at the things\nwhich are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things that\nare seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.\n\nLearn a parable from a wounded soldier. His limb must be amputated, for\nmortification and gangrene have begun their work. He is told that the\nsurgical operation, which will last a half hour, will yield him twenty or\nforty years of healthy and active life. The endurance of an \"evil thing,\"\nfor a few moments, will result in the possession of a \"good thing,\" for\nmany long days and years. He holds out the limb, and submits to the\nknife. He accepts the inevitable conditions under which he finds himself.\nHe is resolute and stern, in order to secure a great good, in the future.\n\nIt is the practice of this same _principle_, though not in the use of the\nsame kind of power, that we would urge upon you. _Look up to God for\ngrace and help_, and deliberately forego a present advantage, for the\nsake of something infinitely more valuable hereafter. Do not, for the\nsake of the temporary enjoyment of Dives, lose the eternal happiness of\nLazarus. Rather, take the place, and accept the \"evil things,\" of the\nbeggar. _Look up to God for grace and strength_ to do it, and then live\na life of contrition for sin, and faith in Christ's blood. Deny yourself,\nand take up the cross daily. Expect your happiness _hereafter_. Lay up\nyour treasure _above_. Then, in the deciding day, it will be said of you,\nas it will be of all the true children of God: \"These are they which came\nout of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them\nwhite in the blood of the Lamb.\"\n\n\n[Footnote 1: SHEDD: History of Doctrine, II., 234 sq.]\n\n[Footnote 2: The early religious experience of John Owen furnishes a\nstriking illustration. \"For a quarter of a year, he avoided almost all\nintercourse with men; could scarcely be induced to speak; and when he did\nsay anything, it was in so disordered a manner as rendered him a wonder\nto many. Only those who have experienced the bitterness of a wounded\nspirit can form an idea of the distress he must have suffered. Compared\nwith this anguish of soul, all the afflictions which befall a sinner [on\nearth] are trifles. One drop of that wrath which shall finally fill the\ncup of the ungodly, poured into the mind, is enough to poison all the\ncomforts of life, and to spread mourning, lamentation, and woe over the\ncountenance. Though the violence of Owen's convictions had subsided after\nthe first severe conflict, they still continued to disturb his peace, and\nnearly five years elapsed from their commencement before he obtained\nsolid comfort.\" ORME: Life of Owen, Chap. I.]\n\n[Footnote 3: WORDSWORTH: Laodamia.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE EXERCISE OF MERCY OPTIONAL WITH GOD.\n\nROMANS ix. 15.--\"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will\nhave mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.\"\n\n\nThis is a part of the description which God himself gave to Moses, of His\nown nature and attributes. The Hebrew legislator had said to Jehovah: \"I\nbeseech thee show me thy glory.\" He desired a clear understanding of the\ncharacter of that Great Being, under whose guidance he was commissioned\nto lead the people of Israel into the promised land. God said to him in\nreply: \"I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim\nthe name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will\nbe gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.\"[1]\n\nBy this, God revealed to Moses, and through him to all mankind, the fact\nthat He is a merciful being, and directs attention to one particular\ncharacteristic of mercy. While informing His servant, that He\nis gracious and clement towards a penitent transgressor, He at the same\ntime teaches him that He is under no obligation, or necessity, to shew\nmercy. Grace is not a debt. \"I will have mercy on whom I _will_ have\nmercy, and I will have compassion on whom I _will_ have compassion.\"\n\nThe apostle Paul quotes this declaration, to shut the mouth of him who\nwould set up a claim to salvation; who is too proud to beg for it,\nand accept it as a free and unmerited favor from God. In so doing, he\nendorses the sentiment. The inspiration of his Epistle corroborates that\nof the Pentateuch, so that we have assurance made doubly sure, that this\nis the correct enunciation of the nature of mercy. Let us look into this\nhope-inspiring attribute of God, under the guidance of this text.\n\nThe great question that presses upon the human mind, from age to age, is\nthe inquiry: Is God a merciful Being, and will He show mercy? Living\nas we do under the light of Revelation, we know little of the doubts and\nfears that spontaneously rise in the guilty human soul, when it is left\nsolely to the light of nature to answer it. With the Bible in our hands,\nand hearing the good news of Redemption from our earliest years, it seems\nto be a matter of course that the Deity should pardon sin. Nay, a certain\nclass of men in Christendom seem to have come to the opinion that it is\nmore difficult to prove that God is just, than to prove that He is\nmerciful.[2] But this is not the thought and feeling of man when outside\nof the pale of Revelation. Go into the ancient pagan world, examine the\ntheologizing of the Greek and Roman mind, and you will discover that the\nfears of the justice far outnumbered the hopes of the mercy; that Plato\nand Plutarch and Cicero and Tacitus were far more certain that God would\npunish sin, than that He would, pardon it. This is the reason that there\nis no light, or joy, in any of the pagan religions. Except when religion\nwas converted into the worship of Beauty, as in the instance of the later\nGreek, and all the solemn and truthful ideas of law and justice were\neliminated from it, every one of the natural religions of the globe is\nfilled with sombre and gloomy hues, and no others. The truest and best\nreligions of the ancient world were always the sternest and saddest,\nbecause the unaided human mind is certain that God is just, but is not\ncertain that He is merciful. When man is outside of Revelation, it is by\nno means a matter of course that God is clement, and that sin shall be\nforgiven. Great uncertainty overhangs the doctrine of the Divine mercy,\nfrom the position of natural religion, and it is only within the province\nof revealed truth that the uncertainty is removed. Apart from a distinct\nand direct _promise_ from the lips of God Himself that He will forgive\nsin, no human creature can be sure that sin will ever be forgiven. Let\nus, therefore, look into the subject carefully, and see the reason why\nman, if left to himself and his spontaneous reflections, doubts whether\nthere is mercy in the Holy One for a transgressor, and fears that there\nis none, and why a special revelation is consequently required, to dispel\nthe doubt and the fear.\n\nThe reason lies in the fact, implied in the text, that _the exercise of\njustice is necessary, while that of mercy is optional_. \"I will have\nmercy on whom I _please_ to have mercy, and I will have compassion on\nwhom I _please_ to have compassion.\" It is a principle inlaid in the\nstructure of the human soul, that the transgression of law _must_ be\nvisited with retribution. The pagan conscience, as well as the Christian,\ntestifies that \"the Soul that sinneth it shall die.\" There is no need of\nquoting from pagan philosophers to prove this. We should be compelled\nto cite page after page, should we enter upon the documentary evidence.\nTake such a tract, for example, as that of Plutarch, upon what he\ndenominates \"the slow vengeance of the Deity;\" read the reasons which he\nassigns for the apparent delay, in this world, of the infliction of\npunishment upon transgressors; and you will perceive that the human\nmind, when left to its candid and unbiassed convictions, is certain that\nGod is a holy Being and will visit iniquity with penalty. Throughout this\nentire treatise, composed by a man who probably never saw the Scriptures\nof either the New or the Old Dispensation, there runs a solemn and deep\nconsciousness that the Deity is necessarily obliged, by the principles of\njustice, to mete out a retribution to the violator of law. Plutarch is\nengaged with the very same question that the apostle Peter takes up, in\nhis second Epistle, when he answers the objection of the scoffer who\nasks: Where is the promise of God's coming in judgment? The apostle\nreplies to it, by saying that for the Eternal Mind one day is as a\nthousand years, and a thousand years as one day, and that therefore \"the\nLord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness;\"\nand Plutarch answers it in a different manner, but assumes and affirms\nwith the same positiveness and certainty that the vengeance will\n_ultimately come_. No reader of this treatise can doubt for a moment,\nthat its author believed in the future punishment of the wicked,--and in\nthe future _endless_ punishment of the incorrigibly wicked, because there\nis not the slightest hint or expectation of any exercise of mercy on the\npart of this Divinity whose vengeance, though slow, is sure and\ninevitable.[3] Some theorists tell us that the doctrine of endless\npunishment contradicts the instincts of the natural reason, and that it\nhas no foundation in the constitution of the human soul. We invite them\nto read and ponder well, the speculations of one of the most thoughtful\nof pagans upon this subject, and tell us if they see any streaks or rays\nof light in it; if they see any inkling, any jot or tittle, of the\ndoctrine of the Divine pity there. We challenge them to discover in this\ntract of Plutarch the slightest token, or sign, of the Divine mercy. The\nauthor believes in a hell for the wicked, and an elysium for the good;\nbut those who go to hell go there upon principles of _justice_, and those\nwho go to elysium go there upon the _same_ principles. It is justice that\nmust place men in Tartarus, and it is justice that must place them in\nElysium. In paganism, men must earn their heaven. The idea of\n_mercy_,--of clemency towards a transgressor, of pity towards a\ncriminal,--is entirely foreign to the thoughts of Plutarch, so far as\nthey can be gathered from this tract. It is the clear and terrible\ndoctrine of the pagan sage, that unless a man can make good his claim to\neternal happiness upon the ground of law and justice,--unless he merits\nit by good works,--there is no hope for him in the other world.\n\nThe idea of a forgiving and tender mercy in the Supreme Being, exercised\ntowards a creature whom justice would send to eternal retribution,\nnowhere appears in the best pagan ethics. And why should it? What\nevidence or proof has the human mind, apart from the revelations made to\nit in the Old and New Testaments, that God will ever forgive sin, or ever\nshow mercy? In thinking upon the subject, our reason perceives,\nintuitively, that God must of necessity punish transgression; and it\nperceives with equal intuitiveness that there is no corresponding\nnecessity that He should pardon it. We say with confidence and\npositiveness: \"God must be just;\" but we cannot say with any certainty\nor confidence at all: \"God must be merciful.\" The Divine mercy is an\nattribute which is perfectly free and optional, in its exercises, and\ntherefore we cannot tell beforehand whether it will or will not be shown\nto transgressors. We know nothing at all about it, until we hear some\nword from the lips of God Himself upon the point. When He opens the\nheavens, and speaks in a clear tone to the human race, saying, \"I will\nforgive your iniquities,\" then, and not till then, do they know the fact.\nIn reference to all those procedures which, like the punishment of\ntransgression, are fixed and necessary, because they are founded in the\neternal principles of law and justice, we can tell beforehand what the\nDivine method will be. We do not need any special revelation, to inform\nus that God is a just Being, and that His anger is kindled against\nwickedness, and that He will punish the transgressor. This class of\ntruths, the Apostle informs us, are written in the human constitution,\nand we have already seen that they were known and dreaded in the pagan\nworld. That which God _must_ do, He certainly will do. He _must_ be just,\nand therefore He certainly will punish sin, is the reasoning of the human\nmind, the-world over, and in every age.[4]\n\nBut, when we pass from the punishment of sin to the pardon of it, when we\ngo over to the merciful side of the Divine Nature, we can come to no\n_certain_ conclusions, if we are shut up to the workings of our own\nminds, or to the teachings of the world of nature about us. Picture to\nyourself a thoughtful pagan, like Solon the legislator of Athens, living\nin the heart of heathenism five centuries before Christ, and knowing\nnothing of the promise of mercy which broke faintly through the heavens\nimmediately after the apostasy of the first human pair, and which found\nits full and victorious utterance in the streaming, blood of Calvary.\nSuppose that the accusing and condemning law written, upon his conscience\nhad shown its work, and made him conscious of sin. Suppose that the\nquestion had risen within him, whether that Dread Being whom he\n\"ignorantly worshipped,\" and against whom he had committed the offence,\nwould forgive it; was there anything in his own soul, was there anything\nin the world around him or above him, that could give him an affirmative\nanswer? The instant he put the question: Will God _punish_ me for my\ntransgression? the affirming voices were instantaneous and authoritative.\n\"The soul that sinneth it shall die\" was the verdict that came forth from\nthe recesses of his moral nature, and was echoed and re-echoed in the\nsuffering, pain, and physical death of a miserable and groaning world\nall around him. But when he put the other question to himself: Will the\nDeity _pardon_ me for my transgression? there was no affirmative answer\nfrom any source of knowledge accessible to him. If he sought a reply from\nthe depths of his own conscience, all that he could hear was the terrible\nutterance: \"The soul that sinneth it shall die.\" The human conscience can\nno more promise, or certify, the forgiveness of sin, than the ten\ncommandments can do so. When, therefore, this pagan, convicted of sin,\nseeks a comforting answer to his anxious inquiry respecting the Divine\nclemency towards a criminal, he is met only with retributive thunders and\nlightnings; he hears only that accusing and condemning law which is\nwritten on the heart, and experiences that fearful looking-for of\njudgment and fiery indignation which St. Paul describes, in the first\nchapter of Romans, as working in the mind of the universal pagan world.\n\nBut we need not go to Solon, and the pagan world, for evidence upon this\nsubject. Why is it that a convicted man under the full light of the\ngospel, and with the unambiguous and explicit promise of God to forgive\nsins ringing in his ears,--why is it, that even under these favorable\ncircumstances a guilt-smitten man finds it so difficult to believe that\nthere is mercy for him, and to trust in it? Nay, why is it that he finds\nit impossible fully to believe that Jehovah is a sin-pardoning God,\nunless he is enabled so to do by the Holy Ghost? It is because he knows\nthat God is under a necessity of punishing his sin, but is under no\nnecessity of pardoning it. The very same judicial principles are\noperating in his mind that operate in that of a pagan Solon, or any other\ntransgressor outside of the revelation of mercy. That which holds back\nthe convicted sinner from casting himself upon the Divine pity is the\nperception that God must be just. This fact is certain, whether anything\nelse is certain or not. And it is not until he perceives that God can be\n_both_ just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; it is not\nuntil he sees that, through the substituted sufferings of Christ, God can\n_punish_ sin while at the same time He _pardons_ it,--can punish it in\nthe Substitute while He pardons it in the sinner,--it is not until he is\nenabled to apprehend the doctrine of _vicarious_ atonement, that his\ndoubts and fears respecting the possibility and reality of the Divine\nmercy are removed. The instant he discovers that the exercise of pardon\nis rendered entirely consistent with the justice of God, by the\nsubstituted death of the Son of God, he sees the Divine mercy, and that\ntoo in the high form of _self-sacrifice,_ and trusts in it, and is at\npeace.\n\nThese considerations are sufficient to show, that according to the\nnatural and spontaneous operations of the human intellect, justice\nstands in the way of the exercise of mercy, and that therefore, if\nman is not informed by Divine Revelation respecting this latter\nattribute, he can never acquire the certainty that God will forgive his\nsin. There are two very important and significant inferences from this\ntruth, to which we now ask serious attention.\n\n1. In the first place, those who deny the credibility, and Divine\nauthority, of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments _shut up the\nwhole world to doubt and despair_. For, unless God has spoken the word of\nmercy in this written Revelation, He has not spoken it anywhere; and we\nhave seen, that unless He has spoken such a merciful word _somewhere_, no\nhuman transgressor can be certain of anything but stark unmitigated\njustice and retribution. Do you tell us that God is too good to punish\nmen, and that therefore it must be that He is merciful? We tell you, in\nreply, that God is good when He punishes sin, and your own conscience,\nlike that of Plutarch, re-echoes the reply. Sin is a wicked thing, and\nwhen the Holy One visits it with retribution, He is manifesting the\npurest moral excellence and the most immaculate perfection of character\nthat we can conceive of. But if by goodness you mean mercy, then we say\nthat this is the very point in dispute, and you must not beg the point\nbut must prove it. And now, if you deny the authority and credibility of\nthe Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, we ask you upon what ground\nyou venture to affirm that God will pardon man's sin. You cannot\ndemonstrate it upon any _a priori_ and necessary principles. You cannot\nshow that the Deity is obligated to remit the penalty due to\ntransgression. You can prove the necessity of the exercise of justice,\nbut you cannot prove the necessity of the exercise of mercy. It is purely\noptional with God, whether to pardon or not. If, therefore, you cannot\nestablish the fact of the Divine clemency by _a priori_ reasoning,--if\nyou cannot make out a _necessity_ for the exercise of mercy,--you must\nbetake yourself to the only other method of proof that remains to you,\nthe method of testimony. If you have the _declaration_ and _promise_ of\nGod, that He will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, you may be\ncertain of the fact,--as certain as you would be, could you prove the\nabsolute necessity of the exercise of mercy. For God's promise cannot be\nbroken. God's testimony is sure. But, by the supposition, you deny that\nthis declaration has been made, and this promise has been uttered, in the\nwritten Revelation of the Christian Church. Where then do you send me for\nthe information, and the testimony? Have you a private revelation of your\nown? Has the Deity spoken to you in particular, and told you that He will\nforgive your sin, and my sin, and that of all the generations? Unless\nthis declaration has been made either to you or to some other one, we\nhave seen that you cannot establish the _certainty_ that God will forgive\nsin. It is a purely optional matter with Him, and whether He will or no\ndepends entirely upon His decision, determination, and declaration. If\nHe says that He will pardon sin, it will certainly be done. But until He\nsays it, you and every other man must be remanded to the inexorable\ndecisions of conscience which thunder out: \"The soul that sinneth it\nshall die.\" Whoever, therefore, denies that God in the Scriptures of the\nOld and New Testaments has broken through the veil that hides eternity\nfrom time, and has testified to the human race that He will forgive sin,\nand has solemnly promised to do so, takes away from the human race the\nonly ground of certainty which they possess, that there is pity in the\nheavens, and that it will be shown to sinful creatures like themselves.\nBut this is to shut them up again, to the doubt and hopelessness of the\npagan world,--a world without Revelation.\n\n2. In the second place, it follows from this subject, that mankind must\n_take the declaration and promise of God, respecting the exercise of\nmercy, precisely as He has given it_. They must follow the record\n_implicitly_, without any criticisms or alterations. Not only does the\nexercise of mercy depend entirely upon the will and pleasure of God, but,\nthe mode, the conditions, and the length of time during which the offer\nshall be made, are all dependent upon the same sovereignty. Let us look\nat these particulars one by one.\n\nIn the first place, the _method_ by which the Divine clemency shall be\nmanifested, and the _conditions_ upon which the offer of forgiveness\nshall be made, are matters that rest solely with God. If it is entirely\noptional with Him whether to pardon at all, much more does it depend\nentirely upon Him to determine the way and means. It is here that we stop\nthe mouth of him who objects to the doctrine of forgiveness through a\nvicarious atonement. We will by no means concede, that the exhibition\nof mercy through the vicarious satisfaction of justice is an optional\nmatter, and that God might have dispensed with such satisfaction, had\nHe so willed. We believe that the forgiveness of sin is possible even to\nthe Deity, only through a substituted sacrifice that completely satisfies\nthe demands of law and justice,--that without the shedding of expiating\nblood there is no remission of sin possible or conceivable, under a\ngovernment of law. But, without asking the objector to come up to this\nhigh ground, we are willing, for the sake of the argument, to go down\nupon his low one; and we say, that even if the metaphysical necessity of\nan atonement could not be maintained, and that it is purely optional with\nGod whether to employ this method or not, it would still be the duty and\nwisdom of man to take the record just as it reads, and to accept the\nmethod that has actually been adopted. If the Sovereign has a perfect\nright to say whether He will or will not pardon the criminal, has He not\nthe same right to say _how_ He will do it? If the transgressor, upon\nprinciples of justice, could be sentenced to endless misery, and yet the\nSovereign Judge concludes to offer him forgiveness and eternal life,\nshall the criminal, the culprit who could not stand an instant in the\njudgment, presume to quarrel with the method, and dictate the terms by\nwhich his own pardon shall be secured? Even supposing, then, that there\nwere no _intrinsic_ necessity for the offering of an infinite sacrifice\nto satisfy infinite justice, the Great God might still take the lofty\nground of sovereignty, and say to the criminal: \"My will shall stand for\nmy reason; I decide to offer you amnesty and eternal joy, in this mode,\nand upon these terms. The reasons for my method are known to myself. Take\nmercy in this method, or take justice. Receive the forgiveness of sin in\nthis mode, or else receive the eternal and just punishment of sin. Can I\nnot do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?\"\nGod is under no necessity to offer the forgiveness of sin to any criminal\nupon any terms; still less is He hedged up to a method of forgiveness\nprescribed by the criminal himself.\n\nAgain, the same reasoning will apply to the _time during which the offer\nof mercy shall be extended_. If it is purely optional with God, whether\nHe will pardon my sin at all, it is also purely optional with Him to fix\nthe limits within which He will exercise the act of pardon. Should He\ntell me, that if I would confess and forsake my sins to-day, He would\nblot them out forever, but that the gracious offer should be withdrawn\ntomorrow, what conceivable ground of complaint could I discover? He is\nunder no necessity of extending the pardon at this moment, and neither\nis He at the next, or any future one. Mercy is grace, and not debt. Now\nit has pleased God, to limit the period during which the work of\nRedemption shall go on. There is a point of time, for every sinful man,\nat which \"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin\" (Heb. x. 26). The\nperiod of Redemption is confined to earth and time; and unless the sinner\nexercises repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,\nbefore his spirit returns to God who gave it, there is no redemption for\nhim through eternal ages. This fact we know by the declaration and\ntestimony of God; in the same manner that we know that God will exercise\nmercy at all, and upon any conditions whatever. We have seen that we\ncannot establish the fact that the Deity will forgive sin, by any _a\npriori_ reasoning, but know it only because He has spoken a word to this\neffect, and given the world His promise to be gracious and merciful,\nIn like manner, we do not establish the fact that there will be no second\noffer of forgiveness, in the future world, by any process of reasoning\nfrom the nature of the case, or the necessity of things. We are willing\nto concede to the objector, that for aught that we can see the Holy\nGhost is as able to take of the things of Christ, and show them to a\nguilty soul, in the next world, as He is in this. So far as almighty\npower is concerned, the Divine Spirit could convince men of sin, and\nrighteousness, and judgment, and incline them to repentance and faith, in\neternity as well as in time. And it is equally true, that the Divine\nSpirit could have prevented the origin of sin itself, and the fall of\nAdam, with the untold woes that proceed therefrom. But it is not a\nquestion of power. It is a question of _intention_, of _determination_,\nand of _testimony_ upon the part of God. And He has distinctly declared\nin the written Revelation, that it is His intention to limit the\nconverting and saving influences of His Spirit to time and earth. He\ntells the whole world unequivocally, that His spirit shall not always\nstrive with man, and that the day of judgment which occurs at the end of\nthis Dispensation of grace, is not a day of pardon but of doom. Christ's\ndescription of the scenes that will close up this Redemptive\nEconomy,--the throne, the opened books, the sheep on the right hand and\nthe goats on the left hand, the words of the Judge: \"Come ye blessed,\ndepart ye cursed,\"--proves beyond controversy that \"_now_ is the accepted\ntime, and _now_ is the day of salvation.\" The utterance of our Redeeming\nGod, by His servant David, is: \"_To-day_ if ye will hear His voice harden\nnot your hearts.\" St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, informs the\nworld, that as God sware that those Israelites who did not believe and\nobey His servant Moses, during their wanderings in the desert, should not\nenter the earthly Canaan, so those, in any age and generation of men, who\ndo not believe and obey His Son Jesus Christ, during their earthly\npilgrimage, shall, by the same Divine oath, be shut out of the eternal\nrest that remaineth for the people of God (Hebrews iii. 7-19).\nUnbelieving men, in eternity, will be deprived of the benefits of\nChrist's redemption, by the _oath_, the solemn _decision_, the judicial\n_determination_ of God. For, this exercise of mercy, of which we are\nspeaking, is not a matter of course, and of necessity, and which\ntherefore continues forever and forever. It is optional. God is entirely\nat liberty to pardon, or not to pardon. And He is entirely at liberty to\nsay when, and how, and _how long_ the offer of pardon shall be extended.\nHe had the power to carry the whole body of the people of Israel over\nJordan, into the promised land, but He sware that those who proved\nrefractory, and disobedient, during a _certain definite period of time_,\nshould never enter Canaan. And, by His apostle, He informs all the\ngenerations of men, that the same principle will govern Him in respect to\nthe entrance into the heavenly Canaan. The limiting of the offer of\nsalvation to this life is not founded upon any necessity in the Divine\nNature, but, like the offer of salvation itself, depends upon the\nsovereign pleasure and determination of God. That pleasure, and that\ndetermination, have been distinctly made known in the Scriptures. We know\nas clearly as we know anything revealed in the Bible, that God has\ndecided to pardon here in time, and not to pardon in eternity. He has\ndrawn a line between the present period, during which He makes salvation\npossible to man, and the future period, when He will not make it\npossible. And He had a right to draw that line, because mercy from first\nto last is the optional, and not the obligated agency of the Supreme\nBeing.\n\nTherefore, _fear_ lest, a promise being left us of entering into His\nrest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto you is the\ngospel preached, as well as unto those Israelites; but the word, did not\nprofit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Neither\nwill it profit you, unless it is mixed with faith. God limiteth a certain\nday, saying in David, \"_To-day_, after so long a time,\"--after these many\nyears of hearing and neglecting the offer of forgiveness,--\"_to-day_, if\nye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.\" Labor, therefore, _now_,\nto enter into that rest, lest any man fall, after the same example of\nunbelief, with those Israelites whom the oath of God shut out of both the\nearthly and the heavenly Canaan.\n\n\n\n[Footnote 1: Compare, also, the very full announcement of mercy as a\nDivine attribute that was to be exercised, in Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7.\n\nThis is the more noteworthy, as it occurs in connection with the giving\nof the law.]\n\n[Footnote 2: Their creed lives in the satire of YOUNG (Universal Passion.\nSatire VI.),--as full of sense, truth, and pungency now, as it was one\nhundred years ago.\n\n  \"From atheists far, they steadfastly believe\n  God is, and is Almighty--to _forgive_.\n  His other excellence they'll not dispute;\n  But mercy, sure, is His chief attribute.\n  Shall pleasures of a short duration chain\n  A lady's soul in everlasting pain?\n  Will the great Author us poor worms destroy,\n  For now and then a sip of transient joy?\n  No, He's forever in a smiling mood;\n  He's like themselves; or how could He be good?\n  And they blaspheme, who blacker schemes suppose.\n  Devoutly, thus, Jehovah they depose,\n  The Pure! the Just! and set up in His stead,\n  A deity that's perfectly well-bred.\"]\n\n[Footnote 3: Plutarch supposes a form of punishment in the future world\nthat is disciplinary. If it accomplishes its purpose, the soul goes into\nElysium,--a doctrine like that of purgatory in the Papal scheme. But in\ncase the person proves incorrigible, his suffering is _endless_. He\nrepresents an individual as having been restored to life, and giving an\naccount of what he had seen. Among other things, he \"informed his friend,\nhow that Adrastia, the daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, was seated in\nthe highest place of all, to punish all manner of crimes and enormities,\nand that in the whole number of the wicked and ungodly there never was\nany one, whether great or little, high or low, rich or poor, that could\never by force or cunning escape the severe lashes of her rigor. But\nas there are three sorts of punishment, so there are three several\nFuries, or female ministers of justice, and to every one of these\nbelongs a peculiar office and degree of punishment. The first of\nthese was called [Greek: Poinae] or _Pain_; whose executions are swift\nand speedy upon those that are presently to receive bodily punishment\nin this life, and which she manages after a more gentle manner, omitting\nthe correction of slight offences, which need but little expiation. But\nif the cure of impiety require a greater labor, the Deity delivers those,\nafter death, to [Greek: Dikae] or _Vengeance_. But when Vengeance has\ngiven them over as altogether _incurable_, then the third and most severe\nof all Adrastia's ministers, [Greek: 'Erinys] or _Fury_, takes them in\nhand, and after she has chased and coursed them from one place to\nanother, flying yet not knowing where to fly for shelter and relief,\nplagued and tormented with a thousand miseries, she plunges them headlong\ninto an invisible abyss, the hideousness of which no tongue can express.\"\nPLUTARCH: Morals, Vol. IV. p. 210. Ed. 1694. PLATO (Gorgias 525. c.d. Ed.\nBip. IV. 169) represents Socrates as teaching that those who \"have\ncommitted the most extreme wickedness, and have become incurable through\nsuch crimes, are made an example to others, and suffer _forever_ ([Greek:\npaschontas ton aei chronon]) the greatest, most agonizing, and most\ndreadful punishment.\" And Socrates adds that \"Homer (Odyssey xi. 575)\nalso bears witness to this; for he represents kings and potentates,\nTantalus, Sysiphus, and Tityus, as being tormented _forever_ in Hades\"\n([Greek: en adon ton aei chronon timoronmenos]).-In the Aztec or Mexican\ntheology, \"the wicked, comprehending the greater part of mankind, were to\nexpiate their sin in a place of everlasting darkness.\" PRESCOTT: Conquest\nof Mexico, Vol. I. p. 62.]\n\n[Footnote 4: It may be objected, at this point, that mercy also is a\nnecessary attribute in God, like justice itself,--that it necessarily\nbelongs to the nature of a perfect Being, and therefore might be inferred\n_a priori_ by the pagan, like other attributes. This is true; but the\nobjection overlooks the distinction between the _existence_ of an\nattribute and its _exercise_. Omnipotence necessarily belongs to the idea\nof the Supreme Being, but it does not follow that it must necessarily be\n_exerted_ in act. Because God is able to create the universe of matter\nand mind, it does not follow that he _must_ create it. The doctrine of\nthe necessity of creation, though held in a few instances by theists who\nseem not to have discerned its logical consequences, is virtually\npantheistic. Had God been pleased to dwell forever in the\nself-sufficiency of His Trinity, and never called the Finite into\nexistence from nothing, He might have done so, and He would still have\nbeen omnipotent and \"blessed forever.\" In like manner, the attribute of\nmercy might exist in God, and yet not be exerted. Had He been pleased to\ntreat the human race as He did the fallen angels, He was perfectly at\nliberty to do so, and the number and quality of his immanent attributes\nwould have been the same that they are now. But justice is an attribute\nwhich not only exists of necessity, but must be _exercised_ of necessity;\nbecause not to exercise it would be injustice.-For a fuller exposition of\nthe nature of justice, see SHEDD: Discourses and Essays, pp. 291-300.]\n\n\n\n\nCHRISTIANITY REQUIRES THE TEMPER OF CHILDHOOD.\n\nMARK x. 15.--\"Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the\nkingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.\"\n\n\nThese words of our Lord are very positive and emphatic, and will,\ntherefore, receive a serious attention from every one who is anxious\nconcerning his future destiny beyond the grave. For, they mention an\nindispensable requisite in order to an entrance into eternal life.\n\"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he\n_shall not_ enter therein.\"\n\nThe occasion of their utterance is interesting, and brings to view a\nbeautiful feature in the perfect character of Jesus Christ. The Redeemer\nwas deeply interested in every age and condition of man. All classes\nshared in His benevolent affection, and all may equally partake of the\nrich blessings that flow from it. But childhood and youth seem to have\nhad a special attraction for Him. The Evangelist is careful to inform us,\nthat He took little children in His arms, and that beholding an amiable\nyoung man He loved him,--a gush of feeling went out towards him. It was\nbecause Christ was a perfect man, as well as the infinite God, that such\na feeling dwelt in His breast. For, there has never been an uncommonly\nfair and excellent human character, in which tenderness and affinity for\nchildhood has not been a quality, and a quality, too, that was no small\npart of the fairness and excellence. The best definition that has yet\nbeen given of genius itself is, that it is the carrying of the feelings\nof childhood onward into the thoughts and aspirations of manhood. He who\nis not attracted by the ingenuousness, and trustfulness, and simplicity,\nof the first period of human life, is certainly wanting in the finest and\nmost delicate elements of nature, and character. Those who have been\ncoarse and brutish, those who have been selfish and ambitious, those who\nhave been the pests and scourges of the world, have had no sympathy with\nyouth. Though once young themselves, they have been those in whom the\ngentle and generous emotions of the morning of life have died out. That\nman may become hardhearted, skeptical and sensual, a hater of his kind,\na hater of all that is holy and good, he must divest himself entirely of\nthe fresh and ingenuous feeling of early boyhood, and receive in its\nplace that malign and soured feeling which is the growth, and sign, of a\nselfish and disingenuous life. It is related of Voltaire,--a man in whom\nevil dwelt in its purest and most defecated essence,--that he had no\nsympathy with the child, and that the children uniformly shrank from that\nsinister eye in which the eagle and the reptile were so strangely\nblended.\n\nOur Saviour, as a perfect man, then, possessed this trait, and it often\nshowed itself in His intercourse with men. As an omniscient Being, He\nindeed looked with profound interest, upon the dawning life of the human\nspirit as it manifests itself in childhood. For He knew as no finite\nbeing can, the marvellous powers that sleep in the soul of the young\nchild; the great affections which are to be the foundation of eternal\nbliss, or eternal pain, that exist in embryo within; the mysterious\nideas that lie in germ far down in its lowest depths,--He knew, as no\nfinite creature is able, what is in the child, as well as in the man, and\ntherefore was interested in its being and its well-being. But besides\nthis, by virtue of His perfect humanity, He was attracted by those\npeculiar traits which are seen in the earlier years of human life. He\nloved the artlessness and gentleness, the sense of dependence, the\nimplicit trust, the absence of ostentation and ambition, the unconscious\nmodesty, in one word, the _child-likeness_ of the child.\n\nKnowing this characteristic of the Redeemer, certain parents brought\ntheir young children to Him, as the Evangelist informs us, \"that He\nshould touch them;\" either believing that there was a healthful virtue,\nconnected with the touch of Him who healed the sick and gave life to the\ndead, that would be of benefit to them; or, it may be, with more elevated\nconceptions of Christ's person, and more spiritual desires respecting the\nwelfare of their offspring, believing that the blessing (which was\nsymbolized by the touch and laying on of hands) of so exalted a Being\nwould be of greater worth than mere health of body. The disciples,\nthinking that mere children were not worthy of the regards of their\nMaster, rebuked the anxious and affectionate parents. \"But,\"--continues\nthe narrative,--\"when Jesus saw it he was much displeased, and said unto\nthem, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,\nfor of such is the kingdom of God;\" and then immediately explained what\nHe meant by this last assertion, which is so often misunderstood and\nmisapplied, by adding, in the words of the text, \"Verily I say unto you,\nwhosoever shall not _receive the kingdom of God as a little child\"_ that\nis with a child-like spirit, \"he shall not enter therein.\" For our Lord\ndoes not here lay down a doctrinal position, and affirm the moral\ninnocence of childhood. He does not mark off and discriminate the\nchildren as sinless, from their parents as sinful, as if the two classes\ndid not belong to the same race of beings, and were not involved in the\nsame apostasy and condemnation. He merely sets childhood and manhood\nover-against each other as two distinct stages of human life, each\npossessing peculiar traits and tempers, and affirms that it is the meek\nspirit of childhood, and not the proud spirit of manhood, that welcomes\nand appropriates the Christian salvation. He is only contrasting the\ngeneral attitude of a child, with the general attitude of a man. He\nmerely affirms that the _trustful_ and _believing_ temper of childhood,\nas compared with the _self-reliant_ and _skeptical_ temper of manhood, is\nthe temper by which both the child and the man are to receive the\nblessings of the gospel which both of them equally need.\n\nThe kingdom of God is represented in the New Testament, sometimes as\nsubjective, and sometimes as objective; sometimes as within the soul of\nman, and sometimes as up in the skies. Our text combines both\nrepresentations; for, it speaks of a man's \"receiving\" the kingdom of\nGod, and of a man's \"entering\" the kingdom of God; of the coming of\nheaven into a soul, and of the going of a soul into heaven. In other\npassages, one or the other representation appears alone. \"The kingdom of\nGod,\"--says our Lord to the Pharisees,--\"cometh not with observation.\nNeither shall they say, Lo here, or lo there: for behold the kingdom of\nGod is within you.\" The apostle Paul, upon arriving at Rome, invited the\nresident Jews to discuss the subject of Christianity with him. \"And when\nthey had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to\nwhom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God,\"--to whom he\nexplained the nature of the Christian religion,--\"persuading them\nconcerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets,\nfrom, morning till evening.\" The same apostle teaches the Romans, that\n\"the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace,\nand joy in the Holy Ghost;\" and tells the Corinthians, that \"the kingdom\nof God is not in word, but in power.\" In all these instances, the\nsubjective signification prevails, and the kingdom of God is simply a\nsystem of truth, or a state of the heart. And all are familiar with the\nsentiment, that heaven is a state, as well as a place. All understand\nthat one half of heaven is in the human heart itself; and, that if this\nhalf be wanting, the other half is useless,--as the half of a thing\ngenerally is. Isaac Walton remarks of the devout Sibbs:\n\n\"Of this blest man, let this just praise be given, Heaven was in him,\nbefore he was in heaven.\"\n\nIt is only because that in the eternal world the imperfect righteousness\nof the renewed man is perfected, and the peace of the anxious soul\nbecomes total, and the joy that is so rare and faint in the Christian\nexperience here upon earth becomes the very element of life and\naction,--it is only because eternity _completes_ the excellence of the\nChristian (but does not begin it), that heaven, as a place of perfect\nholiness and happiness, is said to be in the future life, and we are\ncommanded to seek a better country even a heavenly. But, because this is\nso, let no one lose sight of the other side of the great truth, and\nforget that man must \"receive\" the kingdom as well as \"enter\" it. Without\nthe right state of heart, without the mental correspondent to heaven,\nthat beautiful and happy region on high will, like any and every other\nplace, be a hell, instead of a paradise.[1] A distinguished writer\nrepresents one of his characters as leaving the Old World, and seeking\nhappiness in the New, supposing that change of place and outward\ncircumstances could cure a restless mind. He found no rest by the change;\nand in view of his disappointment says: \"I will return, and in my\nancestral home, amid my paternal fields, among my own people, I will say,\n_Here, or nowhere_, is America.\"[2] In like manner, must the Christian\nseek happiness in present peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, and must here\nin this life strive after the righteousness that brings tranquillity.\nThough he may look forward with aspiration to the new heavens and the new\nearth wherein dwelleth a _perfected_ righteousness, yet he must remember\nthat his holiness and happiness there is merely an expansion of his\nholiness and happiness here. He must seek to \"receive\" the kingdom of\nGod, as well as to \"enter\" it; and when tempted to relax his efforts, and\nto let down his watch, because the future life will not oppose so many\nobstacles to spirituality as this, and will bring a more perfect\nenjoyment with it, he should say to himself: \"Be holy now, be happy here.\n_Here, or nowhere_, is heaven.\"\n\nSuch being the nature of the kingdom of God, we are now brought up to the\ndiscussion of the subject of the text, and are prepared to consider: _In\nwhat respects, the kingdom of God requires the temper of a child as\ndistinguished from the temper of a man, in order to receive it, and in\norder to enter it_.\n\nThe kingdom of God, considered as a kingdom that is within the soul, is\ntantamount to religion. To receive this kingdom, then, is equivalent to\nreceiving religion into the heart, so that the character shall be formed\nby it, and the future destiny be decided by it. What, then, is the\nreligion that is to be received? We answer that it is the religion that\nis needed. But, the religion that is needed by a sinful man is very\ndifferent from the religion that is adapted to a holy angel. He who has\nnever sinned is already in direct and blessed relations with God, and\nneeds only to drink in the overflowing and everflowing stream of purity\nand pleasure. Such a spirit requires a religion of only two doctrines:\nFirst, that there is a God; and, secondly, that He ought to be loved\nsupremely and obeyed perfectly. This is the entire theology of the\nangels, and it is enough for them. They know nothing of sin in their\npersonal experience, and consequently they require in their religion,\nnone of those doctrines, and none of those provisions, which are adapted\nto the needs of sinners.\n\nBut, man is in an altogether different condition from this. He too knows\nthat there is a God, and that He ought to be loved supremely, and obeyed\nperfectly. Thus far, he goes along with the angel, and with every other\nrational being made under the law and government of God. But, at this\npoint, his path diverges from that of the pure and obedient inhabitant of\nheaven, and leads in an opposite direction. For he does not, like the\nangels, act up to his knowledge. He is not conformed to these two\ndoctrines. He does not love God supremely, and he does not obey Him\nperfectly. This fact puts him into a very different position, in\nreference to these two doctrines, from that occupied by the obedient and\nunfallen spirit. These two doctrines, in relation to him as one who has\ncontravened them, have become a power of condemnation; and whenever he\nthinks of them he feels guilty. It is no longer sufficient to tell him.\nthat religion consists in loving God, and enjoying His presence,--consists\nin holiness and happiness. \"This is very true,\"--he says,--\"but\nI am neither holy nor happy.\" It is no longer enough to remind him that\nall is well with any creature who loves God with all his heart, and keeps\nHis commandments without a single slip or failure. \"This is very\ntrue,\"--he says again,--\"but I do not love in this style, neither have I\nobeyed in this manner.\" It is too late to preach mere natural religion,\nthe religion of the angels, to one who has failed to stand fully and\nfirmly upon the principles of natural religion. It is too late to tell a\ncreature who has lost his virtue, that if he is only virtuous he is safe\nenough.\n\nThe religion, then, that a sinner needs, cannot be limited to the two\ndoctrines of the holiness of God, and the creature's obligation to love\nand serve Him,--cannot be pared down to the precept: Fear God and\npractise virtue. It must be greatly enlarged, and augmented, by the\nintroduction of that other class of truths which relate to the Divine\nmercy towards those who have not feared God, and the Divine method of\nsalvation for those who are sinful. In other words, the religion for a\ntransgressor is _revealed_ religion, or the religion of Atonement and\nRedemption.\n\nWhat, now, is there in _this_ species of religion that necessitates the\nmeek and docile temper of a child, as distinguished from the proud and\nself-reliant spirit of a man, in order to its reception into the heart?\n\nI. In the first place, _the New Testament religion offers the forgiveness\nof sins, and provides for it_. No one can ponder this fact an instant,\nwithout perceiving that the pride and self-reliance of manhood are\nexcluded, and that the meekness and implicit trust of childhood are\ndemanded. Pardon and justification before God must, from the nature of\nthe case, be a gift, and a gift cannot be obtained unless it is accepted\n_as such_. To demand or claim mercy, is self-contradictory. For, a claim\nimplies a personal ground for it; and this implies self-reliance, and\nthis is \"manhood\" in distinction from \"childhood.\" In coming, therefore,\nas the religion of the Cross does, before man with a gratuity, with an\noffer to pardon his sins, it supposes that he take a correspondent\nattitude. Were he sinless, the religion suited to him would be the mere\nutterance of law, and he might stand up before it with the serene brow of\nan obedient subject of the Divine government; though even then, not with\na proud and boastful temper. It would be out of place for him, to plead\nguilty when he was innocent; or to cast himself upon mercy, when he could\nappeal to justice. If the creature's acceptance be of works, then it is\nno more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. But if it be by grace,\nthen it is no more of works (Rom. xi. 6). If the very first feature of\nthe Christian religion is the exhibition of clemency, then the proper and\nnecessary attitude of one who receives it is that of humility.\n\nBut, leaving this argument drawn from the characteristics, of\nChristianity as a religion of Redemption, let us pass into the soul of\nman, and see what we are taught there, respecting the temper which he\nmust possess in order to receive this new, revealed kingdom of God. The\nsoul of man is guilty. Now, there is something in the very nature of\nguilt that excludes the proud, self-conscious, self-reliant spirit of\nmanhood, and necessitates the lowly, and dependent spirit of childhood.\nWhen conscience is full of remorse, and the holy eye of law is searching\nus, and fears of eternal banishment and punishment are rakeing the\nspirit, there is no remedy but simple confession, and childlike reliance\nupon absolute mercy. The sinner must be a softened child and not a hard\nman, he must beg a boon and not put in a claim, if he would receive this\nkingdom of God, this New Testament religion, into his soul. The slightest\ninclination to self-righteousness, the least degree of resistance to the\njust pressure of law, is a vitiating element in repentance. The muscles\nof the stout man must give way, the knees must bend, the hands must be\nuplifted deprecatingly, the eyes must gaze with a straining gaze upon the\nexpiating Cross,--in other words, the least and last remains of a stout\nand self-asserting spirit must vanish, and the whole being must be\npliant, bruised, broken, helpless in its state and condition, in order\nto a pure sense of guilt, a godly sorrow for sin, and a cordial\nappropriation of the atonement. The attempt to mix the two tempers, to\nmingle the child with the man, to confess sin and assert\nself-righteousness, must be an entire failure, and totally prevent\nthe reception of the religion of Redemption. In relation to the Redeemer,\nthe sinful soul should be a vacuum, a hollow void, destitute of\neverything holy and good, conscious that it is, and aching to be filled\nwith the fulness of His peace and purity.\n\nAnd with reference to God, the Being whose function it is to pardon, we\nsee the same necessity for this child-like spirit in the transgressor.\nHow can God administer forgiveness, unless there is a correlated temper\nto receive it? His particular declarative act in blotting out sin depends\nupon the existence of penitence for sin. Where there is absolute hardness\nof heart, there can be no pardon, from the very nature of the case, and\nthe very terms of the statement. Can God say to the hardened Judas:\nSon be of good cheer, thy sin is forgiven thee? Can He speak to the\ntraitor as He speaks to the Magdalen? The difficulty is not upon the side\nof God. The Divine pity never lags behind any genuine human sorrow. No\nman was ever more eager to be forgiven than his Redeemer is to forgive\nhim. No contrition for sin, upon the part of man, ever yet outran the\nreadiness and delight of God to recognize it, and meet it with a free\npardon. For, that very contrition itself is always the product of Divine\ngrace, and proves that God is in advance of the soul. The father in the\nparable saw the son while he was a great way off, _before_ the son saw\nhim, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. But while this is so,\nand is an encouragement to the penitent, it must ever be remembered that\nunless there is some genuine sorrow in the human soul, there can be no\nmanifestation of the Divine forgiveness within it. Man cannot beat the\nair, and God cannot forgive impenitency.\n\nII. In the second place, the New Testament religion proposes _to create\nwithin man a clean heart, and to renew within him a right spirit_.\nChristianity not only pardons but sanctifies the human soul. And in\naccomplishing this latter work, it requires the same humble and docile\ntemper that was demanded in the former instance.\n\nHoliness, even in an unfallen angel, is not an absolutely self-originated\nthing. If it were, the angel would be worthy of adoration and worship. He\nwho is inwardly and totally excellent, and can also say: I am what I am\nby my own ultimate authorship, can claim for himself the _glory_ that is\ndue to righteousness. Any self-originated and self-subsistent virtue is\nentitled to the hallelujahs. But, no created spirit, though he be the\nhighest of the archangels, can make such an assertion, or put in such a\nclaim. The merit of the unfallen angel, therefore, is a relative one;\nbecause his holiness is of a created and derived species. It is not\nincreate and self-subsistent. This being so, it is plain that the proper\nattitude of all creatures in respect to moral excellence is a recipient\nand dependent one. But this is a meek and lowly attitude; and this is, in\none sense, a child-like attitude. Our Lord knew no sin; and yet He\nhimself tells us that He was meek and lowly of heart, and we well know\nthat He was. He does not say that He was penitent. He does not propose\nhimself as our exemplar in that respect. But, in respect to the primal,\nnormal attitude which a finite being must ever take in reference to the\ninfinite and adorable God, and the absolute underived Holiness; in\nreference to the true temper which a holy man or a holy angel must\npossess; our Lord Jesus Christ, in His human capacity, sets an example to\nbe followed by the spirits of just men made perfect, and by all the holy\ninhabitants of heaven. In other words, He teaches the whole universe that\nholiness in a creature, even though it be complete, does not permit its\npossessor to be self-reliant, does not allow the proud spirit of manhood,\ndoes not remove the obligation to be child-like, meek, and lowly of\nheart.\n\nBut if this is true of holiness among those who have never fallen, how\nmuch more true is it of those who have, and who need to be lifted up out\nof the abyss. If an angel, in reference to God, must be meek and lowly of\nheart; if the holy Redeemer must in His human capacity be meek and lowly\nof heart; if the child-like temper, in reference to the infinite and\neverlasting Father and the absolutely Good, is the proper one in such\nexalted instances as these; how much more is it in the instance of the\nvile and apostate children of Adam! Besides the original and primitive\nreason growing out of creaturely relationships, there is the superadded\none growing out of the fact, that now the whole head is sick and the\nwhole heart is faint, and from the sole of the foot even unto the head\nthere is no soundness in human nature.\n\nHence, our Lord began His Sermon on the Mount in these words: \"Blessed\nare the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are\nthey that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for\nthey shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst\nafter righteousness; for they shall be filled.\"[3] The very opening of\nthis discourse, which He intended should go down through the ages as a\nmanifesto declaring the real nature of His kingdom, and the spirit which\nHis followers must possess, asserts the necessity of a needy, recipient,\nasking mind, upon the part of a sinner. All this phraseology implies\ndestitution; and a destitution that cannot be self-supplied. He who\nhungers and thirsts after righteousness is conscious of an inward void,\nin respect to righteousness, that must be filled from abroad. He\nwho is meek is sensible that he is dependent for his moral excellence. He\nwho is poor in spirit is, not pusillanimous as Thomas Paine charged\nupon Christianity but, as John of Damascus said of himself, a man of\nspiritual cravings, _vir desideriorum_.\n\nNow, all this delineation of the general attitude requisite in order to\nthe reception of the Christian religion is summed up again, in the\ndeclaration of our text: \"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God\n_as a little child_, he shall not enter therein.\" Is a man, then,\nsensible that his understanding is darkened by sin, and that he is\ndestitute of clear and just apprehensions of divine things? Does his\nconsciousness of inward poverty assume this form? If he would be\ndelivered from his mental blindness, and be made rich in spiritual\nknowledge, he must adopt a teachable and recipient attitude. He must not\nassume that his own mind is the great fountain of wisdom, and seek to\nclear up his doubts and darkness by the rationalistic method of\nself-illumination. On the contrary, he must go beyond his mind and open a\n_book_, even the Book of Revelation, and search for the wisdom it\ncontains and proffers. And yet more than this. As this volume is the\nproduct of the Eternal Spirit himself, and this Spirit conspires with the\ndoctrines which He has revealed, and exerts a positive illuminating\ninfluence, he must seek communion therewith. From first to last,\ntherefore, the darkened human spirit must take a waiting posture, in\norder to enlightenment. That part of \"the clean heart and the right\nspirit\" which consists in the _knowledge_ of divine things can be\nobtained only through a child-like bearing and temper. This is what our\nLord means, when He pronounces a blessing upon the poor in spirit, the\nhungry and the thirsting soul. Men, in their pride and self-reliance, in\ntheir sense of manhood, may seek to enter the kingdom of heaven by a\ndifferent method; they may attempt to _speculate_ their way through all\nthe mystery that overhangs human life, and the doubts that confuse and\nbaffle the human understanding; but when they find that the unaided\nintellect only \"spots a thicker gloom\" instead of pouring a serener ray,\nwearied and worn they return, as it were, to the sweet days of childhood,\nand in the gentleness, and tenderness, and docility of an altered mood,\nlearn, as Bacon did in respect to the kingdom of nature, that the kingdom\nof heaven is open only to the little child.\n\nAgain, is a man conscious of the corruption of his heart? Has he\ndiscovered his alienation from the life and love of God, and is he now\naware that a total change must pass upon him, or that alienation must be\neverlasting? Has he found out that his inclinations, and feelings, and\ntastes, and sympathies are so worldly, so averse from spiritual objects,\nas to be beyond his sovereignty? Does he feel vividly that the attempt to\nexpel this carnal mind, and to induce in the place thereof the heavenly\nspontaneous glow of piety towards God and man, is precisely like the\nattempt of the Ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard his spots?\n\nIf this experience has been forced upon him, shall he meet it with the\nport and bearing of a strong man? Shall he take the attitude of the old\nRoman stoic, and attempt to meet the exigencies of his moral condition,\nby the steady strain and hard tug of his own force? He cannot long do\nthis, under the clear searching ethics of the Sermon on the Mount,\nwithout an inexpressible weariness and a profound despair. Were he within\nthe sphere of paganism, it might, perhaps, be otherwise. A Marcus\nAurelius could maintain this legal and self-righteous position to the end\nof life, because his ideal of virtue was a very low one. Had that\nhigh-minded pagan felt the influences of Christian ethics, had the Sermon\non the Mount searched his soul, telling him that the least emotion of\npride, anger, or lust, was a breach of that everlasting law which stood\ngrand and venerable before his philosophic eye, and that his virtue was\nall gone, and his soul was exposed to the inflictions of justice, if even\na single thought of his heart was unconformed to the perfect rule of\nright,--if, instead of the mere twilight of natural religion, there had\nflared into his mind the fierce and consuming splendor of the noonday sun\nof revealed truth, and New Testament ethics, it would have been\nimpossible for that serious-minded emperor to say, as in his utter\nself-delusion he did, to the Deity: \"Give me my dues,\"--instead of\nbreathing the prayer: \"Forgive me my debts.\" Christianity elevates the\nstandard and raises the ideal of moral excellence, and thereby disturbs\nthe self-complacent feeling of the stoic, and the moralist. If the law and\nrule of right is merely an outward one, it is possible for a man\nsincerely to suppose that he has kept the law, and his sincerity will be\nhis ruin. For, in this case, he can maintain a self-reliant and a\nself-satisfied spirit, the spirit of manhood, to the very end of his\nearthly career, and go with his righteousness which is as filthy rags,\ninto the presence of Him in whose sight the heavens are not clean. But,\nif the law and rule of right is seen to be an inward and spiritual\nstatute, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and\nbecoming a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, it is not\npossible for a candid man to delude himself into the belief that he\nhas perfectly obeyed it; and in this instance, that self-dissatisfied\nspirit, that consciousness of internal schism and bondage, that war\nbetween the flesh and the spirit so vividly portrayed in the seventh\nchapter of Romans, begins, and instead of the utterance of the moralist:\n\"I have kept the everlasting law, give me my dues,\" there bursts forth\nthe self-despairing cry of the penitent and the child: \"O wretched man\nthat I am.! who shall deliver me? Father I have sinned against heaven and\nbefore thee.\"\n\nWhen, therefore, the truth and Spirit of God, working in and with the\nnatural conscience, have brought a man to that point where he sees that\nall his own righteousness is as filthy rags, and that the pure and\nstainless righteousness of Jehovah must become the possession and the\ncharacteristic of his soul, he is prepared to believe the declaration of\nour text: \"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little\nchild, he shall not enter therein.\" The new heart, and the right\nspirit,--the change, not in the mere external behavior but, in the very\ndisposition and inclination of the soul,--excludes every jot and tittle\nof self-assertion, every particle of proud and stoical manhood.\n\nSuch a text as this which we have been considering is well adapted to put\nus upon the true method of attaining everlasting life. These few and\nsimple words actually dropped, eighteen hundred years ago, from the lips\nof that august Being who is now seated upon the throne of heaven, and who\nknows this very instant the effect which they are producing in the heart\nof every one who either reads or hears them. Let us remember that these\nfew and simple words do verily contain the key to everlasting life and\nglory. In knowing what they mean, we know, infallibly, the way to heaven.\n\"I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those\nthings which we see, and have not seen them: and to hear those things\nwhich we hear, and have not heard them.\" How many a thoughtful pagan, in\nthe centuries that have passed and gone, would in all probability have\nturned a most attentive ear, had he heard, as we do, from the lips of an\nunerring Teacher, that a child-like reception of a certain particular\ntruth,--and that not recondite and metaphysical, but simple as childhood\nitself, and to be received by a little child's act,--would infallibly\nconduct to the elysium that haunted and tantalized him.\n\nThat which hinders us is our pride, our \"manhood.\" The act of faith is a\nchild's act; and a child's act, though intrinsically the easiest of any,\nis relatively the most difficult of all. It implies the surrender of our\nself-will, our self-love, our proud manhood; and never was a truer remark\nmade than that of Ullmann, that \"in no one thing is the strength of a\nman's will so manifested, as in his having no will of his own.\"[4]\n\"Christianity,\"--says Jeremy Taylor,--\"is the easiest and the hardest\nthing in the world. It is like a secret in arithmetic; infinitely hard\ntill it be found out by a right operation, and then it is so plain we\nwonder we did not understand it earlier.\" How hard, how impossible\nwithout that Divine grace which makes all such central and revolutionary\nacts easy and genial to the soul,--how hard it is to cease from our own\nworks, and really become docile and recipient children, believing on the\nLord Jesus Christ, and trusting in Him, simply and solely, for salvation.\n\n\n\n[Footnote 1: \"Concerning the object of felicity in heaven, we are agreed\nthat it can be no other than the blessed God himself, the\nall-comprehending good, fully adequate to the highest and most enlarged\nreasonable desires. But the contemperation of our faculties to the holy,\nblissful object, is so necessary to our satisfying fruition, that without\nthis we are no more capable thereof, than a brute of the festivities of a\nquaint oration, or a stone of the relishes of the most pleasant meats and\ndrinks.\" HOWE: Heaven a State of Perfection.]\n\n[Footnote 2: GOETHE: Wilhelm Meister, Book VII., ch. iii.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Compare Isaiah lxi. 1.]\n\n[Footnote 4: ULLMANN: Sinlessness of Jesus, Pt. I., Ch. iii., \u00a7 2.]\n\n\n\n\n\nFAITH THE SOLE SAVING ACT.\n\nJOHN vi. 28, 29.--\"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we\nmight work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is\nthe work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.\"\n\n\nIn asking their question, the Jews intended to inquire of Christ what\n_particular_ things they must do, before all others, in order to please\nGod. The \"works of God,\" as they denominate them, were not any and every\nduty, but those more special and important acts, by which the creature\nmight secure the Divine approval and favor. Our Lord understood their\nquestion in this sense, and in His reply tells them, that the great and\nonly work for them to do was to exercise faith in Him. They had employed\nthe plural number in their question; but in His answer He employs the\nsingular. They had asked, What shall we do that we might work the\n_works_ of God,--as if there were several of them. His reply is, \"This is\nthe _work_ of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.\" He narrows\ndown the terms of salvation to a single one; and makes the destiny of the\nsoul to depend upon the performance of a particular individual act. In\nthis, as in many other incidental ways, our Lord teaches His own\ndivinity. If He were a mere creature; if He were only an inspired teacher\nlike David or Paul; how would He dare, when asked to give in a single\nword the condition and means of human salvation, to say that they consist\nin resting the soul upon Him? Would David have dared to say: \"This is the\nwork of God,--this is the saving act,--that ye believe in me?\" Would Paul\nhave presumed to say to the anxious inquirer: \"Your soul is safe, if you\ntrust in me?\" But Christ makes this declaration, without any\nqualification. Yet He was meek and lowly of heart, and never assumed\nan honor or a prerogative that did not belong to Him. It is only upon the\nsupposition that He was \"very God of very God,\" the Divine Redeemer of\nthe children of men, that we can justify such an answer to such a\nquestion.\n\nThe belief is spontaneous and natural to man, that something must be\n_done_ in order to salvation. No man expects to reach heaven by inaction.\nEven the indifferent and supine soul expects to rouse itself up at some\nfuture time, and work out its salvation. The most thoughtless and\ninactive man, in religious respects, will acknowledge that\nthoughtlessness and inactivity if continued will end in perdition.\nBut he intends at a future day to think, and act, and be saved. So\nnatural is it, to every man, to believe in salvation by works; so ready\nis every one to concede that heaven is reached, and hell is escaped, only\nby an earnest effort of some kind; so natural is it to every man to ask\nwith these Jews, \"What shall we _do_, that we may work the works of God?\"\n\nBut mankind generally, like the Jews in the days of our Lord, are under a\ndelusion respecting the _nature_ of the work which must be performed in\norder to salvation. And in order to understand this delusion, we must\nfirst examine the common notion upon the subject.\n\nWhen a man begins to think of God, and of his own relations to Him, he\nfinds that he owes Him service and obedience. He has a work to perform,\nas a subject of the Divine government; and this work is to obey the\nDivine law. He finds himself obligated to love God with all his heart,\nand his neighbor as himself, and to discharge all the duties that spring\nout of his relations to God and man. He perceives that this is the \"work\"\ngiven him to do by creation, and that if he does it he will attain the\ntrue end of his existence, and be happy in time and eternity. When\ntherefore he begins to think of a religious life, his first spontaneous\nimpulse is to begin the performance of this work which he has hitherto\nneglected, and to reinstate himself in the Divine favor by the ordinary\nmethod of keeping the law of God. He perceives that this is the mode in\nwhich the angels preserve themselves holy and happy; that this is the\noriginal mode appointed by God, when He established the covenant of\nworks; and he does not see why it is not the method for him. The law\nexpressly affirms that the man that doeth these things shall live by\nthem; he proposes to take the law just as it reads, and just as it\nstands,--to do the deeds of the law, to perform the works which it\nenjoins, and to live by the service. This we say, is the common notion,\nnatural to man, of the species of work which must be performed in order\nto eternal life. This was the idea which filled the mind of the Jews when\nthey put the question of the text, and received for answer from Christ,\n\"This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.\" Our\nLord does not draw out the whole truth, in detail. He gives only the\npositive part of the answer, leaving His hearers to infer the negative\npart of it. For the whole doctrine of Christ, fully stated, would run\nthus: \"No work _of the kind of which you are thinking_ can save you;\nno obedience of the law, ceremonial or moral, can reinstate you in right\nrelations to God. I do not summon you to the performance of any such\nservice as that which you have in mind, in order to your justification\nand acceptance before the Divine tribunal. _This_ is the work of\nGod,--this is the sole and single act which you are to perform,--namely,\nthat you _believe_ on Him whom He hath sent as a propitiation for sin. I\ndo not summon you to works of the law, but to faith in Me the Redeemer.\nYour first duty is not to attempt to acquire a righteousness in the old\nmethod, by doing something of yourselves, but to receive a righteousness\nin the new method, by trusting in what another has done for you.\"\n\nI. What is the _ground_ and _reason_ of such an answer as this? Why is\nman invited to the method of faith in another, instead of the method of\nfaith in himself? Why is not his first spontaneous thought the true one?\nWhy should he not obtain eternal life by resolutely proceeding to do his\nduty, and keeping the law of God? Why can he not be saved by the law of\nworks? Why is he so summarily shut up to the law of faith?\n\nWe answer: Because it is _too late_ for him to adopt the method of\nsalvation by works. The law is indeed explicit in its assertion, that the\nman that doeth these things shall live by them; but then it supposes that\nthe man begin at the beginning. A subject of government cannot disobey a\ncivil statute for five or ten years, and then put himself in right\nrelations to it again, by obeying it for the remainder of his life. Can a\nman who has been a thief or an adulterer for twenty years, and then\npractises honesty and purity for the following thirty years, stand up\nbefore the seventh and eighth commandments and be acquitted by them? It\nis too late for any being who has violated a law even in a single\ninstance, to attempt to be justified by that law. For, the law demands\nand supposes that obedience begin at the very _beginning_ of existence,\nand continue down _uninterruptedly_ to the end of it. No man can come in\nat the middle of a process of obedience, any more than he can come in at\nthe last end of it, if he proposes to be accepted upon the ground of\n_obedience_. \"I testify,\" says St. Paul, \"to every man that is\ncircumcised, that he is a debtor to do the _whole_ law\" (Gal. v. 3). The\nwhole, or none, is the just and inexorable rule which law lays down in\nthe matter of justification. If any subject of the Divine government can\nshow a clean record, from the beginning to the end of his existence, the\nstatute says to him, \"Well done,\" and gives him the reward which he has\nearned. And it gives it to him not as a matter of grace, but of debt. The\nlaw never makes a present of wages. It never pays out wages, until they\nare earned,---fairly and fully earned. But when a perfect obedience from\nfirst to last is rendered to its claims, the compensation follows as\nmatter of debt. The law, in this instance, is itself brought under\nobligation. It owes a reward to the perfectly obedient subject of law,\nand it considers itself his debtor until it is paid. \"Now to him that\nworketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If it be of\nworks, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work\" (Rom.\niv. 4; xi. 6).\n\nBut, on the other hand, law is equally exact and inflexible, in case the\nwork has not been performed. It will not give eternal life to a soul that\nhas sinned ten years, and then perfectly obeyed ten years,--supposing\nthat there is any such soul. The obedience, as we have remarked, must run\nparallel with the _entire_ existence, in order to be a ground, of\njustification. Infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old age, and then the\nwhole immortality that succeeds, must all be unintermittently sinless and\nholy, in order to make eternal life a matter of debt. Justice is as exact\nand punctilious upon this side, as it is upon the other. We have seen,\nthat when a perfect obedience has been rendered, justice will not palm\noff the wages that are due as if they were some gracious gift; and on the\nother hand, when a perfect obedience has not been rendered, it will not\nbe cajoled into the bestowment of wages as if they had been earned. There\nis no principle that is so intelligent, so upright, and so exact, as\njustice; and no creature can expect either to warp it, or to circumvent\nit.\n\nIn the light of these remarks, it is evident that it is _too late_ for a\nsinner to avail himself of the method of salvation by works. For, that\nmethod requires that sinless obedience begin at the beginning of his\nexistence, and never be interrupted. But no man thus begins, and no man\nthus continues. \"The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray\nas soon as they be born, speaking lies\" (Ps. lviii. 3). Man comes into\nthe world a sinful and alienated creature. He is by nature a child of\nwrath (Eph. ii. 3). Instead of beginning life with holiness, he begins it\nwith sin. His heart at birth is apostate and corrupt; and his conduct\nfrom the very first is contrary to law. Such is the teaching of\nScripture, such is the statement of the Creeds, and such is the testimony\nof consciousness, respecting the character which man brings into the\nworld with him. The very dawn of human life is clouded with depravity; is\nmarked by the carnal mind which is at enmity with the law of God, and is\nnot subject to that law, neither indeed can be. How is it possible, then,\nfor man to attain eternal life by a method that supposes, and requires,\nthat the very dawn of his being be holy like that of Christ's, and that\nevery thought, feeling, purpose, and act be conformed to law through the\nentire existence? Is it not _too late_ for such a creature as man now is\nto adopt the method of salvation by the works of the law?\n\nBut we will not crowd you, with the doctrine of native depravity and the\nsin in Adam. We have no doubt that it is the scriptural and true doctrine\nconcerning human nature; and have no fears that it will be contradicted\nby either a profound self-knowledge, or a profound metaphysics. But\nperhaps you are one who doubts it; and therefore, for the sake of\nargument, we will let you set the commencement of sin where you please.\nIf you tell us that it begins in the second, or the fourth, or the tenth\nyear of life, it still remains true that it is _too late_ to employ the\nmethod of justification by works. If you concede any sin at all, at any\npoint whatsoever, in the history of a human soul, you preclude it from\nsalvation by the deeds of the law, and shut it up to salvation by grace.\nGo back as far as you can in your memory, and you must acknowledge that\nyou find sin as far as you go; and even if, in the face of Scripture and\nthe symbols of the Church, you should deny that the sin runs back to\nbirth and apostasy in Adam, it still remains true that the first years of\nyour _conscious_ existence were not years of holiness, nor the first acts\nwhich you _remember_, acts of obedience. Even upon your own theory, you\n_begin_ with sin, and therefore you cannot be justified by the law.\n\nThis, then, is a conclusive reason and ground for the declaration of our\nLord, that the one great work which every fallen man has to perform, and\nmust perform, in order to salvation, is faith in _another's_ work, and\nconfidence in _another's_ righteousness. If man is to be saved by his own\nrighteousness, that righteousness must begin at the very beginning of his\nexistence, and go on without interruption. If he is to be saved by his\nown good works, there never must be a single instant in his life when he\nis not working such works. But beyond all controversy such is not the\nfact. It is, therefore, impossible for him to be justified by trusting in\nhimself; and the only possible mode that now remains, is to trust in\nanother.\n\nII. And this brings us to the second part of our subject. \"This is the\nwork of God, that ye _believe_ on him whom He hath sent.\" It will be\nobserved that faith is here denominated a \"work.\" And it is so indeed. It\nis a mental act; and an act of the most comprehensive and energetic\nspecies. Faith is an active principle that carries the whole man with it,\nand in it,--head and heart, will and affections, body soul and spirit.\nThere is no act so all-embracing in its reach, and so total in its\nmomentum, as the act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In this sense, it\nis a \"work.\" It is no supine and torpid thing; but the most vital and\nvigorous activity that can be conceived of. When a sinner, moved by the\nHoly Ghost the very source of spiritual life and energy, casts himself in\nutter helplessness, and with all his weight, upon his Redeemer for\nsalvation, never is he more active, and never does he do a greater work.\n\nAnd yet, faith is not a work in the common signification of the word. In\nthe Pauline Epistles, it is generally opposed to works, in such a way as\nto exclude them. For example: \"Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By\nwhat law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude\nthat a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. Knowing\nthat a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of\nJesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be\njustified, by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law.\nReceived ye the Spirit, by the works of the law, or by the hearing of\nfaith?\"[1] In these and other passages, faith and works are directly\ncontrary to each other; so that in this connection, faith is not a\n\"work.\" Let us examine this point, a little in detail, for it will throw\nlight upon the subject under discussion.\n\nIn the opening of the discourse, we alluded to the fact that when a man's\nattention is directed to the subject of his soul's salvation, his first\nspontaneous thought is, that he must of _himself_ render something to\nGod, as an offset for his sins; that he must perform his duty by _his\nown_ power and effort, and thereby acquire a personal merit before his\nMaker and Judge. The thought of appropriating another person's work, of\nmaking use of what another being has done in his stead, does not occur to\nhim; or if it does, it is repulsive to him. His thought is, that it is\nhis own soul that is to be saved, and it is his own work that must save\nit. Hence, he begins to perform religious duties in the ordinary use of\nhis own faculties, and in his own strength, for the purpose, and with the\nexpectation, of _settling the account_ which he knows is unsettled,\nbetween himself and his Judge. As yet, there is no faith in another\nBeing. He is not trusting and resting in another person; but he is\ntrusting and resting in himself. He is not making use of the work or\nservices which another has wrought in his behalf, but he is employing\nhis own powers and faculties, in performing these his own works, which he\nowes, and which, if paid in this style, he thinks will save his soul.\nThis is the spontaneous, and it is the correct, idea of a \"work,\"--of\nwhat St. Paul so often calls a \"work of the law.\" And it is the exact\ncontrary of faith.\n\nFor, faith never does anything in this independent and self-reliant\nmanner. It does not perform a service in its own strength, and then hold\nit out to God as something for Him to receive, and for which He must pay\nback wages in the form of remitting sin and bestowing happiness. Faith is\nwholly occupied with _another's_ work, and _another's_ merit. The\nbelieving soul deserts all its own doings, and betakes itself to what a\nthird person has wrought for it, and in its stead. When, for\nillustration, a sinner discovers that he owes a satisfaction to Eternal\nJustice for the sins that are past, if he adopts the method of works, he\nwill offer up his endeavors to obey the law, as an offset, and a reason\nwhy he should be forgiven. He will say in his heart, if he does not in\nhis prayer: \"I am striving to atone for the past, by doing my duty in the\nfuture; my resolutions, my prayers and alms-giving, all this hard\nstruggle to be better and to do better, ought certainly to avail for my\npardon.\" Or, if he has been educated in a superstitious Church, he will\noffer up his penances, and mortifications, and pilgrimages, as a\nsatisfaction to justice, and a reason why he should be forgiven and made\nblessed forever in heaven. That is a very instructive anecdote which St.\nSimon relates respecting the last hours of the profligate Louis XIV. \"One\nday,\"--he says,--\"the king recovering from loss of consciousness asked\nhis confessor, Pere Tellier, to give him absolution for all his sins.\nPere Tellier asked him if he suffered much. 'No,' replied the king,\n'that's what troubles me. I should like to suffer more, for the expiation\nof my sins.'\" Here was a poor mortal who had spent his days in carnality\nand transgression of the pure law of God. He is conscious of guilt, and\nfeels the need of its atonement. And now, upon the very edge of eternity\nand brink of doom, he proposes to make his own atonement, to be his own\nredeemer and save his own soul, by offering up to the eternal nemesis\nthat was racking his conscience a few hours of finite suffering, instead\nof betaking himself to the infinite passion and agony of Calvary. This is\na work; and, alas, a \"_dead_ work,\" as St. Paul so often denominates it.\nThis is the method of justification by works. But when a man adopts the\nmethod of justification by faith, his course is exactly opposite to all\nthis. Upon discovering that he owes a satisfaction to Eternal Justice for\nthe sins that are past, instead of holding up his prayers, or\nalms-giving, or penances, or moral efforts, or any work of his own, he\nholds up the sacrificial work of Christ. In his prayer to God, he\ninterposes the agony and death of the Great Substitute between his guilty\nsoul, and the arrows of justice.[2] He knows that the very best of his\nown works, that even the most perfect obedience that a creature could\nrender, would be pierced through and through by the glittering shafts of\nviolated law. And therefore he takes the \"shield of faith.\" He places the\noblation of the God-man,--not his own work and not his own suffering, but\nanother's work and another's suffering,--between himself and the judicial\nvengeance of the Most High. And in so doing, he works no work of his own,\nand no dead work; but he works the \"work of God;\" he _believes_ on Him\nwhom God hath set forth to be a propitiation for his sins, and not for\nhis only but for the sins of the whole world.\n\nThis then is the great doctrine which our Lord taught the Jews, when they\nasked Him what particular thing or things they must do in order to\neternal life. The apostle John, who recorded the answer of Christ in this\ninstance, repeats the doctrine again in his first Epistle: \"Whatsoever we\nask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandment, and do those\nthings that are pleasing in His sight. And _this is His commandment_,\nthat we should _believe_ on the name of His Son Jesus Christ\" (1 John\niii, 22, 23). The whole duty of sinful man is here summed up, and\nconcentrated, in the duty to trust in another person than himself, and in\nanother work than his own. The apostle, like his Lord before him, employs\nthe singular number: \"This is His commandment,\"--as if there were no\nother commandment upon record. And this corresponds with the answer which\nPaul and Silas gave to the despairing jailor: \"Believe on the Lord Jesus\nChrist,\"--do this one single thing,--\"and thou shalt be saved.\" And all\nof these teachings accord with that solemn declaration of our Lord: \"He\nthat believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth\nnot the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.\" In\nthe matter of salvation, where there is faith in Christ, there is\neverything; and where there is not faith in Christ, there is nothing.\n\n1. And it is with this thought that we would close this discourse, and\nenforce the doctrine of the text. Do whatever else you may in the matter\nof religion, you have done nothing until you have believed on the Lord\nJesus Christ, whom God hath, sent into the world to be the propitiation\nfor sin. There are two reasons for this. In the first place, it is _the\nappointment and declaration of God_, that man, if saved at all, must be\nsaved by faith in the Person and Work of the Mediator. \"Neither is there\nsalvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given\namong men, whereby we must be saved\" (Acts iv. 12). It of course rests\nentirely with the Most High God, to determine the mode and manner in\nwhich He will enter into negotiations with His creatures, and especially\nwith His rebellious creatures. He must make the terms, and the creature\nmust come to them. Even, therefore, if we could not see the\nreasonableness and adaptation of the method, we should be obligated to\naccept it. The creature, and particularly the guilty creature, cannot\ndictate to his Sovereign and Judge respecting the terms and conditions by\nwhich he is to be received into favor, and secure eternal life. Men\noverlook this fact, when they presume as they do, to sit in judgment upon\nthe method of redemption by the blood of atonement and to quarrel with\nit.\n\nIn the first Punic war, Hannibal laid siege to Saguntum, a rich and\nstrongly-fortified city on the eastern coast of Spain. It was defended\nwith a desperate obstinacy by its inhabitants. But the discipline, the\nenergy, and the persistence of the Carthaginian army, were too much for\nthem; and just as the city was about to fall, Alorcus, a Spanish\nchieftain, and a mutual friend of both of the contending parties,\nundertook to mediate between them. He proposed to the Saguntines that\nthey should surrender, allowing the Carthaginian general to make his own\nterms. And the argument he used was this: \"Your city is captured, in any\nevent. Further resistance will only bring down upon you the rage of an\nincensed soldiery, and the horrors of a sack. Therefore, surrender\nimmediately, and take whatever Hannibal shall please to give. You cannot\nlose anything by the procedure, and you may gain something, even though\nit be little.\"[3] Now, although there is no resemblance between the\ngovernment of the good and merciful God and the cruel purposes and\nconduct of a heathen warrior, and we shrink from bringing the two into\nany kind of juxtaposition, still, the advice of the wise Alorcus to the\nSaguntines is good advice for every sinful man, in reference to his\nrelations to Eternal Justice. We are all of us at the mercy of God.\nShould He make no terms at all; had He never given His Son to die for our\nsins, and never sent His Spirit to exert a subduing influence upon our\nhard hearts, but had let guilt and justice take their inexorable course\nwith us; not a word could be uttered against the procedure by heaven,\nearth, or hell. No creature, anywhere can complain of justice. That is an\nattribute that cannot even be attacked. But the All-Holy is also the\nAll-Merciful. He has made certain terms, and has offered certain\nconditions of pardon, without asking leave of His creatures and without\ntaking them into council, and were these terms as strict as Draco,\ninstead of being as tender and pitiful as the tears and blood of Jesus,\nit would become us criminals to make no criticisms even in that extreme\ncase, but accept them precisely as they were offered by the Sovereign and\nthe Arbiter. We exhort you, therefore, to take these terms of salvation\nsimply as they are given, asking no questions, and being thankful that\nthere are any terms at all between the offended majesty of Heaven and the\nguilty criminals of earth. Believe on Him whom God hath sent, because it\nis the appointment and declaration of God, that if guilty man is to be\nsaved at all, he must be saved by faith in the Person and Work of the\nMediator. The very disposition to quarrel with this method implies\narrogance in dealing with the Most High. The least inclination to alter\nthe conditions shows that the creature is attempting to criticise the\nCreator, and, what is yet more, that the criminal has no true perception\nof his crime, no sense of his exposed and helpless situation, and\npresumes to dictate the terms of his own pardon!\n\n2. We might therefore leave the matter here, and there would be a\nsufficient reason for exercising the act of faith in Christ. But there is\na second and additional reason which we will also briefly urge upon you.\nNot only is it the Divine appointment, that man shall be saved, if saved\nat all, by the substituted work of another; but there are _needs_, there\nare crying _wants_, in the human conscience, that can be supplied by no\nother method. There is a perfect _adaptation_ between the Redemption that\nis in Christ Jesus, and the guilt of sinners. As we have seen, we could\nreasonably urge you to Believe in Him whom God hath sent, simply because\nGod has sent Him, and because He has told you that He will save you\nthrough no other name and in no other way, and will save you in this name\nand in this way. But we now urge you to the act of faith in this\nsubstituted work of Christ, because it has an _atoning_ virtue, and can\npacify a perturbed and angry conscience; can wash out the stains of guilt\nthat are grained into it; can extract the sting of sin which ulcerates\nand burns there. It is the idea of _expiation_ and _satisfaction_ that we\nnow single out, and press upon your notice. Sin must be\nexpiated,--expiated either by the blood of the criminal, or by the blood\nof his Substitute. You must either die for your own sin, or some one who\nis able and willing must die for you. This is founded and fixed in the\nnature of God, and the nature of man, and the nature of sin. There is an\neternal and necessary connection between crime and penalty. The wages of\nsin is death. But, all this inexorable necessity has been completely\nprovided for, by the sacrificial work of the Son of God. In the gospel,\nGod satisfies His own justice for the sinner, and now offers you the full\nbenefit of the satisfaction, if you will humbly and penitently accept it.\n\"What compassion can equal the words of God the Father addressed to the\nsinner condemned to eternal punishment, and having no means of redeeming\nhimself: 'Take my Only-Begotten Son, and make Him an offering for\nthyself;' or the words of the Son: 'Take Me, and ransom thy soul?' For\nthis is what _both_ say, when they invite and draw man to faith in the\ngospel.\"[4] In urging you, therefore, to trust in Christ's vicarious\nsufferings for sin, instead of going down to hell and suffering for sin\nin your own person; in entreating you to escape the stroke of justice\nupon yourself, by believing in Him who was smitten in your stead, who\n\"was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities;\" in\nbeseeching you to let the Eternal Son of God be your Substitute in this\nawful judicial transaction; we are summoning you to no arbitrary and\nirrational act. The peace of God which it will introduce into your\nconscience, and the love of God which it will shed abroad through your\nsoul, will be the most convincing of all proofs that the act of faith in\nthe great Atonement does no violence to the ideas and principles of the\nhuman constitution. No act that contravenes those intuitions and\nconvictions which are part and particle of man's moral nature could\npossibly produce peace and joy. It would be revolutionary and anarchical.\nThe soul could not rest an instant. And yet it is the uniform testimony\nof all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the act of simple\nconfiding faith in His blood and righteousness is the most peaceful, the\nmost joyful act they ever performed,--nay, that it was the first\n_blessed_ experience they ever felt in this world of sin, this world of\nremorse, this world of fears and forebodings concerning judgment and\ndoom.\n\nIs the question, then, of the Jews, pressing upon your mind? Do you ask,\nWhat one particular single thing shall I do, that I may be safe for time\nand eternity? Hear the answer of the Son of God Himself: \"This is the\nwork of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.\"\n\n\n[Footnote 1: Romans iii. 27, 28; Galatians ii. 16, iii. 2.]\n\n[Footnote 2: The religious teacher is often asked to define the act of\nfaith, and explain the way and manner in which the soul is to exercise\nit. \"_How_ shall I believe?\" is the question with which the anxious mind\noften replies to the gospel injunction to believe. Without pretending\nthat it is a complete answer, or claiming that it is possible, in the\nstrict meaning of the word, to explain so simple and so profound an act\nas faith, we think, nevertheless, that it assists the inquiring mind to\nsay, that whoever _asks in prayer_ for any one of the benefits of\nChrist's redemption, in so far exercises faith in this redemption.\nWhoever, for example, lifts up the supplication, \"O Lamb of God\nwho takest away the sins of the world, grant me thy peace,\" in this\nprayer puts faith in the atonement, He trusts in the atonement, by\n_pleading_ the atonement,--by mentioning it, in his supplication,\nas the reason why he may be forgiven. In like manner, he who asks for the\nrenewing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost exercises faith, in\nthese influences. This is the mode in which he expresses his _confidence_\nin the power of God to accomplish a work in his heart that is beyond his\nown power. Whatever, therefore, be the particular benefit in Christ's\nredemption that one would trust in, and thereby make personally his own,\nthat he may live by it and be blest by it,--be it the atoning blood, or\nbe it the indwelling Spirit,--let him _ask_ for that benefit. If he would\ntrust _in_ the thing, let him ask _for_ the thing.\n\nSince writing the above, we have met with a corroboration of this view,\nby a writer of the highest authority upon such points. \"Faith is that\ninward sense and act, of which prayer is the _expression_; as is evident,\nbecause in the same manner as the freedom of grace, according to the\ngospel covenant, is often set forth by this, that he that _believes_,\nreceives; so it also oftentimes is by this, that he that _asks_, or\n_prays_, or _calls upon_ God, receives. 'Ask and it shall be given you;\nseek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For\nevery one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to\nhim that knocketh, it shall be opened. And all things whatsoever ye shall\n_ask in prayer, believing_, ye shall receive (Matt. vii. 7, 8; Mark xi.\n24). If ye _abide_ in me and my words abide in you, ye shall _ask_ what\nye will, and it shall be done unto you' (John xv. 7). Prayer is often\nplainly spoken of as the expression of faith. As it very certainly is in\nRomans x. 11-14: 'For the Scripture saith, Whosoever _believeth_ on him\nshall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and\nthe Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that _call_ upon\nhim; for whosoever shall _call_ upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.\n'How then shall they _call_ on him in whom they have not _believed_.'\nChristian prayer is called the prayer of _faith_ (James v. 15). 'I will\nthat men everywhere lift up holy hands, without wrath and _doubting_ (1\nTim. ii. 8). Draw near in full assurance of _faith_' (Heb. x. 22). The\nsame expressions that are used, in Scripture, for faith, may well be used\nfor prayer also; such as _coming_ to God or Christ, and _looking_ to Him.\n'In whom we have boldness and _access_ with confidence, by the _faith_ of\nhim' (Eph. iii. 12).\" EDWARDS: Observations concerning Faith.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Livius: Historia, Lib. xxi. 12.]\n\n[Footnote 4: ANSELM: Cur Deus Homo? II. 20.]","title":"Sermons to the Natural Man","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":111971}