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diff --git a/old/13204-8.txt b/old/13204-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34ff11e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13204-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10244 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Sermons to the Natural Man, by William G.T. Shedd + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sermons to the Natural Man + +Author: William G.T. Shedd + +Release Date: August 17, 2004 [EBook #13204] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN *** + + + + +Produced by G. Graustein and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN. + +BY + +WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D. D., + +AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE," "HOMILETICS AND PASTORAL. +THEOLOGY," "DISCOURSES AND ESSAYS," "PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY," ETC. + + +NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY. 1871. + + +PREFACE. + +It is with a solemn feeling of responsibility that I send forth this +volume of Sermons. The ordinary emotions of authorship have little place +in the experience, when one remembers that what he says will be either a +means of spiritual life, or an occasion of spiritual death. + +I believe that the substance of these Discourses will prove to accord +with God's revealed truth, in the day that will try all truth. The title +indicates their general aim and tendency. The purpose is psychological. I +would, if possible, anatomize the natural heart. It is in vain to offer +the gospel unless the law has been applied with clearness and cogency. At +the present day, certainly, there is far less danger of erring in the +direction of religious severity, than in the direction of religious +indulgence. If I have not preached redemption in these sermons so fully +as I have analyzed sin, it is because it is my deliberate conviction +that just now the first and hardest work to be done by the preacher, for +the natural man, is to produce in him some sensibility upon the subject +of sin. Conscience needs to become consciousness. There is considerable +theoretical unbelief respecting the doctrines of the New Testament; but +this is not the principal difficulty. Theoretical skepticism is in a +small minority of Christendom, and always has been. The chief obstacle to +the spread of the Christian religion is the practical unbelief of +speculative believers. "Thou sayest,"--says John Bunyan,--"thou dost in +deed and in truth believe the Scriptures. I ask, therefore, Wast thou +ever killed stark dead by the law of works contained in the Scriptures? +Killed by the law or letter, and made to see thy sins against it, and +left in an helpless condition by the law? For, the proper work of the law +is to slay the soul, and to leave it dead in an helpless state. For, it +doth neither give the soul any comfort itself, when it comes, nor doth it +show the soul where comfort is to be had; and therefore it is called the +'ministration of condemnation,' the 'ministration of death.' For, though +men may have a notion of the blessed Word of God, yet before they be +converted, it may be truly said of them, Ye err, not knowing the +Scriptures, nor the power of God." + +If it be thought that such preaching of the law can be dispensed with, by +employing solely what is called in some quarters the preaching of the +gospel, I do not agree with the opinion. The benefits of Christ's +redemption are pearls which must not be cast before swine. The gospel is +not for the stupid, or for the doubter,--still less for the scoffer. +Christ's atonement is to be offered to conscious guilt, and in order to +conscious guilt there must be the application of the decalogue. John +Baptist must prepare the way for the merciful Redeemer, by legal and +close preaching. And the merciful Redeemer Himself, in the opening of His +ministry, and before He spake much concerning remission of sins, preached +a sermon which in its searching and self-revelatory character is a more +alarming address to the corrupt natural heart, than was the first +edition of it delivered amidst the lightnings of Sinai. The Sermon on the +Mount is called the Sermon of the Beatitudes, and many have the +impression that it is a very lovely song to the sinful soul of man. They +forget that the blessing upon obedience implies a _curse_ upon +disobedience, and that every mortal man has disobeyed the Sermon on the +Mount. "God save me,"--said a thoughtful person who knew what is in the +Sermon on the Mount, and what is in the human heart,--"God save me from +the Sermon on the Mount when I am judged in the last day." When Christ +preached this discourse, He preached the law, principally. "Think +not,"--He says,--"that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am +not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven +and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law +till all be fulfilled." John the Baptist describes his own preaching, +which was confessedly severe and legal, as being far less searching than +that of the Messiah whose near advent he announced. "I indeed baptize you +with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than +I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the +Holy Ghost and with _fire_; whose _fan_ is in his hand, and he will +_thoroughly purge_ his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but +he will _burn up the chaff_ with unquenchable fire." + +The general burden and strain of the Discourse with which the Redeemer +opened His ministry is preceptive and mandatory. Its keynote is: "Thou +shalt do this," and, "Thou shalt not do that;" "Thou shalt be thus, in +thine heart," and, "Thou shalt not be thus, in thine heart." So little is +said in it, comparatively, concerning what are called the doctrines of +grace, that it has often been cited to prove that the creed of the Church +has been expanded unduly, and made to contain more than the Founder of +Christianity really intended it should. The absence, for example, of any +direct and specific statement of the doctrine of Atonement, in this +important section of Christ's teaching, has been instanced by the +Socinian opponent as proof that this doctrine is not so vital as the +Church has always claimed it to be. But, Christ was purposely silent +respecting grace and its methods, until he had _spiritualized Law_, and +made it penetrate the human consciousness like a sharp sword. Of what use +would it have been to offer mercy, before the sense of its need had been +elicited? and how was this to be elicited, but by the solemn and +authoritative enunciation of law and justice? There are, indeed, cheering +intimations, in the Sermon on the Mount, respecting the Divine mercy, and +so there are in connection with the giving of the Ten Commandments. But +law, rather than grace, is the main substance and burden of both. The +great intention, in each instance, is to convince of sin, preparatory to +the offer of clemency. The Decalogue is the legal basis of the Old +Dispensation, and the Sermon on the Mount is the legal basis of the New. +When the Redeemer, in the opening of His ministry, had provided the +apparatus of conviction, then He provided the apparatus of expiation. The +Great High-Priest, like the Levitical priest who typified Him, did not +sprinkle atoning blood indiscriminately. It was to bedew only him who +felt and confessed guilt. + +This legal and minatory element in the words of Jesus has also been +noticed by the skeptic, and an argument has been founded upon it to prove +that He was soured by ill-success, and, like other merely human reformers +who have found the human heart too hard, for them, fell away from the +gentleness with which He began His ministry, into the anger and +denunciation of mortified ambition with which it closed. This is the +picture of Jesus Christ which Rénan presents in his apocryphal Gospel. +But the fact is, that the Redeemer _began_ with law, and was rigorous +with sin from the very first. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered not +far from twelve months from the time of His inauguration, by baptism, to +the office of Messiah. And all along through His ministry of three years +and a half, He constantly employs the law in order to prepare his hearers +for grace. He was as gentle and gracious to the penitent sinner, in the +opening of His ministry, as he was at the close of it; and He was as +unsparing and severe towards the hardened and self-righteous sinner, in +His early Judaean, as He was in His later Galilean ministry. + +It is sometimes said that the surest way to produce conviction of sin is +to preach the Cross. There is a sense in which this is true, and there is +a sense in which it is false. If the Cross is set forth as the cursed +tree on which the Lord of Glory hung and suffered, to satisfy the demands +of Eternal Justice, then indeed there is fitness in the preaching to +produce the sense of guilt. But this is to preach the _law_, in its +fullest extent, and the most tremendous energy of its claims. Such +discourse as this must necessarily analyze law, define it, enforce it, +and apply it in the most cogent manner. For, only as the atonement of +Christ is shown to completely meet and satisfy all these _legal_ demands +which have been so thoroughly discussed and exhibited, is the real virtue +and power of the Cross made manifest. + +But if the Cross is merely held up as a decorative ornament, like that on +the breast of Belinda, "which Jews might kiss and infidels adore;" if it +be proclaimed as the beautiful symbol of the Divine indifference and +indulgence, and there be a studious _avoiding_ of all judicial aspects +and relations; if the natural man is not searched by law and alarmed by +justice, but is only soothed and narcotized by the idea of an +Epicurean deity destitute of moral anger and inflicting no righteous +retribution,--then, there will be no conviction of sin. Whenever the +preaching of the law is positively _objected_ to, and the preaching of +the gospel is proposed in its place, it will be found that the "gospel" +means that good-nature and that easy virtue which some mortals dare to +attribute to the Holy and Immaculate Godhead! He who really, and in good +faith, preaches the Cross, never opposes the preaching of the law. + +Still another reason for the kind of religious discourse which we are +defending is found in the fact that multitudes are expecting a happy +issue of this life, upon ethical as distinguished from evangelical +grounds. They deny that they deserve damnation, or that they need +Christ's atonement. They say that they are living virtuous lives, and are +ready to adopt language similar to that of Mr. Mill spoken in another +connection: "If from this position of integrity and morality we are to be +sent to hell, to hell we will go." This tendency is strengthened by the +current light letters, in distinction from standard literature. A certain +class, through ephemeral essays, poems, and novels, has been plied with +the doctrine of a natural virtue and an innate goodness, until it has +become proud and self-reliant. The "manhood" of paganism is glorified, +and the "childhood" of the gospel is vilified. The graces of humility, +self-abasement before God, and especially of penitence for sin, are +distasteful and loathed. Persons of this order prefer to have their +religious teacher silent upon these themes, and urge them to courage, +honor, magnanimity, and all that class of qualities which imply +self-consciousness and self-reliance. To them apply the solemn words of +the Son of God to the Pharisees: "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: +but now ye say, We _see_, therefore your sin remaineth." + +It is, therefore, specially incumbent upon the Christian ministry, to +employ a searching and psychological style of preaching, and to apply the +tests of ethics and virtue so powerfully to men who are trusting to +ethics and virtue, as to bring them upon their knees. Since these men are +desiring, like the "foolish Galatiana," to be saved by the law, then let +the law be laid down to them, in all its breadth and reach, that they may +understand the real nature and consequences of the position they have +taken. "Tell me," says a preacher of this stamp,--"tell me, ye that +desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law,"--do ye not hear its +thundering,--"_cursed_ is every one that continueth not in ALL things +that are written in the law, to do them!" Virtue must be absolutely +perfect and spotless, if a happy immortality is to be made to depend upon +virtue. If the human heart, in its self-deception and self-reliance, +turns away from the Cross and the righteousness of God, to morals and the +righteousness of works, then let the Christian thinker follow after it +like the avenger of blood. Let him set the heights and depths of ethical +_perfection_ before the deluded mortal; let him point to the inaccessible +cliffs that tower high above, and bid him scale them if he can; let him +point to the fathomless abysses beneath, and tell him to descend and +bring up perfect virtue therefrom; let him employ the very instrument +which this _virtuoso_ has chosen, until it becomes an instrument of +torture and self-despair. In this way, he is breaking down the "manhood" +that confronts and opposes, and is bringing in the "childhood" that is +docile, and recipient of the kingdom. + +These Sermons run the hazard of being pronounced monotonous, because of +the pertinacity with which the attempt is made to force self-reflection. +But this criticism can easily be endured, provided the attempt succeeds. +Religious truth becomes almighty the instant it can get _within_ the +soul; and it gets within the soul, the instant real thinking begins. "As +you value your peace of mind, stop all scrutiny into your personal +character," is the advice of what Milton denominates "the sty of +Epicurus." The discouraging religious condition of the present age is +due to the great lack, not merely in the lower but the higher classes, of +calm, clear self-intelligence. Men do not know themselves. The Delphic +oracle was never less obeyed than now, in this vortex of mechanical arts +and luxury. For this reason, it is desirable that the religious teacher +dwell consecutively upon topics that are connected with that which is +_within_ man,--his settled motives of action, and all those spontaneous +on-goings of his soul of which he takes no notice, unless he is persuaded +or impelled to do so. Some of the old painters produced powerful effects +by one solitary color. The subject of moral evil contemplated in the +heart of the individual man,--not described to him from the outside, but +wrought out of his own being into incandescent letters, by the fierce +chemistry of anxious perhaps agonizing reflection,--sin, the one awful +fact in the history of man, if caused to pervade discourse will always +impart to it a hue which, though it be monochromatic, arrests and holds +the eye like the lurid color of an approaching storm-cloud. + +With this statement respecting the aim and purport of these Sermons, and +deeply conscious of their imperfections, especially for spiritual +purposes, I send them out into the world, with the prayer that God the +Spirit will deign to employ them as the means of awakening some souls +from the lethargy of sin. + +Union Theological Seminary, +New York, _February 17_, 1871. + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + + I. THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE + + II. THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE (continued) + +III. GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN + + IV. GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN (continued) + + V. ALL MANKIND GUILTY; OR, EVERY MAN KNOWS MORE THAN HE PRACTISES + + VI. SIN IN THE HEART THE SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE HEAD + +VII. THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES + +VIII. THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES (continued) + +IX. THE IMPOTENCE OF THE LAW + +X. SELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE + +XI. SIN IS SPIRITUAL SLAVERY + +XII. THE ORIGINAL AND THE ACTUAL RELATION OF MAN TO LAW + +XIII. THE SIN OF OMISSION + +XIV. THE SINFULNESS OF ORIGINAL SIN + +XV. THE APPROBATION OF GOODNESS IS NOT THE LOVE OF IT + +XVI. THE USE OF FEAR IN RELIGION + +XVII. THE PRESENT LIFE AS BELATED TO THE FUTURE + +XVIII. THE EXERCISE OF MERCY OPTIONAL WITH GOD + +XIX. CHRISTIANITY REQUIRES THE TEMPER OF CHILDHOOD + +XX. FAITH THE SOLE SAVING ACT + + +SERMONS. + +THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE. + +1 Cor. xiii. 12.--"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also +I am known." + + +The apostle Paul made this remark with reference to the blessedness of +the Christian in eternity. Such assertions are frequent in the +Scriptures. This same apostle, whose soul was so constantly dilated +with the expectation of the beatific vision, assures the Corinthians, in +another passage in this epistle, that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, +neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath +prepared for them that love Him." The beloved disciple John, also, though +he seems to have lived in the spiritual world while he was upon the +earth, and though the glories of eternity were made to pass before him in +the visions of Patmos, is compelled to say of the sons of God, "It doth +not yet appear what we shall be." And certainly the common Christian, as +he looks forward with a mixture of hope and anxiety to his final state in +eternity, will confess that he knows but "in part," and that a very small +part, concerning it. He endures as seeing that which is invisible, and +cherishes the hope that through Christ's redemption his eternity will +be a condition of peace and purity, and that he shall know even as also +he is known. + +But it is not the Christian alone who is to enter eternity, and to whom +the exchange of worlds will bring a luminous apprehension of many things +that have hitherto been seen only through a glass darkly. Every human +creature may say, when he thinks of the alteration that will come over +his views of religious subjects upon entering another life, "Now +I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. I am now +in the midst of the vapors and smoke of this dim spot which men call +earth, but then shall I stand in the dazzling light of the face of God, +and labor under no doubt or delusion respecting my own character or that +of my Eternal Judge." + +A moment's reflection will convince any one, that the article and fact of +death must of itself make a vast accession to the amount of a man's +knowledge, because death introduces him into an entirely new state of +existence. Foreign travel adds much to our stock of ideas, because we go +into regions of the earth of which we had previously known only by the +hearing of the ear. But the great and last journey that man takes carries +him over into a province of which no book, not even the Bible itself, +gives him any distinct cognition, as to the style of its scenery or the +texture of its objects. In respect to any earthly scene or experience, +all men stand upon substantially the same level of information, because +they all have substantially the same data for forming an estimate. Though +I may never have been in Italy, I yet know that the soil of Italy is a +part of the common crust of the globe, that the Apennines are like other +mountains which I have seen, that the Italian sunlight pours through the +pupil like any other sunlight, and that the Italian breezes fan the brow +like those of the sunny south the world over. I understand that the +general forms of human consciousness in Europe and Asia, are like those +in America. The operations of the five senses are the same in the Old +World that they are in the New. But what do I know of the surroundings +and experience of a man who has travelled from time into eternity? Am I +not completely baffled, the moment I attempt to construct the +consciousness of the unearthly state? I have no materials out of which to +build it, because it is not a world of sense and matter, like that which +I now inhabit. + +But death carries man over into the new and entirely different mode of +existence, so that he knows by direct observation and immediate +intuition. A flood of new information pours in upon the disembodied +spirit, such as he cannot by any possibility acquire upon earth, and yet +such as he cannot by any possibility escape from in his new residence. +How strange it is, that the young child, the infant of days, in the heart +of Africa, by merely dying, by merely passing from time into eternity, +acquires a kind and grade of knowledge that is absolutely inaccessible +to the wisest and subtlest philosopher while here on earth![1] The dead +Hottentot knows more than the living Plato. + +But not only does the exchange of worlds make a vast addition to our +stores of information respecting the nature of the invisible realm, and +the mode of existence there, it also makes a vast addition to the kind +and degree of our knowledge respecting _ourselves_, and our personal +relationships to God. This is by far the most important part of the new +acquisition which we gain by the passage from time to eternity, and it is +to this that the Apostle directs attention in the text. It is not so much +the world that will be around us, when we are beyond the tomb, as it is +the world that will be within us, that is of chief importance. Our +circumstances in this mode of existence, and in any mode of existence, +are arranged by a Power above us, and are, comparatively, matters of +small concern; but the persons that we ourselves verily are, the +characters which we bring into this environment, the little inner world +of thought and feeling which is to be inclosed and overarched in the +great outer world of forms and objects,--all this is matter of infinite +moment and anxiety to a responsible creature. + +For the text teaches, that inasmuch as the future life is the _ultimate_ +state of being for an immortal spirit, all that imperfection and +deficiency in knowledge which appertains to this present life, this +"ignorant present" time, must disappear. When we are in eternity, we +shall not be in the dark and in doubt respecting certain great questions +and truths that sometimes raise a query in our minds here. Voltaire now +knows whether there is a sin-hating God, and David Hume now knows whether +there is an endless hell. I may, in certain moods of my mind here upon +earth, query whether I am accountable and liable to retribution, but the +instant I shall pass from this realm of shadows, all this skepticism will +be banished forever from my mind. For the future state is the _final_ +state, and hence all questions are settled, and all doubts are resolved. +While upon earth, the arrangements are such that we cannot see every +thing, and must walk by faith, because it is a state of probation; but +when once in eternity, all the arrangements are such that we cannot but +see every thing, and must walk by sight, because it is the state of +adjudication. Hence it is, that the preacher is continually urging men to +view things, so far as is possible, in the light of eternity, as the only +light that shines clearly and without refractions. Hence it is, that he +importunes his hearers to estimate their duties, and their relationships, +and their personal character, as they will upon the death-bed, because in +the solemn hour of death the light of the future state begins to dawn +upon the human soul. + +It is very plain that if a spiritual man like the apostle Paul, who in a +very remarkable degree lived with reference to the future world, and +contemplated subjects in the light of eternity, was compelled to say that +he knew but "in part," much more must the thoughtless natural man confess +his ignorance of that which will meet him when his spirit returns to God. +The great mass of mankind are totally vacant of any just apprehension of +what will be their state of mind, upon being introduced into God's +presence. They have never seriously considered what must be the effect +upon their views and feelings, of an entire withdrawment from the scenes +and objects of earth, and an entrance into those of the future state. +Most men are wholly engrossed in the present existence, and do not allow +their thoughts to reach over into that invisible region which revelation +discloses, and which the uncontrollable workings of conscience sometimes +_force_ upon their attention for a moment. How many men there are, whose +sinful and thoughtless lives prove that they are not aware that the +future world will, by its very characteristics, fill them with a species +and a grade of information that will be misery unutterable. Is it not the +duty and the wisdom of all such, to attempt to conjecture and anticipate +the coming experience of the human soul in the day of judgment and the +future life, in order that by repentance toward God and faith in the Lord +Jesus Christ they may be able to stand in that day? Let us then endeavor +to know, at least "in part," concerning the eternal state. + +The latter clause of the text specifies the general characteristic of +existence in the future world. It is a mode of existence in which the +rational mind "_knows_ even as it is known." It is a world of +knowledge,--of conscious knowledge. In thus unequivocally asserting that +our existence beyond the tomb is one of distinct consciousness, +revelation has taught us what we most desire and need to know. The first +question that would be raised by a creature who was just to be launched +out upon an untried mode of existence would be the question: "Shall I be +_conscious_?" However much he might desire to know the length and breadth +of the ocean upon which his was to set sail, the scenery that was to be +above him and around him in his coming history,--nay, however much he +might wish to know of matters still closer to himself than these; however +much he might crave to ask of his Maker, "With what body shall I come?" +all would be set second to the simple single inquiry: "Shall I think, +shall I feel, shall I know?" In answering this question in the +affirmative, without any hesitation or ambiguity, the apostle Paul has +in reality cleared up most of the darkness that overhangs the future +state. The structure of the spiritual body, and the fabric of the +immaterial world, are matters of secondary importance, and may be left +without explanation, provided only the rational mind of man be distinctly +informed that it shall not sleep in unconsciousness, and that the +immortal spark shall not become such stuff as dreams are made of. + +The future, then, is a mode of existence in which the soul "knows even as +it is known." But this involves a perception in which there is no error, +and no intermission. For, the human spirit in eternity "is known" by the +omniscient God. If, then, it knows in the style and manner that God +knows, there can be no misconception or cessation in its cognition. Here, +then, we have a glimpse into the nature of our eternal existence. It is a +state of distinct and unceasing knowledge of moral truth and moral +objects. The human spirit, be it holy or sinful, a friend or an enemy of +God, in eternity will always and forever be aware of it. There is no +forgetting in the future state; there is no dissipation of the mind +there; and there is no aversion of the mind from itself. The cognition is +a fixed quantity. Given the soul, and the knowledge is given. If it be +holy, it is always conscious of the fact. If it be sinful, it cannot for +an instant lose the distressing consciousness of sin. In neither instance +will it be necessary, as it generally is in this life, to make a special +effort and a particular examination, in order to know the personal +character. Knowledge of God and His law, in the future life, is +spontaneous and inevitable; no creature can escape it; and therefore the +bliss is _unceasing_ in heaven, and the misery is _unceasing_ in +hell. There are no states of thoughtlessness and unconcern in the future +life, because there is not an instant of forgetfulness or ignorance of +the personal character and condition. In the world beyond this, every man +will constantly and distinctly know what he is, and what he is not, +because he will "be known" by the omniscient and unerring God, and will +himself know in the same constant and distinct style and manner. + +If the most thoughtless person that now walks the globe could only have a +clear perception of that kind of knowledge which is awaiting him upon the +other side of the tomb, he would become the most thoughtful and the most +anxious of men. It would sober him like death itself. And if any +unpardoned man should from this moment onward be haunted with the +thought, "When I die I shall enter into the light of God's countenance, +and obtain a knowledge of my own character and obligations that will be +as accurate and unvarying as that of God himself upon this subject," he +would find no rest until he had obtained an assurance of the Divine +mercy, and such an inward change as would enable him to endure this deep +and full consciousness of the purity of God and of the state of his +heart. It is only because a man is unthinking, or because he imagines +that the future world will be like the present one, only longer in +duration, that he is so indifferent regarding it. Here is the difficulty +of the case, and the fatal mistake which the natural man makes. He +supposes that the views which he shall have upon religious subjects in +the eternal state, will be very much as they are in this,--vague, +indistinct, fluctuating, and therefore causing no very great anxiety. He +can pass days and weeks here in time without thinking of the claims of +God upon him, and he imagines that the same thing is possible in +eternity. While here upon earth, he certainly does not "know even as +also he is known," and he hastily concludes that so it will be beyond the +grave. It is because men imagine that eternity is only a very long space +of _time_, filled up, as time here is, with dim, indistinct +apprehensions, with a constantly shifting experience, with shallow +feelings and ever diversified emotions, in fine, with all the _variety_ +of pleasure and pain, of ignorance and knowledge, that pertains to this +imperfect and probationary life,--it is because mankind thus conceive of +the final state, that it exerts no more influence over them. But such is +not its true idea. There is a marked difference between the present and +the future life, in respect to uniformity and clearness of knowledge. +"Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." The +text and the whole teaching of the New Testament prove that the invisible +world is the unchangeable one; that there are no alterations of +character, and consequently no alternations of experience, in the future +life; that there are no transitions, as there are in this checkered scene +of earth, from happiness to unhappiness and back again. There is but one +uniform type of experience for an individual soul in eternity. That soul +is either uninterruptedly happy, or uninterruptedly miserable, because it +has either an uninterrupted sense of holiness, or an uninterrupted sense +of sin. He that is righteous is righteous still, and knows it +continually; and he that is filthy is filthy still, and knows it +incessantly. If we enter eternity as the redeemed of the Lord, we take +over the holy heart and spiritual affections of regeneration, and there +is no change but that of progression,--a change, consequently, only in +degree, but none of kind or type. The same knowledge and experience that +we have here "in part" we shall have there in completeness and +permanency. And the same will be true, if the heart be evil and the +affections inordinate and earthly. And all this, simply because the +mind's knowledge is clear, accurate, and constant. That which the +transgressor knows here of God and his own heart, but imperfectly, and +fitfully, and briefly, he shall know there perfectly, and constantly, and +everlastingly. The law of constant evolution, and the characteristic of +unvarying uniformity, will determine and fix the type of experience in +the evil as it does in the good. + +Such, then, is the general nature of knowledge in the future state. It is +distinct, accurate, unintermittent, and unvarying. We shall know even as +we are known, and we are known by the omniscient and unerring Searcher of +hearts. Let us now apply this general characteristic of cognition in +eternity to some particulars. Let us transfer our minds into the future +and final state, and mark what goes on within them there. We ought often +to enter this mysterious realm, and become habituated to its mental +processes, and by a wise anticipation become prepared for the reality +itself. + +I. The human mind, in eternity, will have a distinct and unvarying +perception of the _character of God_. And that one particular attribute +in this character, respecting which the cognition will be of the most +luminous quality, is the Divine holiness. In eternity, the immaculateness +of the Deity will penetrate the consciousness of every rational creature +with the subtlety and the thoroughness of fire. God's essence is +infinitely pure, and intensely antagonistic to sin, but it is not until +there is a direct contact between it and the human mind, that man +understands it and feels it. "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the +ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee, and I abhor myself." Even the best of +men know but "in part" concerning the holiness of God. Yet it is +noticeable how the apprehension of it grows upon the ripening Christian, +as he draws nearer to the time of his departure. The vision of the +cherubim themselves seems to dawn upon the soul of a Leighton and an +Edwards, and though it does not in the least disturb their saintly and +seraphic peace, because they are sheltered in the clefts of the Rock of +Ages, as the brightness passes by them, it does yet bring out from their +comparatively holy and spiritual hearts the utterance, "Behold I am vile; +infinite upon, infinite is my sin." But what shall be said of the common +and ordinary knowledge of mankind, upon this subject! Except at certain +infrequent times, the natural man does not know even "in part," +respecting the holiness of God, and hence goes on in transgression +without anxiety or terror. It is the very first work of prevenient grace, +to disclose to the human mind something of the Divine purity; and +whoever, at any moment, is startled by a more than common sense of God's +holy character, should regard it and cherish it as a token of benevolence +and care for his soul. + +Now, in eternity this species of knowledge must exist in the very highest +degree. The human soul will be encircled by the character and attributes +of God. It cannot look in any direction without beholding it. It is not +so here. Here, in this life, man may and does avert his eye, and refuse +to look at the sheen and the splendor that pains his organ. He fastens +his glance upon the farm, or the merchandise, or the book, and +perseveringly determines not to see the purity of God that rebukes him. +And _here_ he can succeed. He can and does live days and months without +so much as a momentary glimpse of his Maker, and, as the apostle says, +is "without God" in this world. And yet such men do have, now and then, a +view of the face of God. It may be for an instant only. It may be merely +a thought, a gleam, a flash; and yet, like that quick flash of lightning, +of which our Lord speaks, that lighteneth out of the one part of heaven, +and shineth unto the other part, that cometh out of the East and shineth +even unto the West,--like that swift momentary flash which runs round the +whole horizon in the twinkling of an eye, this swift thought and gleam of +God's purity fills the whole guilty soul full of light. What spiritual +distress seizes the man in such moments, and of what a penetrating +perception of the Divine character is he possessed for an instant! It is +a distinct and an accurate knowledge, but, unlike the cognition of the +future state, it is not yet an inevitable and unintermittent one. He can +expel it, and become again an ignorant and indifferent being, as he was +before. He knows but "in part" at the very best, and this only +temporarily. + +But carry this rational and accountable creature into eternity, denude +him of the body of sense, and take him out of the busy and noisy world of +sense into the silent world of spirits, and into the immediate presence +of God, and then he will know upon this subject even as he is known. That +sight and perception of God's purity which he had here for a brief +instant, and which was so painful because he was not in sympathy with it, +has now become everlasting. That distinct and accurate knowledge of +God's character has now become his only knowledge. That flash of +lightning has become light,--fixed, steady, permanent as the orb of day. +The rational spirit cannot for an instant rid itself of the idea of God. +Never for a moment, in the endless cycles, can it look away from its +Maker; for in His presence what other object is there to look at? Time +itself, with its pursuits and its objects of thought and feeling, is no +longer, for the angel hath sworn it by Him who liveth for ever and ever. +There is nothing left, then, to occupy and engross the attention but the +character and attributes of God; and, now, the immortal mind, created for +such a purpose, must yield itself up to that contemplation which in this +life it dreaded and avoided. The future state of every man is to be an +open and unavoidable vision of God. If he delights in the view, he will +be blessed; if he loathes it, he will be miserable. This is the substance +of heaven and hell. This is the key to the eternal destiny of every human +soul. If a man love God, he shall gaze at him and adore; if he hate God, +he shall gaze at him and gnaw his tongue for pain. + +The subject, as thus far unfolded, teaches the following lessons: + +1. In the first place, it shows that _a false theory of the future state +will not protect a man from future misery_. For, we have seen that the +eternal world, by its very structure and influences, throws a flood of +light upon the Divine character, causing it to appear in its ineffable +purity and splendor, and compels every creature to stand out in that +light. There is no darkness in which man can hide himself, when he leaves +this world of shadows. A false theory, therefore, respecting God, can no +more protect a man from the reality, the actual matter of fact, than a +false theory of gravitation will preserve a man from falling from a +precipice into a bottomless abyss. Do you come to us with the theory +that every human creature will be happy in another life, and that the +doctrine of future misery is false? We tell you, in reply, that God is +_holy_, beyond dispute or controversy; that He cannot endure the sight of +sin; and that in the future world every one of His creatures must see Him +precisely as He is, and know Him in the real and eternal qualities of His +nature. The man, therefore, who is full of sin, whose heart is earthly, +sensual, selfish, must, when he approaches that pure Presence, find that +his theory of future happiness shrivels up like the heavens themselves, +before the majesty and glory of God. He now stands face to face with a +Being whose character has never dawned upon him with such a dazzling +purity, and to dispute the reality would be like disputing the fierce +splendor of the noonday sun. Theory must give way to fact, and the +deluded mortal must submit to its awful force. + +In this lies the _irresistible_ power of death, judgment, and eternity, +to alter the views of men. Up to these points they can dispute and argue, +because there is no ocular demonstration. It is possible to debate the +question this side of the tomb, because we are none of us face to face +with God, and front to front with eternity. In the days of Noah, before +the flood came, there was skepticism, and many theories concerning the +threatened deluge. So long as the sky was clear, and the green earth +smiled under the warm sunlight, it was not difficult for the unbeliever +to maintain an argument in opposition to the preacher of righteousness. +But when the sky was rent with lightnings, and the earth was scarred with +thunder-bolts, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, where +was the skepticism? where were the theories? where were the arguments? +When God teaches, "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the +disputer of this world?" They then knew as they were known; they stood +face to face with the facts. + +It is this _inevitableness_ of the demonstration upon which we would +fasten attention. We are not always to live in this world of shadows. We +are going individually into the very face and eyes of Jehovah, and +whatever notions we may have adopted and maintained must all disappear, +except as they shall be actually verified by what we shall see and know +in that period of our existence when we shall perceive with the accuracy +and clearness of God Himself. Our most darling theories, by which we may +have sought to solace our souls in reference to our future destiny, if +false, will be all ruthlessly torn away, and we must see what verily and +eternally is. All mankind come upon one doctrinal platform when they +enter eternity. They all have one creed there. There is not a skeptic +even in hell. The devils believe and tremble. The demonstration that God +is holy is so irrefragable, so complete and absolute, that doubt or +denial is impossible in any spirit that has passed the line between time +and eternity. + +2. In the second place, this subject shows that _indifference and +carelessness respecting the future life will not protect the soul from +future misery_. There may be no false theory adopted, and yet if there be +no thoughtful preparation to meet God, the result will be all the same. I +may not dispute the Newtonian theory of gravitation, yet if I pay no heed +to it, if I simply forget it, as I clamber up mountains, and walk by the +side of precipices, my body will as surely be dashed to pieces as if I +were a theoretical skeptic upon the subject of gravitation. + +The creature's indifference can no more alter the immutable nature of +God, than can the creature's false reasoning, or false theorizing. That +which is settled in heaven, that which is fixed and eternal, stands the +same stern, relentless fact under all circumstances. We see the operation +of this sometimes here upon earth, in a very impressive manner. A youth +or a man simply neglects the laws and conditions of physical well-being. +He does not dispute them. He merely pays no attention to them. A. few +years pass by, and disease and torturing pain become his portion. He +comes now into the awful presence of the powers and the facts which the +Creator has inlaid in the world, of physical existence. He knows now even +as he is known. And the laws are stern. He finds no place of repentance +in them, though he seek it carefully with tears. The laws never repent, +never change their mind. The principles of physical life and growth which +he has never disputed, but which he has never regarded, now crush him +into the ground in their relentless march and motion. + +Precisely so will it be in the moral world, and with reference to the +holiness of God. That man who simply neglects to prepare himself to see a +holy God, though he never denies that there is such a Being, will find +the vision just as unendurable to him, as it is to the most determined of +earthly skeptics. So far as the final result in the other world is +concerned, it matters little whether a man adds unbelief to his +carelessness, or not. The carelessness will ruin his soul, whether with +or without skepticism. Orthodoxy is valuable only as it inspires the hope +that it will end in timely and practical attention to the concerns of the +soul. But if you show me a man who you infallibly know will go through +life careless and indifferent, I will show you a man who will not be +prepared to meet God face to face, even though his theology be as +accurate as that of St. Paul himself. Nay, we have seen that there is a +time coming when all skeptics will become believers like the devils +themselves, and will tremble at the ocular demonstration of truths which +they have heretofore denied. Theoretical unbelief must be a temporary +affair in every man; for it can last only until he dies. Death will make +all the world theoretically orthodox, and bring them all to one and the +same creed. But death will not bring them all to one and the same happy +experience of the truth, and lave of the creed. For those who have made +preparation for the vision of God and the ocular demonstration of Divine +truth, these will rise upon their view with a blessed and glorious light. +But for those who have remained sinful and careless, these eternal truths +and facts will be a vision of terror and despair. They will not alter. No +man will find any place of repentance in them, though, like Esau, he seek +it carefully and with tears. + +3. In the third place, this subject shows that _only faith in Christ and +a new heart can protect the soul from future misery_. The nature and +character of God cannot be altered, and therefore the change must be +wrought in man's soul. The disposition and affections of the heart must +be brought into such sweet sympathy and harmony with God's holiness, that +when in the next world that holiness shall be revealed as it is to the +seraphim, it will fall in upon the soul like the rays of a vernal sun, +starting every thing into cheerful life and joy. If the Divine holiness +does not make this impression, it produces exactly the contrary effect. +If the sun's rays do not start the bud in the spring, they kill it. If +the vision of a holy God is not our heaven, then it must be our hell. +Look then directly into your heart, and tell us which is the impression +for you. Can you say with David, "We give thanks and rejoice, at the +remembrance of Thy holiness?" Are you glad that there is such a pure and +immaculate Being upon the throne, and when His excellence abashes you, +and rebukes your corruption and sin, do you say, "Let the righteous One +smite me, it shall be a kindness?" Do you _love_ God's holy character? If +so, you are a new creature, and are ready for the vision of God, face to +face. For you, to know God even as you are known by Him will not be a +terror, but a glory and a joy. You are in sympathy with Him. You have +been reconciled to Him by the blood of atonement, and brought into +harmony with Him by the washing of regeneration. For you, as a believer +in Christ, and a new man in Christ Jesus, all is well. The more you see +of God, the more you desire to see of Him; and the more you know of Him, +the more you long to know. + +But if this is not your experience, then all is ill with you. We say +_experience_. You must _feel_ in this manner toward God, or you cannot +endure the vision which is surely to break upon you after death. You must +_love_ this holiness without which no man can see the Lord. You may +approve of it, you may praise it in other men, but if there is no +affectionate going out of your own heart toward, the holy God, you are +not in right relations to Him. You have the carnal mind, and that is +enmity, and enmity is misery. + +Look these facts in the eye, and act accordingly. "Make the _tree_ good, +and his fruit good," says Christ. Begin at the beginning. Aim at nothing +less than a change of disposition and affections. Ask for nothing less, +seek for nothing less. If you become inwardly holy as God is holy; if you +become a friend of God, reconciled to Him by the blood of Christ; then +your nature will be like God's nature, your character like God's +character. Then, when you shall know God even as you are known by Him, +and shall see Him as He is, the knowledge and the vision will be +everlasting joy. + +[Footnote 1: + + "She has seen the mystery hid, + Under Egypt's pyramid; + By those eyelids pale and close, + Now she knows what Rhamses knows." + ELIZABETH BROWNING: On the Death of a Child.] + + + + +THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE. + +1 COR. xiii. 12.--"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also +I am known." + +In the preceding discourse, we found in these words the principal +characteristic of our future existence. The world beyond the tomb is a +world of clear and conscious knowledge. When, at death, I shall leave +this region of time and sense and enter eternity, my knowledge, the +apostle Paul tells me instead of being diminished or extinguished by the +dissolution, of the body, will not only be continued to me, but will be +even greater and clearer than before. He assures me that the kind and +style of my cognition will be like that of God himself. I am to know as I +am known. My intelligence will coincide with that of Deity. + +By this we are not to understand that the creature's knowledge, in the +future state, will be as extensive as that of the Omniscient One; or that +it will be as profound and exhaustive as His. The infinitude of things +can be known only by the Infinite Mind; and the creature will forever be +making new acquisitions, and never reaching the final limit of truths and +facts. But upon certain moral subjects, the perception of the creature +will be like that of his Maker and Judge, so far as the _kind_ or +_quality_ of the apprehension is concerned. Every man in eternity, for +illustration, will see sin to be an odious and abominable thing, contrary +to the holy nature of God, and awakening in that nature the most holy and +awful displeasure. His knowledge upon this subject will be so identical +with that of God, that he will be unable to palliate or excuse his +transgressions, as he does in this world. He will see them precisely as +God sees them. He must know them as God knows them, because he will "know +even as he is known." + +II. In continuing the examination of this solemn subject, we remark as a +second and further characteristic of the knowledge which every man will +possess in eternity, that he will know _himself_ even as he is known by +God. His knowledge of God we have found to be direct, accurate, and +unceasing; his knowledge of his own heart will be so likewise. This +follows from the relation of the two species of cognition to each other. +The true knowledge of God involves the true knowledge of self. The +instant that any one obtains a clear view of the holy nature of his +Maker, he obtains a clear view of his own sinful nature. Philosophers +tell us, that our consciousness of God and our consciousness of self +mutually involve and imply each other[1]; in other words, that we cannot +know God without immediately knowing ourselves, any more than we can know +light without knowing darkness, any more than we can have the idea of +right without having the idea of wrong. And it is certainly true that so +soon as any being can intelligently say, "God is holy," he can and must +say, "I am holy," or, "I am unholy," as the fact may be. Indeed, the only +way in which man can truly know himself is to contrast himself with his +Maker; and the most exhaustive self-knowledge and self-consciousness is +to be found, not in the schools of secular philosophy but, in the +searchings of the Christian heart,--in the "Confessions" of Augustine; in +the labyrinthine windings of Edwards "On the Affections." Hence the +frequent exhortations in the Bible to look at the character of God, in +order that we may know ourselves and be abased by the contrast. In +eternity, therefore, if we must have a clear and constant perception of +God's character, we must necessarily have a distinct and unvarying +knowledge of our own. It is not so here. Here in this world, man knows +himself but "in part." Even when he endeavors to look within, prejudice +and passion often affect his judgment; but more often, the fear of what +he shall discover in the secret places of his soul deters him from making +the attempt at self-examination. For it is a surprising truth that the +transgressor dares not bring out into the light that which is most truly +his own, that which he himself has originated, and which he loves and +cherishes with all his strength and might. He is afraid of his own heart! +Even when God forces the vision of it upon him, he would shut his eyes; +or if this be not possible, he would look through distorting media and +see it with a false form and coloring. + + "But 'tis not so above; + There is no shuffling; there the action lies + In his true nature: and we ourselves compelled, + Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, + To give in evidence."[2] + +The spirit that has come into the immediate presence of God, and beholds +Him face to face, cannot deceive Him, and therefore cannot deceive +itself. It cannot remain ignorant of God's character any longer, and +therefore cannot remain ignorant of its own. + +We do not sufficiently consider and ponder the elements of anguish that +are sleeping in the fact that in eternity a sinner _must_ know God's +character, and therefore _must_ know his own. It is owing to their +neglect of such subjects, that mankind so little understand what an awful +power there is in the distinct perception of the Divine purity, and the +allied consciousness of sin. Lord Bacon tells us that the knowledge +acquired in the schools is power; but it is weakness itself, if compared +with that form and species of cognition which is given to the mind of man +by the workings of conscience in the light of the Divine countenance. If +a transgressor knew clearly what disclosures of God's immaculateness and +of his own character must be made to him in eternity, he would fear them, +if unprepared, far more than physical sufferings. If he understood what +capabilities for distress the rational spirit possesses in its own +mysterious constitution, if when brought into contact with the Divine +purity it has no sympathy with it, but on the contrary an intense +hostility; if he knew how violent will be the antagonism between God's +holiness and man's sin when, the two are finally brought together, the +assertion that there is no external source of anguish in hell, even if it +were true, would afford him no relief. Whoever goes into the presence of +God with a corrupt heart carries thither a source of sorrow that is +inexhaustible, simply because that corrupt heart must be _distinctly +known_, and _perpetually understood_ by its possessor, in that Presence. +The thoughtless man may never know while upon earth, even "in part," the +depth and the bitterness of this fountain,--he may go through this life +for the most part self-ignorant and undistressed,--but he must know in +that other, final, world the immense fulness of its woe, as it +unceasingly wells up into everlasting death. One theory of future +punishment is, that our globe will become a penal orb of fire, and the +wicked with material bodies, miraculously preserved by Omnipotence, will +burn forever in it. But what is this compared with the suffering soul? +The spirit itself, thus alienated from God's purity and _conscious_ that +it is, wicked, and _knowing_ that it is wicked, becomes an "orb of fire." +"It is,"--says John Howe, who was no fanatic, but one of the most +thoughtful and philosophic of Christians,--"it is a throwing hell into +hell, when a wicked man comes to hell; for he was his own hell +before."[3] + +It must ever be borne in mind, that the principal source and seat of +future torment will be the sinner's _sin_. We must never harbor the +thought, or fall into the notion, that the retributions of eternity are a +wanton and arbitrary infliction upon the part of God. Some men seem to +suppose, or at any rate they represent, that the woes of hell are a +species of undeserved suffering; that God, having certain helpless and +innocent creatures in His power, visits them with wrath, in the exercise +of an arbitrary sovereignty. But this is not Christ's doctrine of endless +punishment. There is no suffering inflicted, here or hereafter, upon any +thing but _sin,_--unrepented, incorrigible sin,--and if you will show +me a sinless creature, I will show you one who will never feel the least +twinge or pang through all eternity. Death is the wages of _sin_. The +substance of the wretchedness of the lost will issue right out of their +own character. They will see their own wickedness steadily and clearly, +and this will make them miserable. It will be the carrying out of the +same principle that operates here in time, and in our own daily +experience. Suppose that by some method, all the sin of my heart, and all +the sins of my outward conduct, were made clear to my own view; suppose +that for four-and-twenty hours continuously I were compelled to look at +my wickedness intently, just as I would look intently into a burning +furnace of fire; suppose that for this length of time I should see +nothing, and hear nothing, and experience nothing of the world, about me, +but should be absorbed in the vision of my own disobedience of God's good +law, think you that (setting aside the work of Christ) I should be happy? +On the contrary, should I not be the most wretched of mortals? Would not +this self-knowledge be pure living torment? And yet the misery springs +entirely out of the _sin_. There is nothing arbitrary or wanton in the +suffering. It is not brought in upon me from the outside. It comes out of +myself. And, while I was writhing under the sense and power of my +transgressions, would you mock me, by telling me that I was a poor +innocent struggling in the hands of omnipotent malice; that the suffering +was unjust, and that if there were any justice in the universe, I should +be delivered from it? No, we shall suffer in the future world only as we +are sinners, and because we are sinners. There will be weeping and +wailing and gnashing of teeth, only because the sinful creature will be +compelled to look at himself; to know his sin in the same manner that it +is known by the Infinite Intelligence. And is there any injustice in +this? If a sinful being cannot bear the sight of himself, would you have +the holy Deity step in between him and his sins, so that he should not +see them, and so that he might be happy in them? Away with such folly and +such wickedness. For it is the height of wickedness to desire that some +method should be invented, and introduced into the universe of God, +whereby the wages of sin shall be life and joy; whereby a sinner can look +into his own wicked heart and be happy. + +III. A third characteristic of the knowledge which every man will possess +in eternity will be a clear understanding of _the nature and wants of the +soul._ Man has that in his constitution, which needs God, and which +cannot be at rest except in God. A state of sin is a state of alienation +and separation from the Creator. It is, consequently, in its intrinsic +nature, a state of restlessness and dissatisfaction. "There is no peace +saith my God to the wicked; the wicked are like the troubled sea." In +order to know this, it is only necessary to bring an apostate creature, +like man, to a consciousness of the original requirements and necessities +of his being. But upon this subject, man while upon earth most certainly +knows only "in part." Most men are wholly ignorant of the constitutional +needs of a rational spirit, and are not aware that it is as impossible +for the creature, when in eternity, to live happily out of God, as it is +for the body to live at all in the element of fire. Most men, while here +upon earth, do not know upon this subject as they are known. God knows +that the whole created universe cannot satisfy the desires of an immortal +being, but impenitent men do not know this fact with a clear perception, +and they will not until they die and go into another world. + +And the reason is this. So long as the worldly natural man lives upon +earth, he can find a sort of substitute for God. He has a capacity for +loving, and he satisfies it to a certain degree by loving himself; by +loving fame, wealth, pleasure, or some form of creature-good. He has a +capacity for thinking, and he gratifies it in a certain manner by +pondering the thoughts of other minds, or by original speculations of his +own. And so we might go through with the list of man's capacities, and we +should find, that he contrives, while here upon earth, to meet these +appetences of his nature, after a sort, by the objects of time and sense, +and to give his soul a species of satisfaction short of God, and away +from God. Fame, wealth, and pleasure; the lust of the flesh, the lust of +the eye, and the pride of life; become a substitute for the Creator, in +his search, for happiness. As a consequence, the unregenerate man knows +but "in part" respecting the primitive and constitutional necessities of +his being. He is feeding them with a false and unhealthy food, and in +this way manages to stifle for a season their true and deep cravings. But +this cannot last forever. When a man dies and goes into eternity, he +takes nothing with him but his character and his moral affinities. "We +brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry +nothing out." The original requirements and necessities of his soul are +not destroyed by death, but the earthly objects by which he sought to +meet them, and by which he did meet them after a sort, are totally +destroyed. He still has a capacity for loving; but in eternity where is +the fame, the wealth, the pleasure upon which he has hitherto expended +it? He still has a capacity for thinking; but where are the farm, the +merchandise, the libraries, the works of art, the human literatures, and +the human philosophies, upon which he has heretofore employed it? The +instant you cut off a creature who seeks his good in the world, and not +in God, from intercourse with the world, you cause him to know even as he +is known respecting the true and proper portion of his soul. Deprived of +his accustomed and his false object of love and support, he immediately +begins to reach out in all directions for something to love, something to +think of, something to trust in, and finds nothing. Like that insect in +our gardens which spins a slender thread by which to guide itself in its +meanderings, and which when the clew is cut thrusts out its head in every +direction, but does not venture to advance, the human creature who has +suddenly been cut off by death from his accustomed objects of support and +pleasure stretches out in every direction for something to take their +place. And the misery of his case is, that when in his reachings out he +sees God, or comes into contact with God, he starts back like the little +insect when you present a coal of fire to it. He needs as much as ever, +to love some being or some thing. But he has no heart to love God and +there is no other being and no other thing in eternity to love. He needs, +as much as ever, to think of some object or some subject. But to think of +God is a distress to him; to reflect upon divine and holy things is +weariness and woe. He is a carnal, earthly-minded man, and therefore +cannot find enjoyment in such meditations. Before he can take relish in +such objects and such thinking, he must be born again; he must become a +new creature. But there is no new-birth of the soul in eternity. The +disposition and character which a man takes along with him when he dies +remains eternally unchanged. The constitutional wants still continue. The +man must love, and must think. But the only object in eternity upon which +such capability can be expended is God; and the carnal mind, saith the +Scripture, is _enmity_ against God, and is not subject to the law of God, +neither indeed can be. + +Now, whatever may be the course of a man in this life; whether he becomes +aware of these created imperatives, and constitutional necessities of his +immortal spirit or not; whether he hears its reproaches and rebukes +because he is feeding them with the husks of earth, instead of the bread +of heaven, or not; it is certain that in the eternal world they will be +continually awake and perpetually heard. For that spiritual world will be +fitted up for nothing but a rational spirit. There will be nothing +material, nothing like earth, in its arrangements. Flesh and blood cannot +inherit either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan. The enjoyments +and occupations of this sensuous and material state will be found neither +in heaven nor in hell. Eternity is a spiritual region, and all its +objects, and all its provisions, will have reference solely to the +original capacities and destination of a spiritual creature. They will, +therefore, all be terribly reminiscent of apostasy; only serving to +remind the soul of what it was originally designed to be, and of what it +has now lost by worshipping and loving the creature more than the +Creator. How wretched then must man be, when, with the awakening of this +restlessness and dissatisfaction of an immortal spirit, and with the +bright pattern of what he ought to be continually before his eye, there +is united an intensity of self-love and enmity toward God, that drives +him anywhere and everywhere but to his Maker, for peace and comfort. How +full of woe must the lost creature be, when his immortal necessities are +awakened and demand their proper food, but cannot obtain it, because of +the aversion of the heart toward the only Being who can satisfy them. +For, the same hatred of holiness, and disinclination toward spiritual +things, which prevents a man from choosing God for his portion here, +will prevent him hereafter. It is the bold fancy of an imaginative +thinker,[4] that the material forces which lie beneath external nature +are conscious of being bound down and confined under the crust of the +earth, like the giant Enceladus under Mt. Etna, and that there are times +when they roar from the depths where they are in bondage, and call aloud +for freedom; when they rise in their might, and manifest themselves in +the earthquake and the volcano. It will be a more fearful and terrific +struggle, when the powers of an apostate being are roused in eternity; +when the then eternal sin and guilt has its hour of triumph, and the +eternal reason and conscience have their hour of judgment and remorse; +when the inner world of man's spirit, by this schism and antagonism +within it, has a devastation and a ruin spread over it more awful than +that of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. + +We have thus, in this and the preceding discourse, considered the kind +and quality of that knowledge which every human being will possess in the +eternal world. He will know God, and he will know himself, with a +distinct, and accurate, and unceasing intelligence like that of the +Deity. It is one of the most solemn and startling themes that can be +presented to the human mind. We have not been occupied with what will be +_around_ a creature, what will be _outside_ of a man, in the life to +come; but we have been examining what will be _within_ him. We have been +considering what he will think of beyond the tomb; what his own feelings +will be when he meets God face to face. But a man's immediate +consciousness determines his happiness or his misery. As a man thinketh +in his heart so is he. We must not delude ourselves with the notion, that +the mere arrangements and circumstances of the spiritual world will +decide our weal or our woe, irrespective of the tenor of our thoughts and +affections; that if we are only placed in pleasant gardens or in golden +streets, all will be well. As a man thinketh in his heart, so will he be +in his experience. This vision of God, and of our own hearts, will be +either the substance of heaven, or the substance of hell. The great +future is a world of open vision. Now, we see through a glass darkly, but +then, face to face. The vision for every human creature will be beatific, +if he is prepared for it; will be terrific, if he is unprepared. + +Does not the subject, then, speak with solemn warning to every one who +knows that he is not prepared for the coming revelations that will be +made to him when he dies; for this clear and accurate knowledge of God, +and of his own character? Do you believe that there is an eternal world, +and that the general features of this mode of existence have been +scripturally depicted? Do you suppose that your present knowledge of the +holiness of God, and of your own sinful nature, is equal to what it will +be when your spirit returns to God who gave it? Are you prepared for the +impending and inevitable disclosures and revelations of the day of +judgment? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God, who +came forth from eternity eighteen centuries since, and went back into +eternity, leaving upon record for human instruction an unexaggerated +description of that invisible world, founded upon the personal knowledge +of an eye-witness? + +Whoever thus believes, concerning the record which Christ and His +apostles have left for the information of dim-eyed mortals who see only +"through a glass darkly," and who know only "in part," ought immediately +to adopt their descriptions and ponder them long and well. We have +already observed, that the great reason why the future state exerts so +little influence over worldly men lies in the fact, that they do not +bring it into distinct view. They live absorbed in the interests and +occupations of earth, and their future abode throws in upon them none of +its solemn shadows and warnings. A clear luminous perception of the +nature and characteristics of that invisible world which is soon to +receive them, would make them thoughtful and anxious for their souls; for +they would become aware of their utter unfitness, their entire lack of +preparation, to see God face to face. Still, live and act as sinful men +may, eternity is over and around them all, even as the firmament is bent +over the globe. If theirs were a penitent and a believing eye, they would +look up with adoration into its serene depths, and joyfully behold the +soft gleam of its stars, and it would send down upon them the sweet +influences of its constellations. They may shut their eyes upon all this +glory, and feel only earthly influences, and continue to be "of the +earth, earthy." But there is a time coming when they cannot but look at +eternity; when this firmament will throw them into consternation by the +livid glare of its lightnings, and will compel them to hear the quick +rattle and peal of its thunder; when it will not afford them a vision of +glory and joy, as it will the redeemed and the holy, but one of despair +and destruction. + +There is only one shelter from this storm; there is only one covert from +this tempest. He, and only he, who trusts in Christ's blood of atonement, +will be able to look into the holy countenance of God, and upon the dread +record of his own sins, without either trembling or despair. The merits +and righteousness of Christ so clothe the guilty soul, that it can endure +the otherwise intolerable brightness of God's pure throne and presence. + + "Jesus! Thy blood and righteousness, + My beauty are, my glorious dress; + Mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed, + With joy shall I lift up my head." + +Amidst those great visions that are to dawn upon every human creature, +those souls will be in perfect peace who trust in the Great Propitiation. +In those great tempests that are to shake down the earth and the sky, +those hearts will be calm and happy who are hid in the clefts of the Rock +of Ages. Flee then to Christ, ye prisoners of hope. Make preparation to +know even as you are known, by repentance toward God and faith in the +Lord Jesus Christ. A voice comes to you out of the cloud, saying, "This +is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." Remember, and +forget not, that this knowledge of God and your own heart is +_inevitable._ At death, it will all of it flash upon the soul like +lightning at midnight. It will fill the whole horizon of your being full +of light. If you are in Christ Jesus, the light will not harm you. But if +you are out of Christ, it will blast you. No sinful mortal can endure +such a vision an instant, except as he is sprinkled with atoning blood, +and clothed in the righteousness of the great Substitute and Surety for +guilty man. Flee then to CHRIST, and so be prepared to know God and your +own heart, even as you are known. + +[Footnote 1: Noverim me, noverim Te.--BERNARD.] + +[Footnote 2: Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act III., Sc. 4.] + +[Footnote 3: Howe: On Regeneration. Sermon xliii.] + +[Footnote 4: Bookschammer: On the Will.] + + + + +GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN. + +PSALM cxxxix. I-6.--"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou +knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought +afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted +with, all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, +thou knowest it altogether. Thou, hast beset me behind and before, and +laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is +high, I cannot attain unto it." + + +One of the most remarkable characteristics of a rational being is the +power of self-inspection. The brute creation possesses many attributes +that are common to human nature, but it has no faculty that bears even +the remotest resemblance to that of self-examination. Instinctive action, +undoubtedly, approaches the nearest of any to human action. That +wonderful power by which the bee builds up a structure that is not +exceeded in accuracy, and regularity, and economy of space, by the best +geometry of Athens or of Rome; by which the beaver, after having chosen +the very best possible location for it on the stream, constructs a dam +that outlasts the work of the human engineer; by which the faithful dog +contrives to perform many acts of affection, in spite of obstacles, and +in the face of unexpected discouragements,--the _instinct_, we say, of +the brute creation, as exhibited in a remarkably wide range of action and +contrivance, and in a very varied and oftentimes perplexing conjuncture +of circumstances, seems to bring man and beast very near to each other, +and to furnish some ground for the theory of the materialist, that there +is no essential difference between the two species of existences. But +when we pass beyond the mere power of acting, to the additional power of +_surveying_ or _inspecting_ an act, and of forming an estimate of its +relations to moral law, we find a faculty in man that makes him differ in +kind from the brute. No brute animal, however high up the scale, however +ingenious and sagacious he may be, can ever look back and think of what +he has done, "his thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing him." + +The mere power of performance, is, after all, not the highest power. It +is the superadded power of calmly looking over the performance, and +seeing _what_ has been done, that marks the higher agency, and denotes a +loftier order of existence than that of the animal or of material nature. +If the mere ability to work with energy, and produce results, constituted +the highest species of power, the force of gravitation would be the +loftiest energy in the universe. Its range of execution is wider than +that of any other created principle. But it is one of the lower and least +important of agencies, because it is blind. It is destitute of the power +of self-inspection. It does not know _what_ it does, or _why_. "Man," +says Pascal,[1] "is but a reed, and the weakest in all nature; yet he is +a reed that _thinks_. The whole material universe does not need to arm +itself, in order to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water is enough to +destroy him. But if the whole universe of matter should combine to crush +him, man would be more noble than that which destroyed him. For he would +be _conscious_ that he was dying, while, of the advantage which the +material universe had obtained over him, that universe would know +nothing." The action of a little child is altogether nothing and vanity +compared with the energy of the earthquake or the lightning, so far as +the exhibition of force and the mere power to act is concerned; but, on +the other hand, it is more solemn than centuries of merely natural +processes, and more momentous than all the material phenomena that have +ever filled the celestial spaces, when we remember that it is the act of +a thinking agent, and a self-conscious creature. The power to _survey_ +the act, when united with the power to act, sets mind infinitely above +matter, and places the action of instinct, wonderful as it is, infinitely +below the action of self-consciousness. The proud words of one of the +characters in the old drama are strictly true: + + "I am a nobler substance than the stars, + Or are they better since they are bigger? + I have a will and faculties of choice, + To do or not to do; and reason why + I do or not do this: the stars have none. + They know not why they shine, more than this taper, + Nor how they, work, nor what."[2] + + +But this characteristic of a rational being, though thus distinctive and +common to every man that lives, is exceedingly marvellous. Like the air +we breathe, like the light we see, it involves a mystery that no man has +ever solved. Self-consciousness has been the problem and the thorn of the +philosophic mind in all ages; and the mystery is not yet unravelled. Is +not that a wonderful process by which a man knows, not some other thing +but, _himself_? Is not that a strange act by which he, for a time, +duplicates his own unity, and sets himself to look at himself? All other +acts of consciousness are comparatively plain and explicable. When we +look at an object other than ourselves,--when we behold a tree or the +sky,--the act of knowledge is much more simple and easy to be explained. +For then there is something outside of us, and in front of us, and +another thing than we are, at which we look, and which we behold. But in +this act of _self_-inspection there is no second thing, external, and +extant to us, which we contemplate. That which is seen is one and the +same identical object with that which sees. The act of knowledge which in +all other instances requires the existence of two things,--a thing to be +known and a thing to know,--in this instance is performed with only one. +It is the individual soul that sees, and it is that very same individual +soul that is seen. It is the individual man that knows, and it is that +very identical man that is known. The eyeball looks at the eyeball. + +And when this power of self-inspection is connected with the power of +memory, the mystery of human existence becomes yet more complicated, and +its explanation still more baffling. Is it not exceedingly wonderful, +that we are able to re-exhibit our own thoughts and feelings; that we can +call back what has gone clear by in our experience, and steadily look at +it once more? Is it not a mystery that we can summon before our mind's +eye feelings, purposes, desires, and thoughts, which occurred in the soul +long years ago, and which, perhaps, until this moment, we have not +thought of for years? Is it not a marvel, that they come up with all the +vividness with which they first took origin in our experience, and that +the lapse of time has deprived them of none of their first outlines or +colors? Is it not strange, that we can recall that one particular feeling +of hatred toward a fellow-man which, rankled in the heart twenty years +ago; that we can now eye it, and see it as plainly as if it were still +throbbing within us; that we can feel guilty for it once more, as if we +were still cherishing it? If it were not so common, would it not be +surprising, that we can reflect upon acts of disobedience toward God +which we committed in the days of childhood, and far back in the dim +twilights of moral agency; that we can re-act them, as it were, in our +memory, and fill ourselves again with the shame and distress that +attended their original commission? Is it not one of those mysteries +which overhang human existence, and from which that of the brute is +wholly free, that man can live his life, and act his agency, over, +and over, and over again, indefinitely and forever, in his +self-consciousness; that he can cause all his deeds to pass and re-pass +before his self-reflection, and be filled through and through with the +agony of self-knowledge? Truly _such_ knowledge is too wonderful for me; +it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I _go_ from my _own_ +spirit, and whither shall I flee from my _own_ presence. If I ascend up +into heaven, it is there looking at me. If I make my bed in hell, behold +it is there torturing me. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in +the uttermost parts of the sea, even there must I know myself, and acquit +or condemn myself. + +But if that knowledge whereby man knows himself is mysterious, then +certainly that whereby God knows him is far more so. That act whereby +_another_ being knows my secret thoughts, and inmost feelings, is most +certainly inexplicable. That cognition whereby _another_ person +understands what takes place in the corners of my heart, and sees the +minutest movements of my spirit, is surely high; most surely I cannot +attain unto it. + +And yet, it is a truth of revelation that God searches the heart of man; +that He knows his down-sitting and uprising, and understands his thought +afar off; that He compasses his path and his lying-down, and is +acquainted with all his ways. And yet, it is a deduction of reason, also, +that because God is the creator of the human mind, He must perfectly +understand its secret agencies; that He in whose Essence man lives and +moves and has his being, must behold every motion, and feel every +stirring of the human spirit. "He that planted the ear, shall He not +hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?" Let us, then, ponder the +fact of God's exhaustive knowledge of man's soul, that we may realize it, +and thereby come under its solemn power and impression. For all religion, +all holy and reverential fear of God, rises and sets, as in an +atmosphere, in the thought: "Thou God seest me." + +I. In analyzing and estimating the Divine knowledge of the human soul, we +find, in the first place, that God accurately and exhaustively knows _all +that man knows of himself_. + +Every man in a Christian land, who is in the habit of frequenting the +house of God, possesses more or less of that self-knowledge of which we +have spoken. He thinks of the moral character of some of his own +thoughts. He reflects upon the moral quality of some of his own feelings. +He considers the ultimate tendency of some of his own actions. In other +words, there is a part of his inward and his outward life with which he +is uncommonly well acquainted; of which he has a distinct perception. +There are some thoughts of his mind, at which he blushes at the very time +of their origin, because he is vividly aware what they are, and what they +mean. There are some emotions of his heart, at which he trembles and +recoils at the very moment of their uprising, because he perceives +clearly that they involve a very malignant depravity. There are some +actings of his will, of whose wickedness he is painfully conscious at the +very instant of their rush and movement. We are not called upon, here, to +say how many of a man's thoughts, feelings, and determinations, are thus +subjected to his self-inspection at the very time of their origin, and +are known in the clear light of self-knowledge. We are not concerned, at +this point, with the amount of this man's self-inspection and +self-knowledge. We are only saying that there is some experience such as +this in his personal history, and that he does know something of himself, +at the very time of action, with a clearness and a distinctness that +makes him start, or blush, or fear. + +Now we say, that in reference to all this intimate self-knowledge, all +this best part of a man's information respecting himself, he is not +superior to God. He may be certain that in no particular does he know +more of himself than the Searcher of hearts knows. He may be an +uncommonly thoughtful person, and little of what is done within his soul +may escape his notice,--nay, we will make the extreme supposition that he +arrests every thought as it rises, and looks at it, that he analyzes +every sentiment as it swells his heart, that he scrutinizes every purpose +as it determines his will,--even if he should have such a thorough and +profound self-knowledge as this, God knows him equally profoundly, and +equally thoroughly. Nay more, this process of self-inspection may go on +indefinitely, and the man may grow more and more thoughtful, and obtain +an everlastingly augmenting knowledge of what he is and what he does, so +that it shall seem to him that he is going down so far along that path +which the vulture's eye hath not seen, is penetrating so deeply into +those dim and shadowy regions of consciousness where the external life +takes its very first start, as to be beyond the reach of any eye, and +the ken of any intelligence but his own, and then he may be sure that God +understands the thought that is afar off, and deep down, and that at this +lowest range and plane in his experience He besets him behind and before. + +O, this man, like the most of mankind, may be an unreflecting person. +Then, in this case, thoughts, feelings, and purposes are continually +rising up within his soul like the clouds and exhalations of an +evaporating deluge, and at the time of their rise he subjects them to no +scrutiny of conscience, and is not pained in the least by their moral +character and significance. He lacks self-knowledge altogether, at these +points in his history. But, notice that the fact that he is not +self-inspecting at these points cannot destroy the fact that he is acting +at them. The fact that he is not a spectator of his own transgression, +does not alter the fact that he is the author of it. If this man, for +instance, thinks over his worldly affairs on God's holy day, and perhaps +in God's holy house, with such an absorption and such a pleasure that he +entirely drowns the voice of conscience while he is so doing, and +self-inspection is banished for the time, it will not do for him to plead +this absence of a distinct and painful consciousness of what his mind was +actually doing in the house of God, and upon the Lord's day, as the +palliative and excuse of his wrong thoughts. If this man, again, indulges +in an envious or a sensual emotion, with such an energy and entireness, +as for the time being to preclude all action of the higher powers of +reason and self-reflection, so that for the time being he is not in the +least troubled by a sense of his wickedness, it will be no excuse for him +at the eternal bar, that he was not thinking of his envy or his lust at +the time when he felt it. And therefore it is, that accountableness +covers the whole field of human agency, and God holds us responsible +for our thoughtless sin, as well as for our deliberate transgression. + +In the instance, then, of the thoughtless man; in the case where there is +little or no self-examination; God unquestionably knows the man as well +as the man knows himself. The Omniscient One is certainly possessed of an +amount of knowledge equal to that small modicum which is all that a +rational and immortal soul can boast of in reference to itself. But the +vast majority of mankind fall into this class. The self-examiners are +very few, in comparison with the millions who possess the power to look +into their hearts, but who rarely or never do so. The great God our +Judge, then, surely knows the mass of men, in their down-sitting and +uprising, with a knowledge that is equal to their own. And thus do we +establish our first position, that God knows all that the man knows; +God's knowledge is equal to the very best part of man's knowledge. + +In concluding this part of the discussion, we turn to consider some +practical lessons suggested by it. + +1. In the first place, the subject reminds us that _we are fearfully and +wonderfully made_. When we take a solar microscope and examine even the +commonest object--a bit of sand, or a hair of our heads-we are amazed at +the revelation that is made to us. We had no previous conception of the +wonders that are contained in the structure of even such ordinary things +as these. But, if we should obtain a corresponding view of our own mental +and moral structure; if we could subject our immortal natures to a +microscopic self-examination; we should not only be surprised, but we +should be terrified. This explains, in part, the consternation with which +a criminal is filled, as soon as he begins to understand the nature of +his crime. His wicked act is perceived in its relation to his own mental +powers and faculties. He knows, now, what a hazardous thing it is to +possess a free-will; what an awful thing it is to own a conscience. He +feels, as he never did before, that he is fearfully and wonderfully made, +and cries out: "O that I had never been born! O that I had never been +created a responsible being! these terrible faculties of reason, and +will, and conscience, are too heavy for me to wield; would that I had +been created a worm, and no man, then, I should not have incurred the +hazards under which I have sinned and ruined myself." + +The constitution of the human soul is indeed a wonderful one; and such a +meditation as that which we have just devoted to its functions of +self-examination and memory, brief though it be, is enough to convince us +of it. And remember, that this constitution is not peculiar to you and to +me. It belongs to every human creature on the globe. The imbruted pagan +in the fiery centre of Africa, who never saw a Bible, or heard of the +Redeemer; the equally imbruted man, woman, or child, who dwells in the +slime of our own civilization, not a mile from where we sit, and hear the +tidings of mercy; the filthy savage, and the yet filthier profligate, are +both of them alike with ourselves possessed of these awful powers of +self-knowledge and of memory. + +Think of this, ye earnest and faithful laborers in the vineyard of the +Lord. There is not a child that you allure into your Sabbath Schools, and +your Mission Schools, that is not fearfully and wonderfully made; and +whose marvellous powers you are doing much to render to their possessor a +blessing, instead of a curse. When Sir Humphrey Davy, in answer to an +inquiry that had been made of him respecting the number and series of his +discoveries in chemistry, had gone through with the list, he added: "But +the greatest of my discoveries is Michael Faraday." This Michael Faraday +was a poor boy employed in the menial services of the laboratory where +Davy made those wonderful discoveries by which he revolutionized the +science of chemistry, and whose chemical genius he detected, elicited, +and encouraged, until he finally took the place of his teacher and +patron, and acquired a name that is now one of the influences of England. +Well might he say: "My greatest discovery was when I detected the +wonderful powers of Michael Faraday." And never will you make a greater +and more beneficent discovery, than when, under the thick scurf of +pauperism and vice, you detect the human soul that is fearfully and +wonderfully made; than when you elicit its powers of self-consciousness +and of memory, and, instrumentally, dedicate them to the service of +Christ and the Church. + +2. In the second place, we see from the subject, that _thoughtlessness in +sin will never excuse sin_. There are degrees in sin. A deliberate, +self-conscious act of sin is the most intense form of moral evil. When a +man has an active conscience; when he distinctly thinks over the nature of +the transgression which he is tempted to commit; when he sees clearly +that it is a direct violation of a command of God which he is about to +engage in; when he says, "I know that this is positively forbidden +by my Maker and Judge, but I _will do it_,"--we have an instance of the +most heaven-daring sin. This is deliberate and wilful transgression. The +servant knows his lord's will and does it not, and he shall be beaten +with "many stripes," says Christ. + +But, such sin as this is not the usual form. Most of human transgressions +are not accompanied with such a distinct apprehension, and such a +deliberate determination. The sin of ignorance and thoughtlessness is the +species which is most common. Men, generally, do not first think of what +they are about to do, and then proceed to do it; but they first proceed +to do it, and then think nothing at all about it. But, thoughtlessness +will not excuse sin; though, it is a somewhat less extreme form of it, +than deliberate transgression. Under the Levitical law, the sin of +ignorance, as it was called, was to be expiated by a somewhat different +sacrifice from that offered for the wilful and deliberate sin; but it +must be expiated. A victim must be offered for it. It was guilt before +God, and needed atonement. Our Lord, in His prayer for His murderers, +said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." The act of +crucifying the Lord of glory was certainly a sin, and one of an awful +nature. But the authors of it were not fully aware of its import. They +did not understand the dreadful significance of the crucifixion of the +Son of God, as we now understand it, in the light of eighteen centuries. +Our Lord alludes to this, as a species of mitigation; while yet He +teaches, by the very prayer which He puts up for them, that this +ignorance did not excuse His murderers. He asks that they may be +_forgiven_. But where there is absolutely no sin there is no need of +forgiveness. It is one of our Lord's assertions, that it will be more +tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than it will be +for those inhabitants of Palestine who would not hear the words of His +apostles,--because the sin of the former was less deliberate and wilful +than that of the latter. But He would not have us infer from this, that +Sodom and Gomorrah are not to be punished for sin. And, finally, He sums +up the whole doctrine upon this point, in the declaration, that "he who +knew his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes; +but he who knew not his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with +few stripes." The sin of thoughtlessness shall be beaten with fewer +stripes than the sin of deliberation,--but it shall be _beaten_, and +therefore it is _sin_. + +The almost universal indifference and thoughtlessness with which men live +on in a worldly and selfish life, will not excuse them in the day of +accurate accounts. And the reason is, that they are capable of _thinking_ +upon the law of God; of _thinking_ upon their duties; of _thinking_ upon +their sins. They possess the wonderful faculties of self-inspection and +memory, and therefore they are capable of bringing their actions into +light. It is the command of God to every man, and to every rational +spirit everywhere, to walk in the light, and to be a child of the light. +We ought to examine ourselves; to understand our ruling motives and +abiding purposes; to scrutinize our feelings and conduct. But if we do +little or nothing of this, we must not expect that in the day of judgment +we can plead our thoughtless ignorance of what we were, and what we did, +here upon earth, as an excuse for our disobedience. God expects, and +demands, that every one of His rational creatures should be all that he +is capable of being. He gave man wonderful faculties and endowments,--ten +talents, five talents, two talents,--and He will require the whole +original sum given, together with a faithful use and improvement of it. +The very thoughtlessness then, particularly under the Gospel +dispensation,--the very neglect and non-use of the power of +self-inspection,--will go in to constitute a part of the sin that will be +punished. Instead of being an excuse, it will be an element of the +condemnation itself. + +3. In the third place, even the sinner himself _ought to rejoice in the +fact that God is the Searcher of the heart_. It is instinctive and +natural, that a transgressor should attempt to conceal his character +from his Maker; but next to his sin itself, it would be the greatest +injury that he could do to himself, should he succeed in his attempt. +Even after the commission of sin, there is every reason for desiring that +God should compass our path and lying down, and be acquainted with all +our ways. For, He is the only being who can forgive sin; the only one who +can renew and sanctify the heart. There is the same motive for having the +disease of the soul understood by God, that there is for having the +disease of the body examined by a skilful physician. Nothing is gained, +but every thing is lost, by ignorance. + +The sinner, therefore, has the strongest of motives for rejoicing in the +truth that God sees him. It ought not to be an unwelcome fact even to +him. For how can his sin be pardoned, unless it is clearly understood by +the pardoning power? How can his soul be purified from its inward +corruption, unless it is searched by the Spirit of all holiness? + +Instead, therefore, of being repelled by such a solemn truth as that +which we have been discussing, even the natural man should be allured by +it. For it teaches him that there is help for him in God. His own +knowledge of his own heart, as we have seen, is very imperfect and very +inadequate. But the Divine knowledge is thoroughly adequate. He may, +therefore, devolve his case with confidence upon the unerring One. Let +him take words upon his lips, and cry unto Him: "Search me, O God, and +try me; and see what evil ways there are in me, and lead me in the way +everlasting." Let him endeavor to come into possession of the Divine +knowledge. There is no presumption in this. God desires that he should +know himself as He knows him; that he should get possession of His views +upon this point; that he should see himself as He sees him. One of the +principal sins which God has to charge upon the sinner is, that his +apprehensions respecting his own character are in conflict with the +Divine. Nothing would more certainly meet the approbation of God, than a +renunciation of human estimates of human nature, and the adoption of +those contained in the inspired word. Endeavor, therefore, to obtain the +very same knowledge of your heart which God Himself possesses. And in +this endeavor, He will assist you. The influences of the Holy Spirit to +enlighten are most positively promised and proffered. Therefore be not +repelled by the truth; but be drawn by it to a deeper, truer knowledge of +your heart. Lift up your soul in prayer, and beseech God to impart to you +a profound knowledge of yourself, and then to sprinkle all your +discovered guilt, and all your undiscovered guilt, with atoning blood. +This is _salvation_; first to know yourself, and then to know Christ as +your Prophet, Priest, and King. + +[Footnote 1: PENSÉES: Grandeur de l'homme, 6. Ed. Wetstein.] + +[Footnote 2: CHAPMAN: Byron's Conspiracy.] + + + + +GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN. [*continued] + +PSALM cxxxix. 1--6.--"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou +knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought +afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted +with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, +thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and +laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is +high, I cannot attain unto it." + + +In the preceding discourse upon this text, we directed attention to the +fact that man is possessed of the power of self-knowledge, and that he +cannot ultimately escape from using it. He cannot forever flee from his +own presence; he cannot, through all eternity, go away from his own +spirit. If he take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost +parts of the earth, he must, sooner or later, know himself, and acquit or +condemn himself. + +Our attention was then directed to the fact, that God's knowledge of man +is certainly equal to man's knowledge of himself. No man knows more of +his own heart than the Searcher of hearts knows. Up to this point, +certainly, the truth of the text is incontrovertible. God knows all that +man knows. + +II. We come now to the second position: That _God accurately and +exhaustively knows all that man might, but does not, know of himself_. + +Although the Creator designed that every man should thoroughly understand +his own heart, and gave him the power of self-inspection that he might +use it faithfully, and apply it constantly, yet man is extremely ignorant +of himself. Mankind, says an old writer, are nowhere less at home, than +at home. Very few persons practise serious self-examination at all; and +none employ the power of self-inspection with that carefulness and +sedulity with which they ought. Hence men generally, and unrenewed men +always, are unacquainted with much that goes on within their own minds +and hearts. Though it is sin and self-will, though it is thought and +feeling and purpose and desire, that is going on and taking place during +all these years of religious indifference, yet the agent himself, so far +as a sober reflection upon the moral character of the process, and a +distinct perception of the dreadful issue of it, are concerned, is much +of the time as destitute of self-knowledge as an irrational brute itself. +For, were sinful men constantly self-examining, they would be constantly +in torment. Men can be happy in sin, only so long as they can sin without +thinking of it. The instant they begin to perceive and understand _what_ +they are doing, they begin to feel the fang of the worm. If the frivolous +wicked world, which now takes so much pleasure in its wickedness, could +be forced to do here what it will be forced to do hereafter, namely, to +_eye_ its sin while it commits it, to _think_ of what it is doing while +it does it, the billows of the lake of fire would roll in upon time, and +from gay Paris and luxurious Vienna there would instantaneously ascend +the wailing cry of Pandemonium. + +But it is not so at present. Men here upon earth are continually thinking +sinful thoughts and cherishing sinful feelings, and yet they are not +continually in hell. On the contrary, "they are not in trouble as other +men are, neither are they plagued like other men. Their eyes stand out +with fatness; they have more than heart could wish." This proves that +they are self-ignorant; that they know neither their sin nor its bitter +end. They sin without the _consciousness_ of sin, and hence are happy in +it. Is it not so in our own personal experience? Have there not been in the +past ten years of our own mental history long trains of thought,--sinful +thought,--and vast processions of feelings and imaginings,--sinful +feelings and imaginings,--that have trailed over the spaces of the soul, +but which have been as unwatched and unseen by the self-inspecting eye of +conscience, as the caravans of the African desert have been, during the +same period, by the eye of our sense? We have not felt a pang of guilt +every single time that we have thought a wrong thought; yet we should +have felt one inevitably, had we _scrutinized_ every such single thought. +Our face has not flushed with crimson in every particular instance in +which we have exercised a lustful emotion; yet it would have done so had +we carefully _noted_ every such emotion. A distinct self-knowledge has by +no means run parallel with all our sinful activity; has by no means been +co-extensive with it. We perform vastly more than we inspect. We have +sinned vastly more than we have been aware of at the time. + +Even the Christian, in whom this unreflecting species of life and conduct +has given way, somewhat, to a thoughtful and vigilant life, knows and +acknowledges that perfection is not yet come. As he casts his eye over +even his regenerate and illuminated life, and sees what a small amount of +sin has been distinctly detected, keenly felt, and heartily confessed, in +comparison with that large amount of sin which he knows he must have +committed, during this long period of incessant action of mind, heart, +and limbs, he finds no repose for his misgivings with respect to the +filial examination and account, except by enveloping himself yet more +entirely in the ample folds of his Redeemer's righteousness; except by +hiding himself yet more profoundly in the cleft of that Rock of Ages +which protects the chief of sinners from the unsufferable splendors and +terrors of the Divine glory and holiness as it passes by. Even the +Christian knows that he must have committed many sins in thoughtless +moments and hours,--many sins of which he was not deliberately thinking +at the time of their commission,--and must pray with David, "Cleanse thou +me from secret faults." The functions and operations of memory evince +that such is the case. Are we not sometimes, in our serious hours when +memory is busy, convinced of sins which, at the time of their commission, +were wholly unaccompanied with a sense of their sinfulness? The act in +this instance was performed blindly, without self-inspection, and +therefore without self-conviction. Ten years, we will say, have +intervened,--years of new activity, and immensely varied experiences. And +now the magic power of recollection sets us back, once more, at that +point of responsible action, and bids do what we did not do at the +time,--analyze our performance and feel consciously guilty, experience the +first sensation of remorse, for what we did ten years ago. Have we not, +sometimes, been vividly reminded that upon such an occasion, and at such +a time, we were angry, or proud, but at the time when the emotion was +swelling our veins were not filled with, that clear and painful sense of +its turpitude which now attends the recollection of it? The re-exhibition +of an action in memory, as in a mirror, is often accompanied with a +distinct apprehension of its moral character that formed no part of the +experience of the agent while absorbed in the hot and hasty original +action itself. And when we remember how immense are the stores of memory, +and what an amount of sin has been committed in hours of thoughtlessness +and moral indifference, what prayer is more natural and warm than the +supplication: "Search me O God, and try me, and see what evil ways there +are within me, and lead me in the way everlasting." + +But the careless, unenlightened man, as we have before remarked, leads a +life almost entirely destitute of self-inspection, and self-knowledge. He +sins constantly. He does only evil, and that continually, as did man +before the deluge. For he is constantly acting. A living self-moving +soul, like his, cannot cease action if it would. And yet the current is +all one way. Day after day sends up its clouds of sensual, worldly, +selfish thoughts. Week after week pours onward its stream of low-born, +corrupt, unspiritual feelings. Year after year accumulates that hardening +mass of carnal-mindedness, and distaste for religion, which is sometimes +a more insuperable obstacle to the truth, than positive faults and vices +which startle and shock the conscience. And yet the man _thinks_ nothing +about all this action of his mind and heart. He does not subject it to +any self-inspection. If he should, for but a single hour, be lifted up to +the eminence from which all this current of self-will, and moral agency, +may be seen and surveyed in its real character and significance, he would +start back as if brought to the brink of hell. But he is not thus lifted +up. He continues to use and abuse his mental and his moral faculties, +but, for most of his probation, with all the blindness and heedlessness +of a mere animal instinct. + +There is, then, a vast amount of sin committed without self-inspection; +and, consequently, without any distinct perception, at the time, that it +is sin. The Christian will find himself feeling guilty, for the first +time, for a transgression that occurred far back in the past, and will +need a fresh application of atoning blood. The sinner will find, at some +period or other, that remorse is fastening its tooth in his conscience +for a vast amount of sinful thought, feeling, desire, and motive, that +took origin in the unembarrassed days of religious thoughtlessness and +worldly enjoyment. + +For, think you that the insensible sinner is always to be thus +insensible,--that this power of self-inspection is eternally to "rust +unused?" What a tremendous revelation will one day be made to an +unreflecting transgressor, simply because he is a man and not a brute, +has lived a human life, and is endowed with the power of self-knowledge, +whether he has used it or not! What a terrific vision it will be for him, +when the limitless line of his sins which he has not yet distinctly +examined, and thought of, and repented of, shall be made to pass in slow +procession before that inward eye which he has wickedly kept shut so +long! Tell us not of the disclosures that shall be made when the sea +shall give up the dead that are in it, and the graves shall open and +surrender their dead; what are these material disclosures, when compared +with the revelations of self-knowledge! What is all this external +display, sombre and terrible as it will be to the outward eye, when +compared with all that internal revealing that will be made to a hitherto +thoughtless soul, when, of a sudden, in the day of judgment, its deepest +caverns shall heave in unison with the material convulsions of the day, +and shall send forth to judgment their long slumbering, and hidden +iniquity; when the sepulchres of its own memory shall burst open, and +give up the sin that has long lain buried there, in needless and guilty +forgetfulness, awaiting this second resurrection! + +For (to come back to the unfolding of the subject, and the movement of +the argument), God perfectly knows all that man might, but does not, know +of himself. Though the transgressor is ignorant of much of his sin, +because at the time of its commission he sins blindly as well as +wilfully, and unreflectingly as well as freely; and though the +transgressor has forgotten much of that small amount of sin of which he +was conscious, and by which he was pained, at the time of its +perpetration; though on the side of man the powers of self-inspection and +memory have accomplished so little towards the preservation of man's sin, +yet God knows it all, and remembers it all. He compasseth man's path, and +his lying-down, and is acquainted with all his ways. "There is nothing +covered, therefore, that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall +not be known. Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the +light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be +proclaimed upon the house-tops." The Creator of the human mind has +control over its powers of self-inspection, and of memory; and when the +proper time comes He will compel these endowments to perform their +legitimate functions, and do their appointed work. The torturing +self-survey will begin, never more to end. The awful recollection will +commence, endlessly to go on. + +One principal reason why the Biblical representations of human sinfulness +exert so little influence over men, and, generally speaking, seem to them +to be greatly exaggerated and untrue, lies in the fact that the Divine +knowledge of human character is in advance of the human knowledge. God's +consciousness and cognition upon this subject is exhaustive; while man's +self-knowledge is superficial and shallow. The two forms of knowledge, +consequently, when placed side by side, do not agree, but conflict. There +would be less difficulty, and less contradiction, if mankind generally +were possessed of even as much self-knowledge as the Christian is +possessed of. There would be no difficulty, and no contradiction, if the +knowledge of the judgment-day could be anticipated, and the +self-inspection of that occasion could commence here and now. But such is +not the fact. The Bible labors, therefore, under the difficulty of +possessing an advanced knowledge; the difficulty of being addressed to a +mind that is almost entirely unacquainted with the subject treated of. +The Word of God knows man exhaustively, as God knows him; and hence all +its descriptions of human character are founded upon such a knowledge. +But man, in his self-ignorance, does not perceive their awful truth. He +has not yet attained the internal correspondent to the Biblical +statement,--that apprehension of total depravity, that knowledge of the +plague of the heart, which always and ever says "yea" to the most vivid +description of human sinfulness, and "amen" to God's heaviest malediction +upon it. Nothing deprives the Word of its nerve and influence, more than +this general lack of self-inspection and self-knowledge. For, only that +which is perceived to be _true_ exerts an influence upon the human mind. +The doctrine of human sinfulness is preached to men, year after year, to +whom it does not come home with the demonstration of the Spirit and with +power, because the sinfulness which is really within them is as yet +unknown, and because not one of a thousand of their transgressions has +ever been scanned in the light of self-examination. But is the Bible +untrue, because the man is ignorant? Is the sun black, because the eye is +shut? + +However ignorant man may be, and may desire and strive to be, of himself, +God knows him altogether, and knows that the representations of His word, +respecting the character and necessities of human nature, are the +unexaggerated, sober, and actual fact. Though most of the sinner's life +of alienation from God, and of disobedience, has been a blind and a +reckless agency, unaccompanied with self-scrutiny, and to a great extent +passed from his memory, yet it has all of it been looked at, as it +welled, up from the living centres of free agency and responsibility, by +the calm and dreadful eye of retributive Justice, and has all of it been +indelibly written down in the book of God's sure memory, with a pen of +iron, and the point of a diamond. + +And here, let us for a moment look upon the bright, as well as the dark +side of this subject. For if God's exhaustive knowledge of the human +heart waken dread in one of its aspects, it starts infinite hope in +another. If that Being has gone down into these depths of human +depravity, and seen it with a more abhorring glance than could ever shoot +from a finite eye, and yet has returned with a cordial offer to forgive +it all, and a hearty proffer to cleanse it all away, then we can lift up +the eye in adoration and in hope. There has been an infinite forbearance +and condescension. The worst has been seen, and that too by the holiest +of Beings, and yet eternal glory is offered to us! God knows, from +personal examination, the worthlessness of human character, with a +thoroughness and intensity of knowledge of which man has no conception; +and yet, in the light of this knowledge, in the very flame of this +intuition, He has devised a plan of mercy and redemption. Do not think, +then, because of your present ignorance of your guilt and corruption, +that the incarnation and death of the Son of God was unnecessary, and +that that costly blood of atonement which you are treading under foot wet +the rocks of Calvary for a peccadillo. Could you, but for a moment only, +know yourself _altogether_ and _exhaustively_, as the Author of this +Redemption knows you, you would cry out, in the words of a far holier man +than you are, "I am undone." If you could but see guilt as God sees it, +you would also see with Him that nothing but an infinite Passion can +expiate it. If you could but fathom the human heart as God fathoms it, +you would know as He knows, that nothing less than regeneration can +purify its fountains of uncleanness, and cleanse it from its ingrain +corruption. + +Thus have we seen that God knows man altogether,--that He knows all that +man knows of himself, and all that man might but does not yet know of +himself. The Searcher of hearts knows all the thoughts that we have +thought upon, all the reflections that we have reflected upon, all the +experience that we have ourselves analyzed and inspected. And He also +knows that far larger part of our life which we have not yet subjected to +the scrutiny of self-examination,--all those thoughts, feelings, desires, +and motives, innumerable as they are, of which we took no heed at the +time of their origin and existence, and which we suppose, perhaps, we +shall hear no more of again. Whither then shall we go from God's spirit? +or whither shall we flee from His presence and His knowledge? If we +ascend up into heaven, He is there, and knows us perfectly. If we make +our bed in hell, behold He is there, and reads the secret thoughts and +feelings of our heart. The darkness hideth not from Him; our ignorance +does not affect His knowledge; the night shineth as the day; the darkness +and the light are both alike to Him. + +This great truth which we have been considering obtains a yet more +serious emphasis, and a yet more solemn power over the mind, when we take +into view the _character_ of the Being who thus searches our hearts, and +is acquainted with all our ways. Who of us would not be filled with +uneasiness, if he knew that an imperfect fellow-creature were looking +constantly into his soul? Would not the flush of shame often burn upon +our cheek, if we knew that a sinful man like ourselves were watching all +the feelings and thoughts that are rising within us? Should we not be +more circumspect than we are, if men were able mutually to search each +other's hearts? How often does a man change his course of conduct, when +he discovers, accidentally, that his neighbor knows what he is doing. + +But it is not an imperfect fellow-man, it is not a perfect angel, who +besets us behind and before, and is acquainted with, all our ways. It is +the immaculate God himself. It is He before whom archangels veil their +faces, and the burning seraphim cry, "Holy." It is He, in whose sight the +pure cerulean heavens are not clean, and whose eyes are a flame of fire +devouring all iniquity. We are beheld, in all this process of sin, be it +blind or be it intelligent, by infinite Purity. We are not, therefore, to +suppose that God contemplates this our life of sin with the dull +indifference of an Epicurean deity; that He looks into our souls, all +this while, from mere curiosity, and with no moral _emotion_ towards +us. The God who knows us altogether is the Holy One of Israel, whose +wrath is both real, and revealed, against all unrighteousness. + +If, therefore, we connect the holy nature and pure essence of God with +all this unceasing and unerring inspection of the human soul, does not +the truth which, we have been considering speak with a bolder emphasis, +and acquire an additional power to impress and solemnize the mind? When +we realize that the Being who is watching us at every instant, and in +every act and element of our existence, is the very same Being who +revealed himself amidst the lightenings of Sinai as _hating_ sin and +not clearing the thoughtless guilty, do not our prospects at the bar of +justice look dark and fearful? For, who of the race of man is holy enough +to stand such an inspection? Who of the sons of men will prove pure in +such a furnace? + +Are we not, then, brought by this truth close up to the central doctrine +of Christianity, and made to see our need of the atonement and +righteousness of the Redeemer? How can we endure such a scrutiny as God +is instituting into our character and conduct? What can we say, in the +day of reckoning, when the Searcher of hearts shall make known, to us all +that He knows of us? What can we do, in that day which shall reveal the +thoughts and the estimates of the Holy One respecting us? + +It is perfectly plain, from the elevated central point of view where we +now stand, and in the focal light in which we now see, that no man can be +justified before God upon the ground of personal character; for that +character, when subjected to God's exhaustive scrutiny, withers and +shrinks away. A man may possibly be just before his neighbor, or his +friend, or society, or human laws, but he is miserably self-deceived who +supposes that his heart will appear righteous under such a scrutiny and +in such a Presence as we have been considering.[1] However it may be +before other tribunals, the apostle is correct when he asserts that +"every mouth, must be stopped, and the whole world plead guilty before +God." Before the Searcher of hearts, all mankind must appeal to mere and +sovereign mercy. Justice, in this reference, is out of the question. + +Now, in this condition of things, God so loved the world that He gave His +only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but +have everlasting life. The Divine mercy has been manifested in a mode +that does not permit even the guiltiest to doubt its reality, its +sufficiency, or its sincerity. The argument is this. "If when, we were +yet sinners," _and known to be such, in the perfect and exhaustive manner +that has been described,_ "Christ died for us, much more, being now +justified by His blood, shall we be saved from Wrath through Him." +Appropriating this atonement which the Searcher of hearts has Himself +provided for this very exigency, and which He knows to be thoroughly +adequate, no man, however guilty, need fear the most complete disclosures +which the Divine Omniscience will have to make of human character in the +day of doom. If the guilt is "infinite upon infinite," so is the +sacrifice of the God-man. Who is he that condemmeth? it is the Son of God +that died for sin. Who shall lay anything to God's elect? it is God that +justifieth. And as God shall, in the last day, summon up from the deep +places of our souls all of our sins, and bring us to a strict account for +everything, even to the idle words that we have spoken, we can look Him +full in the eye, without a thought of fear, and with love unutterable, if +we are really relying upon the atoning sacrifice of Christ for +justification. Even in that awful Presence, and under that Omniscient +scrutiny, "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." + +The great lesson, then, taught by the text and its unfolding, is _the +importance of attaining self-knowledge here upon earth, and while there +remaineth a sacrifice for sins_. The duty and wisdom of every man is, to +anticipate the revelations of the judgment day; to find out the sin of +his soul, while it is an accepted time and a day of salvation. For we +have seen that this self-inspection cannot ultimately be escaped. Man was +made to know himself, and he must sooner or later come to it. +Self-knowledge is as certain, in the end, as death. The utmost that can +be done, is to postpone it for a few days, or years. The article of death +and the exchange of worlds will pour it all in, like a deluge, upon every +man, whether he will or not. And he who does not wake up to a knowledge +of his heart, until he enters eternity, wakes up not to pardon but to +despair. + +The simple question, then, which, meets us is: Wilt thou know thyself +_here_ and _now_, that thou mayest accept and feel God's pity in Christ's +blood, or wilt thou keep within the screen, and not know thyself until +beyond the grave, and then feel God's judicial wrath? The self-knowledge, +remember, must come in the one way or the other. It is a simple question +of time; a simple question whether it shall come here in this world, +where the blood of Christ "freely flows," or in the future world, where +"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Turn the matter as we will, +this is the sum and substance,--a sinful man must either come to a +thorough self-knowledge, with a hearty repentance and a joyful pardon, in +this life; or he must come to a thorough, self-knowledge, with a total +despair and an eternal damnation, in the other. God is not mocked. God's +great pity in the blood of Christ must not be trifled with. He who +refuses, or neglects, to institute that self-examination which leads to +the sense of sin, and the felt need of Christ's work, by this very fact +proves that he does not desire to know his own heart, and that he has no +wish to repent of sin. But he who will not even look at his sin,--what +does not he deserve from that Being who poured out His own blood for it? +He who refuses even to open his eyes upon that bleeding Lamb of +God,--what must not he expect from the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in the +day of judgment? He who by a life of apathy, and indifference to sin, +puts himself out of all relations to the Divine pity,--what must he +experience in eternity, but the operations of stark, unmitigated law? + +Find out your sin, then. God will forgive all that is found. Though your +sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. The great God +delights to forgive, and is waiting to forgive. But, _sin must be seen by +the sinner, before it can be pardoned by the Judge_. If you refuse at +this point; if you hide yourself from yourself; if you preclude all +feeling and conviction upon the subject of sin, by remaining ignorant of +it; if you continue to live an easy, thoughtless life in sin, then you +_cannot_ be forgiven, and the measure of God's love with which He would +have blessed you, had you searched yourself and repented, will be the +measure of God's righteous wrath with which He will search you, and +condemn you, because you have not. + +[Footnote 1: "It is easy,"--says one of the keenest and most incisive of +theologians,--"for any one in the cloisters of the schools to indulge +himself in idle speculations on the merit of works to justify men; but +when he comes _into the presence of God_, he must bid farewell to these +amusements, for there the business is transacted with seriousness. To +this point must our attention be directed, if we wish to make any useful +inquiry concerning true righteousness: How we can answer the _celestial +Judge_ when He shall call us to an account? Let us place that Judge +before our eyes, not according to the inadequate imaginations of our +minds, but according to the descriptions given of him in the Scriptures, +which represent him as one whose refulgence eclipses the stars, whose +purity makes all things appear polluted, and who searches the inmost soul +of his creatures,--let us so conceive of the Judge of all the earth, and +every one must present himself as a criminal before Him, and voluntarily +prostrate and humble himself in deep solicitude concerning; his +absolution." CALVIN: Institutes, iii. 12.] + + + + +ALL MANKIND GUILTY; OR, EVERY MAN KNOWS MORE THAN HE PRACTISES. + + +ROMANS i. 24.--"When they knew God, they glorified him not as God." + + +The idea of God is the most important and comprehensive of all the ideas +of which the human mind is possessed. It is the foundation of religion; +of all right doctrine, and all right conduct. A correct intuition of it +leads to correct religious theories and practice; while any erroneous or +defective view of the Supreme Being will pervade the whole province of +religion, and exert a most pernicious influence upon the entire character +and conduct of men. + +In proof of this, we have only to turn to the opening chapters of St. +Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Here we find a profound and accurate +account of the process by which human nature becomes corrupt, and runs +its downward career of unbelief, vice, and sensuality. The apostle traces +back the horrible depravity of the heathen world, which he depicts with a +pen as sharp as that of Juvenal, but with none of Juvenal's bitterness +and vitriolic sarcasm, to a distorted and false conception of the being +and attributes of God. He does not, for an instant, concede that this +distorted and false conception is founded in the original structure and +constitution of the human soul, and that this moral ignorance is +necessary and inevitable. This mutilated idea of the Supreme Being was +not inlaid in the rational creature on the morning of creation, when God +said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." On the +contrary, the apostle affirms that the Creator originally gave all +mankind, in the moral constitution of a rational soul and in the works of +creation and providence, the media to a correct idea of Himself, and +asserts, by implication, that if they had always employed these media +they would have always possessed this idea. "The wrath of God," he says, +"is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of +men who hold the truth in unrighteousness; _because_ that which may be +known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them. _For_ +the invisible things of him, even his eternal power and Godhead, are +clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the +things that are made, so that they are without excuse; _because_ that +when they _knew_ God, they glorified him not as God" (Rom. i. 18-21). +From this, it appears that the mind of man has not kept what was +committed to its charge. It has not employed the moral instrumentalities, +nor elicited the moral ideas, with which it has been furnished. And, +notice that the apostle does not confine this statement to those who live +within the pale of Revelation. His description is unlimited and +universal. The affirmation of the text, that "when man knew God he +glorified him not as God," applies to the Gentile as well as to the Jew. +Nay, the primary reference of these statements was to the pagan world. It +was respecting the millions of idolaters in cultivated Greece and Rome, +and the millions of idolaters in barbarous India and China,--it was +respecting the whole world lying in wickedness, that St. Paul remarked: +"The invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are +clearly seen from the creation of the world down to the present moment, +being understood by the things that are made; _so that they are without +excuse_." + +When Napoleon was returning from his campaign in Egypt and Syria, he was +seated one night upon the deck of the vessel, under the open canopy of +the heavens, surrounded by his captains and generals. The conversation +had taken a skeptical direction, and most of the party had combated the +doctrine of the Divine existence. Napoleon had sat silent and musing, +apparently taking no interest in the discussion, when suddenly raising +his hand, and pointing at the crystalline firmament crowded with its +mildly shining planets and its keen glittering stars, he broke out, in +those startling tones that so often electrified a million of men: +"Gentlemen, who made all that?" The eternal power and Godhead of the +Creator are impressed by the things that are made, and these words of +Napoleon to his atheistic captains silenced them. And the same impression +is made the world over. Go to-day into the heart of Africa, or into the +centre of New Holland; select the most imbruted pagan that can be found; +take him out under a clear star-lit heaven and ask him who made all that, +and the idea of a Superior Being,--superior to all his fetishes and +idols,--possessing eternal power and supremacy ([Greek: theotaes]) +immediately emerges in his consciousness. The instant the missionary +takes this lustful idolater away from the circle of his idols, and brings +him face to face with the heavens and the earth, as Napoleon brought his +captains, the constitutional idea dawns again, and the pagan trembles +before the unseen Power.[1] + +But it will be objected that it is a very dim, and inadequate idea of the +Deity that thus rises in the pagan's mind, and that therefore the +apostle's affirmation that he is "without excuse" for being an idolater +and a sensualist requires some qualification. This imbruted creature, +says the objector, does not possess the metaphysical conception of God as +a Spirit, and of all his various attributes and qualities, like the +dweller in Christendom. How then can he be brought in guilty before the +same eternal bar, and be condemned to the same eternal punishment, with +the nominal Christian? The answer is plain, and decisive, and derivable +out of the apostle's own statements. In order to establish the guiltiness +of a rational creature before the bar of justice, it is not necessary to +show that he has lived in the seventh heavens, and under a blaze of moral +intelligence like that of the archangel Gabriel. It is only necessary to +show that he has enjoyed _some_ degree of moral light, and that he _has +not lived up to it_. Any creature who knows more than he practises is a +guilty creature. If the light in the pagan's intellect concerning God and +the moral law, small though it be, is yet actually in advance of the +inclination and affections of his heart and the actions of his life, he +deserves to be punished, like any and every other creature, under the +Divine government, of whom the same thing is true. Grades of knowledge +vary indefinitely. No two men upon the planet, no two men in Christendom, +possess precisely the same degree of moral intelligence. There are men +walking the streets of this city to-day, under the full light of the +Christian revelation, whose notions respecting God and law are +exceedingly dim and inadequate; and there are others whose views are +clear and correct in a high degree. But there is not a person in this +city, young or old, rich or poor, ignorant or cultivated, in the purlieus +of vice or the saloons of wealth, whose knowledge of God is not in +advance of his own character and conduct. Every man, whatever be the +grade of his intelligence, knows more than he puts in practice. Ask the +young thief, in the subterranean haunts of vice and crime, if he does not +know that it is wicked to steal, and if he renders an honest answer, it +is in the affirmative. Ask the most besotted soul, immersed and +petrified in sensuality, if his course of life upon earth has been in +accordance with his own knowledge and conviction of what is right, and +required by his Maker, and he will answer No, if he answers truly. The +grade of knowledge in the Christian land is almost infinitely various; +but in every instance the amount of knowledge is greater than the amount +of virtue. Whether he knows little or much, the man knows more than he +performs; and _therefore_ his mouth must be stopped in the judgment, and +he must plead guilty before God. He will not be condemned for not +possessing that ethereal vision of God possessed by the seraphim; but he +will be condemned because his perception of the holiness and the holy +requirements of God was sufficient, at any moment, to rebuke his +disregard of them; because when he knew God in some degree, he glorified +him not as God up to that degree. + +And this principle will be applied to the pagan world. It is so applied +by the apostle Paul. He himself concedes that the Gentile has not enjoyed +all the advantages of the Jew, and argues that the ungodly Jew will be +visited with a more severe punishment than the ungodly Gentile. But he +expressly affirms that the pagan is _under law_, and _knows_ that he is; +that he shows the work of the law that is written on the heart, in the +operations of an accusing and condemning conscience. But the knowledge of +law involves the knowledge of _God_ in an equal degree. Who can feel +himself amenable to a moral law, without at the same time thinking of its +Author? The law and the Lawgiver are inseparable. The one is the mirror +and index of the other. If the eye opens dimly upon the commandment, it +opens dimly upon the Sovereign; if it perceives eternal right and law +with clear and celestial vision, it then looks directly into the face of +God. Law and God are correlative to each other; and just so far, +consequently, as the heathen understands the law that is written on the +heart does he apprehend the Being who sitteth upon the circle of the +heavens, and who impinges Himself upon the consciousness of men. This +being so, it is plain that we can confront the ungodly pagan with the +same statements with which we confront the ungodly nominal Christian. We +can tell him with positiveness, wherever we find him, be it upon the +burning sands of Africa or in the frozen home of the Esquimaux, that he +knows more than he puts in practice. We will concede to him that the +quantum of his moral knowledge is very stinted and meagre; but in the +same breath we will remind him that small as it is, he has not lived up +to it; that he too has "come short"; that he too, knowing God in the +dimmest, faintest degree, has yet not glorified him as God in the +slightest, faintest manner. The Bible sends the ungodly and licentious +pagan to hell, upon the same principle that it sends the ungodly and +licentious nominal Christian. It is the principle enunciated by our Lord +Christ, the judge of quick and dead, when he says, "He who knew his +master's will [clearly], and did it not, shall be beaten with many +stripes; and he who knew not his master's will [clearly, but knew it +dimly,] and did it not, shall be beaten with few stripes." It is the +just principle enunciated by St. Paul, that "as many as have sinned +without [written] law shall also _perish_ without [written] law."[2] And +this is right and righteous; and let all the universe say, Amen. + +The doctrine taught in the text, that no human creature, in any country +or grade of civilization, has ever glorified God to the extent of his +knowledge of God, is very fertile in solemn and startling inferences, to +some of which we now invite attention. + +1. In the first place, it follows from this affirmation of the apostle +Paul, that _the entire heathen world is in a state of condemnation and +perdition_. He himself draws this inference, in saying that in the +judgment "_every_ mouth must be stopped, and the _whole_ world become +guilty before God." + +The present and future condition of the heathen world is a subject that +has always enlisted the interest of two very different classes of men. +The Church of God has pondered, and labored, and prayed over this +subject, and will continue to do so until the millennium. And the +disbeliever in Revelation has also turned his mind to the consideration +of this black mass of ignorance and misery, which welters upon the globe +like a chaotic ocean; these teeming millions of barbarians and savages +who render the aspect of the world so sad and so dark. The Church, we +need not say, have accepted the Biblical theory, and have traced the lost +condition of the pagan world, as the apostle Paul does, to their sin and +transgression. They have held that every pagan is a rational being, and +by virtue of this fact has known something of the moral law; and that to +the extent of the knowledge he has had, he is as guilty for the +transgression of law, and as really under its condemnation, as the +dweller under the light of revelation and civilization. They have +maintained that every human creature has enjoyed sufficient light, in the +workings of natural reason and conscience, and in the impressions that +are made by the glory and the terror of the natural world above and +around him, to render him guilty before the Everlasting Judge. For this +reason, the Church has denied that the pagan is an innocent creature, or +that he can stand in the judgment before the Searcher of hearts. For this +reason, the Church has believed the declaration of the apostle John, that +"the _whole_ world lieth in wickedness" (1 John v. 19), and has +endeavored to obey the command of Him who came to redeem pagans as much +as nominal Christians, to go and preach the gospel to _every_ creature, +because every creature is a lost creature. + +But the disbeliever in Revelation adopts the theory of human innocency, +and looks upon all the wretchedness and ignorance of paganism, as he +looks upon suffering, decay, and death, in the vegetable and animal +worlds. Temporary evil is the necessary condition, he asserts, of all +finite existence; and as decay and death in the vegetable and animal +worlds only result in a more luxuriant vegetation, and an increased +multiplication of living creatures, so the evil and woe of the hundreds +of generations, and the millions of individuals, during the sixty +centuries that have elapsed since the origin of man, will all of it +minister to the ultimate and everlasting weal of the entire race. There +is no need therefore, he affirms, of endeavoring to save such feeble and +ignorant beings from judicial condemnation and eternal penalty. Such +finiteness and helplessness cannot be put into relations to such an awful +attribute as the eternal nemesis of God. Can it be,--he asks,--that the +millions upon millions that have been born, lived their brief hour, +enjoyed their little joys and suffered their sharp sorrows, and then +dropped into "the dark backward and abysm of time," have really been +_guilty_ creatures, and have gone down to an endless hell? + +But what does all this reasoning and querying imply? Will the objector +really take the position and stand to it, that the pagan man is not a +rational and responsible creature? that he does not possess sufficient +knowledge of moral truth, to justify his being brought to the bar of +judgment? Will he say that the population that knew enough to build the +pyramids did not know enough to break the law of God? Will he affirm that +the civilization of Babylon and Nineveh, of Greece and Rome, did not +contain within it enough of moral intelligence to constitute a foundation +for rewards and punishments? Will he tell us that the people of Sodom and +Gomorrah stood upon the same plane with the brutes that perish, and the +trees of the field that rot and die, having no idea of God, knowing +nothing of the distinction between right and wrong, and never feeling the +pains of an accusing conscience? Will he maintain that the populations +of India, in the midst of whom one of the most subtile and ingenious +systems of pantheism has sprung up with the luxuriance and involutions of +one of their own jungles, and has enervated the whole religious sentiment +of the Hindoo race as opium has enervated their physical frame,--will he +maintain that such an untiring and persistent mental activity as this is +incapable of apprehending the first principles of ethics and natural +religion, which, in comparison with the complicated and obscure +ratiocinations of Boodhism, are clear as water, and lucid as atmospheric +air? In other connections, this theorist does not speak in this style. In +other connections, and for the purpose of exaggerating natural religion +and disparaging revealed, he enlarges upon the dignity of man, of every +man, and eulogizes the power of reason which so exalts him in the scale +of being. With Hamlet, he dilates in proud and swelling phrase: "What a +piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in +form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! +in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of +animals!" It is from that very class of theorizers who deny that the +heathen are in danger of eternal perdition, and who represent the whole +missionary enterprise as a work of supererogation, that we receive the +most extravagant accounts of the natural powers and gifts of man. Now if +these powers and gifts do belong to human nature by its constitution, +they certainly lay a foundation for responsibility; and all such +theorists must either be able to show that the pagan man has made a +right use of them, and has walked according to this large amount of truth +and reason with which, according to their own statement, he is endowed, +or else they consign him, as St. Paul does, to "the wrath of God which is +revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of _men +who hold the truth in unrighteousness_." If you assert that the pagan man +has had no talents at all committed to him, and can prove your assertion, +and will stand by it, you are consistent in denying that he can be +summoned to the bar of God, and be tried for eternal life or death. But +if you concede that he has had one talent, or two talents, committed to +his charge; and still more, if you exaggerate his gifts and endow him +with five or ten talents, then it is impossible for you to save him from +the judgment to come, except you can prove a _perfect_ administration and +use of the trust.[3] + +2. In the second place, it follows from the doctrine of the text, that +_the degraded and brutalized population of large cities is in a state of +condemnation and perdition_. + +There are heathen near our own doors whose religious condition is as sad, +and hopeless, as that of the heathen of Patagonia or New Zealand. The +vice and crime that nestles and riots in the large cities of Christendom +has become a common theme, and has lost much of its interest for the +worldly mind by losing its novelty. The manners and way of life of the +outcast population of London and Paris have been depicted by the +novelist, and wakened a momentary emotion in the readers of fiction. But +the reality is stern and dreadful, beyond imagination or conception. +There is in the cess-pools of the great capitals of Christendom a mass of +human creatures who are born, who live, and who die, in moral +putrefaction. Their existence is a continued career of sin and woe. Body +and soul, mind and heart, are given up to earth, to sense, to corruption. +They emerge for a brief season into the light of day, run their swift and +fiery career of sin, and then disappear. Dante, in that wonderful Vision +which embodies so much of true ethics and theology, represents the +wrathful and gloomy class as sinking down under the miry waters and +continuing to breathe in a convulsive, suffocating manner, sending up +bubbles to the surface, that mark the place where they are drawing out +their lingering existence.[4] Something like this, is the wretched life +of a vicious population. As we look in upon the fermenting mass, the only +signs of life that meet our view indicate that the life is feverish, +spasmodic, and suffocating. The bubbles rising to the dark and turbid +surface reveal that it is a life in death. + +But this, too, is the result of sin. Take the atoms one by one that +constitute this mass of pollution and misery, and you will find that each +one of them is a self-moving and an unforced will. Not one of these +millions of individuals has been necessitated by Almighty God, or by any +of God's arrangements, to do wrong. Each one of them is a moral agent, +equally with you and me. Each one of them is _self_-willed and +_self_-determined in sin. He does not _like_ to retain religious truth in +his mind, or to obey it in his heart. Go into the lowest haunt of vice and +select out the most imbruted person there; bring to his remembrance that +class of truths with which he is already acquainted by virtue of his +rational nature, and add to them that other class of truths taught in +Revelation, and you will find that he is predetermined against them. He +takes sides, with all the depth and intensity of his being, with that +sinfulness which is common to man, and which it is the aim of both ethics +and the gospel to remove. This vicious and imbruted man _loves_ the sin +which is forbidden, more than he loves the holiness that is commanded. He +_inclines_ to the sin which so easily besets him, precisely as you and I +incline to the bosom-sin which so easily besets us. We grant that the +temptations that assail him are very powerful; but are not some of the +temptations that beset you and me very powerful? We grant that this +wretched slave of vice and pollution cannot break off his sins by +righteousness, without the renewing and assisting grace of God; but +neither can you or I. It is the action of _his own_ will that has made +him a slave. He loves his chains and his bondage, even as you and I +naturally love ours; and this proves that his moral corruption, though +assuming an outwardly more repulsive form than ours, is yet the same +thing in principle. It is the rooted aversion of the human heart, the +utter disinclination of the human will, towards the purity and holiness +of God; it is "the carnal mind which is enmity against God; for it is not +subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. viii. 7). + +But there is no more convincing proof of the position, that the degraded +creature of whom we are speaking is a self-deciding and unforced sinner, +than the fact that he _resists_ efforts to reclaim him. Ask these +faithful and benevolent missionaries who go down into these dens of vice +and pollution, to pour more light into the mind, and to induce these +outcasts to leave their drunkenness and their debauchery,--ask them if +they find that human nature is any different there from what it is +elsewhere, so far as _yielding_ to the claims of God and law is +concerned. Do they tell you that they are uniformly successful in +inducing these sinners to leave their sins? that they never find any +self-will, any determined opposition to the holy law of purity, any +preference of a life of licence with its woes here upon earth and +hereafter in hell, to a life of self-denial with its joys eternal? On the +contrary, they testify that the old maxim upon which so many millions of +the human family have acted: "Enjoy the present and jump the life to +come," is the rule for this mass of population, of whom so very few can +be persuaded to leave their cups and their orgies. Like the people of +Israel, when expostulated with by the prophet Jeremiah for their idolatry +and pollution, the majority of the degraded population of whom we are +speaking, when endeavors have been made to reclaim them, have said to the +philanthropist and the missionary: "There is no hope: no; for I have +loved strangers, and after them I will go" (Jer. ii. 25). There is not a +single individual of them all who does not love the sin that is +destroying him, more than he loves the holiness that would save him. +Notwithstanding all the horrible accompaniments of sin--the filth, the +disease, the poverty, the sickness, the pain of both body and mind,--the +wretched creature prefers to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, +rather than come out and separate himself from the unclean thing, and +begin that holy warfare and obedience to which his God and his Saviour +invite him. This, we repeat, proves that the sin is not forced upon this +creature. For if he hated his sin, nay if he felt weary and heavy laden +in the least degree because of it, he might leave it. There is a free +grace, and a proffered assistance of the Holy Ghost, of which he might +avail himself at any moment. Had he the feeling of the weary and penitent +prodigal, the same father's house is ever open for his return; and the +same father seeing him on his return, though still a great way off, would +run and fall upon his neck and kiss him. But the heart is hard, and the +spirit is utterly _selfish_, and the will is perverse and determined, and +therefore the natural knowledge of God and his law which this sinner +possesses by his very constitution, and the added knowledge which his +birth in a Christian land and the efforts of benevolent Christians have +imparted to him, are not strong enough to overcome his inclination, and +his preference, and induce him to break off his sins by righteousness. +To him, also, as well as to every sin-loving man, these solemn words will +be spoken in the day of final adjudication: "The wrath of God is revealed +from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness, of men who hold +down ([Greek: katechein]) the truth in unrighteousness; because that +which may be known of God is manifest _within_ them; for God hath shewed +it unto them. For the invisible things of him, even his eternal power and +Godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being +understood by the things that are made; so that they are without excuse, +because that when they knew God. they glorified him not as God." + +3. In the third and last place, it follows from this doctrine of the +apostle Paul, as thus unfolded, that _that portion of the enlightened and +cultivated population of Christian lands who have not believed on the +Lord Jesus Christ, and repented of sin, are in the deepest state of +condemnation and perdition._ + +"Behold thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy +boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are +more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that +thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in +darkness: an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes: which hast +the form of knowledge, and of the truth, in the law: thou therefore that +teachest another teachest thou not thyself? thou that makest thy boast of +the law, through breaking the law dishonored thou God?" + +If it be true that the pagan knows more of God and the moral law than he +has ever put in practice; if it be true that the imbruted child of vice +and pollution knows more of God and the moral law than he has ever put in +practice; how much more fearfully true is it that the dweller in a +Christian home, the visitant of the house of God, the possessor of the +written Word, the listener to prayer and oftentimes the subject of it, +possesses an amount of knowledge respecting his origin, his duty, and +his destiny, that infinitely outruns his character and his conduct. If +eternal punishment will come down upon those classes of mankind who know +but comparatively little, because they have been unfaithful in that which +is least, surely eternal punishment will come down upon that more favored +class who know comparatively much, because they have been unfaithful in +that which is much. "If these things are done in the green tree, what +shall be done in the dry?" + +The great charge that will rest against the creature when he stands +before the final bar will be, that "when he knew God, he _glorified_ Him +not as God." And this will rest heaviest against those whose knowledge +was the clearest. It is a great prerogative to be able to know the +infinite and glorious Creator; but it brings with it a most solemn +responsibility. That blessed Being, of right, challenges the homage and +obedience of His creature. What he asks of the angel, that he asks of +man; that he should glorify God in his body and spirit which are His, and +should thereby enjoy God forever and forever. This is the condemnation, +under which man, and especially enlightened and cultivated man, rests, +that while he knows God he neither glorifies Him nor enjoys Him. Our +Redeemer saw this with all the clearness of the Divine Mind; and to +deliver the creature from the dreadful guilt, of his self-idolatry, of +his disposition to worship and love the creature more than the Creator, +He became incarnate, suffered and died. It cannot be a small crime, that +necessitated, such an apparatus of atonement and Divine influences as +that of Christ and His redemption. Estimate the guilt of coming short of +the glory of God, which is the same as the guilt of idolatry and +creature-worship, by the nature of the provision that has been made +to cancel it. If you do not actually feel that this crime is great, then +argue yourself towards a juster view, by the consideration that it cost +the blood of Christ to expiate it. If you do not actually feel that the +guilt is great, then argue yourself towards a juster view, by the +reflection that you have known God to be supremely great, supremely good, +and supremely excellent, and yet you have never, in a single feeling of +your heart, or a single thought of your mind, or a single purpose of your +will, _honored_ Him. It is honor, reverence, worship, and love that +He requires. These you have never rendered; and there is an infinity of +guilt in the fact. That guilt will be forgiven for Christ's sake, if you +ask for forgiveness. But if you do not ask, then it will stand recorded +against you for eternal ages: "When he, a rational and immortal creature, +knew God, he glorified Him not as God." + + +[Footnote 1: The early Fathers, in their defence of the Christian +doctrine of one God, against the objections of the pagan advocate of the +popular mythologies, contend that the better pagan writers themselves +agree with the new religion, in teaching that there is one Supreme Being. +LACTANTIUS (Institutiones i. 5), after quoting the Orphic poets, Hesiod, +Virgil, and Ovid, in proof that the heathen poets taught the unity of +the Supreme Deity, proceeds to show that the better pagan philosophers, +also, agree with them in this. "Aristotle," he says, "although he +disagrees with himself, and says many things that are self-contradictory, +yet testifies that one Supreme Mind rules over the world. Plato, who is +regarded as the wisest philosopher of them all, plainly and openly +defends the doctrine of a divine monarchy, and denominates the Supreme +Being; not ether, nor reason, nor nature, but, as he is, _God_; and +asserts that by him this perfect and admirable world was made. And Cicero +follows Plato, frequently confessing the Deity, and calls him the Supreme +Being, in his treatise on the Laws." TERTULLIAN (De Test. An. c. 1; Adv. +Marc. i. 10; Ad. Scap. c. 2; Apol. c. 17), than whom no one of the +Christian Fathers was more vehemently opposed to the philosophizing of +the schools, earnestly contends that the doctrine of the unity of God is +constitutional to the human mind. "God," he says, "proves himself to be +God, and the one only God, by the very fact that He is known to _all_ +nations; for the existence of any other deity than He would first have to +be demonstrated. The God of the Jews is the one whom the _souls_ of men +call their God. We worship one God, the one whom ye all naturally know, +at whose lightnings and thunders ye tremble, at whose benefits ye +rejoice. Will ye that we prove the Divine existence by the witness of the +soul itself, which, although confined by the prison of the body, although +circumscribed by bad training, although enervated by lusts and passions, +although made the servant of false gods, yet when it recovers itself as +from a surfeit, as from a slumber, as from some infirmity, and is in its +proper condition of soundness, calls God by _this_ name only, because it +is the proper name of the true God. 'Great God,' 'good God,' and 'God +grant' [deus, not dii], are words in every mouth. The soul also witnesses +that He is its judge, when it says, 'God sees,' 'I commend to God,' 'God +shall recompense me.' O testimony of a soul naturally Christian [i.e., +monotheistic]! Finally, in pronouncing these words, it looks not to the +Roman capitol, but to heaven; for it knows the dwelling-place of the true +God: from Him and from thence it descended." CALVIN (Inst. i. 10) seems +to have had these statements in his eye, in the following remarks: "In +almost all ages, religion has been generally corrupted. It is true, +indeed, that the name of one Supreme God has been universally known and +celebrated. For those who used to worship a multitude of deities, +whenever they spake according to the genuine sense of nature, used simply +the name of God in the _singular_ number, as though they were contented +with one God. And this was wisely remarked by Justin Martyr, who for this +purpose wrote a book 'On the Monarchy of God,' in which he demonstrates, +from numerous testimonies, that the unity of God is a principle +universally impressed on the hearts of men. Tertullian (De Idololatria) +also proves the same point, from the common phraseology. But since all +men, without exception, have become vain in their understandings, all +their natural perception of the Divine Unity has only served to render +them inexcusable." In consonance with these views, the Presbyterian +CONFESSION OF FAITH (ch. i.) affirms that "the light of nature, and the +works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, +wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable."] + +[Footnote 2: The word [Greek: apolountai], in Rom. ii. 12, is opposed to +the [Greek: sotaeria] spoken of in Rom. i. 16, and therefore signifies +_eternal_ perdition, as that signifies _eternal_ salvation.-Those +theorists who reject revealed religion, and remand man back to the first +principles of ethics and morality as the only religion that he needs, +send him to a tribunal that damns him. "Tell me," says St. Paul, "ye +that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? The law is not +of faith, but the man that _doeth_ them shall live by them. Circumcision +verily profiteth if thou _keep_ the law; but if thou be a breaker of the +law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision." If man had been true to +all the principles and precepts of natural religion, it would indeed be +religion enough for him. But he has not been thus true. The entire list +of vices and sins recited by St. Paul, in the first chapter of Romans, is +as contrary to natural religion, as it is to revealed. And it is +precisely because the pagan world has not obeyed the principles of +natural religion, and is under a curse and a bondage therefor, that it is +in perishing need of the truths of revealed religion. Little do those +know what they are saying, when they propose to find a salvation for the +pagan in the mere light of natural reason and conscience. What pagan has +ever realized the truths of natural conscience, in his inward character +and his outward life? What pagan is there in all the generations that +will not be found guilty before the bar of natural religion? What heathen +will not need an atonement, for his failure to live up even to the light +of nature? Nay, what is the entire sacrificial cultus of heathenism, but +a confession that the whole heathen world finds and feels itself to be +guilty at the bar of natural reason and conscience? The accusing voice +within them wakes their forebodings and fearful looking-for of Divine +judgment, and they endeavor to propitiate the offended Power by their +offerings and sacrifices.] + +[Footnote 3: Infidelity is constantly changing its ground. In the 18th +century, the skeptic very generally took the position of Lord Herbert +of Cherbury, and maintained that the light of reason is very clear, and +is adequate to all the religious needs of the soul. In the 19th century, +he is now passing to the other extreme, and contending that man is +kindred to the ape, and within the sphere of paganism does not possess +sufficient moral intelligence to constitute him responsible. Like +Luther's drunken beggar on horseback, the opponent of Revelation sways +from the position that man is a god, to the position that he is a +chimpanzee.] + +[Footnote 4: DANTE: Inferno, vii. 100-130.] + + + + +SIN IN THE HEART THE SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE HEAD + +ROMANS i. 28.--"As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, +God gave them over to a reprobate mind." + + +In the opening of the most logical and systematic treatise in the New +Testament, the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul enters upon a line +of argument to demonstrate the ill-desert of every human creature without +exception. In order to this, he shows that no excuse can be urged upon +the ground of moral ignorance. He explicitly teaches that the pagan knows +that there is one Supreme God (Rom. i. 20); that He is a spirit (Rom. i. +23); that He is holy and sin-hating (Rom. i. 18); that He is worthy to be +worshipped (Rom. i. 21, 25); and that men ought to be thankful for His +benefits (Rom. i. 21). He affirms that the heathen knows that an idol is +a lie (Rom. i. 25); that licentiousness is a sin (Rom. i. 26, 32); that +envy, malice, and deceit are wicked (Rom. i. 29, 32); and that those who +practise such sins deserve eternal punishment (Rom. i. 32). + +In these teachings and assertions, the apostle has attributed no small +amount and degree of moral knowledge to man as _man_,--to man outside of +Revelation, as well as under its shining light. The question very +naturally arises: How comes it to pass that this knowledge which Divine +inspiration postulates, and affirms to be innate and constitutional to +the human mind, should become so vitiated? The majority of mankind are +idolaters and polytheists, and have been for thousands of years. Can +it be that the truth that there is only one God is native to the human +spirit, and that the pagan "_knows_" this God? The majority of men are +earthly and sensual, and have been for thousands of years. Can it be that +there is a moral law written upon their hearts forbidding such carnality, +and enjoining purity and holiness? + +Some theorizers argue that because the pagan man has not obeyed the law, +therefore he does not know the law; and that because he has not revered +and worshipped the one Supreme Deity, therefore he does not possess the +idea of any such Being. They look out upon the heathen populations and +see them bowing down to stocks and stones, and witness their immersion in +the abominations of heathenism, and conclude that these millions of human +beings really know no better, and that therefore it is unjust to hold +them responsible for their polytheism and their moral corruption. But why +do they confine this species of reasoning to the pagan world? Why do they +not bring it into nominal Christendom, and apply it there? Why does not +this theorist go into the midst of European civilization, into the heart +of London or Paris, and gauge the moral knowledge of the sensualist by +the moral character of the sensualist? Why does he not tell us that +because this civilized man acts no better, therefore he knows no better? +Why does he not maintain that because this voluptuary breaks all the +commandments in the decalogue, therefore he must be ignorant of all the +commandments in the decalogue? that because he neither fears nor loves +the one only God, therefore he does not know that there is any such +Being? + +It will never do to estimate man's moral knowledge by man's moral +character. He knows more than he practises. And there is not so much +difference in this particular between some men in nominal Christendom, +and some men in Heathendom, as is sometimes imagined. The moral knowledge +of those who lie in the lower strata of Christian civilization, and those +who lie in the higher strata of Paganism, is probably not so very far +apart. Place the imbruted outcasts of our metropolitan population beside +the Indian hunter, with his belief in the Great Spirit, and his worship +without images or pictorial representations;[1] beside the stalwart +Mandingo of the high table-lands of Central Africa, with his active and +enterprising spirit, carrying on manufactures and trade with all the +keenness of any civilized worldling; beside the native merchants and +lawyers of Calcutta, who still cling to their ancestral Boodhism, or else +substitute French infidelity in its place; place the lowest of the +highest beside the highest of the lowest, and tell us if the difference +is so very marked. Sin, like holiness, is a mighty leveler. The "dislike +to retain God" in the consciousness, the aversion of the heart towards +the purity of the moral law, vitiates the native perceptions alike in +Christendom and Paganism. + +The theory that the pagan is possessed of such an amount and degree of +moral knowledge as has been specified has awakened some apprehension in +the minds of some Christian theologians, and has led them, +unintentionally to foster the opposite theory, which, if strictly +adhered, to, would lift off all responsibility from the pagan world, +would bring them in innocent at the bar of God, and would render the +whole enterprise of Christian missions a superfluity and an absurdity. +Their motive has been good. They have feared to attribute any degree +of accurate knowledge of God and the moral law, to the pagan world, lest +they should thereby conflict with the doctrine of total depravity. They +have mistakenly supposed, that if they should concede to every man, by +virtue of his moral constitution, some correct apprehensions of ethics +and natural religion, it would follow that there is some native goodness +in him. But light in the intellect is very different from life in the +heart. It is one thing to know the law of God, and quite another thing to +be conformed to it. Even if we should concede to the degraded pagan, or +the degraded dweller in the haunts of vice in Christian lands, all the +intellectual knowledge of God and the moral law that is possessed by the +ruined archangel himself, we should not be adding a particle to his moral +character or his moral excellence. There is nothing of a holy quality in +the mere intellectual perception that there is one Supreme Deity, and +that He has issued a pure and holy law for the guidance of all rational +beings. The mere doctrine of the Divine Unity will save no man. "Thou +believest," says St. James, "that there is one God; thou doest well, the +devils also believe and tremble." Satan himself is a monotheist, and +knows very clearly all the commandments of God; but his heart and will +are in demoniacal antagonism with them. And so it is, only in a lower +degree, in the instance of the pagan, and of the natural man, in every +age, and in every clime. He knows more than he practises. This +intellectual perception therefore, this inborn constitutional +apprehension, instead of lifting up man into a higher and more favorable +position before the eternal bar, casts him down to perdition. If he knew +nothing at all of his Maker and his duty, he could not be held +responsible, and could, not be summoned to judgment. As St. Paul affirms: +"Where there is no law there is no transgression." But if, when he knew +God in some degree, he glorified him not as God to that degree; and if, +when the moral law was written upon the heart he went counter to its +requirements, and heard the accusing voice of his own conscience; then +his mouth must be stopped, and he must become guilty before his Judge, +like any and every other disobedient creature. + +It is this serious and damning fact in the history of man upon the globe, +that St. Paul brings to view, in the passage which we have selected as +the foundation of this discourse. He accounts for all the idolatry and +sensuality, all the darkness and vain imaginations of paganism, by +referring to _the aversion of the natural heart_ towards the one only +holy God. "Men," he says,--these pagan men--"did not _like to retain_ God +in their knowledge." The primary difficulty was in their affections, and +not in their understandings. They knew too much for their own comfort in +sin. The contrast between the Divine purity that was mirrored in their +conscience, and the sinfulness that was wrought into their heart and +will, rendered this inborn constitutional idea of God a very painful one. +It was a fire in the bones. If the Psalmist, a renewed man, yet not +entirely free from human corruption, could say: "I thought of God and was +troubled," much more must the totally depraved man of paganism be filled +with terror when, in the thoughts of his heart, in the hour when the +accusing conscience was at work, he brought to mind the one great God of +gods whom he did not glorify, and whom he had offended. It was no wonder, +therefore, that he did not like to retain the idea of such a Being in his +consciousness, and that he adopted all possible expedients to get rid of +it. The apostle informs us that the pagan actually called in his +imagination to his aid, in order to extirpate, if possible, all his +native and rational ideas and convictions upon religious subjects. He +became vain in his imaginations, and his foolish heart as a consequence +was darkened, and he changed the glory of the incorruptible God, the +spiritual unity of the Deity, into an image made like to corruptible man, +and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Rom. i. 21-23). +He invented idolatry, and all those "gay religions full of pomp and +gold," in order to blunt the edge of that sharp spiritual conception of +God which was continually cutting and lacerating his wicked and sensual +heart. Hiding himself amidst the columns of his idolatrous temples, and +under the smoke of his idolatrous incense, he thought like Adam to escape +from the view and inspection of that Infinite One who, from the creation +of the world downward, makes known to all men his eternal power and +godhead; who, as St. Paul taught the philosophers of Athens, is not far +from anyone of his rational creatures (Acts xvii. 27); and who, as the +same apostle taught the pagan Lycaonians, though in times past he +suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, yet left not himself +without witness, in that he did good, and gave them rain from heaven, +and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. (Acts +xiv. 16, 17). + +The first step in the process of mutilating the original idea of God, as +a unity and an unseen Spirit, is seen in those pantheistic religions +which lie behind all the mythologies of the ancient world, like a +nebulous vapor out of which the more distinct idols and images of +paganism are struggling. Here the notion of the Divine unity is still +preserved; but the Divine personality and holiness are lost. God becomes +a vague impersonal Power, with no moral qualities, and no religious +attributes; and it is difficult to say which is worst in its moral +influence, this pantheism which while retaining the doctrine of the +Divine unity yet denudes the Deity of all that renders him an object of +either love or reverence, or the grosser idolatries that succeeded it. +For man cannot love, with all his mind and heart and soul and strength, a +vast impersonal force working blindly through infinite space and +everlasting time. + +And the second and last stage in this process of vitiating the true idea +of God appears in that polytheism in the midst of which St. Paul lived, +and labored, and preached, and died; in that seductive and beautiful +paganism, that classical idolatry, which still addresses the human taste +in such a fascinating manner, in the Venus de Medici, and the Apollo +Belvidere. The idea of the unity of God is now mangled and cut up into +the "gods many" and the "lords many," into the thirty thousand divinities +of the pagan pantheon. This completes the process. God now gives his +guilty creature over to these vain imaginations of naturalism, +materialism, and idolatry, and to an increasingly darkening mind, until +in the lowest forms of heathenism he so distorts and suppresses the +concreated idea of the Deity that some speculatists assert that it does +not belong to his constitution, and that his Maker never endowed him with +it. How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! + +But it will be objected that all this lies in the past. This is the +account of a process that has required centuries, yea millenniums, to +bring about. A hundred generations have been engaged in transmuting +the monotheism with which the human race started, into the pantheism and +polytheism in which the great majority of it is now involved. How do +you establish the guilt of those at the end of the line? How can you +charge upon the present generation of pagans the same culpability that +Paul imputed to their ancestors eighteen centuries ago, and that Noah the +preacher of righteousness denounced, upon the antediluvian pagan? As the +deteriorating process advances, does not the guilt diminish? and now, in +these ends of the ages, and in these dark habitations of cruelty, has not +the culpability run down to a minimum, which God in the day of judgment +will "wink at?" + +We answer No: Because the structure of the human mind is precisely the +same that it was when the Sodomites held down the truth in +unrighteousness, and the Roman populace turned up their thumbs that they +might see the last drops of blood ebb slowly from the red gash in the +dying gladiator's side. Man, in his deepest degradation, in his most +hardened depravity, is still a rational intelligence; and though he +should continue to sin on indefinitely, through cycles of time as long as +those of geology, he cannot unmake himself; he cannot unmould his +immortal essence, and absolutely eradicate all his moral ideas. Paganism +itself has its fluctuations of moral knowledge. The early Roman, in the +days of Numa, was highly ethical in his views of the Deity, and his +conceptions of moral law. Varro informs us that for a period of one +hundred and seventy years the Romans worshipped their gods without any +images;[2] and Sallust denominates these pristine Romans "religiosissimi +mortales." And how often does the missionary discover a tribe or a race, +whose moral intelligence is higher than that of the average of paganism. +Nay, the same race, or tribe, passes from one phase of polytheism to +another; in one instance exhibiting many of the elements and truths of +natural religion, and in another almost entirely suppressing them. These +facts prove that the pagan man is under supervision; that he is under the +righteous despotism of moral ideas and convictions; that God is not far +from him; that he lives and moves and has his being in his Maker; and +that God does not leave himself without witness in his constitutional +structure. Therefore it is, that this sea of rational intelligence thus +surges and sways in the masses of paganism; sometimes dashing the +creature up the heights, and sometimes sending him down into the depths. + +But while this subject has this general application to mankind outside of +Revelation; while it throws so much light upon the question of the +heathens' responsibility and guilt; while it tends to deepen our interest +in the work of Christian missions, and to stimulate us to obey our +Redeemer's command to go and preach the gospel to them, in order to +save them from the wrath of God which abideth upon them as it does upon +ourselves; while this subject has these profound and far-reaching +applications, it also presses with sharpness and energy upon the case, +and the position, of millions of men in Christendom. And to this more +particular aspect of the theme, we ask attention for a moment. + +This same process of corruption, and vitiation of a correct knowledge of +God, which we have seen to go on upon a large scale in the instance of +the heathen world, also often goes on in the instance of a single +individual under the light of Revelation itself. Have you never known a +person to have been well educated in childhood and youth respecting the +character and government of God, and yet in middle life and old age to +have altered and corrupted all his early and accurate apprehensions, by +the gradual adoption of contrary views and sentiments? In his childhood, +and youth, he believed that God distinguishes between the righteous and +the wicked, that he rewards the one and punishes the other, and hence he +cherished a salutary fear of his Maker that agreed well with the dictates +of his unsophisticated reason, and the teachings of nature and +revelation. But when, he became a man, he put away these childish things, +in a far different sense from that of the Apostle. As the years rolled, +along, he succeeded, by a career of worldliness and of sensuality, in +expelling this stock of religious knowledge, this right way of conceiving +of God, from his mind, and now at the close of life and upon the very +brink of eternity and of doom, this very same person is as unbelieving +respecting the moral attributes of Jehovah, and as unfearing with regard +to them, as if the entire experience and creed of his childhood and youth +were a delusion and a lie. This rational and immortal creature in the +morning of his existence looked up into the clear sky with reverence, +being impressed by the eternal power and godhead that are there, and when +he had committed a sin he felt remorseful and guilty; but the very same +person now sins recklessly and with flinty hardness of heart, casts +sullen or scowling glances upward, and says: "There is no God." Compare +the Edward Gibbon whose childhood expanded under the teachings of a +beloved Christian matron trained in the school of the devout William Law, +and whose youth exhibited unwonted religions sensibility,--compare this +Edward Gibbon with the Edward Gibbon whose manhood was saturated with +utter unbelief, and whose departure into the dread hereafter was, in his +own phrase, "a leap in the dark." Compare the Aaron Burr whose blood was +deduced from one of the most saintly lineages in the history of the +American church, and all of whose early life was embosomed in ancestral +piety,--compare this Aaron Burr with the Aaron Burr whose middle life and +prolonged old age was unimpressible as marble to all religious ideas and +influences. In both of these instances, it was the aversion of the heart +that for a season (not for _eternity_, be it remembered) quenched out the +light in the head. These men, like the pagan of whom St. Paul speaks, did +not like to retain a holy God in their knowledge, and He gave them over +to a reprobate mind. + +These fluctuations and changes in doctrinal belief, both in the general +and the individual mind, furnish materials for deep reflection by both +the philosopher and the Christian; and such an one will often be led to +notice the exact parallel and similarity there is between religious +deterioration in races, and religious deterioration in individuals. The +_dislike to retain_ a knowledge already furnished, because it is painful, +because it rebukes worldliness and sin, is that which ruins both mankind +in general, and the man in particular. Were the heart only conformed to +the truth, the truth never would be corrupted, never would be even +temporarily darkened in the human soul. Should the pagan, himself, +actually obey the dictates of his own reason and conscience, he would +find the light that was in him growing still clearer and brighter. God +himself, the author of his rational mind, and the Light that lighteth +every man that cometh into the world, would reward him for his obedience +by granting him yet more knowledge. We cannot say in what particular +mode the Divine providence would bring it about, but it is as certain as +that God lives, that if the pagan world should act up to the degree of +light which they enjoy, they would be conducted ultimately to the truth +as it is in Jesus, and would be saved by the Redeemer of the world. The +instance of the Roman centurion Cornelius is a case in point. This was a +thoughtful and serious pagan. It is indeed very probable that his +military residence in Palestine had cleared up, to some degree, his +natural intuitions of moral truth; but we know that he was ignorant of +the way of salvation through Christ, from the fact that the apostle Peter +was instructed in a vision to go and preach it unto him. The sincere +endeavor of this Gentile, this then pagan in reference to Christianity, +to improve the little knowledge which he had, met with the Divine +approbation, and was crowned with a saving acquaintance with the +redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Peter himself testified to this, +when, after hearing from the lips of Cornelius the account of his +previous life, and of the way in which God had led him, "he opened his +mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of +persons: but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh +righteousness is accepted with him" (Acts x. 34, 35).[3] + +But such instances as this of Cornelius are not one in millions upon +millions. The light shines in the darkness that comprehends it not. +Almost without an exception, so far as the human eye can see, the +unevangelized world holds the truth in unrighteousness, and does not like +to retain the idea of a holy God, and a holy law, in its knowledge. +Therefore the knowledge continually diminishes; the light of natural +reason and conscience grows dimmer and dimmer; and the soul sinks down in +the mire of sin and sensuality, apparently devoid of all the higher ideas +of God, and law, and immortal life. + +We have thus considered the truth which St. Paul teaches in the text, +that the ultimate source of all human error is in the character of the +human heart. Mankind do not _like to retain_ God in their knowledge, and +therefore they come to possess a reprobate mind. The origin of idolatry, +and of infidelity, is not in the original constitution with which the +Creator endowed the creature, but in that evil heart of unbelief by which +he departed from the living God. Sinful man shapes his creed in +accordance with his wishes, and not in accordance with the unbiased +decisions of his reason and conscience. He does not _like_ to think of a +holy God, and therefore he denies that God is holy. He does not _like_ to +think of the eternal punishment of sin, and therefore he denies that +punishment is eternal. He does not _like_ to be pardoned through the +substituted sufferings of the Son of God, and therefore he denies the +doctrine of atonement. He does not _like_ the truth that man is so +totally alienated from God that he needs to be renewed in the spirit of +his mind by the Holy Ghost, and therefore he denies the doctrines of +depravity and regeneration. Run through the creed which the Church has +lived by and died by, and you will discover that the only obstacle to its +reception is the aversion of the human heart. It is a rational creed in +all its parts and combinations. It has outlived the collisions and +conflicts of a hundred schools of infidelity that have had their brief +day, and died with their devotees. A hundred systems of philosophy +falsely so called have come and gone, but the one old religion of the +patriarchs, and the prophets, and the apostles, holds on its way through +the centuries, conquering and to conquer. Can it be that sheer imposture +and error have such a tenacious vitality as this? If reason is upon the +side of infidelity, why does not infidelity remain one and the same +unchanging thing, like Christianity, from age to age, and subdue all men +unto it? If Christianity is a delusion and a lie, why does it not die +out, and disappear? The difficulty is not upon the side of the human +reason, but of the human heart. Skeptical men do not _like_ the religion +of the New Testament, these doctrines of sin and grace, and therefore +they shape their creed by their sympathies and antipathies; by what they +wish to have true; by their heart rather than by their head. As the +Founder of Christianity said to the Jews, so he says to every man who +rejects His doctrine of grace and redemption: "Ye _will_ not come unto me +that ye might have life." It is an inclination of the will, and not a +conviction of the reason, that prevents the reception of the Christian +religion. + +Among the many reflections that are suggested by this subject and its +discussion, our limits permit only the following: + +1. It betokens deep wickedness, in any man, to change the truth of God +into a lie,--_to substitute a false theory in religion for the true one_. +"Woe unto them," says the prophet, "that call evil good, and good evil; +that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for +sweet, and sweet for bitter." There is no form of moral evil that is more +hateful in the sight of Infinite Truth, than that intellectual depravity +which does not like to retain a holy God in its knowledge, and therefore +mutilates the very idea of the Deity, and attempts to make him other than +he is. There is no sinner that will be visited with a heavier vengeance +than that cool and calculating man, who, because he dislikes the +unyielding purity of the moral law, and the awful sanctions by which it +is accompanied, deliberately alters it to suit his wishes and his +self-indulgence. If a person is tempted and falls into sin, and yet does +not change his religious creed in order to escape the reproaches of +conscience and the fear of retribution, there is hope that the orthodoxy +of his head may result, by God's blessing upon his own truth, in sorrow +for the sin and a forsaking thereof. A man, for instance, who amidst all +his temptations and transgressions still retains the truth taught him +from the Scriptures, at his mother's knees, that a finally impenitent +sinner will go down to eternal torment, feels a powerful check upon his +passions, and is often kept from outward and actual transgressions by his +creed. But if he deliberately, and by an act of will, says in his heart: +"There is no hell;" if he substitutes for the theory that renders the +commission of sin dangerous and fearful, a theory that relieves it from +all danger and all fear, there is no hope that he will ever cease from +sinning. On the contrary, having brought his head into harmony with his +heart; having adjusted his theory to his practice; having shaped his +creed by his passions; having changed the truth of God into a lie; he +then plunges into sin with an abandonment and a momentum that is awful. +In the phrase of the prophet, he "draws iniquity with cords of vanity, +and sin as it were with a cart-rope." + +It is here that we see the deep guilt of those, who, by false theories of +God and man and law and penalty, tempt the young or the old to their +eternal destruction. It is sad and fearful, when the weak physical nature +is plied with all the enticements of earth and sense; but it is yet +sadder and more fearful, when the intellectual nature is sought to be +perverted and ensnared by specious theories that annihilate the +distinction between virtue and vice, that take away all holy fear of God, +and reverence for His law, that represent the everlasting future either +as an everlasting elysium for all, or else as an eternal sleep. The +demoralization, in this instance, is central and radical. It is in the +brain, in the very understanding itself. If the foundations themselves of +morals and religion are destroyed, what can be done for the salvation of +the creature? A heavy woe is denounced against any and every one who +tempts a fellow-being. Temptation implies malice. It is Satanic. It +betokens a desire to ruin an immortal spirit. When therefore the siren +would allure a human creature from the path of virtue, the inspiration of +God utters a deep and bitter curse against her. But when the cold-blooded +Mephistopheles endeavors to sophisticate the reason, to debauch the +judgment, to sear the conscience; when the temptation is addressed to the +intellect, and the desire of the tempter is to overthrow the entire +religious creed of a human being,--perhaps a youth just entering upon +that hazardous enterprise of life in which he needs every jot and tittle +of eternal truth to guide and protect him,--when the enticement assumes +this purely mental form and aspect, it betokens the most malignant and +heaven-daring guilt in the tempter. And we may be certain that the +retribution that will be meted out to it, by Him who is true and The +Truth; who abhors all falsehood and all lies with an infinite intensity; +will be terrible beyond conception. "Woe unto you ye _blind guides_! Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell! If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the +plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away +from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part +out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things +that are written in this book." + +2. In the second place, we perceive, in the light of this subject, _the +great danger of not reducing religious truth to practice_. There are two +fatal hazards in not obeying the doctrines of the Bible while yet there +is an intellectual assent to them. The first is, that these doctrines +shall themselves become diluted and corrupted. So long as the +affectionate submission of the heart is not yielded to their authority; +so long as there is any dislike towards their holy claims; there is great +danger that, as in the instance of the pagan, they will not be retained +in the knowledge. The sinful man becomes weary of a form of doctrine that +continually rebukes him, and gradually changes it into one that is less +truthful and restraining. But a second and equally alarming danger is, +that the heart shall become accustomed to the truth, and grow hard and +indifferent towards it. There are a multitude of persons who hear the +word of God and never dream of disputing it, who yet, alas, never dream +of obeying it. To such the living truth of the gospel becomes a +petrifaction, and a savor of death unto death. + +We urge you, therefore, ye who know the doctrines of the law and the +doctrines of the gospel, to give an affectionate and hearty assent to +them _both_. When the divine Word asserts that you are guilty, and that +you cannot stand in the judgment before God, make answer: "It is so, it +is so." Practically and deeply acknowledge the doctrine of human guilt +and corruption. Let it no longer be a theory in the head, but a humbling +salutary consciousness in the heart. And when the divine Word affirms +that God so loved the world that he gave his Only-Begotten Son to redeem +it, make a quick and joyful response: "It is so, it is so." Instead of +changing the truth of God into a lie, as the guilty world have been doing +for six thousand years, change it into a blessed consciousness of the +soul. Believe_ what you know; and then what you know will be the wisdom +of God to your salvation. + + +[Footnote 1: "There are no profane words in the (Iowa) Indian language: +no light or profane way of speaking of the 'Great Spirit.'"--FOREIGN +MISSIONARY: May, 1863, p. 337.] + +[Footnote 2: PLUTARCH: Numa, 8; AUGUSTINE: De Civitate, iv. 31.] + +[Footnote 3: It should be noticed that Cornelius was not prepared for +another life, by the moral virtue which he had practised before meeting +with Peter, but by his penitence for sin and faith in Jesus Christ, whom +Peter preached to him as the Saviour from sin (Acts x. 43). Good works +can no more prepare a pagan for eternity than they can a nominal +Christian. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius could no more be justified +by their personal character, than Saul of Tarsus could be. First, because +the virtue is imperfect, at the best: and, secondly, it does not begin at +the beginning of existence upon earth, and continue unintermittently to +the end of it. A sense of _sin_ is a far more hopeful indication, in the +instance of a heathen, than a sense of virtue. The utter absence of +humility and sorrow in the "Meditations" of the philosophic Emperor, and +the omnipresence in them of pride and self-satisfaction, place him out of +all relations to the Divine _mercy_. In trying to judge of the final +condition of a pagan outside of revelation, we must ask the question: Was +he penitent? rather than the question: Was he virtuous?] + + + + + +THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES. + +LUKE xi. 13.--"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto +your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy +Spirit to them that ask him?" + + +The reality, and necessity, of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the +human heart, is a doctrine very frequently taught in the Scriptures. Our +Lord, in the passage from which the text is taken, speaks of the third +Person in the Trinity in such a manner as to convey the impression that +His agency is as indispensable, in order to spiritual life, as food is in +order to physical; that sinful man as much needs the influences of the +Holy Ghost as he does his daily bread. "If a son shall ask bread of any +of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?" If this is not at all +supposable, in the case of an affectionate earthly parent, much less is +it supposable that God the heavenly Father will refuse renewing and +sanctifying influences to them that ask for them. By employing such a +significant comparison as this, our Lord implies that there is as +pressing need of the gift in the one instance as in the other. For, +he does not compare spiritual influences with the mere luxuries of +life,--with wealth, fame, or power,--but with the very staff of life +itself. He selects the very bread by which the human body lives, to +illustrate the helpless sinner's need of the Holy Ghost. When God, by +his prophet, would teach His people that he would at some future time +bestow a rich and remarkable blessing upon them, He says: "I will pour +out my Spirit upon all flesh." When our Saviour was about to leave his +disciples, and was sending them forth as the ministers of his religion, +he promised them a direct and supernatural agency that should "reprove +the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." + +And the history of Christianity evinces both the necessity and reality of +Divine influences. God the Spirit has actually been present by a special +and peculiar agency, in this sinful and hardened world, and hence the +heart of flesh and the spread of vital religion. God the Spirit has +actually been absent, so far as concerns his special and peculiar agency, +and hence the continuance of the heart of stone, and the decline, and +sometimes the extinction of vital religion. Where the Holy Spirit has +been, specially and peculiarly, there the true Church of Christ has been, +and where the Holy Spirit has not been, specially and peculiarly, there, +the Church of Christ has not been; however carefully, or imposingly, the +externals of a church organization may have been maintained. + +But there is no stronger, or more effective proof of the need of the +presence and agency of the Holy Spirit, than that which is derived from +the _nature of the case_, as it appears in the individual. Just in +proportion as we come to know our own moral condition, and our own moral +necessities, shall we see and feel that the origin and growth of holiness +within our earthly and alienated souls, without the agency of God the +Holy Spirit, is an utter impossibility. Let us then look into the +argument from the nature of the case, and consider this doctrine of a +direct Divine operation, in its relations to ourselves personally. Why, +then, does every man need these influences of the Holy Spirit which are +so cordially offered in the text? + +1. He needs them, in the first place, in order that _he may be convinced +of the reality of the eternal world._ + +There is such a world. It has as actual an existence as Europe or Asia. +Though not an object for any one of the five senses, the invisible world +is as substantial as the great globe itself, and will be standing when +the elements shall have been melted with fervent heat, and the heavens +are no more. This eternal world, furthermore, is not only real, but it is +filled with realities that are yet more solemn. God inhabits it. The +judgment-seat of Christ is set up in it. Heaven is in it. Hell is in it. +Myriads of myriads of holy and happy spirits are there. Myriads of sinful +and wretched spirits are there. Nay, this unseen world is the _only_ real +world, and the objects in it the _only_ real objects, if we remember that +only that which is immutable deserves the name of real. If we employ the +eternal as the measure of real being, then all that is outside of +eternity is unreal and a vanity. This material world acquires +impressiveness for man, by virtue of the objects that fill it. His farm +is in it, his houses are upon it, solid mountains rise up from it, great +rivers run through it, and the old rolling heavens are bent over it. But +what is the transient reality of these objects, these morning vapors, +compared with the everlasting reality of such beings as God and the soul, +of such facts as holiness and sin, of such states as heaven and hell? +Here, then, we have in the unseen and eternal world a most solemn and +real object of knowledge; but where, among mankind, is the solemn and +vivid knowledge itself? Knowledge is the union of a fact with a feeling. +There may be a stone in the street, but unless I smite it with my foot, +or smite it with my eye, I have no knowledge of the stone. So, too, there +is an invisible world, outstanding and awfully impressive; but unless I +feel its influences, and stand with awe beneath its shadows, it is as +though it were not. Here is an orb that has risen up into the horizon, +but all eyes are shut. + +For, no thoughtful observer fails to perceive that an earthly, and +unspiritual mode of thought and feeling is the prevalent one among men. +No one who has ever endeavored to arrest the attention of a fellow-man, +and give his thoughts an upward tendency towards eternity, will say that +the effort is easily and generally successful. On the contrary, if an +ethereal and holy inhabitant of heaven were to go up and down our earth, +and witness man's immersion in sense and time, the earthliness of his +views and aims, his neglect of spiritual objects and interests, his +absorption in this existence, and his forgetfulness of the other, it +would be difficult to convince him that he was among beings made in the +image of God, and was mingling with a race having an immortal destination +beyond the grave. + +In this first feature of the case, then, as we find it in ourselves, and +see it in all our fellow-men, we have the first evidence of the need of +_awakening_ influences from on high. Since man, naturally, is destitute +of a solemn sense of eternal things, it is plain that there can be no +moral change produced in him, unless he is first wakened from this +drowze. He cannot become the subject of that new birth without which he +cannot see the kingdom of God, unless his torpor respecting the Unseen is +removed. Entirely satisfied as he now is with this mode of existence, and +thinking little or nothing about another, the first necessity in his case +is a startle, and an alarm. Difficult as he now finds it to be, to bring +the invisible world before his mind in a way to affect his feelings, he +needs to have it loom upon his inward vision with such power and +impressiveness that he cannot take his eye off, if he would. Lethargic as +he now is, respecting his own immortality, it is impossible for him to +live and act with constant reference to it, unless he is wakened to its +significance. Is it not self-evident, that if the sinner's present +indifference towards the invisible world, and his failure to feel its +solemn reality, continues through life, he will certainly enter that +state of existence with his present character? Looking into the human +spirit, and seeing how dead it is towards God and the future, must we +not say, that if this deadness to eternity lasts until the death of the +body, it will certainly be the death of the soul? + +But, in what way can man be made to realize that there is an eternal +world, to which he is rapidly tending, and realities there, with which, +by the very constitution of his spirit, he is forever and indissolubly +connected either for bliss or woe? How shall thoughtless and earthly man, +as he treads these streets, and transacts all this business, and enjoys +life, be made to feel with misgiving, foreboding, and alarm, that there +is an eternity, and that he must soon enter it, as other men do, either +as a heaven or a hell for his soul? The answer to this question, so often +asked in sadness and sorrow by the preacher of the word, drives us back +to the throne of God and to a mightier agency than that of man. + +For one thing is certain, that this apathy and deadness will never of +itself generate sensibility and life. Satan never casts out Satan. If +this slumberer be left to himself, he is lost. Should any man be given +over to the natural inclination of his heart, he would never be awakened. +Should his earthly mind receive no check, and his corrupt heart take its +own way, he would never realize that there is another world than this, +until he entered it. For, the worldly mind and the corrupt heart busy +themselves solely and happily with this existence. They find pleasure in +the things of this life, and therefore never look beyond them. Worldly +men do not interfere with their own present actual enjoyment. Who of this +class voluntarily makes himself unhappy, by thinking of subjects that are +gloomy to his mind? What man of the world starts up from his sweet sleep +and his pleasant dreams, and of his own accord looks the stern realities +of death and the judgment in the eye? No natural man begins to wound +himself, that he may be healed. No earthly man begins to slay himself, +that he may be made alive. Even when the natural heart is roused and +wakened by some foreign agency; some startling providence of God or some +Divine operation in the conscience, how soon, if left to its own motion +and tendency, does it relapse into its old slumber and sleep. The needle +has received a shock, but after a slight trembling and vibration it soon +settles again upon its axis, ever and steady to the north. It is plain, +that the sinner's worldly mind and apathetic nature will never conduct +him to a proper sense of Divine things. + +The awakening, then, of the human soul, to an effectual apprehension of +eternal realities, must take its first issue from some other Being than +the drowzy and slumbering creature himself. We are not speaking of a few +serious thoughts that now and then fleet across the human mind, like +meteors at midnight, and are seen no more. We are speaking of that +permanent, that everlasting dawning of eternity, with its terrors and its +splendors, upon the human soul, which allows it no more repose, until it +is prepared for eternity upon good grounds and foundations; and with +reference to such a profound consciousness of the future state as this, +we say with confidence, that the awakening must proceed from some Being +who is far more alive to the solemnity and significance of eternal +duration than earthly man is. Without impulses from on high, the sinner +never rouses up to attend to the subject of religion. He lives on +indifferent to his religious interests, until _God_, who is more merciful +to his deathless soul than he himself is, by His providence startles him, +or by His Spirit in his conscience alarms him. Never, until God +interferes to disturb his dreams, and break up his slumber, does he +profoundly and permanently feel that he was made for another world, and +is fast going into it. How often does God say to the careless man: +"Arise, O sleeper, and Christ shall give thee light;" and how often does +he disregard the warning voice! How often does God stimulate his +conscience, and flare light into his mind; and how often does he stifle +down these inward convictions, and suffer the light to shine in the +darkness that comprehends it not! These facts in the personal history of +every sin-loving man show, that the human soul does not of its own +isolated action wake up to the realities of eternity. They also show that +God is very merciful to the human soul, in positively and powerfully +interfering for its welfare; but that man, in infinite folly and +wickedness, loves the sleep, and inclines to remain in it. +The Holy Spirit strives, but the human spirit resists. + +II. In the second place, man needs the influences of the Holy Spirit +_that he may be convinced of sin_. + +Man universally is a sinner, and yet he needs in every single instance to +be made aware of it. "There is none good, no, not one;" and yet out of +the millions of the race how very few _feel_ this truth! Not only does +man sin, but he adds to his guilt by remaining ignorant of it. The +criminal in this instance also, as in our courts of law, feels and +confesses his crime no faster than it is proved to him. Through what +blindness of mind, and hardness of heart, and insensibility of +conscience, is the Holy Spirit obliged to force His way, before there is +a sincere acknowledgment of sin before God! The careful investigations, +the persevering questionings and cross-questionings, by which, before a +human tribunal, the wilful and unrepenting criminal is forced to see and +acknowledge his wickedness, are but faint emblems of that thorough work +that must be wrought by the Holy Ghost, before the human soul, at a +higher tribunal, forsaking its refuges of lies, and desisting from its +subterfuges and palliations, smites upon the breast, and cries, "God be +merciful to me a sinner!" Think how much of our sin has occurred in total +apathy, and indifference, and how unwilling we are to have any distinct +consciousness upon this subject. It is only now and then that we feel +ourselves to be sinners; but it is by no means only now and then that we +are sinners. We sin habitually; we are conscious of sin rarely. Our +affections and inclinations and motives are evil, and only evil, +continually; but our experimental _knowledge_ that they are so comes not +often into our mind, and what is worse stays not long, because we dislike +it. + +The conviction of sin, with what it includes and leads to, is of more +worth to man than all other convictions. Conviction of any sort,--a +living practical consciousness of any kind,--is of great value, because +it is only this species of knowledge that moves mankind. Convince a man, +that is, give him a consciousness, of the truth of a principle in +politics, in trade, or in religion, and you actuate him politically, +commercially, or religiously. Convince a criminal of his crime, that is, +endue him with a conscious feeling of his criminality, and you make him +burn with electric fire. A convicted man is a man thoroughly conscious; +and a thoroughly conscious man is a deeply moved one. And this is true, +with emphasis, of the conviction of sin. This consciousness produces a +deeper and more lasting effect than all others. Convince a community of +the justice or injustice of a certain class of political principles, and +you stir it very deeply, and broadly, as the history of all democracies +clearly shows; but let society be once convinced of sin before the holy +and righteous God, and deep calleth unto deep, all the waters are moved. +Never is a mass of human beings so centrally stirred, as when the Spirit +of God is poured out upon it, and from no movement in human society do +such lasting and blessed consequences flow, as from a genuine revival of +religion. + +But here again, as in reference to the eternal state, there is no +realizing sense. Conviction of sin is not a characteristic of mankind at +large. Men generally will acknowledge in words that they are sinners, but +they wait for some far-distant day to come, when they shall be pricked in +the heart, and feel the truth of what they say. Men generally are not +conscious of the dreadful reality of sin, any more than they are of the +solemn reality of eternity. A deep insensibility, in this respect also, +precludes a practical knowledge of that guilt in the soul, which, if +unpardoned and unremoved, will just as surely ruin it as God lives and +the soul is immortal. Since, then, if man be left to his own inclination, +he never will be convinced of sin, it is plain that some Agent who has +the power must overcome his aversion to self-knowledge, and bring him to +consciousness upon this unwelcome subject. If any one of us, for the +remainder of our days, should be given over to that ordinary indifference +towards sin with which we walk these streets, and transact business, and +enjoy life; if God's truth should never again in this world stab the +conscience, and God's Spirit should never again make us anxious; is it +not infallibly certain that the future would be as the past, and that we +should go through this "accepted time and day of salvation" unconvicted +and therefore unconverted? + +But besides this destitution of the experimental sense of sin, another +ground of the need of Divine agency is found in the _blindness_ of the +natural mind. Man's vision of spiritual things, even when they are set +before his eyes, is dim and inadequate. The Christian ministry is greatly +hindered, because it cannot illuminate the human understanding, and +impart the power of a keen spiritual insight. It is compelled to present +the objects of sight, but it cannot give the eye to see them. Vision +depends altogether upon the condition of the organ. The eye sees only +what it brings the means of seeing. The scaled eye of a worldling, or a +debauchee, or a self-righteous man, cannot see that sin of the heart, +that "spiritual wickedness," at which men like Paul and Isaiah stood +aghast. These were men whose character compared with that of the +worldling was saintly; men whose shoes' latchets the worldling is not +worthy to stoop down and unloose. And yet they saw a depravity within +their own hearts which he does not see in his; a depravity which he +cannot see, and which he steadily denies to exist, until he is +enlightened by the Holy Ghost. + +But the preacher has no power to impart this clear spiritual discernment. +He cannot arm the eye of the natural man with that magnifying and +microscopic power, by which hatred shall be seen to be murder, and lust, +adultery, and the least swelling of pride, the sin of Lucifer. He is +compelled, by the testimony of the Bible, of the wise and the holy of all +time, and of his own consciousness, to tell every unregenerate man that +he is no better than his race; that he certainly is no better than the +Christian Church which continually confesses and mourns over indwelling +sin. The faithful preacher of the word is obliged to insist that there is +no radical difference among men, and that the depravity of the man of +irreproachable morals but unrenewed heart is as total as was that of the +great preacher to the Gentiles,--a man of perfectly irreproachable +morals, but who confessed that he was the chief of sinners, and feared +lest he should be a cast-away. But the preacher of this unwelcome message +has no power to open the blind eye. He cannot endow the self-ignorant and +incredulous man before him, with that consciousness of the "plague of the +heart" which says "yea" to the most vivid description of human +sinfulness, and "amen" to God's heaviest malediction upon it. The +preacher's position would be far easier, if there might be a transfer of +experience; if some of that bitter painful sense of sin with which the +struggling Christian is burdened might flow over into the easy, unvexed, +and thoughtless souls of the men of this world. Would that the +consciousness upon this subject of sin, of a Paul or a Luther, might +deluge that large multitude of men who doubt or deny the doctrine of +human depravity. The materials for that consciousness, the items that go +to make up that experience, exist as really and as plentifully in your +moral state and character, as they do in that of the mourning and +self-reproaching Christian who sits by your side,--your devout father, your +saintly mother, or sister,--whom you know, and who you know is a better +being than you are. Why should they be weary and heavy-laden with a sense +of their unworthiness before God, and you go through life indifferent and +light-hearted? Are they deluded in respect to the doctrine of human +depravity, and are you in the right? Think you that the deathbed and the +day of judgment will prove this to be the fact? No! if you shall ever +know anything of the Christian struggle with innate corruption; if you +shall ever, in the expressive phrase of Scripture, have your senses +exercised as in a gymnasium [1] to discern good and evil, and see +yourself with self-abhorrence; your views will harmonize most profoundly +and exactly with theirs. And, furthermore, you will not in the process +create any _new_ sinfulness. You will merely see the _existing_ depravity +of the human heart. You will simply see what _is_,--is now, in your +heart, and in all human hearts, and has been from the beginning. + +But all this is the work of a more powerful and spiritual agency than +that of man. The truth may be exhibited with perfect transparency and +plainness, the hearer himself may do his utmost to have it penetrate and +tell; and yet, there be no vivid and vital consciousness of sin. How +often does the serious and alarmed man say to us: "I know it, but I do +not _feel_ it." How long and wearily, sometimes, does the anxious man +struggle after an inward sense of these spiritual things, without +success, until he learns that an inward sense, an experimental +consciousness, respecting religious truth, is as purely a gift and +product of God the Spirit as the breath of life in his nostrils. +Considering, then, the natural apathy of man respecting the sin that is +in his own heart, and the exceeding blindness of his mental vision, even +when his attention has been directed to it, is it not perfectly plain +that there must be the exertion of a Divine agency, in order that he may +pass through even the first and lowest stages of the religious +experience? + +In view of the subject, as thus far unfolded, we remark: + +1. First, that it is the duty of every one, _to take the facts in respect +to man's character as he finds them_. Nothing is gained, in any province +of human thought or action, by disputing actual verities. They are +stubborn things, and will not yield to the wishes and prejudices of the +natural heart. This is especially true in regard to the facts in man's +moral and religious condition. The testimony of Revelation is explicit, +that "the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the +law of God, neither indeed can be;" and also, that "the natural man +receiveth not the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them, because +they are spiritually discerned." According to this Biblical statement, +there is corruption and blindness together. The human heart is at once +sinful, and ignorant that it is so. It is, therefore, the very worst form +of evil; a fatal disease unknown to the patient, and accompanied with the +belief that there is perfect health; sin and guilt without any just and +proper sense of it. This is the testimony, and the assertion, of that +Being who needs not that any should testify to Him of man, for he knows +what is in man. And this is the testimony, also, of every mind that has +attained a profound self-knowledge. For it is indisputable, that in +proportion as a man is introspective, and accustoms himself to the +scrutiny of his motives and feelings, he discovers that "the whole head +is sick, and the whole heart is faint." + +It is, therefore, the duty and wisdom of every one to set to his seal +that God is true,--to have this as his motto. Though, as yet, he is +destitute of a clear conviction of sin, and a godly sorrow for it, still +he should _presume_ the fact of human depravity. Good men in every age +have found it to be a fact, and the infallible Word of God declares that +it is a fact. What, then, is gained, by proposing another than the +Biblical theory of human nature? Is the evil removed by denying its +existence? Will the mere calling men good at heart, and by nature, make +them such? + + "Who can hold a fire in his hand, + By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? + Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, + By bare imagination of a feast? + Or wallow naked in December snow, + By thinking on fantastic summer heat?"[2] + + +2. In the second place, we remark that it is the duty of every one, _not +to be discouraged by these facts and truths relative to the moral +condition of man._ For, one fact conducts to the next one. One truth +prepares for a second. If it is a solemn and sad fact that men are +sinners, and blind and dead in their trespasses and sin, it is also a +cheering fact that the Holy Spirit can enlighten the darkest +understanding, and enliven the most torpid and indifferent soul; and it +is a still further, and most encouraging truth and fact, that the Holy +Spirit is given to those who ask for it, with more readiness than a +father gives bread to his hungry child. Here, then, we have the fact of +sin, and of blindness and apathy in sin; the fact of a mighty power in +God to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and the +blessed fact that this power is accessible to prayer. Let us put these +three facts together, all of them, and act accordingly. Then we shall be +taught by the Spirit, and shall come to a salutary consciousness of sin; +and then shall be verified in our own experience the words of God: "I +dwell in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite +and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the +heart of the contrite ones." + + +[Footnote 1: [Greek: Ta aisthaeria gegurasmena.] Heb. v. 14.] + +[Footnote 2: SHAKSPEARE: Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.] + + + + +THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES. [*continued] + +Luke xi. 13.--"If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto +your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy +Spirit to them that ask him." + + +In expounding the doctrine of these words, in the preceding discourse, +the argument for the necessity of Divine influences had reference to the +more general aspects of man's character and condition. We were concerned +with the origin of seriousness in view of a future life, and the +production of a sense of moral corruption and unfitness to enter +eternity. We have now to consider the work of the Spirit, in its +relations, first, to that more distinct sense of sin which is denominated +the consciousness of _guilt_, and secondly, to that saving act of +_faith_ by which the atonement of Christ is appropriated by the soul. + +I. Sin is not man's misfortune, but his fault; and any view that falls +short of this fact is radically defective. Sin not only brings a +corruption and bondage, but also a condemnation and penalty, upon the +self-will that originates it. Sin not only renders man unfit for rewards, +font also deserving of punishment. As one who has disobeyed law of his +own determination, he is liable not merely to the negative loss of +blessings, but also to the positive infliction of retribution. It is not +enough that a transgressor be merely let alone; he must be taken in hand +and punished. He is not simply a diseased man; he is a criminal. His sin, +therefore, requires not a removal merely, but also an _expiation_. + +This relation and reference of transgression to law and justice is a +fundamental one; and yet it is very liable to be overlooked, or at least +to be inadequately apprehended. The sense of _ill-desert_ is too apt to +be confused and shallow, in the human soul. Man is comparatively ready to +acknowledge the misery of sin, while he is slow to confess the guilt of +it. When the word of God asserts he is poor, and blind, and wretched, he +is comparatively forward to assent; but when, in addition, it asserts +that he deserves to be punished everlastingly, he reluctates. Mankind are +willing to acknowledge their wretchedness, and be pitied; but they are +not willing to acknowledge their guiltiness, and stand condemned before +law. + +And yet, guilt is the very essence of sin. Extinguish the criminality, +and you extinguish the inmost core and heart of moral evil. We may have +felt that sin is bondage, that it is inward dissension and disharmony, +that it takes away the true dignity of our nature, but if we have not +also felt that it is _iniquity_ and merits penalty, we have not become +conscious of its most essential quality. It is not enough that we come +before God, saying: "I am wretched in my soul; I am weary of my bondage; +I long for deliverance." We must also say, as we look up into that holy +Eye: "I am guilty; O my God I deserve thy judgments." In brief, the human +mind must recognize all the Divine attributes. The entire Divine +character, in both its justice and its love, must rise full-orbed before +the soul, when thus seeking salvation. It is not enough, that we ask God +to free us from disquietude, and give us repose. Before we do this, and +that we may do it successfully, we must employ the language of David, +while under the stings of guilt: "O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath: +neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Be merciful unto me, O God be +merciful unto me." + +What is needed is, more consideration of sin in its objective, and less +in its subjective relations; more sense of it in its reference to the +being and attributes of God, and less sense of it in its reference to our +own happiness or misery, or even to the harmony of our own powers and +faculties. The adorable being and attributes of God are of more +importance than any human soul, immortal though it be; and what is +required in the religious experience is, more anxiety lest the Divine +glory should be tarnished, and less fear that a worm of the dust be made +miserable by his transgressions. And whatever may be our theory of the +matter, "to this complexion must we come at last," even in order to our +own peace of mind. We must lose our life, in order to find it. Even in +order to our own inward repose of conscience and of heart, there must +come a point and period in our mental history, when we do actually sink +self out of sight, and think of sin in its relation to the character and +government of the great and holy God,--when we do see it to be _guilt_, +as well as corruption. + +For guilt is a distinct, and a distinguishable quality. It is a thing by +itself, like the Platonic idea of Beauty.[1] It is sin stripped of its +accompaniments,--the restlessness, the dissatisfaction, and the +unhappiness which it produces,--and perceived in its pure odiousness and +ill-desert. And when thus seen, it does not permit the mind to think of +any thing but the righteous law, and the Divine character. In the hour of +thorough conviction, the sinful spirit is lost in the feeling of +guiltiness: wholly engrossed in the reflection that it has incurred the +condemnation of the Best Being in the universe. It is in distress, not +because an Almighty Being can make it miserable but, because a Holy and +Good Being has _reason_ to be displeased with it. When it gives utterance +to its emotion, it says to its Sovereign and its Judge: "I am in anguish, +more because Thou the Holy and the Good art unreconciled with me, than +because Thou the Omnipotent canst punish me forever. I refuse not to The +punished; I deserve the inflictions of Thy justice; only _forgive_, and +Thou mayest do what Thou wilt unto me." A soul that is truly penitent has +no desire to escape penalty, at the expense of principle and law. It says +with David: "Thou desirest not sacrifice;" such atonement as I can make +is inadequate; "else would I give it." It expresses its approbation of +the pure justice of God, in the language of the gentlest and sweetest of +Mystics: + + "Thou hast no lightnings, O Thou Just! + Or I their force should know; + And if Thou strike me into dust, + My soul approves the blow. + + The heart that values less its ease, + Than it adores Thy ways; + In Thine avenging anger, sees + A subject of its praise. + + Pleased I could lie, concealed and lost, + In shades of central night; + Not to avoid Thy wrath, Thou know'st, + But lest I grieve Thy sight. + + Smite me, O Thou whom I provoke! + And I will love Thee still; + The well deserved and righteous stroke + Shall please me, though it kill."[2] + +Now, it is only when the human spirit is under the illuminating, and +discriminating influences of the Holy Ghost, that it possesses this pure +and genuine sense of guilt. Worldly losses, trials, warnings by God's +providence, may rouse the sinner, and make him solemn; but unless the +Spirit of Grace enters his heart he does not feel that he is +ill-deserving. He is sad and fearful, respecting the future life, and +perhaps supposes that this state of mind is one of true conviction, and +wonders that it does not end in conversion, and the joy of pardon. But if +he would examine it, he would discover that it is full of the lust of self. +He would find that he is merely unhappy, and restless, and afraid +to die. If he should examine the workings of his heart, he would discover +that they are only another form of self-love; that instead of being +anxious about self in the present world, he has become anxious about self +in the future world; that instead of looking out for his happiness here, +he has begun to look out for it hereafter; that in fact he has merely +transferred sin, from time and its relations, to eternity and its +relations. Such sorrow as this needs to be sorrowed for, and such +repentance as this needs to be repented of. Such conviction as this needs +to be laid open, and have its defect shown. After a course of wrongdoing, +it is not sufficient for man to come before the Holy One, making mention +of his wretchedness, and desire for happiness, but making no mention of +his culpability, and desert of righteous and holy judgments. It is not +enough for the criminal to plead for life, however earnestly, while he +avoids the acknowledgment that death is his just due. For silence in such +a connection as this, is _denial_. The impenitent thief upon the cross +was clamorous for life and happiness, saying, "If thou be the Christ, +save thyself and us." He said nothing concerning the crime that had +brought him to a malefactor's death, and thereby showed that it did not +weigh heavy upon his conscience. But the real penitent rebuked him, +saying: "Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same +condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our +deeds." And then followed that meek and broken-hearted supplication: +"Lord remember me," which drew forth the world-renowned answer: "This day +shalt thou be with me in paradise." + +In the fact, then, that man's experience of sin is so liable to be +defective upon the side of guilt, we find another necessity for the +teaching of the Holy Spirit; for a spiritual agency that cannot be +deceived, which pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, +and is a discerner of the real intent and feeling of the heart. + +II. In the second place, man needs the influences of the Holy Spirit, in +order that _he may actually appropriate Christ's atonement for sin_. + +The feeling of ill-desert, of which we have spoken, requires an +expiation, in order to its extinction, precisely as the burning sensation +of thirst needs the cup of cold water, in order that it may be allayed, +the sense of guilt is awakened in its pure and genuine form, by the Holy +Spirit's operation, the soul _craves_ the atonement,--it _wants_ the +dying Lamb of God. We often speak of a believer's longings after purity, +after peace, after joy. There is an appetency for them. In like manner, +there is in the illuminated and guilt-smitten conscience an appetency for +the piacular work of Christ, as that which alone can give it +pacification. Contemplated from this point of view, there is not a more +rational doctrine within the whole Christian system, than that of the +Atonement. Anything that ministers to a distinct and legitimate craving +in man is reasonable, and necessary. That theorist, therefore, who would +evince the unreasonableness of the atoning work of the Redeemer, must +first evince the unreasonableness of the consciousness of guilt, and of +the judicial craving of the conscience. He must show the groundlessness +of that fundamental and organic feeling which imparts such a blood-red +color to all the religions of the globe; be they Pagan, Jewish, or +Christian. Whenever, therefore, this sensation of ill-desert is elicited, +and the soul feels consciously criminal before the Everlasting Judge, the +difficulties that beset the doctrine of the Cross all vanish in the +_craving_, in the _appetency_, of the conscience, for acquittal through +the substituted sufferings of the Son of God. He who has been taught by +the Spirit respecting the iniquity of sin, and views it in its relations +to the Divine holiness, has no wish to be pardoned at the expense of +justice. His conscience is now jealous for the majesty of God, and the +dignity of His government. He now experimentally understands that great +truth which has its foundation in the nature of guilt, and consequently +in the method of Redemption,--the great ethical truth, that after an +accountable agent has stained himself with crime, there is from the +necessity of the case no remission without the satisfaction of law. + +But it is one thing to acknowledge this in theory, and even to feel the +need of Christ's atonement, and still another thing to _really +appropriate_ it. Unbelief and despair have great power over a +guilt-stricken mind; and were it not for that Spirit who "takes of the +things of Christ and shows them to the soul," sinful man would in every +instance succumb under their awful paralysis. For, if the truth and Spirit +of God should merely convince the sinner of his guilt, but never apply the +atoning blood of the Redeemer, hell would be in him and he would be in +hell. If God, coming forth as He justly might only in His judicial +character, should confine Himself to a convicting operation in the +conscience,--should make the transgressor feel his guilt, and then leave +him to the feeling and with the feeling, forevermore,--this would be +eternal death. And if, as any man shall lie down upon his death-bed, he +shall find that owing to his past quenching of the Spirit the +illuminating energy of God is searching him, and revealing him to +himself, but does not assist him to look up to the Saviour of sinners; +and if, in the day of judgment, as he draws near the bar of an eternal +doom, he shall discover that the sense of guilt grows deeper and deeper, +while the atoning blood is not applied,--if this shall be the experience +of any one upon his death-bed, and in the day of judgment, will he need +to be told what he is and whither he is going? + +Now it is with reference to these disclosures that come in like a deluge +upon him, that man needs the aids and operation of the Holy Spirit. +Ordinarily, nearly the whole of his guilt is latent within him. He is, +commonly, undisturbed by conscience; but it would be a fatal error to +infer that therefore he has a clear and innocent conscience. There is a +vast amount of undeveloped guilt within every impenitent soul. It is +slumbering there, as surely as magnetism is in the magnet, and the +electric fluid is in the piled-up thunder-cloud. For there are moments +when the sinful soul feels this hidden criminality, as there are moments +when the magnet shows its power, and the thunder-cloud darts its nimble +and forked lightnings. Else, why do these pangs and fears shoot and flash +through it, every now and then? Why does the drowning man instinctively +ask for God's mercy? Were his conscience pure and clear from guilt, like +that of the angel or the seraph,--were there no latent crime within +him,--he would sink into the unfathomed depths of the sea, without the +thought of such a cry. When the traveller in South America sees the smoke +and flame of the volcano, here and there, as he passes along, he is +justified in inferring that a vast central fire is burning beneath the +whole region. In like manner, when man discovers, as he watches the +phenomena of his conscience, that guilt every now and then emerges like a +flash of flame into consciousness, filling him with fear and +distress,--when he finds that he has no security against this invasion, +but that in an hour when he thinks not, and commonly when he is weakest +and faintest, in his moments of danger or death, it stings him and wounds +him, he is justified in inferring, and he must infer, that the deep places +of his spirit, the whole _potentiality_ of his soul is full of crime. + +Now, in no condition of the soul is there greater need of the agency of +the Comforter (O well named the Comforter), than when all this latency is +suddenly manifested to a man. When this deluge of discovery comes in, all +the billows of doubt, fear, terror, and despair roll over the soul, and +it sinks in the deep waters. The sense of guilt,--that awful guilt, which +the man has carried about with him for many long years, and which he has +trifled with,--now proves too great for him to control. It seizes him +like a strong-armed man. If he could only believe that the blood of the +Lamb of God expiates all this crime which is so appalling to his mind, he +would be at peace instantaneously. But he is unable to believe this. His +sin, which heretofore looked too small to be noticed, now appears too +great to be forgiven. Other men may be pardoned, but not he. He +_despairs_ of mercy; and if he should be left to the natural workings of +his own mind; if he should not be taught and assisted by the Holy Ghost, +in this critical moment, to behold the Lamb of God; he would despair +forever. For this sense of ill-desert, this fearful looking-for of +judgment and fiery indignation, with which he is wrestling, is organic to +the conscience, and the human will has no more power over it than it has +over the sympathetic nerve. Only as he is taught by the Divine Spirit, is +he able with perfect calmness to look up from this brink of despair, and +say: "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. The +blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Therefore, being justified +by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I know +whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which +I have committed unto him against that day." + +In view of the truths which we have now considered, it is worthy of +observation: + +1. First, that _the Holy Spirit constitutes the tie, and bond of +connection, between man and God_. The third Person in the Godhead is very +often regarded as more distant from the human soul, than either the +Father or the Son. In the history of the doctrine of the Trinity, the +definition of the Holy Spirit, and the discrimination of His relations in +the economy of the Godhead, was not settled until after the doctrine of +the first and second Persons had been established. Something analogous to +this appears in the individual experience. God the Father and God the Son +are more in the thoughts of many believers, than God the Holy Ghost. And +yet, we have seen that in the economy of Redemption, and from the very +nature of the case, the soul is brought as close to the Spirit, as to the +Father and Son. Nay, it is only through the inward operations of the +former, that the latter are made real to the heart and mind of man. Not +until the third Person enlightens, are the second and first Persons +beheld. "No man," says St. Paul, "can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by +the Holy Ghost." + +The sinful soul is entirely dependent upon the Divine Spirit, and from +first to last it is in most intimate communication with Him during the +process of salvation. It is enlightened by His influence; it is enlivened +by Him; it is empowered by Him to the act of faith in Christ's Person and +Work; it is supported and assisted by Him, in every step of the Christian +race; it is comforted by Him in all trials and tribulations; and, lastly, +it is perfected in holiness, and fitted for the immediate presence of +God, by Him. Certainly, then, the believer should have as full faith in +the distinct personality, and immediate efficiency, of the third Person, +as he has in that of the first and second. His most affectionate feeling +should centre upon that Blessed Agent, through whom he appropriates the +blessings that have been provided for sinners by the Father and Son, and +without whose influence the Father would have planned the Redemptive +scheme, and the Son have executed it, in vain. + +2. In the second place, it is deserving of very careful notice that _the +influences of the Holy Spirit may be obtained by asking for them_. This +is the only condition to be complied with. And this gift, furthermore, is +peculiar, in that it is _invariably_ bestowed whenever it is sincerely +implored. There are other gifts of God which may be asked for with deep +and agonizing desire, and it is not certain that they will be granted. +This is the case with temporal blessings. A sick man may turn his face to +the wall, with Hezekiah, and pray in the bitterness of his soul, for the +prolongation of his life, and yet not obtain the answer which Hezekiah +received. But no man ever supplicated in the earnestness of his soul for +the influences of the Holy Spirit, and was ultimately refused. For this +is a gift which it is always safe to grant. It involves a spiritual and +everlasting good. It is the gift of righteousness, of the fear and love +of God in the heart. There is no danger in such a bestowment. It +inevitably promotes the glory of God. Hence our Lord, after bidding his +hearers to "ask," to "seek," and to "knock," adds, as the encouraging +reason why they should do so: "For, _every one_ that asketh receiveth; +and he that seeketh, [always] findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall +[certainly] be opened." This is a reason that cannot be assigned in the +instance of other prayers. Our Lord commands his disciples to pray for +their daily bread; and we know that the children of God do generally find +their wants supplied. Still, it would not be true that _every one_ who in +the sincerity of his soul has asked for daily bread has received it. The +children of God have sometimes died of hunger. But no soul that has ever +hungered for the bread of heaven, and supplicated for it, has been sent +empty away. Nay more: Whoever finds it in his heart to ask for the Holy +Spirit may know, from this very fact, that the Holy Spirit has +anticipated him, and has prompted the very prayer itself. And think you +that God will not grant a request which He himself has inspired? And +therefore, again, it is, that _every one_ who asks invariably receives. + +3. The third remark suggested by the subject we have been considering is, +that _it is exceedingly hazardous to resist Divine influences_. "Quench +not the Spirit" is one of the most imperative of the Apostolic +injunctions. Our Lord, after saying that a word spoken against Himself is +pardonable, adds that he that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost shall +never be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come. The +New Testament surrounds the subject of Divine influences with very great +solemnity. It represents the resisting of the Holy Ghost to be as +heinous, and dangerous, as the trampling upon Christ's blood. + +There is a reason for this. We have seen that in this operation upon the +mind and heart, God comes as near, and as close to man, as it is possible +for Him to come. Now to grieve or oppose such a merciful, and such an +_inward_ agency as this, is to offer the highest possible affront to the +majesty and the mercy of God. It is a great sin to slight the gifts of +Divine providence,--to misuse health, strength, wealth, talents. It is a +deep sin to contemn the truths of Divine Revelation, by which the soul is +made wise unto eternal life. It is a fearful sin to despise the claims of +God the Father, and God the Son. But it is a transcendent sin to resist +and beat back, _after it has been given_, that mysterious, that holy, +that immediately Divine influence, by which alone the heart of stone can +be made the heart of flesh. For, it indicates something more than the +ordinary carelessness of a sinner. It evinces a determined _obstinacy_ in +sin,--nay, a Satanic opposition to God and goodness. It is of such a +guilt as this, that the apostle John remarks: "There is a sin unto death; +I do not say that one should pray for it."[3] + +Again, it is exceedingly hazardous to resist Divine influences, because +they depend wholly upon the good pleasure of God, and not at all upon any +established and uniform law. We must not, for a moment, suppose that the +operations of the Holy Spirit upon the human soul are like those of the +forces of nature upon the molecules of matter. They are not uniform and +unintermittent, like gravitation, and chemical affinity. We may avail +ourselves of the powers of nature at any moment, because they are +steadily operative by an established law. They are laboring incessantly, +and we may enter into their labors at any instant we please. But it is +not so with supernatural and gracious influences. God's awakening and +renewing power does not operate with the uniformity of those blind +natural laws which He has impressed upon the dull clod beneath our feet. +God is not one of the forces of nature. He is a Person and a Sovereign. +His special and highest action upon the human soul is not uniform. His +Spirit, He expressly teaches us, does not always strive with man. It is a +wind that bloweth when and where it listeth. For this reason, it is +dangerous to the religious interests of the soul, in the highest degree, +to go counter to any impulses of the Spirit, however slight, or to +neglect any of His admonitions, however gentle. If God in mercy has once +come in upon a thoughtless mind, and wakened it to eternal realities; if +He has enlightened it to perceive the things that make for its peace; and +that mind slights this merciful interference, and stifles down these +inward teachings, then God withdraws, and whether He will ever return +again to that soul depends upon His mere sovereign volition. He has bound +himself by no promise to do so. He has established no uniform law of +operation, in the case. It is true that He is very pitiful and of tender +mercy, and waits and bears long with the sinner; and it is also true, +that He is terribly severe and just, when He thinks it proper to be so, +and says to those who have despised His Spirit: "Because I have called +and ye refused, and have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, I +will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh." + +Let no one say: "God has promised to bestow the Holy Ghost to every one +who asks: I will ask at some future time." To "ask" for the Holy Spirit +implies some already existing desire that He would enter the mind and +convince of sin, and convert to God. It implies some _craving_, some +_yearning_, for Divine influences; and this implies some measure of such +influence already bestowed. Man asks for the Holy Spirit, only as he is +moved by the Holy Spirit. The Divine is ever prevenient to the human. +Suppose now, that a man resists these influences when they are _already_ +at work within him, and says: "I will seek them at a more convenient +season." Think you, that when that convenient season comes round,--when +life is waning, and the world is receding, and the eternal gulf is +yawning,--think you that that man who has already resisted grace can make +his own heart to yearn for it, and his soul to crave it? Do men at such +times find that sincere desires, and longings, and aspirations, come at +their beck? Can a man say, with any prospect of success: "I will now +quench out this seriousness which the Spirit of God has produced in my +mind, and will bring it up again ten years hence. I will stifle this +drawing of the Eternal Father of my soul which I now feel at the roots of +my being, and it shall re-appear at a future day." + +No! While it is true that any one who "asks," who really _wants_ a +spiritual blessing, will obtain it, it is equally true that a man may +have no heart to ask,--may have no desire, no yearning, no aspiration at +all, and be unable to produce one. In this case there is no promise. +Whosoever _thirsts_, and _only_ he who thirsts, can obtain the water of +life. Cherish, therefore, the faintest influences and operations of the +Comforter. If He enlightens your conscience so that it reproaches you for +sin, seek to have the work go on. Never resist any such convictions, and +never attempt to stifle them. If the Holy Spirit urges you to confession +of sin before God, yield _instantaneously_ to His urging, and pour +out your soul before the All-Merciful. And when He says, "Behold the Lamb +of God," look where He points, and be at peace and at rest. The secret of +all spiritual success is an immediate and uniform submission to the +influences of the Holy Ghost. + + +[Footnote 1: [Greek: _Anto, kath anto, meth anton, monoeides_.]--PLATO: +Convivium, p. 247, Ed. Bipont.] + +[Footnote 2: Guyon: translated by Cowper. is expressed by VAUGHAN in +Works III. 85.--A similar thought "The Eclipse." + + "Thy anger I could kiss, and will; + But O Thy grief, Thy grief doth kill."] + +[Footnote 3: The sin against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable, not because +there is a grade of guilt in it too scarlet to be washed white by +Christ's blood of atonement but, because it implies a total quenching of +that operation of the third Person of the Trinity which is the only power +adequate to the extirpation of sin from the human soul. The sin against +the Holy Ghost is tantamount, therefore, to _everlasting_ sin. And it is +noteworthy, that in Mark iii. 29 the reading [Greek: _amartaemartos_], +instead of [Greek: kriseos], is supported by a majority of the +oldest manuscripts and versions, and is adopted by Lachmann, +Tischendorf, and Tregelles. "He that shall blaspheme against the Holy +Ghost.... is in danger of eternal _sin_."] + + + + + +THE IMPOTENCE OF THE LAW. + +HEBREWS vii. 19.--"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in +of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God." + + +It is the aim of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to teach the insufficiency +of the Jewish Dispensation to save the human race from the wrath of God +and the power of sin, and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel Dispensation +to do this. Hence, the writer of this Epistle endeavors with special +effort to make the Hebrews feel the weakness of their old and much +esteemed religion, and to show them that the only benefit which God +intended by its establishment was, to point men to the perfect and final +religion of the Gospel. This he does, by examining the parts of the Old +Economy. In the first place, the _sacrifices_ under the Mosaic law were +not designed to extinguish the sense of guilt,--"for it is not possible +that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin,"--but were +intended merely to awaken the sense of guilt, and thereby to lead the Jew +to look to that mercy of God which at a future day was to be exhibited in +the sacrifice of his eternal Son. The Jewish _priesthood_, again, +standing between the sinner and God, were not able to avert the Divine +displeasure,--for as sinners they were themselves exposed to it. They +could only typify, and direct the guilty to, the great High Priest, the +Messiah, whom God's mercy would send in the fulness of time. Lastly, the +moral _law_, proclaimed amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai, +had no power to secure obedience, but only a fearful power to produce the +consciousness of disobedience, and of exposure to a death far more awful +than that threatened against the man who should touch the burning +mountain. + +It was, thus, the design of God, by this legal and preparatory +dispensation, to disclose to man his ruined and helpless condition, and +his need of looking to Him for everything that pertains to redemption. +And he did it, by so arranging the dispensation that the Jew might, as it +were, make the trial and see if he could be his own Redeemer. He +instituted a long and burdensome round of observances, by means of which +the Jew might, if possible, extinguish the remorse of his conscience, and +produce the peace of God in his soul. God seems by the sacrifices under +the law, and the many and costly offerings which the Jew was commanded to +bring into the temple of the Lord, to have virtually said to him: "Thou +art guilty, and My wrath righteously abides within thy conscience,--yet, +do what thou canst to free thyself from it; free thyself from it if thou +canst; bring an offering and come before Me. But when thou hast found +that thy conscience still remains perturbed and unpacified, and thy heart +still continues corrupt and sinful, then look away from thy agency and +thy offering, to My clemency and My offering,--trust not in these finite +sacrifices of the lamb and the goat, but let them merely remind thee of +the infinite sacrifice which in the fulness of time I will provide for +the sin of the world,--and thy peace shall be as a river, and thy +righteousness as the waves of the sea." + +But the proud and legal spirit of the Jew blinded him, and he did not +perceive the true meaning and intent of his national religion. He made it +an end, instead of a mere means to an end. Hence, it became a mechanical +round of observances, kept up by custom, and eventually lost the power, +which it had in the earlier and better ages of the Jewish commonwealth, +of awakening the feeling of guilt and the sense of the need of a +Redeemer. Thus, in the days of our Saviour's appearance upon the earth, +the chosen guardians of this religion, which was intended to make men +humble, and feel their personal ill-desert and need of mercy, had become +self-satisfied and self-righteous. A religion designed to prompt the +utterance of the greatest of its prophets: "Woe is me! I am a man of +unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips," now +prompted the utterance of the Pharisee: "I thank Thee that I am not as +other men are." + +The Jew, in the times of our Saviour and his Apostles, had thus entirely +mistaken the nature and purpose of the Old dispensation, and hence was +the most bitter opponent of the New. He rested in the formal and +ceremonial sacrifice of bulls and goats, and therefore counted the blood +of the Son of God an unholy thing. He thought to appear before Him in +whose sight the heavens are not clean, clothed in his own righteousness, +and hence despised the righteousness of Christ. In reality, he appealed +to the justice of God, and therefore rejected the religion of mercy. + +But, this spirit is not confined to the Jew. It pervades the human race. +Man is naturally a legalist. He desires to be justified by his own +character and his own works, and reluctates at the thought of being +accepted upon the ground of another's merits. This Judaistic spirit is +seen wherever there is none of the publican's feeling when he said, "God +be merciful to me a sinner." All confidence in personal virtue, all +appeals to civil integrity, all attendance upon the ordinances of the +Christian religion without the exercise of the Christian's penitence and +faith, is, in reality; an exhibition of that same legal unevangelic +spirit which in its extreme form inflated the Pharisee, and led him to +tithe mint anise and cummin. Man's so general rejection of the Son of God +as suffering the just for the unjust, as the manifestation of the Divine +clemency towards a criminal, is a sign either that he is insensible of +his guilt, or else that being somewhat conscious of it he thinks to +cancel it himself. + +Still, think and act as men may, the method of God in the Gospel is the +only method. Other foundation can no man lay than is laid. For it rests +upon stubborn facts, and inexorable principles. _God_ knows that however +anxiously a transgressor may strive to pacify his conscience, and prepare +it for the judgment-day, its deep remorse can be removed only by the +blood of incarnate Deity; that however sedulously he may attempt to obey +the law, he will utterly fail, unless he is inwardly renewed and +strengthened by the Holy Ghost. _He_ knows that mere bare law can make no +sinner perfect again, but that only the bringing in of a "better hope" +can,--a hope by the which we draw nigh to God. + +The text leads us to inquire: _Why cannot the moral law make fallen man +perfect_? Or, in other words: _Why cannot the ten commandments save a +sinner_? + +That we may answer this question, we must first understand what is meant +by a perfect man. It is one in whom there is no defect or fault of any +kind,--one, therefore, who has no perturbation in his conscience, and no +sin in his heart. It is a man who is entirely at peace with himself, and +with God, and whose affections are in perfect conformity with the Divine +law. + +But fallen man, man as we find him universally, is characterized by both +a remorseful conscience and an evil heart. His conscience distresses him, +not indeed uniformly and constantly but, in the great emergencies of his +life,--in the hour of sickness, danger, death,--and his heart is selfish +and corrupt continually. He lacks perfection, therefore, in two +particulars; first, in respect to acquittal at the bar of justice, and +secondly, in respect to inward purity. That, therefore, which proposes to +make him perfect again, must quiet the sense of guilt upon valid grounds, +and must produce a holy character. If the method fails in either of these +two respects, it fails altogether in making a perfect man. + +But how can the moral law, or the ceremonial law, or both united, produce +within the human soul the cheerful, liberating, sense of acquittal, and +reconciliation with God's justice? Why, the very function and office-work +of law, in all its forms, is to condemn and terrify the transgressor; how +then can it calm and soothe him? Or, is there anything in the performance +of duty,--in the act of obeying law,--that is adapted to produce this +result, by taking away guilt? Suppose that a murderer could and should +perform a perfectly holy act, would it be any relief to his anguished +conscience, if he should offer it as an oblation to Eternal Justice for +the sin that is past? if he should plead it as an offset for having +killed a man? When we ourselves review the past, and see that we have not +kept the law up to the present point in our lives, is the gnawing of the +worm to be stopped, by resolving to keep it, and actually keeping it from +this point? Can such a use of the law as this is,--can the performance of +good works, imaginary or real ones, imperfect or perfect ones,--discharge +the office of an _atonement_, and so make us perfect in the forum of +conscience, and fill us with a deep and lasting sense of reconciliation +with the offended majesty and justice of God? Plainly not. For there is +nothing compensatory, nothing cancelling, nothing of the nature of a +satisfaction of justice, in the best obedience that was ever rendered to +moral law, by saint, angel, or seraph. _Because the creature owes the +whole_. He is obligated from the very first instant of his existence, +onward and evermore, to love God supremely, and to obey him perfectly in +every act and element of his being. Therefore, the perfectly obedient +saint, angel, and seraph must each say: "I am an unprofitable servant, I +have done only that which it was my duty to do; I can make no amends for +past failures; I can do no work that is meritorious and atoning." +Obedience to law, then, by a creature, and still less by a sinner, can +never atone for the sins that are past; can never make the guilty perfect +"in things pertaining to conscience." And if a man, in this indirect and +roundabout manner, neglects the provisions of the gospel, neglects the +oblation of Jesus Christ, and betakes himself to the discharge of his own +duty as a substitute therefor, he only finds that the flame burns hotter, +and the fang of the worm is sharper. If he looks to the moral law in any +form, and by any method, that he may get quit of his remorse and his +fears of judgment, the feeling of unreconciliation with justice, and the +fearful looking-for of judgment is only made more vivid and deep. Whoever +attempts the discharge of duties _for the purpose of atoning for his +sins_ takes a direct method of increasing the pains and perturbations +which he seeks to remove. The more he thinks of law, and the more he +endeavors to obey it for the purpose of purchasing the pardon of past +transgression, the more wretched does he become. Look into the lacerated +conscience of Martin Luther before he found the Cross, examine the +anxiety and gloom of Chalmers before he saw the Lamb of God, for proof +that this is so. These men, at first, were most earnest in their use of +the law in order to re-instate themselves in right relations with God's +justice. But the more they toiled in this direction, the less they +succeeded. Burning with inward anguish, and with God's arrows sticking +fast in him, shall the transgressor get relief from the attribute of +Divine justice, and the qualities of law? Shall the ten commandments of +Sinai, in any of their forms or uses, send a cooling and calming virtue +through the hot conscience? With these kindling flashes in his +guilt-stricken spirit, shall he run into the very identical fire that +kindled them? Shall he try to quench them in that "Tophet which is ordained +of old; which is made deep and large; the pile of which is fire and much +wood, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle +it?" And yet such is, in reality, the attempt of every man who, upon +being convicted in his conscience of guilt before God, endeavors to +attain peace by resolutions to alter his course of conduct, and strenuous +endeavors to obey the commands of God,--in short by relying upon the law +in any form, as a means of reconciliation. Such is the suicidal effort +of every man who substitutes the law for the gospel, and expects to +produce within himself the everlasting peace of God, by anything short of +the atonement of God. + +Let us fix it, then, as a fact, that the feeling of culpability and +unreconciliation can never be removed, so long as we do not look entirely +away from our own character and works to the mere pure mercy of God in +the blood of Christ. The transgressor can never atone for crime by +anything that he can suffer, or anything that he can do. He can never +establish a ground of justification, a reason why he should be forgiven, +by his tears, or his prayers, or his acts. Neither the law, nor his +attempts to obey the law, can re-instate him in his original relations to +justice, and make him perfect again in respect to his conscience. The ten +commandments can never silence his inward misgivings, and his moral +fears; for they are given for the very purpose of producing misgivings, +and causing fears. "The law worketh wrath." And if this truth and +fact be clearly perceived, and boldly acknowledged to his own mind, it +will cut him off from all these legal devices and attempts, and will shut +him up to the Divine mercy and the Divine promise in Christ, where alone +he is safe. + +We have thus seen that one of the two things necessary in order that +apostate man may become perfect again,--viz., the pacification of his +conscience,--cannot be obtained in and by the law, in any of its forms or +uses. Let us now examine the other thing necessary in order to human +perfection, and see what the law can do towards it. + +The other requisite, in order that fallen man may become perfect again, +is a holy heart and will. Can the moral law originate this? That we may +rightly answer the question, let us remember that a holy will is one that +keeps the law of God spontaneously and that a perfect heart is one that +sends forth holy affections and pure thoughts as naturally as the sinful +heart sends forth unholy affections and impure thoughts. A holy will, +like an evil will, is a wonderful and wonderfully fertile power. It does +not consist in an ability to make a few or many separate resolutions of +obedience to the divine law, but in being itself one great inclination +and determination continually and mightily going forth. A holy will, +therefore, is one that _from its very nature and spontaneity_ seeks God, +and the glory of God. It does not even need to make a specific resolution +to obey; any more than an affectionate child needs to resolve to obey its +father. + +In like manner, a perfect and holy heart is a far more profound and +capacious thing than men who have never seriously tried to obtain it deem +it to foe. It does not consist in the possession of a few or many holy +thoughts mixed with some sinful ones, or in having a few or many holy +desires together with some corrupt ones. A perfect heart is one undivided +agency, and does not produce, as the imperfectly sanctified heart of the +Christian does, fruits of holiness and fruits of sin, holy thoughts and +unholy thoughts. It is itself a root and centre of holiness, and +_nothing_ but goodness springs up from it. The angels of God are totally +holy. Their wills are unceasingly going forth towards Him with ease and +delight; their hearts are unintermittently gushing out emotions of love, +and feelings of adoration, and thoughts of reverence, and therefore the +song that they sing is unceasing, and the smoke of their incense +ascendeth forever and ever. + +Such is the holy will, and the perfect heart, which fallen man must +obtain in order to be fit for heaven. To this complexion must he come at +last. And now we ask: Can the law generate all this excellence within the +human soul? In order to answer this question, we must consider the nature +of law, and the manner of its operation. The law, as antithetic to the +gospel, and as the word is employed in the text, is in its nature +mandatory and minatory. It commands, and it threatens. This is the style +of its operation. Can a perfect heart be originated in a sinner by these +two methods? Does the stern behest, "Do this or die," secure his willing +and joyful obedience? On the contrary, the very fact that the law of God +comes up before him coupled thus with a _threatening_ evinces that his +aversion and hostility are most intense. As the Apostle says, "The law is +not made for a righteous man; but for the lawless and disobedient, for +the ungodly and for sinners." Were man, like the angels on high, sweetly +obedient to the Divine will, there would be no arming of law with terror, +no proclamation of ten commandments amidst thunderings and lightnings. He +would be a law unto himself, as all the heavenly host are,--the law +working impulsively within him by its own exceeding lawfulness and +beauty. The very fact that God, in the instance of man, is compelled to +emphasize the _penalty_ along with the statute,--to say, "Keep my +commandments _upon pain of eternal death_,"--is proof conclusive that man +is a rebel, and intensely so. + +And now what is the effect of this combination of command and threatening +upon the agent? Is he moulded by it? Does it congenially sway and incline +him? On the contrary, is he not excited to opposition by it? When the +commandment "_comes_," loaded down with menace and damnation, does not +sin "revive," as the Apostle affirms?[1] Arrest the transgressor in the +very act of disobedience, and ring in his ears the "Thou shalt _not_" of +the decalogue, and does he find that the law has the power to alter his +inclination, to overcome his carnal mind, and make him perfect in +holiness? On the contrary, the more you ply him with the stern command, +and the more you emphasize the awful threatening, the more do you make +him conscious of inward sin, and awaken his depravity. "The law,"--as St. +Paul affirms in a very remarkable text,--"is the _strength_ of sin,[2]" +instead of being its destruction. Nay, he had not even ([Greek: te]) +known sin, but by the law: for he had not known lust, except the law had +said, "Thou shalt not lust." The commandment stimulates instead of +extirpating his hostility to the Divine government; and so long as the +_mere_ command, and the _mere_ threat,--which, as the hymn tells us, is +all the law can do,--are brought to bear, the depravity of the rebellious +heart becomes more and more apparent, and more and more intensified. + +There is no more touching poem in all literature than that one in which +the pensive and moral Schiller portrays the struggle of an ingenuous +youth who would find the source of moral purification in the moral law; +who would seek the power that can transform him, in the mere imperatives +of his conscience, and the mere struggling and spasms of his own will. He +represents him as endeavoring earnestly and long to feel the force of +obligation, and as toiling sedulously to school himself into virtue, by +the bare power, by the dead lift, of duty. But the longer he tries, the +more he loathes the restraints of law. Virtue, instead of growing lovely +to him, becomes more and more severe, austere, and repellant. His life, +as the Scripture phrases it, is "under law," and not under love. There is +nothing spontaneous, nothing willing, nothing genial in his religion. He +does not enjoy religion, but he endures religion. Conscience does not, in +the least, renovate his will, but merely checks it, or goads it. He +becomes wearied and worn, and conscious that after all his self-schooling +he is the same creature at heart, in his disposition and affections, that +he was at the commencement of the effort, he cries out, "O Virtue, take +back thy crown, and let me sin."[3] The tired and disgusted soul would +once more do a _spontaneous_ thing. + +Was, then, that which is good made death unto this youth, by a _Divine_ +arrangement? Is this the _original_ and _necessary_ relation which law +sustains to the will and affections of an accountable creature? Must the +pure and holy law of God, from the very nature of things, be a weariness +and a curse? God forbid. But sin that it might _appear_ sin, working +death in the sinner by that which is good,--that sin by the commandment +might become, might be seen to be, exceeding sinful. The law is like a +chemical test. It eats into sin enough to show what sin is, and there +stops. The lunar caustic bites into the dead flesh of the mortified limb; +but there is no healing virtue in the lunar caustic. The moral law makes +no inward alterations in a sinner. In its own distinctive and proper +action upon the heart and will of an apostate being, it is fitted only to +elicit and exasperate his existing enmity. It can, therefore, no more be +a source of sanctification, than it can be of justification. + +Of what use, then, is the law to a fallen man?--some one will ask. Why is +the commandment enunciated in the Scriptures, and why is the Christian +ministry perpetually preaching it to men dead in trespasses and sins? If +the law can subdue no man's obstinate will, and can renovate no man's +corrupt heart,--if it can make nothing perfect in human character,--then, +"wherefore serveth the law?" "It was added because of +transgressions,"--says the Apostle in answer to this very question.[4] It +is preached and forced home in order to _detect_ sin, but not to remove +it; to bring men to a consciousness of the evil of their hearts, but not +to change their hearts. "For," continues the Apostle, "if there had been +a law given which could have given _life_"--which could produce a +transformation of character,--"then verily righteousness should have been +by the law," It is not because the stern and threatening commandment can +impart spiritual vitality to the sinner, but because it can produce within +him the keen vivid sense of spiritual death, that it is enunciated in the +word of God, and proclaimed from the Christian pulpit. The Divine law is +waved like a flashing sword before the eyes of man, not because it can +make him alive but, because it can slay him, that he may then be made +alive, not by the law but by the Holy Ghost,--by the Breath that cometh +from the four winds and breathes on the slain. + +It is easy to see, by a moment's reflection, that, from the nature of the +case, the moral law cannot be a source of spiritual life and +sanctification to a soul that has _lost_ these. For law primarily +supposes life, supposes an obedient inclination, and therefore does not +produce it. It is not the function of any law to impart that moral force, +that right disposition of the heart, by which its command is to be +obeyed. The State, for example, enacts a law against murder, but this +mere enactment does not, and cannot, produce a benevolent disposition in +the citizens of the commonwealth, in case they are destitute of it. How +often do we hear the remark, that it is impossible to legislate either +morality or religion into the people. When the Supreme Governor first +placed man under the obligations and sovereignty of law, He created him +in His own image and likeness: endowing him with that holy heart and +right inclination which obeys the law of God with ease and delight. God +made man upright, and in this state he could and did keep the commands +of God perfectly. If, therefore, by any _subsequent action_ upon their +part, mankind have gone out of the primary relationship in which they +stood to law, and have by their _apostasy_ lost all holy sympathy with +it, and all affectionate disposition to obey it, it only remains for the +law (not to change along with them, but) to continue immutably the same +pure and righteous thing, and to say, "Obey perfectly, and thou shalt +live; disobey in a single instance, and thou shalt die." + +But the text teaches us, that although the law can make no sinful man +perfect, either upon the side of justification, or of sanctification, +"the bringing in of a better _hope_" can. This hope is the evangelic +hope,--the yearning desire, and the humble trust,--to be forgiven through +the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be sanctified by the +indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. A simple, but a most powerful thing! +Does the law, in its abrupt and terrible operation in my conscience, +start out the feeling of guiltiness until I throb with anguish, and moral +fear? I hope, I trust, I ask, to be pardoned through the blood of the +Eternal Son of God my Redeemer. I will answer all these accusations +of law and conscience, by pleading what my Lord has done. + +Again, does the law search me, and probe me, and elicit me, and reveal +me, until I would shrink out of the sight of God and of myself? I hope, I +trust, I ask, to be made pure as the angels, spotless as the seraphim, by +the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit. This confidence in Christ's +Person and Work is the anchor,--an anchor that was never yet wrenched +from the clefts of the Rock of Ages, and never will be through the aeons +of aeons. By this hope, which goes away from self, and goes away from the +law, to Christ's oblation and the Holy Spirit's energy, we do indeed draw +very nigh to God,--"heart to heart, spirit to spirit, life to life." + +1. The unfolding of this text of Scripture shows, in the first place, the +importance of having a _distinct and discriminating conception of law, +and especially of its proper function in reference to a sinful being_. +Very much is gained when we understand precisely what the moral law, as +taught in the Scriptures, and written in our consciences, can do, and +cannot do, towards our salvation. It can do nothing positively and +efficiently. It cannot extinguish a particle of our guilt, and it cannot +purge away a particle of our corruption. Its operation is wholly negative +and preparatory. It is merely a schoolmaster to conduct us to Christ. And +the more definitely this truth and fact is fixed in our minds, the more +intelligently shall we proceed in our use of law and conscience. + +2. In the second place, the unfolding of this text shows the importance +of _using the law faithfully and fearlessly within its own limits; and in +accordance with its proper function_. It is frequently asked what the +sinner shall do in the work of salvation. The answer is nigh thee, in thy +mouth, and in thy heart. Be continually applying the law of God to your +personal character and conduct. Keep an active and a searching conscience +within your sinful soul. Use the high, broad, and strict commandment of +God as an instrumentality by which all ease, and all indifference, in sin +shall be banished from the breast. Employ all this apparatus of torture, +as perhaps it may seem to you in some sorrowful hours, and break up that +moral drowze and lethargy which is ruining so many souls. And then cease +this work, the instant you have experimentally found out that the law +reaches a limit beyond which it cannot go,--that it forgives none of the +sins which it detects, produces no change in the heart whose vileness it +reveals, and makes no lost sinner perfect again. Having used the law +legitimately, for purposes of illumination and conviction merely, leave +it forever as a source of justification and sanctification, and seek +these in Christ's atonement, and the Holy Spirit's gracious operation in +the heart. Then sin shall not have dominion over you; for you shall not +be under law, but under grace. After that _faith_ is come, ye are no +longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are then the children of God by faith +in Christ Jesus.[5] + +How simple are the terms of salvation! But then they presuppose this +work of the law,--this guilt-smitten conscience, and this wearying sense +of bondage to sin. It is easy for a _thirsty_ soul to drink down the +draught of cold water. Nothing is simpler, nothing is more grateful to +the sensations. But suppose that the soul is satiated, and is not a +thirsty one. Then, nothing is more forced and repelling than this same +draught. So is it with the provisions of the gospel. Do we feel ourselves +to be guilty beings; do we hunger, and do we thirst for the expiation of +our sins? Then the blood of Christ is drink indeed, and his flesh is +meat with emphasis. But are we at ease and self-contented? Then nothing +is more distasteful than the terms of salvation. Christ is a root out of +dry ground. And so long as we remain in this unfeeling and torpid state, +salvation is an utter impossibility. The seed of the gospel cannot +germinate and grow upon a rock. + +[Footnote 1: Rom. vii. 9-12.] + +[Footnote 2: 1 Cor. xv. 56.] + +[Footnote 3: SCHILLER: Der Kampf.] + +[Footnote 4: Galatians iii. 19.] + +[Footnote 5: Galatians iii. 25, 26.] + + + + +SELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE. + +ISAIAH, i. 11.--"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; +though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though +they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." + + +These words were at first addressed to the Church of God. The prophet +Isaiah begins his prophecy, by calling upon the heavens and the earth to +witness the exceeding sinfulness of God's chosen people. "Hear, O +heavens, and give ear O earth: for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished +and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox +knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not +know, my people doth not consider." Such ingratitude and sin as this, he +naturally supposes would shock the very heavens and earth. + +Then follows a most vehement and terrible rebuke. The elect people of God +are called "Sodom," and "Gomorrah." "Hear the word of the Lord ye rulers +of Sodom: give ear unto the law of our God ye people of Gomorrah. Why +should ye be stricken, any more? ye will revolt more and more." This +outflow of holy displeasure would prepare us to expect an everlasting +reprobacy of the rebellious and unfaithful Church, but it is strangely +followed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the +Most High to the creatures of His footstool: "Come now, and let us reason +together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; +though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." + +These words have, however, a wider application; and while the unfaithful +children of God ought to ponder them long and well, it is of equal +importance that "the aliens from the commonwealth of Israel" should +reflect upon them, and see their general application to all +transgressors, so long as they are under the Gospel dispensation. Let us, +then, consider two of the plain lessons taught, in these words of the +prophet, to every unpardoned man. + +I. The text represents God as saying to the transgressor of his law, +"Come and let us reason _together_." The first lesson to be learned, +consequently, is the duty of examining our moral character and conduct, +_along with God_. + +When a responsible being has made a wrong use of his powers, nothing is +more reasonable than that he should call himself to account for this +abuse. Nothing, certainly, is more necessary. There can be no amendment +for the future, until the past has been cared for. But that this +examination may be both thorough and profitable, it must be made _in +company with the Searcher of hearts_. + +For there are always two beings who are concerned with sin; the being who +commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. We sin, indeed, +against ourselves; against our own conscience, and against our own best +interest. But we sin in a yet higher, and more terrible sense, against +Another than ourselves, compared with whose majesty all of our faculties +and interests, both in time and eternity, are altogether nothing and +vanity. It is not enough, therefore, to refer our sin to the law written +on the heart, and there stop. We must ultimately pass beyond conscience +itself, to God, and say, "Against _Thee_ have I sinned." It is not the +highest expression of the religious feeling, when we say, "How can I do +this great wickedness, and sin against my conscience?" He alone has +reached the summit of vision who looks beyond all finite limits, +however wide and distant, beyond all finite faculties however noble and +elevated, and says, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against +God?" + +Whenever, therefore, an examination is made into the nature of moral evil +as it exists in the individual heart, both parties concerned should share +in the examination. The soul, as it looks within, should invite the +scrutiny of God also, and as fast as it makes discoveries of its +transgression and corruption should realize that the Holy One sees also. +Such a joint examination as this produces a very keen and clear sense of +the evil and guilt of sin. Conscience indeed makes cowards of us all, but +when the eye of God is felt to be upon us, it smites us to the ground. +"When _Thou_ with rebukes,"--says the Psalmist,--"dost correct man for +his iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth." One +great reason why the feeling which the moralist has towards sin is so +tame and languid, when compared with the holy abhorrence of the +regenerate mind, lies in the fact that he has not contemplated human +depravity in company with a sin-hating Jehovah. At the very utmost, he +has been shut up merely with a moral sense which he has insulated from +its dread ground and support,--the personal character and holy emotions +of God. What wonder is it, then, that this finite faculty should lose +much of its temper and severity, and though still condemning sin (for it +must do this, if it does anything), fails to do it with that spiritual +energy which characterizes the conscience when God is felt to be +co-present and co-operating. So it is, in other provinces. We feel the +guilt of an evil action more sharply, when we know that a fellow-man +saw us commit it, than when we know that no one but ourselves is +cognizant of the deed. The flush of shame often rises into our face, upon +learning accidentally that a fellow-being was looking at us, when we did +the wrong action without any blush. How much more criminal, then, do we +feel, when distinctly aware that the pure and holy God knows our +transgression. How much clearer is our perception of the nature of moral +evil, when we investigate it along with Him whose eyes are a flame of +fire. + +It is, consequently, a very solemn moment, when the human spirit and the +Eternal Mind are reasoning together about the inward sinfulness. When +the soul is shut up along with the Holy One of Israel, there are great +searchings of heart. Man is honest and anxious at such a time. His usual +thoughtlessness and torpidity upon the subject of religion leaves him, +and he becomes a serious and deeply-interested creature. Would that the +multitudes who listen so languidly to the statements of the pulpit, upon +these themes of sin and guilt, might be closeted with the Everlasting +Judge, in silence and in solemn reflection. You who have for years been +told of sin, but are, perhaps, still as indifferent regarding it as if +there were no stain, upon the conscience,--would that you might enter +into an examination of yourself, alone with your Maker. Then would you +become as serious, and as anxious, as you will be in that moment when you +shall be informed that the last hour of your life upon earth has come. + +Another effect of this "reasoning together" with God, respecting our +character and conduct, is to render our views _discriminating_. The +action of the mind is not only intense, it is also intelligent. Strange +as it may sound, it is yet a fact, that a review of our past lives +conducted under the eye of God, and with a recognition of His presence +and oversight, serves to deliver the mind from confusion and panic, and +to fill it with a calm and rational fear. This is of great value. For, +when a man begins to be excited upon the subject of religion,--it may be +for the first time, in his unreflecting and heedless life,--he is +oftentimes terribly excited. He is now brought _suddenly_ into the midst +of the most solemn things. That sin of his, the enormity of which he had +never seen before, now reveals itself in a most frightful form, and he +feels as the murderer does who wakes in the morning and begins to realize +that he has killed a man. That holy Being, of whose holiness he had no +proper conception, now rises dim and awful before his half-opened inward +eye, and he trembles like the pagan before the unknown God whom he +ignorantly worships. That eternity, which he had heard spoken of with +total indifference, now flashes penal flames in his face. Taken and held +in this state of mind, the transgressor is confusedly as well as terribly +awakened, and he needs first of all to have this experience clarified, +and know precisely for what he is trembling, and why. This panic and +consternation must depart, and a calm intelligent anxiety must take its +place. But this cannot be, unless the mind turns towards God, and invites +His searching scrutiny, and His aid in the search after sin. So long as +we shrink away from our Judge, and in upon ourselves, in these hours of +conviction,--so long as we deal only with the workings of our own minds, +and do not look up and "reason together" with God,--we take the most +direct method of producing a blind, an obscure, and a selfish agony. We +work ourselves, more and more, into a mere phrenzy of excitement. Some of +the most wretched and fanatical experience in the history of the Church +is traceable to a solitary self-brooding, in which, after the sense of +sin had been awakened, the soul did not discuss the matter with God. + +For the character and attributes of God, when clearly seen, repress all +fright, and produce that peculiar species of fear which is tranquil +because it is deep. Though the soul, in such an hour, is conscious that +God is a fearful object of sight for a transgressor, yet it continues to +gaze at Him with an eager straining eye. And in so doing, the superficial +tremor and panic of its first awakening to the subject of religion passes +off, and gives place to an intenser moral feeling, the calmness of which +is like the stillness of fascination. Nothing has a finer effect upon a +company of awakened minds, than to cause the being and attributes of God, +in all their majesty and purity, to rise like an orb within their +horizon; and the individual can do nothing more proper, or more salutary, +when once his sin begins to disquiet him, and the inward perturbation +commences, than to collect and steady himself, in an act of reflection +upon that very Being who _abhors_ sin. Let no man, in the hour of +conviction and moral fear, attempt to run away from the Divine holiness. +On the contrary, let him rush forward and throw himself down prostrate +before that Dread Presence, and plead the merits of the Son of God, +before it. He that finds his life shall lose it; but he that loses his +life shall find it. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, +it remains a single unproductive corn of wheat; but if it _die_, it +germinates and brings forth much fruit. He who does not avoid a contact +between the sin of his soul and the holiness of his God, but on the +contrary seeks to have these two things come together, that each may be +understood in its own intrinsic nature and quality, takes the only safe +course. He finds that, as he knows God more distinctly, he knows himself +more distinctly; and though as yet he can see nothing but displeasure in +that holy countenance, he is possessed of a well-defined experience. He +knows that he is wrong, and his Maker is right; that he is wicked, and +that God is holy. He perceives these two fundamental facts with a +simplicity, and a certainty, that admits of no debate. The confusion and +obscurity of his mind, and particularly the queryings whether these +things are so, whether God is so very holy and man is so very sinful, +begin to disappear, like a fog when disparted and scattered by sunrise. +Objects are seen in their true proportions and meanings; right and wrong, +the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, heaven and hell,--all the great +contraries that pertain to the subject of religion,--are distinctly +understood, and thus the first step is taken towards a better state of +things in the soul. + +Let no man, then, fear to invite the scrutiny of God, in connection with +his own scrutiny of himself. He who deals only with the sense of duty, +and the operations of his own mind, will find that these themselves +become more dim and indistinct, so long as the process of examination is +not conducted in this joint manner; so long as the mind refuses to accept +the Divine proposition, "Come now, and let us reason _together_." He, on +the other hand, who endeavors to obtain a clear view of the Being against +whom he has sinned, and to feel the full power of His holy eye as well as +of His holy law, will find that his sensations and experiences are +gaining a wonderful distinctness and intensity that will speedily bring +the entire matter to an issue. + +II. For then, by the blessing of God, he learns the second lesson taught +in the text: viz., that _there is forgiveness with God_. Though, in this +process of joint examination, your sins be found to be as scarlet, they +shall be as white as snow; though they be discovered to be red like +crimson, they shall be as wool. + +If there were no forgiveness of sins, if mercy were not a manifested +attribute of God, all self-examination, and especially all this conjoint +divine scrutiny, would be a pure torment and a pure gratuity. It is +wretchedness to know that we are guilty sinners, but it is the endless +torment to know that there is no forgiveness, either here or hereafter. +Convince a man that he will never be pardoned, and you shut him up with +the spirits in prison. Compel him to examine himself under the eye of his +God, while at the same time he has no hope of mercy,--and there would be +nothing _unjust_ in this,--and you distress him with the keenest and most +living torment of which a rational spirit is capable. Well and natural +was it, that the earliest creed of the Christian Church emphasized the +doctrine of the Divine Pity; and in all ages the Apostolic Symbol has +called upon the guilt-stricken human soul to cry, "I believe in the +forgiveness of sins." + +We have the amplest assurance in the whole written Revelation of God, +_but nowhere else_, that "there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be +feared." "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy;" and +only with such an assurance as this from His own lips, could we summon +courage to look into our character and conduct, and invite God to do the +same. But the text is an exceedingly explicit assertion of this great +truth. The very same Being who invites us to reason with Him, and canvass +the subject of our criminality, in the very same breath, if we may so +speak, assures us that He will forgive all that is found in this +examination. And upon _such_ terms, cannot the criminal well afford to +examine into his crime? He has a promise beforehand, that if he will but +scrutinize and confess his sin it shall be forgiven. God would have been +simply and strictly just, had He said to him: "Go down into the depths of +thy transgressing spirit, see how wicked thou hast been and still art, +and know that in my righteous severity I will never pardon thee, world +without end." But instead of this, He says: "Go down into the depths of +thy heart, see the transgression and the corruption all along the line of +the examination, confess it into my ear, and I will make the scarlet and +crimson guilt white in the blood of my own Son." These declarations of +Holy Writ, which are a direct verbal statement from the lips of God, and +which specify distinctly what He will do and will not do in the matter of +sin, teach us that however deeply our souls shall be found to be stained, +the Divine pity outruns and exceeds the crime. "For as the heavens are +high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. +He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how +shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Here upon earth, +there is no wickedness that surpasses the pardoning love of God in +Christ. The words which Shakspeare puts into the mouth of the remorseful, +but _impenitent_, Danish king are strictly true: + + "What if this cursed hand + Were thicker than itself with brother's blood? + Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens + To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy, + But to confront the visage of offence?"[1] + +Anywhere this side of the other world, and at any moment this side of the +grave, a sinner, _if penitent_ (but penitence is not always at his +control), may obtain forgiveness for all his sins, through Christ's blood +of atonement. He must not hope for mercy in the future world, if he +neglects it here. There are no acts of pardon passed in the day of +judgment. The utterance of Christ in _that_ day is not the utterance, +"Thy sins are forgiven thee," but, "Come ye blessed," or "Depart ye +cursed." So long, and only so long, as there is life there is hope, and +however great may be the conscious criminality of a man while he is under +the economy of Redemption, and before he is summoned to render up his +last account, let him not despair but hope in Divine grace. + +Now, he who has seriously "reasoned together" with God, respecting his +own character, is far better prepared to find God in the forgiveness of +sins, than he is who has merely brooded over his own unhappiness, without +any reference to the qualities and claims of his Judge. It has been a +plain and personal matter throughout, and having now come to a clear and +settled conviction that he is a guilty sinner, he turns directly to the +great and good Being who stands immediately before him, and prays to be +forgiven, and _is_ forgiven. One reason why the soul so often gropes days +and months without finding a sin-pardoning God lies in the fact, that its +thoughts and feelings respecting religious subjects, and particularly +respecting the state of the heart, have been too vague and indistinct. +They have not had an immediate and close reference to that one single +Being who is most directly concerned, and who alone can minister to a +mind diseased. The soul is wretched, and there may be some sense of sin, +but there is no one to go to,--no one to address with an appealing cry. +"Oh that I knew where I might find him," is its language. "Oh that I +might come even to his seat. Behold I go forward, but he is not there; +and backward, but I cannot perceive him." But this groping would cease +were there a clear view of God. There might not be peace and a sense of +reconciliation immediately; but there would be a distinct conception of +_the one thing needful_ in order to salvation. This would banish all +other subjects and objects. The eye would be fixed upon the single fact +of sin, and the simple fact that none but God can forgive it. The whole +inward experience would thus be narrowed down to a focus. Simplicity and +intensity would be introduced into the mental state, instead of the +previous confusion and vagueness. Soliloquy would end, and prayer, +importunate, agonizing prayer, would begin. That morbid and useless +self-brooding would cease, and those strong cryings and wrestlings till +day-break would commence, and the kingdom of heaven would suffer this +violence, and the violent would take it by force. "When I _kept silence_; +my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and +night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought +of summer. I _acknowledged_ my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity I no +longer _hid_. I said, I will _confess_ my transgressions unto the Lord; +and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this,"--because this is +Thy method of salvation,--"shall every one that is godly pray unto +thee, in a time when thou mayest be found." (Ps. xxxii. 3-6.) + +Self-examination, then, when joined with a distinct recognition of the +Divine character, and a conscious sense of God's scrutiny, paradoxical as +it may appear, is the surest means of producing a firm conviction in a +guilty mind that God is merciful, and is the swiftest way of finding Him +to be so. Opposed as the Divine nature is to sin, abhorrent as iniquity +is to the pure mind of God, it is nevertheless a fact, that that sinner +who goes directly into this Dread Presence with all his sins upon his +head, in order to know them, to be condemned and crushed by them, and to +confess them, is the one who soonest returns with peace and hope in his +soul. For, he discovers that God is as cordial and sincere in His offer +to forgive, as He is in His threat to punish; and having, to his sorrow, +felt the reality and power of the Divine anger, he now to his joy feels +the equal reality and power of the Divine love. + +And this is the one great lesson which every man must learn, or perish +forever. The _truthfulness_ of God, in every respect, and in all +relations,--His strict _fidelity to His word_, both under the law and +under the gospel,--is a quality of which every one must have a vivid +knowledge and certainty, in order to salvation. Men perish through +unbelief. He that doubteth is damned. To illustrate. Men pass through +this life doubting and denying God's abhorrence of sin, and His +determination to punish it forever and ever. Under the narcotic and +stupefying influence of this doubt and denial, they remain in sin, and at +death go over into the immediate presence of God, only to discover that +all His statements respecting His determination upon this subject are +_true_,--awfully and hopelessly true. They then spend an eternity, in +bewailing their infatuation in dreaming, while here upon earth, that +the great and holy God did not mean what he said. + +Unbelief, again, tends to death in the other direction, though it is far +less liable to result in it. The convicted and guilt-smitten man +sometimes doubts the truthfulness of the Divine promise in Christ. He +spends days of darkness and nights of woe, because he is unbelieving in +regard to God's compassion, and readiness to forgive a penitent; and +when, at length, the light of the Divine countenance breaks upon him, he +wonders that he was so foolish and slow of heart to believe all that God +himself had said concerning the "multitude" of his tender mercies. +Christian and Hopeful lay long and needlessly in the dungeon of Doubting +Castle, until the former remembered that the key to all the locks was in +his bosom, and had been all the while. They needed only to take God at +his word. The anxious and fearful soul must believe the Eternal Judge +_implicitly_, when he says: "I will justify thee through the blood of +Christ." God is truthful under the gospel, and under the law; in His +promise of mercy, and in His threatening of eternal woe. And "if we +believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." He hath +promised, and He hath threatened; and, though heaven and earth pass away, +one jot or one tittle of that promise shall not fail in the case of those +who confidingly trust it, nor shall one iota or scintilla of the +threatening fail in the instance of those who have recklessly and rashly +disbelieved it. + +In respect, then, to both sides of the revelation of the Divine +character,--in respect to the threatening and the promise,--men need to +have a clear perception, and an unwavering belief. He that doubteth in +either direction is damned. He who does not believe that God is truthful, +when He declares that He will "punish iniquity, transgression and sin," +and that those upon the left hand shall "go away into everlasting +punishment," will persist in sin until he passes the line of probation +and be lost. And he who does not believe that God is truthful, when He +declares that He will forgive scarlet and crimson sins through the blood +of Christ, will be overcome by despair and be also lost. But he who +believes _both_ Divine statements with equal certainty, and perceives +_both_ facts with distinct vision, will be saved. + +From these two lessons of the text, we deduce the following practical +directions: + +1. First: In all states of religious anxiety, we should _betake ourselves +instantly and directly to God_. There is no other refuge for the human +soul but God in Christ, and if this fails us, we must renounce all hope +here and hereafter. + + "If this fail, + The pillared firmament is rottenness, + And earth's base built on stubble."[2] + + +We are, therefore, from the nature of the case, shut up to this course. +Suppose the religious anxiety arise from a sense of sin, and the fear of +retribution. God is the only Being that can forgive sins. To whom, then, +can such an one go but unto Him? Suppose the religious anxiety arises +from a sense of the perishing nature of earthly objects, and the soul +feels as if all the foundation and fabric of its hope and comfort were +rocking into irretrievable ruin. God is the only Being who can help in +this crisis. In either or in any case,--be it the anxiety of the +unforgiven, or of the child of God,--whatever be the species of mental +sorrow, the human soul is by its very circumstances driven to its Maker, +or else driven to destruction. + +What more reasonable course, therefore, than to conform to the +necessities of our condition. The principal part of wisdom is to take +things as they are, and act accordingly. Are we, then, sinners, and in +fear for the final result of our life? Though it may seem to us like +running into fire, we must nevertheless betake ourselves first and +immediately to that Being who hates and punishes sin. Though we see +nothing but condemnation and displeasure in those holy eyes, we must +nevertheless approach them _just and simply as we are_. We must say with +king David in a similar case, when he had incurred the displeasure of +God: "I am in a great strait; [yet] let me fall into the hand of the +Lord, for very great are his mercies" (1 Chron. xx. 13). We must suffer +the intolerable brightness to blind and blast us in our guiltiness, and +let there be an actual contact between the sin of our soul and the +holiness of our God. If we thus proceed, in accordance with the facts of +our case and our position, we shall meet with a great and joyful +surprise. Flinging ourselves helpless, and despairing of all other +help,--_rashly_, as it will seem to us, flinging ourselves off from the +position where we now are, and upon which we must inevitably perish, we +shall find ourselves, to our surprise and unspeakable joy, caught in +everlasting, paternal arms. He who loses his life,--he who _dares_ to +lose his life,--shall find it. + +2. Secondly: In all our religious anxiety, we should _make a full and +plain statement of everything to God_. God loves to hear the details of +our sin, and our woe. The soul that pours itself out as water will find +that it is not like water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered +up again. Even when the story is one of shame and remorse, we find it to +be mental relief, patiently and without any reservation or palliation, to +expose the whole not only to our own eye but to that of our Judge. For, +to this very thing have we been invited. This is precisely the "reasoning +together" which God proposes to us. God has not offered clemency to a +sinful world, with the expectation or desire that there be on the part of +those to whom it is offered, such a stinted and meagre confession, such a +glozing over and diminution of sin, as to make that clemency appear a +very small matter. He well knows the depth and the immensity of the sin +which He proposes to pardon, and has made provision accordingly. In the +phrase of Luther, it is no painted sinner who is to be forgiven, and it +is no painted Saviour who is offered. The transgression is deep and real, +and the atonement is deep and real. The crime cannot be exaggerated, +neither can the expiation. He, therefore, who makes the plainest and most +child-like statement of himself to God, acts most in accordance with the +mind, and will, and gospel of God. If man only be hearty, full, and +unreserved in confession, he will find God to be hearty, full, and +unreserved in absolution. + +Man is not straitened upon the side of the Divine mercy. The obstacle in +the way of his salvation is in himself; and the particular, fatal +obstacle consists in the fact that he does not feel that he _needs_ +mercy. God in Christ stands ready to pardon, but man the sinner stands up +before Him like the besotted criminal in our courts of law, with no +feeling upon the subject. The Judge assures him that He has a boundless +grace and clemency to bestow, but the stolid hardened man is not even +aware that he has committed a dreadful crime, and needs grace and +clemency. There is food in infinite abundance, but no hunger upon the +part of man. The water of life is flowing by in torrents, but men have no +thirst. In this state of things, nothing can be done, but to pass a +sentence of condemnation. God cannot forgive a being who does not even +know that he needs to be forgiven. Knowledge then, self-knowledge, is the +great requisite; and the want of it is the cause of perdition. This +"reasoning together" with God, respecting our past and present character +and conduct, is the first step to be taken by any one who would make +preparation for eternity. As soon as we come to a right understanding of +our lost and guilty condition, we shall cry: "Be merciful to me a sinner; +create within me a clean heart, O God." Without such an +understanding,--such an intelligent perception of our sin and guilt,--we +never shall, and we never can. + + +[Footnote 1: SHAKSPEARE: Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 4.] + +[Footnote 2: MILTON: Comus, 597-599.] + + + + + +SIN IS SPIRITUAL SLAVERY + +John viii. 34.--"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, +whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." + + +The word [Greek: doulos] which is translated "servant," in the text, +literally signifies a slave; and the thought which our Lord actually +conveyed to those who heard Him is, "Whosoever committeth sin is the +_slave_ of sin." The apostle Peter, in that second Epistle of his which +is so full of terse and terrible description of the effects of unbridled +sensuality upon the human will, expresses the same truth. Speaking of the +influence of those corrupting and licentious men who have "eyes full of +adultery, and that _cannot_ cease from sin," he remarks that while they +promise their dupes "liberty, they themselves are the servants [slaves] +of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he _brought +in bondage_." + +Such passages as these, of which there are a great number in the Bible, +direct attention to the fact that sin contains an element of +_servitude_,--that in the very act of transgressing the law of God there +is a _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself, whereby it becomes +less able than before to keep that law. Sin is the suicidal action of the +human will. It destroys the power to do right, which is man's true +freedom. The effect of vicious habit in diminishing a man's ability to +resist temptation is proverbial. But what is habit but a constant +repetition of wrong decisions, every single one of which _reacts_ upon +the faculty that put them forth, and renders it less strong and less +energetic, to do the contrary. Has the old debauchee, just tottering +into hell, as much power of active resistance against the sin which has +now ruined him, as the youth has who is just beginning to run that awful +career? Can any being do a wrong act, and be as sound in his will and as +spiritually strong, after it, as he was before it? Did that abuse of free +agency by Adam, whereby the sin of the race was originated, leave the +agent as it found him,--uninjured and undebilitated in his voluntary +power? + +The truth and fact is, that sin in and by its own nature and operations, +tends to destroy all virtuous force, all holy energy, in any moral being. +The excess of will to sin is the same as the defect of will to holiness. +The degree of intensity with which any man loves and inclines to evil is +the measure of the amount of power to good which he has thereby lost. And +if the intensity be total, then the loss is entire. Total depravity +carries with it total impotence and helplessness. The more carefully we +observe the workings of our own wills, the surer will be our conviction +that they can ruin themselves. We shall indeed find that they cannot be +_forced_, or ruined from the outside. But, if we watch the influence upon +the _will itself_, of its own wrong decisions, its own yielding to +temptations, we shall discover that the voluntary faculty may be ruined +from within; may be made impotent to good by its own action; may +surrender itself with such an intensity and entireness to appetite, +passion, and self-love, that it becomes unable to reverse itself, and +overcome its own wrong disposition and direction. And yet there is no +_compulsion_, from first to last, in the process. The man follows +himself. He pursues his own inclination. He has his own way and does +as he pleases. He loves what he inclines to love, and hates what he +inclines to hate. Neither God, nor the world, nor Satan himself, force +him to do wrong. Sin is the most spontaneous of self-motion. But +self-motion has _consequences_ as much as any other motion. Because +transgression is a _self_-determined act, it does not follow that it has +no reaction and results, but leaves the will precisely as it found it. It +is strictly true that man was not necessitated to apostatize; but it is +equally true that if by his own self-decision he should apostatize, he +could not then and afterwards be as he was before. He would lose a +_knowledge_ of God and divine things which he could never regain of +himself. And he would lose a spiritual _power_ which he could never again +recover of himself. The bondage of which Christ speaks, when He says, +"Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," is an effect within the +soul itself of an unforced act of self-will, and therefore is as truly +guilt as any other result or product of self-will,--as spiritual +blindness, or spiritual hardness, or any other of the qualities of sin. +Whatever springs from will, we are responsible for. The drunkard's +bondage and powerlessness issues from his own inclination and +self-indulgence, and therefore the bondage and impotence is no excuse for +his vice. Man's inability to love God supremely results from his intense +self-will and self-love; and therefore his impotence is a part and +element of his sin, and not an excuse for it. + + "If weakness may excuse, + What murderer, what traitor, parricide, + Incestuous, sacrilegious, may not plead it? + All wickedness is weakness."[1] + +The doctrine, then, which is taught in the text, is the truth that _sin +is spiritual slavery_; and it is to the proof and illustration of this +position that we invite attention. + +The term "spiritual" is too often taken to mean unreal, fanciful, +figurative. For man is earthly in his views as well as in his feelings, +and therefore regards visible and material things as the emphatic +realities. Hence he employs material objects as the ultimate standard, by +which he measures the reality of all other things. The natural man has +more consciousness of his body, than he has of his soul; more sense of +this world, than of the other. Hence we find that the carnal man +expresses his conception of spiritual things, by transferring to them, in +a weak and secondary signification, words which he applies in a strong +and vivid way only to material objects. He speaks of the "joy" of the +spirit, but it is not such a reality for him as is the "joy" of the body. +He speaks of the "pain" of the spirit, but it has not such a poignancy +for him as that anguish which thrills through his muscles and nerves. +He knows that the "death" of the body is a terrible event, but transfers +the word "death" to the spirit with a vague and feeble meaning, not +realizing that the second death is more awful than the first, and is +accompanied with a spiritual distress compared with which, the sharpest +agony of material dissolution would be a relief. He understands what is +meant by the "life" of the body, but when he hears the "eternal life" of +the spirit spoken of, or when he reads of it in the Bible, it is with the +feeling that it cannot be so real and lifelike as that vital principle +whose currents impart vigor and warmth to his bodily frame. And yet, +the life of the spirit is more intensely real than the life of the body +is; for it has power to overrule and absorb it. Spiritual life, when in +full play, is bliss ineffable. It translates man into the third heavens, +where the fleshly life is lost sight of entirely, and the being, like St. +Paul, does not know whether he is in the body or out of the body. + +The natural mind is deceived. Spirit has in it more of reality than +matter has; because it is an immortal and indestructible essence, while +matter is neither. Spiritual things are more real than visible things; +because they are eternal, and eternity is more real than time. Statements +respecting spiritual objects, therefore, are more solemnly true than any +that relate to material things. Invisible and spiritual realities, +therefore, are the standard by which all others should be tried; and +human language when applied to them, instead of expressing too much, +expresses too little. The imagery and phraseology by which the Scriptures +describe the glory of God, the excellence of holiness, and the bliss of +heaven, on the one side, and the sinfulness of sin with the woe of hell, +on the other, come short of the sober and actual matter of fact. + +We should, therefore, beware of the error to which in our unspirituality +we are specially liable; and when we hear Christ assert that "whosoever +committeth sin is the slave of sin," we should believe and know, that +these words are not extravagant, and contain no subtrahend,--that they +indicate a self-enslavement of the human will which is so real, so total, +and so absolute, as to necessitate the renewing grace of God in order to +deliverance from it. + +This bondage to sin may be discovered by every man. It must be +discovered, before one can cry, "Save me or I perish." It must be +discovered, before one can feelingly assent to Christ's words, "Without +me ye can do nothing." It must be discovered, before one can understand +the Christian paradox, "When I am weak, then am I strong." To aid the +mind, in coming to the conscious experience of the truth taught in the +text, we remark: + +I. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to man's _sense of +obligation to be perfectly holy_. + +The obligation to be holy, just, and good, as God is, rests upon every +rational being. Every man knows, or may know, that he ought to be perfect +as his Father in heaven is perfect, and that he is a debtor to this +obligation until he has _fully_ met it. Hence even the holiest of men are +conscious of sin, because they are not completely up to the mark of this +high calling of God. For, the sense of this obligation is an exceeding +broad one,--like the law itself which it includes and enforces. The +feeling of duty will not let us off, with the performance of only a part +of our duty. Its utterance is: "Verily I say unto you, till heaven and +earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till +_all_ be fulfilled." Law spreads itself over the whole surface and course +of our lives, and insists imperatively that every part and particle of +them be pure and holy. + +Again, this sense of obligation to be perfect as God is perfect, is +exceedingly deep. It is the most profound sense of which man is +possessed, for it outlives all others. The feeling of duty to God's +law remains in a man's mind either to bless him or to curse him, when all +other feelings depart. In the hour of death, when all the varied passions +and experiences which have engrossed the man his whole lifetime are dying +out of the soul, and are disappearing, one after another, like +signal-lights in the deepening darkness, this one particular feeling of +what he owes to the Divine and the Eternal law remains behind, and grows +more vivid, and painful, as all others grow dimmer and dimmer. And +therefore it is, that in this solemn hour man forgets whether he has been +happy or unhappy, successful or unsuccessful, in the world, and remembers +only that he has been a _sinner_ in it. And therefore it is, that a man's +thoughts, when he is upon his death-bed, do not settle upon his worldly +matters, but upon his sin. It is because the human conscience is the very +core and centre of the human being, and its sense of obligation to be +holy is deeper than all other senses and sensations, that we hear the +dying man say what the living and prosperous man is not inclined to say: +"I have been wicked; I have been a sinner in the earth." + +Now it might seem, at first sight, that this broad, deep, and abiding +sense of obligation would be sufficient to overcome man's love of sin, +and bring him up to the discharge of duty,--would be powerful enough to +subdue his self-will. Can it be that this strong and steady draft of +conscience,--strong and steady as gravitation,--will ultimately prove +ineffectual? Is not truth mighty, and must it not finally prevail, to the +pulling down of the stronghold which Satan has in the human heart? So +some men argue. So some men claim, in opposition to the doctrine of +Divine influences and of regeneration by the Holy Ghost. + +We are willing to appeal to actual experience, in order to settle the +point. And we affirm in the outset, that exactly in proportion as a man +hears the voice of conscience sounding its law within his breast, does he +become aware, not of the strength but, of the bondage of his will, and +that in proportion as this sense of obligation to be _perfectly_ holy +rises in his soul, all hope or expectation of ever becoming so by his own +power sets in thick night. + +In our careless unawakened state, which is our ordinary state, we sin on +from day to day, just as we live on from day to day, without being +distinctly aware of it. A healthy man does not go about, holding his +fingers upon his wrist, and counting every pulse; and neither does a +sinful man, as he walks these streets and transacts all this business, +think of and sum up the multitude of his transgressions. And yet, that +pulse all the while beats none the less; and yet, that will all the while +transgresses none the less. So long as conscience is asleep, sin is +pleasant. The sinful activity goes on without notice, we are happy in +sin, and we do not feel that it is slavery of the will. Though the chains +are actually about us, yet they do not gall us. In this condition, which +is that of every unawakened sinner, we are not conscious of the "bondage +of corruption." In the phrase of St. Paul, "we are alive without the +law." We have no feeling sense of duty, and of course have no feeling +sense of sin. And it is in this state of things, that arguments are +framed to prove the mightiness of mere conscience, and the power of bare +truth and moral obligation, over the perverse human heart and will. + +But the Spirit of God awakens the conscience; that sense of obligation to +be _perfectly_ holy which has hitherto slept now starts up, and begins to +form an estimate of what has been done in reference to it. The man hears +the authoritative and startling law: "Thou shalt be perfect, as God is." +And now, at this very instant and point, begins the consciousness of +enslavement,--of being, in the expressive phrase of Scripture, "_sold_ +under sin." Now the commandment "comes," shows us first what we ought to +be and then what we actually are, and we "die."[2] All moral strength +dies out of us. The muscle has been cut by the sword of truth, and the +limb drops helpless by the side. For, we find that the obligation is +immense. It extends to all our outward acts; and having covered the whole +of this great surface, it then strikes inward and reaches to every +thought of the mind, and every emotion of the heart, and every motive of +the will. We discover that we are under obligation at every conceivable +point in our being and in our history, but that we have not met +obligation at a single point. When we see that the law of God is broad +and deep, and that sin is equally broad and deep within us; when we learn +that we have never thought one single holy thought, nor felt one single +holy feeling, nor done one single holy deed, because self-love is the +root and principle of all our work, and we have never purposed or desired +to please God by any one of our actions; when we find that everything +has been required, and that absolutely nothing has been done, that we are +bound to be perfectly holy this very instant, and as matter of fact are +totally sinful, we know in a most affecting manner that "whosoever +committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin". + +But suppose that after this disheartening and weakening discovery of the +depth and extent of our sinfulness, we proceed to take the second step, +and attempt to extirpate it. Suppose that after coming to a consciousness +of all this obligation resting upon us, we endeavor to comply with it. +This renders us still more painfully sensible of the truth of our +Saviour's declaration. Even the regenerated man, who in this endeavor has +the aid of God, is mournfully conscious that sin is the enslavement of +the human will. Though he has been freed substantially, he feels that the +fragments of the chains are upon him still. Though the love of God is the +predominant principle within him, yet the lusts and propensities of the +old nature continually start up like devils, and tug at the spirit, to +drag it down to its old bondage. But that man who attempts to overcome +sin, without first crying, "Create within me a clean heart, O God," feels +still more deeply that sin is spiritual slavery. When _he_ comes to know +sin in reference to the obligation to be perfectly holy, it is with +vividness and hopelessness. He sees distinctly that he ought to be a +perfectly good being instantaneously. This point is clear. But instead of +looking up to the hills whence cometh his help, he begins, in a cold +legal and loveless temper, to draw upon his own resources. The first step +is to regulate his external conduct by the Divine law. He tries to put a +bridle upon his tongue, and to walk carefully before his fellow-men. He +fails to do even this small outside thing, and is filled with +discouragement and despondency. + +But the sense of duty reaches beyond the external conduct, and the law of +God pierces like the two-edged sword of an executioner, and discerns +the thoughts and motives of the heart. Sin begins to be seen in its +relation to the inner man, and he attempts again to reform and change the +feelings and affections of his soul. He strives to wring the gall of +bitterness out of his own heart, with his own hands. But he fails +utterly. As he resolves, and breaks his resolutions; as he finds evil +thoughts and feelings continually coming up from the deep places of his +heart; he discovers his spiritual impotence,--his lack of control over +what is deepest, most intimate, and most fundamental in his own +character,--and cries out: "I _am_ a slave, I am a _slave_ to myself." + +If then, you would know from immediate consciousness that "whosoever +committeth sin is the slave of sin," simply view sin in the light of that +obligation to be _perfectly_ pure and holy which necessarily, and +forever, rests upon a responsible being. If you would know that spiritual +slavery is no extravagant and unmeaning phrase, but denotes a most real +and helpless bondage, endeavor to get entirely rid of sin, and to be +perfect as the spirits of just men made perfect. + +II. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _aspirations_ +of the human soul. + +Theology makes a distinction between common and special grace,--between +those ordinary influences of the Divine Spirit which rouse the +conscience, and awaken some transient aspirations after religion, and +those extraordinary influences which actually renew the heart and will. +In speaking, then, of the aspirations of the human soul, reference is had +to all those serious impressions, and those painful anxieties concerning +salvation, which require to be followed up by a yet mightier power from +God, to prevent their being entirely suppressed again, as they are in a +multitude of instances, by the strong love of sin and the world. For +though man has fallen into a state of death in trespasses and sins, so +that if cut off from _every_ species of Divine influence, and left +_entirely_ to himself, he would never reach out after anything but the +sin which he loves, yet through the common influences of the Spirit of +Grace, and the ordinary workings of a rational nature not yet reprobated, +he is at times the subject of internal stirrings and aspirations that +indicate the greatness and glory of the heights whence he fell. Under the +power of an awakened conscience, and feeling the emptiness of the world, +and the aching void within him, man wishes for something better than he +has, or than he is. The minds of the more thoughtful of the ancient +pagans were the subjects of these impulses, and aspirations; and they +confess their utter inability to realize them. They are expressed +upon every page of Plato, and it is not surprising that some of the +Christian Fathers should have deemed Platonism, as well as Judaism, to be +a preparation for Christianity, by its bringing man to a sense of his +need of redemption. And it would stimulate Christians in their efforts to +give revealed religion to the heathen, did they ponder the fact which the +journals of the missionary sometimes disclose, that the Divine Spirit is +brooding with His common and preparatory influence over the chaos of +Paganism, and that here and there the heathen mind faintly aspires to be +freed from the bondage of corruption,--that dim stirrings, impulses, and +wishes for deliverance, are awake in the dark heart of Paganism, but that +owing to the strength and inveteracy of sin in that heart they will prove +ineffectual to salvation, unless the gospel is preached, and the Holy +Spirit is specially poured out in answer to the prayers of Christians. + +Now, all these phenomena in the human soul go to show the rigid bondage +of sin, and to prove that sin has an element of servitude in it. For when +these impulses, wishes, and aspirations are awakened, and the man +discovers that he is unable to realize them in actual character and +conduct, he is wretchedly and thoroughly conscious that "whosoever +committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin." The immortal, heaven-descended +spirit, feeling the kindling touch of truth and of the Holy Ghost, +thrills under it, and essays to soar. But sin hangs heavy upon it, and it +cannot lift itself from the earth. Never is man so sensible of his +enslavement and his helplessness, as when he has a _wish_ but has no +_will_.[3] + +Look, for illustration, at the aspirations of the drunkard to be +delivered from the vice that easily besets him. In his sober moments, +they come thick and fast, and during his sobriety, and while under the +lashings of conscience, he wishes, nay, even _longs_, to be freed from +drunkenness. It may be, that under the impulse of these aspirations he +resolves never to drink again. It may be, that amid the buoyancy that +naturally accompanies the springing of hope and longing in the human +soul, he for a time seems to himself to be actually rising up from his +"wallowing in the mire," and supposes that he shall soon regain his +primitive condition of temperance. But the sin is strong; for the +appetite that feeds it is in his blood. Temptation with its witching +solicitation comes before the will,--the weak, self-enslaved will. He +_aspires_ to resist, but _will_ not; the spirit _would_ soar, but the +flesh _will_ creep; the spirit has the _wish_, but the flesh has the +_will_; the man longs to be sober, but actually is and remains a +drunkard. And never,--be it noticed,--never is he more thoroughly +conscious of being a slave to himself, than when he thus _ineffectually_ +aspires and wishes to be delivered from himself. + +What has been said of drunkenness, and the aspiration to be freed from +it, applies with full force to all the sin and all the aspirations of the +human soul. There is no independent and self-realizing power in a mere +aspiration. No man overcomes even his vices, except as he is assisted by +the common grace of God. The self-reliant man invariably relapses into +his old habits. He who thinks he stands is sure to fall. But when, under +the influence of God's common grace, a man aspires to be freed from the +deepest of all sin, because it is the source of all particular acts of +transgression,--when he attempts to overcome and extirpate the original +and inveterate depravity of his heart,--he feels his bondage more +thoroughly than ever. If it is wretchedness for the drunkard to aspire +after freedom from only a single vice, and fail of reaching it, is it not +the depth of woe, when a man comes to know "the plague of his heart," and +his utter inability to cleanse and cure it? In this case, the bondage of +self-will is found to be absolute. + +At first sight, it might seem as if these wishes and aspirations of the +human spirit, faint though they be, are proof that man is not totally +depraved, and that his will is not helplessly enslaved. So some men +argue. But they forget, that these aspirations and wishes are _never +realized_. There is no evidence of power, except from its results. And +where are the results? Who has ever realized these wishes and +aspirations, in his heart and conduct? The truth is, that every +_unattained_ aspiration that ever swelled the human soul is proof +positive, and loud, that the human soul is in bondage. These +_ineffectual_ stirrings and impulses, which disappear like the morning +cloud and the early dew, are most affecting evidences that "whosoever +committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin." They prove that apostate man has +sunk, in one respect, to a lower level than that of the irrational +creation. For, high ideas and truths cannot raise him. Lofty impulses +result in no alteration, or elevation. Even Divine influences leave him +just where they find him, unless they are exerted in their highest grade +of irresistible grace. A brute surrenders himself to his appetites and +propensities, and lives the low life of nature, without being capable of +aspirations for anything purer and nobler. But man does this very +thing,--nay, immerses himself in flesh, and sense, and self, with an +entireness and intensity of which the brute is incapable,--in the face of +impulses and stirrings of mind that point him to the pure throne of God, +and urge him to soar up to it! The brute is a creature of nature, because +he knows no better, and can desire nothing better; but man is "as the +beasts that perish," in spite of a better knowledge and a loftier +aspiration! + +If then, you would know that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of +sin," contemplate sin in reference to the aspirations of an apostate +spirit originally made in the image of God, and which, because it is not +eternally reprobated, is not entirely cut off from the common influences +of the Spirit of God. Never will you feel the bondage of your will more +profoundly, than when under these influences, and in your moments of +seriousness and anxiety respecting your soul's salvation, you aspire +and endeavor to overcome inward sin, and find that unless God grant you +His special and renovating grace, your heart will be sinful through all +eternity, in spite of the best impulses of your best hours. These upward +impulses and aspirations cannot accompany the soul into the state of +final hopelessness and despair, though Milton represents Satan as +sometimes looking back with a sigh, and a mournful memory, upon what he +had once been,[4]--yet if they should go with us there, they would +make the ardor of the fire more fierce, and the gnaw of the worm more +fell. For they would help to reveal the strength of our sin, and the +intensity of our rebellion. + +III. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _fears_ of +the human soul. + +The sinful spirit of man fears the death of the body, and the Scriptures +assert that by reason of this particular fear we are all our lifetime in +bondage. Though we know that the bodily dissolution can have no effect +upon the imperishable essence of an immortal being, yet we shrink back +from it, as if the sentence, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt +return," had been spoken of the spirit,--as if the worm were to "feed +sweetly" upon the soul, and it were to be buried up in the dark house of +the grave. Even the boldest of us is disturbed at the thought of bodily +death, and we are always startled when the summons suddenly comes: "Set +thy house in order, for thou must die." + +Again, the spirit of man fears that "fearful something after death," that +eternal judgment which must be passed upon all. We tremble at the +prospect of giving an account of our own actions. We are afraid to reap +the harvest, the seed of which we have sown with our own hands. The +thought of going to a just judgment, and of receiving from the Judge of +all the earth, who cannot possibly do injustice to any of His creatures, +only that which is our desert, shocks us to the centre of our being! Man +universally is afraid to be judged with a righteous judgment! Man +universally is terrified by the equitable bar of God! + +Again, the apostate spirit of man has an awful dread of eternity. Though +this invisible realm is the proper home of the human soul, and it was +made to dwell there forever, after the threescore and ten years of its +residence in the body are over, yet it shrinks back from an entrance into +this untried world, and clings with the desperate force of a drowning man +to this "bank and shoal of time." There are moments in the life of a +guilty man when the very idea of eternal existence exerts a preternatural +power, and fills him with a dread that paralyzes him. Never is the human +being stirred to so great depths, and roused to such intensity of action, +as when it feels what the Scripture calls "the power of an _endless_ +life." All men are urged by some ruling passion which is strong. The love +of wealth, or of pleasure, or of fame, drives the mind onward with great +force, and excites it to mighty exertions to compass its end. But never +is a man pervaded by such an irresistible and overwhelming influence as +that which descends upon him in some season of religious gloom,--some +hour of sickness, or danger, or death,--when the great eternity, with +all its awful realities, and all its unknown terror, opens upon his +quailing gaze. There are times in man's life, when he is the subject of +movements within that impel him to deeds that seem almost superhuman; but +that internal ferment and convulsion which is produced when all eternity +pours itself through his being turns his soul up from the centre. Man +will labor convulsively, night and day, for money; he will dry up the +bloom and freshness of health, for earthly power and fame; he will +actually wear his body out for sensual pleasure. But what is the +intensity and paroxysm of this activity of mind and body, if compared +with those inward struggles and throes when the overtaken and startled +sinner sees the eternal world looming into view, and with strong crying +and tears prays for only a little respite, and only a little preparation! +"Millions for an inch of time,"--said the dying English Queen. "O +Eternity! Eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet +with in _eternity_,"--says the man in the iron cage of Despair. This +finite world has indeed great power to stir man, but the other world has +an infinitely greater power. The clouds which float in the lower regions +of the sky, and the winds that sweep them along, produce great ruin and +destruction upon the earth, but it is only when the "windows of heaven +are opened" that "the fountains of the great deep are broken up," and +"all in whose nostrils is the breath of life die," and "every living +substance is destroyed which is upon the face of the ground." When fear +arises in the soul of man, in view of an eternal existence for which he +is utterly unprepared, it is overwhelming. It partakes of the immensity +of eternity, and holds the man with an omnipotent grasp. + +If, now, we view sin in relation to these great fears of death, judgment, +and eternity, we see that it is spiritual slavery, or the bondage of the +will. We discover that our terror is no more able to deliver us from the +"bondage of corruption," than our aspiration is. We found that in spite +of the serious stirrings and impulses which sometimes rise within us, we +still continue immersed in sense and sin; and we shall also find that in +spite of the most solemn and awful fears of which a finite being is +capable, we remain bondmen to ourselves, and our sin. The dread that goes +down into hell can no more ransom us, than can the aspiration that goes +up into heaven. Our fear of eternal woe can no more change the heart, +than our wish for eternal happiness can. We have, at some periods, +faintly wished that lusts and passions had no power over us; and perhaps +we have been the subject of still higher aspirings. But we are the same +beings, still. We are the same self-willed and self-enslaved sinners, +yet. We have all our lifetime feared death, judgment, and eternity, and +under the influence of this fear we have sometimes resolved and promised +to become Christians. But we are the very same beings, still; we are the +same self-willed and self-enslaved sinners yet. + +Oh, never is the human spirit more deeply conscious of its bondage to its +darling iniquity, than when these paralyzing fears shut down upon it, +like night, with "a horror of great darkness." When under their +influence, the man feels most thoroughly and wretchedly that his sin is +his ruin, and yet his sinful determination continues on, because +"whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin," Has it never happened +that, in "the visions of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men," a +spirit passed before your face, like that which stood still before the +Temanite; and there was silence, and a voice saying, "Man! Man! thou must +die, thou must be judged, thou must inhabit eternity?" And when the +spirit had departed, and while the tones of its solemn and startling cry +were still rolling through your soul, did not a temptation to sin solicit +you, and did you not drink in its iniquity like water? Have you not found +out, by mournful experience, that the most anxious forebodings of the +human spirit, the most alarming fears of the human soul, and the most +solemn warnings that come forth from eternity, have no prevailing power +over your sinful nature, but that immediately after experiencing them, +and while your whole being is still quivering under their agonizing +touch, you fall, you rush, into sin? Have you not discovered that even +that most dreadful of all fears,--the fear of the holy wrath of almighty +God,--is not strong enough to save you from yourself? Do you know that +your love of sin has the power to stifle and overcome the mightiest of +your fears, when you are strongly tempted to self-indulgence? Have you no +evidence, in your own experience, of the truth of the poet's words: + +"The Sensual and the Dark rebel in vain, Slaves by their own compulsion." + +If, then, you would know that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of +sin," contemplate sin in relation to the fears which of necessity rest +upon a spirit capable, as yours is, of knowing that it must leave the +body, that it must receive a final sentence at the bar of judgment, and +that eternity is its last and fixed dwelling-place. If you would know +with sadness and with profit, that sin is the enslavement of the will +that originates it, consider that all the distressing fears that have +ever been in your soul, from the first, have not been able to set you +free in the least from innate depravity: but, that in spite of them all +your will has been steadily surrendering itself, more and more, to the +evil principle of self-love and enmity to God. Call to mind the great +fight of anguish and terror which you have sometimes waged with sin, and +see how sin has always been victorious. Remember that you have often +dreaded death,--but you are unjust still. Remember that you have often +trembled at the thought of eternal judgment,--but you are unregenerate +still. Remember that you have often started back, when the holy and +retributive eternity dawned like the day of doom upon you,--but +you are impenitent still. If you view your own personal sin in reference +to your own personal fears, are you not a slave to it? Will or can your +fears, mighty as they sometimes are, deliver you from the bondage of +corruption, and lift you above that which you love with all your heart, +and strength, and might? + +It is perfectly plain, then, that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave +of sin," whether we have regard to the feeling of obligation to be +perfectly holy which is in the human conscience; or to the ineffectual +aspirations which sometimes arise in the human spirit; or to the dreadful +fears which often fall upon it. Sin must have brought the human will into +a real and absolute bondage, if the deep and solemn sense of indebtedness +to moral law; if the "thoughts that wander through eternity;" if the +aspirations that soar to the heaven of heavens, and the fears that +descend to the very bottom of hell,--if all these combined forces and +influences cannot free it from its power. + +It was remarked in the beginning of this discourse, that the bondage of +sin is the result of the _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself. +It is not a slavery imposed from without, but from within. The bondage of +sin is only a _particular aspect_ of sin itself. The element of +servitude, like the element of blindness, or hardness, or rebelliousness, +is part and particle of that moral evil which deserves the wrath and +curse of God. It, therefore, no more excuses or palliates, than does any +other self-originated quality in sin. Spiritual bondage, like spiritual +enmity to God, or spiritual ignorance of Him, or spiritual apathy towards +Him, is guilt and crime. + +And in closing, we desire to repeat and emphasize this truth. Whoever +will enter upon that process of self-wrestling and self-conflict which +has been described, will come to a profound sense of the truth which our +Lord taught in the words of the text. All such will find and feel that +they are in slavery, and that their slavery is their condemnation. For +the anxious, weary, and heavy-laden sinner, the problem is not +mysterious, because it finds its solution in the depths of his own +_self-consciousness_. He needs no one to clear it up for him, and he has +neither doubts nor cavils respecting it. + +But, an objection always assails that mind which has not the key of an +inward moral struggle to unlock the problem for it. When Christ asserts +that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," the easy and +indifferent mind is swift to draw the inference that this bondage is its +misfortune, and that the poor slave does not deserve to be punished, but +to be set free. He says as St. Paul did in another connection: "Nay +verily, but let them come themselves, and fetch us out." But this slavery +is a _self_-enslavement. The feet of this man have not been thrust into +the stocks by another. This logician must refer everything to its own +proper author, and its own proper cause. Let this spiritual bondage, +therefore, be charged upon the _self_ that originated it. Let it be +referred to that self-will in which it is wrapped up, and of which it is +a constituent element. It is a universally received maxim, that the agent +is responsible for the _consequences_ of a voluntary act, as well as for +the act itself. If, therefore, the human will has inflicted a suicidal +blow upon itself, and one of the consequences of its own determination is +a total enslavement of itself to its own determination, then this +enslaving _result_ of the act, as well the act itself, must all go in to +constitute and swell the sum-total of human guilt. The miserable +drunkard, therefore, cannot be absolved from the drunkard's condemnation, +upon the plea that by a long series of voluntary acts he has, in the end, +so enslaved himself that no power but God's grace can save him. The +marble-hearted fiend in hell, the absolutely lost spirit in despair, +cannot relieve his torturing sense of guilt, by the reflection that he +has at length so hardened his own heart that he cannot repent. The +unforced will of a moral being must be held responsible for both its +direct, and its _reflex_ action; for both its sin, and its _bondage_ in +sin. + +The denial of guilt, then, is not the way out. He who takes this road +"kicks against the goads." And he will find their stabs thickening, the +farther he travels, and the nearer he draws to the face and eyes of God. +But there is a way out. It is the way of self-knowledge and confession. +This is the point upon which all the antecedents of salvation hinge. He +who has come to know, with a clear discrimination, that he is in a guilty +bondage to his own inclination and lust, has taken the very first step +towards freedom. For, the Redeemer, the Almighty Deliverer, is near the +captive, so soon as the captive feels his bondage and confesses it. The +mighty God walking upon the waves of this sinful, troubled life, +stretches out _His_ arm, the very instant any sinking soul cries, "Lord +save me." And unless that appeal and confession of helplessness _is_ +made, He, the Merciful and the Compassionate, will let the soul go +down before His own eyes to the unfathomed abyss. If the sinking Peter +had not uttered that cry, the mighty hand of Christ would not have been +stretched forth. All the difficulties disappear, so soon as a man +understands the truth of the Divine affirmation: "O Israel thou hast +destroyed thyself,"--it is a real destruction, and it is thy own +work,--"but in ME is thy help." + + +[Footnote 1: MILTON: Samson Agonistes, 832-834.--One key to the solution +of the problem, how there can be bondage in the very seat of +freedom,--how man can be responsible for sin, yet helpless in +it,--is to be found in this fact of a reflex action of the will upon +itself, or, a reaction of self-action. Philosophical speculation upon +the nature of the human will has not, hitherto, taken this fact +sufficiently into account. The following extracts corroborate the view +presented above. "My _will_ the enemy held, and _thence_ had made a +chain for me, and bound me. For, of a perverse _will_ comes _lust_; and a +lust yielded to becomes _custom_; and custom not resisted becomes +_necessity_. By which links, as it were, joined together as in a chain, a +hard bondage held me enthralled." AUGUSTINE: Confessions, VIII. v. 10. +"Every degree of inclination contrary to duty, which is and must be +sinful, implies and involves an equal degree of difficulty and inability +to obey. For, indeed, such inclination of the heart to disobey, and the +difficulty or inability to obey, are precisely one and the same. This +kind of difficulty or inability, therefore, always is great according +to the strength and fixedness of the inclination to disobey; and it +becomes _total_ and _absolute_ [inability], when the heart is totally +corrupt and wholly opposed to obedience.... No man can act contrary to +his present inclination or choice. But who ever imagined that this +rendered his inclination and choice innocent and blameless, however wrong +and unreasonable it might be." SAMUEL HOPKINS: Works, I. 233-235. +"Moral inability" is the being "unable to be willing." EDWARDS: Freedom +of the Will, Part I, sect. iv. "Propensities,"--says a writer very +different from those above quoted,--"that are easily surmounted lead us +unresistingly on; we yield to temptations so trivial that we despise +their danger. And so we fall into perilous situations from which we might +easily have preserved ourselves, but from which we now find it impossible +to extricate ourselves without efforts so superhuman as to terrify us, +and we finally fall into the abyss, saying to the Almighty, 'Why hast +Thou made me so weak?' But notwithstanding our vain pretext, He addresses +our conscience, saying, 'I have made thee _too weak to rise from the +pit_, because I made thee _strong enough not to fall therein_." ROUSSEAU: +Confessions, Book II.] + +[Footnote 2: Romans vii. 9-11.] + +[Footnote 3: Some of the Schoolmen distinguished carefully between the +two things, and denominated the former, _velleitas_, and the latter, +_voluntas_.] + +[Footnote 4: MILTON: Paradise Lost, IV. 23-25; 35-61.] + + + + +THE ORIGINAL AND THE ACTUAL RELATION OF MAN TO LAW. + +ROMANS vii. 10.--"The commandment which, was ordained to life, I found to +be unto death." + + +The reader of St. Paul's Epistles is struck with the seemingly +disparaging manner in which he speaks of the moral law. In one place, he +tells his reader that "the law entered that the offence might abound;" in +another, that "the law worketh wrath;" in another, that "sin shall not +have dominion" over the believer because he is "not under the law;" in +another, that Christians "are become dead to the law;" in another, that +"they are delivered from the law;" and in another, that "the strength +of sin is the law." This phraseology sounds strangely, respecting that +great commandment upon which the whole moral government of God is +founded. We are in the habit of supposing that nothing that springs from +the Divine law, or is in any way connected with it, can be evil or the +occasion of evil. If the law of holiness is the strength of sin; if it +worketh wrath; if good men are to be delivered from it; what then shall +be said of the law of sin? Why is it, that St. Paul in a certain class of +his representations appears to be inimical to the ten commandments, and +to warn Christians against them? "Is the law sin?" is a question that +very naturally arises, while reading some of his statements; and it is a +question which he himself asks, because he is aware that it will be +likely to start in the mind of some of his readers. And it is a question +to which he replies: "God forbid. Nay I had not known sin, but by the +law." + +The difficulty is only seeming, and not real. These apparently +disparaging representations of the moral law are perfectly reconcilable +with that profound reverence for its authority which St. Paul felt and +exhibited, and with that solemn and cogent preaching of the law for which +he was so distinguished. The text explains and resolves the difficulty. +"The commandment which was ordained to _life_, I found to be unto death." +The moral law, in its own _nature_, and by the Divine _ordination_, is +suited to produce holiness and happiness in the soul of any and every +man. It was ordained to life. So far as the purpose of God, and the +original nature and character of man, are concerned, the ten commandments +are perfectly adapted to fill the soul with peace and purity. In the +unfallen creature, they work no wrath, neither are they the strength of +sin. If everything in man had remained as it was created, there would +have been no need of urging him to "become dead to the law," to be +"delivered from the law," and not be "under the law." Had man kept his +original righteousness, it could never be said of him that "the strength +of sin is the law." On the contrary, there was such a mutual agreement +between the unfallen nature of man and the holy law of God, that the +latter was the very joy and strength of the former. The commandment was +ordained to life, and it was the life and peace of holy Adam. + +The original relation between man's nature and the moral law was +precisely like that between material nature and the material laws. There +has been no apostasy in the system of matter, and all things remain there +as they were in the beginning of creation. The law of gravitation, this +very instant, rules as peacefully and supremely in every atom of matter, +as it did on the morning of creation. Should material nature be +"delivered" from the law of gravitation, chaos would come again. No +portion of this fair and beautiful natural world needs to become "dead" +to the laws of nature. Such phraseology as this is inapplicable to the +relation that exists between the world of matter, and the system of +material laws, because, in this material sphere, there has been no +revolution, no rebellion, no great catastrophe analogous to the fall of +Adam. The law here was ordained to life, and the ordinance still stands. +And it shall stand until, by the will of the Creator, these elements +shall melt with fervent heat, and these heavens shall pass away with a +great noise; until a new system of nature, and a new legislation for it, +are introduced. + +But the case is different with man. He is not standing where he was, when +created. He is out of his original relations to the law and government of +God, and therefore that which was ordained to him for life, he now finds +to be unto death. The food which in its own nature is suited to minister +to the health and strength of the well man, becomes poison and death +itself to the sick man. + +With this brief notice of the fact, that the law of God was ordained to +life, and that therefore this disparaging phraseology of St. Paul does +not refer to the intrinsic nature of law, which he expressly informs us +"is holy just and good," nor to the original relation which man sustained +to it before he became a sinner, let us now proceed to consider some +particulars in which the commandment is found to be unto death, to every +_sinful_ man. + +The law of God shows itself in the human soul, in the form of a _sense of +duty_. Every man, as he walks these streets, and engages in the business +or pleasures of life, hears occasionally the words: "Thou shalt; them +shalt not." Every man, as he passes along in this earthly pilgrimage, +finds himself saying to himself: "I ought, I ought not." This is the +voice of law sounding in the conscience; and every man may know, whenever +he hears these words, that he is listening to the same authority that cut +the ten commandments into the stones of Sinai, and sounded that awful +trumpet, and will one day come in power and great glory to judge the +quick and dead. Law, we say, expresses itself for man, while here upon +earth, through the sense of duty. "A sense of duty pursues us ever," said +Webster, in that impressive allusion to the workings of conscience, in +the trial of the Salem murderers. This is the accusing and condemning +_sensation_, in and by which the written statute of God becomes a living +energy, and a startling voice in the soul. Cut into the rock of Sinai, it +is a dead letter; written and printed in our Bibles, it is still a dead +letter; but wrought in this manner into the fabric of our own +constitution, waylaying us in our hours of weakness, and irresolution, +and secrecy, and speaking to our inward being in tones that are as +startling as any that could be addressed to the physical ear,--undergoing +this transmutation, and becoming a continual consciousness of duty and +obligation, the law of God is more than a letter. It is a possessing +spirit, and according as we obey or disobey, it is a guardian angel, or a +tormenting fiend. We have disobeyed, and therefore the sense of duty is a +tormenting sensation; the commandment which was ordained to life, is +found to be unto death. + +I. In the first place, to go into the analysis, the sense of duty is a +sorrow and a pain to sinful man, because it _places him under a continual +restraint_. + +No creature can be happy, so long as he feels himself under limitations. +To be checked, reined in, and thwarted in any way, renders a man +uneasy and discontented. The universal and instinctive desire for +freedom,--freedom from restraint,--is a proof of this. Every creature +wishes to follow out his inclination, and in proportion as he is hindered +in so doing, and is compelled to work counter to it, he is restless and +dissatisfied. + +Now the sense of duty exerts just this influence, upon sinful man. It +opposes his wishes; it thwarts his inclination; it imposes a restraint +upon his spontaneous desires and appetites. It continually hedges up his +way, and seeks to stop him in the path of his choice and his pleasure. If +his inclination were only in harmony with his duty; if his desires and +affections were one with the law of God; there would be no restraint from +the law. In this case, the sense of duty would be a joy and not a sorrow, +because, in doing his duty, he would be doing what he liked. There are +only two ways, whereby contentment can be introduced into the human soul. +If the Divine law could be altered so that it should agree with man's +sinful inclination, he could be happy in sin. The commandment having +become like his own heart, there would, of course, be no conflict between +the two, and he might sin on forever and lap himself in Elysium. And +undoubtedly there are thousands of luxurious and guilty men, who, if they +could, like the Eastern Semiramis, would make lust and law alike in their +decree;[1] would transmute the law of holiness into a law of sin; would +put evil for good, and good for evil, bitter for sweet and sweet for +bitter; in order to be eternally happy in the sin that they love. They +would bring duty and inclination into harmony, by a method that would +annihilate duty, would annihilate the eternal distinction between right +and wrong, would annihilate God himself. But this method, of course, is +impossible. There can be no transmutation of law, though there can be of +a creature's character and inclination. Heaven and earth shall pass away, +but the commandment of God can never pass away. The only other mode, +therefore, by which duty and inclination can be brought into agreement, +and the continual sense of restraint which renders man so wretched be +removed, is to change the inclination. The instant the desires and +affections of our hearts are transformed, so that they accord with the +Divine law, the conflict between our will and our conscience is at an +end. When I come to love the law of holiness and delight in it, to obey +it is simply to follow out my inclination. And this, we have seen, is to +be happy. + +But such is not the state of things, in the unrenewed soul. Duty and +inclination are in conflict. Man's desires appetites and tendencies are +in one direction, and his conscience is in the other. The sense of duty +holds a whip over him. He yields to his sinful inclination, finds a +momentary pleasure in so doing, and then feels the stings of the +scorpion-lash. We see this operation in a very plain and striking manner, +if we select an instance where the appetite is very strong, and the voice +of conscience is very loud. Take, for example, that particular sin which +most easily besets an individual. Every man has such a sin, and knows +what it is, Let him call to mind the innumerable instances in which that +particular temptation has assailed him, and he will be startled to +discover how many thousands of times the sense of duty has put a +restraint upon him. Though not in every single instance, yet in hundreds +and hundreds of cases, the law of God has uttered the, "Thou shalt not," +and endeavored to prevent the consummation of that sin. And what a +wearisome experience is this. A continual forth-putting of an unlawful +desire, and an almost incessant check upon it, from a law which is hated +but which is feared. For such is the attitude of the natural heart toward +the commandment. "The carnal mind is _enmity_ against the law of God." +The two are contrary to one another; so that when the heart goes out in +its inclination, it is immediately hindered and opposed by the law. +Sometimes the collision between them is terrible, and the soul becomes; +an arena of tumultuous passions. The heart and will are intensely +determined to do wrong, while the conscience is unyielding and +uncompromising, and utters its denunciations, and thunders its warnings. +And what a dreadful destiny awaits that soul, in whom this conflict and +collision between the dictates of conscience, and the desires of the +heart, is to be eternal! for whom, through all eternity, the holy law of +God, which was ordained to life peace and joy, shall be found to be unto +death and woe immeasurable! + +II. In the second place, the sense of duty is a pain and sorrow to a +sinful man, because it _demands a perpetual effort_ from him. + +No creature likes to tug, and to lift. Service must be easy, in order to +be happy. If you lay upon the shoulders of a laborer a burden that +strains his muscles almost to the point of rupture, you put him in +physical pain. His physical structure was not intended to be subjected to +such a stretch. His Creator designed that the burden should be +proportioned to the power, in such a manner that work should be play. In +the garden of Eden, physical labor was physical pleasure, because the +powers were in healthy action, and the work assigned to them was not a +burden. Before the fall, man was simply to dress and keep a garden; but +after the fall, he was to dig up thorns and thistles, and eat his bread +in the sweat of his face. This is a _curse_,--the curse of being +compelled to toil, and lift, and put the muscle to such a tension that +it aches. This is not the original and happy condition of the body, in +which man was created. Look at the toiling millions of the human family, +who like the poor ant "for one small grain, labor, and tug, and strive;" +see them bending double, under the heavy weary load which they must carry +until relieved by death; and tell me if this is the physical elysium, the +earthly paradise, in which unfallen man was originally placed, and for +which he was originally designed. No, the curse of labor, of perpetual +effort, has fallen upon the body, as the curse of death has fallen upon +the soul; and the uneasiness and unrest of the groaning and struggling +body is a convincing proof of it. The whole physical nature of man +groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the +adoption, that is the _redemption of the body_ from this penal necessity +of perpetual strain and effort. + +The same fact meets us when we pass from the physical to the moral nature +of man, and becomes much more sad and impressive. By creation, it was +a pleasure and a pastime for man to keep the law of God, to do spiritual +work. As created, he was not compelled to summon his energies, and strain +his will, and make a convulsive resolution to obey the commands of his +Maker. Obedience was joy. Holy Adam knew nothing of _effort_ in the path +of duty. It was a smooth and broad pathway, fringed with flowers, and +leading into the meadows of asphodel. It did not become the "straight and +narrow" way, until sin had made obedience a toil, the sense of duty a +restraint, and human life a race and a fight. By apostasy, the obligation +to keep the Divine law perfectly, became repulsive. It was no longer easy +for man to do right; and it has never been easy or spontaneous to him +since. Hence, the attempt to follow the dictates of conscience always +costs an unregenerate man an effort. He is compelled to make a +resolution; and a resolution is the sign and signal of a difficult and +unwelcome service. Take your own experience for an illustration. Did you +ever, except as you were sweetly inclined and drawn by the renewing grace +of God, attempt to discharge a duty, without discovering that you were +averse to it, and that you must gather up your energies for the work, as +the leaper strains upon the tendon of Achilles to make the mortal leap. +And if you had not become weary, and given over the effort; if you had +entered upon that sad but salutary passage in the religious experience +which is delineated in the seventh chapter of Romans; if you had +continued to struggle and strive to do your duty, until you grew faint +and weak, and powerless, and cried out for a higher and mightier power to +succor you; you would have known, as you do not yet, what a deadly +opposition there is between the carnal mind and the law of God, and what +a spasmodic effort it costs an unrenewed man even to _attempt_ to +discharge the innumerable obligations that rest upon him. Mankind +would know more of this species of toil and labor, and of the cleaving +curse involved in it, if they were under the same physical necessity in +regard to it, that they lie under in respect to manual labor. A man +_must_ dig up the thorns and thistles, he _must_ earn his bread in the +sweat of his face, or he must die. Physical wants, hunger and thirst, +set men to work physically, and keep them at it; and thus they well +understand what it is to have a weary body, aching muscles, and a tired +physical nature. But they are not under the same species of necessity, in +respect to the wants and the work of the soul. A man may neglect these, +and yet live a long and luxurious life upon the earth. He is not driven +by the very force of circumstances, to labor with his heart and will, as +he is to labor with his hands. And hence he knows little or nothing of a +weary and heavy-laden soul; nothing of an aching heart and a tired will. +He well knows how much strain and effort it costs to cut down forests, +open roads, and reduce the wilderness to a fertile field; but he does not +know how much toil and effort are involved, in the attempt to convert the +human soul into the garden of the Lord. + +Now in this demand for a _perpetual effort_ which is made upon the +natural man, by the sense of duty, we see that the law which was ordained +to life is found to be unto death. The commandment, instead of being a +pleasant friend and companion to the human soul, as it was in the +beginning, has become a strict rigorous task-master. It lays out an +uncongenial work for sinful man to do, and threatens him with punishment +and woe if he does not do it. And yet the law is not a tyrant. It is +holy, just, and good. This work which it lays out is righteous work, and +ought to be done. The wicked disinclination and aversion of the sinner +have compelled the law to assume this unwelcome and threatening attitude. +That which is good was not made death to man by God's agency, and by a +Divine arrangement, but by man's transgression.[2] Sin produces this +misery in the human soul, through an instrument that is innocent, and in +its own nature benevolent and kind. Apostasy, the rebellion and +corruption of the human heart, has converted the law of God into an +exacting task-master and an avenging magistrate. For the law says to +every man what St. Paul says of the magistrate: "Rulers are not a terror +to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou, then, not be afraid of the +power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For +he is the minister of God to thee for good: _but if thou do that which is +evil, be afraid_." If man were only conformed to the law; if the +inclination of his heart were only in harmony with his sense of duty; the +ten commandments would not be accompanied with any thunders or +lightnings, and the discharge of duty would be as easy, spontaneous, +and as much without effort, as the practice of sin now is. + +Thus have we considered two particulars in which the Divine law, +originally intended to render man happy, and intrinsically adapted to do +so, now renders him miserable. The commandment which was ordained to +life, he now finds to be unto death, because it places him under a +continual restraint, and drives him to a perpetual effort. These two +particulars, we need not say, are not all the modes in which sin has +converted the moral law from a joy to a sorrow. We have not discussed the +great subject of guilt and penalty. This violated law charges home the +past disobedience and threatens an everlasting damnation, and thus fills +the sinful soul with fears and forebodings. In this way, also, the law +becomes a terrible organ and instrument of misery, and is found to be +unto death. But the limits of this discourse compel us to stop the +discussion here, and to deduce some practical lessons which are +suggested by it. + +1. In the first place, we are taught by the subject, as thus considered, +that _the mere sense of duty is not Christianity_. If this is all that a +man is possessed of, he is not prepared for the day of judgment, and the +future life. For the sense of duty, alone and by itself, causes misery in +a soul that has not performed its duty. The law worketh wrath, in a +creature who has not obeyed the law. The man that doeth these things +shall indeed live by them; but he who has not done them must die by them. + +There have been, and still are, great mistakes made at this point. Men +have supposed that an active conscience, and a lofty susceptibility +towards right and wrong, will fit them to appear before God, and have, +therefore, rejected Christ the Propitiation. They have substituted ethics +for the gospel; natural religion for revealed. "I know," says Immanuel +Kant, "of but two beautiful things; the starry heavens above my head, and +the sense of duty within my heart."[3] But, is the sense of duty +_beautiful_ to apostate man? to a being who is not conformed to it? Does +the holy law of God overarch him like the firmament, "tinged with a blue +of heavenly dye, and starred with sparkling gold?" Nay, nay. If there be +any beauty in the condemning law of God, for man the _transgressor_, it +is the beauty of the lightnings. There is a splendor in them, but there +is a terror also. Not until He who is the end of the law for +righteousness has clothed me with His panoply, and shielded me from their +glittering shafts in the clefts of the Rock, do I dare to look at them, +as they leap from crag to crag, and shine from the east even unto the +west. + +We do not deny that the consciousness of responsibility is a lofty one, +and are by no means insensible to the grand and swelling sentiments +concerning the moral law, and human duty, to which this noble thinker +gives utterance.[4] But we are certain that if the sense of duty had +pressed upon him to the degree that it did upon St. Paul; had the +commandment "come" to him with the convicting energy that it did to St. +Augustine, and to Pascal; he too would have discovered that the law which +was ordained to life is found to be unto death. So long as man stands at +a distance from the moral law, he can admire its glory and its beauty; +but when it comes close to him; when it comes home to him; when it +becomes a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; then its +glory is swallowed up in its terror, and its beauty is lost in its truth. +Then he who was alive without the law becomes slain by the law. Then this +ethical admiration of the decalogue is exchanged for an evangelical trust +in Jesus Christ. + +2. And this leads us to remark, in the second place, that this subject +shows _the meaning of Christ's work of Redemption_. The law for an +alienated and corrupt soul is a burden. It cannot be otherwise; for it +imposes a perpetual restraint, urges up to an unwelcome duty, and charges +home a fearful guilt. Christ is well named the _Redeemer_, because He +frees the sinful soul from all this. He delivers it from the penalty, by +assuming it all upon Himself, and making complete satisfaction to the +broken law. He delivers it from the perpetual restraint and the irksome +effort, by so renewing and changing the heart that it becomes a delight +to keep the law. We observed, in the first part of the discourse, that if +man could only bring the inclination of his heart into agreement with his +sense of duty, he would be happy in obeying, and the consciousness of +restraint and of hateful effort would disappear. This is precisely what +Christ accomplishes by His Spirit. He brings the human heart into harmony +with the Divine law, as it was in the beginning, and thus rescues it from +its bondage and its toil. Obedience becomes a pleasure, and the service +of God, the highest Christian liberty. Oh, would that by the act of +faith, you might experience this liberating effect of the redemption that +is in Christ Jesus. So long as you are out of Christ, you are under a +burden that will every day grow heavier, and may prove to be fixed and +unremovable as the mountains. That is a fearful punishment which the poet +Dante represents as being inflicted upon those who were guilty of pride. +The poor wretches are compelled to support enormous masses of stone which +bend them over to the ground, and, in his own stern phrase, "crumple up +their knees into their breasts." Thus they stand, stooping over, every +muscle trembling, the heavy stone weighing them down, and yet they are +not permitted to fall, and rest themselves upon the earth.[5] In this +crouching posture, they must carry the weary heavy load without relief, +and with a distress so great that, in the poet's own language, + + "it seemed + As he, who showed most patience in his look, + Wailing exclaimed: I can endure no more."[6] + +Such is the posture of man unredeemed. There is a burden on him, under +which he stoops and crouches. It is a burden compounded of guilt and +corruption. It is lifted off by Christ, and by Christ only. The soul +itself can never expiate its guilt; can never cleanse its pollution. We +urge you, once more, to the act of faith in the Redeemer of the world. We +beseech you, once more, to make "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" +your own. The instant you plead the merit of Christ's oblation, in simple +confidence in its atoning efficacy, that instant the heavy burden is +lifted off by an Almighty hand, and your curved, stooping, trembling, +aching form once more stands erect, and you walk abroad in the liberty +wherewith Christ makes the human creature free. + + +[Footnote 1: + "She in vice + Of luxury was so shameless, that she made + Liking to be lawful by promulged decree, + To clear the blame she had herself incurr'd." + DANTE: Inferno, v. 56.] + +[Footnote 2: Romans vii. 13, 14.] + +[Footnote 3: KANT: Kritik der Praktischen Vernunft (Beschlusz).--De +Stael's rendering, which is so well known, and which I have employed, +is less guarded than the original.] + +[Footnote 4: Compare the fine apostrophe to Duty. PRAKTISCHE VERNUNFT, +p. 214, (Ed. Rosenkranz.)] + +[Footnote 5: "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow +down their back alway." Rom. xi. 10.] + +[Footnote 6: DANTE: Purgatory x. 126-128.] + + + + + +THE SIN OF OMISSION. + +Matthew xix. 20.--"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I +kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" + + +The narrative from which the text is taken is familiar to all readers of +the Bible. A wealthy young man, of unblemished morals and amiable +disposition, came to our Lord, to inquire His opinion respecting his own +good estate. He asked what good thing he should do, in order to inherit +eternal life. The fact that he applied to Christ at all, shows that he +was not entirely at rest in his own mind. He could truly say that he had +kept the ten commandments from his youth up, in an outward manner; and +yet he was ill at ease. He was afraid that when the earthly life was +over, he might not be able to endure the judgment of God, and might fail +to enter into that happy paradise of which the Old Testament Scriptures +so often speak, and of which he had so often read, in them. This young +man, though a moralist, was not a self-satisfied or a self-conceited +one. For, had he been like the Pharisee a thoroughly blinded and +self-righteous person, like him he never would have approached Jesus of +Nazareth, to obtain His opinion respecting his own religious character +and prospects. Like him, he would have scorned to ask our Lord's judgment +upon any matters of religion. Like the Pharisees, he would have said, "We +see,"[1] and the state of his heart and his future prospects would have +given him no anxiety. But he was not a conceited and presumptuous +Pharisee. He was a serious and thoughtful person, though not a pious and +holy one. For, he did not love God more than he loved his worldly +possessions. He had not obeyed that first and great command, upon which +hang all the law and the prophets, conformity to which, alone, +constitutes righteousness: "Thou shalt _love_ the Lord thy God with all +thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength." He +was not right at heart, and was therefore unprepared for death and +judgment. This he seems to have had some dim apprehension of. For why, if +he had felt that his external morality was a solid rock for his feet to +stand upon, why should he have betaken himself to Jesus of Nazareth, to +ask: "What lack I yet?" + +It was not what he had done, but what he had left undone, that wakened +fears and forebodings in this young ruler's mind. The outward observance +of the ten commandments was right and well in its own way and place; but +the failure to obey, from the heart, the first and great command was the +condemnation that rested upon him. He probably knew this, in some +measure. He was not confidently certain of eternal life; and therefore he +came to the Great Teacher, hoping to elicit from Him an answer that would +quiet his conscience, and allow him to repose upon his morality while +he continued to love this world supremely. The Great Teacher pierced him +with an arrow. He said to him, "If them wilt be perfect, go and sell that +thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: +and come and follow me." This direction showed him what he _lacked_. + +This incident leads us to consider the condemnation that rests upon every +man, for his _failure_ in duty; the guilt that cleaves to him, on +account of what he has _not_ done. The Westminster Catechism defines sin +to be "any _want of conformity_ unto, or any transgression of, the law of +God." Not to be conformed, in the heart, to the law and will of God, is +as truly sin, as positively to steal, or positively to commit murder. +Failure to come up to the line of rectitude is as punishable, as to step +over that line. God requires of His creature that he stand squarely +_upon_ the line of righteousness; if therefore he is off that line, +because he has not come up to it, he is as guilty as when he +transgresses, or passes across it, upon the other side. This is the +reason that the sin of omission is as punishable as the sin of +commission. In either case alike, the man is off the line of rectitude. +Hence, in the final day, man will be condemned for what he lacks, for +what he comes short of, in moral character. Want of conformity to the +Divine law as really conflicts with the Divine law, as an overt +transgression does, because it carries man off and away from it. One +of the Greek words for sin [Greek: (amurtanein)] signifies, to miss the +mark. When the archer shoots at the target, he as really fails to strike +it, if his arrow falls short of it, as when he shoots over and beyond it. +If he strains upon the bow with such a feeble force, that the arrow drops +upon the ground long before it comes up to the mark, his shot is as total +a failure, as when he strains upon the bow-string with all his force, but +owing to an ill-directed aim sends his weapon into the air. One of the +New Testament terms for sin contains this figure and illustration, in +its etymology. Sin is a want of conformity unto, a failure to come clear +up to, the line and mark prescribed by God, as well a violent and +forcible breaking over and beyond the line and the mark. The _lack_ of +holy love, the _lack_ of holy fear, the _lack_ of filial trust and +confidence in God,--the negative absence of these and other qualities in +the heart is as truly sin and guilt, as is the positive and open +violation of a particular commandment, in the act of theft, or lying, or +Sabbath-breaking. + +We propose, then, to direct attention to that form and aspect of human +depravity which consists in coming short of the aim and end presented to +man by his Maker,--that form and aspect of sin which is presented in the +young ruler's inquiry: "What lack I yet?" + +It is a comprehensive answer to this question to say, that every natural +man lacks _sincere and filial love of God_. This was the sin of the +moral, but worldly, the amiable, but earthly-minded, young man. Endow +him, in your fancy, with all the excellence you please, it still lies +upon the face of the narrative, that he loved money more than he loved +the Lord God Almighty. When the Son of God bade him go and sell his +property, and give it to the poor, and then come and follow Him as a +docile disciple like Peter and James and John, he went away sad in his +mind; for he had great possessions. This was a reasonable requirement, +though a very trying one. To command a young man of wealth and standing +immediately to strip himself of all his property, to leave the circle in +which he had been born and brought up, and to follow the Son of Man, who +had not where to lay His head, up and down through Palestine, through +good report and through evil report,--to put such a burden upon such a +young man was to lay him under a very heavy load. Looking at it from a +merely human and worldly point of view, it is not strange that the young +ruler declined to take it upon his shoulders; though he felt sad in +declining, because he had the misgiving that in declining he was sealing +his doom. But, had he _loved_ the Lord God with all his heart; had he +been _conformed unto_ the first and great command, in his heart and +affections; had he not _lacked_ a spiritual and filial affection towards +his Maker; he would have obeyed. + +For, the circumstances under which this command was given must be borne +in mind. It issued directly from the lips of the Son of God Himself. It +was not an ordinary call of Providence, in the ordinary manner in which +God summons man to duty. There is reason to suppose that the young ruler +knew and felt that Christ had authority to give such directions. We know +not what were precisely his views of the person and office of Jesus of +Nazareth; but the fact that he came to Him seeking instruction respecting +the everlasting kingdom of God and the endless life of the soul, and the +yet further fact that he went away in sadness because he did not find it +in his heart to obey the instructions that he had received, prove that he +was at least somewhat impressed with the Divine authority of our Lord. +For, had he regarded Him as a mere ordinary mortal, knowing no more than +any other man concerning the eternal kingdom of God, why should His words +have distressed him? Had this young ruler taken the view of our Lord +which was held by the Scribes and Pharisees, like them he would never +have sought instruction from Him in a respectful and sincere manner; and, +like them, he would have replied to the command to strip himself of all +his property, leave the social circles to which he belonged, and follow +the despised Nazarene, with the curling lip of scorn. He would not have +gone away in sorrow, but in contempt. We must assume, therefore, that +this young ruler felt that the person with whom he was conversing, and +who had given him this extraordinary command, had authority to give it. +We do not gather from the narrative that he doubted upon this point. Had +he doubted, it would have relieved the sorrow with which his mind was +disturbed. He might have justified his refusal to obey, by the +consideration that this Jesus of Nazareth had no right to summon him, or +any other man, to forsake the world and attach himself to His person and +purposes, if any such consideration had entered his mind. No, the sorrow, +the deep, deep sorrow and sadness, with which he went away to the +beggarly elements of his houses and his lands, proves that he knew too +well that this wonderful Being who was working miracles, and speaking +words of wisdom that never man spake, had indeed authority and right to +say to him, and to every other man, "Go and sell that thou hast, and give +to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow +me." + +Though the command was indeed an extraordinary one, it was given in an +extraordinary manner, by an extraordinary Being. That young ruler was not +required to do any more than you and I would be obligated to do, _in the +same circumstances_. It is indeed true, that in the _ordinary_ providence +of God, you and I are not summoned to sell all our possessions, and +distribute them to the poor, and to go up and down the streets of this +city, or up and down the high-ways and by-ways of the land, as +missionaries of Christ. But if the call were _extra-ordinary_,--if +the heavens should open above our heads, and a voice from the skies +should command us in a manner not to be doubted or disputed to do this +particular thing, we ought immediately to do it. And if the love of God +were in our hearts; if we were inwardly "conformed unto" the Divine law; +if there were nothing lacking in our religious character; we should obey +with the same directness and alacrity with which Peter and Andrew, and +James and John, left their nets and their fishing-boat, their earthly +avocations, their fathers and their fathers' households, and followed +Christ to the end of their days. In the present circumstances of the +church and the world, Christians must follow the ordinary indications of +Divine Providence; and though these do unquestionably call upon them to +make far greater sacrifices for the cause of Christ than they now make, +yet they do not call upon them to sell _all_ that they have, and give it +to the poor. But they ought to be ready and willing to do so, in case God +by any remarkable and direct expression should indicate that this is +His will and pleasure. Should our Lord, for illustration, descend again, +and in His own person say to His people, as He did to the young ruler: +"Sell all that ye have, and give to the poor, and go up and down the +earth preaching the gospel," it would be the duty of every rich Christian +to strip himself of all his riches, and of every poor Christian to make +himself yet poorer, and of the whole Church to adopt the same course that +was taken by the early Christians, who "had all things common, and sold +their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had +need." The direct and explicit command of the Lord Jesus Christ to do any +particular thing must be obeyed at all hazards, and at all cost. Should +He command any one of His disciples to lay down his life, or to undergo +a severe discipline and experience in His service, He must be obeyed. +This is what He means when He says, "If any man come to me, and hate not +his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and +sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And +whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my +disciple" (Luke xiv. 26, 27). + +The young ruler was subjected to this test. It was his privilege,--and it +was a great privilege,--to see the Son of God face to face; to hear His +words of wisdom and authority; to know without any doubt or ambiguity +what particular thing God would have him do. And he refused to do it. He +was moral; he was amiable; but he refused _point-blank_ to obey the +direct command of God addressed to him from the very lips of God. It was +with him as it would be with us, if the sky should open over our heads, +and the Son of God should descend, and with His own lips should command +us to perform a particular service, and we should be disobedient to the +heavenly vision, and should say to the Eternal Son of God: "We will not." +Think you that there is nothing _lacking_ in such a character as this? Is +this religious perfection? Is such a heart as this "conformed unto" the +law and will of God? + +If, then, we look into the character of the young ruler, we perceive that +there was in it no supreme affection for God. On the contrary, he loved +_himself_ with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. Even his +religious anxiety, which led him to our Lord for His opinion concerning +his good estate, proved to be a merely selfish feeling. He desired +immortal felicity beyond the tomb,--and the most irreligious man upon +earth desires this,--but he did not possess such an affection for God as +inclined, and enabled, him to obey His explicit command to make a +sacrifice of his worldly possessions for His glory. And this lack of +supreme love to God was _sin_. It was a deviation from the line of +eternal rectitude and righteousness, as really and truly as murder, +adultery, or theft, or any outward breach of any of those commandments +which he affirmed he had kept from his youth up. This coming short of the +Divine honor and glory was as much contrary to the Divine law, as any +overt transgression of it could be. + +For love is the fulfilling of the law. The whole law, according to +Christ, is summed up and contained, in these words: "Thou shall _love_ +the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." To be +destitute of this heavenly affection is, therefore, to break the law at +the very centre and in the very substance of it. Men tell us, like this +young ruler, that they do not murder, lie, or steal,--that they observe +all the commandments of the second table pertaining to man and their +relations to man,--and ask, "What lack we yet?" Alexander Pope, in the +most brilliant and polished poetry yet composed by human art, sums up the +whole of human duty in the observance of the rules and requirements of +civil morality, and affirms that "an honest man is the noblest work of +God." But is this so? Has religion reached its last term, and ultimate +limit, when man respects the rights of property? Is a person who keeps +his hands off the goods and chattels of his fellow-creature really +qualified for the heavenly state, by reason of this fact and virtue of +honesty? Has he attained the chief end of man?[2] Even if we could +suppose a perfect obedience of all the statutes of the second table, +while those of the first table were disobeyed; even if one could fulfil +all his obligations to his neighbor, while failing in all his obligations +to his Maker; even if we should concede a perfect morality, without any +religion; would it be true that this morality, or obedience of only one +of the two tables that cover the whole field of human duty, is sufficient +to prepare man for the everlasting future, and the immediate presence of +God? Who has informed man that the first table of the law is of no +consequence; and that if he only loves his neighbor as himself, he need +not love his Maker supremely? + +No! Affection in the heart towards the great and glorious God is the sum +and substance of religion, and whoever is destitute of it is irreligious +and sinful in the inmost spirit, and in the highest degree. His fault +relates to the most excellent and worthy Being in the universe. He comes +short of his duty, in reference to that Being who _more than any other +one_ is entitled to his love and his services. We say, and we say +correctly, that if a man fails of fulfilling his obligations towards +those who have most claims upon him, he is more culpable than when he +fails of his duty towards those who have less claims upon him. If a son +comes short of his duty towards an affectionate and self-sacrificing +mother, we say it is a greater fault, than if he comes short of his duty +to a fellow-citizen. The parent is nearer to him than the citizen, and he +owes unto her a warmer affection of his heart, and a more active service +of his life, than he owes to his fellow-citizen. What would be thought of +that son who should excuse his neglect, or ill-treatment, of the mother +that bore him, upon the ground that he had never cheated a fellow-man and +had been scrupulous in all his mercantile transactions! This but feebly +illustrates the relation which every man sustains to God, and the claim +which God has upon every man. Our first duty and obligation relates to +our Maker. Our fellow-creatures have claims upon us; the dear partners of +our blood have claims upon us; our own personality, with its infinite +destiny for weal or woe, has claims upon us. But no one of these; not all +of them combined; have upon us that _first_ claim, which God challenges +for Himself. Social life,--the state or the nation to which we +belong,--cannot say to us: "Thou shalt love me with all thy heart, and +soul, and mind, and strength." The family, which is bone of our bone, and +flesh of our flesh, cannot say to us: "Thou shalt love us, with all thy +soul, mind, heart, and strength." Even our own deathless and priceless +soul cannot say to us: "Thou shalt love me supremely, and before all +other beings and things." But the infinite and adorable God, the Being +that made us, and has redeemed us, can of right demand that we love and +honor Him first of all, and chiefest of all. + +There are two thoughts suggested by the subject which we have been +considering, to which we now invite candid attention. + +1. In the first place, this subject _convicts every man of sin_. Our +Lord, by his searching reply to the young ruler's question, "What lack I +yet?" sent him away very sorrowful; and what man, in any age and country, +can apply the same test to himself, without finding the same +unwillingness to sell all that he has and give to the poor,--the same +indisposition to obey any and every command of God that crosses his +natural inclinations? Every natural man, as he subjects his character to +such a trial as that to which the young ruler was subjected, will +discover as he did that he lacks supreme love of God, and like him, if he +has any moral earnestness; if he feels at all the obligation of duty; +will go away very sorrowful, because he perceives very plainly the +conflict between his will and his conscience. How many a person, in the +generations that have already gone to the judgment-seat of Christ, and in +the generation that is now on the way thither, has been at times brought +face to face with the great and first command, "Thou shall love the Lord +thy God with all thy heart," and by some particular requirement has been +made conscious of his utter opposition to that great law. Some special +duty was urged upon him, by the providence, or the word, or the Spirit +of God, that could not be performed unless his will were subjected to +God's will, and unless his love for himself and the world were +subordinated to his love of his Maker. If a young man, perhaps he was +commanded to consecrate his talents and education to a life of +philanthropy and service of God in the gospel, instead of a life devoted +to secular and pecuniary aims. God said to him, by His providence, and by +conscience, "Go teach my gospel to the perishing; go preach my word, to +the dying and the lost." But he loved worldly ease pleasure and +reputation more than he loved God; and he refused, and went away +sorrowful, because this poor world looked very bright and alluring, +and the path of self-denial and duty looked very forbidding. Or, if he +was a man in middle life, perhaps he was commanded to abate his interest +in plans for the accumulation of wealth, to contract his enterprises, to +give attention to the concerns of his soul and the souls of his children, +to make his own peace with God, and to consecrate the remainder of his +life to Christ and to human welfare; and when this plain and reasonable +course of conduct was dictated to him, he found his whole heart rising up +against the proposition. Our Lord, alluding to the fact that there was +nothing in common between His spirit, and the spirit of Satan, said to +His disciples, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" +(John xiv. 30). So, when the command to love God supremely comes to this +man of the world, in any particular form, "it hath nothing in him." This +first and great law finds no ready and genial response within his heart, +but on the contrary a recoil within his soul as if some great monster had +started up in his pathway. He says, in his mind, to the proposition: +"Anything but that;" and, with the young ruler, he goes away sorrowful, +because he knows that refusal is perdition. + +Is there not a wonderful power to _convict_ of sin, in this test? If you +try yourself, as the young man did, by the command, "Thou shalt not +kill," "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not commit adultery," you may +succeed, perhaps, in quieting your conscience, to some extent, and in +possessing yourself of the opinion of your fitness for the kingdom of +God. But ask yourself the question, "Do I love God supremely, and am I +ready and willing to do any and every particular thing that He shall +command me to do, even if it is plucking out a right eye, or cutting off +a right hand, or selling all my goods to give to the poor?" try yourself +by _this_ test, and see if you lack anything in your moral character. +When this thorough and proper touch-stone of character is applied, there +is not found upon earth a just man that doeth good and sinneth not. Every +human creature, by this test is concluded under sin. Every man is found, +lacking in what he ought to possess, when the words of the commandment +are sounded in his ear: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy +heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength." This +sum and substance of the Divine law, upon which hang all the other laws, +convinces every man of sin. For there is no escaping its force. Love of +God is a distinct and definite feeling, and every person knows whether he +ever experienced it. Every man knows whether it is, or is not, an +affection of his heart; and he knows that if it be wanting, the +foundation of religion is wanting in his soul, and the sum and substance +of sin is there. + +2. And this leads to the second and concluding thought suggested, by the +subject, namely, that _except a man be born again, he cannot see the +kingdom of God._ If there be any truth in the discussion through which we +have passed, it is plain and incontrovertible, that to be destitute of +holy love to God is a departure and deviation from the moral law. It is a +coming short of the great requirement that rests upon every accountable +creature of God, and this is as truly sin and guilt as any violent and +open passing over and beyond the line of rectitude. The sin of omission +is as deep and damning as the sin of commission. "Forgive,"--said the +dying archbishop Usher,--"forgive all my sins, especially my sins of +omission." + +But, how is this lack to be supplied? How is this great hiatus in human +character to be filled up? How shall the fountain of holy and filial +affection towards God be made to gush up into everlasting life, within +your now unloving and hostile heart? There is no answer to this question +of questions, but in the Person and Work of the Holy Ghost. If God shall +shed abroad His love in your heart, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto +you, you will know the blessedness of a new affection; and will be able +to say with Peter, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love +thee." You are shut up to this method, and this influence. To generate +within yourself this new spiritual emotion which you have never yet felt, +is utterly impossible. Yet you must get it, or religion, is impossible, +and immortal life is impossible. Would that you might feel your straits, +and your helplessness. Would that you might perceive your total lack of +supreme love of God, as the young ruler perceived his; and would that, +unlike him, instead, of going away from the Son of God, you would go to +Him, crying, "Lord create within me a clean heart, and renew within me a +right spirit." Then the problem would be solved, and having peace with +God through the blood of Christ, the love of God would be shed abroad in +your hearts, through the Holy Ghost given unto you. + + +[Footnote 1: John ix. 41.] + +[Footnote 2: Even if we should widen the meaning of the word "honest," in +the above-mentioned dictum of Pope, and make it include the Latin +"honestum," the same objection would lie against dictum. Honor and +high-mindedness towards man is not love and reverence towards God. The +spirit of chivalry is not the spirit of Christianity.] + + + + +THE SINFULNESS OF ORIGINAL SIN. + + +MATTHEW xix. 20.--"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I +kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" + + +In the preceding discourse from these words, we discussed that form and +aspect of sin which consists in "coming short" of the Divine Law; or, as +the Westminster Creed states it, in a "want of conformity" unto it. The +deep and fundamental sin of the young ruler, we found, lay in what he +lacked. When our Lord tested him, he proved to be utterly destitute of +love to God. His soul was a complete vacuum, in reference to that great +holy affection which fills the hearts of all the good beings before the +throne of God, and without which no creature can stand, or will wish to +stand, in the Divine presence. The young ruler, though outwardly moral +and amiable, when searched in the inward parts was found wanting in the +sum and substance of religion. He did not love God; and he did love +himself and his possessions. + +What man has omitted to do, what man is destitute of,--this is a species +of sin which he does not sufficiently consider, and which is weighing him +down to perdition. The unregenerate person when pressed to repent of his +sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, often beats back the kind +effort, by a question like that which Pilate put to the infuriated Jews: +"Why, what evil have I done?" It is the subject of his actual and overt +transgressions that comes first into his thoughts, and, like the young +ruler, he tells his spiritual friend and adviser that he has kept all the +commandments from his youth up. The conviction of sin would be more +common if the natural man would consider his _failures_; if he would look +into his heart and perceive what he is _destitute_ of, and into his +conduct and see what he has left _undone_. + +In pursuing this subject, we propose to show, still further, the +guiltiness of every man, from the fact that he _lacks the original +righteousness that once belonged to him_. We shall endeavor to prove +that every child of Adam is under condemnation, or, in the words of +Christ, that "the wrath of God abides upon him" (John iii. 36), because +he is not possessed of that pure and perfect character which, his Maker +gave him in the beginning. Man is culpable for not continuing to stand +upon the high and sinless position, in which he was originally placed. +When the young ruler's question is put to the natural man, and the +inquiry is made as to his defects and deficiency, it is invariably +discovered that he lacks the image of God in which he was created. And +for a rational being to be destitute of the image of God is sin, guilt, +and condemnation, because every rational being has once received this +image. + +God has the right to demand from every one of his responsible creatures, +all that the creature _might_ be, had he retained possession of the +endowments which he received at creation, and had he employed them with +fidelity. The perfect gifts and capacities originally bestowed upon man, +and not the mutilated and damaged powers subsequently arising from +a destructive act of self-will, furnish the proper rule of measurement, +in estimating human merit or demerit. The faculties of intelligence and +will as _unfallen_, and not as fallen, determine the amount of +holiness and of service that may be demanded, upon principles of strict +justice, from every individual. All that man "comes short" of this is so +much sin, guilt, and condemnation. + +When the great Sovereign and Judge looks down from His throne of +righteousness and equity, upon any one of the children of men, He +considers what that creature was by _creation_, and compares his +present character and conduct with the character with which he was +originally endowed, and the conduct that would naturally have flowed +therefrom. God made man holy and perfect. God created man in his own +image (Gen. i. 26), "endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true +holiness, having the law of God written in his heart, and power to fulfil +it." This is the statement of the Creed which we accept as a fair and +accurate digest of the teachings of Revelation, respecting the primitive +character of man, and his original righteousness. And all evangelical +creeds, however they may differ from each other in their definitions of +original righteousness, and their estimate of the perfections and powers +granted to man by creation, do yet agree that he stood higher when he +came from the hand of God than he now stands; that man's actual character +and conduct do not come up to man's created power and capacities. Solemn +and condemning as it is, it is yet a fact, that inasmuch as every man was +originally made in the holy image of God, he ought, this very instant to +be perfectly holy. He ought to be standing upon a position that is as +high above his actual position, as the heavens are high above the earth. +He ought to be possessed of a moral perfection without spot or wrinkle, +or any such thing. He ought to be as he was, when created in +righteousness and true holiness. He ought to be dwelling high up on those +lofty and glorious heights where he was stationed by the benevolent +hand of his Maker, instead of wallowing in those low depths where he has +fallen by an act of apostasy and rebellion. Nothing short of this +satisfies the obligations that are resting upon him. An imperfect +holiness, such as the Christian is possessed of while here upon earth, +does not come up to the righteous requirement of the moral law; and +certainly that kind of moral character which belongs to the natural man +is still farther off from the sum-total that is demanded. + +Let us press this truth, that we may feel its convicting and condemning +energy. When our Maker speaks to us upon the subject of His claims and +our obligations, He tells us that when we came forth from nonentity into +existence, from His hand, we were well endowed, and well furnished. He +tells us distinctly, that He did not create us the depraved and sinful +beings that we now are. He tells us that these earthly affections, this +carnal mind, this enmity towards the Divine law, this disinclination +towards religion and spiritual concerns, this absorbing love of the world +and this supreme love of self,--that these were not implanted or infused +into the soul by our wise, holy, and good Creator. This is not His work. +This is no part of the furniture with which mankind were set up for an +everlasting existence. "God saw everything that he had made, and behold +it was very good." (Gen. i. 31). We acknowledge the mystery that +overhangs the union and connection of all men with the first man. We know +that this corruption of man's nature, and this sinfulness of his heart, +does indeed, appear at the very beginning of his individual life. He is +conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity (Ps. li. 5). This selfish +disposition, and this alienation of the heart from God, is _native_ +depravity, is _inborn_ corruption. This we know both from Revelation, +and observation. But we also know, from the same infallible Revelation, +that though man is born a sinner from the sinful Adam, he was created +a saint in the holy Adam. By origin he is holy, and by descent he is +sinful; because there has intervened, between his creation and his birth, +that "offence of one man whereby all men were made sinners" (Rom. v. 18, +19). Though we cannot unravel the whole mystery of this subject, yet if +we accept the revealed fact, and concede that God did originally make man +in His own image, in righteousness and true holiness, and that man has +since unmade himself, by the act of apostasy and rebellion,[1]--if we +take this as the true and correct statement of the facts in the case, +then we can see how and why it is, that God has claims upon His creature, +man, that extend to what this creature originally was and was capable of +becoming, and not merely to what he now is, and is able to perform. + +When, therefore, the young ruler's question, "What lack I?" is asked and +answered upon a broad scale, each and every man must say: "I lack +original righteousness; I lack the holiness with which God created man; I +lack that perfection of character which belonged to my rational and +immortal nature coming fresh from the hand of God in the person of Adam; +I lack all that I should now be possessed of, had that nature not +apostatized from its Maker and its Sovereign." And when God forms His +estimate of man's obligations; when He lays judgment to the line, and +righteousness to the plummet; He goes back to the _beginning_, He goes +back to _creation_, and demands from His rational and immortal creature +that perfect service which, he was capable of rendering by creation, but +which now he is unable to render because of subsequent apostasy. For, +God cannot adjust His demands to the alterations which sinful man makes +in himself. This would be to annihilate all demands and obligations. +A sliding-scale would be introduced, by this method, that would reduce +human duty by degrees to a minimum, where it would disappear. For, the +more sinful a creature becomes, the less inclined, and consequently the +less able does he become to obey the law of God. If, now, the Eternal +Judge shapes His requisitions in accordance with the shifting character +of His creature, and lowers His law down just as fast as the sinner +enslaves himself to lust and sin, it is plain that sooner or later all +moral obligation will run out; and whenever the creature becomes totally +enslaved to self and flesh, there will no longer be any claims resting +upon him. But this cannot be so. "For the kingdom of heaven,"--says our +Lord,--"is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his +own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five +talents, and to another two, and to another one; and straightway took his +journey." When the settlement was made. Each and every one of the parties +was righteously summoned to account for all that had originally been +intrusted to him, and to show a faithful improvement of the same. If any +one of the servants had been found to have "lacked" a part, or the whole, +of the original treasure, because he had culpably lost it, think you that +the fact that it was now gone from his possession, and was past recovery, +would have been accepted as a valid excuse from the original obligations +imposed upon him? In like manner, the fact, that man cannot reinstate +himself in his original condition of holiness and blessedness, from which +he has fallen by apostasy, will not suffice to justify him before God for +being in a helpless state of sin and misery, or to give him any claims +upon God for deliverance from it. God can and does _pity_ him, in his +ruined and lost estate, and if the creature will cast himself upon His +_mercy_, acknowledging the righteousness of the entire claims of God upon +him for a sinless perfection and a perfect service, he will meet and find +mercy. But if he takes the ground that he does not owe such an immense +debt as this, and that God has no right to demand from him, in his +apostate and helpless condition, the same perfection of character and +obedience which holy Adam possessed and rendered, and which the unfallen +angels possess and render, God will leave him to the workings of +conscience, and the operations of stark unmitigated law and justice. "The +kingdom of heaven,"--says our Lord,--"is likened unto a certain king +which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to +reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents; but +forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and +his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The +servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have +patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant +was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt" +(Matt, xviii. 28-27). But suppose that that servant had _disputed_ the +claim, and had put in an appeal to justice instead of an appeal to mercy, +upon the ground that inasmuch as he had lost his property and had nothing +to pay with, therefore he was not obligated to pay, think you that the +king would have conceded the equity of the claim? On the contrary, he +would have entered into no argument in so plain a case, but would have +"delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due +unto him." So likewise shall the heavenly Father do also unto you, and to +every man, who attempts to diminish the original claim of God to a +perfect obedience and service, by pleading the fall of man, the +corruption of human nature, the strength of sinful inclination and +affections, and the power of earthly temptation. All these are man's +work, and not that of the Creator. This helplessness and bondage grows +directly out of the nature of sin. "Whosoever committeth sin is the +slave of sin. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves slaves to +obey, his slaves ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of +obedience unto righteousness?" (John viii. 34; Rom. vi. 16). + +In view of the subject as thus discussed, we invite attention to some +practical conclusions that flow directly out of it. For, though we have +been speaking upon one of the most difficult themes in Christian +theology, namely man's creation in holiness and his loss of holiness by +the apostasy in Adam, yet we have at the same time been speaking of one +of the most humbling, and practically profitable, doctrines in the whole +circle of revealed truth. We never shall arrive at any profound sense of +sin, unless we know and feel our guilt and corruption by nature; and we +shall never arrive at any profound sense of our guilt and corruption by +nature, unless we know and understand the original righteousness and +innocence in which we were first created. We can measure the great depth +of the abyss into which, we have fallen, only by looking up to those +great heights in the garden of Eden, upon which our nature once stood +beautiful and glorious, the very image and likeness of our Creator. + +1. We remark then, in the first place, that it is the duty of every man +_to humble himself on account of his lack of original righteousness, and +to repent of it as sin before God._ + +One of the articles of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith reads thus: +_Every_ sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the +righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, +bring _guilt_ upon the sinner, whereby he is "bound over to the wrath of +God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all +miseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal."[2] The Creed which we accept +summons us to repent of original as well as actual sin; and it defines +original sin to be "the want of original righteousness, together with the +corruption of the whole nature." The want of original righteousness, +then, is a ground of condemnation, and therefore a reason for shame, and +godly sorrow. It is something which man once had, ought still to have, +but now lacks; and therefore is ill-deserving, for the very same reason +that the young ruler's lack of supreme love to God was ill-deserving. + +If we acknowledge the validity of the distinction between a sin of +omission and a sin of commission, and concede that each alike is +culpable,[3] we shall find no difficulty with this demand of the Creed. +Why should not you and I mourn over the total want of the image of God in +our hearts, as much as over any other form and species of sin? This +image of God consists in holy reverence. When we look into our hearts, +and find no holy reverence there, ought we not to be filled with shame +and sorrow? This image of God consists in filial and supreme affection +for God, such as the young ruler lacked; and when we look into our +hearts, and find not a particle of supreme love to God in them, ought +we not to repent of this original, this deep-seated, this innate +depravity? This image of God, again, which was lost in our apostasy, +consisted in humble constant trust in God; and when we search our +souls, and perceive that there is nothing of this spirit in them, but on +the contrary a strong and overmastering disposition to trust in +ourselves, and to distrust our Maker, ought not this discovery to waken +in us the very same feeling that Isaiah gave expression to, when he said +that the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint; the very same +feeling that David gave expression to, when he cried: "Behold I was +shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me?" + +This is to repent of original sin, and there is no mystery or absurdity +about it. It is to turn the eye inward, and see what is _lacking_ in our +heart and affections; and not merely what of outward and actual +transgressions we have committed. Those whose idea of moral excellence is +like that of the young ruler; those who suppose holiness to consist +merely in the outward observance of the commandments of the second table; +those who do not look into the depths of their nature, and contrast the +total corruption that is there, with the perfect and positive +righteousness that ought to be there, and that was there by +creation,--all such will find the call of the Creed to repent of original +sin as well as of actual, a perplexity and an impossibility. But every +man who knows that the substance of piety consists in positive and holy +affections,--in holy reverence, love and trust,--and who discovers that +these are wanting in him by nature, though belonging to him by creation, +will mourn in deep contrition and self-abasement over that act of +apostasy by which this great change in human character, this great lack +was brought about. 2. In the second place, it follows from the subject +we have discussed, that every man must, by some method, _recover his +original righteousness, or be ruined forever_. "Without holiness no man +shall see the Lord." No rational creature is fit to appear in the +presence of his Maker, unless he is as pure and perfect as he was +originally made. Holy Adam was prepared by his creation in the image +of God, to hold blessed communion with God, and if he and his posterity +had never lost this image, they would forever be in fellowship with their +Creator and Sovereign. Holiness, and holiness alone, enables the creature +to stand with angelic tranquillity, in the presence of Him before whom +the heavens and the earth flee away. The loss of original righteousness, +therefore, was the loss of the wedding garment; it was the loss of the +only robe in which the creature could appear at the banquet of God. +Suppose that one of the posterity of sinful Adam, destitute of holy love +reverence and faith, lacking positive and perfect righteousness, should +be introduced into the seventh heavens, and there behold the infinite +Jehovah. Would he not feel, with a misery and a shame that could not be +expressed, that he was naked? that he was utterly unfit to appear in such +a Presence? No wonder that our first parents, after their apostasy, felt +that they were unclothed. They were indeed stripped of their character, +and had not a rag of righteousness to cover them. No wonder that they hid +themselves from the intolerable purity and brightness of the Most High. +Previously, they had felt no such emotion. They were "not ashamed," we +are told. And the reason lay in the fact that, before their apostasy, +they were precisely as they were made. They were endowed with the image +of God; and their original righteousness and perfect holiness qualified +them to stand before their Maker, and to hold blessed intercourse with +Him. But the instant they lost their created endowment of holiness, they +were conscious that they lacked that indispensable something wherewith to +appear before God. + +And precisely so is it, with their posterity. Whatever a man's theory of +the future life may be, he must be insane, if he supposes that he is fit +to appear before God, and to enter the society of heaven, if destitute of +holiness, and wanting the Divine image. When the spirit of man returns to +God who gave it, it must return as good as it came from His hands, or it +will be banished from the Divine presence. Every human soul, when it goes +back to its Maker, must carry with it a righteousness, to say the very +least, equal to that in which it was originally created, or it will be +cast out as an unprofitable and wicked servant. _All_ the talents +entrusted must be returned; and returned with usury. A modern philosopher +and poet represents the suicide as justifying the taking of his own life, +upon the ground that he was not asked in the beginning, whether he wanted +life. He had no choice whether he would come into existence or not; +existence was forced upon him; and therefore he had a right to put an end +to it, if he so pleased. To this, the reply is made, that he ought to +return his powers and faculties to the Creator in as _good condition_ as +he received them; that he had no right to mutilate and spoil them by +abuse, and then fling the miserable relics of what was originally a noble +creation, in the face of the Creator. In answer to the suicide's +proposition to give back his spirit to God who gave it, the poet +represents God as saying to him: + + "Is't returned as 'twas sent? Is't no worse for the wear? + Think first what you are! Call to mind what you were! + I gave you innocence, I gave you hope, + Gave health, and genius, and an ample scope. + Return you me guilt, lethargy, despair? + Make out the invent'ry; inspect, compare! + Then die,--if die you dare!"[4] + +Yes, this is true and solemn reasoning. You and I, and every man, must by +some method, or other, go back to God as good as we came forth from Him. +We must regain our original righteousness; we must be reinstated in our +primal relation to God, and our created condition; or there is nothing in +store for us, but the blackness of darkness. We certainly cannot stand in +the judgment clothed with original sin, instead of original +righteousness; full of carnal and selfish affections, instead of pure and +heavenly affections. This great lack, this great vacuum, in our +character, must by some method be filled up with solid, and everlasting +excellencies, or the same finger that wrote, in letters of fire, upon the +wall of the Babylonian monarch, the awful legend: "Thou art weighed in +the balance, and art found wanting," will write it in letters of fire +upon our own rational spirit. + +There is but one method, by which man's original righteousness and +innocency can be regained; and this method you well know. The blood of +Jesus Christ sprinkled by the Holy Ghost, upon your guilty conscience, +reinstates you in innocency. When that is applied, there is no more guilt +upon you, than there was upon Adam the instant he came from the creative +hand. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Who +is he that condemneth, when it is Christ that died, and God that +justifies? And when the same Holy Spirit enters your soul with renewing +power, and carries forward His work of sanctification to its final +completion, your original righteousness returns again, and you are again +clothed in that spotless robe with which your nature was invested, on +that sixth day of creation, when the Lord God said, "Let us make man in +our image, and after our likeness." Ponder these truths, and what is yet +more imperative, _act_ upon them. Remember that you must, by some method, +become a perfect creature, in order to become a blessed creature in +heaven. Without holiness you cannot see the Lord. You must recover the +character which you have lost, and the peace with God in which you were +created. Your spirit, when it returns to God, must by some method be made +equal to what it was when it came forth from Him. And there is no method, +but the method of redemption by the blood and righteousness of Christ. +Men are running to and fro after other methods. The memories of a golden +age, a better humanity than they now know of, haunt them; and they sigh +for the elysium that is gone. One sends you to letters, and culture, for +your redemption. Another tells you that morality, or philosophy, will +lift you again to those paradisaical heights that tower high above your +straining vision. But miserable comforters are they all. No golden age +returns; no peace with God or self is the result of such instrumentality. +The conscience is still perturbed, the forebodings still overhang the +soul like a black cloud, and the heart is as throbbing and restless as +ever. With resoluteness, then, turn away from these inadequate, these +feeble methods, and adopt the method of God Almighty. Turn away with +contempt from human culture, and finite forces, as the instrumentality +for the redemption of the soul which is precious, and which ceaseth +forever if it is unredeemed. Go with confidence, and courage, and a +rational faith, to God Almighty, to God the Redeemer. He hath power. He +is no feeble and finite creature. He waves a mighty weapon, and sweats +great drops of blood; travelling in the greatness of His strength. Hear +His words of calm confidence and power: "Come unto me, all ye that labor +and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." + + +[Footnote 1: The Augustinian doctrine, that the entire human species was +created on the sixth day, existed as a _nature_ (not as individuals) in +the first human pair, acted in and fell with them in the first +transgression, and us thus fallen and vitiated by an act of self-will has +been procreated or individualized, permits the theologian, to say that +all men are equally concerned in the origin of sin, and to charge the +guilt of its origin upon all alike.] + +[Footnote 2: CONFESSION OF FAITH. VI. vi.] + +[Footnote 3: One of the points of difference between the Protestant and +the Papist, when the dogmatic position of each was taken, related to the +guilt of original sin,--the former affirming, and the latter denying. It +is also one of the points of difference between Calvinism and +Arminianism.] + +[Footnote 4: Coleridge; Works, VII. 295.] + + + + +THE APPROBATION OF GOODNESS IS NOT THE LOVE OF IT. + +ROMANS ii. 21--23.--"Thou therefore which, teachest another, teachest +Thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou +steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou +commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? +thou that makest thy boast of the law, through, breaking the law +dishonorest thou God?" + + +The apostle Paul is a very keen and cogent reasoner. Like a powerful +logician who is confident that he has the truth upon his side, and like a +pureminded man who has no sinister ends to gain, he often takes his stand +upon the same ground with his opponent, adopts his positions, and +condemns him out of his own mouth. In the passage from which the text is +taken, he brings the Jew in guilty before God, by employing the Jew's own +claims and statements. "Behold thou art called a Jew, and restest in the +law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the +things that are more excellent, and art confident that thou thyself art a +guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor +of the foolish. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not +thyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou +steal? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law +dishonorest thou God?" As if he had said: "You claim to be one of God's +chosen people, to possess a true knowledge of Him and His law; why do you +not act up to this knowledge? why do you not by your character and +conduct prove the claim to be a valid one?" + +The apostle had already employed this same species of argument against +the Gentile world. In the first chapter of this Epistle to the Romans, +St. Paul demonstrates that the pagan world is justly condemned by God, +because, they too, like the Jew, knew more than they practised. He +affirms that the Greek and Roman world, like the Jewish people, "when +they knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;" that as +"they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over +to a reprobate mind;" and that "knowing the judgment of God, that they +which commit such things" as he had just enumerated in that awful +catalogue of pagan vices "are worthy of death, not only do the same, but +have pleasure in them that do them." The apostle does not for an instant +concede, that the Gentile can put in the plea that he was so entirely +ignorant of the character and law of God, that he ought to be excused +from the obligation to love and obey Him. He expressly affirms that where +there is absolutely no law, and no knowledge of law, there can be no +transgression; and yet affirms that in the day of judgment every mouth +must be stopped, and the whole world must plead guilty before God. It is +indeed true, that he teaches that there is a difference in the degrees of +knowledge which the Jew and the Gentile respectively possess. The light +of revealed religion, in respect to man's duty and obligations, is far +clearer than the light of nature, and increases the responsibilities of +those who enjoy it, and the condemnation of those who abuse it; but the +light of nature is clear and true as far as it goes, and is enough to +condemn every soul outside of the pale of Revelation. For, in the day of +judgment, there will not be a single human creature who can look his +Judge in the eye, and say: "I acted up to every particle of moral light +that I enjoyed; I never thought a thought, felt a feeling, or did a deed, +for which my conscience reproached me." + +It follows from this, that the language of the apostle, in the text, may +be applied to every man. The argument that has force for the Jew has +force for the Gentile. "Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not +thyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou +steal?" You who know the character and claims of God, and are able to +state them to another, why do you not revere and obey them in your own +person? You who approve of the law of God as pure and perfect, why do you +not conform your own heart and conduct to it? You who perceive the +excellence of piety in another, you who praise and admire moral +excellence in your fellow-man, why do you not seek after it, and toil +after it in your own heart? In paying this tribute of approbation to the +character of a God whom you do not yourself love and serve, and to a +piety in your neighbor which you do not yourself possess and cultivate, +are you not writing down your own condemnation? How can you stand before +the judgment-seat of God, after having in this manner confessed through +your whole life upon earth that God is good, and His law is perfect, and +yet through that whole life have gone counter to your own confession, +neither loving that God, nor obeying that law? "To him that knoweth to do +good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James iv. 17.) + +The text then, together with the chains of reasoning that are connected +with it, leads us to consider the fact, that a man may admire and praise +moral excellence without possessing or practising it himself; that _the +approbation of goodness is not the same as the love of it_.[1] + +I. This is proved, in the first place, from the _testimony_ of both God +and man. The assertions and reasonings of the apostle Paul have already +been alluded to, and there are many other passages of Scripture which +plainly imply that men may admire and approve of a virtue which they do +not practise. Indeed, the language of our Lord respecting the Scribes and +Pharisees, may be applied to disobedient mankind at large: "Whatsoever +they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do ye not after their +works: for they say, and do not." (Matt, xxiii. 3.) The testimony of man +is equally explicit. That is a very remarkable witness which the poet +Ovid bears to this truth. "I see the right,"--he says,--"and approve of +it, but I follow and practise the wrong." This is the testimony of a +profligate man of pleasure, in whom the light of nature had been greatly +dimmed in the darkness of sin and lust. But he had not succeeded in +annihilating his conscience, and hence, in a sober hour, he left upon +record his own damnation. He expressly informed the whole cultivated +classical world, who were to read his polished numbers, that he that had +taught others had not taught himself; that he who had said that a man +should not commit adultery had himself committed adultery; that an +educated Roman who never saw the volume of inspiration, and never heard +of either Moses or Christ, nevertheless approved of and praised a virtue +that he never put in practice. And whoever will turn to the pages of +Horace, a kindred spirit to Ovid both in respect to a most exquisite +taste and a most refined earthliness, will frequently find the same +confession breaking out. Nay, open the volumes of Rousseau, and even of +Voltaire, and read their panegyrics of virtue, their eulogies of +goodness. What are these, but testimonies that they, too, saw the right +and did the wrong. It is true, that the eulogy is merely sentimentalism, +and is very different from the sincere and noble tribute which a good man +renders to goodness. Still, it is valid testimony to the truth that the +mere approbation of goodness is not the love of it. It is true, that +these panegyrics of virtue, when read in the light of Rousseau's +sensuality and Voltaire's malignity, wear a dead and livid hue, like +objects seen in the illumination from phosphorus or rotten wood; yet, +nevertheless, they are visible and readable, and testify as distinctly as +if they issued from elevated and noble natures, that the teachings of +man's conscience are not obeyed by man's heart,--that a man may praise +and admire virtue, while he loves and practises vice. + +II. A second proof that the approbation of goodness is not the love of it +is found in the fact, that _it is impossible not to approve of goodness_, +while it is possible not to love it. The structure of man's conscience is +such, that he can commend only the right; but the nature of his will is +such, that he may be conformed to the right or the wrong. The conscience +can give only one judgment; but the heart and will are capable of two +kinds of affection, and two courses of action. Every rational creature is +shut up, by his moral sense, to but one moral conviction. He must approve +the right and condemn the wrong. He cannot approve the wrong and condemn +the right; any more than he can perceive that two and two make five. The +human conscience is a rigid and stationary faculty. Its voice may be +stifled or drowned, for a time; but it can never be made to titter two +discordant voices. It is for this reason, that the approbation of +goodness is necessary and universal. Wicked men and wicked angels must +testify that benevolence is right, and malevolence is wrong; though they +hate the former, and love the latter. + +But it is not so with the human _will_. This is not a rigid and +stationary faculty. It is capable of turning this way, and that way. It +was created holy, and it turned from holiness to sin, in Adam's +apostasy. And now, under the operation of the Divine Spirit, it turns +back again, it _converts_ from sin to holiness. The will of man is thus +capable of two courses of action, while his conscience is capable of only +one judgment; and hence he can see and approve the right, yet love and +practise the wrong. If a man's conscience changed along with his heart +and his will, so that when he began to love and practise sin, he at the +same time began to approve of sin, the case would be different. If, when +Adam apostatised from God, his conscience at that moment began to take +sides with his sin, instead of condemning it, then, indeed, neither Ovid, +nor Horace, nor Rousseau, nor any other one of Adam's posterity, would +have been able to say: "I see the right and _approve_ of it, while I +follow the wrong." But it was not so. After apostasy, the conscience of +Adam passed the same judgment upon sin that it did before. Adam heard its +terrible voice speaking in concert with the voice of God, and hid +himself. He never succeeded in bringing his conscience over to the side +of his heart and will, and neither has any one of his posterity. It is +impossible to do this. Satan himself, after millenniums of sin, still +finds that his conscience, that the accusing and condemning law written +on the heart, is too strong for him to alter, too rigid for him to bend. +The utmost that either he, or any creature, can do, is to drown its +verdict for a time in other sounds, only to hear the thunder-tones again, +waxing longer and louder like the trumpet of Sinai. + +Having thus briefly shown that the approbation of goodness is not the +love of it, we proceed to draw some conclusions from the truth. + +1. In the first place, it follows from this subject, that _the mere +workings of conscience are no proof of holiness_. When, after the +commission of a wrong act, the soul of a man is filled with +self-reproach, he must not take it for granted that this is the stirring of +a better nature within him, and is indicative of some remains of original +righteousness. This reaction of conscience against his disobedience +of law is as necessary, and unavoidable, as the action of his eyelids +under the blaze of noon, and is worthy neither of praise nor blame, so +far as he is concerned. It does not imply any love for holiness, or any +hatred of sin. Nay, it may exist without any sorrow for sin, as in the +instance of the hardened transgressor who writhes under its awful power, +but never sheds a penitential tear, or sends up a sigh for mercy. The +distinction between the human conscience, and the human heart, is as wide +as between the human intellect, and the human heart.[2] We never think of +confounding the functions and operations of the understanding with +those of the heart. We know that an idea or a conception, is totally +different from an emotion, or a feeling. How often do we remark, that a +man may have an intellectual perception, without any correspondent +experience or feeling in his heart. How continually does the preacher +urge his hearers to bring their hearts into harmony with their +understandings, so that their intellectual orthodoxy may become their +practical piety. + +Now, all this is true of the distinction between the conscience and the +heart. The conscience is an _intellectual_ faculty, and by that better +elder philosophy which comprehended all the powers of the soul under the +two general divisions of understanding and will, would be placed in the +domain of the understanding. Conscience is a _light_, as we so often call +it. It is not a _life_; it is not a source of life. No man's heart and +will can be renewed or changed by his conscience. Conscience is simply a +law. Conscience is merely legislative; it is never executive. It simply +says to the heart and will: "Do thus, feel thus," but it gives no +assistance, and imparts no inclination to obey its own command. + +Those, therefore, commit a grave error both in philosophy and religion, +who confound the conscience with the heart, and suppose that because +there is in every man self-reproach and remorse after the commission of +sin, therefore there is the germ of holiness within him. Holiness is +_love_, the positive affection of the heart. It is a matter of the heart +and the will. But this remorse is purely an affair of the conscience, and +the heart has no connection with it. Nay, it appears in its most intense +form, in those beings whose feelings emotions and determinations are in +utmost opposition to God and goodness. The purest remorse in the universe +is to be found in those wretched beings whose emotional and active +powers, whose heart and will, are in the most bitter hostility to truth +and righteousness. How, then, can the mere reproaches and remorse of +conscience be regarded as evidence of piety? + +2. But, we may go a step further than this, though in the same general +direction, and remark, in the second place, that _elevated moral +sentiments are no certain proof of piety toward God and man_. These, too, +like remorse of conscience, spring out of the intellectual structure, and +may exist without any affectionate love of God in the heart. There is a +species of nobleness and beauty in moral excellence that makes an +involuntary and unavoidable impression. When the Christian martyr seals +his devotion to God and truth with his blood; when a meek and lowly +disciple of Christ clothes his life of poverty, and self-denial, with a +daily beauty greater than that of the lilies or of Solomon's array; when +the poor widow with feeble and trembling steps comes up to the treasury +of the Lord, and casts in all her living; when any pure and spiritual act +is performed out of solemn and holy love of God and man, it is impossible +not to be filled with sentiments of admiration, and oftentimes, with an +enthusiastic glow of soul. We see this in the impression which the +character of Christ universally makes. There are multitudes of men, to +whom that wonderful sinless life shines aloft like a star. But they do +not _imitate_ it. They admire it, but they do not love it.[3] The +spiritual purity and perfection of the Son of God rays out a beauty which +really attracts their cultivated minds, and their refined taste; but when +He says to them: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek +and lowly of heart; take up thy cross daily and follow me;" they turn +away sorrowful, like the rich young man in the Gospel,--sorrowful, +because their sentiments like his are elevated, and they have a certain +awe of eternal things, and know that religion is the highest concern; and +sorrowful, because their hearts and wills are still earthly, there is no +divine love in their souls, self is still their centre, and the +self-renunciation that is required of them is repulsive. Religion is +submission,--absolute submission to God,--and no amount of mere +admiration of religion can be a substitute for it. + +As a thoughtful observer looks abroad over society, he sees a very +interesting class who are not far from the kingdom of God; who, +nevertheless, are not _within_ that kingdom, and who, therefore, if they +remain where they are, are as certainly lost as if they were at an +infinite distance from the kingdom. The homely proverb applies to them: +"A miss is as good as a mile." They are those who suppose that elevated +moral sentiments, an aesthetic pleasure in noble acts or noble truths, a +glow and enthusiasm of the soul at the sight or the recital of examples +of Christian virtue and Christian grace, a disgust at the gross and +repulsive forms and aspects of sin,--that such merely intellectual and +aesthetic experiences as these are piety itself. All these may be in the +soul, without any godly sorrow over sin, any cordial trust in Christ's +blood, any self-abasement before God, any daily conflict with indwelling +corruption, any daily cross-bearing and toil for Christ's dear sake. +These latter, constitute the essence of the Christian experience, and +without them that whole range of elevated sentiments and amiable +qualities, to which we have alluded, only ministers to the condemnation +instead of the salvation of the soul. For, the question of the text comes +home with solemn force, to all such persons. "Thou that makest thy boast +of the law, through breaking of the law, dishonorest thou God?" If the +beauty of virtue, and the grandeur of truth, and the sublimity of +invisible things, have been able to make such an impression upon your +intellects, and your tastes,--upon that part of your constitution which +is fixed and stationary, which responds organically to such objects, and +which is not the seat of moral character,--then why is there not a +corresponding influence and impression made by them upon your heart? If +you can admire and praise them, in this style, why do you not _love_ +them? Why is it, that when the character of Christ bows your intellect, +it does not bend your will, and sway your affections? Must there not be +an inveterate opposition and resistance in the _heart_? in the heart +which can refuse submission to such high claims, when so distinctly seen? +in the heart which can refuse to take the yoke, and learn of a Teacher +who has already made such an impression upon the conscience and the +understanding? + +The human heart is, as the prophet affirms, _desperately_ wicked, +_desperately_ selfish. And perhaps its self-love is never more plainly +seen, than in such instances as those of that moral and cultivated young +man mentioned in the Gospel, and that class in modern society who +correspond to him. Nowhere is the difference between the approbation of +goodness, and the love of it, more apparent. In these instances the +approbation is of a high order. It is refined and sublimated by culture +and taste. It is not stained by the temptations of low life, and gross +sin. If there ever could be a case, in which the intellectual approbation +of goodness would develop and pass over into the affectionate and hearty +love of it, we should expect to find it here. But it is not found. The +young man goes away,--sorrowful indeed,--but he goes away from the +Redeemer of the world, _never to return_. The amiable, the educated, the +refined, pass on from year to year, and, so far as the evangelic sorrow, +and the evangelic faith are concerned, like the dying Beaufort depart to +judgment making no sign. We hear their praises of Christian men, and +Christian graces, and Christian actions; we enjoy the grand and swelling +sentiments with which, perhaps, they enrich the common literature of the +world; but we never hear them cry: "God be merciful to me a sinner; O +Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant me thy peace; +Thou, O God, art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." + +3. In the third place, it follows from this subject, that in order to +holiness in man there must be a change in his _heart and will_. If our +analysis is correct, no possible modification of either his conscience, +or his intellect, would produce holiness. Holiness is an affection of the +heart, and an inclination of the will. It is the love and practice of +goodness, and not the mere approbation and admiration of it. Now, suppose +that the conscience should be stimulated to the utmost, and remorse +should be produced until it filled the soul to overflowing, would there +be in this any of that gentle and blessed affection for God and goodness, +that heartfelt love of them, which is the essence of religion? Or, +suppose that the intellect merely were impressed by the truth, and very +clear perceptions of the Christian system and of the character and claims +of its Author were imparted, would the result be any different? If the +_heart_ and _will_ were unaffected; if the influences and impressions +were limited merely to the conscience and the understanding; would not +the seat of the difficulty still be untouched? The command is not: "Give +me thy conscience," but, "Give me thy _heart_." + +Hence, that regeneration of which our Lord speaks in his discourse with +Nicodemus is not a radical change of the conscience, but of the _will_ +and _affections_. We have already seen that the conscience cannot undergo +a radical change. It can never be made to approve what it once condemned, +and to condemn what it once approved. It is the stationary legislative +faculty, and is, of necessity, always upon the side of law and of God. +Hence, the apostle Paul sought to commend the truth which he preached, to +every man's conscience, knowing that every man's conscience was with him. +The conscience, therefore, does not need to be converted, that is to say, +made opposite to what it is. It is indeed greatly stimulated, and +rendered vastly more energetic, by the regeneration of the heart; but +this is not radically to alter it. This is to develop and educate the +conscience; and when holiness is implanted in the will and affections, by +the grace of the Spirit, we find that both the conscience and +understanding are wonderfully unfolded and strengthened. But they undergo +no revolution or conversion. The judgments of the conscience are the same +after regeneration, that they were before; only more positive and +emphatic. The convictions of the understanding continue, as before, to be +upon the side of truth; only they are more clear and powerful. + +The radical change, therefore, must be wrought in the heart and will. +These are capable of revolutions and radical changes. They can apostatise +in Adam, and be regenerated in Christ. They are not immovably fixed and +settled, by their constitutional structure, in only one way. They have +once turned from holiness to sin; and now they must be turned back again +from sin to holiness. They must become exactly contrary to what they now +are. The heart must love what it now hates, and must hate what it now +loves. The will must incline to what it now disinclines, and disincline +to what it now inclines. But this is a radical change, a total change, an +entire revolution. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature, +in his will and affections, in his inclination and disposition. While, +therefore, the conscience must continue to give the same old everlasting +testimony as before, and never reverse its judgments in the least, the +affections and will, the pliant, elastic, plastic part of man, the seat +of vitality, of emotion, the seat of character, the fountain out of which +proceed the evil thoughts or the good thoughts,--this executive, emotive, +responsible part of man, must be reversed, converted, radically changed +into its own contrary. + +So long, therefore, as this change remains to be effected in an +individual, there is and can be no _holiness_ within him,--none of that +holiness without which no man can see the Lord. There may be within him a +very active and reproaching conscience; there may be intellectual +orthodoxy and correctness in religious convictions; he may cherish +elevated moral sentiments, and many attractive qualities springing out of +a cultivated taste and a jealous self-respect may appear in his +character; but unless he _loves_ God and man out of a pure heart +fervently, and unless his will is entirely and sweetly submissive to the +Divine will, so that he can say: "Father not my will, but thine be done," +he is still a natural man. He is still destitute of the spiritual mind, +and to him it must be said, as it was to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born +again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The most important side of his +being is still alienated from God. The heart with its affections; the +will with its immense energies,--the entire active and emotive portions +of his nature,--are still earthly, unsubmissive, selfish, and sinful. + +4. In the fourth, and last place, we see from this subject _the necessity +of the operation of the Holy Spirit, in order to holiness in man_. + +There is no part of man's complex being which is less under his own +control, than his own will, and his own affections. This he discovers, as +soon as he attempts to _convert_ them; as soon as he tries to produce a +radical change in them. Let a man whose will, from centre to +circumference, is set upon self and the world, attempt to reverse it, and +set it with the same strength and energy upon God and heaven, and he will +know that his will is too strong for him, and that he cannot overcome +himself. Let a man whose affections cleave like those of Dives to earthly +good, and find their sole enjoyment in earthly pleasures, attempt to +change them into their own contraries, so that they shall cleave to God, +and take a real delight in heavenly things,--let a carnal man try to +revolutionize himself into a spiritual man,--and he will discover that +the affections and feelings of his heart are beyond his control. And the +reason of this is plain. The affections and will of a man show what he +_loves_, and what he is _inclined_ to. A sinful man cannot, therefore, +overcome his sinful love and inclination, because he cannot _make a +beginning_. The instant he attempts to love God, he finds his love of +himself in the way. This new love for a new object, which he proposes to +originate within himself, is prevented by an old love, which already has +possession. This new inclination to heaven and Divine things is precluded +by an old inclination, very strong and very set, to earth and earthly +things. There is therefore no _starting-point,_ in this affair of +self-conversion. He proposes, and he tries, to think a holy thought, but +there is a sinful thought already in the mind. He attempts to start out a +Christian grace,--say the grace of humility,--but the feeling of pride +already stands in the way, and, what is more, remains in the way. He +tries to generate that supreme love of God, of which he has heard so +much, but the supreme love of himself is ahead of him, and occupies the +whole ground. In short, he is baffled at every point in this attempt +radically to change his own heart and will, because at every point this +heart and will are already committed and determined. Go down as low as he +pleases, he finds sin,--_love_ of sin, and _inclination_ to sin. He never +reaches a point where these cease; and therefore never reaches a point +where he can begin a new love, and a new inclination. The late Mr. +Webster was once engaged in a law case, in which he had to meet, upon the +opposing side, the subtle and strong understanding of Jeremiah Mason. In +one of his conferences with his associate counsel, a difficult point to +be managed came to view. After some discussion, without satisfactory +results, respecting the best method of handling the difficulty, one of +his associates suggested that the point might after all, escape the +notice of the opposing counsel. To this, Mr. Webster replied: "Not so; go +down as deep as you will, you will find Jeremiah Mason below you." +Precisely so in the case of which we are speaking. Go down as low as you +please into your heart and will, you will find your _self_ below you; you +will find sin not only lying at the door, but lying in the way. If you +move in the line of your feelings and affections, you will find earthly +feelings and affections ever below you. If you move in the line of your +choice and inclination, you will find a sinful choice and inclination +ever below you. In chasing your sin through the avenues of your fallen +and corrupt soul, you are chasing your horizon; in trying to get clear of +it by your own isolated and independent strength, you are attempting +(to use the illustration of Goethe, who however employed it for a false +purpose) to jump off your own shadow. + +This, then, is the reason why the heart and will of a sinful man are so +entirely beyond his own control. They are _preoccupied_ and +_predetermined_, and therefore he cannot make a beginning in the +direction of holiness. If he attempts to put forth a holy determination, +he finds a sinful one already made and making,--and this determination is +_his_ determination, unforced, responsible and guilty. If he tries to +start out a holy emotion, he finds a sinful emotion already beating and +rankling,--and this emotion is _his_ emotion, unforced, responsible, +and guilty. There is no physical necessity resting upon him. Nothing but +this love of sin and inclination to self stands in the way of a supreme +love of God and holiness; but _it stands in the way._ Nothing but the +sinful affection of the heart prevents a man from exercising a holy +affection; but _it prevents him effectually_. An evil tree cannot bring +forth good fruit; a sinful love and inclination cannot convert itself +into a holy love and inclination; Satan cannot cast out Satan. + +There is need therefore of a Divine operation to renew, to radically +change, the heart and will. If they cannot renew themselves, they must +_be_ renewed; and there is no power that can reach them but that +mysterious energy of the Holy Spirit which like the wind bloweth where it +listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh +or whither it goeth. The condition of the human heart is utterly +hopeless, were it not for the promised influences of the Holy Ghost to +regenerate it. + +There are many reflections suggested by this subject; for it has a wide +reach, and would carry us over vast theological spaces, should we attempt +to exhaust it. We close with the single remark, that it should be man's +first and great aim _to obtain the new heart_. Let him seek this first of +all, and all things else will be added unto him. It matters not how +active your conscience may be, how clear and accurate your intellectual +convictions of truth may be, how elevated may be your moral sentiments +and your admiration of virtue, if you are destitute of an _evangelical +experience_. Of what value will all these be in the day of judgment, +if you have never sorrowed for sin, never appropriated the atonement for +sin, and never been inwardly sanctified? Our Lord says to every man: +"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or else make the tree +corrupt, and its fruit corrupt." The _tree itself_ must be made good. +The heart and will themselves must be renewed. These are the root and +stock into which everything else is grafted; and so long as they remain +in their apostate natural condition, the man is sinful and lost, do +what else he may. It is indeed true, that such a change as this is beyond +your power to accomplish. With man it is impossible; but with God +it is a possibility, and a reality. It has actually been wrought in +thousands of wills, as stubborn as yours; in millions of hearts, as +worldly and selfish as yours. We commend you, therefore, to the Person +and Work of the Holy Spirit. We remind you, that He is able to renovate +and sweetly incline the obstinate will, to soften and spiritualize the +flinty heart. He saith: "I will put a new spirit within you; and I will +take the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you an heart of +flesh; that ye may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do +them; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." Do not listen +to these declarations and promises of God supinely; but arise and +earnestly _plead_ them. Take words upon your lips, and go before God. Say +unto Him: "I am the clay, be _thou_ the potter. Behold thou desirest +truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts _thou_ shalt make me +to know wisdom. I will run in the way of thy commandments, when _thou_ +shalt enlarge my heart. Create within me a clean heart, O God, and renew +within me a right spirit." _Seek_ for the new heart. _Ask_ for the new +heart. _Knock_ for the new heart. "For, if ye, being evil, know how to +give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly +Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." And in giving the Holy +Spirit, He gives the new heart, with all that is included in it, and all +that issues from it. + + +[Footnote 1: See, upon this whole subject of conscience as distinguished +from will, and of amiable instincts as distinguished from holiness, the +profound and discriminating views of EDWARDS: The Nature of Virtue, +Chapters v. vi. vii.] + +[Footnote 2: Compare, on this distinction, the AUTHOR'S' Discourses and +Essays, p. 284 sq.] + +[Footnote 3: The reader will recall the celebrated panegyric upon Christ +by Rousseau.] + + + + +THE USE OF FEAR IN RELIGION. + +PROVERBS ix. 10.--"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Luke +xii. 4, 5.--"And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that +kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will +forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed +hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." + + +The place which the feeling of fear ought to hold in the religious +experience of mankind is variously assigned. Theories of religion are +continually passing from one extreme to another, according as they +magnify or disparage this emotion. Some theological schools are +distinguished for their severity, and others for their sentimentalism. +Some doctrinal systems fail to grasp the mercy of God with as much vigor +and energy as they do the Divine justice, while others melt down +everything that is scriptural and self-consistent, and flow along vaguely +in an inundation of unprincipled emotions and sensibilities. + +The same fact meets us in the experience of the individual. We either +fear too much, or too little. Having obtained glimpses of the Divine +compassion, how prone is the human heart to become indolent and +self-indulgent, and to relax something of that earnest effort with which +it had begun to pluck out the offending right eye. Or, having felt the +power of the Divine anger; having obtained clear conceptions of the +intense aversion of God towards moral evil; even the child of God +sometimes lives under a cloud, because he does not dare to make a right +use of this needed and salutary impression, and pass back to that +confiding trust in the Divine pity which is his privilege and his +birth-right, as one who has been sprinkled with atoning blood. + +It is plain, from the texts of Scripture placed at the head of this +discourse, that the feeling and principle of fear is a legitimate one.[1] +In these words of God himself, we are taught that it is the font and +origin of true wisdom, and are commanded to be inspired by it. The Old +Testament enjoins it, and the New Testament repeats and emphasizes the +injunction; so that the total and united testimony of Revelation forbids +a religion that is destitute of fear. + +The New Dispensation is sometimes set in opposition to the Old, and +Christ is represented as teaching a less rigid morality than that of +Moses and the prophets. But the mildness of Christ is not seen, +certainly, in the ethical and preceptive part of His religion. The Sermon +on the Mount is a more searching code of morals than the ten +commandments. It cuts into human depravity with a more keen and terrible +edge, than does the law proclaimed amidst thunderings and lightnings. +Let us see if it does not. The Mosaic statute simply says to man: "Thou +shalt not kill." But the re-enactment of this statute, by incarnate +Deity, is accompanied with an explanation and an emphasis that precludes +all misapprehension and narrow construction of the original law, and +renders it a two-edged sword that pierces to the dividing asunder of soul +and spirit. When the Hebrew legislator says to me: "Thou shalt not kill," +it is possible for me, with my propensity to look upon the outward +appearance, and to regard the external act alone, to deem myself innocent +if I have never actually murdered a fellow-being. But when the Lord of +glory tells me that "whosoever is angry with his brother" is in danger +of the judgment, my mouth is stopped, and it is impossible for me to +cherish a conviction of personal innocency, in respect to the sixth +commandment. And the same is true of the seventh commandment, and the +eighth commandment, and of all the statutes in the decalogue. He who +reads, and ponders, the whole Sermon on the Mount, is painfully conscious +that Christ has put a meaning into the Mosaic law that renders it a far +more effective instrument of mental torture, for the guilty, than it is +as it stands in the Old Testament. The lightnings are concentrated. The +bolts are hurled with a yet more sure and deadly aim. The new meaning is +a perfectly legitimate and logical deduction, and in this sense there is +no difference between the Decalogue and the Sermon,--between the ethics +of the Old and the ethics of the New Testament. But, so much more +spiritual is the application, and so much more searching is the reach of +the statute, in the last of the two forms of its statement, that it looks +almost like a new proclamation of law. + +Our Lord did not intend, or pretend, to teach a milder ethics, or an +easier virtue, on the Mount of Beatitudes, than that which He had taught +fifteen centuries before on Mt. Sinai. He indeed pronounces a blessing; +and so did Moses, His servant, before Him. But in each instance, it is a +blessing upon condition of obedience; which, in both instances, involves +a curse upon disobedience. He who is meek shall be blest; but he who is +not shall be condemned. He who is pure in heart, he who is poor in +spirit, he who mourns over personal unworthiness, he who hungers and +thirsts after a righteousness of which he is destitute, he who is +merciful, he who is the peace-maker, he who endures persecution +patiently, and he who loves his enemies,--he who is and does all this in +a perfect manner, without a single slip or failure, is indeed blessed +with the beatitude of God. But where is the man? What single individual +in all the ages, and in all the generations since Adam, is entitled to +the great blessing of these beatitudes, and not deserving of the dreadful +curse which they involve? In applying such a high, ethereal test to human +character, the Founder of Christianity is the severest and sternest +preacher of law that has ever trod upon the planet. And he who stops with +the merely ethical and preceptive part of Christianity, and rejects its +forgiveness through atoning blood, and its regeneration by an indwelling +Spirit,--he who does not unite the fifth chapter of Matthew, with the +fifth chapter of Romans,--converts the Lamb of God into the Lion of the +tribe of Judah. He makes use of everything in the Christian system that +condemns man to everlasting destruction, but throws away the very and the +only part of it that takes off the burden and the curse. + +It is not, then, a correct idea of Christ that we have, when we look upon +Him as unmixed complacency and unbalanced compassion. In all aspects, +He was a complex personage. He was God, and He was man. As God, He could +pronounce a blessing; and He could pronounce a curse, as none but God +can, or dare. As man, He was perfect; and into His perfection of feeling +and of character there entered those elements that fill a good being with +peace, and an evil one with woe. The Son of God exhibits goodness and +severity mingled and blended in perfect and majestic harmony; and that +man lacks sympathy with Jesus Christ who cannot, while feeling the purest +and most unselfish indignation towards the sinner's sin, at the same time +give up his own individual life, if need be, for the sinner's soul. The +two feelings are not only compatible in the same person, but necessarily +belong to a perfect being. Our Lord breathed out a prayer for His +murderers so fervent, and so full of pathos, that it will continue to +soften and melt the flinty human heart, to the end of time; and He also +poured out a denunciation of woes upon the Pharisees (Matt, xxiii.), +every syllable of which is dense enough with the wrath of God, to sink +the deserving objects of it "plumb down, ten thousand fathoms deep, to +bottomless perdition in adamantine chains and penal fire." The +utterances, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do: Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?" both fell from the same pure and gracious lips. + +It is not surprising, therefore, that our Lord often appeals to the +principle of fear. He makes use of it in all its various forms,--from +that servile terror which is produced by the truth when the soul is +just waked up from its drowze in sin, to that filial fear which Solomon +affirms to be the beginning of wisdom. + +The subject thus brought before our minds, by the inspired Word, has a +wide application to all ages and conditions of human life, and all +varieties of human character. We desire to direct attention to _the use +and value of religious fear, in the opening periods of human life_. There +are some special reasons why youth and early manhood should come +under the influence of this powerful feeling. "I write unto you young +men,"--says St. John,--"because ye are _strong_." We propose to urge upon +the young, the duty of cultivating the fear of God's displeasure, because +they are able to endure the emotion; because youth is the springtide and +prime of human life, and capable of carrying burdens, and standing up +under influences and impressions, that might crush a feebler period, or a +more exhausted stage of the human soul. + +I. In the first place, the emotion of fear ought to enter into the +consciousness of the young, because _youth is naturally light-hearted_. +"Childhood and youth," saith the Preacher, "are vanity." The opening +period in human life is the happiest part of it, if we have respect +merely to the condition and circumstances in which the human being is +placed. He is free from all public cares, and responsibilities. He is +encircled within the strong arms of parents, and protectors. Even if he +tries, he cannot feel the pressure of those toils and anxieties which +will come of themselves, when he has passed the line that separates youth +from manhood. When he hears his elders discourse of the weight, and the +weariness, of this working-day world, it is with incredulity and +surprise. The world is bright before his eye, and he wonders that it +should ever wear any other aspect. He cannot understand how the +freshness, and vividness, and pomp of human life, should shift into its +soberer and sterner forms; and he will not, until the + + "Shades of the prison-house begin to close + Upon the growing Boy."[2] + +Now there is something, in this happy attitude of things, to fill the +heart of youth with gayety and abandonment. His pulses beat strong and +high. The currents of his soul flow like the mountain river. His mood is +buoyant and jubilant, and he flings himself with zest, and a sense of +vitality, into the joy and exhilaration all around him. But such a mood +as this, unbalanced and untempered by a loftier one, is hazardous to the +eternal interests of the soul. Perpetuate this gay festal abandonment +of the mind; let the human being, through the whole of his earthly +course, be filled with the sole single consciousness that _this_ is the +beautiful world; and will he, can he, live as a stranger and a pilgrim +in it? Perpetuate that vigorous pulse, and that youthful blood which +"runs tickling up and down the veins;" drive off, and preclude, all that +care and responsibility which renders human life so earnest; and will the +young immortal go through it, with that sacred fear and trembling with +which he is commanded to work out his salvation? + +Yet, this buoyancy and light-heartedness are legitimate feelings. They +spring up, like wild-flowers, from the very nature of man. God intends +that prismatic hues and auroral lights shall flood our morning sky. He +must be filled with a sour and rancid misanthropy, who cannot bless the +Creator that there is one part of man's sinful and cursed life which +reminds of the time, and the state, when there was no sin and no curse. +There is, then, to be no extermination of this legitimate experience. +But there is to be its moderation and its regulation. + +And this we get, by the introduction of the feeling and the principle of +religious fear. The youth ought to seek an impression from things unseen +and eternal. God, and His august attributes; Christ, and His awful +Passion; heaven, with its sacred scenes and joys; hell, with its just woe +and wail,--all these should come in, to modify, and temper, the jubilance +that without them becomes the riot of the soul. For this, we apprehend, +is the meaning of our Lord, when He says, "I will forewarn you whom ye +shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into +hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." It is not so much any particular +species of fear that we are shut up to, by these words, as it is the +general habit and feeling. The fear of _hell_ is indeed specified,--and +this proves that such a fear is rational and proper in its own +place,--but our Lord would not have us stop with this single and isolated +form of the feeling. He recommends a solemn temper. He commands +a being who stands continually upon the brink of eternity and immensity, +to be aware of his position. He would have the great shadow of eternity +thrown in upon time. He desires that every man should realize, in those +very moments when the sun shines the brightest and the earth looks the +fairest, that there is another world than this, for which man is not +naturally prepared, and for which he must make a preparation. And what He +enjoins upon mankind at large, He specially enjoins upon youth. They need +to be sobered more than others. The ordinary cares of this life, which do +so much towards moderating our desires and aspirations, have not yet +pressed upon the ardent and expectant soul, and therefore it needs, more +than others, to fear and to "stand in awe." + +II. Secondly, youth is _elastic, and readily recovers from undue +depression_. The skeptical Lucretius tells us that the divinities are the +creatures of man's fears, and would make us believe that all religion has +its ground in fright.[3] And do we not hear this theory repeated by the +modern unbeliever? What means this appeal to a universal, and an +unprincipled good-nature in the Supreme Being, and this rejection of +everything in Christianity that awakens misgivings and forebodings within +the sinful human soul? Why this opposition to the doctrine of an +absolute, and therefore endless punishment, unless it be that it awakens +a deep and permanent dread in the heart of guilty man? + +Now, we are not of that number who believe that thoughtless and lethargic +man has been greatly damaged by his moral fears. It is the lack of a +bold and distinct impression from the solemn objects of another world, +and the utter absence of fear, that is ruining man from generation to +generation. If we were at liberty, and had the power, to induce into the +thousands and millions of our race who are running the rounds of sin and +vice, some one particular emotion that should be medicinal and salutary +to the soul, we would select that very one which our Lord had in view +when He said: "I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which +after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, +Fear him." If we were at liberty, and had the power, we would +instantaneously stop these human souls that are crowding our avenues, +intent only upon pleasure and earth, and would fill them with the +emotions of the day of doom; we would deluge them with the fear of God, +that they might flee from their sins and the wrath to come. + +But while we say this, we also concede that it is possible for the human +soul to be injured, by the undue exercise of this emotion. The bruised +reed may be broken, and the smoking flax may be quenched; and hence it is +the very function and office-work of the Blessed Comforter, to prevent +this. God's own children sometimes pass through a horror of great +darkness, like that which enveloped Abraham; and the unregenerate mind is +sometimes so overborne by its fears of death, judgment, and eternity, +that the entire experience becomes for a time morbid and confused. Yet, +even in this instance, the excess is better than the lack. We had better +travel this road to heaven, than none at all. It is better to enter into +the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into +hell-fire. When the saints from the heavenly heights look back upon their +severe religious experience here on earth,--upon their footprints stained +with their own blood,--they count it a small matter that they entered +into eternal joy through much tribulation. And if we could but for one +instant take their position, we should form their estimate; we should not +shrink, if God so pleased, from passing through that martyrdom and +crucifixion which has been undergone by so many of those gentle spirits, +broken spirits, holy spirits, upon whom the burden of mystery once lay +like night, and the far heavier burden of guilt lay like hell. + +There is less danger, however, that the feeling and principle of fear +should exert an excessive influence upon youth. There is an elasticity, +in the earlier periods of human life, that prevents long-continued +depression. How rare it is to see a young person smitten with insanity. +It is not until the pressure of anxiety has been long continued, +and the impulsive spring of the soul has been destroyed, that reason is +dethroned. The morning of our life may, therefore, be subjected to a +subduing and repressing influence, with very great safety. It is well to +bear the yoke in youth. The awe produced by a vivid impression from the +eternal world may enter into the exuberant and gladsome experience of the +young, with very little danger of actually extinguishing it, and +rendering life permanently gloomy and unhappy. + +III. Thirdly, youth is _exposed to sudden temptations, and surprisals +into sin_. The general traits that have been mentioned as belonging to +the early period in human life render it peculiarly liable to +solicitations. The whole being of a healthful hilarious youth, who feels +life in every limb, thrills to temptation, like the lyre to the plectrum. +Body and soul are alive to all the enticements of the world of sense; and +in certain critical moments, the entire sensorium, upon the approach of +bold and powerful excitements, flutters and trembles like an electrometer +in a thunder-storm. All passionate poetry breathes of youth and spring. +Most of the catastrophes of the novel and the drama turn upon the violent +action of some temptation, upon the highly excitable nature of youth. All +literature testifies to the hazards that attend the morning of our +existence; and daily experience and observation, certainly, corroborate +the testimony. It becomes necessary, therefore, to guard the human soul +against these liabilities which attend it in its forming period. And, +next to a deep and all-absorbing _love_ of God, there is nothing so well +adapted to protect against sudden surprisals, as a profound and definite +fear of God. + +It is a great mistake, to suppose that apostate and corrupt beings like +ourselves can pass through all the temptations of this life unscathed, +while looking _solely_ at the pleasant aspects of the Divine Being, and +the winning forms of religious truth. We are not yet seraphs; and we +cannot always trust to our affectionateness, to carry us through a +violent attack of temptation. There are moments in the experience of the +Christian himself, when he is compelled to call in the _fear_ of God to +his aid, and to steady his infirm and wavering virtue by the recollection +that "the wages of sin is death." "By the fear of the Lord, men,"--and +Christian men too,--"depart from evil." It will not always be so. When +that which is perfect is come, perfect love shall cast out fear; but, +until the disciple of Christ reaches heaven, his religious experience +must be a somewhat complex one. A reasonable and well-defined +apprehensiveness must mix with his affectionateness, and deter him from +transgression, in those severe passages in his history when love is +languid and fails to draw him. Says an old English divine: "The fear of +God's judgments, or of the threatenings of God, is of much efficiency, +when some present temptation presseth upon us. When conscience and the +affections are divided; when conscience doth withdraw a man from sin, +and when his carnal affections draw him forth to it; then should the fear +of God come in. It is a holy design for a Christian, to counterbalance +the pleasures of sin with the terrors of it, and thus to cure the poison +of the viper by the flesh of the viper. Thus that admirable saint and +martyr, Bishop Hooper, when he came to die, one endeavored to dehort him +from death by this: O sir, consider that life is sweet and death is +bitter; presently he replied, Life to come is more sweet, and death to +come is more bitter, and so went to the stake and patiently endured the +fire. Thus, as a Christian may sometimes outweigh the pleasures of sin by +the consideration of the reward of God, so, sometimes, he may quench the +pleasures of sin by the consideration of the terrors of God."[4] + +But much more is all this true, in the instance of the hot-blooded youth. +How shall he resist temptation, unless he has some _fear_ of God before +his eyes? There are moments in the experience of the young, when all +power of resistance seems to be taken away, by the very witchery and +blandishment of the object. He has no heart, and no nerve, to resist the +beautiful siren. And it is precisely in these emergencies in his +experience,--in these moments when this world comes up before him clothed +in pomp and gold, and the other world is so entirely lost sight of, that +it throws in upon him none of its solemn shadows and warnings,--it is +precisely now, when he is just upon the point of yielding to the mighty +yet fascinating pressure, that he needs to feel an impression, bold and +startling, from the _wrath_ of God. Nothing but the most active remedies +will have any effect, in this tumult and uproar of the soul. When the +whole system is at fever-heat, and the voice of reason and conscience is +drowned in the clamors of sense and earth, nothing can startle and stop +but the trumpet of Sinai.[5] + +It is in these severe experiences, which are more common to youth than +they are to manhood, that we see the great value of the feeling and +principle of fear. It is, comparatively, in vain for a youth under the +influence of strong temptations,--and particularly when the surprise is +sprung upon him,--to ply himself with arguments drawn from the beauty of +virtue, and the excellence of piety. They are too ethereal for him, in +his present mood. Such arguments are for a calmer moment, and a more +dispassionate hour. His blood is now boiling, and those higher motives +which would influence the saint, and would have some influence with him, +if he were not in this critical condition, have little power to deter him +from sin. Let him therefore pass by the love of God, and betake himself +to the _anger_ of God, for safety. Let him say to himself, in this moment +when the forces of Satan, in alliance with the propensities of his own +nature, are making an onset,--when all other considerations are being +swept away in the rush and whirlwind of his passions,--let him coolly +bethink himself and say: "If I do this abominable thing which the soul of +God hates, then God, the Holy and Immaculate, will burn my spotted soul +in His pure eternal flame." For, there is great power, in what the +Scriptures term "the terror of the Lord," to destroy the edge of +temptation. "A wise man feareth and departeth from evil." Fear kills out +the delight in sin. Damocles cannot eat the banquet with any pleasure, so +long as the naked sword hangs by a single hair over his head. No one can +find much enjoyment in transgression, if his conscience is feeling the +action of God's holiness within it. And well would it be, if, in every +instance in which a youth is tempted to fling himself into the current of +sin that is flowing all around him, his moral sense might at that very +moment be filled with some of that terror, and some of that horror, which +breaks upon the damned in eternity. Well would it be, if the youth in the +moment of violent temptation could lay upon the emotion or the lust that +entices him, a distinct and red coal of hell-fire.[6] No injury would +result from the most terrible fear of God, provided it could always fall +upon the human soul in those moments of strong temptation, and of +surprisals, when all other motives fail to influence, and the human will +is carried headlong by the human passions. There may be a fear and a +terror that does harm, but man need be under no concern lest he +experience too much of this feeling, in his hours of weakness and +irresolution, in his youthful days of temptation and of dalliance. Let +him rather bless God that there is such an intense light, and such a pure +fire, in the Divine Essence, and seek to have his whole vitiated and +poisoned nature penetrated and purified by it. Have you never looked with +a steadfast gaze into a grate of burning anthracite, and noticed the +quiet intense glow of the heat, and how silently the fire throbs and +pulsates through the fuel, burning up everything that is inflammable, +and, making the whole mass as pure, and clean, and clear, as the element +of fire itself? Such is the effect of a contact of God's wrath with man's +sin; of the penetration of man's corruption by the wrath of the Lord. + +IV. In the fourth place, the feeling and principle of fear ought to enter +into the experience of both youth and manhood, _because it relieves from +all other fear_. He who stands in awe of God can look down, from a very +great height, upon all other perturbation. When we have seen Him from +whose sight the heavens and the earth flee away, there is nothing, in +either the heavens or the earth, that can produce a single ripple upon +the surface of our souls. This is true, even of the unregenerate mind. +The fear in this instance is a servile one,--it is not filial and +affectionate,--and yet it serves to protect the subject of it from all +other feelings of this species, because it is greater than all others, +and like Aaron's serpent swallows up the rest. If we must be liable to +fears,--and the transgressor always must be,--it is best that they should +all be concentrated in one single overmastering sentiment. Unity is ever +desirable; and even if the human soul were to be visited by none but the +servile forms of fear, it would be better that this should be the "terror +of the Lord." If, by having the fear of God before our eyes, we could +thereby be delivered from the fear of man, and all those apprehensions +which are connected with time and sense, would it not be wisdom to choose +it? We should then know that there was but one quarter from which our +peace could be assailed. This would lead us to look in that direction; +and, here upon earth, sinful man cannot look at God long, without coming +to terms and becoming reconciled with Him. + +V. The fifth and last reason which we assign for cherishing the feeling +and principle of fear applies to youth, to manhood, and to old age, +alike: _The fear of God conducts to the love of God_. Our Lord does not +command us to fear "Him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into +hell," because such a feeling as this is intrinsically desirable, and is +an ultimate end in itself. It is, in itself, undesirable, and it is only +a means to an end. By it, our torpid souls are to be awakened from their +torpor; our numbness and hardness of mind, in respect to spiritual +objects, is to be removed. We are never for a moment, to suppose that the +fear of perdition is set before us as a model and permanent form of +experience to be toiled after,--a positive virtue and grace intended to +be perpetuated through the whole future history of the soul. It is +employed only as an antecedent to a higher and a happier emotion; and +when the purpose for which it has been elicited has been answered, it +then disappears. "Perfect love casteth out fear; for fear hath torment," +(1 John iv. 18.[7]) + +But, at the same time, we desire to direct attention to the fact that he +who has been exercised with this emotion, thoroughly and deeply, is +conducted by it into the higher and happier form of religious experience. +Religious fear and anxiety are the prelude to religious peace and joy. +These are the discords that prepare for the concords. He, who in the +Psalmist's phrase has known the power of the Divine anger, is visited +with the manifestation of the Divine love. The method in the +thirty-second psalm is the method of salvation. Day and night God's hand +is heavy upon the soul; the fear and sense of the Divine displeasure is +passing through the conscience, like electric currents. The moisture, +the sweet dew of health and happiness, is turned into the drought of +summer, by this preparatory process. Then the soul acknowledges its sin, +and its iniquity it hides no longer. It confesses its transgressions unto +the Lord,--it justifies and approves of this wrath which it has +felt,--and He forgives the iniquity of its sin. + +It is not a vain thing, therefore, to fear the Lord. The emotion of which +we have been discoursing, painful though it be, is remunerative. There is +something in the very experience of moral pain which brings us nigh to +God. When, for instance, in the hour of temptation, I discern God's calm +and holy eye bent upon me, and I wither beneath it, and resist the +enticement because I fear to disobey, I am brought by this chapter in my +experience into very close contact with my Maker. There has been a vivid +and personal transaction between us. I have heard him say: "If thou doest +that wicked thing thou shalt surely die; refrain from doing it, and I +will love thee and bless thee." This is the secret of the great and swift +reaction which often takes place, in the sinner's soul. He moodily and +obstinately fights against the Divine displeasure. In this state of +things, there is nothing but fear and torment. Suddenly he gives way, +acknowledges that it is a good and a just anger, no longer seeks to beat +it back from his guilty soul, but lets the billows roll over while he +casts himself upon the Divine pity. In this act and instant,--which +involves the destiny of the soul, and has millenniums in it,--when he +recognizes the justice and trusts in the mercy of God, there is a great +rebound, and through his tears he sees the depth, the amazing depth, of +the Divine compassion. For, paradoxical as it appears, God's love is best +seen in the light of God's displeasure. When the soul is penetrated by +this latter feeling, and is thoroughly sensible of its own +worthlessness,--when, man knows himself to be vile, and filthy, and fit +only to be burned up by the Divine immaculateness,--then, to have the +Great God take him to His heart, and pour out upon him the infinite +wealth of His mercy and compassion, is overwhelming. Here, the Divine +indignation becomes a foil to set off the Divine love. Read the sixteenth +chapter of Ezekiel, with an eye "purged with euphrasy and rue," so that +you can take in the full spiritual significance of the comparisons and +metaphors, and your whole soul will dissolve in tears, as you perceive +how the great and pure God, in every instance in which He saves an +apostate spirit, is compelled to bow His heavens and come down into a +loathsome sty of sensuality.[8] Would it be love of the highest order, in +a seraph, to leave the pure cerulean and trail his white garments through +the haunts of vice, to save the wretched inmates from themselves and +their sins? O then what must be the degree of affection and compassion, +when the infinite Deity, whose essence is light itself, and whose nature +is the intensest contrary of all sin, tabernacles in the flesh upon the +errand of redemption! And if the pure spirit of that seraph, while filled +with an ineffable loathing, and the hottest moral indignation, at what he +saw in character and conduct, were also yearning with an unspeakable +desire after the deliverance of the vicious from their vice,--the moral +wrath, thus setting in still stronger relief the moral compassion that +holds it in check,---what must be the relation between these two emotions +in the Divine Being! Is not the one the measure of the other? And does +not the soul that fears God in a _submissive_ manner, and acknowledges +the righteousness of the Divine displeasure with entire acquiescence and +no sullen resistance, prepare the way, in this very act, for an equally +intense manifestation of the Divine mercy and forgiveness? + +The subject treated of in this discourse is one of the most important, +and frequent, that is presented in the Scriptures. He who examines is +startled to find that the phrase, "fear of the Lord," is woven into the +whole web of Revelation from Genesis to the Apocalypse. The feeling and +principle under discussion has a Biblical authority, and significance, +that cannot be pondered too long, or too closely. It, therefore, has an +interest for every human being, whatever may be his character, his +condition, or his circumstances. All great religious awakenings begin +in the dawning of the august and terrible aspects of the Deity upon the +popular mind, and they reach their height and happy consummation, +in that love and faith for which the antecedent fear has been the +preparation. Well and blessed would it be for this irreverent and +unfearing age, in which the advance in mechanical arts and vice is +greater than that in letters and virtue, if the popular mind could be +made reflective and solemn by this great emotion. + +We would, therefore, pass by all other feelings, and endeavor to fix the +eye upon the distinct and unambiguous fear of God, and would urge the +young, especially, to seek for it as for hid treasures. The feeling is a +painful one, because it is a _preparatory_ one. There are other forms of +religious emotion which are more attractive, and are necessary in their +place; these you may be inclined to cultivate, at the expense of the one +enjoined by our Lord in the text. But we solemnly and earnestly entreat +you, not to suffer your inclination to divert your attention from your +duty and your true interest. We tell you, with confidence, that next to +the affectionate and filial love of God in your heart, there is no +feeling or principle in the whole series that will be of such real solid +service to you, as that one enjoined by our Lord upon "His disciples +first of all." You will need its awing and repressing influence, in many +a trying scene, in many a severe temptation. Be encouraged to cherish it, +from the fact that it is a very effective, a very powerful emotion. He +who has the fear of God before his eyes is actually and often kept from +falling. It will prevail with your weak will, and your infirm purpose, +when other motives fail. And if you could but stand where those do, who +have passed through that fearful and dangerous passage through which you +are now making a transit; if you could but know, as they do, of what +untold value is everything that deters from the wrong and nerves to the +right, in the critical moments of human life; you would know, as they do, +the utmost importance of cherishing a solemn and serious dread of +displeasing God. The more simple and unmixed this feeling is in your own +experience, the more influential will it be. Fix it deeply in the mind, +that the great God is holy. Recur to this fact continually. If the dread +which it awakens casts a shadow over the gayety of youth, remember that +you need this, and will not be injured by it. The doctrine commends +itself to you, because you are young, and because you are strong. If it +fills you with misgivings, at times, and threatens to destroy your peace +of mind, let the emotion operate. Never stifle it, as you value your +salvation. You had better be unhappy for a season, than yield to +temptation and grievous snares which will drown you in perdition. Even if +it hangs dark and low over the horizon of your life, and for a time +invests this world with sadness, be resolute with yourself, and do not +attempt to remove the feeling, except in the legitimate way of the +gospel. Remember that every human soul out of Christ ought to fear, "for +he that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him." And +remember, also, that every one who believes in Christ ought not to fear; +for "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and he +that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." + +And with this thought would we close. This fear of God may and should end +in the perfect love that casteth out fear. This powerful and terrible +emotion, which we have been considering, may and ought to prepare the +soul to welcome the sweet and thrilling accents of Christ saying, "Come +unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden," with your fears of death, +judgment, and eternity, "and I will give you rest." Faith in Christ lifts +the soul above all fears, and eventually raises it to that serene world, +that blessed state of being, where there is no more curse and no more +foreboding. + + "Serene will be our days, and bright, + And happy will our nature be, + When love is an unerring light, + And joy its own security." + + +[Footnote 1: The moral and healthful influence of fear is implied in the +celebrated passage in Aristotle's Poetics, whatever be the +interpretation. He speaks of a _cleansing [Greek: (katharsin)]_ of the +mind, by means of the emotions of pity and terror [Greek: (phobos)] +awakened by tragic poetry. Most certainly, there is no portion of +Classical literature so purifying as the Greek Drama. And yet, the +pleasurable emotions are rarely awakened by it. Righteousness and justice +determine the movement of the plot, and conduct to the catastrophe; and +the persons and forms that move across the stage are, not Venus and the +Graces but, + + "ghostly Shapes + To meet at noontide; Death the Skeleton + And Time the Shadow." + +All literature that tends upward contains the tragic element; and all +literature that tends downward rejects it. Ćschylus and Dante assume a +world of retribution, and employ for the purposes of poetry the fear it +awakens. Lucretius and Voltaire would disprove the existence of such a +solemn world, and they make no use of such an emotion.] + +[Footnote 2: WORDSWORTH: Intimations of Immortality.] + +[Footnote 3: LUCRETIUS: De Rerum Natura, III. 989 sq.; V. 1160 sq.] + +[Footnote 4: BATES: Discourse of the Fear of God.] + +[Footnote 5: "Praise be to Thee, glory to Thee, O Fountain of mercies: I +was becoming more miserable and Thou becoming nearer, Thy right hand was +continually ready to pluck me out of the mire, and to wash me thoroughly, +and I knew it not; nor did anything call me back from a yet deeper gulf +of carnal pleasures, but _the fear of death, and of Thy judgment to +come_; which, amid all my changes, never departed from my breast." +AUGUSTINE: Confessions, vi. 16., (Shedd's Ed., p. 142.)] + +[Footnote 6: "Si te luxuria tentat, objice tibi memoriam mortis tuae, +propone tibi futuruin judicium, reduc ad memoriam futura tormenta, +propone tibi acterna supplicia; et etiaim propone aute oculos tuos +perpetuosignes infernorum; propone tibi horribiles poenas gehennae. +Memoria ardoris gehennae extinguat in te ardorem luxuriane." + +BERNARD: De Modo Bene Vivendi. Sermo lxvii.] + +[Footnote 7: BAXTER (Narrative, Part I.) remarks "that fear, being an +easier and irresistible passion, doth oft obscure that measure of love +which is indeed within us; and that the soul of a believer groweth up by +degrees from the more troublesome and safe operation of fear, to the more +high and excellent operations of complacential love."] + +[Footnote 8: "Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy +nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy +mother an Hittite. Thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing +of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee +and saw thee polluted in thy own blood, I said unto thee when, thou wast +in thy blood, Live; yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, +Live." Ezekiel xvi. 1, 5, 6.] + + + + + +THE PRESENT LIFE AS RELATED TO THE FUTURE. + +LUKE xvi. 25.--"And Abraham said, Son remember that thou in thy lifetime +receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he +is comforted, and thou art tormented." + + +The parable of Dives and Lazarus is one of the most solemn passages in +the whole Revelation of God. In it, our Lord gives very definite +statements concerning the condition of those who have departed this life. +It makes no practical difference, whether we assume that this was a real +occurrence, or only an imaginary one,--whether there actually was such a +particular rich man as Dives, and such a particular beggar as Lazarus, or +whether the narrative was invented by Christ for the purpose of conveying +the instruction which he desired to give. The instruction is given in +either case; and it is the instruction with which we are concerned. Be +it a parable, or be it a historical fact, our Lord here teaches, in a +manner not to be disputed, that a man who seeks enjoyment in this life as +his chief end shall suffer torments in the next life, and that he who +endures suffering in this life for righteousness' sake shall dwell in +paradise in the next,--that he who finds his life here shall lose his +life hereafter, and that he who loses his life here shall find it here +after. + +For, we cannot for a moment suppose that such a Being as Jesus Christ +merely intended to play upon the fears of men, in putting forth such a +picture as this. He knew that this narrative would be read by thousands +and millions of mankind; that they would take it from His lips as +absolute truth; that they would inevitably infer from it, that the souls +of men do verily live after death, that some of them are in bliss and +some of them are in pain, and that the difference between them is due to +the difference in the lives which they lead here upon earth. Now, if +Christ was ignorant upon these subjects, He had no right to make such +representations and to give such impressions, even through a merely +imaginary narrative. And still less could He be justified in so doing, +if, being perfectly informed upon the subject, He knew that there is no +such place as that in which He puts the luxurious Dives, and no such +impassable gulf as that of which He speaks. It will not do, here, to +employ the Jesuitical maxim that the end justifies the means, and say, as +some teachers have said, that the wholesome impression that will be made +upon the vicious and the profligate justifies an appeal to their fears, +by preaching the doctrine of endless retribution, although there is no +such thing. This was a fatal error in the teachings of Clement of +Alexandria, and Origen. "God threatens,"--said they,--"and punishes, but +only to improve, never for purposes of retribution; and though, in public +discourse, the fruitlessness of repentance after death be asserted, yet +hereafter not only those who have not heard of Christ will receive +forgiveness, but the severer punishment which befalls the obstinate +unbelievers will, it may be hoped, not be the conclusion of their +history."[1] But can we suppose that such a sincere, such a truthful and +such a holy Being as the Son of God would stoop to any such artifice as +this? that He who called Himself The Truth would employ a lie, either +directly or indirectly, even to promote the spiritual welfare of men? He +never spake for mere sensation. The fact, then, that in this solemn +passage of Scripture we find the Redeemer calmly describing and minutely +picturing the condition of two persons in the future world, distinctly +specifying the points of difference between them, putting words into +their mouths that indicate a sad and hopeless experience in one of them, +and a glad and happy one in the other of them,--the fact that in this +treatment of the awful theme our Lord, beyond all controversy, _conveys +the impression_ that these scenes and experiences are real and true,--is +one of the strongest of all proofs that they are so. + +The reader of Dante's Inferno is always struck with the sincerity and +realism of that poem. Under the delineation of that luminous, and that +intense understanding, hell has a topographic reality. We wind along down +those nine circles as down a volcanic crater, black, jagged, precipitous, +and impinging upon the senses at every step. The sighs and shrieks jar +our own tympanum; and the convulsions of the lost excite tremors in our +own nerves. No wonder that the children in the streets of Florence, as +they saw the sad and earnest man pass along, his face lined with passion +and his brow scarred with thought, pointed at him and said: "There goes +the man who has been in hell." But how infinitely more solemn is the +impression that is made by these thirteen short verses, of the sixteenth +chapter of Luke's gospel, from the lips of such a Being as Jesus Christ! +We have here the terse and pregnant teachings of one who, in the phrase +of the early Creed, not only "descended into hell," but who "hath the +keys of death and hell." We have here not the utterances of the most +truthful, and the most earnest of all human poets,--a man who, we may +believe, felt deeply the power of the Hebrew Bible, though living in a +dark age, and a superstitious Church,--we have here the utterances of the +Son of God, very God, of very God, and we may be certain that He intended +to convey no impression that will not be made good in the world to come. +And when every eye shall see Him, and all the sinful kindreds of the +earth shall wail because of Him, there will not be any eye that can look +into His and say: "Thy description, O Son of God, was overdrawn; the +impression was greater than the reality." On the contrary, every human +soul will say in the day of judgment: "We were forewarned; the statements +were exact; even according to Thy fear, so is Thy wrath" (Ps. xc. 11). + +But what is the lesson which we are to read by this clear and solemn +light? What would our merciful Redeemer have us learn from this passage +which He has caused to be recorded for our instruction? Let us listen +with a candid and a feeling heart, because it comes to us not from an +enemy of the human soul, not from a Being who delights to cast it into +hell, but from a friend of the soul; because it comes to us from One who, +in His own person and in His own flesh, suffered an anguish superior +in dignity and equal in cancelling power to the pains of all the hells, +in order that we, through repentance and faith, might be spared their +infliction. + +The lesson is this: _The man who seeks enjoyment in this life, as his +chief end, must suffer in the next life; and he who endures suffering in +this life, for righteousness' sake, shall be happy in the next._ "Son, +remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and +likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art +tormented." + +It is a fixed principle in the Divine administration, that the scales of +justice shall in the end be made equal. If, therefore, sin enjoys in this +world, it must sorrow in the next; and if righteousness sorrows in this +world, it must enjoy in the next. The experience shall be reversed, in +order to bring everything to a right position and adjustment. This is +everywhere taught in the Bible. "Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have +received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall +hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Blessed +are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep +now; for ye shall laugh" (Luke vi. 21, 24, 25). These are the explicit +declarations of the Founder of Christianity, and they ought not to +surprise us, coming as they do from Him who expressly declares that His +kingdom is not of this world; that in this world His disciples must have +tribulation, as He had; that through much tribulation they must enter +into the kingdom of God; that whosoever doth not take up the cross daily, +and follow Him, cannot be His disciple. + +Let us notice some particulars, in which we see the operation of this +principle. What are the "good things" which Dives receives here, for +which he must be "tormented" hereafter? and what are the "evil things" +which Lazarus receives in this world, for which he will be "comforted" in +the world to come? + +I. In the first place, the worldly man _derives a more intense physical +enjoyment_ from this world's goods, than does the child of God. He +possesses more of them, and gives himself up to them with less +self-restraint. The majority of those who have been most prospered by +Divine Providence in the accumulation of wealth have been outside of the +kingdom and the ark of God. Not many rich and not many noble are called. +In the past history of mankind, the great possessions and the great +incomes, as a general rule, have not been in the hands of humble and +penitent men. In the great centres of trade and commerce,--in Venice, +Amsterdam, Paris, London,--it is the world and not the people of God who +have had the purse, and have borne what is put therein. Satan is described +in Scripture, as the "prince of this world" (John xiv. 30); and his words +addressed to the Son of God are true: "All this power and glory is +delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it." In the parable +from which we are discoursing, the sinful man was the rich man, and the +child of God was the beggar. And how often do we see, in every-day +life, a faithful, prayerful, upright, and pure-minded man, toiling in +poverty, and so far as earthly comforts are concerned enjoying little or +nothing, while a selfish, pleasure-seeking, and profligate man is +immersed in physical comforts and luxuries. The former is receiving evil +things, and the latter is receiving good things, in this life. + +Again, how often it happens that a fine physical constitution, health, +strength, and vigor, are given to the worldling, and are denied to the +child of God. The possession of worldly good is greatly enhanced in +value, by a fine capability of enjoying it. When therefore we see wealth +joined, with health, and luxury in all the surroundings and appointments +combined with taste to appreciate them and a full flow of blood to enjoy +them, or access to wide and influential circles, in politics and fashion, +given to one who is well fitted by personal qualities to move in +them,--when we see a happy adaptation existing between the man and his +good fortune, as we call it,--we see not only the "good things," but the +"good things" in their gayest and most attractive forms and colors. And +how often is all this observed in the instance of the natural man; and +how often is there little or none of this in the instance of the +spiritual man. We by no means imply, that it is impossible for the +possessor of this world's goods to love mercy, to do justly, and to walk +humbly; and we are well aware that under the garb of poverty and toil +there may beat a murmuring and rebellious heart. But we think that from +generation to generation, in this imperfect and probationary world, it +will be found to be a fact, that when _merely_ earthly and physical good +is allotted in large amounts by the providence of God; that when great +incomes and ample means of luxury are given; in the majority of instances +they are given to the enemies of God, and not to His dear children. So +the Psalmist seems to have thought. "I was envious,"--he says,--"when I +saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death; +but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither +are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as +a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with +fatness; they have more than heart could wish. Behold these are the +_ungodly_ who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily _I_ +have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all +day long have _I_ been plagued, and chastened every morning" (Ps. +lxxiii). And it should be carefully noticed, that the Psalmist, even +after further reflection, does not _alter_ his statement respecting the +relative positions of the godly and the ungodly in this world. He sees no +reason to correct his estimate, upon this point. He lets it stand. So far +as this merely _physical_ existence is concerned, the wicked man has the +advantage. It is only when the Psalmist looks _beyond_ this life, that he +sees the compensation, and the balancing again of the scales of eternal +right and justice. "When I thought to know this,"--when I reflected upon +this inequality, and apparent injustice, in the treatment of the friends +and the enemies of God,--"it was too painful for me, until I went into +the sanctuary of God,"--until I took my stand in the _eternal_ world, and +formed my estimate there,--"_then_ understood I their end. Surely thou +didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down to +destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment! They +are utterly consumed with terrors." Dives passes from his fine linen and +sumptuous fare, from his excessive physical enjoyment, to everlasting +perdition. + +II. In the second place, the worldly man _derives more enjoyment from +sin, and suffers less from it_, in this life, than does the child of God. +The really renewed man cannot _enjoy_ sin. It is true that he does sin, +owing to the strength of old habits, and the remainders of his +corruption. But he does not really delight in it; and he says with St. +Paul: "What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." His sin +is a sorrow, a constant sorrow, to him. He feels its pressure and burden +all his days, and cries: "O wretched man, who shall deliver me from the +body of this death." If he falls into it, he cannot live in it; as a man +may fall into water, but it is not his natural element. + +Again, the good man not only takes no real delight in sin, but his +reflections after transgression are very painful. He has a tender +conscience. His senses have been trained and disciplined to discern good +and evil. Hence, the sins that are committed by a child of God are +mourned over with a very deep sorrow. The longer he lives, the more +odious does sin become to him, and the more keen and bitter is his +lamentation over it. Now this, in itself, is an "evil thing." Man was not +made for sorrow, and sorrow is not his natural condition. This wearisome +struggle with indwelling corruption, these reproaches of an impartial +conscience, this sense of imperfection and of constant failure in the +service of God,--all this renders the believer's life on earth a season +of trial, and tribulation. The thought of its lasting forever would be +painful to him; and if he should be told that it is the will of God, that +he should continue to be vexed and foiled through all eternity, with the +motions of sin in his members, and that his love and obedience would +forever be imperfect, though he would be thankful that even this was +granted him, and that he was not utterly cast off, yet he would wear a +shaded brow, at the prospect of an imperfect, though a sincere and a +struggling eternity. + +But the ungodly are not so. The worldly man loves sin; loves pleasure; +loves self. And the love is so strong, and accompanied with so much +enjoyment and zest, that it is _lust_, and is so denominated in the +Bible. And if you would only defend him from the wrath of God; if you +would warrant him immunity in doing as he likes; if you could shelter him +as in an inaccessible castle from the retributions of eternity; with what +a delirium of pleasure would he plunge into the sin that he loves. Tell +the avaricious man, that his avarice shall never have any evil +consequences here or hereafter; and with what an energy would he apply +himself to the acquisition of wealth. Tell the luxurious man, full of +passion and full of blood, that his pleasures shall never bring down any +evil upon him, that there is no power in the universe that can hurt him, +and with what an abandonment would he surrender himself to his carnal +elysium. Tell the ambitious man, fired with visions of fame and glory, +that he may banish all fears of a final account, that he may make himself +his own deity, and breathe in the incense of worshipers, without any +rebuke from Him who says: "I am God, and my glory I will not give to +another,"-assure the proud and ambitious man that his sin will never find +him out, and with what a momentum will he follow out his inclination. +For, in each of these instances there is a _hankering_ and a _lust_. The +sin is _loved and revelled in_, for its own deliciousness. The heart is +worldly, and therefore finds its pleasure in its forbidden objects and +aims. The instant you propose to check or thwart this inclination; the +instant you try to detach this natural heart from its wealth, or its +pleasure, or its earthly fame; you discover how closely it clings, and +how strongly it loves, and how intensely it enjoys the forbidden object. +Like the greedy insect in our gardens, it has fed until every fibre and +tissue is colored with its food; and to remove it from the leaf is to +tear and lacerate it. + +Now it is for this reason, that the natural man receives "good things," +or experiences pleasure, in this life, at a point where the spiritual man +receives "evil things," or experiences pain. The child of God does not +relish and enjoy sin in this style. Sin in the good man is a burden; but +in the bad man it is a pleasure. It is all the pleasure he has. And when +you propose to take it away from him, or when you ask him to give it up +of his own accord, he looks at you and asks: "Will you take away the only +solace I have? I have no joy in God. I take no enjoyment in divine +things. Do you ask me to make myself wholly miserable?" + +And not only does the natural man enjoy sin, but, in this life, he is +much less troubled than is the spiritual man with reflections and +self-reproaches on account of sin. This is another of the "good things" +which Dives receives, for which he must be "tormented;" and this is +another of the "evil things" which Lazarus receives, for which he must +be "comforted." It cannot be denied, that in this world the child of God +suffers more mental sorrow for sin, in a given period of time, than does +the insensible man of the world. If we could look into the soul of a +faithful disciple of Christ, we should discover that not a day passes, in +which his conscience does not reproach him for sins of thought, word, or +deed; in which he does not struggle with some bosom sin, until he is so +weary that he cries out: "Oh that I had wings like a dove, so that I +might fly away, and be at rest." Some of the most exemplary members of +the Church go mourning from day to day, because their hearts are still so +far from their God and Saviour, and their lives fall so far short of what +they desire them to be.[2] Their experience is not a positively wretched +one, like that of an unforgiven sinner when he is feeling the stings of +conscience. They are forgiven. The expiating blood has soothed the +ulcerated conscience, so that it no longer stings and burns. They have +hope in God's mercy. Still, they are in grief and sorrow for sin; and +their experience, in so far, is not a perfectly happy one, such as will +ultimately be their portion in a better world. "If in this life +only,"--says St. Paul,--"we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most +miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 19). + +But the stupid and impenitent man, a luxurious Dives, knows nothing of +all this. His days glide by with no twinges of conscience. What does he +know of the burden of sin? His conscience is dead asleep; perchance +seared as with a hot iron. He does wrong without any remorse; he disobeys +the express commands of God, without any misgivings or self-reproach. He +is "alive, without the law,"-as St. Paul expresses it. His eyes stand out +with fatness; and his heart, in the Psalmist's phrase, "is as fat as +grease" (Ps. cxix. 70). There is no religious sensibility in him. His sin +is a pleasure to him without any mixture of sorrow, because unattended by +any remorse of conscience. He is receiving his "good things" in this +life. His days pass by without any moral anxiety, and perchance as he +looks upon some meek and earnest disciple of Christ who is battling with +indwelling sin, and who, therefore, sometimes wears a grave countenance, +he wonders that any one should walk so soberly, so gloomily, in such a +cheery, such a happy, such a jolly world as this. + +It is a startling fact, that those men in this world who have most reason +to be distressed by sin are the least troubled by it; and those who have +the least reason to be distressed are the most troubled by it. The child +of God is the one who sorrows most; and the child of Satan is the one who +sorrows least. Remember that we are speaking only of _this_ life. The +text reads: "Thou _in thy lifetime_ receivedst thy good things, and +likewise Lazarus evil things." And it is unquestionably so. The meek and +lowly disciple of Christ, the one who is most entitled by his character +and conduct to be untroubled by religious anxiety, is the very one who +bows his head as a bulrush, and perhaps goes mourning all his days, +fearing that he is not accepted, and that he shall be a cast-a-way; while +the selfish and thoroughly irreligious man, who ought to be stung through +and through by his own conscience, and feel the full energy of the law +which he is continually breaking,--this man, who of all men ought to be +anxious and distressed for sin, goes through a whole lifetime, perchance, +without any convictions or any fears. + +And now we ask, if this state of things ought to last forever? Is it +right, is it just, that sin should enjoy in this style forever and +forever, and that holiness should grieve and sorrow in this style +forevermore? Would you have the Almighty pay a bounty upon +unrighteousness, and place goodness under eternal pains and penalties? +Ought not this state of things to be reversed? When Dives comes to the +end of this lifetime; when he has run his round of earthly pleasure, +faring sumptuously every day, clothed in purple and fine linen, without a +thought of his duties and obligations, and without any anxiety and +penitence for his sins,--when this worldly man has received all his "good +things," and is satiated and hardened by them, ought he not then to be +"tormented?" Ought this guilty carnal enjoyment to be perpetuated through +all eternity, under the government of a righteous and just God? And, on +the other hand, ought not the faithful disciple, who, perhaps, has +possessed little or nothing of this world's goods, who has toiled hard, +in poverty, in affliction, in temptation, in tribulation, and sometimes +like Abraham in the horror of a great darkness, to keep his robes white, +and his soul unspotted from the world,--when the poor and weary Lazarus +comes to the end of this lifetime, ought not his trials and sorrows to +cease? ought he not then to be "comforted" in the bosom of Abraham, in +the paradise of God? There is that within us all, which answers, Yea, and +Amen. Such a balancing of the scales is assented to, and demanded by the +moral convictions. Hence, in the parable, Dives himself is represented as +acquiescing in the eternal judgment. He does not complain of injustice. +It is true, that at first he asks for a drop of water,--for some slight +mitigation of his punishment. This is the instinctive request of any +sufferer. But when his attention is directed to the right and the wrong +of the case; when Abraham reminds him of the principles of justice by +which his destiny has been decided; when he tells him that having taken +his choice of pleasure in the world which he has left, he cannot now have +pleasure in the world to which he has come; the wretched man makes no +reply. There is nothing to be said. He feels that the procedure is just. +He is then silent upon the subject of his own tortures, and only begs +that his five brethren, whose lifetime is not yet run out, to whom there +is still a space left for repentance, may be warned from his own lips not +to do as he has done,--not to choose pleasure on earth as their chief +good; not to take their "good things" in this life. Dives, the man in +hell, is a witness to the justice of eternal punishment. + +1. In view of this subject, as thus discussed, we remark in the first +place, that no man can have his "good things," in other words, his chief +pleasure, in _both_ worlds. God and this world are in antagonism. "For +all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, +and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. If any +man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John i. 15, +16). It is the height of folly, therefore, to suppose that a man can make +earthly enjoyment his chief end while he is upon earth, and then pass to +heaven when he dies. Just so far as he holds on upon the "good things" of +this life, he relaxes his grasp upon the "good things" of the next. No +man is capacious enough to hold both worlds in his embrace. He cannot +serve God and Mammon. Look at this as a _matter of fact_. Do not take it +as a theory of the preacher. It is as plain and certain that you cannot +lay up your treasure in heaven while you are laying it up upon earth, +as it is that your material bodies cannot occupy two portions of space at +one and the same time. Dismiss, therefore, all expectations of being able +to accomplish an impossibility. Put not your mind to sleep with the +opiate, that in some inexplicable manner you will be able to live the +life of a worldly man upon earth, and then the life of a spiritual man in +heaven. There is no alchemy that can amalgamate substances that refuse to +mix. No man has ever yet succeeded, no man ever will succeed, in securing +both the pleasures of sin and the pleasures of holiness,--in living the +life of Dives, and then going to the bosom of Abraham. + +2. And this leads to the second remark, that every man must _make his +choice_ whether he will have his "good things" now, or hereafter. Every +man is making his choice. Every man has already made it. The heart is now +set either upon God, or upon the world. Search through the globe, and +you cannot find a creature with double affections; a creature with _two_ +chief ends of living; a creature whose treasure is both upon earth and in +heaven. All mankind are single-minded. They either mind earthly things, +or heavenly things. They are inspired with one predominant purpose, which +rules them, determines their character, and decides their destiny. And +in all who have not been renewed by Divine grace, the purpose is a wrong +one, a false and fatal one. It is the choice and the purpose of Dives, +and not the choice and purpose of Lazarus. + +3. Hence, we remark in the third place, that it is the duty and the +wisdom of every man to let this world go, and seek his "good things" +_hereafter_. Our Lord commands every man to sit down, like the steward in +the parable, and make an estimate. He enjoins it upon every man to reckon +up the advantages upon each side, and see for himself which is superior. +He asks every man what it will profit him, "if he shall gain the whole +world and lose his own soul; or, what he shall give in exchange for his +soul." We urge you to make this estimate,--to compare the "good things" +which Dives enjoyed, with the "torments" that followed them; and the +"evil things" which Lazarus suffered, with the "comfort" that succeeded +them. There can be no doubt upon which side the balance will fall. And we +urge you to take the "evil things" _now_, and the "good things" +_hereafter_. We entreat you to copy the example of Moses at the court of +the Pharaohs, and in the midst of all regal luxury, who "chose rather to +suffer affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin +for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the +treasures in Egypt: _for he had respect unto the recompense of reward_." +Take the _narrow_ way. What though it be strait and narrow; you are not +to walk in it forever. A few short years of fidelity will end the +toilsome pilgrimage; and then you will come put into a "wealthy place." +We might tell you of the _joys_ of the Christian life that are mingled +with its trials and sorrows even here upon earth. For, this race to which +we invite you, and this fight to which we call you have their own +peculiar, solemn, substantial joy. And even their sorrow is tinged with +glory. In a higher, truer sense than Protesilaus in the poem says it of +the pagan elysium, we may say even of the Christian race, and the +Christian fight, + + "Calm pleasures there abide--_majestic pains_."[3] + +But we do not care, at this point, to influence you by a consideration of +the amount of enjoyment, in _this_ life, which you will derive from a +close and humble walk with God. We prefer to put the case in its baldest +form,--in the aspect in which we find it in our text. We will say nothing +at all about the happiness of a Christian life, here in time. We will +talk only of its tribulations. We will only say, as in the parable, that +there are "evil things" to be endured here upon earth, in return for +which we shall have "good things" in another life. There is to be a +moderate and sober use of this world's goods; there is to be a searching +sense of sin, and an humble confession of it before God; there is to +be a cross-bearing every day, and a struggle with indwelling corruption. +These will cost effort, watchfulness, and earnest prayer for Divine +assistance. We do not invite you into the kingdom of God, without telling +you frankly and plainly beforehand what must be done, and what must be +suffered. But having told you this, we then tell you with the utmost +confidence and assurance, that you will be infinitely repaid for your +choice, if you take your "evil things" in this life, and choose your +"good things" in a future. We know, and are certain, that this light +affliction which endures but for a moment, in comparison with the +infinite duration beyond the tomb, will work out a far more exceeding and +eternal weight of glory. We entreat you to look no longer at the things +which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things that +are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. + +Learn a parable from a wounded soldier. His limb must be amputated, for +mortification and gangrene have begun their work. He is told that the +surgical operation, which will last a half hour, will yield him twenty or +forty years of healthy and active life. The endurance of an "evil thing," +for a few moments, will result in the possession of a "good thing," for +many long days and years. He holds out the limb, and submits to the +knife. He accepts the inevitable conditions under which he finds himself. +He is resolute and stern, in order to secure a great good, in the future. + +It is the practice of this same _principle_, though not in the use of the +same kind of power, that we would urge upon you. _Look up to God for +grace and help_, and deliberately forego a present advantage, for the +sake of something infinitely more valuable hereafter. Do not, for the +sake of the temporary enjoyment of Dives, lose the eternal happiness of +Lazarus. Rather, take the place, and accept the "evil things," of the +beggar. _Look up to God for grace and strength_ to do it, and then live +a life of contrition for sin, and faith in Christ's blood. Deny yourself, +and take up the cross daily. Expect your happiness _hereafter_. Lay up +your treasure _above_. Then, in the deciding day, it will be said of you, +as it will be of all the true children of God: "These are they which came +out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them +white in the blood of the Lamb." + + +[Footnote 1: SHEDD: History of Doctrine, II., 234 sq.] + +[Footnote 2: The early religious experience of John Owen furnishes a +striking illustration. "For a quarter of a year, he avoided almost all +intercourse with men; could scarcely be induced to speak; and when he did +say anything, it was in so disordered a manner as rendered him a wonder +to many. Only those who have experienced the bitterness of a wounded +spirit can form an idea of the distress he must have suffered. Compared +with this anguish of soul, all the afflictions which befall a sinner [on +earth] are trifles. One drop of that wrath which shall finally fill the +cup of the ungodly, poured into the mind, is enough to poison all the +comforts of life, and to spread mourning, lamentation, and woe over the +countenance. Though the violence of Owen's convictions had subsided after +the first severe conflict, they still continued to disturb his peace, and +nearly five years elapsed from their commencement before he obtained +solid comfort." ORME: Life of Owen, Chap. I.] + +[Footnote 3: WORDSWORTH: Laodamia.] + + + + +THE EXERCISE OF MERCY OPTIONAL WITH GOD. + +ROMANS ix. 15.--"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will +have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." + + +This is a part of the description which God himself gave to Moses, of His +own nature and attributes. The Hebrew legislator had said to Jehovah: "I +beseech thee show me thy glory." He desired a clear understanding of the +character of that Great Being, under whose guidance he was commissioned +to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. God said to him in +reply: "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim +the name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will +be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy."[1] + +By this, God revealed to Moses, and through him to all mankind, the fact +that He is a merciful being, and directs attention to one particular +characteristic of mercy. While informing His servant, that He +is gracious and clement towards a penitent transgressor, He at the same +time teaches him that He is under no obligation, or necessity, to shew +mercy. Grace is not a debt. "I will have mercy on whom I _will_ have +mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I _will_ have compassion." + +The apostle Paul quotes this declaration, to shut the mouth of him who +would set up a claim to salvation; who is too proud to beg for it, +and accept it as a free and unmerited favor from God. In so doing, he +endorses the sentiment. The inspiration of his Epistle corroborates that +of the Pentateuch, so that we have assurance made doubly sure, that this +is the correct enunciation of the nature of mercy. Let us look into this +hope-inspiring attribute of God, under the guidance of this text. + +The great question that presses upon the human mind, from age to age, is +the inquiry: Is God a merciful Being, and will He show mercy? Living +as we do under the light of Revelation, we know little of the doubts and +fears that spontaneously rise in the guilty human soul, when it is left +solely to the light of nature to answer it. With the Bible in our hands, +and hearing the good news of Redemption from our earliest years, it seems +to be a matter of course that the Deity should pardon sin. Nay, a certain +class of men in Christendom seem to have come to the opinion that it is +more difficult to prove that God is just, than to prove that He is +merciful.[2] But this is not the thought and feeling of man when outside +of the pale of Revelation. Go into the ancient pagan world, examine the +theologizing of the Greek and Roman mind, and you will discover that the +fears of the justice far outnumbered the hopes of the mercy; that Plato +and Plutarch and Cicero and Tacitus were far more certain that God would +punish sin, than that He would, pardon it. This is the reason that there +is no light, or joy, in any of the pagan religions. Except when religion +was converted into the worship of Beauty, as in the instance of the later +Greek, and all the solemn and truthful ideas of law and justice were +eliminated from it, every one of the natural religions of the globe is +filled with sombre and gloomy hues, and no others. The truest and best +religions of the ancient world were always the sternest and saddest, +because the unaided human mind is certain that God is just, but is not +certain that He is merciful. When man is outside of Revelation, it is by +no means a matter of course that God is clement, and that sin shall be +forgiven. Great uncertainty overhangs the doctrine of the Divine mercy, +from the position of natural religion, and it is only within the province +of revealed truth that the uncertainty is removed. Apart from a distinct +and direct _promise_ from the lips of God Himself that He will forgive +sin, no human creature can be sure that sin will ever be forgiven. Let +us, therefore, look into the subject carefully, and see the reason why +man, if left to himself and his spontaneous reflections, doubts whether +there is mercy in the Holy One for a transgressor, and fears that there +is none, and why a special revelation is consequently required, to dispel +the doubt and the fear. + +The reason lies in the fact, implied in the text, that _the exercise of +justice is necessary, while that of mercy is optional_. "I will have +mercy on whom I _please_ to have mercy, and I will have compassion on +whom I _please_ to have compassion." It is a principle inlaid in the +structure of the human soul, that the transgression of law _must_ be +visited with retribution. The pagan conscience, as well as the Christian, +testifies that "the Soul that sinneth it shall die." There is no need of +quoting from pagan philosophers to prove this. We should be compelled +to cite page after page, should we enter upon the documentary evidence. +Take such a tract, for example, as that of Plutarch, upon what he +denominates "the slow vengeance of the Deity;" read the reasons which he +assigns for the apparent delay, in this world, of the infliction of +punishment upon transgressors; and you will perceive that the human +mind, when left to its candid and unbiassed convictions, is certain that +God is a holy Being and will visit iniquity with penalty. Throughout this +entire treatise, composed by a man who probably never saw the Scriptures +of either the New or the Old Dispensation, there runs a solemn and deep +consciousness that the Deity is necessarily obliged, by the principles of +justice, to mete out a retribution to the violator of law. Plutarch is +engaged with the very same question that the apostle Peter takes up, in +his second Epistle, when he answers the objection of the scoffer who +asks: Where is the promise of God's coming in judgment? The apostle +replies to it, by saying that for the Eternal Mind one day is as a +thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, and that therefore "the +Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness;" +and Plutarch answers it in a different manner, but assumes and affirms +with the same positiveness and certainty that the vengeance will +_ultimately come_. No reader of this treatise can doubt for a moment, +that its author believed in the future punishment of the wicked,--and in +the future _endless_ punishment of the incorrigibly wicked, because there +is not the slightest hint or expectation of any exercise of mercy on the +part of this Divinity whose vengeance, though slow, is sure and +inevitable.[3] Some theorists tell us that the doctrine of endless +punishment contradicts the instincts of the natural reason, and that it +has no foundation in the constitution of the human soul. We invite them +to read and ponder well, the speculations of one of the most thoughtful +of pagans upon this subject, and tell us if they see any streaks or rays +of light in it; if they see any inkling, any jot or tittle, of the +doctrine of the Divine pity there. We challenge them to discover in this +tract of Plutarch the slightest token, or sign, of the Divine mercy. The +author believes in a hell for the wicked, and an elysium for the good; +but those who go to hell go there upon principles of _justice_, and those +who go to elysium go there upon the _same_ principles. It is justice that +must place men in Tartarus, and it is justice that must place them in +Elysium. In paganism, men must earn their heaven. The idea of +_mercy_,--of clemency towards a transgressor, of pity towards a +criminal,--is entirely foreign to the thoughts of Plutarch, so far as +they can be gathered from this tract. It is the clear and terrible +doctrine of the pagan sage, that unless a man can make good his claim to +eternal happiness upon the ground of law and justice,--unless he merits +it by good works,--there is no hope for him in the other world. + +The idea of a forgiving and tender mercy in the Supreme Being, exercised +towards a creature whom justice would send to eternal retribution, +nowhere appears in the best pagan ethics. And why should it? What +evidence or proof has the human mind, apart from the revelations made to +it in the Old and New Testaments, that God will ever forgive sin, or ever +show mercy? In thinking upon the subject, our reason perceives, +intuitively, that God must of necessity punish transgression; and it +perceives with equal intuitiveness that there is no corresponding +necessity that He should pardon it. We say with confidence and +positiveness: "God must be just;" but we cannot say with any certainty +or confidence at all: "God must be merciful." The Divine mercy is an +attribute which is perfectly free and optional, in its exercises, and +therefore we cannot tell beforehand whether it will or will not be shown +to transgressors. We know nothing at all about it, until we hear some +word from the lips of God Himself upon the point. When He opens the +heavens, and speaks in a clear tone to the human race, saying, "I will +forgive your iniquities," then, and not till then, do they know the fact. +In reference to all those procedures which, like the punishment of +transgression, are fixed and necessary, because they are founded in the +eternal principles of law and justice, we can tell beforehand what the +Divine method will be. We do not need any special revelation, to inform +us that God is a just Being, and that His anger is kindled against +wickedness, and that He will punish the transgressor. This class of +truths, the Apostle informs us, are written in the human constitution, +and we have already seen that they were known and dreaded in the pagan +world. That which God _must_ do, He certainly will do. He _must_ be just, +and therefore He certainly will punish sin, is the reasoning of the human +mind, the-world over, and in every age.[4] + +But, when we pass from the punishment of sin to the pardon of it, when we +go over to the merciful side of the Divine Nature, we can come to no +_certain_ conclusions, if we are shut up to the workings of our own +minds, or to the teachings of the world of nature about us. Picture to +yourself a thoughtful pagan, like Solon the legislator of Athens, living +in the heart of heathenism five centuries before Christ, and knowing +nothing of the promise of mercy which broke faintly through the heavens +immediately after the apostasy of the first human pair, and which found +its full and victorious utterance in the streaming, blood of Calvary. +Suppose that the accusing and condemning law written, upon his conscience +had shown its work, and made him conscious of sin. Suppose that the +question had risen within him, whether that Dread Being whom he +"ignorantly worshipped," and against whom he had committed the offence, +would forgive it; was there anything in his own soul, was there anything +in the world around him or above him, that could give him an affirmative +answer? The instant he put the question: Will God _punish_ me for my +transgression? the affirming voices were instantaneous and authoritative. +"The soul that sinneth it shall die" was the verdict that came forth from +the recesses of his moral nature, and was echoed and re-echoed in the +suffering, pain, and physical death of a miserable and groaning world +all around him. But when he put the other question to himself: Will the +Deity _pardon_ me for my transgression? there was no affirmative answer +from any source of knowledge accessible to him. If he sought a reply from +the depths of his own conscience, all that he could hear was the terrible +utterance: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." The human conscience can +no more promise, or certify, the forgiveness of sin, than the ten +commandments can do so. When, therefore, this pagan, convicted of sin, +seeks a comforting answer to his anxious inquiry respecting the Divine +clemency towards a criminal, he is met only with retributive thunders and +lightnings; he hears only that accusing and condemning law which is +written on the heart, and experiences that fearful looking-for of +judgment and fiery indignation which St. Paul describes, in the first +chapter of Romans, as working in the mind of the universal pagan world. + +But we need not go to Solon, and the pagan world, for evidence upon this +subject. Why is it that a convicted man under the full light of the +gospel, and with the unambiguous and explicit promise of God to forgive +sins ringing in his ears,--why is it, that even under these favorable +circumstances a guilt-smitten man finds it so difficult to believe that +there is mercy for him, and to trust in it? Nay, why is it that he finds +it impossible fully to believe that Jehovah is a sin-pardoning God, +unless he is enabled so to do by the Holy Ghost? It is because he knows +that God is under a necessity of punishing his sin, but is under no +necessity of pardoning it. The very same judicial principles are +operating in his mind that operate in that of a pagan Solon, or any other +transgressor outside of the revelation of mercy. That which holds back +the convicted sinner from casting himself upon the Divine pity is the +perception that God must be just. This fact is certain, whether anything +else is certain or not. And it is not until he perceives that God can be +_both_ just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; it is not +until he sees that, through the substituted sufferings of Christ, God can +_punish_ sin while at the same time He _pardons_ it,--can punish it in +the Substitute while He pardons it in the sinner,--it is not until he is +enabled to apprehend the doctrine of _vicarious_ atonement, that his +doubts and fears respecting the possibility and reality of the Divine +mercy are removed. The instant he discovers that the exercise of pardon +is rendered entirely consistent with the justice of God, by the +substituted death of the Son of God, he sees the Divine mercy, and that +too in the high form of _self-sacrifice,_ and trusts in it, and is at +peace. + +These considerations are sufficient to show, that according to the +natural and spontaneous operations of the human intellect, justice +stands in the way of the exercise of mercy, and that therefore, if +man is not informed by Divine Revelation respecting this latter +attribute, he can never acquire the certainty that God will forgive his +sin. There are two very important and significant inferences from this +truth, to which we now ask serious attention. + +1. In the first place, those who deny the credibility, and Divine +authority, of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments _shut up the +whole world to doubt and despair_. For, unless God has spoken the word of +mercy in this written Revelation, He has not spoken it anywhere; and we +have seen, that unless He has spoken such a merciful word _somewhere_, no +human transgressor can be certain of anything but stark unmitigated +justice and retribution. Do you tell us that God is too good to punish +men, and that therefore it must be that He is merciful? We tell you, in +reply, that God is good when He punishes sin, and your own conscience, +like that of Plutarch, re-echoes the reply. Sin is a wicked thing, and +when the Holy One visits it with retribution, He is manifesting the +purest moral excellence and the most immaculate perfection of character +that we can conceive of. But if by goodness you mean mercy, then we say +that this is the very point in dispute, and you must not beg the point +but must prove it. And now, if you deny the authority and credibility of +the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, we ask you upon what ground +you venture to affirm that God will pardon man's sin. You cannot +demonstrate it upon any _a priori_ and necessary principles. You cannot +show that the Deity is obligated to remit the penalty due to +transgression. You can prove the necessity of the exercise of justice, +but you cannot prove the necessity of the exercise of mercy. It is purely +optional with God, whether to pardon or not. If, therefore, you cannot +establish the fact of the Divine clemency by _a priori_ reasoning,--if +you cannot make out a _necessity_ for the exercise of mercy,--you must +betake yourself to the only other method of proof that remains to you, +the method of testimony. If you have the _declaration_ and _promise_ of +God, that He will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, you may be +certain of the fact,--as certain as you would be, could you prove the +absolute necessity of the exercise of mercy. For God's promise cannot be +broken. God's testimony is sure. But, by the supposition, you deny that +this declaration has been made, and this promise has been uttered, in the +written Revelation of the Christian Church. Where then do you send me for +the information, and the testimony? Have you a private revelation of your +own? Has the Deity spoken to you in particular, and told you that He will +forgive your sin, and my sin, and that of all the generations? Unless +this declaration has been made either to you or to some other one, we +have seen that you cannot establish the _certainty_ that God will forgive +sin. It is a purely optional matter with Him, and whether He will or no +depends entirely upon His decision, determination, and declaration. If +He says that He will pardon sin, it will certainly be done. But until He +says it, you and every other man must be remanded to the inexorable +decisions of conscience which thunder out: "The soul that sinneth it +shall die." Whoever, therefore, denies that God in the Scriptures of the +Old and New Testaments has broken through the veil that hides eternity +from time, and has testified to the human race that He will forgive sin, +and has solemnly promised to do so, takes away from the human race the +only ground of certainty which they possess, that there is pity in the +heavens, and that it will be shown to sinful creatures like themselves. +But this is to shut them up again, to the doubt and hopelessness of the +pagan world,--a world without Revelation. + +2. In the second place, it follows from this subject, that mankind must +_take the declaration and promise of God, respecting the exercise of +mercy, precisely as He has given it_. They must follow the record +_implicitly_, without any criticisms or alterations. Not only does the +exercise of mercy depend entirely upon the will and pleasure of God, but, +the mode, the conditions, and the length of time during which the offer +shall be made, are all dependent upon the same sovereignty. Let us look +at these particulars one by one. + +In the first place, the _method_ by which the Divine clemency shall be +manifested, and the _conditions_ upon which the offer of forgiveness +shall be made, are matters that rest solely with God. If it is entirely +optional with Him whether to pardon at all, much more does it depend +entirely upon Him to determine the way and means. It is here that we stop +the mouth of him who objects to the doctrine of forgiveness through a +vicarious atonement. We will by no means concede, that the exhibition +of mercy through the vicarious satisfaction of justice is an optional +matter, and that God might have dispensed with such satisfaction, had +He so willed. We believe that the forgiveness of sin is possible even to +the Deity, only through a substituted sacrifice that completely satisfies +the demands of law and justice,--that without the shedding of expiating +blood there is no remission of sin possible or conceivable, under a +government of law. But, without asking the objector to come up to this +high ground, we are willing, for the sake of the argument, to go down +upon his low one; and we say, that even if the metaphysical necessity of +an atonement could not be maintained, and that it is purely optional with +God whether to employ this method or not, it would still be the duty and +wisdom of man to take the record just as it reads, and to accept the +method that has actually been adopted. If the Sovereign has a perfect +right to say whether He will or will not pardon the criminal, has He not +the same right to say _how_ He will do it? If the transgressor, upon +principles of justice, could be sentenced to endless misery, and yet the +Sovereign Judge concludes to offer him forgiveness and eternal life, +shall the criminal, the culprit who could not stand an instant in the +judgment, presume to quarrel with the method, and dictate the terms by +which his own pardon shall be secured? Even supposing, then, that there +were no _intrinsic_ necessity for the offering of an infinite sacrifice +to satisfy infinite justice, the Great God might still take the lofty +ground of sovereignty, and say to the criminal: "My will shall stand for +my reason; I decide to offer you amnesty and eternal joy, in this mode, +and upon these terms. The reasons for my method are known to myself. Take +mercy in this method, or take justice. Receive the forgiveness of sin in +this mode, or else receive the eternal and just punishment of sin. Can I +not do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?" +God is under no necessity to offer the forgiveness of sin to any criminal +upon any terms; still less is He hedged up to a method of forgiveness +prescribed by the criminal himself. + +Again, the same reasoning will apply to the _time during which the offer +of mercy shall be extended_. If it is purely optional with God, whether +He will pardon my sin at all, it is also purely optional with Him to fix +the limits within which He will exercise the act of pardon. Should He +tell me, that if I would confess and forsake my sins to-day, He would +blot them out forever, but that the gracious offer should be withdrawn +tomorrow, what conceivable ground of complaint could I discover? He is +under no necessity of extending the pardon at this moment, and neither +is He at the next, or any future one. Mercy is grace, and not debt. Now +it has pleased God, to limit the period during which the work of +Redemption shall go on. There is a point of time, for every sinful man, +at which "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin" (Heb. x. 26). The +period of Redemption is confined to earth and time; and unless the sinner +exercises repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, +before his spirit returns to God who gave it, there is no redemption for +him through eternal ages. This fact we know by the declaration and +testimony of God; in the same manner that we know that God will exercise +mercy at all, and upon any conditions whatever. We have seen that we +cannot establish the fact that the Deity will forgive sin, by any _a +priori_ reasoning, but know it only because He has spoken a word to this +effect, and given the world His promise to be gracious and merciful, +In like manner, we do not establish the fact that there will be no second +offer of forgiveness, in the future world, by any process of reasoning +from the nature of the case, or the necessity of things. We are willing +to concede to the objector, that for aught that we can see the Holy +Ghost is as able to take of the things of Christ, and show them to a +guilty soul, in the next world, as He is in this. So far as almighty +power is concerned, the Divine Spirit could convince men of sin, and +righteousness, and judgment, and incline them to repentance and faith, in +eternity as well as in time. And it is equally true, that the Divine +Spirit could have prevented the origin of sin itself, and the fall of +Adam, with the untold woes that proceed therefrom. But it is not a +question of power. It is a question of _intention_, of _determination_, +and of _testimony_ upon the part of God. And He has distinctly declared +in the written Revelation, that it is His intention to limit the +converting and saving influences of His Spirit to time and earth. He +tells the whole world unequivocally, that His spirit shall not always +strive with man, and that the day of judgment which occurs at the end of +this Dispensation of grace, is not a day of pardon but of doom. Christ's +description of the scenes that will close up this Redemptive +Economy,--the throne, the opened books, the sheep on the right hand and +the goats on the left hand, the words of the Judge: "Come ye blessed, +depart ye cursed,"--proves beyond controversy that "_now_ is the accepted +time, and _now_ is the day of salvation." The utterance of our Redeeming +God, by His servant David, is: "_To-day_ if ye will hear His voice harden +not your hearts." St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, informs the +world, that as God sware that those Israelites who did not believe and +obey His servant Moses, during their wanderings in the desert, should not +enter the earthly Canaan, so those, in any age and generation of men, who +do not believe and obey His Son Jesus Christ, during their earthly +pilgrimage, shall, by the same Divine oath, be shut out of the eternal +rest that remaineth for the people of God (Hebrews iii. 7-19). +Unbelieving men, in eternity, will be deprived of the benefits of +Christ's redemption, by the _oath_, the solemn _decision_, the judicial +_determination_ of God. For, this exercise of mercy, of which we are +speaking, is not a matter of course, and of necessity, and which +therefore continues forever and forever. It is optional. God is entirely +at liberty to pardon, or not to pardon. And He is entirely at liberty to +say when, and how, and _how long_ the offer of pardon shall be extended. +He had the power to carry the whole body of the people of Israel over +Jordan, into the promised land, but He sware that those who proved +refractory, and disobedient, during a _certain definite period of time_, +should never enter Canaan. And, by His apostle, He informs all the +generations of men, that the same principle will govern Him in respect to +the entrance into the heavenly Canaan. The limiting of the offer of +salvation to this life is not founded upon any necessity in the Divine +Nature, but, like the offer of salvation itself, depends upon the +sovereign pleasure and determination of God. That pleasure, and that +determination, have been distinctly made known in the Scriptures. We know +as clearly as we know anything revealed in the Bible, that God has +decided to pardon here in time, and not to pardon in eternity. He has +drawn a line between the present period, during which He makes salvation +possible to man, and the future period, when He will not make it +possible. And He had a right to draw that line, because mercy from first +to last is the optional, and not the obligated agency of the Supreme +Being. + +Therefore, _fear_ lest, a promise being left us of entering into His +rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto you is the +gospel preached, as well as unto those Israelites; but the word, did not +profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Neither +will it profit you, unless it is mixed with faith. God limiteth a certain +day, saying in David, "_To-day_, after so long a time,"--after these many +years of hearing and neglecting the offer of forgiveness,--"_to-day_, if +ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Labor, therefore, _now_, +to enter into that rest, lest any man fall, after the same example of +unbelief, with those Israelites whom the oath of God shut out of both the +earthly and the heavenly Canaan. + + + +[Footnote 1: Compare, also, the very full announcement of mercy as a +Divine attribute that was to be exercised, in Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7. + +This is the more noteworthy, as it occurs in connection with the giving +of the law.] + +[Footnote 2: Their creed lives in the satire of YOUNG (Universal Passion. +Satire VI.),--as full of sense, truth, and pungency now, as it was one +hundred years ago. + + "From atheists far, they steadfastly believe + God is, and is Almighty--to _forgive_. + His other excellence they'll not dispute; + But mercy, sure, is His chief attribute. + Shall pleasures of a short duration chain + A lady's soul in everlasting pain? + Will the great Author us poor worms destroy, + For now and then a sip of transient joy? + No, He's forever in a smiling mood; + He's like themselves; or how could He be good? + And they blaspheme, who blacker schemes suppose. + Devoutly, thus, Jehovah they depose, + The Pure! the Just! and set up in His stead, + A deity that's perfectly well-bred."] + +[Footnote 3: Plutarch supposes a form of punishment in the future world +that is disciplinary. If it accomplishes its purpose, the soul goes into +Elysium,--a doctrine like that of purgatory in the Papal scheme. But in +case the person proves incorrigible, his suffering is _endless_. He +represents an individual as having been restored to life, and giving an +account of what he had seen. Among other things, he "informed his friend, +how that Adrastia, the daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, was seated in +the highest place of all, to punish all manner of crimes and enormities, +and that in the whole number of the wicked and ungodly there never was +any one, whether great or little, high or low, rich or poor, that could +ever by force or cunning escape the severe lashes of her rigor. But +as there are three sorts of punishment, so there are three several +Furies, or female ministers of justice, and to every one of these +belongs a peculiar office and degree of punishment. The first of +these was called [Greek: Poinae] or _Pain_; whose executions are swift +and speedy upon those that are presently to receive bodily punishment +in this life, and which she manages after a more gentle manner, omitting +the correction of slight offences, which need but little expiation. But +if the cure of impiety require a greater labor, the Deity delivers those, +after death, to [Greek: Dikae] or _Vengeance_. But when Vengeance has +given them over as altogether _incurable_, then the third and most severe +of all Adrastia's ministers, [Greek: 'Erinys] or _Fury_, takes them in +hand, and after she has chased and coursed them from one place to +another, flying yet not knowing where to fly for shelter and relief, +plagued and tormented with a thousand miseries, she plunges them headlong +into an invisible abyss, the hideousness of which no tongue can express." +PLUTARCH: Morals, Vol. IV. p. 210. Ed. 1694. PLATO (Gorgias 525. c.d. Ed. +Bip. IV. 169) represents Socrates as teaching that those who "have +committed the most extreme wickedness, and have become incurable through +such crimes, are made an example to others, and suffer _forever_ ([Greek: +paschontas ton aei chronon]) the greatest, most agonizing, and most +dreadful punishment." And Socrates adds that "Homer (Odyssey xi. 575) +also bears witness to this; for he represents kings and potentates, +Tantalus, Sysiphus, and Tityus, as being tormented _forever_ in Hades" +([Greek: en adon ton aei chronon timoronmenos]).-In the Aztec or Mexican +theology, "the wicked, comprehending the greater part of mankind, were to +expiate their sin in a place of everlasting darkness." PRESCOTT: Conquest +of Mexico, Vol. I. p. 62.] + +[Footnote 4: It may be objected, at this point, that mercy also is a +necessary attribute in God, like justice itself,--that it necessarily +belongs to the nature of a perfect Being, and therefore might be inferred +_a priori_ by the pagan, like other attributes. This is true; but the +objection overlooks the distinction between the _existence_ of an +attribute and its _exercise_. Omnipotence necessarily belongs to the idea +of the Supreme Being, but it does not follow that it must necessarily be +_exerted_ in act. Because God is able to create the universe of matter +and mind, it does not follow that he _must_ create it. The doctrine of +the necessity of creation, though held in a few instances by theists who +seem not to have discerned its logical consequences, is virtually +pantheistic. Had God been pleased to dwell forever in the +self-sufficiency of His Trinity, and never called the Finite into +existence from nothing, He might have done so, and He would still have +been omnipotent and "blessed forever." In like manner, the attribute of +mercy might exist in God, and yet not be exerted. Had He been pleased to +treat the human race as He did the fallen angels, He was perfectly at +liberty to do so, and the number and quality of his immanent attributes +would have been the same that they are now. But justice is an attribute +which not only exists of necessity, but must be _exercised_ of necessity; +because not to exercise it would be injustice.-For a fuller exposition of +the nature of justice, see SHEDD: Discourses and Essays, pp. 291-300.] + + + + +CHRISTIANITY REQUIRES THE TEMPER OF CHILDHOOD. + +MARK x. 15.--"Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the +kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." + + +These words of our Lord are very positive and emphatic, and will, +therefore, receive a serious attention from every one who is anxious +concerning his future destiny beyond the grave. For, they mention an +indispensable requisite in order to an entrance into eternal life. +"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he +_shall not_ enter therein." + +The occasion of their utterance is interesting, and brings to view a +beautiful feature in the perfect character of Jesus Christ. The Redeemer +was deeply interested in every age and condition of man. All classes +shared in His benevolent affection, and all may equally partake of the +rich blessings that flow from it. But childhood and youth seem to have +had a special attraction for Him. The Evangelist is careful to inform us, +that He took little children in His arms, and that beholding an amiable +young man He loved him,--a gush of feeling went out towards him. It was +because Christ was a perfect man, as well as the infinite God, that such +a feeling dwelt in His breast. For, there has never been an uncommonly +fair and excellent human character, in which tenderness and affinity for +childhood has not been a quality, and a quality, too, that was no small +part of the fairness and excellence. The best definition that has yet +been given of genius itself is, that it is the carrying of the feelings +of childhood onward into the thoughts and aspirations of manhood. He who +is not attracted by the ingenuousness, and trustfulness, and simplicity, +of the first period of human life, is certainly wanting in the finest and +most delicate elements of nature, and character. Those who have been +coarse and brutish, those who have been selfish and ambitious, those who +have been the pests and scourges of the world, have had no sympathy with +youth. Though once young themselves, they have been those in whom the +gentle and generous emotions of the morning of life have died out. That +man may become hardhearted, skeptical and sensual, a hater of his kind, +a hater of all that is holy and good, he must divest himself entirely of +the fresh and ingenuous feeling of early boyhood, and receive in its +place that malign and soured feeling which is the growth, and sign, of a +selfish and disingenuous life. It is related of Voltaire,--a man in whom +evil dwelt in its purest and most defecated essence,--that he had no +sympathy with the child, and that the children uniformly shrank from that +sinister eye in which the eagle and the reptile were so strangely +blended. + +Our Saviour, as a perfect man, then, possessed this trait, and it often +showed itself in His intercourse with men. As an omniscient Being, He +indeed looked with profound interest, upon the dawning life of the human +spirit as it manifests itself in childhood. For He knew as no finite +being can, the marvellous powers that sleep in the soul of the young +child; the great affections which are to be the foundation of eternal +bliss, or eternal pain, that exist in embryo within; the mysterious +ideas that lie in germ far down in its lowest depths,--He knew, as no +finite creature is able, what is in the child, as well as in the man, and +therefore was interested in its being and its well-being. But besides +this, by virtue of His perfect humanity, He was attracted by those +peculiar traits which are seen in the earlier years of human life. He +loved the artlessness and gentleness, the sense of dependence, the +implicit trust, the absence of ostentation and ambition, the unconscious +modesty, in one word, the _child-likeness_ of the child. + +Knowing this characteristic of the Redeemer, certain parents brought +their young children to Him, as the Evangelist informs us, "that He +should touch them;" either believing that there was a healthful virtue, +connected with the touch of Him who healed the sick and gave life to the +dead, that would be of benefit to them; or, it may be, with more elevated +conceptions of Christ's person, and more spiritual desires respecting the +welfare of their offspring, believing that the blessing (which was +symbolized by the touch and laying on of hands) of so exalted a Being +would be of greater worth than mere health of body. The disciples, +thinking that mere children were not worthy of the regards of their +Master, rebuked the anxious and affectionate parents. "But,"--continues +the narrative,--"when Jesus saw it he was much displeased, and said unto +them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, +for of such is the kingdom of God;" and then immediately explained what +He meant by this last assertion, which is so often misunderstood and +misapplied, by adding, in the words of the text, "Verily I say unto you, +whosoever shall not _receive the kingdom of God as a little child"_ that +is with a child-like spirit, "he shall not enter therein." For our Lord +does not here lay down a doctrinal position, and affirm the moral +innocence of childhood. He does not mark off and discriminate the +children as sinless, from their parents as sinful, as if the two classes +did not belong to the same race of beings, and were not involved in the +same apostasy and condemnation. He merely sets childhood and manhood +over-against each other as two distinct stages of human life, each +possessing peculiar traits and tempers, and affirms that it is the meek +spirit of childhood, and not the proud spirit of manhood, that welcomes +and appropriates the Christian salvation. He is only contrasting the +general attitude of a child, with the general attitude of a man. He +merely affirms that the _trustful_ and _believing_ temper of childhood, +as compared with the _self-reliant_ and _skeptical_ temper of manhood, is +the temper by which both the child and the man are to receive the +blessings of the gospel which both of them equally need. + +The kingdom of God is represented in the New Testament, sometimes as +subjective, and sometimes as objective; sometimes as within the soul of +man, and sometimes as up in the skies. Our text combines both +representations; for, it speaks of a man's "receiving" the kingdom of +God, and of a man's "entering" the kingdom of God; of the coming of +heaven into a soul, and of the going of a soul into heaven. In other +passages, one or the other representation appears alone. "The kingdom of +God,"--says our Lord to the Pharisees,--"cometh not with observation. +Neither shall they say, Lo here, or lo there: for behold the kingdom of +God is within you." The apostle Paul, upon arriving at Rome, invited the +resident Jews to discuss the subject of Christianity with him. "And when +they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to +whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God,"--to whom he +explained the nature of the Christian religion,--"persuading them +concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, +from, morning till evening." The same apostle teaches the Romans, that +"the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, +and joy in the Holy Ghost;" and tells the Corinthians, that "the kingdom +of God is not in word, but in power." In all these instances, the +subjective signification prevails, and the kingdom of God is simply a +system of truth, or a state of the heart. And all are familiar with the +sentiment, that heaven is a state, as well as a place. All understand +that one half of heaven is in the human heart itself; and, that if this +half be wanting, the other half is useless,--as the half of a thing +generally is. Isaac Walton remarks of the devout Sibbs: + +"Of this blest man, let this just praise be given, Heaven was in him, +before he was in heaven." + +It is only because that in the eternal world the imperfect righteousness +of the renewed man is perfected, and the peace of the anxious soul +becomes total, and the joy that is so rare and faint in the Christian +experience here upon earth becomes the very element of life and +action,--it is only because eternity _completes_ the excellence of the +Christian (but does not begin it), that heaven, as a place of perfect +holiness and happiness, is said to be in the future life, and we are +commanded to seek a better country even a heavenly. But, because this is +so, let no one lose sight of the other side of the great truth, and +forget that man must "receive" the kingdom as well as "enter" it. Without +the right state of heart, without the mental correspondent to heaven, +that beautiful and happy region on high will, like any and every other +place, be a hell, instead of a paradise.[1] A distinguished writer +represents one of his characters as leaving the Old World, and seeking +happiness in the New, supposing that change of place and outward +circumstances could cure a restless mind. He found no rest by the change; +and in view of his disappointment says: "I will return, and in my +ancestral home, amid my paternal fields, among my own people, I will say, +_Here, or nowhere_, is America."[2] In like manner, must the Christian +seek happiness in present peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, and must here +in this life strive after the righteousness that brings tranquillity. +Though he may look forward with aspiration to the new heavens and the new +earth wherein dwelleth a _perfected_ righteousness, yet he must remember +that his holiness and happiness there is merely an expansion of his +holiness and happiness here. He must seek to "receive" the kingdom of +God, as well as to "enter" it; and when tempted to relax his efforts, and +to let down his watch, because the future life will not oppose so many +obstacles to spirituality as this, and will bring a more perfect +enjoyment with it, he should say to himself: "Be holy now, be happy here. +_Here, or nowhere_, is heaven." + +Such being the nature of the kingdom of God, we are now brought up to the +discussion of the subject of the text, and are prepared to consider: _In +what respects, the kingdom of God requires the temper of a child as +distinguished from the temper of a man, in order to receive it, and in +order to enter it_. + +The kingdom of God, considered as a kingdom that is within the soul, is +tantamount to religion. To receive this kingdom, then, is equivalent to +receiving religion into the heart, so that the character shall be formed +by it, and the future destiny be decided by it. What, then, is the +religion that is to be received? We answer that it is the religion that +is needed. But, the religion that is needed by a sinful man is very +different from the religion that is adapted to a holy angel. He who has +never sinned is already in direct and blessed relations with God, and +needs only to drink in the overflowing and everflowing stream of purity +and pleasure. Such a spirit requires a religion of only two doctrines: +First, that there is a God; and, secondly, that He ought to be loved +supremely and obeyed perfectly. This is the entire theology of the +angels, and it is enough for them. They know nothing of sin in their +personal experience, and consequently they require in their religion, +none of those doctrines, and none of those provisions, which are adapted +to the needs of sinners. + +But, man is in an altogether different condition from this. He too knows +that there is a God, and that He ought to be loved supremely, and obeyed +perfectly. Thus far, he goes along with the angel, and with every other +rational being made under the law and government of God. But, at this +point, his path diverges from that of the pure and obedient inhabitant of +heaven, and leads in an opposite direction. For he does not, like the +angels, act up to his knowledge. He is not conformed to these two +doctrines. He does not love God supremely, and he does not obey Him +perfectly. This fact puts him into a very different position, in +reference to these two doctrines, from that occupied by the obedient and +unfallen spirit. These two doctrines, in relation to him as one who has +contravened them, have become a power of condemnation; and whenever he +thinks of them he feels guilty. It is no longer sufficient to tell him. +that religion consists in loving God, and enjoying His presence,--consists +in holiness and happiness. "This is very true,"--he says,--"but +I am neither holy nor happy." It is no longer enough to remind him that +all is well with any creature who loves God with all his heart, and keeps +His commandments without a single slip or failure. "This is very +true,"--he says again,--"but I do not love in this style, neither have I +obeyed in this manner." It is too late to preach mere natural religion, +the religion of the angels, to one who has failed to stand fully and +firmly upon the principles of natural religion. It is too late to tell a +creature who has lost his virtue, that if he is only virtuous he is safe +enough. + +The religion, then, that a sinner needs, cannot be limited to the two +doctrines of the holiness of God, and the creature's obligation to love +and serve Him,--cannot be pared down to the precept: Fear God and +practise virtue. It must be greatly enlarged, and augmented, by the +introduction of that other class of truths which relate to the Divine +mercy towards those who have not feared God, and the Divine method of +salvation for those who are sinful. In other words, the religion for a +transgressor is _revealed_ religion, or the religion of Atonement and +Redemption. + +What, now, is there in _this_ species of religion that necessitates the +meek and docile temper of a child, as distinguished from the proud and +self-reliant spirit of a man, in order to its reception into the heart? + +I. In the first place, _the New Testament religion offers the forgiveness +of sins, and provides for it_. No one can ponder this fact an instant, +without perceiving that the pride and self-reliance of manhood are +excluded, and that the meekness and implicit trust of childhood are +demanded. Pardon and justification before God must, from the nature of +the case, be a gift, and a gift cannot be obtained unless it is accepted +_as such_. To demand or claim mercy, is self-contradictory. For, a claim +implies a personal ground for it; and this implies self-reliance, and +this is "manhood" in distinction from "childhood." In coming, therefore, +as the religion of the Cross does, before man with a gratuity, with an +offer to pardon his sins, it supposes that he take a correspondent +attitude. Were he sinless, the religion suited to him would be the mere +utterance of law, and he might stand up before it with the serene brow of +an obedient subject of the Divine government; though even then, not with +a proud and boastful temper. It would be out of place for him, to plead +guilty when he was innocent; or to cast himself upon mercy, when he could +appeal to justice. If the creature's acceptance be of works, then it is +no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. But if it be by grace, +then it is no more of works (Rom. xi. 6). If the very first feature of +the Christian religion is the exhibition of clemency, then the proper and +necessary attitude of one who receives it is that of humility. + +But, leaving this argument drawn from the characteristics, of +Christianity as a religion of Redemption, let us pass into the soul of +man, and see what we are taught there, respecting the temper which he +must possess in order to receive this new, revealed kingdom of God. The +soul of man is guilty. Now, there is something in the very nature of +guilt that excludes the proud, self-conscious, self-reliant spirit of +manhood, and necessitates the lowly, and dependent spirit of childhood. +When conscience is full of remorse, and the holy eye of law is searching +us, and fears of eternal banishment and punishment are rakeing the +spirit, there is no remedy but simple confession, and childlike reliance +upon absolute mercy. The sinner must be a softened child and not a hard +man, he must beg a boon and not put in a claim, if he would receive this +kingdom of God, this New Testament religion, into his soul. The slightest +inclination to self-righteousness, the least degree of resistance to the +just pressure of law, is a vitiating element in repentance. The muscles +of the stout man must give way, the knees must bend, the hands must be +uplifted deprecatingly, the eyes must gaze with a straining gaze upon the +expiating Cross,--in other words, the least and last remains of a stout +and self-asserting spirit must vanish, and the whole being must be +pliant, bruised, broken, helpless in its state and condition, in order +to a pure sense of guilt, a godly sorrow for sin, and a cordial +appropriation of the atonement. The attempt to mix the two tempers, to +mingle the child with the man, to confess sin and assert +self-righteousness, must be an entire failure, and totally prevent +the reception of the religion of Redemption. In relation to the Redeemer, +the sinful soul should be a vacuum, a hollow void, destitute of +everything holy and good, conscious that it is, and aching to be filled +with the fulness of His peace and purity. + +And with reference to God, the Being whose function it is to pardon, we +see the same necessity for this child-like spirit in the transgressor. +How can God administer forgiveness, unless there is a correlated temper +to receive it? His particular declarative act in blotting out sin depends +upon the existence of penitence for sin. Where there is absolute hardness +of heart, there can be no pardon, from the very nature of the case, and +the very terms of the statement. Can God say to the hardened Judas: +Son be of good cheer, thy sin is forgiven thee? Can He speak to the +traitor as He speaks to the Magdalen? The difficulty is not upon the side +of God. The Divine pity never lags behind any genuine human sorrow. No +man was ever more eager to be forgiven than his Redeemer is to forgive +him. No contrition for sin, upon the part of man, ever yet outran the +readiness and delight of God to recognize it, and meet it with a free +pardon. For, that very contrition itself is always the product of Divine +grace, and proves that God is in advance of the soul. The father in the +parable saw the son while he was a great way off, _before_ the son saw +him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. But while this is so, +and is an encouragement to the penitent, it must ever be remembered that +unless there is some genuine sorrow in the human soul, there can be no +manifestation of the Divine forgiveness within it. Man cannot beat the +air, and God cannot forgive impenitency. + +II. In the second place, the New Testament religion proposes _to create +within man a clean heart, and to renew within him a right spirit_. +Christianity not only pardons but sanctifies the human soul. And in +accomplishing this latter work, it requires the same humble and docile +temper that was demanded in the former instance. + +Holiness, even in an unfallen angel, is not an absolutely self-originated +thing. If it were, the angel would be worthy of adoration and worship. He +who is inwardly and totally excellent, and can also say: I am what I am +by my own ultimate authorship, can claim for himself the _glory_ that is +due to righteousness. Any self-originated and self-subsistent virtue is +entitled to the hallelujahs. But, no created spirit, though he be the +highest of the archangels, can make such an assertion, or put in such a +claim. The merit of the unfallen angel, therefore, is a relative one; +because his holiness is of a created and derived species. It is not +increate and self-subsistent. This being so, it is plain that the proper +attitude of all creatures in respect to moral excellence is a recipient +and dependent one. But this is a meek and lowly attitude; and this is, in +one sense, a child-like attitude. Our Lord knew no sin; and yet He +himself tells us that He was meek and lowly of heart, and we well know +that He was. He does not say that He was penitent. He does not propose +himself as our exemplar in that respect. But, in respect to the primal, +normal attitude which a finite being must ever take in reference to the +infinite and adorable God, and the absolute underived Holiness; in +reference to the true temper which a holy man or a holy angel must +possess; our Lord Jesus Christ, in His human capacity, sets an example to +be followed by the spirits of just men made perfect, and by all the holy +inhabitants of heaven. In other words, He teaches the whole universe that +holiness in a creature, even though it be complete, does not permit its +possessor to be self-reliant, does not allow the proud spirit of manhood, +does not remove the obligation to be child-like, meek, and lowly of +heart. + +But if this is true of holiness among those who have never fallen, how +much more true is it of those who have, and who need to be lifted up out +of the abyss. If an angel, in reference to God, must be meek and lowly of +heart; if the holy Redeemer must in His human capacity be meek and lowly +of heart; if the child-like temper, in reference to the infinite and +everlasting Father and the absolutely Good, is the proper one in such +exalted instances as these; how much more is it in the instance of the +vile and apostate children of Adam! Besides the original and primitive +reason growing out of creaturely relationships, there is the superadded +one growing out of the fact, that now the whole head is sick and the +whole heart is faint, and from the sole of the foot even unto the head +there is no soundness in human nature. + +Hence, our Lord began His Sermon on the Mount in these words: "Blessed +are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are +they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for +they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst +after righteousness; for they shall be filled."[3] The very opening of +this discourse, which He intended should go down through the ages as a +manifesto declaring the real nature of His kingdom, and the spirit which +His followers must possess, asserts the necessity of a needy, recipient, +asking mind, upon the part of a sinner. All this phraseology implies +destitution; and a destitution that cannot be self-supplied. He who +hungers and thirsts after righteousness is conscious of an inward void, +in respect to righteousness, that must be filled from abroad. He +who is meek is sensible that he is dependent for his moral excellence. He +who is poor in spirit is, not pusillanimous as Thomas Paine charged +upon Christianity but, as John of Damascus said of himself, a man of +spiritual cravings, _vir desideriorum_. + +Now, all this delineation of the general attitude requisite in order to +the reception of the Christian religion is summed up again, in the +declaration of our text: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +_as a little child_, he shall not enter therein." Is a man, then, +sensible that his understanding is darkened by sin, and that he is +destitute of clear and just apprehensions of divine things? Does his +consciousness of inward poverty assume this form? If he would be +delivered from his mental blindness, and be made rich in spiritual +knowledge, he must adopt a teachable and recipient attitude. He must not +assume that his own mind is the great fountain of wisdom, and seek to +clear up his doubts and darkness by the rationalistic method of +self-illumination. On the contrary, he must go beyond his mind and open a +_book_, even the Book of Revelation, and search for the wisdom it +contains and proffers. And yet more than this. As this volume is the +product of the Eternal Spirit himself, and this Spirit conspires with the +doctrines which He has revealed, and exerts a positive illuminating +influence, he must seek communion therewith. From first to last, +therefore, the darkened human spirit must take a waiting posture, in +order to enlightenment. That part of "the clean heart and the right +spirit" which consists in the _knowledge_ of divine things can be +obtained only through a child-like bearing and temper. This is what our +Lord means, when He pronounces a blessing upon the poor in spirit, the +hungry and the thirsting soul. Men, in their pride and self-reliance, in +their sense of manhood, may seek to enter the kingdom of heaven by a +different method; they may attempt to _speculate_ their way through all +the mystery that overhangs human life, and the doubts that confuse and +baffle the human understanding; but when they find that the unaided +intellect only "spots a thicker gloom" instead of pouring a serener ray, +wearied and worn they return, as it were, to the sweet days of childhood, +and in the gentleness, and tenderness, and docility of an altered mood, +learn, as Bacon did in respect to the kingdom of nature, that the kingdom +of heaven is open only to the little child. + +Again, is a man conscious of the corruption of his heart? Has he +discovered his alienation from the life and love of God, and is he now +aware that a total change must pass upon him, or that alienation must be +everlasting? Has he found out that his inclinations, and feelings, and +tastes, and sympathies are so worldly, so averse from spiritual objects, +as to be beyond his sovereignty? Does he feel vividly that the attempt to +expel this carnal mind, and to induce in the place thereof the heavenly +spontaneous glow of piety towards God and man, is precisely like the +attempt of the Ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard his spots? + +If this experience has been forced upon him, shall he meet it with the +port and bearing of a strong man? Shall he take the attitude of the old +Roman stoic, and attempt to meet the exigencies of his moral condition, +by the steady strain and hard tug of his own force? He cannot long do +this, under the clear searching ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, +without an inexpressible weariness and a profound despair. Were he within +the sphere of paganism, it might, perhaps, be otherwise. A Marcus +Aurelius could maintain this legal and self-righteous position to the end +of life, because his ideal of virtue was a very low one. Had that +high-minded pagan felt the influences of Christian ethics, had the Sermon +on the Mount searched his soul, telling him that the least emotion of +pride, anger, or lust, was a breach of that everlasting law which stood +grand and venerable before his philosophic eye, and that his virtue was +all gone, and his soul was exposed to the inflictions of justice, if even +a single thought of his heart was unconformed to the perfect rule of +right,--if, instead of the mere twilight of natural religion, there had +flared into his mind the fierce and consuming splendor of the noonday sun +of revealed truth, and New Testament ethics, it would have been +impossible for that serious-minded emperor to say, as in his utter +self-delusion he did, to the Deity: "Give me my dues,"--instead of +breathing the prayer: "Forgive me my debts." Christianity elevates the +standard and raises the ideal of moral excellence, and thereby disturbs +the self-complacent feeling of the stoic, and the moralist. If the law and +rule of right is merely an outward one, it is possible for a man +sincerely to suppose that he has kept the law, and his sincerity will be +his ruin. For, in this case, he can maintain a self-reliant and a +self-satisfied spirit, the spirit of manhood, to the very end of his +earthly career, and go with his righteousness which is as filthy rags, +into the presence of Him in whose sight the heavens are not clean. But, +if the law and rule of right is seen to be an inward and spiritual +statute, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and +becoming a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, it is not +possible for a candid man to delude himself into the belief that he +has perfectly obeyed it; and in this instance, that self-dissatisfied +spirit, that consciousness of internal schism and bondage, that war +between the flesh and the spirit so vividly portrayed in the seventh +chapter of Romans, begins, and instead of the utterance of the moralist: +"I have kept the everlasting law, give me my dues," there bursts forth +the self-despairing cry of the penitent and the child: "O wretched man +that I am.! who shall deliver me? Father I have sinned against heaven and +before thee." + +When, therefore, the truth and Spirit of God, working in and with the +natural conscience, have brought a man to that point where he sees that +all his own righteousness is as filthy rags, and that the pure and +stainless righteousness of Jehovah must become the possession and the +characteristic of his soul, he is prepared to believe the declaration of +our text: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little +child, he shall not enter therein." The new heart, and the right +spirit,--the change, not in the mere external behavior but, in the very +disposition and inclination of the soul,--excludes every jot and tittle +of self-assertion, every particle of proud and stoical manhood. + +Such a text as this which we have been considering is well adapted to put +us upon the true method of attaining everlasting life. These few and +simple words actually dropped, eighteen hundred years ago, from the lips +of that august Being who is now seated upon the throne of heaven, and who +knows this very instant the effect which they are producing in the heart +of every one who either reads or hears them. Let us remember that these +few and simple words do verily contain the key to everlasting life and +glory. In knowing what they mean, we know, infallibly, the way to heaven. +"I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those +things which we see, and have not seen them: and to hear those things +which we hear, and have not heard them." How many a thoughtful pagan, in +the centuries that have passed and gone, would in all probability have +turned a most attentive ear, had he heard, as we do, from the lips of an +unerring Teacher, that a child-like reception of a certain particular +truth,--and that not recondite and metaphysical, but simple as childhood +itself, and to be received by a little child's act,--would infallibly +conduct to the elysium that haunted and tantalized him. + +That which hinders us is our pride, our "manhood." The act of faith is a +child's act; and a child's act, though intrinsically the easiest of any, +is relatively the most difficult of all. It implies the surrender of our +self-will, our self-love, our proud manhood; and never was a truer remark +made than that of Ullmann, that "in no one thing is the strength of a +man's will so manifested, as in his having no will of his own."[4] +"Christianity,"--says Jeremy Taylor,--"is the easiest and the hardest +thing in the world. It is like a secret in arithmetic; infinitely hard +till it be found out by a right operation, and then it is so plain we +wonder we did not understand it earlier." How hard, how impossible +without that Divine grace which makes all such central and revolutionary +acts easy and genial to the soul,--how hard it is to cease from our own +works, and really become docile and recipient children, believing on the +Lord Jesus Christ, and trusting in Him, simply and solely, for salvation. + + + +[Footnote 1: "Concerning the object of felicity in heaven, we are agreed +that it can be no other than the blessed God himself, the +all-comprehending good, fully adequate to the highest and most enlarged +reasonable desires. But the contemperation of our faculties to the holy, +blissful object, is so necessary to our satisfying fruition, that without +this we are no more capable thereof, than a brute of the festivities of a +quaint oration, or a stone of the relishes of the most pleasant meats and +drinks." HOWE: Heaven a State of Perfection.] + +[Footnote 2: GOETHE: Wilhelm Meister, Book VII., ch. iii.] + +[Footnote 3: Compare Isaiah lxi. 1.] + +[Footnote 4: ULLMANN: Sinlessness of Jesus, Pt. I., Ch. iii., § 2.] + + + + + +FAITH THE SOLE SAVING ACT. + +JOHN vi. 28, 29.--"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we +might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is +the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." + + +In asking their question, the Jews intended to inquire of Christ what +_particular_ things they must do, before all others, in order to please +God. The "works of God," as they denominate them, were not any and every +duty, but those more special and important acts, by which the creature +might secure the Divine approval and favor. Our Lord understood their +question in this sense, and in His reply tells them, that the great and +only work for them to do was to exercise faith in Him. They had employed +the plural number in their question; but in His answer He employs the +singular. They had asked, What shall we do that we might work the +_works_ of God,--as if there were several of them. His reply is, "This is +the _work_ of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." He narrows +down the terms of salvation to a single one; and makes the destiny of the +soul to depend upon the performance of a particular individual act. In +this, as in many other incidental ways, our Lord teaches His own +divinity. If He were a mere creature; if He were only an inspired teacher +like David or Paul; how would He dare, when asked to give in a single +word the condition and means of human salvation, to say that they consist +in resting the soul upon Him? Would David have dared to say: "This is the +work of God,--this is the saving act,--that ye believe in me?" Would Paul +have presumed to say to the anxious inquirer: "Your soul is safe, if you +trust in me?" But Christ makes this declaration, without any +qualification. Yet He was meek and lowly of heart, and never assumed +an honor or a prerogative that did not belong to Him. It is only upon the +supposition that He was "very God of very God," the Divine Redeemer of +the children of men, that we can justify such an answer to such a +question. + +The belief is spontaneous and natural to man, that something must be +_done_ in order to salvation. No man expects to reach heaven by inaction. +Even the indifferent and supine soul expects to rouse itself up at some +future time, and work out its salvation. The most thoughtless and +inactive man, in religious respects, will acknowledge that +thoughtlessness and inactivity if continued will end in perdition. +But he intends at a future day to think, and act, and be saved. So +natural is it, to every man, to believe in salvation by works; so ready +is every one to concede that heaven is reached, and hell is escaped, only +by an earnest effort of some kind; so natural is it to every man to ask +with these Jews, "What shall we _do_, that we may work the works of God?" + +But mankind generally, like the Jews in the days of our Lord, are under a +delusion respecting the _nature_ of the work which must be performed in +order to salvation. And in order to understand this delusion, we must +first examine the common notion upon the subject. + +When a man begins to think of God, and of his own relations to Him, he +finds that he owes Him service and obedience. He has a work to perform, +as a subject of the Divine government; and this work is to obey the +Divine law. He finds himself obligated to love God with all his heart, +and his neighbor as himself, and to discharge all the duties that spring +out of his relations to God and man. He perceives that this is the "work" +given him to do by creation, and that if he does it he will attain the +true end of his existence, and be happy in time and eternity. When +therefore he begins to think of a religious life, his first spontaneous +impulse is to begin the performance of this work which he has hitherto +neglected, and to reinstate himself in the Divine favor by the ordinary +method of keeping the law of God. He perceives that this is the mode in +which the angels preserve themselves holy and happy; that this is the +original mode appointed by God, when He established the covenant of +works; and he does not see why it is not the method for him. The law +expressly affirms that the man that doeth these things shall live by +them; he proposes to take the law just as it reads, and just as it +stands,--to do the deeds of the law, to perform the works which it +enjoins, and to live by the service. This we say, is the common notion, +natural to man, of the species of work which must be performed in order +to eternal life. This was the idea which filled the mind of the Jews when +they put the question of the text, and received for answer from Christ, +"This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Our +Lord does not draw out the whole truth, in detail. He gives only the +positive part of the answer, leaving His hearers to infer the negative +part of it. For the whole doctrine of Christ, fully stated, would run +thus: "No work _of the kind of which you are thinking_ can save you; +no obedience of the law, ceremonial or moral, can reinstate you in right +relations to God. I do not summon you to the performance of any such +service as that which you have in mind, in order to your justification +and acceptance before the Divine tribunal. _This_ is the work of +God,--this is the sole and single act which you are to perform,--namely, +that you _believe_ on Him whom He hath sent as a propitiation for sin. I +do not summon you to works of the law, but to faith in Me the Redeemer. +Your first duty is not to attempt to acquire a righteousness in the old +method, by doing something of yourselves, but to receive a righteousness +in the new method, by trusting in what another has done for you." + +I. What is the _ground_ and _reason_ of such an answer as this? Why is +man invited to the method of faith in another, instead of the method of +faith in himself? Why is not his first spontaneous thought the true one? +Why should he not obtain eternal life by resolutely proceeding to do his +duty, and keeping the law of God? Why can he not be saved by the law of +works? Why is he so summarily shut up to the law of faith? + +We answer: Because it is _too late_ for him to adopt the method of +salvation by works. The law is indeed explicit in its assertion, that the +man that doeth these things shall live by them; but then it supposes that +the man begin at the beginning. A subject of government cannot disobey a +civil statute for five or ten years, and then put himself in right +relations to it again, by obeying it for the remainder of his life. Can a +man who has been a thief or an adulterer for twenty years, and then +practises honesty and purity for the following thirty years, stand up +before the seventh and eighth commandments and be acquitted by them? It +is too late for any being who has violated a law even in a single +instance, to attempt to be justified by that law. For, the law demands +and supposes that obedience begin at the very _beginning_ of existence, +and continue down _uninterruptedly_ to the end of it. No man can come in +at the middle of a process of obedience, any more than he can come in at +the last end of it, if he proposes to be accepted upon the ground of +_obedience_. "I testify," says St. Paul, "to every man that is +circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the _whole_ law" (Gal. v. 3). The +whole, or none, is the just and inexorable rule which law lays down in +the matter of justification. If any subject of the Divine government can +show a clean record, from the beginning to the end of his existence, the +statute says to him, "Well done," and gives him the reward which he has +earned. And it gives it to him not as a matter of grace, but of debt. The +law never makes a present of wages. It never pays out wages, until they +are earned,---fairly and fully earned. But when a perfect obedience from +first to last is rendered to its claims, the compensation follows as +matter of debt. The law, in this instance, is itself brought under +obligation. It owes a reward to the perfectly obedient subject of law, +and it considers itself his debtor until it is paid. "Now to him that +worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If it be of +works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Rom. +iv. 4; xi. 6). + +But, on the other hand, law is equally exact and inflexible, in case the +work has not been performed. It will not give eternal life to a soul that +has sinned ten years, and then perfectly obeyed ten years,--supposing +that there is any such soul. The obedience, as we have remarked, must run +parallel with the _entire_ existence, in order to be a ground, of +justification. Infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old age, and then the +whole immortality that succeeds, must all be unintermittently sinless and +holy, in order to make eternal life a matter of debt. Justice is as exact +and punctilious upon this side, as it is upon the other. We have seen, +that when a perfect obedience has been rendered, justice will not palm +off the wages that are due as if they were some gracious gift; and on the +other hand, when a perfect obedience has not been rendered, it will not +be cajoled into the bestowment of wages as if they had been earned. There +is no principle that is so intelligent, so upright, and so exact, as +justice; and no creature can expect either to warp it, or to circumvent +it. + +In the light of these remarks, it is evident that it is _too late_ for a +sinner to avail himself of the method of salvation by works. For, that +method requires that sinless obedience begin at the beginning of his +existence, and never be interrupted. But no man thus begins, and no man +thus continues. "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray +as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Ps. lviii. 3). Man comes into +the world a sinful and alienated creature. He is by nature a child of +wrath (Eph. ii. 3). Instead of beginning life with holiness, he begins it +with sin. His heart at birth is apostate and corrupt; and his conduct +from the very first is contrary to law. Such is the teaching of +Scripture, such is the statement of the Creeds, and such is the testimony +of consciousness, respecting the character which man brings into the +world with him. The very dawn of human life is clouded with depravity; is +marked by the carnal mind which is at enmity with the law of God, and is +not subject to that law, neither indeed can be. How is it possible, then, +for man to attain eternal life by a method that supposes, and requires, +that the very dawn of his being be holy like that of Christ's, and that +every thought, feeling, purpose, and act be conformed to law through the +entire existence? Is it not _too late_ for such a creature as man now is +to adopt the method of salvation by the works of the law? + +But we will not crowd you, with the doctrine of native depravity and the +sin in Adam. We have no doubt that it is the scriptural and true doctrine +concerning human nature; and have no fears that it will be contradicted +by either a profound self-knowledge, or a profound metaphysics. But +perhaps you are one who doubts it; and therefore, for the sake of +argument, we will let you set the commencement of sin where you please. +If you tell us that it begins in the second, or the fourth, or the tenth +year of life, it still remains true that it is _too late_ to employ the +method of justification by works. If you concede any sin at all, at any +point whatsoever, in the history of a human soul, you preclude it from +salvation by the deeds of the law, and shut it up to salvation by grace. +Go back as far as you can in your memory, and you must acknowledge that +you find sin as far as you go; and even if, in the face of Scripture and +the symbols of the Church, you should deny that the sin runs back to +birth and apostasy in Adam, it still remains true that the first years of +your _conscious_ existence were not years of holiness, nor the first acts +which you _remember_, acts of obedience. Even upon your own theory, you +_begin_ with sin, and therefore you cannot be justified by the law. + +This, then, is a conclusive reason and ground for the declaration of our +Lord, that the one great work which every fallen man has to perform, and +must perform, in order to salvation, is faith in _another's_ work, and +confidence in _another's_ righteousness. If man is to be saved by his own +righteousness, that righteousness must begin at the very beginning of his +existence, and go on without interruption. If he is to be saved by his +own good works, there never must be a single instant in his life when he +is not working such works. But beyond all controversy such is not the +fact. It is, therefore, impossible for him to be justified by trusting in +himself; and the only possible mode that now remains, is to trust in +another. + +II. And this brings us to the second part of our subject. "This is the +work of God, that ye _believe_ on him whom He hath sent." It will be +observed that faith is here denominated a "work." And it is so indeed. It +is a mental act; and an act of the most comprehensive and energetic +species. Faith is an active principle that carries the whole man with it, +and in it,--head and heart, will and affections, body soul and spirit. +There is no act so all-embracing in its reach, and so total in its +momentum, as the act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In this sense, it +is a "work." It is no supine and torpid thing; but the most vital and +vigorous activity that can be conceived of. When a sinner, moved by the +Holy Ghost the very source of spiritual life and energy, casts himself in +utter helplessness, and with all his weight, upon his Redeemer for +salvation, never is he more active, and never does he do a greater work. + +And yet, faith is not a work in the common signification of the word. In +the Pauline Epistles, it is generally opposed to works, in such a way as +to exclude them. For example: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By +what law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude +that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. Knowing +that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of +Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be +justified, by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. +Received ye the Spirit, by the works of the law, or by the hearing of +faith?"[1] In these and other passages, faith and works are directly +contrary to each other; so that in this connection, faith is not a +"work." Let us examine this point, a little in detail, for it will throw +light upon the subject under discussion. + +In the opening of the discourse, we alluded to the fact that when a man's +attention is directed to the subject of his soul's salvation, his first +spontaneous thought is, that he must of _himself_ render something to +God, as an offset for his sins; that he must perform his duty by _his +own_ power and effort, and thereby acquire a personal merit before his +Maker and Judge. The thought of appropriating another person's work, of +making use of what another being has done in his stead, does not occur to +him; or if it does, it is repulsive to him. His thought is, that it is +his own soul that is to be saved, and it is his own work that must save +it. Hence, he begins to perform religious duties in the ordinary use of +his own faculties, and in his own strength, for the purpose, and with the +expectation, of _settling the account_ which he knows is unsettled, +between himself and his Judge. As yet, there is no faith in another +Being. He is not trusting and resting in another person; but he is +trusting and resting in himself. He is not making use of the work or +services which another has wrought in his behalf, but he is employing +his own powers and faculties, in performing these his own works, which he +owes, and which, if paid in this style, he thinks will save his soul. +This is the spontaneous, and it is the correct, idea of a "work,"--of +what St. Paul so often calls a "work of the law." And it is the exact +contrary of faith. + +For, faith never does anything in this independent and self-reliant +manner. It does not perform a service in its own strength, and then hold +it out to God as something for Him to receive, and for which He must pay +back wages in the form of remitting sin and bestowing happiness. Faith is +wholly occupied with _another's_ work, and _another's_ merit. The +believing soul deserts all its own doings, and betakes itself to what a +third person has wrought for it, and in its stead. When, for +illustration, a sinner discovers that he owes a satisfaction to Eternal +Justice for the sins that are past, if he adopts the method of works, he +will offer up his endeavors to obey the law, as an offset, and a reason +why he should be forgiven. He will say in his heart, if he does not in +his prayer: "I am striving to atone for the past, by doing my duty in the +future; my resolutions, my prayers and alms-giving, all this hard +struggle to be better and to do better, ought certainly to avail for my +pardon." Or, if he has been educated in a superstitious Church, he will +offer up his penances, and mortifications, and pilgrimages, as a +satisfaction to justice, and a reason why he should be forgiven and made +blessed forever in heaven. That is a very instructive anecdote which St. +Simon relates respecting the last hours of the profligate Louis XIV. "One +day,"--he says,--"the king recovering from loss of consciousness asked +his confessor, Pere Tellier, to give him absolution for all his sins. +Pere Tellier asked him if he suffered much. 'No,' replied the king, +'that's what troubles me. I should like to suffer more, for the expiation +of my sins.'" Here was a poor mortal who had spent his days in carnality +and transgression of the pure law of God. He is conscious of guilt, and +feels the need of its atonement. And now, upon the very edge of eternity +and brink of doom, he proposes to make his own atonement, to be his own +redeemer and save his own soul, by offering up to the eternal nemesis +that was racking his conscience a few hours of finite suffering, instead +of betaking himself to the infinite passion and agony of Calvary. This is +a work; and, alas, a "_dead_ work," as St. Paul so often denominates it. +This is the method of justification by works. But when a man adopts the +method of justification by faith, his course is exactly opposite to all +this. Upon discovering that he owes a satisfaction to Eternal Justice for +the sins that are past, instead of holding up his prayers, or +alms-giving, or penances, or moral efforts, or any work of his own, he +holds up the sacrificial work of Christ. In his prayer to God, he +interposes the agony and death of the Great Substitute between his guilty +soul, and the arrows of justice.[2] He knows that the very best of his +own works, that even the most perfect obedience that a creature could +render, would be pierced through and through by the glittering shafts of +violated law. And therefore he takes the "shield of faith." He places the +oblation of the God-man,--not his own work and not his own suffering, but +another's work and another's suffering,--between himself and the judicial +vengeance of the Most High. And in so doing, he works no work of his own, +and no dead work; but he works the "work of God;" he _believes_ on Him +whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation for his sins, and not for +his only but for the sins of the whole world. + +This then is the great doctrine which our Lord taught the Jews, when they +asked Him what particular thing or things they must do in order to +eternal life. The apostle John, who recorded the answer of Christ in this +instance, repeats the doctrine again in his first Epistle: "Whatsoever we +ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandment, and do those +things that are pleasing in His sight. And _this is His commandment_, +that we should _believe_ on the name of His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John +iii, 22, 23). The whole duty of sinful man is here summed up, and +concentrated, in the duty to trust in another person than himself, and in +another work than his own. The apostle, like his Lord before him, employs +the singular number: "This is His commandment,"--as if there were no +other commandment upon record. And this corresponds with the answer which +Paul and Silas gave to the despairing jailor: "Believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ,"--do this one single thing,--"and thou shalt be saved." And all +of these teachings accord with that solemn declaration of our Lord: "He +that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth +not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." In +the matter of salvation, where there is faith in Christ, there is +everything; and where there is not faith in Christ, there is nothing. + +1. And it is with this thought that we would close this discourse, and +enforce the doctrine of the text. Do whatever else you may in the matter +of religion, you have done nothing until you have believed on the Lord +Jesus Christ, whom God hath, sent into the world to be the propitiation +for sin. There are two reasons for this. In the first place, it is _the +appointment and declaration of God_, that man, if saved at all, must be +saved by faith in the Person and Work of the Mediator. "Neither is there +salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given +among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 12). It of course rests +entirely with the Most High God, to determine the mode and manner in +which He will enter into negotiations with His creatures, and especially +with His rebellious creatures. He must make the terms, and the creature +must come to them. Even, therefore, if we could not see the +reasonableness and adaptation of the method, we should be obligated to +accept it. The creature, and particularly the guilty creature, cannot +dictate to his Sovereign and Judge respecting the terms and conditions by +which he is to be received into favor, and secure eternal life. Men +overlook this fact, when they presume as they do, to sit in judgment upon +the method of redemption by the blood of atonement and to quarrel with +it. + +In the first Punic war, Hannibal laid siege to Saguntum, a rich and +strongly-fortified city on the eastern coast of Spain. It was defended +with a desperate obstinacy by its inhabitants. But the discipline, the +energy, and the persistence of the Carthaginian army, were too much for +them; and just as the city was about to fall, Alorcus, a Spanish +chieftain, and a mutual friend of both of the contending parties, +undertook to mediate between them. He proposed to the Saguntines that +they should surrender, allowing the Carthaginian general to make his own +terms. And the argument he used was this: "Your city is captured, in any +event. Further resistance will only bring down upon you the rage of an +incensed soldiery, and the horrors of a sack. Therefore, surrender +immediately, and take whatever Hannibal shall please to give. You cannot +lose anything by the procedure, and you may gain something, even though +it be little."[3] Now, although there is no resemblance between the +government of the good and merciful God and the cruel purposes and +conduct of a heathen warrior, and we shrink from bringing the two into +any kind of juxtaposition, still, the advice of the wise Alorcus to the +Saguntines is good advice for every sinful man, in reference to his +relations to Eternal Justice. We are all of us at the mercy of God. +Should He make no terms at all; had He never given His Son to die for our +sins, and never sent His Spirit to exert a subduing influence upon our +hard hearts, but had let guilt and justice take their inexorable course +with us; not a word could be uttered against the procedure by heaven, +earth, or hell. No creature, anywhere can complain of justice. That is an +attribute that cannot even be attacked. But the All-Holy is also the +All-Merciful. He has made certain terms, and has offered certain +conditions of pardon, without asking leave of His creatures and without +taking them into council, and were these terms as strict as Draco, +instead of being as tender and pitiful as the tears and blood of Jesus, +it would become us criminals to make no criticisms even in that extreme +case, but accept them precisely as they were offered by the Sovereign and +the Arbiter. We exhort you, therefore, to take these terms of salvation +simply as they are given, asking no questions, and being thankful that +there are any terms at all between the offended majesty of Heaven and the +guilty criminals of earth. Believe on Him whom God hath sent, because it +is the appointment and declaration of God, that if guilty man is to be +saved at all, he must be saved by faith in the Person and Work of the +Mediator. The very disposition to quarrel with this method implies +arrogance in dealing with the Most High. The least inclination to alter +the conditions shows that the creature is attempting to criticise the +Creator, and, what is yet more, that the criminal has no true perception +of his crime, no sense of his exposed and helpless situation, and +presumes to dictate the terms of his own pardon! + +2. We might therefore leave the matter here, and there would be a +sufficient reason for exercising the act of faith in Christ. But there is +a second and additional reason which we will also briefly urge upon you. +Not only is it the Divine appointment, that man shall be saved, if saved +at all, by the substituted work of another; but there are _needs_, there +are crying _wants_, in the human conscience, that can be supplied by no +other method. There is a perfect _adaptation_ between the Redemption that +is in Christ Jesus, and the guilt of sinners. As we have seen, we could +reasonably urge you to Believe in Him whom God hath sent, simply because +God has sent Him, and because He has told you that He will save you +through no other name and in no other way, and will save you in this name +and in this way. But we now urge you to the act of faith in this +substituted work of Christ, because it has an _atoning_ virtue, and can +pacify a perturbed and angry conscience; can wash out the stains of guilt +that are grained into it; can extract the sting of sin which ulcerates +and burns there. It is the idea of _expiation_ and _satisfaction_ that we +now single out, and press upon your notice. Sin must be +expiated,--expiated either by the blood of the criminal, or by the blood +of his Substitute. You must either die for your own sin, or some one who +is able and willing must die for you. This is founded and fixed in the +nature of God, and the nature of man, and the nature of sin. There is an +eternal and necessary connection between crime and penalty. The wages of +sin is death. But, all this inexorable necessity has been completely +provided for, by the sacrificial work of the Son of God. In the gospel, +God satisfies His own justice for the sinner, and now offers you the full +benefit of the satisfaction, if you will humbly and penitently accept it. +"What compassion can equal the words of God the Father addressed to the +sinner condemned to eternal punishment, and having no means of redeeming +himself: 'Take my Only-Begotten Son, and make Him an offering for +thyself;' or the words of the Son: 'Take Me, and ransom thy soul?' For +this is what _both_ say, when they invite and draw man to faith in the +gospel."[4] In urging you, therefore, to trust in Christ's vicarious +sufferings for sin, instead of going down to hell and suffering for sin +in your own person; in entreating you to escape the stroke of justice +upon yourself, by believing in Him who was smitten in your stead, who +"was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities;" in +beseeching you to let the Eternal Son of God be your Substitute in this +awful judicial transaction; we are summoning you to no arbitrary and +irrational act. The peace of God which it will introduce into your +conscience, and the love of God which it will shed abroad through your +soul, will be the most convincing of all proofs that the act of faith in +the great Atonement does no violence to the ideas and principles of the +human constitution. No act that contravenes those intuitions and +convictions which are part and particle of man's moral nature could +possibly produce peace and joy. It would be revolutionary and anarchical. +The soul could not rest an instant. And yet it is the uniform testimony +of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the act of simple +confiding faith in His blood and righteousness is the most peaceful, the +most joyful act they ever performed,--nay, that it was the first +_blessed_ experience they ever felt in this world of sin, this world of +remorse, this world of fears and forebodings concerning judgment and +doom. + +Is the question, then, of the Jews, pressing upon your mind? Do you ask, +What one particular single thing shall I do, that I may be safe for time +and eternity? Hear the answer of the Son of God Himself: "This is the +work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." + + +[Footnote 1: Romans iii. 27, 28; Galatians ii. 16, iii. 2.] + +[Footnote 2: The religious teacher is often asked to define the act of +faith, and explain the way and manner in which the soul is to exercise +it. "_How_ shall I believe?" is the question with which the anxious mind +often replies to the gospel injunction to believe. Without pretending +that it is a complete answer, or claiming that it is possible, in the +strict meaning of the word, to explain so simple and so profound an act +as faith, we think, nevertheless, that it assists the inquiring mind to +say, that whoever _asks in prayer_ for any one of the benefits of +Christ's redemption, in so far exercises faith in this redemption. +Whoever, for example, lifts up the supplication, "O Lamb of God +who takest away the sins of the world, grant me thy peace," in this +prayer puts faith in the atonement, He trusts in the atonement, by +_pleading_ the atonement,--by mentioning it, in his supplication, +as the reason why he may be forgiven. In like manner, he who asks for the +renewing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost exercises faith, in +these influences. This is the mode in which he expresses his _confidence_ +in the power of God to accomplish a work in his heart that is beyond his +own power. Whatever, therefore, be the particular benefit in Christ's +redemption that one would trust in, and thereby make personally his own, +that he may live by it and be blest by it,--be it the atoning blood, or +be it the indwelling Spirit,--let him _ask_ for that benefit. If he would +trust _in_ the thing, let him ask _for_ the thing. + +Since writing the above, we have met with a corroboration of this view, +by a writer of the highest authority upon such points. "Faith is that +inward sense and act, of which prayer is the _expression_; as is evident, +because in the same manner as the freedom of grace, according to the +gospel covenant, is often set forth by this, that he that _believes_, +receives; so it also oftentimes is by this, that he that _asks_, or +_prays_, or _calls upon_ God, receives. 'Ask and it shall be given you; +seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For +every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to +him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And all things whatsoever ye shall +_ask in prayer, believing_, ye shall receive (Matt. vii. 7, 8; Mark xi. +24). If ye _abide_ in me and my words abide in you, ye shall _ask_ what +ye will, and it shall be done unto you' (John xv. 7). Prayer is often +plainly spoken of as the expression of faith. As it very certainly is in +Romans x. 11-14: 'For the Scripture saith, Whosoever _believeth_ on him +shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and +the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that _call_ upon +him; for whosoever shall _call_ upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. +'How then shall they _call_ on him in whom they have not _believed_.' +Christian prayer is called the prayer of _faith_ (James v. 15). 'I will +that men everywhere lift up holy hands, without wrath and _doubting_ (1 +Tim. ii. 8). Draw near in full assurance of _faith_' (Heb. x. 22). The +same expressions that are used, in Scripture, for faith, may well be used +for prayer also; such as _coming_ to God or Christ, and _looking_ to Him. +'In whom we have boldness and _access_ with confidence, by the _faith_ of +him' (Eph. iii. 12)." EDWARDS: Observations concerning Faith.] + +[Footnote 3: Livius: Historia, Lib. xxi. 12.] + +[Footnote 4: ANSELM: Cur Deus Homo? II. 20.] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Sermons to the Natural Man, by William G.T. Shedd + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN *** + +***** This file should be named 13204-8.txt or 13204-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/0/13204/ + +Produced by G. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sermons to the Natural Man + +Author: William G.T. Shedd + +Release Date: August 17, 2004 [EBook #13204] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN *** + + + + +Produced by G. Graustein and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN. + +BY + +WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D. D., + +AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE," "HOMILETICS AND PASTORAL. +THEOLOGY," "DISCOURSES AND ESSAYS," "PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY," ETC. + + +NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY. 1871. + + +PREFACE. + +It is with a solemn feeling of responsibility that I send forth this +volume of Sermons. The ordinary emotions of authorship have little place +in the experience, when one remembers that what he says will be either a +means of spiritual life, or an occasion of spiritual death. + +I believe that the substance of these Discourses will prove to accord +with God's revealed truth, in the day that will try all truth. The title +indicates their general aim and tendency. The purpose is psychological. I +would, if possible, anatomize the natural heart. It is in vain to offer +the gospel unless the law has been applied with clearness and cogency. At +the present day, certainly, there is far less danger of erring in the +direction of religious severity, than in the direction of religious +indulgence. If I have not preached redemption in these sermons so fully +as I have analyzed sin, it is because it is my deliberate conviction +that just now the first and hardest work to be done by the preacher, for +the natural man, is to produce in him some sensibility upon the subject +of sin. Conscience needs to become consciousness. There is considerable +theoretical unbelief respecting the doctrines of the New Testament; but +this is not the principal difficulty. Theoretical skepticism is in a +small minority of Christendom, and always has been. The chief obstacle to +the spread of the Christian religion is the practical unbelief of +speculative believers. "Thou sayest,"--says John Bunyan,--"thou dost in +deed and in truth believe the Scriptures. I ask, therefore, Wast thou +ever killed stark dead by the law of works contained in the Scriptures? +Killed by the law or letter, and made to see thy sins against it, and +left in an helpless condition by the law? For, the proper work of the law +is to slay the soul, and to leave it dead in an helpless state. For, it +doth neither give the soul any comfort itself, when it comes, nor doth it +show the soul where comfort is to be had; and therefore it is called the +'ministration of condemnation,' the 'ministration of death.' For, though +men may have a notion of the blessed Word of God, yet before they be +converted, it may be truly said of them, Ye err, not knowing the +Scriptures, nor the power of God." + +If it be thought that such preaching of the law can be dispensed with, by +employing solely what is called in some quarters the preaching of the +gospel, I do not agree with the opinion. The benefits of Christ's +redemption are pearls which must not be cast before swine. The gospel is +not for the stupid, or for the doubter,--still less for the scoffer. +Christ's atonement is to be offered to conscious guilt, and in order to +conscious guilt there must be the application of the decalogue. John +Baptist must prepare the way for the merciful Redeemer, by legal and +close preaching. And the merciful Redeemer Himself, in the opening of His +ministry, and before He spake much concerning remission of sins, preached +a sermon which in its searching and self-revelatory character is a more +alarming address to the corrupt natural heart, than was the first +edition of it delivered amidst the lightnings of Sinai. The Sermon on the +Mount is called the Sermon of the Beatitudes, and many have the +impression that it is a very lovely song to the sinful soul of man. They +forget that the blessing upon obedience implies a _curse_ upon +disobedience, and that every mortal man has disobeyed the Sermon on the +Mount. "God save me,"--said a thoughtful person who knew what is in the +Sermon on the Mount, and what is in the human heart,--"God save me from +the Sermon on the Mount when I am judged in the last day." When Christ +preached this discourse, He preached the law, principally. "Think +not,"--He says,--"that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am +not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven +and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law +till all be fulfilled." John the Baptist describes his own preaching, +which was confessedly severe and legal, as being far less searching than +that of the Messiah whose near advent he announced. "I indeed baptize you +with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than +I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the +Holy Ghost and with _fire_; whose _fan_ is in his hand, and he will +_thoroughly purge_ his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but +he will _burn up the chaff_ with unquenchable fire." + +The general burden and strain of the Discourse with which the Redeemer +opened His ministry is preceptive and mandatory. Its keynote is: "Thou +shalt do this," and, "Thou shalt not do that;" "Thou shalt be thus, in +thine heart," and, "Thou shalt not be thus, in thine heart." So little is +said in it, comparatively, concerning what are called the doctrines of +grace, that it has often been cited to prove that the creed of the Church +has been expanded unduly, and made to contain more than the Founder of +Christianity really intended it should. The absence, for example, of any +direct and specific statement of the doctrine of Atonement, in this +important section of Christ's teaching, has been instanced by the +Socinian opponent as proof that this doctrine is not so vital as the +Church has always claimed it to be. But, Christ was purposely silent +respecting grace and its methods, until he had _spiritualized Law_, and +made it penetrate the human consciousness like a sharp sword. Of what use +would it have been to offer mercy, before the sense of its need had been +elicited? and how was this to be elicited, but by the solemn and +authoritative enunciation of law and justice? There are, indeed, cheering +intimations, in the Sermon on the Mount, respecting the Divine mercy, and +so there are in connection with the giving of the Ten Commandments. But +law, rather than grace, is the main substance and burden of both. The +great intention, in each instance, is to convince of sin, preparatory to +the offer of clemency. The Decalogue is the legal basis of the Old +Dispensation, and the Sermon on the Mount is the legal basis of the New. +When the Redeemer, in the opening of His ministry, had provided the +apparatus of conviction, then He provided the apparatus of expiation. The +Great High-Priest, like the Levitical priest who typified Him, did not +sprinkle atoning blood indiscriminately. It was to bedew only him who +felt and confessed guilt. + +This legal and minatory element in the words of Jesus has also been +noticed by the skeptic, and an argument has been founded upon it to prove +that He was soured by ill-success, and, like other merely human reformers +who have found the human heart too hard, for them, fell away from the +gentleness with which He began His ministry, into the anger and +denunciation of mortified ambition with which it closed. This is the +picture of Jesus Christ which Renan presents in his apocryphal Gospel. +But the fact is, that the Redeemer _began_ with law, and was rigorous +with sin from the very first. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered not +far from twelve months from the time of His inauguration, by baptism, to +the office of Messiah. And all along through His ministry of three years +and a half, He constantly employs the law in order to prepare his hearers +for grace. He was as gentle and gracious to the penitent sinner, in the +opening of His ministry, as he was at the close of it; and He was as +unsparing and severe towards the hardened and self-righteous sinner, in +His early Judaean, as He was in His later Galilean ministry. + +It is sometimes said that the surest way to produce conviction of sin is +to preach the Cross. There is a sense in which this is true, and there is +a sense in which it is false. If the Cross is set forth as the cursed +tree on which the Lord of Glory hung and suffered, to satisfy the demands +of Eternal Justice, then indeed there is fitness in the preaching to +produce the sense of guilt. But this is to preach the _law_, in its +fullest extent, and the most tremendous energy of its claims. Such +discourse as this must necessarily analyze law, define it, enforce it, +and apply it in the most cogent manner. For, only as the atonement of +Christ is shown to completely meet and satisfy all these _legal_ demands +which have been so thoroughly discussed and exhibited, is the real virtue +and power of the Cross made manifest. + +But if the Cross is merely held up as a decorative ornament, like that on +the breast of Belinda, "which Jews might kiss and infidels adore;" if it +be proclaimed as the beautiful symbol of the Divine indifference and +indulgence, and there be a studious _avoiding_ of all judicial aspects +and relations; if the natural man is not searched by law and alarmed by +justice, but is only soothed and narcotized by the idea of an +Epicurean deity destitute of moral anger and inflicting no righteous +retribution,--then, there will be no conviction of sin. Whenever the +preaching of the law is positively _objected_ to, and the preaching of +the gospel is proposed in its place, it will be found that the "gospel" +means that good-nature and that easy virtue which some mortals dare to +attribute to the Holy and Immaculate Godhead! He who really, and in good +faith, preaches the Cross, never opposes the preaching of the law. + +Still another reason for the kind of religious discourse which we are +defending is found in the fact that multitudes are expecting a happy +issue of this life, upon ethical as distinguished from evangelical +grounds. They deny that they deserve damnation, or that they need +Christ's atonement. They say that they are living virtuous lives, and are +ready to adopt language similar to that of Mr. Mill spoken in another +connection: "If from this position of integrity and morality we are to be +sent to hell, to hell we will go." This tendency is strengthened by the +current light letters, in distinction from standard literature. A certain +class, through ephemeral essays, poems, and novels, has been plied with +the doctrine of a natural virtue and an innate goodness, until it has +become proud and self-reliant. The "manhood" of paganism is glorified, +and the "childhood" of the gospel is vilified. The graces of humility, +self-abasement before God, and especially of penitence for sin, are +distasteful and loathed. Persons of this order prefer to have their +religious teacher silent upon these themes, and urge them to courage, +honor, magnanimity, and all that class of qualities which imply +self-consciousness and self-reliance. To them apply the solemn words of +the Son of God to the Pharisees: "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: +but now ye say, We _see_, therefore your sin remaineth." + +It is, therefore, specially incumbent upon the Christian ministry, to +employ a searching and psychological style of preaching, and to apply the +tests of ethics and virtue so powerfully to men who are trusting to +ethics and virtue, as to bring them upon their knees. Since these men are +desiring, like the "foolish Galatiana," to be saved by the law, then let +the law be laid down to them, in all its breadth and reach, that they may +understand the real nature and consequences of the position they have +taken. "Tell me," says a preacher of this stamp,--"tell me, ye that +desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law,"--do ye not hear its +thundering,--"_cursed_ is every one that continueth not in ALL things +that are written in the law, to do them!" Virtue must be absolutely +perfect and spotless, if a happy immortality is to be made to depend upon +virtue. If the human heart, in its self-deception and self-reliance, +turns away from the Cross and the righteousness of God, to morals and the +righteousness of works, then let the Christian thinker follow after it +like the avenger of blood. Let him set the heights and depths of ethical +_perfection_ before the deluded mortal; let him point to the inaccessible +cliffs that tower high above, and bid him scale them if he can; let him +point to the fathomless abysses beneath, and tell him to descend and +bring up perfect virtue therefrom; let him employ the very instrument +which this _virtuoso_ has chosen, until it becomes an instrument of +torture and self-despair. In this way, he is breaking down the "manhood" +that confronts and opposes, and is bringing in the "childhood" that is +docile, and recipient of the kingdom. + +These Sermons run the hazard of being pronounced monotonous, because of +the pertinacity with which the attempt is made to force self-reflection. +But this criticism can easily be endured, provided the attempt succeeds. +Religious truth becomes almighty the instant it can get _within_ the +soul; and it gets within the soul, the instant real thinking begins. "As +you value your peace of mind, stop all scrutiny into your personal +character," is the advice of what Milton denominates "the sty of +Epicurus." The discouraging religious condition of the present age is +due to the great lack, not merely in the lower but the higher classes, of +calm, clear self-intelligence. Men do not know themselves. The Delphic +oracle was never less obeyed than now, in this vortex of mechanical arts +and luxury. For this reason, it is desirable that the religious teacher +dwell consecutively upon topics that are connected with that which is +_within_ man,--his settled motives of action, and all those spontaneous +on-goings of his soul of which he takes no notice, unless he is persuaded +or impelled to do so. Some of the old painters produced powerful effects +by one solitary color. The subject of moral evil contemplated in the +heart of the individual man,--not described to him from the outside, but +wrought out of his own being into incandescent letters, by the fierce +chemistry of anxious perhaps agonizing reflection,--sin, the one awful +fact in the history of man, if caused to pervade discourse will always +impart to it a hue which, though it be monochromatic, arrests and holds +the eye like the lurid color of an approaching storm-cloud. + +With this statement respecting the aim and purport of these Sermons, and +deeply conscious of their imperfections, especially for spiritual +purposes, I send them out into the world, with the prayer that God the +Spirit will deign to employ them as the means of awakening some souls +from the lethargy of sin. + +Union Theological Seminary, +New York, _February 17_, 1871. + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + + I. THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE + + II. THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE (continued) + +III. GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN + + IV. GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN (continued) + + V. ALL MANKIND GUILTY; OR, EVERY MAN KNOWS MORE THAN HE PRACTISES + + VI. SIN IN THE HEART THE SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE HEAD + +VII. THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES + +VIII. THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES (continued) + +IX. THE IMPOTENCE OF THE LAW + +X. SELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE + +XI. SIN IS SPIRITUAL SLAVERY + +XII. THE ORIGINAL AND THE ACTUAL RELATION OF MAN TO LAW + +XIII. THE SIN OF OMISSION + +XIV. THE SINFULNESS OF ORIGINAL SIN + +XV. THE APPROBATION OF GOODNESS IS NOT THE LOVE OF IT + +XVI. THE USE OF FEAR IN RELIGION + +XVII. THE PRESENT LIFE AS BELATED TO THE FUTURE + +XVIII. THE EXERCISE OF MERCY OPTIONAL WITH GOD + +XIX. CHRISTIANITY REQUIRES THE TEMPER OF CHILDHOOD + +XX. FAITH THE SOLE SAVING ACT + + +SERMONS. + +THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE. + +1 Cor. xiii. 12.--"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also +I am known." + + +The apostle Paul made this remark with reference to the blessedness of +the Christian in eternity. Such assertions are frequent in the +Scriptures. This same apostle, whose soul was so constantly dilated +with the expectation of the beatific vision, assures the Corinthians, in +another passage in this epistle, that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, +neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath +prepared for them that love Him." The beloved disciple John, also, though +he seems to have lived in the spiritual world while he was upon the +earth, and though the glories of eternity were made to pass before him in +the visions of Patmos, is compelled to say of the sons of God, "It doth +not yet appear what we shall be." And certainly the common Christian, as +he looks forward with a mixture of hope and anxiety to his final state in +eternity, will confess that he knows but "in part," and that a very small +part, concerning it. He endures as seeing that which is invisible, and +cherishes the hope that through Christ's redemption his eternity will +be a condition of peace and purity, and that he shall know even as also +he is known. + +But it is not the Christian alone who is to enter eternity, and to whom +the exchange of worlds will bring a luminous apprehension of many things +that have hitherto been seen only through a glass darkly. Every human +creature may say, when he thinks of the alteration that will come over +his views of religious subjects upon entering another life, "Now +I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. I am now +in the midst of the vapors and smoke of this dim spot which men call +earth, but then shall I stand in the dazzling light of the face of God, +and labor under no doubt or delusion respecting my own character or that +of my Eternal Judge." + +A moment's reflection will convince any one, that the article and fact of +death must of itself make a vast accession to the amount of a man's +knowledge, because death introduces him into an entirely new state of +existence. Foreign travel adds much to our stock of ideas, because we go +into regions of the earth of which we had previously known only by the +hearing of the ear. But the great and last journey that man takes carries +him over into a province of which no book, not even the Bible itself, +gives him any distinct cognition, as to the style of its scenery or the +texture of its objects. In respect to any earthly scene or experience, +all men stand upon substantially the same level of information, because +they all have substantially the same data for forming an estimate. Though +I may never have been in Italy, I yet know that the soil of Italy is a +part of the common crust of the globe, that the Apennines are like other +mountains which I have seen, that the Italian sunlight pours through the +pupil like any other sunlight, and that the Italian breezes fan the brow +like those of the sunny south the world over. I understand that the +general forms of human consciousness in Europe and Asia, are like those +in America. The operations of the five senses are the same in the Old +World that they are in the New. But what do I know of the surroundings +and experience of a man who has travelled from time into eternity? Am I +not completely baffled, the moment I attempt to construct the +consciousness of the unearthly state? I have no materials out of which to +build it, because it is not a world of sense and matter, like that which +I now inhabit. + +But death carries man over into the new and entirely different mode of +existence, so that he knows by direct observation and immediate +intuition. A flood of new information pours in upon the disembodied +spirit, such as he cannot by any possibility acquire upon earth, and yet +such as he cannot by any possibility escape from in his new residence. +How strange it is, that the young child, the infant of days, in the heart +of Africa, by merely dying, by merely passing from time into eternity, +acquires a kind and grade of knowledge that is absolutely inaccessible +to the wisest and subtlest philosopher while here on earth![1] The dead +Hottentot knows more than the living Plato. + +But not only does the exchange of worlds make a vast addition to our +stores of information respecting the nature of the invisible realm, and +the mode of existence there, it also makes a vast addition to the kind +and degree of our knowledge respecting _ourselves_, and our personal +relationships to God. This is by far the most important part of the new +acquisition which we gain by the passage from time to eternity, and it is +to this that the Apostle directs attention in the text. It is not so much +the world that will be around us, when we are beyond the tomb, as it is +the world that will be within us, that is of chief importance. Our +circumstances in this mode of existence, and in any mode of existence, +are arranged by a Power above us, and are, comparatively, matters of +small concern; but the persons that we ourselves verily are, the +characters which we bring into this environment, the little inner world +of thought and feeling which is to be inclosed and overarched in the +great outer world of forms and objects,--all this is matter of infinite +moment and anxiety to a responsible creature. + +For the text teaches, that inasmuch as the future life is the _ultimate_ +state of being for an immortal spirit, all that imperfection and +deficiency in knowledge which appertains to this present life, this +"ignorant present" time, must disappear. When we are in eternity, we +shall not be in the dark and in doubt respecting certain great questions +and truths that sometimes raise a query in our minds here. Voltaire now +knows whether there is a sin-hating God, and David Hume now knows whether +there is an endless hell. I may, in certain moods of my mind here upon +earth, query whether I am accountable and liable to retribution, but the +instant I shall pass from this realm of shadows, all this skepticism will +be banished forever from my mind. For the future state is the _final_ +state, and hence all questions are settled, and all doubts are resolved. +While upon earth, the arrangements are such that we cannot see every +thing, and must walk by faith, because it is a state of probation; but +when once in eternity, all the arrangements are such that we cannot but +see every thing, and must walk by sight, because it is the state of +adjudication. Hence it is, that the preacher is continually urging men to +view things, so far as is possible, in the light of eternity, as the only +light that shines clearly and without refractions. Hence it is, that he +importunes his hearers to estimate their duties, and their relationships, +and their personal character, as they will upon the death-bed, because in +the solemn hour of death the light of the future state begins to dawn +upon the human soul. + +It is very plain that if a spiritual man like the apostle Paul, who in a +very remarkable degree lived with reference to the future world, and +contemplated subjects in the light of eternity, was compelled to say that +he knew but "in part," much more must the thoughtless natural man confess +his ignorance of that which will meet him when his spirit returns to God. +The great mass of mankind are totally vacant of any just apprehension of +what will be their state of mind, upon being introduced into God's +presence. They have never seriously considered what must be the effect +upon their views and feelings, of an entire withdrawment from the scenes +and objects of earth, and an entrance into those of the future state. +Most men are wholly engrossed in the present existence, and do not allow +their thoughts to reach over into that invisible region which revelation +discloses, and which the uncontrollable workings of conscience sometimes +_force_ upon their attention for a moment. How many men there are, whose +sinful and thoughtless lives prove that they are not aware that the +future world will, by its very characteristics, fill them with a species +and a grade of information that will be misery unutterable. Is it not the +duty and the wisdom of all such, to attempt to conjecture and anticipate +the coming experience of the human soul in the day of judgment and the +future life, in order that by repentance toward God and faith in the Lord +Jesus Christ they may be able to stand in that day? Let us then endeavor +to know, at least "in part," concerning the eternal state. + +The latter clause of the text specifies the general characteristic of +existence in the future world. It is a mode of existence in which the +rational mind "_knows_ even as it is known." It is a world of +knowledge,--of conscious knowledge. In thus unequivocally asserting that +our existence beyond the tomb is one of distinct consciousness, +revelation has taught us what we most desire and need to know. The first +question that would be raised by a creature who was just to be launched +out upon an untried mode of existence would be the question: "Shall I be +_conscious_?" However much he might desire to know the length and breadth +of the ocean upon which his was to set sail, the scenery that was to be +above him and around him in his coming history,--nay, however much he +might wish to know of matters still closer to himself than these; however +much he might crave to ask of his Maker, "With what body shall I come?" +all would be set second to the simple single inquiry: "Shall I think, +shall I feel, shall I know?" In answering this question in the +affirmative, without any hesitation or ambiguity, the apostle Paul has +in reality cleared up most of the darkness that overhangs the future +state. The structure of the spiritual body, and the fabric of the +immaterial world, are matters of secondary importance, and may be left +without explanation, provided only the rational mind of man be distinctly +informed that it shall not sleep in unconsciousness, and that the +immortal spark shall not become such stuff as dreams are made of. + +The future, then, is a mode of existence in which the soul "knows even as +it is known." But this involves a perception in which there is no error, +and no intermission. For, the human spirit in eternity "is known" by the +omniscient God. If, then, it knows in the style and manner that God +knows, there can be no misconception or cessation in its cognition. Here, +then, we have a glimpse into the nature of our eternal existence. It is a +state of distinct and unceasing knowledge of moral truth and moral +objects. The human spirit, be it holy or sinful, a friend or an enemy of +God, in eternity will always and forever be aware of it. There is no +forgetting in the future state; there is no dissipation of the mind +there; and there is no aversion of the mind from itself. The cognition is +a fixed quantity. Given the soul, and the knowledge is given. If it be +holy, it is always conscious of the fact. If it be sinful, it cannot for +an instant lose the distressing consciousness of sin. In neither instance +will it be necessary, as it generally is in this life, to make a special +effort and a particular examination, in order to know the personal +character. Knowledge of God and His law, in the future life, is +spontaneous and inevitable; no creature can escape it; and therefore the +bliss is _unceasing_ in heaven, and the misery is _unceasing_ in +hell. There are no states of thoughtlessness and unconcern in the future +life, because there is not an instant of forgetfulness or ignorance of +the personal character and condition. In the world beyond this, every man +will constantly and distinctly know what he is, and what he is not, +because he will "be known" by the omniscient and unerring God, and will +himself know in the same constant and distinct style and manner. + +If the most thoughtless person that now walks the globe could only have a +clear perception of that kind of knowledge which is awaiting him upon the +other side of the tomb, he would become the most thoughtful and the most +anxious of men. It would sober him like death itself. And if any +unpardoned man should from this moment onward be haunted with the +thought, "When I die I shall enter into the light of God's countenance, +and obtain a knowledge of my own character and obligations that will be +as accurate and unvarying as that of God himself upon this subject," he +would find no rest until he had obtained an assurance of the Divine +mercy, and such an inward change as would enable him to endure this deep +and full consciousness of the purity of God and of the state of his +heart. It is only because a man is unthinking, or because he imagines +that the future world will be like the present one, only longer in +duration, that he is so indifferent regarding it. Here is the difficulty +of the case, and the fatal mistake which the natural man makes. He +supposes that the views which he shall have upon religious subjects in +the eternal state, will be very much as they are in this,--vague, +indistinct, fluctuating, and therefore causing no very great anxiety. He +can pass days and weeks here in time without thinking of the claims of +God upon him, and he imagines that the same thing is possible in +eternity. While here upon earth, he certainly does not "know even as +also he is known," and he hastily concludes that so it will be beyond the +grave. It is because men imagine that eternity is only a very long space +of _time_, filled up, as time here is, with dim, indistinct +apprehensions, with a constantly shifting experience, with shallow +feelings and ever diversified emotions, in fine, with all the _variety_ +of pleasure and pain, of ignorance and knowledge, that pertains to this +imperfect and probationary life,--it is because mankind thus conceive of +the final state, that it exerts no more influence over them. But such is +not its true idea. There is a marked difference between the present and +the future life, in respect to uniformity and clearness of knowledge. +"Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." The +text and the whole teaching of the New Testament prove that the invisible +world is the unchangeable one; that there are no alterations of +character, and consequently no alternations of experience, in the future +life; that there are no transitions, as there are in this checkered scene +of earth, from happiness to unhappiness and back again. There is but one +uniform type of experience for an individual soul in eternity. That soul +is either uninterruptedly happy, or uninterruptedly miserable, because it +has either an uninterrupted sense of holiness, or an uninterrupted sense +of sin. He that is righteous is righteous still, and knows it +continually; and he that is filthy is filthy still, and knows it +incessantly. If we enter eternity as the redeemed of the Lord, we take +over the holy heart and spiritual affections of regeneration, and there +is no change but that of progression,--a change, consequently, only in +degree, but none of kind or type. The same knowledge and experience that +we have here "in part" we shall have there in completeness and +permanency. And the same will be true, if the heart be evil and the +affections inordinate and earthly. And all this, simply because the +mind's knowledge is clear, accurate, and constant. That which the +transgressor knows here of God and his own heart, but imperfectly, and +fitfully, and briefly, he shall know there perfectly, and constantly, and +everlastingly. The law of constant evolution, and the characteristic of +unvarying uniformity, will determine and fix the type of experience in +the evil as it does in the good. + +Such, then, is the general nature of knowledge in the future state. It is +distinct, accurate, unintermittent, and unvarying. We shall know even as +we are known, and we are known by the omniscient and unerring Searcher of +hearts. Let us now apply this general characteristic of cognition in +eternity to some particulars. Let us transfer our minds into the future +and final state, and mark what goes on within them there. We ought often +to enter this mysterious realm, and become habituated to its mental +processes, and by a wise anticipation become prepared for the reality +itself. + +I. The human mind, in eternity, will have a distinct and unvarying +perception of the _character of God_. And that one particular attribute +in this character, respecting which the cognition will be of the most +luminous quality, is the Divine holiness. In eternity, the immaculateness +of the Deity will penetrate the consciousness of every rational creature +with the subtlety and the thoroughness of fire. God's essence is +infinitely pure, and intensely antagonistic to sin, but it is not until +there is a direct contact between it and the human mind, that man +understands it and feels it. "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the +ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee, and I abhor myself." Even the best of +men know but "in part" concerning the holiness of God. Yet it is +noticeable how the apprehension of it grows upon the ripening Christian, +as he draws nearer to the time of his departure. The vision of the +cherubim themselves seems to dawn upon the soul of a Leighton and an +Edwards, and though it does not in the least disturb their saintly and +seraphic peace, because they are sheltered in the clefts of the Rock of +Ages, as the brightness passes by them, it does yet bring out from their +comparatively holy and spiritual hearts the utterance, "Behold I am vile; +infinite upon, infinite is my sin." But what shall be said of the common +and ordinary knowledge of mankind, upon this subject! Except at certain +infrequent times, the natural man does not know even "in part," +respecting the holiness of God, and hence goes on in transgression +without anxiety or terror. It is the very first work of prevenient grace, +to disclose to the human mind something of the Divine purity; and +whoever, at any moment, is startled by a more than common sense of God's +holy character, should regard it and cherish it as a token of benevolence +and care for his soul. + +Now, in eternity this species of knowledge must exist in the very highest +degree. The human soul will be encircled by the character and attributes +of God. It cannot look in any direction without beholding it. It is not +so here. Here, in this life, man may and does avert his eye, and refuse +to look at the sheen and the splendor that pains his organ. He fastens +his glance upon the farm, or the merchandise, or the book, and +perseveringly determines not to see the purity of God that rebukes him. +And _here_ he can succeed. He can and does live days and months without +so much as a momentary glimpse of his Maker, and, as the apostle says, +is "without God" in this world. And yet such men do have, now and then, a +view of the face of God. It may be for an instant only. It may be merely +a thought, a gleam, a flash; and yet, like that quick flash of lightning, +of which our Lord speaks, that lighteneth out of the one part of heaven, +and shineth unto the other part, that cometh out of the East and shineth +even unto the West,--like that swift momentary flash which runs round the +whole horizon in the twinkling of an eye, this swift thought and gleam of +God's purity fills the whole guilty soul full of light. What spiritual +distress seizes the man in such moments, and of what a penetrating +perception of the Divine character is he possessed for an instant! It is +a distinct and an accurate knowledge, but, unlike the cognition of the +future state, it is not yet an inevitable and unintermittent one. He can +expel it, and become again an ignorant and indifferent being, as he was +before. He knows but "in part" at the very best, and this only +temporarily. + +But carry this rational and accountable creature into eternity, denude +him of the body of sense, and take him out of the busy and noisy world of +sense into the silent world of spirits, and into the immediate presence +of God, and then he will know upon this subject even as he is known. That +sight and perception of God's purity which he had here for a brief +instant, and which was so painful because he was not in sympathy with it, +has now become everlasting. That distinct and accurate knowledge of +God's character has now become his only knowledge. That flash of +lightning has become light,--fixed, steady, permanent as the orb of day. +The rational spirit cannot for an instant rid itself of the idea of God. +Never for a moment, in the endless cycles, can it look away from its +Maker; for in His presence what other object is there to look at? Time +itself, with its pursuits and its objects of thought and feeling, is no +longer, for the angel hath sworn it by Him who liveth for ever and ever. +There is nothing left, then, to occupy and engross the attention but the +character and attributes of God; and, now, the immortal mind, created for +such a purpose, must yield itself up to that contemplation which in this +life it dreaded and avoided. The future state of every man is to be an +open and unavoidable vision of God. If he delights in the view, he will +be blessed; if he loathes it, he will be miserable. This is the substance +of heaven and hell. This is the key to the eternal destiny of every human +soul. If a man love God, he shall gaze at him and adore; if he hate God, +he shall gaze at him and gnaw his tongue for pain. + +The subject, as thus far unfolded, teaches the following lessons: + +1. In the first place, it shows that _a false theory of the future state +will not protect a man from future misery_. For, we have seen that the +eternal world, by its very structure and influences, throws a flood of +light upon the Divine character, causing it to appear in its ineffable +purity and splendor, and compels every creature to stand out in that +light. There is no darkness in which man can hide himself, when he leaves +this world of shadows. A false theory, therefore, respecting God, can no +more protect a man from the reality, the actual matter of fact, than a +false theory of gravitation will preserve a man from falling from a +precipice into a bottomless abyss. Do you come to us with the theory +that every human creature will be happy in another life, and that the +doctrine of future misery is false? We tell you, in reply, that God is +_holy_, beyond dispute or controversy; that He cannot endure the sight of +sin; and that in the future world every one of His creatures must see Him +precisely as He is, and know Him in the real and eternal qualities of His +nature. The man, therefore, who is full of sin, whose heart is earthly, +sensual, selfish, must, when he approaches that pure Presence, find that +his theory of future happiness shrivels up like the heavens themselves, +before the majesty and glory of God. He now stands face to face with a +Being whose character has never dawned upon him with such a dazzling +purity, and to dispute the reality would be like disputing the fierce +splendor of the noonday sun. Theory must give way to fact, and the +deluded mortal must submit to its awful force. + +In this lies the _irresistible_ power of death, judgment, and eternity, +to alter the views of men. Up to these points they can dispute and argue, +because there is no ocular demonstration. It is possible to debate the +question this side of the tomb, because we are none of us face to face +with God, and front to front with eternity. In the days of Noah, before +the flood came, there was skepticism, and many theories concerning the +threatened deluge. So long as the sky was clear, and the green earth +smiled under the warm sunlight, it was not difficult for the unbeliever +to maintain an argument in opposition to the preacher of righteousness. +But when the sky was rent with lightnings, and the earth was scarred with +thunder-bolts, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, where +was the skepticism? where were the theories? where were the arguments? +When God teaches, "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the +disputer of this world?" They then knew as they were known; they stood +face to face with the facts. + +It is this _inevitableness_ of the demonstration upon which we would +fasten attention. We are not always to live in this world of shadows. We +are going individually into the very face and eyes of Jehovah, and +whatever notions we may have adopted and maintained must all disappear, +except as they shall be actually verified by what we shall see and know +in that period of our existence when we shall perceive with the accuracy +and clearness of God Himself. Our most darling theories, by which we may +have sought to solace our souls in reference to our future destiny, if +false, will be all ruthlessly torn away, and we must see what verily and +eternally is. All mankind come upon one doctrinal platform when they +enter eternity. They all have one creed there. There is not a skeptic +even in hell. The devils believe and tremble. The demonstration that God +is holy is so irrefragable, so complete and absolute, that doubt or +denial is impossible in any spirit that has passed the line between time +and eternity. + +2. In the second place, this subject shows that _indifference and +carelessness respecting the future life will not protect the soul from +future misery_. There may be no false theory adopted, and yet if there be +no thoughtful preparation to meet God, the result will be all the same. I +may not dispute the Newtonian theory of gravitation, yet if I pay no heed +to it, if I simply forget it, as I clamber up mountains, and walk by the +side of precipices, my body will as surely be dashed to pieces as if I +were a theoretical skeptic upon the subject of gravitation. + +The creature's indifference can no more alter the immutable nature of +God, than can the creature's false reasoning, or false theorizing. That +which is settled in heaven, that which is fixed and eternal, stands the +same stern, relentless fact under all circumstances. We see the operation +of this sometimes here upon earth, in a very impressive manner. A youth +or a man simply neglects the laws and conditions of physical well-being. +He does not dispute them. He merely pays no attention to them. A. few +years pass by, and disease and torturing pain become his portion. He +comes now into the awful presence of the powers and the facts which the +Creator has inlaid in the world, of physical existence. He knows now even +as he is known. And the laws are stern. He finds no place of repentance +in them, though he seek it carefully with tears. The laws never repent, +never change their mind. The principles of physical life and growth which +he has never disputed, but which he has never regarded, now crush him +into the ground in their relentless march and motion. + +Precisely so will it be in the moral world, and with reference to the +holiness of God. That man who simply neglects to prepare himself to see a +holy God, though he never denies that there is such a Being, will find +the vision just as unendurable to him, as it is to the most determined of +earthly skeptics. So far as the final result in the other world is +concerned, it matters little whether a man adds unbelief to his +carelessness, or not. The carelessness will ruin his soul, whether with +or without skepticism. Orthodoxy is valuable only as it inspires the hope +that it will end in timely and practical attention to the concerns of the +soul. But if you show me a man who you infallibly know will go through +life careless and indifferent, I will show you a man who will not be +prepared to meet God face to face, even though his theology be as +accurate as that of St. Paul himself. Nay, we have seen that there is a +time coming when all skeptics will become believers like the devils +themselves, and will tremble at the ocular demonstration of truths which +they have heretofore denied. Theoretical unbelief must be a temporary +affair in every man; for it can last only until he dies. Death will make +all the world theoretically orthodox, and bring them all to one and the +same creed. But death will not bring them all to one and the same happy +experience of the truth, and lave of the creed. For those who have made +preparation for the vision of God and the ocular demonstration of Divine +truth, these will rise upon their view with a blessed and glorious light. +But for those who have remained sinful and careless, these eternal truths +and facts will be a vision of terror and despair. They will not alter. No +man will find any place of repentance in them, though, like Esau, he seek +it carefully and with tears. + +3. In the third place, this subject shows that _only faith in Christ and +a new heart can protect the soul from future misery_. The nature and +character of God cannot be altered, and therefore the change must be +wrought in man's soul. The disposition and affections of the heart must +be brought into such sweet sympathy and harmony with God's holiness, that +when in the next world that holiness shall be revealed as it is to the +seraphim, it will fall in upon the soul like the rays of a vernal sun, +starting every thing into cheerful life and joy. If the Divine holiness +does not make this impression, it produces exactly the contrary effect. +If the sun's rays do not start the bud in the spring, they kill it. If +the vision of a holy God is not our heaven, then it must be our hell. +Look then directly into your heart, and tell us which is the impression +for you. Can you say with David, "We give thanks and rejoice, at the +remembrance of Thy holiness?" Are you glad that there is such a pure and +immaculate Being upon the throne, and when His excellence abashes you, +and rebukes your corruption and sin, do you say, "Let the righteous One +smite me, it shall be a kindness?" Do you _love_ God's holy character? If +so, you are a new creature, and are ready for the vision of God, face to +face. For you, to know God even as you are known by Him will not be a +terror, but a glory and a joy. You are in sympathy with Him. You have +been reconciled to Him by the blood of atonement, and brought into +harmony with Him by the washing of regeneration. For you, as a believer +in Christ, and a new man in Christ Jesus, all is well. The more you see +of God, the more you desire to see of Him; and the more you know of Him, +the more you long to know. + +But if this is not your experience, then all is ill with you. We say +_experience_. You must _feel_ in this manner toward God, or you cannot +endure the vision which is surely to break upon you after death. You must +_love_ this holiness without which no man can see the Lord. You may +approve of it, you may praise it in other men, but if there is no +affectionate going out of your own heart toward, the holy God, you are +not in right relations to Him. You have the carnal mind, and that is +enmity, and enmity is misery. + +Look these facts in the eye, and act accordingly. "Make the _tree_ good, +and his fruit good," says Christ. Begin at the beginning. Aim at nothing +less than a change of disposition and affections. Ask for nothing less, +seek for nothing less. If you become inwardly holy as God is holy; if you +become a friend of God, reconciled to Him by the blood of Christ; then +your nature will be like God's nature, your character like God's +character. Then, when you shall know God even as you are known by Him, +and shall see Him as He is, the knowledge and the vision will be +everlasting joy. + +[Footnote 1: + + "She has seen the mystery hid, + Under Egypt's pyramid; + By those eyelids pale and close, + Now she knows what Rhamses knows." + ELIZABETH BROWNING: On the Death of a Child.] + + + + +THE FUTURE STATE A SELF-CONSCIOUS STATE. + +1 COR. xiii. 12.--"Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also +I am known." + +In the preceding discourse, we found in these words the principal +characteristic of our future existence. The world beyond the tomb is a +world of clear and conscious knowledge. When, at death, I shall leave +this region of time and sense and enter eternity, my knowledge, the +apostle Paul tells me instead of being diminished or extinguished by the +dissolution, of the body, will not only be continued to me, but will be +even greater and clearer than before. He assures me that the kind and +style of my cognition will be like that of God himself. I am to know as I +am known. My intelligence will coincide with that of Deity. + +By this we are not to understand that the creature's knowledge, in the +future state, will be as extensive as that of the Omniscient One; or that +it will be as profound and exhaustive as His. The infinitude of things +can be known only by the Infinite Mind; and the creature will forever be +making new acquisitions, and never reaching the final limit of truths and +facts. But upon certain moral subjects, the perception of the creature +will be like that of his Maker and Judge, so far as the _kind_ or +_quality_ of the apprehension is concerned. Every man in eternity, for +illustration, will see sin to be an odious and abominable thing, contrary +to the holy nature of God, and awakening in that nature the most holy and +awful displeasure. His knowledge upon this subject will be so identical +with that of God, that he will be unable to palliate or excuse his +transgressions, as he does in this world. He will see them precisely as +God sees them. He must know them as God knows them, because he will "know +even as he is known." + +II. In continuing the examination of this solemn subject, we remark as a +second and further characteristic of the knowledge which every man will +possess in eternity, that he will know _himself_ even as he is known by +God. His knowledge of God we have found to be direct, accurate, and +unceasing; his knowledge of his own heart will be so likewise. This +follows from the relation of the two species of cognition to each other. +The true knowledge of God involves the true knowledge of self. The +instant that any one obtains a clear view of the holy nature of his +Maker, he obtains a clear view of his own sinful nature. Philosophers +tell us, that our consciousness of God and our consciousness of self +mutually involve and imply each other[1]; in other words, that we cannot +know God without immediately knowing ourselves, any more than we can know +light without knowing darkness, any more than we can have the idea of +right without having the idea of wrong. And it is certainly true that so +soon as any being can intelligently say, "God is holy," he can and must +say, "I am holy," or, "I am unholy," as the fact may be. Indeed, the only +way in which man can truly know himself is to contrast himself with his +Maker; and the most exhaustive self-knowledge and self-consciousness is +to be found, not in the schools of secular philosophy but, in the +searchings of the Christian heart,--in the "Confessions" of Augustine; in +the labyrinthine windings of Edwards "On the Affections." Hence the +frequent exhortations in the Bible to look at the character of God, in +order that we may know ourselves and be abased by the contrast. In +eternity, therefore, if we must have a clear and constant perception of +God's character, we must necessarily have a distinct and unvarying +knowledge of our own. It is not so here. Here in this world, man knows +himself but "in part." Even when he endeavors to look within, prejudice +and passion often affect his judgment; but more often, the fear of what +he shall discover in the secret places of his soul deters him from making +the attempt at self-examination. For it is a surprising truth that the +transgressor dares not bring out into the light that which is most truly +his own, that which he himself has originated, and which he loves and +cherishes with all his strength and might. He is afraid of his own heart! +Even when God forces the vision of it upon him, he would shut his eyes; +or if this be not possible, he would look through distorting media and +see it with a false form and coloring. + + "But 'tis not so above; + There is no shuffling; there the action lies + In his true nature: and we ourselves compelled, + Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, + To give in evidence."[2] + +The spirit that has come into the immediate presence of God, and beholds +Him face to face, cannot deceive Him, and therefore cannot deceive +itself. It cannot remain ignorant of God's character any longer, and +therefore cannot remain ignorant of its own. + +We do not sufficiently consider and ponder the elements of anguish that +are sleeping in the fact that in eternity a sinner _must_ know God's +character, and therefore _must_ know his own. It is owing to their +neglect of such subjects, that mankind so little understand what an awful +power there is in the distinct perception of the Divine purity, and the +allied consciousness of sin. Lord Bacon tells us that the knowledge +acquired in the schools is power; but it is weakness itself, if compared +with that form and species of cognition which is given to the mind of man +by the workings of conscience in the light of the Divine countenance. If +a transgressor knew clearly what disclosures of God's immaculateness and +of his own character must be made to him in eternity, he would fear them, +if unprepared, far more than physical sufferings. If he understood what +capabilities for distress the rational spirit possesses in its own +mysterious constitution, if when brought into contact with the Divine +purity it has no sympathy with it, but on the contrary an intense +hostility; if he knew how violent will be the antagonism between God's +holiness and man's sin when, the two are finally brought together, the +assertion that there is no external source of anguish in hell, even if it +were true, would afford him no relief. Whoever goes into the presence of +God with a corrupt heart carries thither a source of sorrow that is +inexhaustible, simply because that corrupt heart must be _distinctly +known_, and _perpetually understood_ by its possessor, in that Presence. +The thoughtless man may never know while upon earth, even "in part," the +depth and the bitterness of this fountain,--he may go through this life +for the most part self-ignorant and undistressed,--but he must know in +that other, final, world the immense fulness of its woe, as it +unceasingly wells up into everlasting death. One theory of future +punishment is, that our globe will become a penal orb of fire, and the +wicked with material bodies, miraculously preserved by Omnipotence, will +burn forever in it. But what is this compared with the suffering soul? +The spirit itself, thus alienated from God's purity and _conscious_ that +it is, wicked, and _knowing_ that it is wicked, becomes an "orb of fire." +"It is,"--says John Howe, who was no fanatic, but one of the most +thoughtful and philosophic of Christians,--"it is a throwing hell into +hell, when a wicked man comes to hell; for he was his own hell +before."[3] + +It must ever be borne in mind, that the principal source and seat of +future torment will be the sinner's _sin_. We must never harbor the +thought, or fall into the notion, that the retributions of eternity are a +wanton and arbitrary infliction upon the part of God. Some men seem to +suppose, or at any rate they represent, that the woes of hell are a +species of undeserved suffering; that God, having certain helpless and +innocent creatures in His power, visits them with wrath, in the exercise +of an arbitrary sovereignty. But this is not Christ's doctrine of endless +punishment. There is no suffering inflicted, here or hereafter, upon any +thing but _sin,_--unrepented, incorrigible sin,--and if you will show +me a sinless creature, I will show you one who will never feel the least +twinge or pang through all eternity. Death is the wages of _sin_. The +substance of the wretchedness of the lost will issue right out of their +own character. They will see their own wickedness steadily and clearly, +and this will make them miserable. It will be the carrying out of the +same principle that operates here in time, and in our own daily +experience. Suppose that by some method, all the sin of my heart, and all +the sins of my outward conduct, were made clear to my own view; suppose +that for four-and-twenty hours continuously I were compelled to look at +my wickedness intently, just as I would look intently into a burning +furnace of fire; suppose that for this length of time I should see +nothing, and hear nothing, and experience nothing of the world, about me, +but should be absorbed in the vision of my own disobedience of God's good +law, think you that (setting aside the work of Christ) I should be happy? +On the contrary, should I not be the most wretched of mortals? Would not +this self-knowledge be pure living torment? And yet the misery springs +entirely out of the _sin_. There is nothing arbitrary or wanton in the +suffering. It is not brought in upon me from the outside. It comes out of +myself. And, while I was writhing under the sense and power of my +transgressions, would you mock me, by telling me that I was a poor +innocent struggling in the hands of omnipotent malice; that the suffering +was unjust, and that if there were any justice in the universe, I should +be delivered from it? No, we shall suffer in the future world only as we +are sinners, and because we are sinners. There will be weeping and +wailing and gnashing of teeth, only because the sinful creature will be +compelled to look at himself; to know his sin in the same manner that it +is known by the Infinite Intelligence. And is there any injustice in +this? If a sinful being cannot bear the sight of himself, would you have +the holy Deity step in between him and his sins, so that he should not +see them, and so that he might be happy in them? Away with such folly and +such wickedness. For it is the height of wickedness to desire that some +method should be invented, and introduced into the universe of God, +whereby the wages of sin shall be life and joy; whereby a sinner can look +into his own wicked heart and be happy. + +III. A third characteristic of the knowledge which every man will possess +in eternity will be a clear understanding of _the nature and wants of the +soul._ Man has that in his constitution, which needs God, and which +cannot be at rest except in God. A state of sin is a state of alienation +and separation from the Creator. It is, consequently, in its intrinsic +nature, a state of restlessness and dissatisfaction. "There is no peace +saith my God to the wicked; the wicked are like the troubled sea." In +order to know this, it is only necessary to bring an apostate creature, +like man, to a consciousness of the original requirements and necessities +of his being. But upon this subject, man while upon earth most certainly +knows only "in part." Most men are wholly ignorant of the constitutional +needs of a rational spirit, and are not aware that it is as impossible +for the creature, when in eternity, to live happily out of God, as it is +for the body to live at all in the element of fire. Most men, while here +upon earth, do not know upon this subject as they are known. God knows +that the whole created universe cannot satisfy the desires of an immortal +being, but impenitent men do not know this fact with a clear perception, +and they will not until they die and go into another world. + +And the reason is this. So long as the worldly natural man lives upon +earth, he can find a sort of substitute for God. He has a capacity for +loving, and he satisfies it to a certain degree by loving himself; by +loving fame, wealth, pleasure, or some form of creature-good. He has a +capacity for thinking, and he gratifies it in a certain manner by +pondering the thoughts of other minds, or by original speculations of his +own. And so we might go through with the list of man's capacities, and we +should find, that he contrives, while here upon earth, to meet these +appetences of his nature, after a sort, by the objects of time and sense, +and to give his soul a species of satisfaction short of God, and away +from God. Fame, wealth, and pleasure; the lust of the flesh, the lust of +the eye, and the pride of life; become a substitute for the Creator, in +his search, for happiness. As a consequence, the unregenerate man knows +but "in part" respecting the primitive and constitutional necessities of +his being. He is feeding them with a false and unhealthy food, and in +this way manages to stifle for a season their true and deep cravings. But +this cannot last forever. When a man dies and goes into eternity, he +takes nothing with him but his character and his moral affinities. "We +brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry +nothing out." The original requirements and necessities of his soul are +not destroyed by death, but the earthly objects by which he sought to +meet them, and by which he did meet them after a sort, are totally +destroyed. He still has a capacity for loving; but in eternity where is +the fame, the wealth, the pleasure upon which he has hitherto expended +it? He still has a capacity for thinking; but where are the farm, the +merchandise, the libraries, the works of art, the human literatures, and +the human philosophies, upon which he has heretofore employed it? The +instant you cut off a creature who seeks his good in the world, and not +in God, from intercourse with the world, you cause him to know even as he +is known respecting the true and proper portion of his soul. Deprived of +his accustomed and his false object of love and support, he immediately +begins to reach out in all directions for something to love, something to +think of, something to trust in, and finds nothing. Like that insect in +our gardens which spins a slender thread by which to guide itself in its +meanderings, and which when the clew is cut thrusts out its head in every +direction, but does not venture to advance, the human creature who has +suddenly been cut off by death from his accustomed objects of support and +pleasure stretches out in every direction for something to take their +place. And the misery of his case is, that when in his reachings out he +sees God, or comes into contact with God, he starts back like the little +insect when you present a coal of fire to it. He needs as much as ever, +to love some being or some thing. But he has no heart to love God and +there is no other being and no other thing in eternity to love. He needs, +as much as ever, to think of some object or some subject. But to think of +God is a distress to him; to reflect upon divine and holy things is +weariness and woe. He is a carnal, earthly-minded man, and therefore +cannot find enjoyment in such meditations. Before he can take relish in +such objects and such thinking, he must be born again; he must become a +new creature. But there is no new-birth of the soul in eternity. The +disposition and character which a man takes along with him when he dies +remains eternally unchanged. The constitutional wants still continue. The +man must love, and must think. But the only object in eternity upon which +such capability can be expended is God; and the carnal mind, saith the +Scripture, is _enmity_ against God, and is not subject to the law of God, +neither indeed can be. + +Now, whatever may be the course of a man in this life; whether he becomes +aware of these created imperatives, and constitutional necessities of his +immortal spirit or not; whether he hears its reproaches and rebukes +because he is feeding them with the husks of earth, instead of the bread +of heaven, or not; it is certain that in the eternal world they will be +continually awake and perpetually heard. For that spiritual world will be +fitted up for nothing but a rational spirit. There will be nothing +material, nothing like earth, in its arrangements. Flesh and blood cannot +inherit either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan. The enjoyments +and occupations of this sensuous and material state will be found neither +in heaven nor in hell. Eternity is a spiritual region, and all its +objects, and all its provisions, will have reference solely to the +original capacities and destination of a spiritual creature. They will, +therefore, all be terribly reminiscent of apostasy; only serving to +remind the soul of what it was originally designed to be, and of what it +has now lost by worshipping and loving the creature more than the +Creator. How wretched then must man be, when, with the awakening of this +restlessness and dissatisfaction of an immortal spirit, and with the +bright pattern of what he ought to be continually before his eye, there +is united an intensity of self-love and enmity toward God, that drives +him anywhere and everywhere but to his Maker, for peace and comfort. How +full of woe must the lost creature be, when his immortal necessities are +awakened and demand their proper food, but cannot obtain it, because of +the aversion of the heart toward the only Being who can satisfy them. +For, the same hatred of holiness, and disinclination toward spiritual +things, which prevents a man from choosing God for his portion here, +will prevent him hereafter. It is the bold fancy of an imaginative +thinker,[4] that the material forces which lie beneath external nature +are conscious of being bound down and confined under the crust of the +earth, like the giant Enceladus under Mt. Etna, and that there are times +when they roar from the depths where they are in bondage, and call aloud +for freedom; when they rise in their might, and manifest themselves in +the earthquake and the volcano. It will be a more fearful and terrific +struggle, when the powers of an apostate being are roused in eternity; +when the then eternal sin and guilt has its hour of triumph, and the +eternal reason and conscience have their hour of judgment and remorse; +when the inner world of man's spirit, by this schism and antagonism +within it, has a devastation and a ruin spread over it more awful than +that of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. + +We have thus, in this and the preceding discourse, considered the kind +and quality of that knowledge which every human being will possess in the +eternal world. He will know God, and he will know himself, with a +distinct, and accurate, and unceasing intelligence like that of the +Deity. It is one of the most solemn and startling themes that can be +presented to the human mind. We have not been occupied with what will be +_around_ a creature, what will be _outside_ of a man, in the life to +come; but we have been examining what will be _within_ him. We have been +considering what he will think of beyond the tomb; what his own feelings +will be when he meets God face to face. But a man's immediate +consciousness determines his happiness or his misery. As a man thinketh +in his heart so is he. We must not delude ourselves with the notion, that +the mere arrangements and circumstances of the spiritual world will +decide our weal or our woe, irrespective of the tenor of our thoughts and +affections; that if we are only placed in pleasant gardens or in golden +streets, all will be well. As a man thinketh in his heart, so will he be +in his experience. This vision of God, and of our own hearts, will be +either the substance of heaven, or the substance of hell. The great +future is a world of open vision. Now, we see through a glass darkly, but +then, face to face. The vision for every human creature will be beatific, +if he is prepared for it; will be terrific, if he is unprepared. + +Does not the subject, then, speak with solemn warning to every one who +knows that he is not prepared for the coming revelations that will be +made to him when he dies; for this clear and accurate knowledge of God, +and of his own character? Do you believe that there is an eternal world, +and that the general features of this mode of existence have been +scripturally depicted? Do you suppose that your present knowledge of the +holiness of God, and of your own sinful nature, is equal to what it will +be when your spirit returns to God who gave it? Are you prepared for the +impending and inevitable disclosures and revelations of the day of +judgment? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God, who +came forth from eternity eighteen centuries since, and went back into +eternity, leaving upon record for human instruction an unexaggerated +description of that invisible world, founded upon the personal knowledge +of an eye-witness? + +Whoever thus believes, concerning the record which Christ and His +apostles have left for the information of dim-eyed mortals who see only +"through a glass darkly," and who know only "in part," ought immediately +to adopt their descriptions and ponder them long and well. We have +already observed, that the great reason why the future state exerts so +little influence over worldly men lies in the fact, that they do not +bring it into distinct view. They live absorbed in the interests and +occupations of earth, and their future abode throws in upon them none of +its solemn shadows and warnings. A clear luminous perception of the +nature and characteristics of that invisible world which is soon to +receive them, would make them thoughtful and anxious for their souls; for +they would become aware of their utter unfitness, their entire lack of +preparation, to see God face to face. Still, live and act as sinful men +may, eternity is over and around them all, even as the firmament is bent +over the globe. If theirs were a penitent and a believing eye, they would +look up with adoration into its serene depths, and joyfully behold the +soft gleam of its stars, and it would send down upon them the sweet +influences of its constellations. They may shut their eyes upon all this +glory, and feel only earthly influences, and continue to be "of the +earth, earthy." But there is a time coming when they cannot but look at +eternity; when this firmament will throw them into consternation by the +livid glare of its lightnings, and will compel them to hear the quick +rattle and peal of its thunder; when it will not afford them a vision of +glory and joy, as it will the redeemed and the holy, but one of despair +and destruction. + +There is only one shelter from this storm; there is only one covert from +this tempest. He, and only he, who trusts in Christ's blood of atonement, +will be able to look into the holy countenance of God, and upon the dread +record of his own sins, without either trembling or despair. The merits +and righteousness of Christ so clothe the guilty soul, that it can endure +the otherwise intolerable brightness of God's pure throne and presence. + + "Jesus! Thy blood and righteousness, + My beauty are, my glorious dress; + Mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed, + With joy shall I lift up my head." + +Amidst those great visions that are to dawn upon every human creature, +those souls will be in perfect peace who trust in the Great Propitiation. +In those great tempests that are to shake down the earth and the sky, +those hearts will be calm and happy who are hid in the clefts of the Rock +of Ages. Flee then to Christ, ye prisoners of hope. Make preparation to +know even as you are known, by repentance toward God and faith in the +Lord Jesus Christ. A voice comes to you out of the cloud, saying, "This +is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." Remember, and +forget not, that this knowledge of God and your own heart is +_inevitable._ At death, it will all of it flash upon the soul like +lightning at midnight. It will fill the whole horizon of your being full +of light. If you are in Christ Jesus, the light will not harm you. But if +you are out of Christ, it will blast you. No sinful mortal can endure +such a vision an instant, except as he is sprinkled with atoning blood, +and clothed in the righteousness of the great Substitute and Surety for +guilty man. Flee then to CHRIST, and so be prepared to know God and your +own heart, even as you are known. + +[Footnote 1: Noverim me, noverim Te.--BERNARD.] + +[Footnote 2: Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act III., Sc. 4.] + +[Footnote 3: Howe: On Regeneration. Sermon xliii.] + +[Footnote 4: Bookschammer: On the Will.] + + + + +GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN. + +PSALM cxxxix. I-6.--"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou +knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought +afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted +with, all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, +thou knowest it altogether. Thou, hast beset me behind and before, and +laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is +high, I cannot attain unto it." + + +One of the most remarkable characteristics of a rational being is the +power of self-inspection. The brute creation possesses many attributes +that are common to human nature, but it has no faculty that bears even +the remotest resemblance to that of self-examination. Instinctive action, +undoubtedly, approaches the nearest of any to human action. That +wonderful power by which the bee builds up a structure that is not +exceeded in accuracy, and regularity, and economy of space, by the best +geometry of Athens or of Rome; by which the beaver, after having chosen +the very best possible location for it on the stream, constructs a dam +that outlasts the work of the human engineer; by which the faithful dog +contrives to perform many acts of affection, in spite of obstacles, and +in the face of unexpected discouragements,--the _instinct_, we say, of +the brute creation, as exhibited in a remarkably wide range of action and +contrivance, and in a very varied and oftentimes perplexing conjuncture +of circumstances, seems to bring man and beast very near to each other, +and to furnish some ground for the theory of the materialist, that there +is no essential difference between the two species of existences. But +when we pass beyond the mere power of acting, to the additional power of +_surveying_ or _inspecting_ an act, and of forming an estimate of its +relations to moral law, we find a faculty in man that makes him differ in +kind from the brute. No brute animal, however high up the scale, however +ingenious and sagacious he may be, can ever look back and think of what +he has done, "his thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing him." + +The mere power of performance, is, after all, not the highest power. It +is the superadded power of calmly looking over the performance, and +seeing _what_ has been done, that marks the higher agency, and denotes a +loftier order of existence than that of the animal or of material nature. +If the mere ability to work with energy, and produce results, constituted +the highest species of power, the force of gravitation would be the +loftiest energy in the universe. Its range of execution is wider than +that of any other created principle. But it is one of the lower and least +important of agencies, because it is blind. It is destitute of the power +of self-inspection. It does not know _what_ it does, or _why_. "Man," +says Pascal,[1] "is but a reed, and the weakest in all nature; yet he is +a reed that _thinks_. The whole material universe does not need to arm +itself, in order to crush him. A vapor, a drop of water is enough to +destroy him. But if the whole universe of matter should combine to crush +him, man would be more noble than that which destroyed him. For he would +be _conscious_ that he was dying, while, of the advantage which the +material universe had obtained over him, that universe would know +nothing." The action of a little child is altogether nothing and vanity +compared with the energy of the earthquake or the lightning, so far as +the exhibition of force and the mere power to act is concerned; but, on +the other hand, it is more solemn than centuries of merely natural +processes, and more momentous than all the material phenomena that have +ever filled the celestial spaces, when we remember that it is the act of +a thinking agent, and a self-conscious creature. The power to _survey_ +the act, when united with the power to act, sets mind infinitely above +matter, and places the action of instinct, wonderful as it is, infinitely +below the action of self-consciousness. The proud words of one of the +characters in the old drama are strictly true: + + "I am a nobler substance than the stars, + Or are they better since they are bigger? + I have a will and faculties of choice, + To do or not to do; and reason why + I do or not do this: the stars have none. + They know not why they shine, more than this taper, + Nor how they, work, nor what."[2] + + +But this characteristic of a rational being, though thus distinctive and +common to every man that lives, is exceedingly marvellous. Like the air +we breathe, like the light we see, it involves a mystery that no man has +ever solved. Self-consciousness has been the problem and the thorn of the +philosophic mind in all ages; and the mystery is not yet unravelled. Is +not that a wonderful process by which a man knows, not some other thing +but, _himself_? Is not that a strange act by which he, for a time, +duplicates his own unity, and sets himself to look at himself? All other +acts of consciousness are comparatively plain and explicable. When we +look at an object other than ourselves,--when we behold a tree or the +sky,--the act of knowledge is much more simple and easy to be explained. +For then there is something outside of us, and in front of us, and +another thing than we are, at which we look, and which we behold. But in +this act of _self_-inspection there is no second thing, external, and +extant to us, which we contemplate. That which is seen is one and the +same identical object with that which sees. The act of knowledge which in +all other instances requires the existence of two things,--a thing to be +known and a thing to know,--in this instance is performed with only one. +It is the individual soul that sees, and it is that very same individual +soul that is seen. It is the individual man that knows, and it is that +very identical man that is known. The eyeball looks at the eyeball. + +And when this power of self-inspection is connected with the power of +memory, the mystery of human existence becomes yet more complicated, and +its explanation still more baffling. Is it not exceedingly wonderful, +that we are able to re-exhibit our own thoughts and feelings; that we can +call back what has gone clear by in our experience, and steadily look at +it once more? Is it not a mystery that we can summon before our mind's +eye feelings, purposes, desires, and thoughts, which occurred in the soul +long years ago, and which, perhaps, until this moment, we have not +thought of for years? Is it not a marvel, that they come up with all the +vividness with which they first took origin in our experience, and that +the lapse of time has deprived them of none of their first outlines or +colors? Is it not strange, that we can recall that one particular feeling +of hatred toward a fellow-man which, rankled in the heart twenty years +ago; that we can now eye it, and see it as plainly as if it were still +throbbing within us; that we can feel guilty for it once more, as if we +were still cherishing it? If it were not so common, would it not be +surprising, that we can reflect upon acts of disobedience toward God +which we committed in the days of childhood, and far back in the dim +twilights of moral agency; that we can re-act them, as it were, in our +memory, and fill ourselves again with the shame and distress that +attended their original commission? Is it not one of those mysteries +which overhang human existence, and from which that of the brute is +wholly free, that man can live his life, and act his agency, over, +and over, and over again, indefinitely and forever, in his +self-consciousness; that he can cause all his deeds to pass and re-pass +before his self-reflection, and be filled through and through with the +agony of self-knowledge? Truly _such_ knowledge is too wonderful for me; +it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I _go_ from my _own_ +spirit, and whither shall I flee from my _own_ presence. If I ascend up +into heaven, it is there looking at me. If I make my bed in hell, behold +it is there torturing me. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in +the uttermost parts of the sea, even there must I know myself, and acquit +or condemn myself. + +But if that knowledge whereby man knows himself is mysterious, then +certainly that whereby God knows him is far more so. That act whereby +_another_ being knows my secret thoughts, and inmost feelings, is most +certainly inexplicable. That cognition whereby _another_ person +understands what takes place in the corners of my heart, and sees the +minutest movements of my spirit, is surely high; most surely I cannot +attain unto it. + +And yet, it is a truth of revelation that God searches the heart of man; +that He knows his down-sitting and uprising, and understands his thought +afar off; that He compasses his path and his lying-down, and is +acquainted with all his ways. And yet, it is a deduction of reason, also, +that because God is the creator of the human mind, He must perfectly +understand its secret agencies; that He in whose Essence man lives and +moves and has his being, must behold every motion, and feel every +stirring of the human spirit. "He that planted the ear, shall He not +hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?" Let us, then, ponder the +fact of God's exhaustive knowledge of man's soul, that we may realize it, +and thereby come under its solemn power and impression. For all religion, +all holy and reverential fear of God, rises and sets, as in an +atmosphere, in the thought: "Thou God seest me." + +I. In analyzing and estimating the Divine knowledge of the human soul, we +find, in the first place, that God accurately and exhaustively knows _all +that man knows of himself_. + +Every man in a Christian land, who is in the habit of frequenting the +house of God, possesses more or less of that self-knowledge of which we +have spoken. He thinks of the moral character of some of his own +thoughts. He reflects upon the moral quality of some of his own feelings. +He considers the ultimate tendency of some of his own actions. In other +words, there is a part of his inward and his outward life with which he +is uncommonly well acquainted; of which he has a distinct perception. +There are some thoughts of his mind, at which he blushes at the very time +of their origin, because he is vividly aware what they are, and what they +mean. There are some emotions of his heart, at which he trembles and +recoils at the very moment of their uprising, because he perceives +clearly that they involve a very malignant depravity. There are some +actings of his will, of whose wickedness he is painfully conscious at the +very instant of their rush and movement. We are not called upon, here, to +say how many of a man's thoughts, feelings, and determinations, are thus +subjected to his self-inspection at the very time of their origin, and +are known in the clear light of self-knowledge. We are not concerned, at +this point, with the amount of this man's self-inspection and +self-knowledge. We are only saying that there is some experience such as +this in his personal history, and that he does know something of himself, +at the very time of action, with a clearness and a distinctness that +makes him start, or blush, or fear. + +Now we say, that in reference to all this intimate self-knowledge, all +this best part of a man's information respecting himself, he is not +superior to God. He may be certain that in no particular does he know +more of himself than the Searcher of hearts knows. He may be an +uncommonly thoughtful person, and little of what is done within his soul +may escape his notice,--nay, we will make the extreme supposition that he +arrests every thought as it rises, and looks at it, that he analyzes +every sentiment as it swells his heart, that he scrutinizes every purpose +as it determines his will,--even if he should have such a thorough and +profound self-knowledge as this, God knows him equally profoundly, and +equally thoroughly. Nay more, this process of self-inspection may go on +indefinitely, and the man may grow more and more thoughtful, and obtain +an everlastingly augmenting knowledge of what he is and what he does, so +that it shall seem to him that he is going down so far along that path +which the vulture's eye hath not seen, is penetrating so deeply into +those dim and shadowy regions of consciousness where the external life +takes its very first start, as to be beyond the reach of any eye, and +the ken of any intelligence but his own, and then he may be sure that God +understands the thought that is afar off, and deep down, and that at this +lowest range and plane in his experience He besets him behind and before. + +O, this man, like the most of mankind, may be an unreflecting person. +Then, in this case, thoughts, feelings, and purposes are continually +rising up within his soul like the clouds and exhalations of an +evaporating deluge, and at the time of their rise he subjects them to no +scrutiny of conscience, and is not pained in the least by their moral +character and significance. He lacks self-knowledge altogether, at these +points in his history. But, notice that the fact that he is not +self-inspecting at these points cannot destroy the fact that he is acting +at them. The fact that he is not a spectator of his own transgression, +does not alter the fact that he is the author of it. If this man, for +instance, thinks over his worldly affairs on God's holy day, and perhaps +in God's holy house, with such an absorption and such a pleasure that he +entirely drowns the voice of conscience while he is so doing, and +self-inspection is banished for the time, it will not do for him to plead +this absence of a distinct and painful consciousness of what his mind was +actually doing in the house of God, and upon the Lord's day, as the +palliative and excuse of his wrong thoughts. If this man, again, indulges +in an envious or a sensual emotion, with such an energy and entireness, +as for the time being to preclude all action of the higher powers of +reason and self-reflection, so that for the time being he is not in the +least troubled by a sense of his wickedness, it will be no excuse for him +at the eternal bar, that he was not thinking of his envy or his lust at +the time when he felt it. And therefore it is, that accountableness +covers the whole field of human agency, and God holds us responsible +for our thoughtless sin, as well as for our deliberate transgression. + +In the instance, then, of the thoughtless man; in the case where there is +little or no self-examination; God unquestionably knows the man as well +as the man knows himself. The Omniscient One is certainly possessed of an +amount of knowledge equal to that small modicum which is all that a +rational and immortal soul can boast of in reference to itself. But the +vast majority of mankind fall into this class. The self-examiners are +very few, in comparison with the millions who possess the power to look +into their hearts, but who rarely or never do so. The great God our +Judge, then, surely knows the mass of men, in their down-sitting and +uprising, with a knowledge that is equal to their own. And thus do we +establish our first position, that God knows all that the man knows; +God's knowledge is equal to the very best part of man's knowledge. + +In concluding this part of the discussion, we turn to consider some +practical lessons suggested by it. + +1. In the first place, the subject reminds us that _we are fearfully and +wonderfully made_. When we take a solar microscope and examine even the +commonest object--a bit of sand, or a hair of our heads-we are amazed at +the revelation that is made to us. We had no previous conception of the +wonders that are contained in the structure of even such ordinary things +as these. But, if we should obtain a corresponding view of our own mental +and moral structure; if we could subject our immortal natures to a +microscopic self-examination; we should not only be surprised, but we +should be terrified. This explains, in part, the consternation with which +a criminal is filled, as soon as he begins to understand the nature of +his crime. His wicked act is perceived in its relation to his own mental +powers and faculties. He knows, now, what a hazardous thing it is to +possess a free-will; what an awful thing it is to own a conscience. He +feels, as he never did before, that he is fearfully and wonderfully made, +and cries out: "O that I had never been born! O that I had never been +created a responsible being! these terrible faculties of reason, and +will, and conscience, are too heavy for me to wield; would that I had +been created a worm, and no man, then, I should not have incurred the +hazards under which I have sinned and ruined myself." + +The constitution of the human soul is indeed a wonderful one; and such a +meditation as that which we have just devoted to its functions of +self-examination and memory, brief though it be, is enough to convince us +of it. And remember, that this constitution is not peculiar to you and to +me. It belongs to every human creature on the globe. The imbruted pagan +in the fiery centre of Africa, who never saw a Bible, or heard of the +Redeemer; the equally imbruted man, woman, or child, who dwells in the +slime of our own civilization, not a mile from where we sit, and hear the +tidings of mercy; the filthy savage, and the yet filthier profligate, are +both of them alike with ourselves possessed of these awful powers of +self-knowledge and of memory. + +Think of this, ye earnest and faithful laborers in the vineyard of the +Lord. There is not a child that you allure into your Sabbath Schools, and +your Mission Schools, that is not fearfully and wonderfully made; and +whose marvellous powers you are doing much to render to their possessor a +blessing, instead of a curse. When Sir Humphrey Davy, in answer to an +inquiry that had been made of him respecting the number and series of his +discoveries in chemistry, had gone through with the list, he added: "But +the greatest of my discoveries is Michael Faraday." This Michael Faraday +was a poor boy employed in the menial services of the laboratory where +Davy made those wonderful discoveries by which he revolutionized the +science of chemistry, and whose chemical genius he detected, elicited, +and encouraged, until he finally took the place of his teacher and +patron, and acquired a name that is now one of the influences of England. +Well might he say: "My greatest discovery was when I detected the +wonderful powers of Michael Faraday." And never will you make a greater +and more beneficent discovery, than when, under the thick scurf of +pauperism and vice, you detect the human soul that is fearfully and +wonderfully made; than when you elicit its powers of self-consciousness +and of memory, and, instrumentally, dedicate them to the service of +Christ and the Church. + +2. In the second place, we see from the subject, that _thoughtlessness in +sin will never excuse sin_. There are degrees in sin. A deliberate, +self-conscious act of sin is the most intense form of moral evil. When a +man has an active conscience; when he distinctly thinks over the nature of +the transgression which he is tempted to commit; when he sees clearly +that it is a direct violation of a command of God which he is about to +engage in; when he says, "I know that this is positively forbidden +by my Maker and Judge, but I _will do it_,"--we have an instance of the +most heaven-daring sin. This is deliberate and wilful transgression. The +servant knows his lord's will and does it not, and he shall be beaten +with "many stripes," says Christ. + +But, such sin as this is not the usual form. Most of human transgressions +are not accompanied with such a distinct apprehension, and such a +deliberate determination. The sin of ignorance and thoughtlessness is the +species which is most common. Men, generally, do not first think of what +they are about to do, and then proceed to do it; but they first proceed +to do it, and then think nothing at all about it. But, thoughtlessness +will not excuse sin; though, it is a somewhat less extreme form of it, +than deliberate transgression. Under the Levitical law, the sin of +ignorance, as it was called, was to be expiated by a somewhat different +sacrifice from that offered for the wilful and deliberate sin; but it +must be expiated. A victim must be offered for it. It was guilt before +God, and needed atonement. Our Lord, in His prayer for His murderers, +said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." The act of +crucifying the Lord of glory was certainly a sin, and one of an awful +nature. But the authors of it were not fully aware of its import. They +did not understand the dreadful significance of the crucifixion of the +Son of God, as we now understand it, in the light of eighteen centuries. +Our Lord alludes to this, as a species of mitigation; while yet He +teaches, by the very prayer which He puts up for them, that this +ignorance did not excuse His murderers. He asks that they may be +_forgiven_. But where there is absolutely no sin there is no need of +forgiveness. It is one of our Lord's assertions, that it will be more +tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than it will be +for those inhabitants of Palestine who would not hear the words of His +apostles,--because the sin of the former was less deliberate and wilful +than that of the latter. But He would not have us infer from this, that +Sodom and Gomorrah are not to be punished for sin. And, finally, He sums +up the whole doctrine upon this point, in the declaration, that "he who +knew his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes; +but he who knew not his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with +few stripes." The sin of thoughtlessness shall be beaten with fewer +stripes than the sin of deliberation,--but it shall be _beaten_, and +therefore it is _sin_. + +The almost universal indifference and thoughtlessness with which men live +on in a worldly and selfish life, will not excuse them in the day of +accurate accounts. And the reason is, that they are capable of _thinking_ +upon the law of God; of _thinking_ upon their duties; of _thinking_ upon +their sins. They possess the wonderful faculties of self-inspection and +memory, and therefore they are capable of bringing their actions into +light. It is the command of God to every man, and to every rational +spirit everywhere, to walk in the light, and to be a child of the light. +We ought to examine ourselves; to understand our ruling motives and +abiding purposes; to scrutinize our feelings and conduct. But if we do +little or nothing of this, we must not expect that in the day of judgment +we can plead our thoughtless ignorance of what we were, and what we did, +here upon earth, as an excuse for our disobedience. God expects, and +demands, that every one of His rational creatures should be all that he +is capable of being. He gave man wonderful faculties and endowments,--ten +talents, five talents, two talents,--and He will require the whole +original sum given, together with a faithful use and improvement of it. +The very thoughtlessness then, particularly under the Gospel +dispensation,--the very neglect and non-use of the power of +self-inspection,--will go in to constitute a part of the sin that will be +punished. Instead of being an excuse, it will be an element of the +condemnation itself. + +3. In the third place, even the sinner himself _ought to rejoice in the +fact that God is the Searcher of the heart_. It is instinctive and +natural, that a transgressor should attempt to conceal his character +from his Maker; but next to his sin itself, it would be the greatest +injury that he could do to himself, should he succeed in his attempt. +Even after the commission of sin, there is every reason for desiring that +God should compass our path and lying down, and be acquainted with all +our ways. For, He is the only being who can forgive sin; the only one who +can renew and sanctify the heart. There is the same motive for having the +disease of the soul understood by God, that there is for having the +disease of the body examined by a skilful physician. Nothing is gained, +but every thing is lost, by ignorance. + +The sinner, therefore, has the strongest of motives for rejoicing in the +truth that God sees him. It ought not to be an unwelcome fact even to +him. For how can his sin be pardoned, unless it is clearly understood by +the pardoning power? How can his soul be purified from its inward +corruption, unless it is searched by the Spirit of all holiness? + +Instead, therefore, of being repelled by such a solemn truth as that +which we have been discussing, even the natural man should be allured by +it. For it teaches him that there is help for him in God. His own +knowledge of his own heart, as we have seen, is very imperfect and very +inadequate. But the Divine knowledge is thoroughly adequate. He may, +therefore, devolve his case with confidence upon the unerring One. Let +him take words upon his lips, and cry unto Him: "Search me, O God, and +try me; and see what evil ways there are in me, and lead me in the way +everlasting." Let him endeavor to come into possession of the Divine +knowledge. There is no presumption in this. God desires that he should +know himself as He knows him; that he should get possession of His views +upon this point; that he should see himself as He sees him. One of the +principal sins which God has to charge upon the sinner is, that his +apprehensions respecting his own character are in conflict with the +Divine. Nothing would more certainly meet the approbation of God, than a +renunciation of human estimates of human nature, and the adoption of +those contained in the inspired word. Endeavor, therefore, to obtain the +very same knowledge of your heart which God Himself possesses. And in +this endeavor, He will assist you. The influences of the Holy Spirit to +enlighten are most positively promised and proffered. Therefore be not +repelled by the truth; but be drawn by it to a deeper, truer knowledge of +your heart. Lift up your soul in prayer, and beseech God to impart to you +a profound knowledge of yourself, and then to sprinkle all your +discovered guilt, and all your undiscovered guilt, with atoning blood. +This is _salvation_; first to know yourself, and then to know Christ as +your Prophet, Priest, and King. + +[Footnote 1: PENSEES: Grandeur de l'homme, 6. Ed. Wetstein.] + +[Footnote 2: CHAPMAN: Byron's Conspiracy.] + + + + +GOD'S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN. [*continued] + +PSALM cxxxix. 1--6.--"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou +knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought +afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted +with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, +thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and +laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is +high, I cannot attain unto it." + + +In the preceding discourse upon this text, we directed attention to the +fact that man is possessed of the power of self-knowledge, and that he +cannot ultimately escape from using it. He cannot forever flee from his +own presence; he cannot, through all eternity, go away from his own +spirit. If he take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost +parts of the earth, he must, sooner or later, know himself, and acquit or +condemn himself. + +Our attention was then directed to the fact, that God's knowledge of man +is certainly equal to man's knowledge of himself. No man knows more of +his own heart than the Searcher of hearts knows. Up to this point, +certainly, the truth of the text is incontrovertible. God knows all that +man knows. + +II. We come now to the second position: That _God accurately and +exhaustively knows all that man might, but does not, know of himself_. + +Although the Creator designed that every man should thoroughly understand +his own heart, and gave him the power of self-inspection that he might +use it faithfully, and apply it constantly, yet man is extremely ignorant +of himself. Mankind, says an old writer, are nowhere less at home, than +at home. Very few persons practise serious self-examination at all; and +none employ the power of self-inspection with that carefulness and +sedulity with which they ought. Hence men generally, and unrenewed men +always, are unacquainted with much that goes on within their own minds +and hearts. Though it is sin and self-will, though it is thought and +feeling and purpose and desire, that is going on and taking place during +all these years of religious indifference, yet the agent himself, so far +as a sober reflection upon the moral character of the process, and a +distinct perception of the dreadful issue of it, are concerned, is much +of the time as destitute of self-knowledge as an irrational brute itself. +For, were sinful men constantly self-examining, they would be constantly +in torment. Men can be happy in sin, only so long as they can sin without +thinking of it. The instant they begin to perceive and understand _what_ +they are doing, they begin to feel the fang of the worm. If the frivolous +wicked world, which now takes so much pleasure in its wickedness, could +be forced to do here what it will be forced to do hereafter, namely, to +_eye_ its sin while it commits it, to _think_ of what it is doing while +it does it, the billows of the lake of fire would roll in upon time, and +from gay Paris and luxurious Vienna there would instantaneously ascend +the wailing cry of Pandemonium. + +But it is not so at present. Men here upon earth are continually thinking +sinful thoughts and cherishing sinful feelings, and yet they are not +continually in hell. On the contrary, "they are not in trouble as other +men are, neither are they plagued like other men. Their eyes stand out +with fatness; they have more than heart could wish." This proves that +they are self-ignorant; that they know neither their sin nor its bitter +end. They sin without the _consciousness_ of sin, and hence are happy in +it. Is it not so in our own personal experience? Have there not been in the +past ten years of our own mental history long trains of thought,--sinful +thought,--and vast processions of feelings and imaginings,--sinful +feelings and imaginings,--that have trailed over the spaces of the soul, +but which have been as unwatched and unseen by the self-inspecting eye of +conscience, as the caravans of the African desert have been, during the +same period, by the eye of our sense? We have not felt a pang of guilt +every single time that we have thought a wrong thought; yet we should +have felt one inevitably, had we _scrutinized_ every such single thought. +Our face has not flushed with crimson in every particular instance in +which we have exercised a lustful emotion; yet it would have done so had +we carefully _noted_ every such emotion. A distinct self-knowledge has by +no means run parallel with all our sinful activity; has by no means been +co-extensive with it. We perform vastly more than we inspect. We have +sinned vastly more than we have been aware of at the time. + +Even the Christian, in whom this unreflecting species of life and conduct +has given way, somewhat, to a thoughtful and vigilant life, knows and +acknowledges that perfection is not yet come. As he casts his eye over +even his regenerate and illuminated life, and sees what a small amount of +sin has been distinctly detected, keenly felt, and heartily confessed, in +comparison with that large amount of sin which he knows he must have +committed, during this long period of incessant action of mind, heart, +and limbs, he finds no repose for his misgivings with respect to the +filial examination and account, except by enveloping himself yet more +entirely in the ample folds of his Redeemer's righteousness; except by +hiding himself yet more profoundly in the cleft of that Rock of Ages +which protects the chief of sinners from the unsufferable splendors and +terrors of the Divine glory and holiness as it passes by. Even the +Christian knows that he must have committed many sins in thoughtless +moments and hours,--many sins of which he was not deliberately thinking +at the time of their commission,--and must pray with David, "Cleanse thou +me from secret faults." The functions and operations of memory evince +that such is the case. Are we not sometimes, in our serious hours when +memory is busy, convinced of sins which, at the time of their commission, +were wholly unaccompanied with a sense of their sinfulness? The act in +this instance was performed blindly, without self-inspection, and +therefore without self-conviction. Ten years, we will say, have +intervened,--years of new activity, and immensely varied experiences. And +now the magic power of recollection sets us back, once more, at that +point of responsible action, and bids do what we did not do at the +time,--analyze our performance and feel consciously guilty, experience the +first sensation of remorse, for what we did ten years ago. Have we not, +sometimes, been vividly reminded that upon such an occasion, and at such +a time, we were angry, or proud, but at the time when the emotion was +swelling our veins were not filled with, that clear and painful sense of +its turpitude which now attends the recollection of it? The re-exhibition +of an action in memory, as in a mirror, is often accompanied with a +distinct apprehension of its moral character that formed no part of the +experience of the agent while absorbed in the hot and hasty original +action itself. And when we remember how immense are the stores of memory, +and what an amount of sin has been committed in hours of thoughtlessness +and moral indifference, what prayer is more natural and warm than the +supplication: "Search me O God, and try me, and see what evil ways there +are within me, and lead me in the way everlasting." + +But the careless, unenlightened man, as we have before remarked, leads a +life almost entirely destitute of self-inspection, and self-knowledge. He +sins constantly. He does only evil, and that continually, as did man +before the deluge. For he is constantly acting. A living self-moving +soul, like his, cannot cease action if it would. And yet the current is +all one way. Day after day sends up its clouds of sensual, worldly, +selfish thoughts. Week after week pours onward its stream of low-born, +corrupt, unspiritual feelings. Year after year accumulates that hardening +mass of carnal-mindedness, and distaste for religion, which is sometimes +a more insuperable obstacle to the truth, than positive faults and vices +which startle and shock the conscience. And yet the man _thinks_ nothing +about all this action of his mind and heart. He does not subject it to +any self-inspection. If he should, for but a single hour, be lifted up to +the eminence from which all this current of self-will, and moral agency, +may be seen and surveyed in its real character and significance, he would +start back as if brought to the brink of hell. But he is not thus lifted +up. He continues to use and abuse his mental and his moral faculties, +but, for most of his probation, with all the blindness and heedlessness +of a mere animal instinct. + +There is, then, a vast amount of sin committed without self-inspection; +and, consequently, without any distinct perception, at the time, that it +is sin. The Christian will find himself feeling guilty, for the first +time, for a transgression that occurred far back in the past, and will +need a fresh application of atoning blood. The sinner will find, at some +period or other, that remorse is fastening its tooth in his conscience +for a vast amount of sinful thought, feeling, desire, and motive, that +took origin in the unembarrassed days of religious thoughtlessness and +worldly enjoyment. + +For, think you that the insensible sinner is always to be thus +insensible,--that this power of self-inspection is eternally to "rust +unused?" What a tremendous revelation will one day be made to an +unreflecting transgressor, simply because he is a man and not a brute, +has lived a human life, and is endowed with the power of self-knowledge, +whether he has used it or not! What a terrific vision it will be for him, +when the limitless line of his sins which he has not yet distinctly +examined, and thought of, and repented of, shall be made to pass in slow +procession before that inward eye which he has wickedly kept shut so +long! Tell us not of the disclosures that shall be made when the sea +shall give up the dead that are in it, and the graves shall open and +surrender their dead; what are these material disclosures, when compared +with the revelations of self-knowledge! What is all this external +display, sombre and terrible as it will be to the outward eye, when +compared with all that internal revealing that will be made to a hitherto +thoughtless soul, when, of a sudden, in the day of judgment, its deepest +caverns shall heave in unison with the material convulsions of the day, +and shall send forth to judgment their long slumbering, and hidden +iniquity; when the sepulchres of its own memory shall burst open, and +give up the sin that has long lain buried there, in needless and guilty +forgetfulness, awaiting this second resurrection! + +For (to come back to the unfolding of the subject, and the movement of +the argument), God perfectly knows all that man might, but does not, know +of himself. Though the transgressor is ignorant of much of his sin, +because at the time of its commission he sins blindly as well as +wilfully, and unreflectingly as well as freely; and though the +transgressor has forgotten much of that small amount of sin of which he +was conscious, and by which he was pained, at the time of its +perpetration; though on the side of man the powers of self-inspection and +memory have accomplished so little towards the preservation of man's sin, +yet God knows it all, and remembers it all. He compasseth man's path, and +his lying-down, and is acquainted with all his ways. "There is nothing +covered, therefore, that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall +not be known. Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the +light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be +proclaimed upon the house-tops." The Creator of the human mind has +control over its powers of self-inspection, and of memory; and when the +proper time comes He will compel these endowments to perform their +legitimate functions, and do their appointed work. The torturing +self-survey will begin, never more to end. The awful recollection will +commence, endlessly to go on. + +One principal reason why the Biblical representations of human sinfulness +exert so little influence over men, and, generally speaking, seem to them +to be greatly exaggerated and untrue, lies in the fact that the Divine +knowledge of human character is in advance of the human knowledge. God's +consciousness and cognition upon this subject is exhaustive; while man's +self-knowledge is superficial and shallow. The two forms of knowledge, +consequently, when placed side by side, do not agree, but conflict. There +would be less difficulty, and less contradiction, if mankind generally +were possessed of even as much self-knowledge as the Christian is +possessed of. There would be no difficulty, and no contradiction, if the +knowledge of the judgment-day could be anticipated, and the +self-inspection of that occasion could commence here and now. But such is +not the fact. The Bible labors, therefore, under the difficulty of +possessing an advanced knowledge; the difficulty of being addressed to a +mind that is almost entirely unacquainted with the subject treated of. +The Word of God knows man exhaustively, as God knows him; and hence all +its descriptions of human character are founded upon such a knowledge. +But man, in his self-ignorance, does not perceive their awful truth. He +has not yet attained the internal correspondent to the Biblical +statement,--that apprehension of total depravity, that knowledge of the +plague of the heart, which always and ever says "yea" to the most vivid +description of human sinfulness, and "amen" to God's heaviest malediction +upon it. Nothing deprives the Word of its nerve and influence, more than +this general lack of self-inspection and self-knowledge. For, only that +which is perceived to be _true_ exerts an influence upon the human mind. +The doctrine of human sinfulness is preached to men, year after year, to +whom it does not come home with the demonstration of the Spirit and with +power, because the sinfulness which is really within them is as yet +unknown, and because not one of a thousand of their transgressions has +ever been scanned in the light of self-examination. But is the Bible +untrue, because the man is ignorant? Is the sun black, because the eye is +shut? + +However ignorant man may be, and may desire and strive to be, of himself, +God knows him altogether, and knows that the representations of His word, +respecting the character and necessities of human nature, are the +unexaggerated, sober, and actual fact. Though most of the sinner's life +of alienation from God, and of disobedience, has been a blind and a +reckless agency, unaccompanied with self-scrutiny, and to a great extent +passed from his memory, yet it has all of it been looked at, as it +welled, up from the living centres of free agency and responsibility, by +the calm and dreadful eye of retributive Justice, and has all of it been +indelibly written down in the book of God's sure memory, with a pen of +iron, and the point of a diamond. + +And here, let us for a moment look upon the bright, as well as the dark +side of this subject. For if God's exhaustive knowledge of the human +heart waken dread in one of its aspects, it starts infinite hope in +another. If that Being has gone down into these depths of human +depravity, and seen it with a more abhorring glance than could ever shoot +from a finite eye, and yet has returned with a cordial offer to forgive +it all, and a hearty proffer to cleanse it all away, then we can lift up +the eye in adoration and in hope. There has been an infinite forbearance +and condescension. The worst has been seen, and that too by the holiest +of Beings, and yet eternal glory is offered to us! God knows, from +personal examination, the worthlessness of human character, with a +thoroughness and intensity of knowledge of which man has no conception; +and yet, in the light of this knowledge, in the very flame of this +intuition, He has devised a plan of mercy and redemption. Do not think, +then, because of your present ignorance of your guilt and corruption, +that the incarnation and death of the Son of God was unnecessary, and +that that costly blood of atonement which you are treading under foot wet +the rocks of Calvary for a peccadillo. Could you, but for a moment only, +know yourself _altogether_ and _exhaustively_, as the Author of this +Redemption knows you, you would cry out, in the words of a far holier man +than you are, "I am undone." If you could but see guilt as God sees it, +you would also see with Him that nothing but an infinite Passion can +expiate it. If you could but fathom the human heart as God fathoms it, +you would know as He knows, that nothing less than regeneration can +purify its fountains of uncleanness, and cleanse it from its ingrain +corruption. + +Thus have we seen that God knows man altogether,--that He knows all that +man knows of himself, and all that man might but does not yet know of +himself. The Searcher of hearts knows all the thoughts that we have +thought upon, all the reflections that we have reflected upon, all the +experience that we have ourselves analyzed and inspected. And He also +knows that far larger part of our life which we have not yet subjected to +the scrutiny of self-examination,--all those thoughts, feelings, desires, +and motives, innumerable as they are, of which we took no heed at the +time of their origin and existence, and which we suppose, perhaps, we +shall hear no more of again. Whither then shall we go from God's spirit? +or whither shall we flee from His presence and His knowledge? If we +ascend up into heaven, He is there, and knows us perfectly. If we make +our bed in hell, behold He is there, and reads the secret thoughts and +feelings of our heart. The darkness hideth not from Him; our ignorance +does not affect His knowledge; the night shineth as the day; the darkness +and the light are both alike to Him. + +This great truth which we have been considering obtains a yet more +serious emphasis, and a yet more solemn power over the mind, when we take +into view the _character_ of the Being who thus searches our hearts, and +is acquainted with all our ways. Who of us would not be filled with +uneasiness, if he knew that an imperfect fellow-creature were looking +constantly into his soul? Would not the flush of shame often burn upon +our cheek, if we knew that a sinful man like ourselves were watching all +the feelings and thoughts that are rising within us? Should we not be +more circumspect than we are, if men were able mutually to search each +other's hearts? How often does a man change his course of conduct, when +he discovers, accidentally, that his neighbor knows what he is doing. + +But it is not an imperfect fellow-man, it is not a perfect angel, who +besets us behind and before, and is acquainted with, all our ways. It is +the immaculate God himself. It is He before whom archangels veil their +faces, and the burning seraphim cry, "Holy." It is He, in whose sight the +pure cerulean heavens are not clean, and whose eyes are a flame of fire +devouring all iniquity. We are beheld, in all this process of sin, be it +blind or be it intelligent, by infinite Purity. We are not, therefore, to +suppose that God contemplates this our life of sin with the dull +indifference of an Epicurean deity; that He looks into our souls, all +this while, from mere curiosity, and with no moral _emotion_ towards +us. The God who knows us altogether is the Holy One of Israel, whose +wrath is both real, and revealed, against all unrighteousness. + +If, therefore, we connect the holy nature and pure essence of God with +all this unceasing and unerring inspection of the human soul, does not +the truth which, we have been considering speak with a bolder emphasis, +and acquire an additional power to impress and solemnize the mind? When +we realize that the Being who is watching us at every instant, and in +every act and element of our existence, is the very same Being who +revealed himself amidst the lightenings of Sinai as _hating_ sin and +not clearing the thoughtless guilty, do not our prospects at the bar of +justice look dark and fearful? For, who of the race of man is holy enough +to stand such an inspection? Who of the sons of men will prove pure in +such a furnace? + +Are we not, then, brought by this truth close up to the central doctrine +of Christianity, and made to see our need of the atonement and +righteousness of the Redeemer? How can we endure such a scrutiny as God +is instituting into our character and conduct? What can we say, in the +day of reckoning, when the Searcher of hearts shall make known, to us all +that He knows of us? What can we do, in that day which shall reveal the +thoughts and the estimates of the Holy One respecting us? + +It is perfectly plain, from the elevated central point of view where we +now stand, and in the focal light in which we now see, that no man can be +justified before God upon the ground of personal character; for that +character, when subjected to God's exhaustive scrutiny, withers and +shrinks away. A man may possibly be just before his neighbor, or his +friend, or society, or human laws, but he is miserably self-deceived who +supposes that his heart will appear righteous under such a scrutiny and +in such a Presence as we have been considering.[1] However it may be +before other tribunals, the apostle is correct when he asserts that +"every mouth, must be stopped, and the whole world plead guilty before +God." Before the Searcher of hearts, all mankind must appeal to mere and +sovereign mercy. Justice, in this reference, is out of the question. + +Now, in this condition of things, God so loved the world that He gave His +only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but +have everlasting life. The Divine mercy has been manifested in a mode +that does not permit even the guiltiest to doubt its reality, its +sufficiency, or its sincerity. The argument is this. "If when, we were +yet sinners," _and known to be such, in the perfect and exhaustive manner +that has been described,_ "Christ died for us, much more, being now +justified by His blood, shall we be saved from Wrath through Him." +Appropriating this atonement which the Searcher of hearts has Himself +provided for this very exigency, and which He knows to be thoroughly +adequate, no man, however guilty, need fear the most complete disclosures +which the Divine Omniscience will have to make of human character in the +day of doom. If the guilt is "infinite upon infinite," so is the +sacrifice of the God-man. Who is he that condemmeth? it is the Son of God +that died for sin. Who shall lay anything to God's elect? it is God that +justifieth. And as God shall, in the last day, summon up from the deep +places of our souls all of our sins, and bring us to a strict account for +everything, even to the idle words that we have spoken, we can look Him +full in the eye, without a thought of fear, and with love unutterable, if +we are really relying upon the atoning sacrifice of Christ for +justification. Even in that awful Presence, and under that Omniscient +scrutiny, "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." + +The great lesson, then, taught by the text and its unfolding, is _the +importance of attaining self-knowledge here upon earth, and while there +remaineth a sacrifice for sins_. The duty and wisdom of every man is, to +anticipate the revelations of the judgment day; to find out the sin of +his soul, while it is an accepted time and a day of salvation. For we +have seen that this self-inspection cannot ultimately be escaped. Man was +made to know himself, and he must sooner or later come to it. +Self-knowledge is as certain, in the end, as death. The utmost that can +be done, is to postpone it for a few days, or years. The article of death +and the exchange of worlds will pour it all in, like a deluge, upon every +man, whether he will or not. And he who does not wake up to a knowledge +of his heart, until he enters eternity, wakes up not to pardon but to +despair. + +The simple question, then, which, meets us is: Wilt thou know thyself +_here_ and _now_, that thou mayest accept and feel God's pity in Christ's +blood, or wilt thou keep within the screen, and not know thyself until +beyond the grave, and then feel God's judicial wrath? The self-knowledge, +remember, must come in the one way or the other. It is a simple question +of time; a simple question whether it shall come here in this world, +where the blood of Christ "freely flows," or in the future world, where +"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Turn the matter as we will, +this is the sum and substance,--a sinful man must either come to a +thorough self-knowledge, with a hearty repentance and a joyful pardon, in +this life; or he must come to a thorough, self-knowledge, with a total +despair and an eternal damnation, in the other. God is not mocked. God's +great pity in the blood of Christ must not be trifled with. He who +refuses, or neglects, to institute that self-examination which leads to +the sense of sin, and the felt need of Christ's work, by this very fact +proves that he does not desire to know his own heart, and that he has no +wish to repent of sin. But he who will not even look at his sin,--what +does not he deserve from that Being who poured out His own blood for it? +He who refuses even to open his eyes upon that bleeding Lamb of +God,--what must not he expect from the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in the +day of judgment? He who by a life of apathy, and indifference to sin, +puts himself out of all relations to the Divine pity,--what must he +experience in eternity, but the operations of stark, unmitigated law? + +Find out your sin, then. God will forgive all that is found. Though your +sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. The great God +delights to forgive, and is waiting to forgive. But, _sin must be seen by +the sinner, before it can be pardoned by the Judge_. If you refuse at +this point; if you hide yourself from yourself; if you preclude all +feeling and conviction upon the subject of sin, by remaining ignorant of +it; if you continue to live an easy, thoughtless life in sin, then you +_cannot_ be forgiven, and the measure of God's love with which He would +have blessed you, had you searched yourself and repented, will be the +measure of God's righteous wrath with which He will search you, and +condemn you, because you have not. + +[Footnote 1: "It is easy,"--says one of the keenest and most incisive of +theologians,--"for any one in the cloisters of the schools to indulge +himself in idle speculations on the merit of works to justify men; but +when he comes _into the presence of God_, he must bid farewell to these +amusements, for there the business is transacted with seriousness. To +this point must our attention be directed, if we wish to make any useful +inquiry concerning true righteousness: How we can answer the _celestial +Judge_ when He shall call us to an account? Let us place that Judge +before our eyes, not according to the inadequate imaginations of our +minds, but according to the descriptions given of him in the Scriptures, +which represent him as one whose refulgence eclipses the stars, whose +purity makes all things appear polluted, and who searches the inmost soul +of his creatures,--let us so conceive of the Judge of all the earth, and +every one must present himself as a criminal before Him, and voluntarily +prostrate and humble himself in deep solicitude concerning; his +absolution." CALVIN: Institutes, iii. 12.] + + + + +ALL MANKIND GUILTY; OR, EVERY MAN KNOWS MORE THAN HE PRACTISES. + + +ROMANS i. 24.--"When they knew God, they glorified him not as God." + + +The idea of God is the most important and comprehensive of all the ideas +of which the human mind is possessed. It is the foundation of religion; +of all right doctrine, and all right conduct. A correct intuition of it +leads to correct religious theories and practice; while any erroneous or +defective view of the Supreme Being will pervade the whole province of +religion, and exert a most pernicious influence upon the entire character +and conduct of men. + +In proof of this, we have only to turn to the opening chapters of St. +Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Here we find a profound and accurate +account of the process by which human nature becomes corrupt, and runs +its downward career of unbelief, vice, and sensuality. The apostle traces +back the horrible depravity of the heathen world, which he depicts with a +pen as sharp as that of Juvenal, but with none of Juvenal's bitterness +and vitriolic sarcasm, to a distorted and false conception of the being +and attributes of God. He does not, for an instant, concede that this +distorted and false conception is founded in the original structure and +constitution of the human soul, and that this moral ignorance is +necessary and inevitable. This mutilated idea of the Supreme Being was +not inlaid in the rational creature on the morning of creation, when God +said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." On the +contrary, the apostle affirms that the Creator originally gave all +mankind, in the moral constitution of a rational soul and in the works of +creation and providence, the media to a correct idea of Himself, and +asserts, by implication, that if they had always employed these media +they would have always possessed this idea. "The wrath of God," he says, +"is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of +men who hold the truth in unrighteousness; _because_ that which may be +known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them. _For_ +the invisible things of him, even his eternal power and Godhead, are +clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the +things that are made, so that they are without excuse; _because_ that +when they _knew_ God, they glorified him not as God" (Rom. i. 18-21). +From this, it appears that the mind of man has not kept what was +committed to its charge. It has not employed the moral instrumentalities, +nor elicited the moral ideas, with which it has been furnished. And, +notice that the apostle does not confine this statement to those who live +within the pale of Revelation. His description is unlimited and +universal. The affirmation of the text, that "when man knew God he +glorified him not as God," applies to the Gentile as well as to the Jew. +Nay, the primary reference of these statements was to the pagan world. It +was respecting the millions of idolaters in cultivated Greece and Rome, +and the millions of idolaters in barbarous India and China,--it was +respecting the whole world lying in wickedness, that St. Paul remarked: +"The invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are +clearly seen from the creation of the world down to the present moment, +being understood by the things that are made; _so that they are without +excuse_." + +When Napoleon was returning from his campaign in Egypt and Syria, he was +seated one night upon the deck of the vessel, under the open canopy of +the heavens, surrounded by his captains and generals. The conversation +had taken a skeptical direction, and most of the party had combated the +doctrine of the Divine existence. Napoleon had sat silent and musing, +apparently taking no interest in the discussion, when suddenly raising +his hand, and pointing at the crystalline firmament crowded with its +mildly shining planets and its keen glittering stars, he broke out, in +those startling tones that so often electrified a million of men: +"Gentlemen, who made all that?" The eternal power and Godhead of the +Creator are impressed by the things that are made, and these words of +Napoleon to his atheistic captains silenced them. And the same impression +is made the world over. Go to-day into the heart of Africa, or into the +centre of New Holland; select the most imbruted pagan that can be found; +take him out under a clear star-lit heaven and ask him who made all that, +and the idea of a Superior Being,--superior to all his fetishes and +idols,--possessing eternal power and supremacy ([Greek: theotaes]) +immediately emerges in his consciousness. The instant the missionary +takes this lustful idolater away from the circle of his idols, and brings +him face to face with the heavens and the earth, as Napoleon brought his +captains, the constitutional idea dawns again, and the pagan trembles +before the unseen Power.[1] + +But it will be objected that it is a very dim, and inadequate idea of the +Deity that thus rises in the pagan's mind, and that therefore the +apostle's affirmation that he is "without excuse" for being an idolater +and a sensualist requires some qualification. This imbruted creature, +says the objector, does not possess the metaphysical conception of God as +a Spirit, and of all his various attributes and qualities, like the +dweller in Christendom. How then can he be brought in guilty before the +same eternal bar, and be condemned to the same eternal punishment, with +the nominal Christian? The answer is plain, and decisive, and derivable +out of the apostle's own statements. In order to establish the guiltiness +of a rational creature before the bar of justice, it is not necessary to +show that he has lived in the seventh heavens, and under a blaze of moral +intelligence like that of the archangel Gabriel. It is only necessary to +show that he has enjoyed _some_ degree of moral light, and that he _has +not lived up to it_. Any creature who knows more than he practises is a +guilty creature. If the light in the pagan's intellect concerning God and +the moral law, small though it be, is yet actually in advance of the +inclination and affections of his heart and the actions of his life, he +deserves to be punished, like any and every other creature, under the +Divine government, of whom the same thing is true. Grades of knowledge +vary indefinitely. No two men upon the planet, no two men in Christendom, +possess precisely the same degree of moral intelligence. There are men +walking the streets of this city to-day, under the full light of the +Christian revelation, whose notions respecting God and law are +exceedingly dim and inadequate; and there are others whose views are +clear and correct in a high degree. But there is not a person in this +city, young or old, rich or poor, ignorant or cultivated, in the purlieus +of vice or the saloons of wealth, whose knowledge of God is not in +advance of his own character and conduct. Every man, whatever be the +grade of his intelligence, knows more than he puts in practice. Ask the +young thief, in the subterranean haunts of vice and crime, if he does not +know that it is wicked to steal, and if he renders an honest answer, it +is in the affirmative. Ask the most besotted soul, immersed and +petrified in sensuality, if his course of life upon earth has been in +accordance with his own knowledge and conviction of what is right, and +required by his Maker, and he will answer No, if he answers truly. The +grade of knowledge in the Christian land is almost infinitely various; +but in every instance the amount of knowledge is greater than the amount +of virtue. Whether he knows little or much, the man knows more than he +performs; and _therefore_ his mouth must be stopped in the judgment, and +he must plead guilty before God. He will not be condemned for not +possessing that ethereal vision of God possessed by the seraphim; but he +will be condemned because his perception of the holiness and the holy +requirements of God was sufficient, at any moment, to rebuke his +disregard of them; because when he knew God in some degree, he glorified +him not as God up to that degree. + +And this principle will be applied to the pagan world. It is so applied +by the apostle Paul. He himself concedes that the Gentile has not enjoyed +all the advantages of the Jew, and argues that the ungodly Jew will be +visited with a more severe punishment than the ungodly Gentile. But he +expressly affirms that the pagan is _under law_, and _knows_ that he is; +that he shows the work of the law that is written on the heart, in the +operations of an accusing and condemning conscience. But the knowledge of +law involves the knowledge of _God_ in an equal degree. Who can feel +himself amenable to a moral law, without at the same time thinking of its +Author? The law and the Lawgiver are inseparable. The one is the mirror +and index of the other. If the eye opens dimly upon the commandment, it +opens dimly upon the Sovereign; if it perceives eternal right and law +with clear and celestial vision, it then looks directly into the face of +God. Law and God are correlative to each other; and just so far, +consequently, as the heathen understands the law that is written on the +heart does he apprehend the Being who sitteth upon the circle of the +heavens, and who impinges Himself upon the consciousness of men. This +being so, it is plain that we can confront the ungodly pagan with the +same statements with which we confront the ungodly nominal Christian. We +can tell him with positiveness, wherever we find him, be it upon the +burning sands of Africa or in the frozen home of the Esquimaux, that he +knows more than he puts in practice. We will concede to him that the +quantum of his moral knowledge is very stinted and meagre; but in the +same breath we will remind him that small as it is, he has not lived up +to it; that he too has "come short"; that he too, knowing God in the +dimmest, faintest degree, has yet not glorified him as God in the +slightest, faintest manner. The Bible sends the ungodly and licentious +pagan to hell, upon the same principle that it sends the ungodly and +licentious nominal Christian. It is the principle enunciated by our Lord +Christ, the judge of quick and dead, when he says, "He who knew his +master's will [clearly], and did it not, shall be beaten with many +stripes; and he who knew not his master's will [clearly, but knew it +dimly,] and did it not, shall be beaten with few stripes." It is the +just principle enunciated by St. Paul, that "as many as have sinned +without [written] law shall also _perish_ without [written] law."[2] And +this is right and righteous; and let all the universe say, Amen. + +The doctrine taught in the text, that no human creature, in any country +or grade of civilization, has ever glorified God to the extent of his +knowledge of God, is very fertile in solemn and startling inferences, to +some of which we now invite attention. + +1. In the first place, it follows from this affirmation of the apostle +Paul, that _the entire heathen world is in a state of condemnation and +perdition_. He himself draws this inference, in saying that in the +judgment "_every_ mouth must be stopped, and the _whole_ world become +guilty before God." + +The present and future condition of the heathen world is a subject that +has always enlisted the interest of two very different classes of men. +The Church of God has pondered, and labored, and prayed over this +subject, and will continue to do so until the millennium. And the +disbeliever in Revelation has also turned his mind to the consideration +of this black mass of ignorance and misery, which welters upon the globe +like a chaotic ocean; these teeming millions of barbarians and savages +who render the aspect of the world so sad and so dark. The Church, we +need not say, have accepted the Biblical theory, and have traced the lost +condition of the pagan world, as the apostle Paul does, to their sin and +transgression. They have held that every pagan is a rational being, and +by virtue of this fact has known something of the moral law; and that to +the extent of the knowledge he has had, he is as guilty for the +transgression of law, and as really under its condemnation, as the +dweller under the light of revelation and civilization. They have +maintained that every human creature has enjoyed sufficient light, in the +workings of natural reason and conscience, and in the impressions that +are made by the glory and the terror of the natural world above and +around him, to render him guilty before the Everlasting Judge. For this +reason, the Church has denied that the pagan is an innocent creature, or +that he can stand in the judgment before the Searcher of hearts. For this +reason, the Church has believed the declaration of the apostle John, that +"the _whole_ world lieth in wickedness" (1 John v. 19), and has +endeavored to obey the command of Him who came to redeem pagans as much +as nominal Christians, to go and preach the gospel to _every_ creature, +because every creature is a lost creature. + +But the disbeliever in Revelation adopts the theory of human innocency, +and looks upon all the wretchedness and ignorance of paganism, as he +looks upon suffering, decay, and death, in the vegetable and animal +worlds. Temporary evil is the necessary condition, he asserts, of all +finite existence; and as decay and death in the vegetable and animal +worlds only result in a more luxuriant vegetation, and an increased +multiplication of living creatures, so the evil and woe of the hundreds +of generations, and the millions of individuals, during the sixty +centuries that have elapsed since the origin of man, will all of it +minister to the ultimate and everlasting weal of the entire race. There +is no need therefore, he affirms, of endeavoring to save such feeble and +ignorant beings from judicial condemnation and eternal penalty. Such +finiteness and helplessness cannot be put into relations to such an awful +attribute as the eternal nemesis of God. Can it be,--he asks,--that the +millions upon millions that have been born, lived their brief hour, +enjoyed their little joys and suffered their sharp sorrows, and then +dropped into "the dark backward and abysm of time," have really been +_guilty_ creatures, and have gone down to an endless hell? + +But what does all this reasoning and querying imply? Will the objector +really take the position and stand to it, that the pagan man is not a +rational and responsible creature? that he does not possess sufficient +knowledge of moral truth, to justify his being brought to the bar of +judgment? Will he say that the population that knew enough to build the +pyramids did not know enough to break the law of God? Will he affirm that +the civilization of Babylon and Nineveh, of Greece and Rome, did not +contain within it enough of moral intelligence to constitute a foundation +for rewards and punishments? Will he tell us that the people of Sodom and +Gomorrah stood upon the same plane with the brutes that perish, and the +trees of the field that rot and die, having no idea of God, knowing +nothing of the distinction between right and wrong, and never feeling the +pains of an accusing conscience? Will he maintain that the populations +of India, in the midst of whom one of the most subtile and ingenious +systems of pantheism has sprung up with the luxuriance and involutions of +one of their own jungles, and has enervated the whole religious sentiment +of the Hindoo race as opium has enervated their physical frame,--will he +maintain that such an untiring and persistent mental activity as this is +incapable of apprehending the first principles of ethics and natural +religion, which, in comparison with the complicated and obscure +ratiocinations of Boodhism, are clear as water, and lucid as atmospheric +air? In other connections, this theorist does not speak in this style. In +other connections, and for the purpose of exaggerating natural religion +and disparaging revealed, he enlarges upon the dignity of man, of every +man, and eulogizes the power of reason which so exalts him in the scale +of being. With Hamlet, he dilates in proud and swelling phrase: "What a +piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in +form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! +in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of +animals!" It is from that very class of theorizers who deny that the +heathen are in danger of eternal perdition, and who represent the whole +missionary enterprise as a work of supererogation, that we receive the +most extravagant accounts of the natural powers and gifts of man. Now if +these powers and gifts do belong to human nature by its constitution, +they certainly lay a foundation for responsibility; and all such +theorists must either be able to show that the pagan man has made a +right use of them, and has walked according to this large amount of truth +and reason with which, according to their own statement, he is endowed, +or else they consign him, as St. Paul does, to "the wrath of God which is +revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of _men +who hold the truth in unrighteousness_." If you assert that the pagan man +has had no talents at all committed to him, and can prove your assertion, +and will stand by it, you are consistent in denying that he can be +summoned to the bar of God, and be tried for eternal life or death. But +if you concede that he has had one talent, or two talents, committed to +his charge; and still more, if you exaggerate his gifts and endow him +with five or ten talents, then it is impossible for you to save him from +the judgment to come, except you can prove a _perfect_ administration and +use of the trust.[3] + +2. In the second place, it follows from the doctrine of the text, that +_the degraded and brutalized population of large cities is in a state of +condemnation and perdition_. + +There are heathen near our own doors whose religious condition is as sad, +and hopeless, as that of the heathen of Patagonia or New Zealand. The +vice and crime that nestles and riots in the large cities of Christendom +has become a common theme, and has lost much of its interest for the +worldly mind by losing its novelty. The manners and way of life of the +outcast population of London and Paris have been depicted by the +novelist, and wakened a momentary emotion in the readers of fiction. But +the reality is stern and dreadful, beyond imagination or conception. +There is in the cess-pools of the great capitals of Christendom a mass of +human creatures who are born, who live, and who die, in moral +putrefaction. Their existence is a continued career of sin and woe. Body +and soul, mind and heart, are given up to earth, to sense, to corruption. +They emerge for a brief season into the light of day, run their swift and +fiery career of sin, and then disappear. Dante, in that wonderful Vision +which embodies so much of true ethics and theology, represents the +wrathful and gloomy class as sinking down under the miry waters and +continuing to breathe in a convulsive, suffocating manner, sending up +bubbles to the surface, that mark the place where they are drawing out +their lingering existence.[4] Something like this, is the wretched life +of a vicious population. As we look in upon the fermenting mass, the only +signs of life that meet our view indicate that the life is feverish, +spasmodic, and suffocating. The bubbles rising to the dark and turbid +surface reveal that it is a life in death. + +But this, too, is the result of sin. Take the atoms one by one that +constitute this mass of pollution and misery, and you will find that each +one of them is a self-moving and an unforced will. Not one of these +millions of individuals has been necessitated by Almighty God, or by any +of God's arrangements, to do wrong. Each one of them is a moral agent, +equally with you and me. Each one of them is _self_-willed and +_self_-determined in sin. He does not _like_ to retain religious truth in +his mind, or to obey it in his heart. Go into the lowest haunt of vice and +select out the most imbruted person there; bring to his remembrance that +class of truths with which he is already acquainted by virtue of his +rational nature, and add to them that other class of truths taught in +Revelation, and you will find that he is predetermined against them. He +takes sides, with all the depth and intensity of his being, with that +sinfulness which is common to man, and which it is the aim of both ethics +and the gospel to remove. This vicious and imbruted man _loves_ the sin +which is forbidden, more than he loves the holiness that is commanded. He +_inclines_ to the sin which so easily besets him, precisely as you and I +incline to the bosom-sin which so easily besets us. We grant that the +temptations that assail him are very powerful; but are not some of the +temptations that beset you and me very powerful? We grant that this +wretched slave of vice and pollution cannot break off his sins by +righteousness, without the renewing and assisting grace of God; but +neither can you or I. It is the action of _his own_ will that has made +him a slave. He loves his chains and his bondage, even as you and I +naturally love ours; and this proves that his moral corruption, though +assuming an outwardly more repulsive form than ours, is yet the same +thing in principle. It is the rooted aversion of the human heart, the +utter disinclination of the human will, towards the purity and holiness +of God; it is "the carnal mind which is enmity against God; for it is not +subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. viii. 7). + +But there is no more convincing proof of the position, that the degraded +creature of whom we are speaking is a self-deciding and unforced sinner, +than the fact that he _resists_ efforts to reclaim him. Ask these +faithful and benevolent missionaries who go down into these dens of vice +and pollution, to pour more light into the mind, and to induce these +outcasts to leave their drunkenness and their debauchery,--ask them if +they find that human nature is any different there from what it is +elsewhere, so far as _yielding_ to the claims of God and law is +concerned. Do they tell you that they are uniformly successful in +inducing these sinners to leave their sins? that they never find any +self-will, any determined opposition to the holy law of purity, any +preference of a life of licence with its woes here upon earth and +hereafter in hell, to a life of self-denial with its joys eternal? On the +contrary, they testify that the old maxim upon which so many millions of +the human family have acted: "Enjoy the present and jump the life to +come," is the rule for this mass of population, of whom so very few can +be persuaded to leave their cups and their orgies. Like the people of +Israel, when expostulated with by the prophet Jeremiah for their idolatry +and pollution, the majority of the degraded population of whom we are +speaking, when endeavors have been made to reclaim them, have said to the +philanthropist and the missionary: "There is no hope: no; for I have +loved strangers, and after them I will go" (Jer. ii. 25). There is not a +single individual of them all who does not love the sin that is +destroying him, more than he loves the holiness that would save him. +Notwithstanding all the horrible accompaniments of sin--the filth, the +disease, the poverty, the sickness, the pain of both body and mind,--the +wretched creature prefers to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, +rather than come out and separate himself from the unclean thing, and +begin that holy warfare and obedience to which his God and his Saviour +invite him. This, we repeat, proves that the sin is not forced upon this +creature. For if he hated his sin, nay if he felt weary and heavy laden +in the least degree because of it, he might leave it. There is a free +grace, and a proffered assistance of the Holy Ghost, of which he might +avail himself at any moment. Had he the feeling of the weary and penitent +prodigal, the same father's house is ever open for his return; and the +same father seeing him on his return, though still a great way off, would +run and fall upon his neck and kiss him. But the heart is hard, and the +spirit is utterly _selfish_, and the will is perverse and determined, and +therefore the natural knowledge of God and his law which this sinner +possesses by his very constitution, and the added knowledge which his +birth in a Christian land and the efforts of benevolent Christians have +imparted to him, are not strong enough to overcome his inclination, and +his preference, and induce him to break off his sins by righteousness. +To him, also, as well as to every sin-loving man, these solemn words will +be spoken in the day of final adjudication: "The wrath of God is revealed +from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness, of men who hold +down ([Greek: katechein]) the truth in unrighteousness; because that +which may be known of God is manifest _within_ them; for God hath shewed +it unto them. For the invisible things of him, even his eternal power and +Godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being +understood by the things that are made; so that they are without excuse, +because that when they knew God. they glorified him not as God." + +3. In the third and last place, it follows from this doctrine of the +apostle Paul, as thus unfolded, that _that portion of the enlightened and +cultivated population of Christian lands who have not believed on the +Lord Jesus Christ, and repented of sin, are in the deepest state of +condemnation and perdition._ + +"Behold thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy +boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are +more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that +thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in +darkness: an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes: which hast +the form of knowledge, and of the truth, in the law: thou therefore that +teachest another teachest thou not thyself? thou that makest thy boast of +the law, through breaking the law dishonored thou God?" + +If it be true that the pagan knows more of God and the moral law than he +has ever put in practice; if it be true that the imbruted child of vice +and pollution knows more of God and the moral law than he has ever put in +practice; how much more fearfully true is it that the dweller in a +Christian home, the visitant of the house of God, the possessor of the +written Word, the listener to prayer and oftentimes the subject of it, +possesses an amount of knowledge respecting his origin, his duty, and +his destiny, that infinitely outruns his character and his conduct. If +eternal punishment will come down upon those classes of mankind who know +but comparatively little, because they have been unfaithful in that which +is least, surely eternal punishment will come down upon that more favored +class who know comparatively much, because they have been unfaithful in +that which is much. "If these things are done in the green tree, what +shall be done in the dry?" + +The great charge that will rest against the creature when he stands +before the final bar will be, that "when he knew God, he _glorified_ Him +not as God." And this will rest heaviest against those whose knowledge +was the clearest. It is a great prerogative to be able to know the +infinite and glorious Creator; but it brings with it a most solemn +responsibility. That blessed Being, of right, challenges the homage and +obedience of His creature. What he asks of the angel, that he asks of +man; that he should glorify God in his body and spirit which are His, and +should thereby enjoy God forever and forever. This is the condemnation, +under which man, and especially enlightened and cultivated man, rests, +that while he knows God he neither glorifies Him nor enjoys Him. Our +Redeemer saw this with all the clearness of the Divine Mind; and to +deliver the creature from the dreadful guilt, of his self-idolatry, of +his disposition to worship and love the creature more than the Creator, +He became incarnate, suffered and died. It cannot be a small crime, that +necessitated, such an apparatus of atonement and Divine influences as +that of Christ and His redemption. Estimate the guilt of coming short of +the glory of God, which is the same as the guilt of idolatry and +creature-worship, by the nature of the provision that has been made +to cancel it. If you do not actually feel that this crime is great, then +argue yourself towards a juster view, by the consideration that it cost +the blood of Christ to expiate it. If you do not actually feel that the +guilt is great, then argue yourself towards a juster view, by the +reflection that you have known God to be supremely great, supremely good, +and supremely excellent, and yet you have never, in a single feeling of +your heart, or a single thought of your mind, or a single purpose of your +will, _honored_ Him. It is honor, reverence, worship, and love that +He requires. These you have never rendered; and there is an infinity of +guilt in the fact. That guilt will be forgiven for Christ's sake, if you +ask for forgiveness. But if you do not ask, then it will stand recorded +against you for eternal ages: "When he, a rational and immortal creature, +knew God, he glorified Him not as God." + + +[Footnote 1: The early Fathers, in their defence of the Christian +doctrine of one God, against the objections of the pagan advocate of the +popular mythologies, contend that the better pagan writers themselves +agree with the new religion, in teaching that there is one Supreme Being. +LACTANTIUS (Institutiones i. 5), after quoting the Orphic poets, Hesiod, +Virgil, and Ovid, in proof that the heathen poets taught the unity of +the Supreme Deity, proceeds to show that the better pagan philosophers, +also, agree with them in this. "Aristotle," he says, "although he +disagrees with himself, and says many things that are self-contradictory, +yet testifies that one Supreme Mind rules over the world. Plato, who is +regarded as the wisest philosopher of them all, plainly and openly +defends the doctrine of a divine monarchy, and denominates the Supreme +Being; not ether, nor reason, nor nature, but, as he is, _God_; and +asserts that by him this perfect and admirable world was made. And Cicero +follows Plato, frequently confessing the Deity, and calls him the Supreme +Being, in his treatise on the Laws." TERTULLIAN (De Test. An. c. 1; Adv. +Marc. i. 10; Ad. Scap. c. 2; Apol. c. 17), than whom no one of the +Christian Fathers was more vehemently opposed to the philosophizing of +the schools, earnestly contends that the doctrine of the unity of God is +constitutional to the human mind. "God," he says, "proves himself to be +God, and the one only God, by the very fact that He is known to _all_ +nations; for the existence of any other deity than He would first have to +be demonstrated. The God of the Jews is the one whom the _souls_ of men +call their God. We worship one God, the one whom ye all naturally know, +at whose lightnings and thunders ye tremble, at whose benefits ye +rejoice. Will ye that we prove the Divine existence by the witness of the +soul itself, which, although confined by the prison of the body, although +circumscribed by bad training, although enervated by lusts and passions, +although made the servant of false gods, yet when it recovers itself as +from a surfeit, as from a slumber, as from some infirmity, and is in its +proper condition of soundness, calls God by _this_ name only, because it +is the proper name of the true God. 'Great God,' 'good God,' and 'God +grant' [deus, not dii], are words in every mouth. The soul also witnesses +that He is its judge, when it says, 'God sees,' 'I commend to God,' 'God +shall recompense me.' O testimony of a soul naturally Christian [i.e., +monotheistic]! Finally, in pronouncing these words, it looks not to the +Roman capitol, but to heaven; for it knows the dwelling-place of the true +God: from Him and from thence it descended." CALVIN (Inst. i. 10) seems +to have had these statements in his eye, in the following remarks: "In +almost all ages, religion has been generally corrupted. It is true, +indeed, that the name of one Supreme God has been universally known and +celebrated. For those who used to worship a multitude of deities, +whenever they spake according to the genuine sense of nature, used simply +the name of God in the _singular_ number, as though they were contented +with one God. And this was wisely remarked by Justin Martyr, who for this +purpose wrote a book 'On the Monarchy of God,' in which he demonstrates, +from numerous testimonies, that the unity of God is a principle +universally impressed on the hearts of men. Tertullian (De Idololatria) +also proves the same point, from the common phraseology. But since all +men, without exception, have become vain in their understandings, all +their natural perception of the Divine Unity has only served to render +them inexcusable." In consonance with these views, the Presbyterian +CONFESSION OF FAITH (ch. i.) affirms that "the light of nature, and the +works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, +wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable."] + +[Footnote 2: The word [Greek: apolountai], in Rom. ii. 12, is opposed to +the [Greek: sotaeria] spoken of in Rom. i. 16, and therefore signifies +_eternal_ perdition, as that signifies _eternal_ salvation.-Those +theorists who reject revealed religion, and remand man back to the first +principles of ethics and morality as the only religion that he needs, +send him to a tribunal that damns him. "Tell me," says St. Paul, "ye +that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? The law is not +of faith, but the man that _doeth_ them shall live by them. Circumcision +verily profiteth if thou _keep_ the law; but if thou be a breaker of the +law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision." If man had been true to +all the principles and precepts of natural religion, it would indeed be +religion enough for him. But he has not been thus true. The entire list +of vices and sins recited by St. Paul, in the first chapter of Romans, is +as contrary to natural religion, as it is to revealed. And it is +precisely because the pagan world has not obeyed the principles of +natural religion, and is under a curse and a bondage therefor, that it is +in perishing need of the truths of revealed religion. Little do those +know what they are saying, when they propose to find a salvation for the +pagan in the mere light of natural reason and conscience. What pagan has +ever realized the truths of natural conscience, in his inward character +and his outward life? What pagan is there in all the generations that +will not be found guilty before the bar of natural religion? What heathen +will not need an atonement, for his failure to live up even to the light +of nature? Nay, what is the entire sacrificial cultus of heathenism, but +a confession that the whole heathen world finds and feels itself to be +guilty at the bar of natural reason and conscience? The accusing voice +within them wakes their forebodings and fearful looking-for of Divine +judgment, and they endeavor to propitiate the offended Power by their +offerings and sacrifices.] + +[Footnote 3: Infidelity is constantly changing its ground. In the 18th +century, the skeptic very generally took the position of Lord Herbert +of Cherbury, and maintained that the light of reason is very clear, and +is adequate to all the religious needs of the soul. In the 19th century, +he is now passing to the other extreme, and contending that man is +kindred to the ape, and within the sphere of paganism does not possess +sufficient moral intelligence to constitute him responsible. Like +Luther's drunken beggar on horseback, the opponent of Revelation sways +from the position that man is a god, to the position that he is a +chimpanzee.] + +[Footnote 4: DANTE: Inferno, vii. 100-130.] + + + + +SIN IN THE HEART THE SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE HEAD + +ROMANS i. 28.--"As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, +God gave them over to a reprobate mind." + + +In the opening of the most logical and systematic treatise in the New +Testament, the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul enters upon a line +of argument to demonstrate the ill-desert of every human creature without +exception. In order to this, he shows that no excuse can be urged upon +the ground of moral ignorance. He explicitly teaches that the pagan knows +that there is one Supreme God (Rom. i. 20); that He is a spirit (Rom. i. +23); that He is holy and sin-hating (Rom. i. 18); that He is worthy to be +worshipped (Rom. i. 21, 25); and that men ought to be thankful for His +benefits (Rom. i. 21). He affirms that the heathen knows that an idol is +a lie (Rom. i. 25); that licentiousness is a sin (Rom. i. 26, 32); that +envy, malice, and deceit are wicked (Rom. i. 29, 32); and that those who +practise such sins deserve eternal punishment (Rom. i. 32). + +In these teachings and assertions, the apostle has attributed no small +amount and degree of moral knowledge to man as _man_,--to man outside of +Revelation, as well as under its shining light. The question very +naturally arises: How comes it to pass that this knowledge which Divine +inspiration postulates, and affirms to be innate and constitutional to +the human mind, should become so vitiated? The majority of mankind are +idolaters and polytheists, and have been for thousands of years. Can +it be that the truth that there is only one God is native to the human +spirit, and that the pagan "_knows_" this God? The majority of men are +earthly and sensual, and have been for thousands of years. Can it be that +there is a moral law written upon their hearts forbidding such carnality, +and enjoining purity and holiness? + +Some theorizers argue that because the pagan man has not obeyed the law, +therefore he does not know the law; and that because he has not revered +and worshipped the one Supreme Deity, therefore he does not possess the +idea of any such Being. They look out upon the heathen populations and +see them bowing down to stocks and stones, and witness their immersion in +the abominations of heathenism, and conclude that these millions of human +beings really know no better, and that therefore it is unjust to hold +them responsible for their polytheism and their moral corruption. But why +do they confine this species of reasoning to the pagan world? Why do they +not bring it into nominal Christendom, and apply it there? Why does not +this theorist go into the midst of European civilization, into the heart +of London or Paris, and gauge the moral knowledge of the sensualist by +the moral character of the sensualist? Why does he not tell us that +because this civilized man acts no better, therefore he knows no better? +Why does he not maintain that because this voluptuary breaks all the +commandments in the decalogue, therefore he must be ignorant of all the +commandments in the decalogue? that because he neither fears nor loves +the one only God, therefore he does not know that there is any such +Being? + +It will never do to estimate man's moral knowledge by man's moral +character. He knows more than he practises. And there is not so much +difference in this particular between some men in nominal Christendom, +and some men in Heathendom, as is sometimes imagined. The moral knowledge +of those who lie in the lower strata of Christian civilization, and those +who lie in the higher strata of Paganism, is probably not so very far +apart. Place the imbruted outcasts of our metropolitan population beside +the Indian hunter, with his belief in the Great Spirit, and his worship +without images or pictorial representations;[1] beside the stalwart +Mandingo of the high table-lands of Central Africa, with his active and +enterprising spirit, carrying on manufactures and trade with all the +keenness of any civilized worldling; beside the native merchants and +lawyers of Calcutta, who still cling to their ancestral Boodhism, or else +substitute French infidelity in its place; place the lowest of the +highest beside the highest of the lowest, and tell us if the difference +is so very marked. Sin, like holiness, is a mighty leveler. The "dislike +to retain God" in the consciousness, the aversion of the heart towards +the purity of the moral law, vitiates the native perceptions alike in +Christendom and Paganism. + +The theory that the pagan is possessed of such an amount and degree of +moral knowledge as has been specified has awakened some apprehension in +the minds of some Christian theologians, and has led them, +unintentionally to foster the opposite theory, which, if strictly +adhered, to, would lift off all responsibility from the pagan world, +would bring them in innocent at the bar of God, and would render the +whole enterprise of Christian missions a superfluity and an absurdity. +Their motive has been good. They have feared to attribute any degree +of accurate knowledge of God and the moral law, to the pagan world, lest +they should thereby conflict with the doctrine of total depravity. They +have mistakenly supposed, that if they should concede to every man, by +virtue of his moral constitution, some correct apprehensions of ethics +and natural religion, it would follow that there is some native goodness +in him. But light in the intellect is very different from life in the +heart. It is one thing to know the law of God, and quite another thing to +be conformed to it. Even if we should concede to the degraded pagan, or +the degraded dweller in the haunts of vice in Christian lands, all the +intellectual knowledge of God and the moral law that is possessed by the +ruined archangel himself, we should not be adding a particle to his moral +character or his moral excellence. There is nothing of a holy quality in +the mere intellectual perception that there is one Supreme Deity, and +that He has issued a pure and holy law for the guidance of all rational +beings. The mere doctrine of the Divine Unity will save no man. "Thou +believest," says St. James, "that there is one God; thou doest well, the +devils also believe and tremble." Satan himself is a monotheist, and +knows very clearly all the commandments of God; but his heart and will +are in demoniacal antagonism with them. And so it is, only in a lower +degree, in the instance of the pagan, and of the natural man, in every +age, and in every clime. He knows more than he practises. This +intellectual perception therefore, this inborn constitutional +apprehension, instead of lifting up man into a higher and more favorable +position before the eternal bar, casts him down to perdition. If he knew +nothing at all of his Maker and his duty, he could not be held +responsible, and could, not be summoned to judgment. As St. Paul affirms: +"Where there is no law there is no transgression." But if, when he knew +God in some degree, he glorified him not as God to that degree; and if, +when the moral law was written upon the heart he went counter to its +requirements, and heard the accusing voice of his own conscience; then +his mouth must be stopped, and he must become guilty before his Judge, +like any and every other disobedient creature. + +It is this serious and damning fact in the history of man upon the globe, +that St. Paul brings to view, in the passage which we have selected as +the foundation of this discourse. He accounts for all the idolatry and +sensuality, all the darkness and vain imaginations of paganism, by +referring to _the aversion of the natural heart_ towards the one only +holy God. "Men," he says,--these pagan men--"did not _like to retain_ God +in their knowledge." The primary difficulty was in their affections, and +not in their understandings. They knew too much for their own comfort in +sin. The contrast between the Divine purity that was mirrored in their +conscience, and the sinfulness that was wrought into their heart and +will, rendered this inborn constitutional idea of God a very painful one. +It was a fire in the bones. If the Psalmist, a renewed man, yet not +entirely free from human corruption, could say: "I thought of God and was +troubled," much more must the totally depraved man of paganism be filled +with terror when, in the thoughts of his heart, in the hour when the +accusing conscience was at work, he brought to mind the one great God of +gods whom he did not glorify, and whom he had offended. It was no wonder, +therefore, that he did not like to retain the idea of such a Being in his +consciousness, and that he adopted all possible expedients to get rid of +it. The apostle informs us that the pagan actually called in his +imagination to his aid, in order to extirpate, if possible, all his +native and rational ideas and convictions upon religious subjects. He +became vain in his imaginations, and his foolish heart as a consequence +was darkened, and he changed the glory of the incorruptible God, the +spiritual unity of the Deity, into an image made like to corruptible man, +and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (Rom. i. 21-23). +He invented idolatry, and all those "gay religions full of pomp and +gold," in order to blunt the edge of that sharp spiritual conception of +God which was continually cutting and lacerating his wicked and sensual +heart. Hiding himself amidst the columns of his idolatrous temples, and +under the smoke of his idolatrous incense, he thought like Adam to escape +from the view and inspection of that Infinite One who, from the creation +of the world downward, makes known to all men his eternal power and +godhead; who, as St. Paul taught the philosophers of Athens, is not far +from anyone of his rational creatures (Acts xvii. 27); and who, as the +same apostle taught the pagan Lycaonians, though in times past he +suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, yet left not himself +without witness, in that he did good, and gave them rain from heaven, +and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. (Acts +xiv. 16, 17). + +The first step in the process of mutilating the original idea of God, as +a unity and an unseen Spirit, is seen in those pantheistic religions +which lie behind all the mythologies of the ancient world, like a +nebulous vapor out of which the more distinct idols and images of +paganism are struggling. Here the notion of the Divine unity is still +preserved; but the Divine personality and holiness are lost. God becomes +a vague impersonal Power, with no moral qualities, and no religious +attributes; and it is difficult to say which is worst in its moral +influence, this pantheism which while retaining the doctrine of the +Divine unity yet denudes the Deity of all that renders him an object of +either love or reverence, or the grosser idolatries that succeeded it. +For man cannot love, with all his mind and heart and soul and strength, a +vast impersonal force working blindly through infinite space and +everlasting time. + +And the second and last stage in this process of vitiating the true idea +of God appears in that polytheism in the midst of which St. Paul lived, +and labored, and preached, and died; in that seductive and beautiful +paganism, that classical idolatry, which still addresses the human taste +in such a fascinating manner, in the Venus de Medici, and the Apollo +Belvidere. The idea of the unity of God is now mangled and cut up into +the "gods many" and the "lords many," into the thirty thousand divinities +of the pagan pantheon. This completes the process. God now gives his +guilty creature over to these vain imaginations of naturalism, +materialism, and idolatry, and to an increasingly darkening mind, until +in the lowest forms of heathenism he so distorts and suppresses the +concreated idea of the Deity that some speculatists assert that it does +not belong to his constitution, and that his Maker never endowed him with +it. How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! + +But it will be objected that all this lies in the past. This is the +account of a process that has required centuries, yea millenniums, to +bring about. A hundred generations have been engaged in transmuting +the monotheism with which the human race started, into the pantheism and +polytheism in which the great majority of it is now involved. How do +you establish the guilt of those at the end of the line? How can you +charge upon the present generation of pagans the same culpability that +Paul imputed to their ancestors eighteen centuries ago, and that Noah the +preacher of righteousness denounced, upon the antediluvian pagan? As the +deteriorating process advances, does not the guilt diminish? and now, in +these ends of the ages, and in these dark habitations of cruelty, has not +the culpability run down to a minimum, which God in the day of judgment +will "wink at?" + +We answer No: Because the structure of the human mind is precisely the +same that it was when the Sodomites held down the truth in +unrighteousness, and the Roman populace turned up their thumbs that they +might see the last drops of blood ebb slowly from the red gash in the +dying gladiator's side. Man, in his deepest degradation, in his most +hardened depravity, is still a rational intelligence; and though he +should continue to sin on indefinitely, through cycles of time as long as +those of geology, he cannot unmake himself; he cannot unmould his +immortal essence, and absolutely eradicate all his moral ideas. Paganism +itself has its fluctuations of moral knowledge. The early Roman, in the +days of Numa, was highly ethical in his views of the Deity, and his +conceptions of moral law. Varro informs us that for a period of one +hundred and seventy years the Romans worshipped their gods without any +images;[2] and Sallust denominates these pristine Romans "religiosissimi +mortales." And how often does the missionary discover a tribe or a race, +whose moral intelligence is higher than that of the average of paganism. +Nay, the same race, or tribe, passes from one phase of polytheism to +another; in one instance exhibiting many of the elements and truths of +natural religion, and in another almost entirely suppressing them. These +facts prove that the pagan man is under supervision; that he is under the +righteous despotism of moral ideas and convictions; that God is not far +from him; that he lives and moves and has his being in his Maker; and +that God does not leave himself without witness in his constitutional +structure. Therefore it is, that this sea of rational intelligence thus +surges and sways in the masses of paganism; sometimes dashing the +creature up the heights, and sometimes sending him down into the depths. + +But while this subject has this general application to mankind outside of +Revelation; while it throws so much light upon the question of the +heathens' responsibility and guilt; while it tends to deepen our interest +in the work of Christian missions, and to stimulate us to obey our +Redeemer's command to go and preach the gospel to them, in order to +save them from the wrath of God which abideth upon them as it does upon +ourselves; while this subject has these profound and far-reaching +applications, it also presses with sharpness and energy upon the case, +and the position, of millions of men in Christendom. And to this more +particular aspect of the theme, we ask attention for a moment. + +This same process of corruption, and vitiation of a correct knowledge of +God, which we have seen to go on upon a large scale in the instance of +the heathen world, also often goes on in the instance of a single +individual under the light of Revelation itself. Have you never known a +person to have been well educated in childhood and youth respecting the +character and government of God, and yet in middle life and old age to +have altered and corrupted all his early and accurate apprehensions, by +the gradual adoption of contrary views and sentiments? In his childhood, +and youth, he believed that God distinguishes between the righteous and +the wicked, that he rewards the one and punishes the other, and hence he +cherished a salutary fear of his Maker that agreed well with the dictates +of his unsophisticated reason, and the teachings of nature and +revelation. But when, he became a man, he put away these childish things, +in a far different sense from that of the Apostle. As the years rolled, +along, he succeeded, by a career of worldliness and of sensuality, in +expelling this stock of religious knowledge, this right way of conceiving +of God, from his mind, and now at the close of life and upon the very +brink of eternity and of doom, this very same person is as unbelieving +respecting the moral attributes of Jehovah, and as unfearing with regard +to them, as if the entire experience and creed of his childhood and youth +were a delusion and a lie. This rational and immortal creature in the +morning of his existence looked up into the clear sky with reverence, +being impressed by the eternal power and godhead that are there, and when +he had committed a sin he felt remorseful and guilty; but the very same +person now sins recklessly and with flinty hardness of heart, casts +sullen or scowling glances upward, and says: "There is no God." Compare +the Edward Gibbon whose childhood expanded under the teachings of a +beloved Christian matron trained in the school of the devout William Law, +and whose youth exhibited unwonted religions sensibility,--compare this +Edward Gibbon with the Edward Gibbon whose manhood was saturated with +utter unbelief, and whose departure into the dread hereafter was, in his +own phrase, "a leap in the dark." Compare the Aaron Burr whose blood was +deduced from one of the most saintly lineages in the history of the +American church, and all of whose early life was embosomed in ancestral +piety,--compare this Aaron Burr with the Aaron Burr whose middle life and +prolonged old age was unimpressible as marble to all religious ideas and +influences. In both of these instances, it was the aversion of the heart +that for a season (not for _eternity_, be it remembered) quenched out the +light in the head. These men, like the pagan of whom St. Paul speaks, did +not like to retain a holy God in their knowledge, and He gave them over +to a reprobate mind. + +These fluctuations and changes in doctrinal belief, both in the general +and the individual mind, furnish materials for deep reflection by both +the philosopher and the Christian; and such an one will often be led to +notice the exact parallel and similarity there is between religious +deterioration in races, and religious deterioration in individuals. The +_dislike to retain_ a knowledge already furnished, because it is painful, +because it rebukes worldliness and sin, is that which ruins both mankind +in general, and the man in particular. Were the heart only conformed to +the truth, the truth never would be corrupted, never would be even +temporarily darkened in the human soul. Should the pagan, himself, +actually obey the dictates of his own reason and conscience, he would +find the light that was in him growing still clearer and brighter. God +himself, the author of his rational mind, and the Light that lighteth +every man that cometh into the world, would reward him for his obedience +by granting him yet more knowledge. We cannot say in what particular +mode the Divine providence would bring it about, but it is as certain as +that God lives, that if the pagan world should act up to the degree of +light which they enjoy, they would be conducted ultimately to the truth +as it is in Jesus, and would be saved by the Redeemer of the world. The +instance of the Roman centurion Cornelius is a case in point. This was a +thoughtful and serious pagan. It is indeed very probable that his +military residence in Palestine had cleared up, to some degree, his +natural intuitions of moral truth; but we know that he was ignorant of +the way of salvation through Christ, from the fact that the apostle Peter +was instructed in a vision to go and preach it unto him. The sincere +endeavor of this Gentile, this then pagan in reference to Christianity, +to improve the little knowledge which he had, met with the Divine +approbation, and was crowned with a saving acquaintance with the +redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Peter himself testified to this, +when, after hearing from the lips of Cornelius the account of his +previous life, and of the way in which God had led him, "he opened his +mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of +persons: but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh +righteousness is accepted with him" (Acts x. 34, 35).[3] + +But such instances as this of Cornelius are not one in millions upon +millions. The light shines in the darkness that comprehends it not. +Almost without an exception, so far as the human eye can see, the +unevangelized world holds the truth in unrighteousness, and does not like +to retain the idea of a holy God, and a holy law, in its knowledge. +Therefore the knowledge continually diminishes; the light of natural +reason and conscience grows dimmer and dimmer; and the soul sinks down in +the mire of sin and sensuality, apparently devoid of all the higher ideas +of God, and law, and immortal life. + +We have thus considered the truth which St. Paul teaches in the text, +that the ultimate source of all human error is in the character of the +human heart. Mankind do not _like to retain_ God in their knowledge, and +therefore they come to possess a reprobate mind. The origin of idolatry, +and of infidelity, is not in the original constitution with which the +Creator endowed the creature, but in that evil heart of unbelief by which +he departed from the living God. Sinful man shapes his creed in +accordance with his wishes, and not in accordance with the unbiased +decisions of his reason and conscience. He does not _like_ to think of a +holy God, and therefore he denies that God is holy. He does not _like_ to +think of the eternal punishment of sin, and therefore he denies that +punishment is eternal. He does not _like_ to be pardoned through the +substituted sufferings of the Son of God, and therefore he denies the +doctrine of atonement. He does not _like_ the truth that man is so +totally alienated from God that he needs to be renewed in the spirit of +his mind by the Holy Ghost, and therefore he denies the doctrines of +depravity and regeneration. Run through the creed which the Church has +lived by and died by, and you will discover that the only obstacle to its +reception is the aversion of the human heart. It is a rational creed in +all its parts and combinations. It has outlived the collisions and +conflicts of a hundred schools of infidelity that have had their brief +day, and died with their devotees. A hundred systems of philosophy +falsely so called have come and gone, but the one old religion of the +patriarchs, and the prophets, and the apostles, holds on its way through +the centuries, conquering and to conquer. Can it be that sheer imposture +and error have such a tenacious vitality as this? If reason is upon the +side of infidelity, why does not infidelity remain one and the same +unchanging thing, like Christianity, from age to age, and subdue all men +unto it? If Christianity is a delusion and a lie, why does it not die +out, and disappear? The difficulty is not upon the side of the human +reason, but of the human heart. Skeptical men do not _like_ the religion +of the New Testament, these doctrines of sin and grace, and therefore +they shape their creed by their sympathies and antipathies; by what they +wish to have true; by their heart rather than by their head. As the +Founder of Christianity said to the Jews, so he says to every man who +rejects His doctrine of grace and redemption: "Ye _will_ not come unto me +that ye might have life." It is an inclination of the will, and not a +conviction of the reason, that prevents the reception of the Christian +religion. + +Among the many reflections that are suggested by this subject and its +discussion, our limits permit only the following: + +1. It betokens deep wickedness, in any man, to change the truth of God +into a lie,--_to substitute a false theory in religion for the true one_. +"Woe unto them," says the prophet, "that call evil good, and good evil; +that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for +sweet, and sweet for bitter." There is no form of moral evil that is more +hateful in the sight of Infinite Truth, than that intellectual depravity +which does not like to retain a holy God in its knowledge, and therefore +mutilates the very idea of the Deity, and attempts to make him other than +he is. There is no sinner that will be visited with a heavier vengeance +than that cool and calculating man, who, because he dislikes the +unyielding purity of the moral law, and the awful sanctions by which it +is accompanied, deliberately alters it to suit his wishes and his +self-indulgence. If a person is tempted and falls into sin, and yet does +not change his religious creed in order to escape the reproaches of +conscience and the fear of retribution, there is hope that the orthodoxy +of his head may result, by God's blessing upon his own truth, in sorrow +for the sin and a forsaking thereof. A man, for instance, who amidst all +his temptations and transgressions still retains the truth taught him +from the Scriptures, at his mother's knees, that a finally impenitent +sinner will go down to eternal torment, feels a powerful check upon his +passions, and is often kept from outward and actual transgressions by his +creed. But if he deliberately, and by an act of will, says in his heart: +"There is no hell;" if he substitutes for the theory that renders the +commission of sin dangerous and fearful, a theory that relieves it from +all danger and all fear, there is no hope that he will ever cease from +sinning. On the contrary, having brought his head into harmony with his +heart; having adjusted his theory to his practice; having shaped his +creed by his passions; having changed the truth of God into a lie; he +then plunges into sin with an abandonment and a momentum that is awful. +In the phrase of the prophet, he "draws iniquity with cords of vanity, +and sin as it were with a cart-rope." + +It is here that we see the deep guilt of those, who, by false theories of +God and man and law and penalty, tempt the young or the old to their +eternal destruction. It is sad and fearful, when the weak physical nature +is plied with all the enticements of earth and sense; but it is yet +sadder and more fearful, when the intellectual nature is sought to be +perverted and ensnared by specious theories that annihilate the +distinction between virtue and vice, that take away all holy fear of God, +and reverence for His law, that represent the everlasting future either +as an everlasting elysium for all, or else as an eternal sleep. The +demoralization, in this instance, is central and radical. It is in the +brain, in the very understanding itself. If the foundations themselves of +morals and religion are destroyed, what can be done for the salvation of +the creature? A heavy woe is denounced against any and every one who +tempts a fellow-being. Temptation implies malice. It is Satanic. It +betokens a desire to ruin an immortal spirit. When therefore the siren +would allure a human creature from the path of virtue, the inspiration of +God utters a deep and bitter curse against her. But when the cold-blooded +Mephistopheles endeavors to sophisticate the reason, to debauch the +judgment, to sear the conscience; when the temptation is addressed to the +intellect, and the desire of the tempter is to overthrow the entire +religious creed of a human being,--perhaps a youth just entering upon +that hazardous enterprise of life in which he needs every jot and tittle +of eternal truth to guide and protect him,--when the enticement assumes +this purely mental form and aspect, it betokens the most malignant and +heaven-daring guilt in the tempter. And we may be certain that the +retribution that will be meted out to it, by Him who is true and The +Truth; who abhors all falsehood and all lies with an infinite intensity; +will be terrible beyond conception. "Woe unto you ye _blind guides_! Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell! If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the +plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away +from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part +out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things +that are written in this book." + +2. In the second place, we perceive, in the light of this subject, _the +great danger of not reducing religious truth to practice_. There are two +fatal hazards in not obeying the doctrines of the Bible while yet there +is an intellectual assent to them. The first is, that these doctrines +shall themselves become diluted and corrupted. So long as the +affectionate submission of the heart is not yielded to their authority; +so long as there is any dislike towards their holy claims; there is great +danger that, as in the instance of the pagan, they will not be retained +in the knowledge. The sinful man becomes weary of a form of doctrine that +continually rebukes him, and gradually changes it into one that is less +truthful and restraining. But a second and equally alarming danger is, +that the heart shall become accustomed to the truth, and grow hard and +indifferent towards it. There are a multitude of persons who hear the +word of God and never dream of disputing it, who yet, alas, never dream +of obeying it. To such the living truth of the gospel becomes a +petrifaction, and a savor of death unto death. + +We urge you, therefore, ye who know the doctrines of the law and the +doctrines of the gospel, to give an affectionate and hearty assent to +them _both_. When the divine Word asserts that you are guilty, and that +you cannot stand in the judgment before God, make answer: "It is so, it +is so." Practically and deeply acknowledge the doctrine of human guilt +and corruption. Let it no longer be a theory in the head, but a humbling +salutary consciousness in the heart. And when the divine Word affirms +that God so loved the world that he gave his Only-Begotten Son to redeem +it, make a quick and joyful response: "It is so, it is so." Instead of +changing the truth of God into a lie, as the guilty world have been doing +for six thousand years, change it into a blessed consciousness of the +soul. Believe_ what you know; and then what you know will be the wisdom +of God to your salvation. + + +[Footnote 1: "There are no profane words in the (Iowa) Indian language: +no light or profane way of speaking of the 'Great Spirit.'"--FOREIGN +MISSIONARY: May, 1863, p. 337.] + +[Footnote 2: PLUTARCH: Numa, 8; AUGUSTINE: De Civitate, iv. 31.] + +[Footnote 3: It should be noticed that Cornelius was not prepared for +another life, by the moral virtue which he had practised before meeting +with Peter, but by his penitence for sin and faith in Jesus Christ, whom +Peter preached to him as the Saviour from sin (Acts x. 43). Good works +can no more prepare a pagan for eternity than they can a nominal +Christian. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius could no more be justified +by their personal character, than Saul of Tarsus could be. First, because +the virtue is imperfect, at the best: and, secondly, it does not begin at +the beginning of existence upon earth, and continue unintermittently to +the end of it. A sense of _sin_ is a far more hopeful indication, in the +instance of a heathen, than a sense of virtue. The utter absence of +humility and sorrow in the "Meditations" of the philosophic Emperor, and +the omnipresence in them of pride and self-satisfaction, place him out of +all relations to the Divine _mercy_. In trying to judge of the final +condition of a pagan outside of revelation, we must ask the question: Was +he penitent? rather than the question: Was he virtuous?] + + + + + +THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES. + +LUKE xi. 13.--"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto +your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy +Spirit to them that ask him?" + + +The reality, and necessity, of the operation of the Holy Spirit upon the +human heart, is a doctrine very frequently taught in the Scriptures. Our +Lord, in the passage from which the text is taken, speaks of the third +Person in the Trinity in such a manner as to convey the impression that +His agency is as indispensable, in order to spiritual life, as food is in +order to physical; that sinful man as much needs the influences of the +Holy Ghost as he does his daily bread. "If a son shall ask bread of any +of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?" If this is not at all +supposable, in the case of an affectionate earthly parent, much less is +it supposable that God the heavenly Father will refuse renewing and +sanctifying influences to them that ask for them. By employing such a +significant comparison as this, our Lord implies that there is as +pressing need of the gift in the one instance as in the other. For, +he does not compare spiritual influences with the mere luxuries of +life,--with wealth, fame, or power,--but with the very staff of life +itself. He selects the very bread by which the human body lives, to +illustrate the helpless sinner's need of the Holy Ghost. When God, by +his prophet, would teach His people that he would at some future time +bestow a rich and remarkable blessing upon them, He says: "I will pour +out my Spirit upon all flesh." When our Saviour was about to leave his +disciples, and was sending them forth as the ministers of his religion, +he promised them a direct and supernatural agency that should "reprove +the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." + +And the history of Christianity evinces both the necessity and reality of +Divine influences. God the Spirit has actually been present by a special +and peculiar agency, in this sinful and hardened world, and hence the +heart of flesh and the spread of vital religion. God the Spirit has +actually been absent, so far as concerns his special and peculiar agency, +and hence the continuance of the heart of stone, and the decline, and +sometimes the extinction of vital religion. Where the Holy Spirit has +been, specially and peculiarly, there the true Church of Christ has been, +and where the Holy Spirit has not been, specially and peculiarly, there, +the Church of Christ has not been; however carefully, or imposingly, the +externals of a church organization may have been maintained. + +But there is no stronger, or more effective proof of the need of the +presence and agency of the Holy Spirit, than that which is derived from +the _nature of the case_, as it appears in the individual. Just in +proportion as we come to know our own moral condition, and our own moral +necessities, shall we see and feel that the origin and growth of holiness +within our earthly and alienated souls, without the agency of God the +Holy Spirit, is an utter impossibility. Let us then look into the +argument from the nature of the case, and consider this doctrine of a +direct Divine operation, in its relations to ourselves personally. Why, +then, does every man need these influences of the Holy Spirit which are +so cordially offered in the text? + +1. He needs them, in the first place, in order that _he may be convinced +of the reality of the eternal world._ + +There is such a world. It has as actual an existence as Europe or Asia. +Though not an object for any one of the five senses, the invisible world +is as substantial as the great globe itself, and will be standing when +the elements shall have been melted with fervent heat, and the heavens +are no more. This eternal world, furthermore, is not only real, but it is +filled with realities that are yet more solemn. God inhabits it. The +judgment-seat of Christ is set up in it. Heaven is in it. Hell is in it. +Myriads of myriads of holy and happy spirits are there. Myriads of sinful +and wretched spirits are there. Nay, this unseen world is the _only_ real +world, and the objects in it the _only_ real objects, if we remember that +only that which is immutable deserves the name of real. If we employ the +eternal as the measure of real being, then all that is outside of +eternity is unreal and a vanity. This material world acquires +impressiveness for man, by virtue of the objects that fill it. His farm +is in it, his houses are upon it, solid mountains rise up from it, great +rivers run through it, and the old rolling heavens are bent over it. But +what is the transient reality of these objects, these morning vapors, +compared with the everlasting reality of such beings as God and the soul, +of such facts as holiness and sin, of such states as heaven and hell? +Here, then, we have in the unseen and eternal world a most solemn and +real object of knowledge; but where, among mankind, is the solemn and +vivid knowledge itself? Knowledge is the union of a fact with a feeling. +There may be a stone in the street, but unless I smite it with my foot, +or smite it with my eye, I have no knowledge of the stone. So, too, there +is an invisible world, outstanding and awfully impressive; but unless I +feel its influences, and stand with awe beneath its shadows, it is as +though it were not. Here is an orb that has risen up into the horizon, +but all eyes are shut. + +For, no thoughtful observer fails to perceive that an earthly, and +unspiritual mode of thought and feeling is the prevalent one among men. +No one who has ever endeavored to arrest the attention of a fellow-man, +and give his thoughts an upward tendency towards eternity, will say that +the effort is easily and generally successful. On the contrary, if an +ethereal and holy inhabitant of heaven were to go up and down our earth, +and witness man's immersion in sense and time, the earthliness of his +views and aims, his neglect of spiritual objects and interests, his +absorption in this existence, and his forgetfulness of the other, it +would be difficult to convince him that he was among beings made in the +image of God, and was mingling with a race having an immortal destination +beyond the grave. + +In this first feature of the case, then, as we find it in ourselves, and +see it in all our fellow-men, we have the first evidence of the need of +_awakening_ influences from on high. Since man, naturally, is destitute +of a solemn sense of eternal things, it is plain that there can be no +moral change produced in him, unless he is first wakened from this +drowze. He cannot become the subject of that new birth without which he +cannot see the kingdom of God, unless his torpor respecting the Unseen is +removed. Entirely satisfied as he now is with this mode of existence, and +thinking little or nothing about another, the first necessity in his case +is a startle, and an alarm. Difficult as he now finds it to be, to bring +the invisible world before his mind in a way to affect his feelings, he +needs to have it loom upon his inward vision with such power and +impressiveness that he cannot take his eye off, if he would. Lethargic as +he now is, respecting his own immortality, it is impossible for him to +live and act with constant reference to it, unless he is wakened to its +significance. Is it not self-evident, that if the sinner's present +indifference towards the invisible world, and his failure to feel its +solemn reality, continues through life, he will certainly enter that +state of existence with his present character? Looking into the human +spirit, and seeing how dead it is towards God and the future, must we +not say, that if this deadness to eternity lasts until the death of the +body, it will certainly be the death of the soul? + +But, in what way can man be made to realize that there is an eternal +world, to which he is rapidly tending, and realities there, with which, +by the very constitution of his spirit, he is forever and indissolubly +connected either for bliss or woe? How shall thoughtless and earthly man, +as he treads these streets, and transacts all this business, and enjoys +life, be made to feel with misgiving, foreboding, and alarm, that there +is an eternity, and that he must soon enter it, as other men do, either +as a heaven or a hell for his soul? The answer to this question, so often +asked in sadness and sorrow by the preacher of the word, drives us back +to the throne of God and to a mightier agency than that of man. + +For one thing is certain, that this apathy and deadness will never of +itself generate sensibility and life. Satan never casts out Satan. If +this slumberer be left to himself, he is lost. Should any man be given +over to the natural inclination of his heart, he would never be awakened. +Should his earthly mind receive no check, and his corrupt heart take its +own way, he would never realize that there is another world than this, +until he entered it. For, the worldly mind and the corrupt heart busy +themselves solely and happily with this existence. They find pleasure in +the things of this life, and therefore never look beyond them. Worldly +men do not interfere with their own present actual enjoyment. Who of this +class voluntarily makes himself unhappy, by thinking of subjects that are +gloomy to his mind? What man of the world starts up from his sweet sleep +and his pleasant dreams, and of his own accord looks the stern realities +of death and the judgment in the eye? No natural man begins to wound +himself, that he may be healed. No earthly man begins to slay himself, +that he may be made alive. Even when the natural heart is roused and +wakened by some foreign agency; some startling providence of God or some +Divine operation in the conscience, how soon, if left to its own motion +and tendency, does it relapse into its old slumber and sleep. The needle +has received a shock, but after a slight trembling and vibration it soon +settles again upon its axis, ever and steady to the north. It is plain, +that the sinner's worldly mind and apathetic nature will never conduct +him to a proper sense of Divine things. + +The awakening, then, of the human soul, to an effectual apprehension of +eternal realities, must take its first issue from some other Being than +the drowzy and slumbering creature himself. We are not speaking of a few +serious thoughts that now and then fleet across the human mind, like +meteors at midnight, and are seen no more. We are speaking of that +permanent, that everlasting dawning of eternity, with its terrors and its +splendors, upon the human soul, which allows it no more repose, until it +is prepared for eternity upon good grounds and foundations; and with +reference to such a profound consciousness of the future state as this, +we say with confidence, that the awakening must proceed from some Being +who is far more alive to the solemnity and significance of eternal +duration than earthly man is. Without impulses from on high, the sinner +never rouses up to attend to the subject of religion. He lives on +indifferent to his religious interests, until _God_, who is more merciful +to his deathless soul than he himself is, by His providence startles him, +or by His Spirit in his conscience alarms him. Never, until God +interferes to disturb his dreams, and break up his slumber, does he +profoundly and permanently feel that he was made for another world, and +is fast going into it. How often does God say to the careless man: +"Arise, O sleeper, and Christ shall give thee light;" and how often does +he disregard the warning voice! How often does God stimulate his +conscience, and flare light into his mind; and how often does he stifle +down these inward convictions, and suffer the light to shine in the +darkness that comprehends it not! These facts in the personal history of +every sin-loving man show, that the human soul does not of its own +isolated action wake up to the realities of eternity. They also show that +God is very merciful to the human soul, in positively and powerfully +interfering for its welfare; but that man, in infinite folly and +wickedness, loves the sleep, and inclines to remain in it. +The Holy Spirit strives, but the human spirit resists. + +II. In the second place, man needs the influences of the Holy Spirit +_that he may be convinced of sin_. + +Man universally is a sinner, and yet he needs in every single instance to +be made aware of it. "There is none good, no, not one;" and yet out of +the millions of the race how very few _feel_ this truth! Not only does +man sin, but he adds to his guilt by remaining ignorant of it. The +criminal in this instance also, as in our courts of law, feels and +confesses his crime no faster than it is proved to him. Through what +blindness of mind, and hardness of heart, and insensibility of +conscience, is the Holy Spirit obliged to force His way, before there is +a sincere acknowledgment of sin before God! The careful investigations, +the persevering questionings and cross-questionings, by which, before a +human tribunal, the wilful and unrepenting criminal is forced to see and +acknowledge his wickedness, are but faint emblems of that thorough work +that must be wrought by the Holy Ghost, before the human soul, at a +higher tribunal, forsaking its refuges of lies, and desisting from its +subterfuges and palliations, smites upon the breast, and cries, "God be +merciful to me a sinner!" Think how much of our sin has occurred in total +apathy, and indifference, and how unwilling we are to have any distinct +consciousness upon this subject. It is only now and then that we feel +ourselves to be sinners; but it is by no means only now and then that we +are sinners. We sin habitually; we are conscious of sin rarely. Our +affections and inclinations and motives are evil, and only evil, +continually; but our experimental _knowledge_ that they are so comes not +often into our mind, and what is worse stays not long, because we dislike +it. + +The conviction of sin, with what it includes and leads to, is of more +worth to man than all other convictions. Conviction of any sort,--a +living practical consciousness of any kind,--is of great value, because +it is only this species of knowledge that moves mankind. Convince a man, +that is, give him a consciousness, of the truth of a principle in +politics, in trade, or in religion, and you actuate him politically, +commercially, or religiously. Convince a criminal of his crime, that is, +endue him with a conscious feeling of his criminality, and you make him +burn with electric fire. A convicted man is a man thoroughly conscious; +and a thoroughly conscious man is a deeply moved one. And this is true, +with emphasis, of the conviction of sin. This consciousness produces a +deeper and more lasting effect than all others. Convince a community of +the justice or injustice of a certain class of political principles, and +you stir it very deeply, and broadly, as the history of all democracies +clearly shows; but let society be once convinced of sin before the holy +and righteous God, and deep calleth unto deep, all the waters are moved. +Never is a mass of human beings so centrally stirred, as when the Spirit +of God is poured out upon it, and from no movement in human society do +such lasting and blessed consequences flow, as from a genuine revival of +religion. + +But here again, as in reference to the eternal state, there is no +realizing sense. Conviction of sin is not a characteristic of mankind at +large. Men generally will acknowledge in words that they are sinners, but +they wait for some far-distant day to come, when they shall be pricked in +the heart, and feel the truth of what they say. Men generally are not +conscious of the dreadful reality of sin, any more than they are of the +solemn reality of eternity. A deep insensibility, in this respect also, +precludes a practical knowledge of that guilt in the soul, which, if +unpardoned and unremoved, will just as surely ruin it as God lives and +the soul is immortal. Since, then, if man be left to his own inclination, +he never will be convinced of sin, it is plain that some Agent who has +the power must overcome his aversion to self-knowledge, and bring him to +consciousness upon this unwelcome subject. If any one of us, for the +remainder of our days, should be given over to that ordinary indifference +towards sin with which we walk these streets, and transact business, and +enjoy life; if God's truth should never again in this world stab the +conscience, and God's Spirit should never again make us anxious; is it +not infallibly certain that the future would be as the past, and that we +should go through this "accepted time and day of salvation" unconvicted +and therefore unconverted? + +But besides this destitution of the experimental sense of sin, another +ground of the need of Divine agency is found in the _blindness_ of the +natural mind. Man's vision of spiritual things, even when they are set +before his eyes, is dim and inadequate. The Christian ministry is greatly +hindered, because it cannot illuminate the human understanding, and +impart the power of a keen spiritual insight. It is compelled to present +the objects of sight, but it cannot give the eye to see them. Vision +depends altogether upon the condition of the organ. The eye sees only +what it brings the means of seeing. The scaled eye of a worldling, or a +debauchee, or a self-righteous man, cannot see that sin of the heart, +that "spiritual wickedness," at which men like Paul and Isaiah stood +aghast. These were men whose character compared with that of the +worldling was saintly; men whose shoes' latchets the worldling is not +worthy to stoop down and unloose. And yet they saw a depravity within +their own hearts which he does not see in his; a depravity which he +cannot see, and which he steadily denies to exist, until he is +enlightened by the Holy Ghost. + +But the preacher has no power to impart this clear spiritual discernment. +He cannot arm the eye of the natural man with that magnifying and +microscopic power, by which hatred shall be seen to be murder, and lust, +adultery, and the least swelling of pride, the sin of Lucifer. He is +compelled, by the testimony of the Bible, of the wise and the holy of all +time, and of his own consciousness, to tell every unregenerate man that +he is no better than his race; that he certainly is no better than the +Christian Church which continually confesses and mourns over indwelling +sin. The faithful preacher of the word is obliged to insist that there is +no radical difference among men, and that the depravity of the man of +irreproachable morals but unrenewed heart is as total as was that of the +great preacher to the Gentiles,--a man of perfectly irreproachable +morals, but who confessed that he was the chief of sinners, and feared +lest he should be a cast-away. But the preacher of this unwelcome message +has no power to open the blind eye. He cannot endow the self-ignorant and +incredulous man before him, with that consciousness of the "plague of the +heart" which says "yea" to the most vivid description of human +sinfulness, and "amen" to God's heaviest malediction upon it. The +preacher's position would be far easier, if there might be a transfer of +experience; if some of that bitter painful sense of sin with which the +struggling Christian is burdened might flow over into the easy, unvexed, +and thoughtless souls of the men of this world. Would that the +consciousness upon this subject of sin, of a Paul or a Luther, might +deluge that large multitude of men who doubt or deny the doctrine of +human depravity. The materials for that consciousness, the items that go +to make up that experience, exist as really and as plentifully in your +moral state and character, as they do in that of the mourning and +self-reproaching Christian who sits by your side,--your devout father, your +saintly mother, or sister,--whom you know, and who you know is a better +being than you are. Why should they be weary and heavy-laden with a sense +of their unworthiness before God, and you go through life indifferent and +light-hearted? Are they deluded in respect to the doctrine of human +depravity, and are you in the right? Think you that the deathbed and the +day of judgment will prove this to be the fact? No! if you shall ever +know anything of the Christian struggle with innate corruption; if you +shall ever, in the expressive phrase of Scripture, have your senses +exercised as in a gymnasium [1] to discern good and evil, and see +yourself with self-abhorrence; your views will harmonize most profoundly +and exactly with theirs. And, furthermore, you will not in the process +create any _new_ sinfulness. You will merely see the _existing_ depravity +of the human heart. You will simply see what _is_,--is now, in your +heart, and in all human hearts, and has been from the beginning. + +But all this is the work of a more powerful and spiritual agency than +that of man. The truth may be exhibited with perfect transparency and +plainness, the hearer himself may do his utmost to have it penetrate and +tell; and yet, there be no vivid and vital consciousness of sin. How +often does the serious and alarmed man say to us: "I know it, but I do +not _feel_ it." How long and wearily, sometimes, does the anxious man +struggle after an inward sense of these spiritual things, without +success, until he learns that an inward sense, an experimental +consciousness, respecting religious truth, is as purely a gift and +product of God the Spirit as the breath of life in his nostrils. +Considering, then, the natural apathy of man respecting the sin that is +in his own heart, and the exceeding blindness of his mental vision, even +when his attention has been directed to it, is it not perfectly plain +that there must be the exertion of a Divine agency, in order that he may +pass through even the first and lowest stages of the religious +experience? + +In view of the subject, as thus far unfolded, we remark: + +1. First, that it is the duty of every one, _to take the facts in respect +to man's character as he finds them_. Nothing is gained, in any province +of human thought or action, by disputing actual verities. They are +stubborn things, and will not yield to the wishes and prejudices of the +natural heart. This is especially true in regard to the facts in man's +moral and religious condition. The testimony of Revelation is explicit, +that "the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the +law of God, neither indeed can be;" and also, that "the natural man +receiveth not the things of the Spirit, neither can he know them, because +they are spiritually discerned." According to this Biblical statement, +there is corruption and blindness together. The human heart is at once +sinful, and ignorant that it is so. It is, therefore, the very worst form +of evil; a fatal disease unknown to the patient, and accompanied with the +belief that there is perfect health; sin and guilt without any just and +proper sense of it. This is the testimony, and the assertion, of that +Being who needs not that any should testify to Him of man, for he knows +what is in man. And this is the testimony, also, of every mind that has +attained a profound self-knowledge. For it is indisputable, that in +proportion as a man is introspective, and accustoms himself to the +scrutiny of his motives and feelings, he discovers that "the whole head +is sick, and the whole heart is faint." + +It is, therefore, the duty and wisdom of every one to set to his seal +that God is true,--to have this as his motto. Though, as yet, he is +destitute of a clear conviction of sin, and a godly sorrow for it, still +he should _presume_ the fact of human depravity. Good men in every age +have found it to be a fact, and the infallible Word of God declares that +it is a fact. What, then, is gained, by proposing another than the +Biblical theory of human nature? Is the evil removed by denying its +existence? Will the mere calling men good at heart, and by nature, make +them such? + + "Who can hold a fire in his hand, + By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? + Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, + By bare imagination of a feast? + Or wallow naked in December snow, + By thinking on fantastic summer heat?"[2] + + +2. In the second place, we remark that it is the duty of every one, _not +to be discouraged by these facts and truths relative to the moral +condition of man._ For, one fact conducts to the next one. One truth +prepares for a second. If it is a solemn and sad fact that men are +sinners, and blind and dead in their trespasses and sin, it is also a +cheering fact that the Holy Spirit can enlighten the darkest +understanding, and enliven the most torpid and indifferent soul; and it +is a still further, and most encouraging truth and fact, that the Holy +Spirit is given to those who ask for it, with more readiness than a +father gives bread to his hungry child. Here, then, we have the fact of +sin, and of blindness and apathy in sin; the fact of a mighty power in +God to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and the +blessed fact that this power is accessible to prayer. Let us put these +three facts together, all of them, and act accordingly. Then we shall be +taught by the Spirit, and shall come to a salutary consciousness of sin; +and then shall be verified in our own experience the words of God: "I +dwell in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite +and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the +heart of the contrite ones." + + +[Footnote 1: [Greek: Ta aisthaeria gegurasmena.] Heb. v. 14.] + +[Footnote 2: SHAKSPEARE: Richard II. Act i. Sc. 3.] + + + + +THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE INFLUENCES. [*continued] + +Luke xi. 13.--"If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto +your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy +Spirit to them that ask him." + + +In expounding the doctrine of these words, in the preceding discourse, +the argument for the necessity of Divine influences had reference to the +more general aspects of man's character and condition. We were concerned +with the origin of seriousness in view of a future life, and the +production of a sense of moral corruption and unfitness to enter +eternity. We have now to consider the work of the Spirit, in its +relations, first, to that more distinct sense of sin which is denominated +the consciousness of _guilt_, and secondly, to that saving act of +_faith_ by which the atonement of Christ is appropriated by the soul. + +I. Sin is not man's misfortune, but his fault; and any view that falls +short of this fact is radically defective. Sin not only brings a +corruption and bondage, but also a condemnation and penalty, upon the +self-will that originates it. Sin not only renders man unfit for rewards, +font also deserving of punishment. As one who has disobeyed law of his +own determination, he is liable not merely to the negative loss of +blessings, but also to the positive infliction of retribution. It is not +enough that a transgressor be merely let alone; he must be taken in hand +and punished. He is not simply a diseased man; he is a criminal. His sin, +therefore, requires not a removal merely, but also an _expiation_. + +This relation and reference of transgression to law and justice is a +fundamental one; and yet it is very liable to be overlooked, or at least +to be inadequately apprehended. The sense of _ill-desert_ is too apt to +be confused and shallow, in the human soul. Man is comparatively ready to +acknowledge the misery of sin, while he is slow to confess the guilt of +it. When the word of God asserts he is poor, and blind, and wretched, he +is comparatively forward to assent; but when, in addition, it asserts +that he deserves to be punished everlastingly, he reluctates. Mankind are +willing to acknowledge their wretchedness, and be pitied; but they are +not willing to acknowledge their guiltiness, and stand condemned before +law. + +And yet, guilt is the very essence of sin. Extinguish the criminality, +and you extinguish the inmost core and heart of moral evil. We may have +felt that sin is bondage, that it is inward dissension and disharmony, +that it takes away the true dignity of our nature, but if we have not +also felt that it is _iniquity_ and merits penalty, we have not become +conscious of its most essential quality. It is not enough that we come +before God, saying: "I am wretched in my soul; I am weary of my bondage; +I long for deliverance." We must also say, as we look up into that holy +Eye: "I am guilty; O my God I deserve thy judgments." In brief, the human +mind must recognize all the Divine attributes. The entire Divine +character, in both its justice and its love, must rise full-orbed before +the soul, when thus seeking salvation. It is not enough, that we ask God +to free us from disquietude, and give us repose. Before we do this, and +that we may do it successfully, we must employ the language of David, +while under the stings of guilt: "O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath: +neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Be merciful unto me, O God be +merciful unto me." + +What is needed is, more consideration of sin in its objective, and less +in its subjective relations; more sense of it in its reference to the +being and attributes of God, and less sense of it in its reference to our +own happiness or misery, or even to the harmony of our own powers and +faculties. The adorable being and attributes of God are of more +importance than any human soul, immortal though it be; and what is +required in the religious experience is, more anxiety lest the Divine +glory should be tarnished, and less fear that a worm of the dust be made +miserable by his transgressions. And whatever may be our theory of the +matter, "to this complexion must we come at last," even in order to our +own peace of mind. We must lose our life, in order to find it. Even in +order to our own inward repose of conscience and of heart, there must +come a point and period in our mental history, when we do actually sink +self out of sight, and think of sin in its relation to the character and +government of the great and holy God,--when we do see it to be _guilt_, +as well as corruption. + +For guilt is a distinct, and a distinguishable quality. It is a thing by +itself, like the Platonic idea of Beauty.[1] It is sin stripped of its +accompaniments,--the restlessness, the dissatisfaction, and the +unhappiness which it produces,--and perceived in its pure odiousness and +ill-desert. And when thus seen, it does not permit the mind to think of +any thing but the righteous law, and the Divine character. In the hour of +thorough conviction, the sinful spirit is lost in the feeling of +guiltiness: wholly engrossed in the reflection that it has incurred the +condemnation of the Best Being in the universe. It is in distress, not +because an Almighty Being can make it miserable but, because a Holy and +Good Being has _reason_ to be displeased with it. When it gives utterance +to its emotion, it says to its Sovereign and its Judge: "I am in anguish, +more because Thou the Holy and the Good art unreconciled with me, than +because Thou the Omnipotent canst punish me forever. I refuse not to The +punished; I deserve the inflictions of Thy justice; only _forgive_, and +Thou mayest do what Thou wilt unto me." A soul that is truly penitent has +no desire to escape penalty, at the expense of principle and law. It says +with David: "Thou desirest not sacrifice;" such atonement as I can make +is inadequate; "else would I give it." It expresses its approbation of +the pure justice of God, in the language of the gentlest and sweetest of +Mystics: + + "Thou hast no lightnings, O Thou Just! + Or I their force should know; + And if Thou strike me into dust, + My soul approves the blow. + + The heart that values less its ease, + Than it adores Thy ways; + In Thine avenging anger, sees + A subject of its praise. + + Pleased I could lie, concealed and lost, + In shades of central night; + Not to avoid Thy wrath, Thou know'st, + But lest I grieve Thy sight. + + Smite me, O Thou whom I provoke! + And I will love Thee still; + The well deserved and righteous stroke + Shall please me, though it kill."[2] + +Now, it is only when the human spirit is under the illuminating, and +discriminating influences of the Holy Ghost, that it possesses this pure +and genuine sense of guilt. Worldly losses, trials, warnings by God's +providence, may rouse the sinner, and make him solemn; but unless the +Spirit of Grace enters his heart he does not feel that he is +ill-deserving. He is sad and fearful, respecting the future life, and +perhaps supposes that this state of mind is one of true conviction, and +wonders that it does not end in conversion, and the joy of pardon. But if +he would examine it, he would discover that it is full of the lust of self. +He would find that he is merely unhappy, and restless, and afraid +to die. If he should examine the workings of his heart, he would discover +that they are only another form of self-love; that instead of being +anxious about self in the present world, he has become anxious about self +in the future world; that instead of looking out for his happiness here, +he has begun to look out for it hereafter; that in fact he has merely +transferred sin, from time and its relations, to eternity and its +relations. Such sorrow as this needs to be sorrowed for, and such +repentance as this needs to be repented of. Such conviction as this needs +to be laid open, and have its defect shown. After a course of wrongdoing, +it is not sufficient for man to come before the Holy One, making mention +of his wretchedness, and desire for happiness, but making no mention of +his culpability, and desert of righteous and holy judgments. It is not +enough for the criminal to plead for life, however earnestly, while he +avoids the acknowledgment that death is his just due. For silence in such +a connection as this, is _denial_. The impenitent thief upon the cross +was clamorous for life and happiness, saying, "If thou be the Christ, +save thyself and us." He said nothing concerning the crime that had +brought him to a malefactor's death, and thereby showed that it did not +weigh heavy upon his conscience. But the real penitent rebuked him, +saying: "Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same +condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our +deeds." And then followed that meek and broken-hearted supplication: +"Lord remember me," which drew forth the world-renowned answer: "This day +shalt thou be with me in paradise." + +In the fact, then, that man's experience of sin is so liable to be +defective upon the side of guilt, we find another necessity for the +teaching of the Holy Spirit; for a spiritual agency that cannot be +deceived, which pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, +and is a discerner of the real intent and feeling of the heart. + +II. In the second place, man needs the influences of the Holy Spirit, in +order that _he may actually appropriate Christ's atonement for sin_. + +The feeling of ill-desert, of which we have spoken, requires an +expiation, in order to its extinction, precisely as the burning sensation +of thirst needs the cup of cold water, in order that it may be allayed, +the sense of guilt is awakened in its pure and genuine form, by the Holy +Spirit's operation, the soul _craves_ the atonement,--it _wants_ the +dying Lamb of God. We often speak of a believer's longings after purity, +after peace, after joy. There is an appetency for them. In like manner, +there is in the illuminated and guilt-smitten conscience an appetency for +the piacular work of Christ, as that which alone can give it +pacification. Contemplated from this point of view, there is not a more +rational doctrine within the whole Christian system, than that of the +Atonement. Anything that ministers to a distinct and legitimate craving +in man is reasonable, and necessary. That theorist, therefore, who would +evince the unreasonableness of the atoning work of the Redeemer, must +first evince the unreasonableness of the consciousness of guilt, and of +the judicial craving of the conscience. He must show the groundlessness +of that fundamental and organic feeling which imparts such a blood-red +color to all the religions of the globe; be they Pagan, Jewish, or +Christian. Whenever, therefore, this sensation of ill-desert is elicited, +and the soul feels consciously criminal before the Everlasting Judge, the +difficulties that beset the doctrine of the Cross all vanish in the +_craving_, in the _appetency_, of the conscience, for acquittal through +the substituted sufferings of the Son of God. He who has been taught by +the Spirit respecting the iniquity of sin, and views it in its relations +to the Divine holiness, has no wish to be pardoned at the expense of +justice. His conscience is now jealous for the majesty of God, and the +dignity of His government. He now experimentally understands that great +truth which has its foundation in the nature of guilt, and consequently +in the method of Redemption,--the great ethical truth, that after an +accountable agent has stained himself with crime, there is from the +necessity of the case no remission without the satisfaction of law. + +But it is one thing to acknowledge this in theory, and even to feel the +need of Christ's atonement, and still another thing to _really +appropriate_ it. Unbelief and despair have great power over a +guilt-stricken mind; and were it not for that Spirit who "takes of the +things of Christ and shows them to the soul," sinful man would in every +instance succumb under their awful paralysis. For, if the truth and Spirit +of God should merely convince the sinner of his guilt, but never apply the +atoning blood of the Redeemer, hell would be in him and he would be in +hell. If God, coming forth as He justly might only in His judicial +character, should confine Himself to a convicting operation in the +conscience,--should make the transgressor feel his guilt, and then leave +him to the feeling and with the feeling, forevermore,--this would be +eternal death. And if, as any man shall lie down upon his death-bed, he +shall find that owing to his past quenching of the Spirit the +illuminating energy of God is searching him, and revealing him to +himself, but does not assist him to look up to the Saviour of sinners; +and if, in the day of judgment, as he draws near the bar of an eternal +doom, he shall discover that the sense of guilt grows deeper and deeper, +while the atoning blood is not applied,--if this shall be the experience +of any one upon his death-bed, and in the day of judgment, will he need +to be told what he is and whither he is going? + +Now it is with reference to these disclosures that come in like a deluge +upon him, that man needs the aids and operation of the Holy Spirit. +Ordinarily, nearly the whole of his guilt is latent within him. He is, +commonly, undisturbed by conscience; but it would be a fatal error to +infer that therefore he has a clear and innocent conscience. There is a +vast amount of undeveloped guilt within every impenitent soul. It is +slumbering there, as surely as magnetism is in the magnet, and the +electric fluid is in the piled-up thunder-cloud. For there are moments +when the sinful soul feels this hidden criminality, as there are moments +when the magnet shows its power, and the thunder-cloud darts its nimble +and forked lightnings. Else, why do these pangs and fears shoot and flash +through it, every now and then? Why does the drowning man instinctively +ask for God's mercy? Were his conscience pure and clear from guilt, like +that of the angel or the seraph,--were there no latent crime within +him,--he would sink into the unfathomed depths of the sea, without the +thought of such a cry. When the traveller in South America sees the smoke +and flame of the volcano, here and there, as he passes along, he is +justified in inferring that a vast central fire is burning beneath the +whole region. In like manner, when man discovers, as he watches the +phenomena of his conscience, that guilt every now and then emerges like a +flash of flame into consciousness, filling him with fear and +distress,--when he finds that he has no security against this invasion, +but that in an hour when he thinks not, and commonly when he is weakest +and faintest, in his moments of danger or death, it stings him and wounds +him, he is justified in inferring, and he must infer, that the deep places +of his spirit, the whole _potentiality_ of his soul is full of crime. + +Now, in no condition of the soul is there greater need of the agency of +the Comforter (O well named the Comforter), than when all this latency is +suddenly manifested to a man. When this deluge of discovery comes in, all +the billows of doubt, fear, terror, and despair roll over the soul, and +it sinks in the deep waters. The sense of guilt,--that awful guilt, which +the man has carried about with him for many long years, and which he has +trifled with,--now proves too great for him to control. It seizes him +like a strong-armed man. If he could only believe that the blood of the +Lamb of God expiates all this crime which is so appalling to his mind, he +would be at peace instantaneously. But he is unable to believe this. His +sin, which heretofore looked too small to be noticed, now appears too +great to be forgiven. Other men may be pardoned, but not he. He +_despairs_ of mercy; and if he should be left to the natural workings of +his own mind; if he should not be taught and assisted by the Holy Ghost, +in this critical moment, to behold the Lamb of God; he would despair +forever. For this sense of ill-desert, this fearful looking-for of +judgment and fiery indignation, with which he is wrestling, is organic to +the conscience, and the human will has no more power over it than it has +over the sympathetic nerve. Only as he is taught by the Divine Spirit, is +he able with perfect calmness to look up from this brink of despair, and +say: "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. The +blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Therefore, being justified +by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I know +whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which +I have committed unto him against that day." + +In view of the truths which we have now considered, it is worthy of +observation: + +1. First, that _the Holy Spirit constitutes the tie, and bond of +connection, between man and God_. The third Person in the Godhead is very +often regarded as more distant from the human soul, than either the +Father or the Son. In the history of the doctrine of the Trinity, the +definition of the Holy Spirit, and the discrimination of His relations in +the economy of the Godhead, was not settled until after the doctrine of +the first and second Persons had been established. Something analogous to +this appears in the individual experience. God the Father and God the Son +are more in the thoughts of many believers, than God the Holy Ghost. And +yet, we have seen that in the economy of Redemption, and from the very +nature of the case, the soul is brought as close to the Spirit, as to the +Father and Son. Nay, it is only through the inward operations of the +former, that the latter are made real to the heart and mind of man. Not +until the third Person enlightens, are the second and first Persons +beheld. "No man," says St. Paul, "can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by +the Holy Ghost." + +The sinful soul is entirely dependent upon the Divine Spirit, and from +first to last it is in most intimate communication with Him during the +process of salvation. It is enlightened by His influence; it is enlivened +by Him; it is empowered by Him to the act of faith in Christ's Person and +Work; it is supported and assisted by Him, in every step of the Christian +race; it is comforted by Him in all trials and tribulations; and, lastly, +it is perfected in holiness, and fitted for the immediate presence of +God, by Him. Certainly, then, the believer should have as full faith in +the distinct personality, and immediate efficiency, of the third Person, +as he has in that of the first and second. His most affectionate feeling +should centre upon that Blessed Agent, through whom he appropriates the +blessings that have been provided for sinners by the Father and Son, and +without whose influence the Father would have planned the Redemptive +scheme, and the Son have executed it, in vain. + +2. In the second place, it is deserving of very careful notice that _the +influences of the Holy Spirit may be obtained by asking for them_. This +is the only condition to be complied with. And this gift, furthermore, is +peculiar, in that it is _invariably_ bestowed whenever it is sincerely +implored. There are other gifts of God which may be asked for with deep +and agonizing desire, and it is not certain that they will be granted. +This is the case with temporal blessings. A sick man may turn his face to +the wall, with Hezekiah, and pray in the bitterness of his soul, for the +prolongation of his life, and yet not obtain the answer which Hezekiah +received. But no man ever supplicated in the earnestness of his soul for +the influences of the Holy Spirit, and was ultimately refused. For this +is a gift which it is always safe to grant. It involves a spiritual and +everlasting good. It is the gift of righteousness, of the fear and love +of God in the heart. There is no danger in such a bestowment. It +inevitably promotes the glory of God. Hence our Lord, after bidding his +hearers to "ask," to "seek," and to "knock," adds, as the encouraging +reason why they should do so: "For, _every one_ that asketh receiveth; +and he that seeketh, [always] findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall +[certainly] be opened." This is a reason that cannot be assigned in the +instance of other prayers. Our Lord commands his disciples to pray for +their daily bread; and we know that the children of God do generally find +their wants supplied. Still, it would not be true that _every one_ who in +the sincerity of his soul has asked for daily bread has received it. The +children of God have sometimes died of hunger. But no soul that has ever +hungered for the bread of heaven, and supplicated for it, has been sent +empty away. Nay more: Whoever finds it in his heart to ask for the Holy +Spirit may know, from this very fact, that the Holy Spirit has +anticipated him, and has prompted the very prayer itself. And think you +that God will not grant a request which He himself has inspired? And +therefore, again, it is, that _every one_ who asks invariably receives. + +3. The third remark suggested by the subject we have been considering is, +that _it is exceedingly hazardous to resist Divine influences_. "Quench +not the Spirit" is one of the most imperative of the Apostolic +injunctions. Our Lord, after saying that a word spoken against Himself is +pardonable, adds that he that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost shall +never be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come. The +New Testament surrounds the subject of Divine influences with very great +solemnity. It represents the resisting of the Holy Ghost to be as +heinous, and dangerous, as the trampling upon Christ's blood. + +There is a reason for this. We have seen that in this operation upon the +mind and heart, God comes as near, and as close to man, as it is possible +for Him to come. Now to grieve or oppose such a merciful, and such an +_inward_ agency as this, is to offer the highest possible affront to the +majesty and the mercy of God. It is a great sin to slight the gifts of +Divine providence,--to misuse health, strength, wealth, talents. It is a +deep sin to contemn the truths of Divine Revelation, by which the soul is +made wise unto eternal life. It is a fearful sin to despise the claims of +God the Father, and God the Son. But it is a transcendent sin to resist +and beat back, _after it has been given_, that mysterious, that holy, +that immediately Divine influence, by which alone the heart of stone can +be made the heart of flesh. For, it indicates something more than the +ordinary carelessness of a sinner. It evinces a determined _obstinacy_ in +sin,--nay, a Satanic opposition to God and goodness. It is of such a +guilt as this, that the apostle John remarks: "There is a sin unto death; +I do not say that one should pray for it."[3] + +Again, it is exceedingly hazardous to resist Divine influences, because +they depend wholly upon the good pleasure of God, and not at all upon any +established and uniform law. We must not, for a moment, suppose that the +operations of the Holy Spirit upon the human soul are like those of the +forces of nature upon the molecules of matter. They are not uniform and +unintermittent, like gravitation, and chemical affinity. We may avail +ourselves of the powers of nature at any moment, because they are +steadily operative by an established law. They are laboring incessantly, +and we may enter into their labors at any instant we please. But it is +not so with supernatural and gracious influences. God's awakening and +renewing power does not operate with the uniformity of those blind +natural laws which He has impressed upon the dull clod beneath our feet. +God is not one of the forces of nature. He is a Person and a Sovereign. +His special and highest action upon the human soul is not uniform. His +Spirit, He expressly teaches us, does not always strive with man. It is a +wind that bloweth when and where it listeth. For this reason, it is +dangerous to the religious interests of the soul, in the highest degree, +to go counter to any impulses of the Spirit, however slight, or to +neglect any of His admonitions, however gentle. If God in mercy has once +come in upon a thoughtless mind, and wakened it to eternal realities; if +He has enlightened it to perceive the things that make for its peace; and +that mind slights this merciful interference, and stifles down these +inward teachings, then God withdraws, and whether He will ever return +again to that soul depends upon His mere sovereign volition. He has bound +himself by no promise to do so. He has established no uniform law of +operation, in the case. It is true that He is very pitiful and of tender +mercy, and waits and bears long with the sinner; and it is also true, +that He is terribly severe and just, when He thinks it proper to be so, +and says to those who have despised His Spirit: "Because I have called +and ye refused, and have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, I +will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh." + +Let no one say: "God has promised to bestow the Holy Ghost to every one +who asks: I will ask at some future time." To "ask" for the Holy Spirit +implies some already existing desire that He would enter the mind and +convince of sin, and convert to God. It implies some _craving_, some +_yearning_, for Divine influences; and this implies some measure of such +influence already bestowed. Man asks for the Holy Spirit, only as he is +moved by the Holy Spirit. The Divine is ever prevenient to the human. +Suppose now, that a man resists these influences when they are _already_ +at work within him, and says: "I will seek them at a more convenient +season." Think you, that when that convenient season comes round,--when +life is waning, and the world is receding, and the eternal gulf is +yawning,--think you that that man who has already resisted grace can make +his own heart to yearn for it, and his soul to crave it? Do men at such +times find that sincere desires, and longings, and aspirations, come at +their beck? Can a man say, with any prospect of success: "I will now +quench out this seriousness which the Spirit of God has produced in my +mind, and will bring it up again ten years hence. I will stifle this +drawing of the Eternal Father of my soul which I now feel at the roots of +my being, and it shall re-appear at a future day." + +No! While it is true that any one who "asks," who really _wants_ a +spiritual blessing, will obtain it, it is equally true that a man may +have no heart to ask,--may have no desire, no yearning, no aspiration at +all, and be unable to produce one. In this case there is no promise. +Whosoever _thirsts_, and _only_ he who thirsts, can obtain the water of +life. Cherish, therefore, the faintest influences and operations of the +Comforter. If He enlightens your conscience so that it reproaches you for +sin, seek to have the work go on. Never resist any such convictions, and +never attempt to stifle them. If the Holy Spirit urges you to confession +of sin before God, yield _instantaneously_ to His urging, and pour +out your soul before the All-Merciful. And when He says, "Behold the Lamb +of God," look where He points, and be at peace and at rest. The secret of +all spiritual success is an immediate and uniform submission to the +influences of the Holy Ghost. + + +[Footnote 1: [Greek: _Anto, kath anto, meth anton, monoeides_.]--PLATO: +Convivium, p. 247, Ed. Bipont.] + +[Footnote 2: Guyon: translated by Cowper. is expressed by VAUGHAN in +Works III. 85.--A similar thought "The Eclipse." + + "Thy anger I could kiss, and will; + But O Thy grief, Thy grief doth kill."] + +[Footnote 3: The sin against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable, not because +there is a grade of guilt in it too scarlet to be washed white by +Christ's blood of atonement but, because it implies a total quenching of +that operation of the third Person of the Trinity which is the only power +adequate to the extirpation of sin from the human soul. The sin against +the Holy Ghost is tantamount, therefore, to _everlasting_ sin. And it is +noteworthy, that in Mark iii. 29 the reading [Greek: _amartaemartos_], +instead of [Greek: kriseos], is supported by a majority of the +oldest manuscripts and versions, and is adopted by Lachmann, +Tischendorf, and Tregelles. "He that shall blaspheme against the Holy +Ghost.... is in danger of eternal _sin_."] + + + + + +THE IMPOTENCE OF THE LAW. + +HEBREWS vii. 19.--"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in +of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God." + + +It is the aim of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to teach the insufficiency +of the Jewish Dispensation to save the human race from the wrath of God +and the power of sin, and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel Dispensation +to do this. Hence, the writer of this Epistle endeavors with special +effort to make the Hebrews feel the weakness of their old and much +esteemed religion, and to show them that the only benefit which God +intended by its establishment was, to point men to the perfect and final +religion of the Gospel. This he does, by examining the parts of the Old +Economy. In the first place, the _sacrifices_ under the Mosaic law were +not designed to extinguish the sense of guilt,--"for it is not possible +that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin,"--but were +intended merely to awaken the sense of guilt, and thereby to lead the Jew +to look to that mercy of God which at a future day was to be exhibited in +the sacrifice of his eternal Son. The Jewish _priesthood_, again, +standing between the sinner and God, were not able to avert the Divine +displeasure,--for as sinners they were themselves exposed to it. They +could only typify, and direct the guilty to, the great High Priest, the +Messiah, whom God's mercy would send in the fulness of time. Lastly, the +moral _law_, proclaimed amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai, +had no power to secure obedience, but only a fearful power to produce the +consciousness of disobedience, and of exposure to a death far more awful +than that threatened against the man who should touch the burning +mountain. + +It was, thus, the design of God, by this legal and preparatory +dispensation, to disclose to man his ruined and helpless condition, and +his need of looking to Him for everything that pertains to redemption. +And he did it, by so arranging the dispensation that the Jew might, as it +were, make the trial and see if he could be his own Redeemer. He +instituted a long and burdensome round of observances, by means of which +the Jew might, if possible, extinguish the remorse of his conscience, and +produce the peace of God in his soul. God seems by the sacrifices under +the law, and the many and costly offerings which the Jew was commanded to +bring into the temple of the Lord, to have virtually said to him: "Thou +art guilty, and My wrath righteously abides within thy conscience,--yet, +do what thou canst to free thyself from it; free thyself from it if thou +canst; bring an offering and come before Me. But when thou hast found +that thy conscience still remains perturbed and unpacified, and thy heart +still continues corrupt and sinful, then look away from thy agency and +thy offering, to My clemency and My offering,--trust not in these finite +sacrifices of the lamb and the goat, but let them merely remind thee of +the infinite sacrifice which in the fulness of time I will provide for +the sin of the world,--and thy peace shall be as a river, and thy +righteousness as the waves of the sea." + +But the proud and legal spirit of the Jew blinded him, and he did not +perceive the true meaning and intent of his national religion. He made it +an end, instead of a mere means to an end. Hence, it became a mechanical +round of observances, kept up by custom, and eventually lost the power, +which it had in the earlier and better ages of the Jewish commonwealth, +of awakening the feeling of guilt and the sense of the need of a +Redeemer. Thus, in the days of our Saviour's appearance upon the earth, +the chosen guardians of this religion, which was intended to make men +humble, and feel their personal ill-desert and need of mercy, had become +self-satisfied and self-righteous. A religion designed to prompt the +utterance of the greatest of its prophets: "Woe is me! I am a man of +unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips," now +prompted the utterance of the Pharisee: "I thank Thee that I am not as +other men are." + +The Jew, in the times of our Saviour and his Apostles, had thus entirely +mistaken the nature and purpose of the Old dispensation, and hence was +the most bitter opponent of the New. He rested in the formal and +ceremonial sacrifice of bulls and goats, and therefore counted the blood +of the Son of God an unholy thing. He thought to appear before Him in +whose sight the heavens are not clean, clothed in his own righteousness, +and hence despised the righteousness of Christ. In reality, he appealed +to the justice of God, and therefore rejected the religion of mercy. + +But, this spirit is not confined to the Jew. It pervades the human race. +Man is naturally a legalist. He desires to be justified by his own +character and his own works, and reluctates at the thought of being +accepted upon the ground of another's merits. This Judaistic spirit is +seen wherever there is none of the publican's feeling when he said, "God +be merciful to me a sinner." All confidence in personal virtue, all +appeals to civil integrity, all attendance upon the ordinances of the +Christian religion without the exercise of the Christian's penitence and +faith, is, in reality; an exhibition of that same legal unevangelic +spirit which in its extreme form inflated the Pharisee, and led him to +tithe mint anise and cummin. Man's so general rejection of the Son of God +as suffering the just for the unjust, as the manifestation of the Divine +clemency towards a criminal, is a sign either that he is insensible of +his guilt, or else that being somewhat conscious of it he thinks to +cancel it himself. + +Still, think and act as men may, the method of God in the Gospel is the +only method. Other foundation can no man lay than is laid. For it rests +upon stubborn facts, and inexorable principles. _God_ knows that however +anxiously a transgressor may strive to pacify his conscience, and prepare +it for the judgment-day, its deep remorse can be removed only by the +blood of incarnate Deity; that however sedulously he may attempt to obey +the law, he will utterly fail, unless he is inwardly renewed and +strengthened by the Holy Ghost. _He_ knows that mere bare law can make no +sinner perfect again, but that only the bringing in of a "better hope" +can,--a hope by the which we draw nigh to God. + +The text leads us to inquire: _Why cannot the moral law make fallen man +perfect_? Or, in other words: _Why cannot the ten commandments save a +sinner_? + +That we may answer this question, we must first understand what is meant +by a perfect man. It is one in whom there is no defect or fault of any +kind,--one, therefore, who has no perturbation in his conscience, and no +sin in his heart. It is a man who is entirely at peace with himself, and +with God, and whose affections are in perfect conformity with the Divine +law. + +But fallen man, man as we find him universally, is characterized by both +a remorseful conscience and an evil heart. His conscience distresses him, +not indeed uniformly and constantly but, in the great emergencies of his +life,--in the hour of sickness, danger, death,--and his heart is selfish +and corrupt continually. He lacks perfection, therefore, in two +particulars; first, in respect to acquittal at the bar of justice, and +secondly, in respect to inward purity. That, therefore, which proposes to +make him perfect again, must quiet the sense of guilt upon valid grounds, +and must produce a holy character. If the method fails in either of these +two respects, it fails altogether in making a perfect man. + +But how can the moral law, or the ceremonial law, or both united, produce +within the human soul the cheerful, liberating, sense of acquittal, and +reconciliation with God's justice? Why, the very function and office-work +of law, in all its forms, is to condemn and terrify the transgressor; how +then can it calm and soothe him? Or, is there anything in the performance +of duty,--in the act of obeying law,--that is adapted to produce this +result, by taking away guilt? Suppose that a murderer could and should +perform a perfectly holy act, would it be any relief to his anguished +conscience, if he should offer it as an oblation to Eternal Justice for +the sin that is past? if he should plead it as an offset for having +killed a man? When we ourselves review the past, and see that we have not +kept the law up to the present point in our lives, is the gnawing of the +worm to be stopped, by resolving to keep it, and actually keeping it from +this point? Can such a use of the law as this is,--can the performance of +good works, imaginary or real ones, imperfect or perfect ones,--discharge +the office of an _atonement_, and so make us perfect in the forum of +conscience, and fill us with a deep and lasting sense of reconciliation +with the offended majesty and justice of God? Plainly not. For there is +nothing compensatory, nothing cancelling, nothing of the nature of a +satisfaction of justice, in the best obedience that was ever rendered to +moral law, by saint, angel, or seraph. _Because the creature owes the +whole_. He is obligated from the very first instant of his existence, +onward and evermore, to love God supremely, and to obey him perfectly in +every act and element of his being. Therefore, the perfectly obedient +saint, angel, and seraph must each say: "I am an unprofitable servant, I +have done only that which it was my duty to do; I can make no amends for +past failures; I can do no work that is meritorious and atoning." +Obedience to law, then, by a creature, and still less by a sinner, can +never atone for the sins that are past; can never make the guilty perfect +"in things pertaining to conscience." And if a man, in this indirect and +roundabout manner, neglects the provisions of the gospel, neglects the +oblation of Jesus Christ, and betakes himself to the discharge of his own +duty as a substitute therefor, he only finds that the flame burns hotter, +and the fang of the worm is sharper. If he looks to the moral law in any +form, and by any method, that he may get quit of his remorse and his +fears of judgment, the feeling of unreconciliation with justice, and the +fearful looking-for of judgment is only made more vivid and deep. Whoever +attempts the discharge of duties _for the purpose of atoning for his +sins_ takes a direct method of increasing the pains and perturbations +which he seeks to remove. The more he thinks of law, and the more he +endeavors to obey it for the purpose of purchasing the pardon of past +transgression, the more wretched does he become. Look into the lacerated +conscience of Martin Luther before he found the Cross, examine the +anxiety and gloom of Chalmers before he saw the Lamb of God, for proof +that this is so. These men, at first, were most earnest in their use of +the law in order to re-instate themselves in right relations with God's +justice. But the more they toiled in this direction, the less they +succeeded. Burning with inward anguish, and with God's arrows sticking +fast in him, shall the transgressor get relief from the attribute of +Divine justice, and the qualities of law? Shall the ten commandments of +Sinai, in any of their forms or uses, send a cooling and calming virtue +through the hot conscience? With these kindling flashes in his +guilt-stricken spirit, shall he run into the very identical fire that +kindled them? Shall he try to quench them in that "Tophet which is ordained +of old; which is made deep and large; the pile of which is fire and much +wood, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle +it?" And yet such is, in reality, the attempt of every man who, upon +being convicted in his conscience of guilt before God, endeavors to +attain peace by resolutions to alter his course of conduct, and strenuous +endeavors to obey the commands of God,--in short by relying upon the law +in any form, as a means of reconciliation. Such is the suicidal effort +of every man who substitutes the law for the gospel, and expects to +produce within himself the everlasting peace of God, by anything short of +the atonement of God. + +Let us fix it, then, as a fact, that the feeling of culpability and +unreconciliation can never be removed, so long as we do not look entirely +away from our own character and works to the mere pure mercy of God in +the blood of Christ. The transgressor can never atone for crime by +anything that he can suffer, or anything that he can do. He can never +establish a ground of justification, a reason why he should be forgiven, +by his tears, or his prayers, or his acts. Neither the law, nor his +attempts to obey the law, can re-instate him in his original relations to +justice, and make him perfect again in respect to his conscience. The ten +commandments can never silence his inward misgivings, and his moral +fears; for they are given for the very purpose of producing misgivings, +and causing fears. "The law worketh wrath." And if this truth and +fact be clearly perceived, and boldly acknowledged to his own mind, it +will cut him off from all these legal devices and attempts, and will shut +him up to the Divine mercy and the Divine promise in Christ, where alone +he is safe. + +We have thus seen that one of the two things necessary in order that +apostate man may become perfect again,--viz., the pacification of his +conscience,--cannot be obtained in and by the law, in any of its forms or +uses. Let us now examine the other thing necessary in order to human +perfection, and see what the law can do towards it. + +The other requisite, in order that fallen man may become perfect again, +is a holy heart and will. Can the moral law originate this? That we may +rightly answer the question, let us remember that a holy will is one that +keeps the law of God spontaneously and that a perfect heart is one that +sends forth holy affections and pure thoughts as naturally as the sinful +heart sends forth unholy affections and impure thoughts. A holy will, +like an evil will, is a wonderful and wonderfully fertile power. It does +not consist in an ability to make a few or many separate resolutions of +obedience to the divine law, but in being itself one great inclination +and determination continually and mightily going forth. A holy will, +therefore, is one that _from its very nature and spontaneity_ seeks God, +and the glory of God. It does not even need to make a specific resolution +to obey; any more than an affectionate child needs to resolve to obey its +father. + +In like manner, a perfect and holy heart is a far more profound and +capacious thing than men who have never seriously tried to obtain it deem +it to foe. It does not consist in the possession of a few or many holy +thoughts mixed with some sinful ones, or in having a few or many holy +desires together with some corrupt ones. A perfect heart is one undivided +agency, and does not produce, as the imperfectly sanctified heart of the +Christian does, fruits of holiness and fruits of sin, holy thoughts and +unholy thoughts. It is itself a root and centre of holiness, and +_nothing_ but goodness springs up from it. The angels of God are totally +holy. Their wills are unceasingly going forth towards Him with ease and +delight; their hearts are unintermittently gushing out emotions of love, +and feelings of adoration, and thoughts of reverence, and therefore the +song that they sing is unceasing, and the smoke of their incense +ascendeth forever and ever. + +Such is the holy will, and the perfect heart, which fallen man must +obtain in order to be fit for heaven. To this complexion must he come at +last. And now we ask: Can the law generate all this excellence within the +human soul? In order to answer this question, we must consider the nature +of law, and the manner of its operation. The law, as antithetic to the +gospel, and as the word is employed in the text, is in its nature +mandatory and minatory. It commands, and it threatens. This is the style +of its operation. Can a perfect heart be originated in a sinner by these +two methods? Does the stern behest, "Do this or die," secure his willing +and joyful obedience? On the contrary, the very fact that the law of God +comes up before him coupled thus with a _threatening_ evinces that his +aversion and hostility are most intense. As the Apostle says, "The law is +not made for a righteous man; but for the lawless and disobedient, for +the ungodly and for sinners." Were man, like the angels on high, sweetly +obedient to the Divine will, there would be no arming of law with terror, +no proclamation of ten commandments amidst thunderings and lightnings. He +would be a law unto himself, as all the heavenly host are,--the law +working impulsively within him by its own exceeding lawfulness and +beauty. The very fact that God, in the instance of man, is compelled to +emphasize the _penalty_ along with the statute,--to say, "Keep my +commandments _upon pain of eternal death_,"--is proof conclusive that man +is a rebel, and intensely so. + +And now what is the effect of this combination of command and threatening +upon the agent? Is he moulded by it? Does it congenially sway and incline +him? On the contrary, is he not excited to opposition by it? When the +commandment "_comes_," loaded down with menace and damnation, does not +sin "revive," as the Apostle affirms?[1] Arrest the transgressor in the +very act of disobedience, and ring in his ears the "Thou shalt _not_" of +the decalogue, and does he find that the law has the power to alter his +inclination, to overcome his carnal mind, and make him perfect in +holiness? On the contrary, the more you ply him with the stern command, +and the more you emphasize the awful threatening, the more do you make +him conscious of inward sin, and awaken his depravity. "The law,"--as St. +Paul affirms in a very remarkable text,--"is the _strength_ of sin,[2]" +instead of being its destruction. Nay, he had not even ([Greek: te]) +known sin, but by the law: for he had not known lust, except the law had +said, "Thou shalt not lust." The commandment stimulates instead of +extirpating his hostility to the Divine government; and so long as the +_mere_ command, and the _mere_ threat,--which, as the hymn tells us, is +all the law can do,--are brought to bear, the depravity of the rebellious +heart becomes more and more apparent, and more and more intensified. + +There is no more touching poem in all literature than that one in which +the pensive and moral Schiller portrays the struggle of an ingenuous +youth who would find the source of moral purification in the moral law; +who would seek the power that can transform him, in the mere imperatives +of his conscience, and the mere struggling and spasms of his own will. He +represents him as endeavoring earnestly and long to feel the force of +obligation, and as toiling sedulously to school himself into virtue, by +the bare power, by the dead lift, of duty. But the longer he tries, the +more he loathes the restraints of law. Virtue, instead of growing lovely +to him, becomes more and more severe, austere, and repellant. His life, +as the Scripture phrases it, is "under law," and not under love. There is +nothing spontaneous, nothing willing, nothing genial in his religion. He +does not enjoy religion, but he endures religion. Conscience does not, in +the least, renovate his will, but merely checks it, or goads it. He +becomes wearied and worn, and conscious that after all his self-schooling +he is the same creature at heart, in his disposition and affections, that +he was at the commencement of the effort, he cries out, "O Virtue, take +back thy crown, and let me sin."[3] The tired and disgusted soul would +once more do a _spontaneous_ thing. + +Was, then, that which is good made death unto this youth, by a _Divine_ +arrangement? Is this the _original_ and _necessary_ relation which law +sustains to the will and affections of an accountable creature? Must the +pure and holy law of God, from the very nature of things, be a weariness +and a curse? God forbid. But sin that it might _appear_ sin, working +death in the sinner by that which is good,--that sin by the commandment +might become, might be seen to be, exceeding sinful. The law is like a +chemical test. It eats into sin enough to show what sin is, and there +stops. The lunar caustic bites into the dead flesh of the mortified limb; +but there is no healing virtue in the lunar caustic. The moral law makes +no inward alterations in a sinner. In its own distinctive and proper +action upon the heart and will of an apostate being, it is fitted only to +elicit and exasperate his existing enmity. It can, therefore, no more be +a source of sanctification, than it can be of justification. + +Of what use, then, is the law to a fallen man?--some one will ask. Why is +the commandment enunciated in the Scriptures, and why is the Christian +ministry perpetually preaching it to men dead in trespasses and sins? If +the law can subdue no man's obstinate will, and can renovate no man's +corrupt heart,--if it can make nothing perfect in human character,--then, +"wherefore serveth the law?" "It was added because of +transgressions,"--says the Apostle in answer to this very question.[4] It +is preached and forced home in order to _detect_ sin, but not to remove +it; to bring men to a consciousness of the evil of their hearts, but not +to change their hearts. "For," continues the Apostle, "if there had been +a law given which could have given _life_"--which could produce a +transformation of character,--"then verily righteousness should have been +by the law," It is not because the stern and threatening commandment can +impart spiritual vitality to the sinner, but because it can produce within +him the keen vivid sense of spiritual death, that it is enunciated in the +word of God, and proclaimed from the Christian pulpit. The Divine law is +waved like a flashing sword before the eyes of man, not because it can +make him alive but, because it can slay him, that he may then be made +alive, not by the law but by the Holy Ghost,--by the Breath that cometh +from the four winds and breathes on the slain. + +It is easy to see, by a moment's reflection, that, from the nature of the +case, the moral law cannot be a source of spiritual life and +sanctification to a soul that has _lost_ these. For law primarily +supposes life, supposes an obedient inclination, and therefore does not +produce it. It is not the function of any law to impart that moral force, +that right disposition of the heart, by which its command is to be +obeyed. The State, for example, enacts a law against murder, but this +mere enactment does not, and cannot, produce a benevolent disposition in +the citizens of the commonwealth, in case they are destitute of it. How +often do we hear the remark, that it is impossible to legislate either +morality or religion into the people. When the Supreme Governor first +placed man under the obligations and sovereignty of law, He created him +in His own image and likeness: endowing him with that holy heart and +right inclination which obeys the law of God with ease and delight. God +made man upright, and in this state he could and did keep the commands +of God perfectly. If, therefore, by any _subsequent action_ upon their +part, mankind have gone out of the primary relationship in which they +stood to law, and have by their _apostasy_ lost all holy sympathy with +it, and all affectionate disposition to obey it, it only remains for the +law (not to change along with them, but) to continue immutably the same +pure and righteous thing, and to say, "Obey perfectly, and thou shalt +live; disobey in a single instance, and thou shalt die." + +But the text teaches us, that although the law can make no sinful man +perfect, either upon the side of justification, or of sanctification, +"the bringing in of a better _hope_" can. This hope is the evangelic +hope,--the yearning desire, and the humble trust,--to be forgiven through +the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be sanctified by the +indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. A simple, but a most powerful thing! +Does the law, in its abrupt and terrible operation in my conscience, +start out the feeling of guiltiness until I throb with anguish, and moral +fear? I hope, I trust, I ask, to be pardoned through the blood of the +Eternal Son of God my Redeemer. I will answer all these accusations +of law and conscience, by pleading what my Lord has done. + +Again, does the law search me, and probe me, and elicit me, and reveal +me, until I would shrink out of the sight of God and of myself? I hope, I +trust, I ask, to be made pure as the angels, spotless as the seraphim, by +the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit. This confidence in Christ's +Person and Work is the anchor,--an anchor that was never yet wrenched +from the clefts of the Rock of Ages, and never will be through the aeons +of aeons. By this hope, which goes away from self, and goes away from the +law, to Christ's oblation and the Holy Spirit's energy, we do indeed draw +very nigh to God,--"heart to heart, spirit to spirit, life to life." + +1. The unfolding of this text of Scripture shows, in the first place, the +importance of having a _distinct and discriminating conception of law, +and especially of its proper function in reference to a sinful being_. +Very much is gained when we understand precisely what the moral law, as +taught in the Scriptures, and written in our consciences, can do, and +cannot do, towards our salvation. It can do nothing positively and +efficiently. It cannot extinguish a particle of our guilt, and it cannot +purge away a particle of our corruption. Its operation is wholly negative +and preparatory. It is merely a schoolmaster to conduct us to Christ. And +the more definitely this truth and fact is fixed in our minds, the more +intelligently shall we proceed in our use of law and conscience. + +2. In the second place, the unfolding of this text shows the importance +of _using the law faithfully and fearlessly within its own limits; and in +accordance with its proper function_. It is frequently asked what the +sinner shall do in the work of salvation. The answer is nigh thee, in thy +mouth, and in thy heart. Be continually applying the law of God to your +personal character and conduct. Keep an active and a searching conscience +within your sinful soul. Use the high, broad, and strict commandment of +God as an instrumentality by which all ease, and all indifference, in sin +shall be banished from the breast. Employ all this apparatus of torture, +as perhaps it may seem to you in some sorrowful hours, and break up that +moral drowze and lethargy which is ruining so many souls. And then cease +this work, the instant you have experimentally found out that the law +reaches a limit beyond which it cannot go,--that it forgives none of the +sins which it detects, produces no change in the heart whose vileness it +reveals, and makes no lost sinner perfect again. Having used the law +legitimately, for purposes of illumination and conviction merely, leave +it forever as a source of justification and sanctification, and seek +these in Christ's atonement, and the Holy Spirit's gracious operation in +the heart. Then sin shall not have dominion over you; for you shall not +be under law, but under grace. After that _faith_ is come, ye are no +longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are then the children of God by faith +in Christ Jesus.[5] + +How simple are the terms of salvation! But then they presuppose this +work of the law,--this guilt-smitten conscience, and this wearying sense +of bondage to sin. It is easy for a _thirsty_ soul to drink down the +draught of cold water. Nothing is simpler, nothing is more grateful to +the sensations. But suppose that the soul is satiated, and is not a +thirsty one. Then, nothing is more forced and repelling than this same +draught. So is it with the provisions of the gospel. Do we feel ourselves +to be guilty beings; do we hunger, and do we thirst for the expiation of +our sins? Then the blood of Christ is drink indeed, and his flesh is +meat with emphasis. But are we at ease and self-contented? Then nothing +is more distasteful than the terms of salvation. Christ is a root out of +dry ground. And so long as we remain in this unfeeling and torpid state, +salvation is an utter impossibility. The seed of the gospel cannot +germinate and grow upon a rock. + +[Footnote 1: Rom. vii. 9-12.] + +[Footnote 2: 1 Cor. xv. 56.] + +[Footnote 3: SCHILLER: Der Kampf.] + +[Footnote 4: Galatians iii. 19.] + +[Footnote 5: Galatians iii. 25, 26.] + + + + +SELF-SCRUTINY IN GOD'S PRESENCE. + +ISAIAH, i. 11.--"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; +though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though +they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." + + +These words were at first addressed to the Church of God. The prophet +Isaiah begins his prophecy, by calling upon the heavens and the earth to +witness the exceeding sinfulness of God's chosen people. "Hear, O +heavens, and give ear O earth: for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished +and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox +knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not +know, my people doth not consider." Such ingratitude and sin as this, he +naturally supposes would shock the very heavens and earth. + +Then follows a most vehement and terrible rebuke. The elect people of God +are called "Sodom," and "Gomorrah." "Hear the word of the Lord ye rulers +of Sodom: give ear unto the law of our God ye people of Gomorrah. Why +should ye be stricken, any more? ye will revolt more and more." This +outflow of holy displeasure would prepare us to expect an everlasting +reprobacy of the rebellious and unfaithful Church, but it is strangely +followed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the +Most High to the creatures of His footstool: "Come now, and let us reason +together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; +though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." + +These words have, however, a wider application; and while the unfaithful +children of God ought to ponder them long and well, it is of equal +importance that "the aliens from the commonwealth of Israel" should +reflect upon them, and see their general application to all +transgressors, so long as they are under the Gospel dispensation. Let us, +then, consider two of the plain lessons taught, in these words of the +prophet, to every unpardoned man. + +I. The text represents God as saying to the transgressor of his law, +"Come and let us reason _together_." The first lesson to be learned, +consequently, is the duty of examining our moral character and conduct, +_along with God_. + +When a responsible being has made a wrong use of his powers, nothing is +more reasonable than that he should call himself to account for this +abuse. Nothing, certainly, is more necessary. There can be no amendment +for the future, until the past has been cared for. But that this +examination may be both thorough and profitable, it must be made _in +company with the Searcher of hearts_. + +For there are always two beings who are concerned with sin; the being who +commits it, and the Being against whom it is committed. We sin, indeed, +against ourselves; against our own conscience, and against our own best +interest. But we sin in a yet higher, and more terrible sense, against +Another than ourselves, compared with whose majesty all of our faculties +and interests, both in time and eternity, are altogether nothing and +vanity. It is not enough, therefore, to refer our sin to the law written +on the heart, and there stop. We must ultimately pass beyond conscience +itself, to God, and say, "Against _Thee_ have I sinned." It is not the +highest expression of the religious feeling, when we say, "How can I do +this great wickedness, and sin against my conscience?" He alone has +reached the summit of vision who looks beyond all finite limits, +however wide and distant, beyond all finite faculties however noble and +elevated, and says, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against +God?" + +Whenever, therefore, an examination is made into the nature of moral evil +as it exists in the individual heart, both parties concerned should share +in the examination. The soul, as it looks within, should invite the +scrutiny of God also, and as fast as it makes discoveries of its +transgression and corruption should realize that the Holy One sees also. +Such a joint examination as this produces a very keen and clear sense of +the evil and guilt of sin. Conscience indeed makes cowards of us all, but +when the eye of God is felt to be upon us, it smites us to the ground. +"When _Thou_ with rebukes,"--says the Psalmist,--"dost correct man for +his iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth." One +great reason why the feeling which the moralist has towards sin is so +tame and languid, when compared with the holy abhorrence of the +regenerate mind, lies in the fact that he has not contemplated human +depravity in company with a sin-hating Jehovah. At the very utmost, he +has been shut up merely with a moral sense which he has insulated from +its dread ground and support,--the personal character and holy emotions +of God. What wonder is it, then, that this finite faculty should lose +much of its temper and severity, and though still condemning sin (for it +must do this, if it does anything), fails to do it with that spiritual +energy which characterizes the conscience when God is felt to be +co-present and co-operating. So it is, in other provinces. We feel the +guilt of an evil action more sharply, when we know that a fellow-man +saw us commit it, than when we know that no one but ourselves is +cognizant of the deed. The flush of shame often rises into our face, upon +learning accidentally that a fellow-being was looking at us, when we did +the wrong action without any blush. How much more criminal, then, do we +feel, when distinctly aware that the pure and holy God knows our +transgression. How much clearer is our perception of the nature of moral +evil, when we investigate it along with Him whose eyes are a flame of +fire. + +It is, consequently, a very solemn moment, when the human spirit and the +Eternal Mind are reasoning together about the inward sinfulness. When +the soul is shut up along with the Holy One of Israel, there are great +searchings of heart. Man is honest and anxious at such a time. His usual +thoughtlessness and torpidity upon the subject of religion leaves him, +and he becomes a serious and deeply-interested creature. Would that the +multitudes who listen so languidly to the statements of the pulpit, upon +these themes of sin and guilt, might be closeted with the Everlasting +Judge, in silence and in solemn reflection. You who have for years been +told of sin, but are, perhaps, still as indifferent regarding it as if +there were no stain, upon the conscience,--would that you might enter +into an examination of yourself, alone with your Maker. Then would you +become as serious, and as anxious, as you will be in that moment when you +shall be informed that the last hour of your life upon earth has come. + +Another effect of this "reasoning together" with God, respecting our +character and conduct, is to render our views _discriminating_. The +action of the mind is not only intense, it is also intelligent. Strange +as it may sound, it is yet a fact, that a review of our past lives +conducted under the eye of God, and with a recognition of His presence +and oversight, serves to deliver the mind from confusion and panic, and +to fill it with a calm and rational fear. This is of great value. For, +when a man begins to be excited upon the subject of religion,--it may be +for the first time, in his unreflecting and heedless life,--he is +oftentimes terribly excited. He is now brought _suddenly_ into the midst +of the most solemn things. That sin of his, the enormity of which he had +never seen before, now reveals itself in a most frightful form, and he +feels as the murderer does who wakes in the morning and begins to realize +that he has killed a man. That holy Being, of whose holiness he had no +proper conception, now rises dim and awful before his half-opened inward +eye, and he trembles like the pagan before the unknown God whom he +ignorantly worships. That eternity, which he had heard spoken of with +total indifference, now flashes penal flames in his face. Taken and held +in this state of mind, the transgressor is confusedly as well as terribly +awakened, and he needs first of all to have this experience clarified, +and know precisely for what he is trembling, and why. This panic and +consternation must depart, and a calm intelligent anxiety must take its +place. But this cannot be, unless the mind turns towards God, and invites +His searching scrutiny, and His aid in the search after sin. So long as +we shrink away from our Judge, and in upon ourselves, in these hours of +conviction,--so long as we deal only with the workings of our own minds, +and do not look up and "reason together" with God,--we take the most +direct method of producing a blind, an obscure, and a selfish agony. We +work ourselves, more and more, into a mere phrenzy of excitement. Some of +the most wretched and fanatical experience in the history of the Church +is traceable to a solitary self-brooding, in which, after the sense of +sin had been awakened, the soul did not discuss the matter with God. + +For the character and attributes of God, when clearly seen, repress all +fright, and produce that peculiar species of fear which is tranquil +because it is deep. Though the soul, in such an hour, is conscious that +God is a fearful object of sight for a transgressor, yet it continues to +gaze at Him with an eager straining eye. And in so doing, the superficial +tremor and panic of its first awakening to the subject of religion passes +off, and gives place to an intenser moral feeling, the calmness of which +is like the stillness of fascination. Nothing has a finer effect upon a +company of awakened minds, than to cause the being and attributes of God, +in all their majesty and purity, to rise like an orb within their +horizon; and the individual can do nothing more proper, or more salutary, +when once his sin begins to disquiet him, and the inward perturbation +commences, than to collect and steady himself, in an act of reflection +upon that very Being who _abhors_ sin. Let no man, in the hour of +conviction and moral fear, attempt to run away from the Divine holiness. +On the contrary, let him rush forward and throw himself down prostrate +before that Dread Presence, and plead the merits of the Son of God, +before it. He that finds his life shall lose it; but he that loses his +life shall find it. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, +it remains a single unproductive corn of wheat; but if it _die_, it +germinates and brings forth much fruit. He who does not avoid a contact +between the sin of his soul and the holiness of his God, but on the +contrary seeks to have these two things come together, that each may be +understood in its own intrinsic nature and quality, takes the only safe +course. He finds that, as he knows God more distinctly, he knows himself +more distinctly; and though as yet he can see nothing but displeasure in +that holy countenance, he is possessed of a well-defined experience. He +knows that he is wrong, and his Maker is right; that he is wicked, and +that God is holy. He perceives these two fundamental facts with a +simplicity, and a certainty, that admits of no debate. The confusion and +obscurity of his mind, and particularly the queryings whether these +things are so, whether God is so very holy and man is so very sinful, +begin to disappear, like a fog when disparted and scattered by sunrise. +Objects are seen in their true proportions and meanings; right and wrong, +the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, heaven and hell,--all the great +contraries that pertain to the subject of religion,--are distinctly +understood, and thus the first step is taken towards a better state of +things in the soul. + +Let no man, then, fear to invite the scrutiny of God, in connection with +his own scrutiny of himself. He who deals only with the sense of duty, +and the operations of his own mind, will find that these themselves +become more dim and indistinct, so long as the process of examination is +not conducted in this joint manner; so long as the mind refuses to accept +the Divine proposition, "Come now, and let us reason _together_." He, on +the other hand, who endeavors to obtain a clear view of the Being against +whom he has sinned, and to feel the full power of His holy eye as well as +of His holy law, will find that his sensations and experiences are +gaining a wonderful distinctness and intensity that will speedily bring +the entire matter to an issue. + +II. For then, by the blessing of God, he learns the second lesson taught +in the text: viz., that _there is forgiveness with God_. Though, in this +process of joint examination, your sins be found to be as scarlet, they +shall be as white as snow; though they be discovered to be red like +crimson, they shall be as wool. + +If there were no forgiveness of sins, if mercy were not a manifested +attribute of God, all self-examination, and especially all this conjoint +divine scrutiny, would be a pure torment and a pure gratuity. It is +wretchedness to know that we are guilty sinners, but it is the endless +torment to know that there is no forgiveness, either here or hereafter. +Convince a man that he will never be pardoned, and you shut him up with +the spirits in prison. Compel him to examine himself under the eye of his +God, while at the same time he has no hope of mercy,--and there would be +nothing _unjust_ in this,--and you distress him with the keenest and most +living torment of which a rational spirit is capable. Well and natural +was it, that the earliest creed of the Christian Church emphasized the +doctrine of the Divine Pity; and in all ages the Apostolic Symbol has +called upon the guilt-stricken human soul to cry, "I believe in the +forgiveness of sins." + +We have the amplest assurance in the whole written Revelation of God, +_but nowhere else_, that "there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be +feared." "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy;" and +only with such an assurance as this from His own lips, could we summon +courage to look into our character and conduct, and invite God to do the +same. But the text is an exceedingly explicit assertion of this great +truth. The very same Being who invites us to reason with Him, and canvass +the subject of our criminality, in the very same breath, if we may so +speak, assures us that He will forgive all that is found in this +examination. And upon _such_ terms, cannot the criminal well afford to +examine into his crime? He has a promise beforehand, that if he will but +scrutinize and confess his sin it shall be forgiven. God would have been +simply and strictly just, had He said to him: "Go down into the depths of +thy transgressing spirit, see how wicked thou hast been and still art, +and know that in my righteous severity I will never pardon thee, world +without end." But instead of this, He says: "Go down into the depths of +thy heart, see the transgression and the corruption all along the line of +the examination, confess it into my ear, and I will make the scarlet and +crimson guilt white in the blood of my own Son." These declarations of +Holy Writ, which are a direct verbal statement from the lips of God, and +which specify distinctly what He will do and will not do in the matter of +sin, teach us that however deeply our souls shall be found to be stained, +the Divine pity outruns and exceeds the crime. "For as the heavens are +high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. +He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how +shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Here upon earth, +there is no wickedness that surpasses the pardoning love of God in +Christ. The words which Shakspeare puts into the mouth of the remorseful, +but _impenitent_, Danish king are strictly true: + + "What if this cursed hand + Were thicker than itself with brother's blood? + Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens + To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy, + But to confront the visage of offence?"[1] + +Anywhere this side of the other world, and at any moment this side of the +grave, a sinner, _if penitent_ (but penitence is not always at his +control), may obtain forgiveness for all his sins, through Christ's blood +of atonement. He must not hope for mercy in the future world, if he +neglects it here. There are no acts of pardon passed in the day of +judgment. The utterance of Christ in _that_ day is not the utterance, +"Thy sins are forgiven thee," but, "Come ye blessed," or "Depart ye +cursed." So long, and only so long, as there is life there is hope, and +however great may be the conscious criminality of a man while he is under +the economy of Redemption, and before he is summoned to render up his +last account, let him not despair but hope in Divine grace. + +Now, he who has seriously "reasoned together" with God, respecting his +own character, is far better prepared to find God in the forgiveness of +sins, than he is who has merely brooded over his own unhappiness, without +any reference to the qualities and claims of his Judge. It has been a +plain and personal matter throughout, and having now come to a clear and +settled conviction that he is a guilty sinner, he turns directly to the +great and good Being who stands immediately before him, and prays to be +forgiven, and _is_ forgiven. One reason why the soul so often gropes days +and months without finding a sin-pardoning God lies in the fact, that its +thoughts and feelings respecting religious subjects, and particularly +respecting the state of the heart, have been too vague and indistinct. +They have not had an immediate and close reference to that one single +Being who is most directly concerned, and who alone can minister to a +mind diseased. The soul is wretched, and there may be some sense of sin, +but there is no one to go to,--no one to address with an appealing cry. +"Oh that I knew where I might find him," is its language. "Oh that I +might come even to his seat. Behold I go forward, but he is not there; +and backward, but I cannot perceive him." But this groping would cease +were there a clear view of God. There might not be peace and a sense of +reconciliation immediately; but there would be a distinct conception of +_the one thing needful_ in order to salvation. This would banish all +other subjects and objects. The eye would be fixed upon the single fact +of sin, and the simple fact that none but God can forgive it. The whole +inward experience would thus be narrowed down to a focus. Simplicity and +intensity would be introduced into the mental state, instead of the +previous confusion and vagueness. Soliloquy would end, and prayer, +importunate, agonizing prayer, would begin. That morbid and useless +self-brooding would cease, and those strong cryings and wrestlings till +day-break would commence, and the kingdom of heaven would suffer this +violence, and the violent would take it by force. "When I _kept silence_; +my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and +night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought +of summer. I _acknowledged_ my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity I no +longer _hid_. I said, I will _confess_ my transgressions unto the Lord; +and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. For this,"--because this is +Thy method of salvation,--"shall every one that is godly pray unto +thee, in a time when thou mayest be found." (Ps. xxxii. 3-6.) + +Self-examination, then, when joined with a distinct recognition of the +Divine character, and a conscious sense of God's scrutiny, paradoxical as +it may appear, is the surest means of producing a firm conviction in a +guilty mind that God is merciful, and is the swiftest way of finding Him +to be so. Opposed as the Divine nature is to sin, abhorrent as iniquity +is to the pure mind of God, it is nevertheless a fact, that that sinner +who goes directly into this Dread Presence with all his sins upon his +head, in order to know them, to be condemned and crushed by them, and to +confess them, is the one who soonest returns with peace and hope in his +soul. For, he discovers that God is as cordial and sincere in His offer +to forgive, as He is in His threat to punish; and having, to his sorrow, +felt the reality and power of the Divine anger, he now to his joy feels +the equal reality and power of the Divine love. + +And this is the one great lesson which every man must learn, or perish +forever. The _truthfulness_ of God, in every respect, and in all +relations,--His strict _fidelity to His word_, both under the law and +under the gospel,--is a quality of which every one must have a vivid +knowledge and certainty, in order to salvation. Men perish through +unbelief. He that doubteth is damned. To illustrate. Men pass through +this life doubting and denying God's abhorrence of sin, and His +determination to punish it forever and ever. Under the narcotic and +stupefying influence of this doubt and denial, they remain in sin, and at +death go over into the immediate presence of God, only to discover that +all His statements respecting His determination upon this subject are +_true_,--awfully and hopelessly true. They then spend an eternity, in +bewailing their infatuation in dreaming, while here upon earth, that +the great and holy God did not mean what he said. + +Unbelief, again, tends to death in the other direction, though it is far +less liable to result in it. The convicted and guilt-smitten man +sometimes doubts the truthfulness of the Divine promise in Christ. He +spends days of darkness and nights of woe, because he is unbelieving in +regard to God's compassion, and readiness to forgive a penitent; and +when, at length, the light of the Divine countenance breaks upon him, he +wonders that he was so foolish and slow of heart to believe all that God +himself had said concerning the "multitude" of his tender mercies. +Christian and Hopeful lay long and needlessly in the dungeon of Doubting +Castle, until the former remembered that the key to all the locks was in +his bosom, and had been all the while. They needed only to take God at +his word. The anxious and fearful soul must believe the Eternal Judge +_implicitly_, when he says: "I will justify thee through the blood of +Christ." God is truthful under the gospel, and under the law; in His +promise of mercy, and in His threatening of eternal woe. And "if we +believe not, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself." He hath +promised, and He hath threatened; and, though heaven and earth pass away, +one jot or one tittle of that promise shall not fail in the case of those +who confidingly trust it, nor shall one iota or scintilla of the +threatening fail in the instance of those who have recklessly and rashly +disbelieved it. + +In respect, then, to both sides of the revelation of the Divine +character,--in respect to the threatening and the promise,--men need to +have a clear perception, and an unwavering belief. He that doubteth in +either direction is damned. He who does not believe that God is truthful, +when He declares that He will "punish iniquity, transgression and sin," +and that those upon the left hand shall "go away into everlasting +punishment," will persist in sin until he passes the line of probation +and be lost. And he who does not believe that God is truthful, when He +declares that He will forgive scarlet and crimson sins through the blood +of Christ, will be overcome by despair and be also lost. But he who +believes _both_ Divine statements with equal certainty, and perceives +_both_ facts with distinct vision, will be saved. + +From these two lessons of the text, we deduce the following practical +directions: + +1. First: In all states of religious anxiety, we should _betake ourselves +instantly and directly to God_. There is no other refuge for the human +soul but God in Christ, and if this fails us, we must renounce all hope +here and hereafter. + + "If this fail, + The pillared firmament is rottenness, + And earth's base built on stubble."[2] + + +We are, therefore, from the nature of the case, shut up to this course. +Suppose the religious anxiety arise from a sense of sin, and the fear of +retribution. God is the only Being that can forgive sins. To whom, then, +can such an one go but unto Him? Suppose the religious anxiety arises +from a sense of the perishing nature of earthly objects, and the soul +feels as if all the foundation and fabric of its hope and comfort were +rocking into irretrievable ruin. God is the only Being who can help in +this crisis. In either or in any case,--be it the anxiety of the +unforgiven, or of the child of God,--whatever be the species of mental +sorrow, the human soul is by its very circumstances driven to its Maker, +or else driven to destruction. + +What more reasonable course, therefore, than to conform to the +necessities of our condition. The principal part of wisdom is to take +things as they are, and act accordingly. Are we, then, sinners, and in +fear for the final result of our life? Though it may seem to us like +running into fire, we must nevertheless betake ourselves first and +immediately to that Being who hates and punishes sin. Though we see +nothing but condemnation and displeasure in those holy eyes, we must +nevertheless approach them _just and simply as we are_. We must say with +king David in a similar case, when he had incurred the displeasure of +God: "I am in a great strait; [yet] let me fall into the hand of the +Lord, for very great are his mercies" (1 Chron. xx. 13). We must suffer +the intolerable brightness to blind and blast us in our guiltiness, and +let there be an actual contact between the sin of our soul and the +holiness of our God. If we thus proceed, in accordance with the facts of +our case and our position, we shall meet with a great and joyful +surprise. Flinging ourselves helpless, and despairing of all other +help,--_rashly_, as it will seem to us, flinging ourselves off from the +position where we now are, and upon which we must inevitably perish, we +shall find ourselves, to our surprise and unspeakable joy, caught in +everlasting, paternal arms. He who loses his life,--he who _dares_ to +lose his life,--shall find it. + +2. Secondly: In all our religious anxiety, we should _make a full and +plain statement of everything to God_. God loves to hear the details of +our sin, and our woe. The soul that pours itself out as water will find +that it is not like water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered +up again. Even when the story is one of shame and remorse, we find it to +be mental relief, patiently and without any reservation or palliation, to +expose the whole not only to our own eye but to that of our Judge. For, +to this very thing have we been invited. This is precisely the "reasoning +together" which God proposes to us. God has not offered clemency to a +sinful world, with the expectation or desire that there be on the part of +those to whom it is offered, such a stinted and meagre confession, such a +glozing over and diminution of sin, as to make that clemency appear a +very small matter. He well knows the depth and the immensity of the sin +which He proposes to pardon, and has made provision accordingly. In the +phrase of Luther, it is no painted sinner who is to be forgiven, and it +is no painted Saviour who is offered. The transgression is deep and real, +and the atonement is deep and real. The crime cannot be exaggerated, +neither can the expiation. He, therefore, who makes the plainest and most +child-like statement of himself to God, acts most in accordance with the +mind, and will, and gospel of God. If man only be hearty, full, and +unreserved in confession, he will find God to be hearty, full, and +unreserved in absolution. + +Man is not straitened upon the side of the Divine mercy. The obstacle in +the way of his salvation is in himself; and the particular, fatal +obstacle consists in the fact that he does not feel that he _needs_ +mercy. God in Christ stands ready to pardon, but man the sinner stands up +before Him like the besotted criminal in our courts of law, with no +feeling upon the subject. The Judge assures him that He has a boundless +grace and clemency to bestow, but the stolid hardened man is not even +aware that he has committed a dreadful crime, and needs grace and +clemency. There is food in infinite abundance, but no hunger upon the +part of man. The water of life is flowing by in torrents, but men have no +thirst. In this state of things, nothing can be done, but to pass a +sentence of condemnation. God cannot forgive a being who does not even +know that he needs to be forgiven. Knowledge then, self-knowledge, is the +great requisite; and the want of it is the cause of perdition. This +"reasoning together" with God, respecting our past and present character +and conduct, is the first step to be taken by any one who would make +preparation for eternity. As soon as we come to a right understanding of +our lost and guilty condition, we shall cry: "Be merciful to me a sinner; +create within me a clean heart, O God." Without such an +understanding,--such an intelligent perception of our sin and guilt,--we +never shall, and we never can. + + +[Footnote 1: SHAKSPEARE: Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 4.] + +[Footnote 2: MILTON: Comus, 597-599.] + + + + + +SIN IS SPIRITUAL SLAVERY + +John viii. 34.--"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, +whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." + + +The word [Greek: doulos] which is translated "servant," in the text, +literally signifies a slave; and the thought which our Lord actually +conveyed to those who heard Him is, "Whosoever committeth sin is the +_slave_ of sin." The apostle Peter, in that second Epistle of his which +is so full of terse and terrible description of the effects of unbridled +sensuality upon the human will, expresses the same truth. Speaking of the +influence of those corrupting and licentious men who have "eyes full of +adultery, and that _cannot_ cease from sin," he remarks that while they +promise their dupes "liberty, they themselves are the servants [slaves] +of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he _brought +in bondage_." + +Such passages as these, of which there are a great number in the Bible, +direct attention to the fact that sin contains an element of +_servitude_,--that in the very act of transgressing the law of God there +is a _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself, whereby it becomes +less able than before to keep that law. Sin is the suicidal action of the +human will. It destroys the power to do right, which is man's true +freedom. The effect of vicious habit in diminishing a man's ability to +resist temptation is proverbial. But what is habit but a constant +repetition of wrong decisions, every single one of which _reacts_ upon +the faculty that put them forth, and renders it less strong and less +energetic, to do the contrary. Has the old debauchee, just tottering +into hell, as much power of active resistance against the sin which has +now ruined him, as the youth has who is just beginning to run that awful +career? Can any being do a wrong act, and be as sound in his will and as +spiritually strong, after it, as he was before it? Did that abuse of free +agency by Adam, whereby the sin of the race was originated, leave the +agent as it found him,--uninjured and undebilitated in his voluntary +power? + +The truth and fact is, that sin in and by its own nature and operations, +tends to destroy all virtuous force, all holy energy, in any moral being. +The excess of will to sin is the same as the defect of will to holiness. +The degree of intensity with which any man loves and inclines to evil is +the measure of the amount of power to good which he has thereby lost. And +if the intensity be total, then the loss is entire. Total depravity +carries with it total impotence and helplessness. The more carefully we +observe the workings of our own wills, the surer will be our conviction +that they can ruin themselves. We shall indeed find that they cannot be +_forced_, or ruined from the outside. But, if we watch the influence upon +the _will itself_, of its own wrong decisions, its own yielding to +temptations, we shall discover that the voluntary faculty may be ruined +from within; may be made impotent to good by its own action; may +surrender itself with such an intensity and entireness to appetite, +passion, and self-love, that it becomes unable to reverse itself, and +overcome its own wrong disposition and direction. And yet there is no +_compulsion_, from first to last, in the process. The man follows +himself. He pursues his own inclination. He has his own way and does +as he pleases. He loves what he inclines to love, and hates what he +inclines to hate. Neither God, nor the world, nor Satan himself, force +him to do wrong. Sin is the most spontaneous of self-motion. But +self-motion has _consequences_ as much as any other motion. Because +transgression is a _self_-determined act, it does not follow that it has +no reaction and results, but leaves the will precisely as it found it. It +is strictly true that man was not necessitated to apostatize; but it is +equally true that if by his own self-decision he should apostatize, he +could not then and afterwards be as he was before. He would lose a +_knowledge_ of God and divine things which he could never regain of +himself. And he would lose a spiritual _power_ which he could never again +recover of himself. The bondage of which Christ speaks, when He says, +"Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," is an effect within the +soul itself of an unforced act of self-will, and therefore is as truly +guilt as any other result or product of self-will,--as spiritual +blindness, or spiritual hardness, or any other of the qualities of sin. +Whatever springs from will, we are responsible for. The drunkard's +bondage and powerlessness issues from his own inclination and +self-indulgence, and therefore the bondage and impotence is no excuse for +his vice. Man's inability to love God supremely results from his intense +self-will and self-love; and therefore his impotence is a part and +element of his sin, and not an excuse for it. + + "If weakness may excuse, + What murderer, what traitor, parricide, + Incestuous, sacrilegious, may not plead it? + All wickedness is weakness."[1] + +The doctrine, then, which is taught in the text, is the truth that _sin +is spiritual slavery_; and it is to the proof and illustration of this +position that we invite attention. + +The term "spiritual" is too often taken to mean unreal, fanciful, +figurative. For man is earthly in his views as well as in his feelings, +and therefore regards visible and material things as the emphatic +realities. Hence he employs material objects as the ultimate standard, by +which he measures the reality of all other things. The natural man has +more consciousness of his body, than he has of his soul; more sense of +this world, than of the other. Hence we find that the carnal man +expresses his conception of spiritual things, by transferring to them, in +a weak and secondary signification, words which he applies in a strong +and vivid way only to material objects. He speaks of the "joy" of the +spirit, but it is not such a reality for him as is the "joy" of the body. +He speaks of the "pain" of the spirit, but it has not such a poignancy +for him as that anguish which thrills through his muscles and nerves. +He knows that the "death" of the body is a terrible event, but transfers +the word "death" to the spirit with a vague and feeble meaning, not +realizing that the second death is more awful than the first, and is +accompanied with a spiritual distress compared with which, the sharpest +agony of material dissolution would be a relief. He understands what is +meant by the "life" of the body, but when he hears the "eternal life" of +the spirit spoken of, or when he reads of it in the Bible, it is with the +feeling that it cannot be so real and lifelike as that vital principle +whose currents impart vigor and warmth to his bodily frame. And yet, +the life of the spirit is more intensely real than the life of the body +is; for it has power to overrule and absorb it. Spiritual life, when in +full play, is bliss ineffable. It translates man into the third heavens, +where the fleshly life is lost sight of entirely, and the being, like St. +Paul, does not know whether he is in the body or out of the body. + +The natural mind is deceived. Spirit has in it more of reality than +matter has; because it is an immortal and indestructible essence, while +matter is neither. Spiritual things are more real than visible things; +because they are eternal, and eternity is more real than time. Statements +respecting spiritual objects, therefore, are more solemnly true than any +that relate to material things. Invisible and spiritual realities, +therefore, are the standard by which all others should be tried; and +human language when applied to them, instead of expressing too much, +expresses too little. The imagery and phraseology by which the Scriptures +describe the glory of God, the excellence of holiness, and the bliss of +heaven, on the one side, and the sinfulness of sin with the woe of hell, +on the other, come short of the sober and actual matter of fact. + +We should, therefore, beware of the error to which in our unspirituality +we are specially liable; and when we hear Christ assert that "whosoever +committeth sin is the slave of sin," we should believe and know, that +these words are not extravagant, and contain no subtrahend,--that they +indicate a self-enslavement of the human will which is so real, so total, +and so absolute, as to necessitate the renewing grace of God in order to +deliverance from it. + +This bondage to sin may be discovered by every man. It must be +discovered, before one can cry, "Save me or I perish." It must be +discovered, before one can feelingly assent to Christ's words, "Without +me ye can do nothing." It must be discovered, before one can understand +the Christian paradox, "When I am weak, then am I strong." To aid the +mind, in coming to the conscious experience of the truth taught in the +text, we remark: + +I. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to man's _sense of +obligation to be perfectly holy_. + +The obligation to be holy, just, and good, as God is, rests upon every +rational being. Every man knows, or may know, that he ought to be perfect +as his Father in heaven is perfect, and that he is a debtor to this +obligation until he has _fully_ met it. Hence even the holiest of men are +conscious of sin, because they are not completely up to the mark of this +high calling of God. For, the sense of this obligation is an exceeding +broad one,--like the law itself which it includes and enforces. The +feeling of duty will not let us off, with the performance of only a part +of our duty. Its utterance is: "Verily I say unto you, till heaven and +earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till +_all_ be fulfilled." Law spreads itself over the whole surface and course +of our lives, and insists imperatively that every part and particle of +them be pure and holy. + +Again, this sense of obligation to be perfect as God is perfect, is +exceedingly deep. It is the most profound sense of which man is +possessed, for it outlives all others. The feeling of duty to God's +law remains in a man's mind either to bless him or to curse him, when all +other feelings depart. In the hour of death, when all the varied passions +and experiences which have engrossed the man his whole lifetime are dying +out of the soul, and are disappearing, one after another, like +signal-lights in the deepening darkness, this one particular feeling of +what he owes to the Divine and the Eternal law remains behind, and grows +more vivid, and painful, as all others grow dimmer and dimmer. And +therefore it is, that in this solemn hour man forgets whether he has been +happy or unhappy, successful or unsuccessful, in the world, and remembers +only that he has been a _sinner_ in it. And therefore it is, that a man's +thoughts, when he is upon his death-bed, do not settle upon his worldly +matters, but upon his sin. It is because the human conscience is the very +core and centre of the human being, and its sense of obligation to be +holy is deeper than all other senses and sensations, that we hear the +dying man say what the living and prosperous man is not inclined to say: +"I have been wicked; I have been a sinner in the earth." + +Now it might seem, at first sight, that this broad, deep, and abiding +sense of obligation would be sufficient to overcome man's love of sin, +and bring him up to the discharge of duty,--would be powerful enough to +subdue his self-will. Can it be that this strong and steady draft of +conscience,--strong and steady as gravitation,--will ultimately prove +ineffectual? Is not truth mighty, and must it not finally prevail, to the +pulling down of the stronghold which Satan has in the human heart? So +some men argue. So some men claim, in opposition to the doctrine of +Divine influences and of regeneration by the Holy Ghost. + +We are willing to appeal to actual experience, in order to settle the +point. And we affirm in the outset, that exactly in proportion as a man +hears the voice of conscience sounding its law within his breast, does he +become aware, not of the strength but, of the bondage of his will, and +that in proportion as this sense of obligation to be _perfectly_ holy +rises in his soul, all hope or expectation of ever becoming so by his own +power sets in thick night. + +In our careless unawakened state, which is our ordinary state, we sin on +from day to day, just as we live on from day to day, without being +distinctly aware of it. A healthy man does not go about, holding his +fingers upon his wrist, and counting every pulse; and neither does a +sinful man, as he walks these streets and transacts all this business, +think of and sum up the multitude of his transgressions. And yet, that +pulse all the while beats none the less; and yet, that will all the while +transgresses none the less. So long as conscience is asleep, sin is +pleasant. The sinful activity goes on without notice, we are happy in +sin, and we do not feel that it is slavery of the will. Though the chains +are actually about us, yet they do not gall us. In this condition, which +is that of every unawakened sinner, we are not conscious of the "bondage +of corruption." In the phrase of St. Paul, "we are alive without the +law." We have no feeling sense of duty, and of course have no feeling +sense of sin. And it is in this state of things, that arguments are +framed to prove the mightiness of mere conscience, and the power of bare +truth and moral obligation, over the perverse human heart and will. + +But the Spirit of God awakens the conscience; that sense of obligation to +be _perfectly_ holy which has hitherto slept now starts up, and begins to +form an estimate of what has been done in reference to it. The man hears +the authoritative and startling law: "Thou shalt be perfect, as God is." +And now, at this very instant and point, begins the consciousness of +enslavement,--of being, in the expressive phrase of Scripture, "_sold_ +under sin." Now the commandment "comes," shows us first what we ought to +be and then what we actually are, and we "die."[2] All moral strength +dies out of us. The muscle has been cut by the sword of truth, and the +limb drops helpless by the side. For, we find that the obligation is +immense. It extends to all our outward acts; and having covered the whole +of this great surface, it then strikes inward and reaches to every +thought of the mind, and every emotion of the heart, and every motive of +the will. We discover that we are under obligation at every conceivable +point in our being and in our history, but that we have not met +obligation at a single point. When we see that the law of God is broad +and deep, and that sin is equally broad and deep within us; when we learn +that we have never thought one single holy thought, nor felt one single +holy feeling, nor done one single holy deed, because self-love is the +root and principle of all our work, and we have never purposed or desired +to please God by any one of our actions; when we find that everything +has been required, and that absolutely nothing has been done, that we are +bound to be perfectly holy this very instant, and as matter of fact are +totally sinful, we know in a most affecting manner that "whosoever +committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin". + +But suppose that after this disheartening and weakening discovery of the +depth and extent of our sinfulness, we proceed to take the second step, +and attempt to extirpate it. Suppose that after coming to a consciousness +of all this obligation resting upon us, we endeavor to comply with it. +This renders us still more painfully sensible of the truth of our +Saviour's declaration. Even the regenerated man, who in this endeavor has +the aid of God, is mournfully conscious that sin is the enslavement of +the human will. Though he has been freed substantially, he feels that the +fragments of the chains are upon him still. Though the love of God is the +predominant principle within him, yet the lusts and propensities of the +old nature continually start up like devils, and tug at the spirit, to +drag it down to its old bondage. But that man who attempts to overcome +sin, without first crying, "Create within me a clean heart, O God," feels +still more deeply that sin is spiritual slavery. When _he_ comes to know +sin in reference to the obligation to be perfectly holy, it is with +vividness and hopelessness. He sees distinctly that he ought to be a +perfectly good being instantaneously. This point is clear. But instead of +looking up to the hills whence cometh his help, he begins, in a cold +legal and loveless temper, to draw upon his own resources. The first step +is to regulate his external conduct by the Divine law. He tries to put a +bridle upon his tongue, and to walk carefully before his fellow-men. He +fails to do even this small outside thing, and is filled with +discouragement and despondency. + +But the sense of duty reaches beyond the external conduct, and the law of +God pierces like the two-edged sword of an executioner, and discerns +the thoughts and motives of the heart. Sin begins to be seen in its +relation to the inner man, and he attempts again to reform and change the +feelings and affections of his soul. He strives to wring the gall of +bitterness out of his own heart, with his own hands. But he fails +utterly. As he resolves, and breaks his resolutions; as he finds evil +thoughts and feelings continually coming up from the deep places of his +heart; he discovers his spiritual impotence,--his lack of control over +what is deepest, most intimate, and most fundamental in his own +character,--and cries out: "I _am_ a slave, I am a _slave_ to myself." + +If then, you would know from immediate consciousness that "whosoever +committeth sin is the slave of sin," simply view sin in the light of that +obligation to be _perfectly_ pure and holy which necessarily, and +forever, rests upon a responsible being. If you would know that spiritual +slavery is no extravagant and unmeaning phrase, but denotes a most real +and helpless bondage, endeavor to get entirely rid of sin, and to be +perfect as the spirits of just men made perfect. + +II. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _aspirations_ +of the human soul. + +Theology makes a distinction between common and special grace,--between +those ordinary influences of the Divine Spirit which rouse the +conscience, and awaken some transient aspirations after religion, and +those extraordinary influences which actually renew the heart and will. +In speaking, then, of the aspirations of the human soul, reference is had +to all those serious impressions, and those painful anxieties concerning +salvation, which require to be followed up by a yet mightier power from +God, to prevent their being entirely suppressed again, as they are in a +multitude of instances, by the strong love of sin and the world. For +though man has fallen into a state of death in trespasses and sins, so +that if cut off from _every_ species of Divine influence, and left +_entirely_ to himself, he would never reach out after anything but the +sin which he loves, yet through the common influences of the Spirit of +Grace, and the ordinary workings of a rational nature not yet reprobated, +he is at times the subject of internal stirrings and aspirations that +indicate the greatness and glory of the heights whence he fell. Under the +power of an awakened conscience, and feeling the emptiness of the world, +and the aching void within him, man wishes for something better than he +has, or than he is. The minds of the more thoughtful of the ancient +pagans were the subjects of these impulses, and aspirations; and they +confess their utter inability to realize them. They are expressed +upon every page of Plato, and it is not surprising that some of the +Christian Fathers should have deemed Platonism, as well as Judaism, to be +a preparation for Christianity, by its bringing man to a sense of his +need of redemption. And it would stimulate Christians in their efforts to +give revealed religion to the heathen, did they ponder the fact which the +journals of the missionary sometimes disclose, that the Divine Spirit is +brooding with His common and preparatory influence over the chaos of +Paganism, and that here and there the heathen mind faintly aspires to be +freed from the bondage of corruption,--that dim stirrings, impulses, and +wishes for deliverance, are awake in the dark heart of Paganism, but that +owing to the strength and inveteracy of sin in that heart they will prove +ineffectual to salvation, unless the gospel is preached, and the Holy +Spirit is specially poured out in answer to the prayers of Christians. + +Now, all these phenomena in the human soul go to show the rigid bondage +of sin, and to prove that sin has an element of servitude in it. For when +these impulses, wishes, and aspirations are awakened, and the man +discovers that he is unable to realize them in actual character and +conduct, he is wretchedly and thoroughly conscious that "whosoever +committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin." The immortal, heaven-descended +spirit, feeling the kindling touch of truth and of the Holy Ghost, +thrills under it, and essays to soar. But sin hangs heavy upon it, and it +cannot lift itself from the earth. Never is man so sensible of his +enslavement and his helplessness, as when he has a _wish_ but has no +_will_.[3] + +Look, for illustration, at the aspirations of the drunkard to be +delivered from the vice that easily besets him. In his sober moments, +they come thick and fast, and during his sobriety, and while under the +lashings of conscience, he wishes, nay, even _longs_, to be freed from +drunkenness. It may be, that under the impulse of these aspirations he +resolves never to drink again. It may be, that amid the buoyancy that +naturally accompanies the springing of hope and longing in the human +soul, he for a time seems to himself to be actually rising up from his +"wallowing in the mire," and supposes that he shall soon regain his +primitive condition of temperance. But the sin is strong; for the +appetite that feeds it is in his blood. Temptation with its witching +solicitation comes before the will,--the weak, self-enslaved will. He +_aspires_ to resist, but _will_ not; the spirit _would_ soar, but the +flesh _will_ creep; the spirit has the _wish_, but the flesh has the +_will_; the man longs to be sober, but actually is and remains a +drunkard. And never,--be it noticed,--never is he more thoroughly +conscious of being a slave to himself, than when he thus _ineffectually_ +aspires and wishes to be delivered from himself. + +What has been said of drunkenness, and the aspiration to be freed from +it, applies with full force to all the sin and all the aspirations of the +human soul. There is no independent and self-realizing power in a mere +aspiration. No man overcomes even his vices, except as he is assisted by +the common grace of God. The self-reliant man invariably relapses into +his old habits. He who thinks he stands is sure to fall. But when, under +the influence of God's common grace, a man aspires to be freed from the +deepest of all sin, because it is the source of all particular acts of +transgression,--when he attempts to overcome and extirpate the original +and inveterate depravity of his heart,--he feels his bondage more +thoroughly than ever. If it is wretchedness for the drunkard to aspire +after freedom from only a single vice, and fail of reaching it, is it not +the depth of woe, when a man comes to know "the plague of his heart," and +his utter inability to cleanse and cure it? In this case, the bondage of +self-will is found to be absolute. + +At first sight, it might seem as if these wishes and aspirations of the +human spirit, faint though they be, are proof that man is not totally +depraved, and that his will is not helplessly enslaved. So some men +argue. But they forget, that these aspirations and wishes are _never +realized_. There is no evidence of power, except from its results. And +where are the results? Who has ever realized these wishes and +aspirations, in his heart and conduct? The truth is, that every +_unattained_ aspiration that ever swelled the human soul is proof +positive, and loud, that the human soul is in bondage. These +_ineffectual_ stirrings and impulses, which disappear like the morning +cloud and the early dew, are most affecting evidences that "whosoever +committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin." They prove that apostate man has +sunk, in one respect, to a lower level than that of the irrational +creation. For, high ideas and truths cannot raise him. Lofty impulses +result in no alteration, or elevation. Even Divine influences leave him +just where they find him, unless they are exerted in their highest grade +of irresistible grace. A brute surrenders himself to his appetites and +propensities, and lives the low life of nature, without being capable of +aspirations for anything purer and nobler. But man does this very +thing,--nay, immerses himself in flesh, and sense, and self, with an +entireness and intensity of which the brute is incapable,--in the face of +impulses and stirrings of mind that point him to the pure throne of God, +and urge him to soar up to it! The brute is a creature of nature, because +he knows no better, and can desire nothing better; but man is "as the +beasts that perish," in spite of a better knowledge and a loftier +aspiration! + +If then, you would know that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of +sin," contemplate sin in reference to the aspirations of an apostate +spirit originally made in the image of God, and which, because it is not +eternally reprobated, is not entirely cut off from the common influences +of the Spirit of God. Never will you feel the bondage of your will more +profoundly, than when under these influences, and in your moments of +seriousness and anxiety respecting your soul's salvation, you aspire +and endeavor to overcome inward sin, and find that unless God grant you +His special and renovating grace, your heart will be sinful through all +eternity, in spite of the best impulses of your best hours. These upward +impulses and aspirations cannot accompany the soul into the state of +final hopelessness and despair, though Milton represents Satan as +sometimes looking back with a sigh, and a mournful memory, upon what he +had once been,[4]--yet if they should go with us there, they would +make the ardor of the fire more fierce, and the gnaw of the worm more +fell. For they would help to reveal the strength of our sin, and the +intensity of our rebellion. + +III. Sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _fears_ of +the human soul. + +The sinful spirit of man fears the death of the body, and the Scriptures +assert that by reason of this particular fear we are all our lifetime in +bondage. Though we know that the bodily dissolution can have no effect +upon the imperishable essence of an immortal being, yet we shrink back +from it, as if the sentence, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt +return," had been spoken of the spirit,--as if the worm were to "feed +sweetly" upon the soul, and it were to be buried up in the dark house of +the grave. Even the boldest of us is disturbed at the thought of bodily +death, and we are always startled when the summons suddenly comes: "Set +thy house in order, for thou must die." + +Again, the spirit of man fears that "fearful something after death," that +eternal judgment which must be passed upon all. We tremble at the +prospect of giving an account of our own actions. We are afraid to reap +the harvest, the seed of which we have sown with our own hands. The +thought of going to a just judgment, and of receiving from the Judge of +all the earth, who cannot possibly do injustice to any of His creatures, +only that which is our desert, shocks us to the centre of our being! Man +universally is afraid to be judged with a righteous judgment! Man +universally is terrified by the equitable bar of God! + +Again, the apostate spirit of man has an awful dread of eternity. Though +this invisible realm is the proper home of the human soul, and it was +made to dwell there forever, after the threescore and ten years of its +residence in the body are over, yet it shrinks back from an entrance into +this untried world, and clings with the desperate force of a drowning man +to this "bank and shoal of time." There are moments in the life of a +guilty man when the very idea of eternal existence exerts a preternatural +power, and fills him with a dread that paralyzes him. Never is the human +being stirred to so great depths, and roused to such intensity of action, +as when it feels what the Scripture calls "the power of an _endless_ +life." All men are urged by some ruling passion which is strong. The love +of wealth, or of pleasure, or of fame, drives the mind onward with great +force, and excites it to mighty exertions to compass its end. But never +is a man pervaded by such an irresistible and overwhelming influence as +that which descends upon him in some season of religious gloom,--some +hour of sickness, or danger, or death,--when the great eternity, with +all its awful realities, and all its unknown terror, opens upon his +quailing gaze. There are times in man's life, when he is the subject of +movements within that impel him to deeds that seem almost superhuman; but +that internal ferment and convulsion which is produced when all eternity +pours itself through his being turns his soul up from the centre. Man +will labor convulsively, night and day, for money; he will dry up the +bloom and freshness of health, for earthly power and fame; he will +actually wear his body out for sensual pleasure. But what is the +intensity and paroxysm of this activity of mind and body, if compared +with those inward struggles and throes when the overtaken and startled +sinner sees the eternal world looming into view, and with strong crying +and tears prays for only a little respite, and only a little preparation! +"Millions for an inch of time,"--said the dying English Queen. "O +Eternity! Eternity! how shall I grapple with the misery that I must meet +with in _eternity_,"--says the man in the iron cage of Despair. This +finite world has indeed great power to stir man, but the other world has +an infinitely greater power. The clouds which float in the lower regions +of the sky, and the winds that sweep them along, produce great ruin and +destruction upon the earth, but it is only when the "windows of heaven +are opened" that "the fountains of the great deep are broken up," and +"all in whose nostrils is the breath of life die," and "every living +substance is destroyed which is upon the face of the ground." When fear +arises in the soul of man, in view of an eternal existence for which he +is utterly unprepared, it is overwhelming. It partakes of the immensity +of eternity, and holds the man with an omnipotent grasp. + +If, now, we view sin in relation to these great fears of death, judgment, +and eternity, we see that it is spiritual slavery, or the bondage of the +will. We discover that our terror is no more able to deliver us from the +"bondage of corruption," than our aspiration is. We found that in spite +of the serious stirrings and impulses which sometimes rise within us, we +still continue immersed in sense and sin; and we shall also find that in +spite of the most solemn and awful fears of which a finite being is +capable, we remain bondmen to ourselves, and our sin. The dread that goes +down into hell can no more ransom us, than can the aspiration that goes +up into heaven. Our fear of eternal woe can no more change the heart, +than our wish for eternal happiness can. We have, at some periods, +faintly wished that lusts and passions had no power over us; and perhaps +we have been the subject of still higher aspirings. But we are the same +beings, still. We are the same self-willed and self-enslaved sinners, +yet. We have all our lifetime feared death, judgment, and eternity, and +under the influence of this fear we have sometimes resolved and promised +to become Christians. But we are the very same beings, still; we are the +same self-willed and self-enslaved sinners yet. + +Oh, never is the human spirit more deeply conscious of its bondage to its +darling iniquity, than when these paralyzing fears shut down upon it, +like night, with "a horror of great darkness." When under their +influence, the man feels most thoroughly and wretchedly that his sin is +his ruin, and yet his sinful determination continues on, because +"whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin," Has it never happened +that, in "the visions of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men," a +spirit passed before your face, like that which stood still before the +Temanite; and there was silence, and a voice saying, "Man! Man! thou must +die, thou must be judged, thou must inhabit eternity?" And when the +spirit had departed, and while the tones of its solemn and startling cry +were still rolling through your soul, did not a temptation to sin solicit +you, and did you not drink in its iniquity like water? Have you not found +out, by mournful experience, that the most anxious forebodings of the +human spirit, the most alarming fears of the human soul, and the most +solemn warnings that come forth from eternity, have no prevailing power +over your sinful nature, but that immediately after experiencing them, +and while your whole being is still quivering under their agonizing +touch, you fall, you rush, into sin? Have you not discovered that even +that most dreadful of all fears,--the fear of the holy wrath of almighty +God,--is not strong enough to save you from yourself? Do you know that +your love of sin has the power to stifle and overcome the mightiest of +your fears, when you are strongly tempted to self-indulgence? Have you no +evidence, in your own experience, of the truth of the poet's words: + +"The Sensual and the Dark rebel in vain, Slaves by their own compulsion." + +If, then, you would know that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of +sin," contemplate sin in relation to the fears which of necessity rest +upon a spirit capable, as yours is, of knowing that it must leave the +body, that it must receive a final sentence at the bar of judgment, and +that eternity is its last and fixed dwelling-place. If you would know +with sadness and with profit, that sin is the enslavement of the will +that originates it, consider that all the distressing fears that have +ever been in your soul, from the first, have not been able to set you +free in the least from innate depravity: but, that in spite of them all +your will has been steadily surrendering itself, more and more, to the +evil principle of self-love and enmity to God. Call to mind the great +fight of anguish and terror which you have sometimes waged with sin, and +see how sin has always been victorious. Remember that you have often +dreaded death,--but you are unjust still. Remember that you have often +trembled at the thought of eternal judgment,--but you are unregenerate +still. Remember that you have often started back, when the holy and +retributive eternity dawned like the day of doom upon you,--but +you are impenitent still. If you view your own personal sin in reference +to your own personal fears, are you not a slave to it? Will or can your +fears, mighty as they sometimes are, deliver you from the bondage of +corruption, and lift you above that which you love with all your heart, +and strength, and might? + +It is perfectly plain, then, that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave +of sin," whether we have regard to the feeling of obligation to be +perfectly holy which is in the human conscience; or to the ineffectual +aspirations which sometimes arise in the human spirit; or to the dreadful +fears which often fall upon it. Sin must have brought the human will into +a real and absolute bondage, if the deep and solemn sense of indebtedness +to moral law; if the "thoughts that wander through eternity;" if the +aspirations that soar to the heaven of heavens, and the fears that +descend to the very bottom of hell,--if all these combined forces and +influences cannot free it from its power. + +It was remarked in the beginning of this discourse, that the bondage of +sin is the result of the _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself. +It is not a slavery imposed from without, but from within. The bondage of +sin is only a _particular aspect_ of sin itself. The element of +servitude, like the element of blindness, or hardness, or rebelliousness, +is part and particle of that moral evil which deserves the wrath and +curse of God. It, therefore, no more excuses or palliates, than does any +other self-originated quality in sin. Spiritual bondage, like spiritual +enmity to God, or spiritual ignorance of Him, or spiritual apathy towards +Him, is guilt and crime. + +And in closing, we desire to repeat and emphasize this truth. Whoever +will enter upon that process of self-wrestling and self-conflict which +has been described, will come to a profound sense of the truth which our +Lord taught in the words of the text. All such will find and feel that +they are in slavery, and that their slavery is their condemnation. For +the anxious, weary, and heavy-laden sinner, the problem is not +mysterious, because it finds its solution in the depths of his own +_self-consciousness_. He needs no one to clear it up for him, and he has +neither doubts nor cavils respecting it. + +But, an objection always assails that mind which has not the key of an +inward moral struggle to unlock the problem for it. When Christ asserts +that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," the easy and +indifferent mind is swift to draw the inference that this bondage is its +misfortune, and that the poor slave does not deserve to be punished, but +to be set free. He says as St. Paul did in another connection: "Nay +verily, but let them come themselves, and fetch us out." But this slavery +is a _self_-enslavement. The feet of this man have not been thrust into +the stocks by another. This logician must refer everything to its own +proper author, and its own proper cause. Let this spiritual bondage, +therefore, be charged upon the _self_ that originated it. Let it be +referred to that self-will in which it is wrapped up, and of which it is +a constituent element. It is a universally received maxim, that the agent +is responsible for the _consequences_ of a voluntary act, as well as for +the act itself. If, therefore, the human will has inflicted a suicidal +blow upon itself, and one of the consequences of its own determination is +a total enslavement of itself to its own determination, then this +enslaving _result_ of the act, as well the act itself, must all go in to +constitute and swell the sum-total of human guilt. The miserable +drunkard, therefore, cannot be absolved from the drunkard's condemnation, +upon the plea that by a long series of voluntary acts he has, in the end, +so enslaved himself that no power but God's grace can save him. The +marble-hearted fiend in hell, the absolutely lost spirit in despair, +cannot relieve his torturing sense of guilt, by the reflection that he +has at length so hardened his own heart that he cannot repent. The +unforced will of a moral being must be held responsible for both its +direct, and its _reflex_ action; for both its sin, and its _bondage_ in +sin. + +The denial of guilt, then, is not the way out. He who takes this road +"kicks against the goads." And he will find their stabs thickening, the +farther he travels, and the nearer he draws to the face and eyes of God. +But there is a way out. It is the way of self-knowledge and confession. +This is the point upon which all the antecedents of salvation hinge. He +who has come to know, with a clear discrimination, that he is in a guilty +bondage to his own inclination and lust, has taken the very first step +towards freedom. For, the Redeemer, the Almighty Deliverer, is near the +captive, so soon as the captive feels his bondage and confesses it. The +mighty God walking upon the waves of this sinful, troubled life, +stretches out _His_ arm, the very instant any sinking soul cries, "Lord +save me." And unless that appeal and confession of helplessness _is_ +made, He, the Merciful and the Compassionate, will let the soul go +down before His own eyes to the unfathomed abyss. If the sinking Peter +had not uttered that cry, the mighty hand of Christ would not have been +stretched forth. All the difficulties disappear, so soon as a man +understands the truth of the Divine affirmation: "O Israel thou hast +destroyed thyself,"--it is a real destruction, and it is thy own +work,--"but in ME is thy help." + + +[Footnote 1: MILTON: Samson Agonistes, 832-834.--One key to the solution +of the problem, how there can be bondage in the very seat of +freedom,--how man can be responsible for sin, yet helpless in +it,--is to be found in this fact of a reflex action of the will upon +itself, or, a reaction of self-action. Philosophical speculation upon +the nature of the human will has not, hitherto, taken this fact +sufficiently into account. The following extracts corroborate the view +presented above. "My _will_ the enemy held, and _thence_ had made a +chain for me, and bound me. For, of a perverse _will_ comes _lust_; and a +lust yielded to becomes _custom_; and custom not resisted becomes +_necessity_. By which links, as it were, joined together as in a chain, a +hard bondage held me enthralled." AUGUSTINE: Confessions, VIII. v. 10. +"Every degree of inclination contrary to duty, which is and must be +sinful, implies and involves an equal degree of difficulty and inability +to obey. For, indeed, such inclination of the heart to disobey, and the +difficulty or inability to obey, are precisely one and the same. This +kind of difficulty or inability, therefore, always is great according +to the strength and fixedness of the inclination to disobey; and it +becomes _total_ and _absolute_ [inability], when the heart is totally +corrupt and wholly opposed to obedience.... No man can act contrary to +his present inclination or choice. But who ever imagined that this +rendered his inclination and choice innocent and blameless, however wrong +and unreasonable it might be." SAMUEL HOPKINS: Works, I. 233-235. +"Moral inability" is the being "unable to be willing." EDWARDS: Freedom +of the Will, Part I, sect. iv. "Propensities,"--says a writer very +different from those above quoted,--"that are easily surmounted lead us +unresistingly on; we yield to temptations so trivial that we despise +their danger. And so we fall into perilous situations from which we might +easily have preserved ourselves, but from which we now find it impossible +to extricate ourselves without efforts so superhuman as to terrify us, +and we finally fall into the abyss, saying to the Almighty, 'Why hast +Thou made me so weak?' But notwithstanding our vain pretext, He addresses +our conscience, saying, 'I have made thee _too weak to rise from the +pit_, because I made thee _strong enough not to fall therein_." ROUSSEAU: +Confessions, Book II.] + +[Footnote 2: Romans vii. 9-11.] + +[Footnote 3: Some of the Schoolmen distinguished carefully between the +two things, and denominated the former, _velleitas_, and the latter, +_voluntas_.] + +[Footnote 4: MILTON: Paradise Lost, IV. 23-25; 35-61.] + + + + +THE ORIGINAL AND THE ACTUAL RELATION OF MAN TO LAW. + +ROMANS vii. 10.--"The commandment which, was ordained to life, I found to +be unto death." + + +The reader of St. Paul's Epistles is struck with the seemingly +disparaging manner in which he speaks of the moral law. In one place, he +tells his reader that "the law entered that the offence might abound;" in +another, that "the law worketh wrath;" in another, that "sin shall not +have dominion" over the believer because he is "not under the law;" in +another, that Christians "are become dead to the law;" in another, that +"they are delivered from the law;" and in another, that "the strength +of sin is the law." This phraseology sounds strangely, respecting that +great commandment upon which the whole moral government of God is +founded. We are in the habit of supposing that nothing that springs from +the Divine law, or is in any way connected with it, can be evil or the +occasion of evil. If the law of holiness is the strength of sin; if it +worketh wrath; if good men are to be delivered from it; what then shall +be said of the law of sin? Why is it, that St. Paul in a certain class of +his representations appears to be inimical to the ten commandments, and +to warn Christians against them? "Is the law sin?" is a question that +very naturally arises, while reading some of his statements; and it is a +question which he himself asks, because he is aware that it will be +likely to start in the mind of some of his readers. And it is a question +to which he replies: "God forbid. Nay I had not known sin, but by the +law." + +The difficulty is only seeming, and not real. These apparently +disparaging representations of the moral law are perfectly reconcilable +with that profound reverence for its authority which St. Paul felt and +exhibited, and with that solemn and cogent preaching of the law for which +he was so distinguished. The text explains and resolves the difficulty. +"The commandment which was ordained to _life_, I found to be unto death." +The moral law, in its own _nature_, and by the Divine _ordination_, is +suited to produce holiness and happiness in the soul of any and every +man. It was ordained to life. So far as the purpose of God, and the +original nature and character of man, are concerned, the ten commandments +are perfectly adapted to fill the soul with peace and purity. In the +unfallen creature, they work no wrath, neither are they the strength of +sin. If everything in man had remained as it was created, there would +have been no need of urging him to "become dead to the law," to be +"delivered from the law," and not be "under the law." Had man kept his +original righteousness, it could never be said of him that "the strength +of sin is the law." On the contrary, there was such a mutual agreement +between the unfallen nature of man and the holy law of God, that the +latter was the very joy and strength of the former. The commandment was +ordained to life, and it was the life and peace of holy Adam. + +The original relation between man's nature and the moral law was +precisely like that between material nature and the material laws. There +has been no apostasy in the system of matter, and all things remain there +as they were in the beginning of creation. The law of gravitation, this +very instant, rules as peacefully and supremely in every atom of matter, +as it did on the morning of creation. Should material nature be +"delivered" from the law of gravitation, chaos would come again. No +portion of this fair and beautiful natural world needs to become "dead" +to the laws of nature. Such phraseology as this is inapplicable to the +relation that exists between the world of matter, and the system of +material laws, because, in this material sphere, there has been no +revolution, no rebellion, no great catastrophe analogous to the fall of +Adam. The law here was ordained to life, and the ordinance still stands. +And it shall stand until, by the will of the Creator, these elements +shall melt with fervent heat, and these heavens shall pass away with a +great noise; until a new system of nature, and a new legislation for it, +are introduced. + +But the case is different with man. He is not standing where he was, when +created. He is out of his original relations to the law and government of +God, and therefore that which was ordained to him for life, he now finds +to be unto death. The food which in its own nature is suited to minister +to the health and strength of the well man, becomes poison and death +itself to the sick man. + +With this brief notice of the fact, that the law of God was ordained to +life, and that therefore this disparaging phraseology of St. Paul does +not refer to the intrinsic nature of law, which he expressly informs us +"is holy just and good," nor to the original relation which man sustained +to it before he became a sinner, let us now proceed to consider some +particulars in which the commandment is found to be unto death, to every +_sinful_ man. + +The law of God shows itself in the human soul, in the form of a _sense of +duty_. Every man, as he walks these streets, and engages in the business +or pleasures of life, hears occasionally the words: "Thou shalt; them +shalt not." Every man, as he passes along in this earthly pilgrimage, +finds himself saying to himself: "I ought, I ought not." This is the +voice of law sounding in the conscience; and every man may know, whenever +he hears these words, that he is listening to the same authority that cut +the ten commandments into the stones of Sinai, and sounded that awful +trumpet, and will one day come in power and great glory to judge the +quick and dead. Law, we say, expresses itself for man, while here upon +earth, through the sense of duty. "A sense of duty pursues us ever," said +Webster, in that impressive allusion to the workings of conscience, in +the trial of the Salem murderers. This is the accusing and condemning +_sensation_, in and by which the written statute of God becomes a living +energy, and a startling voice in the soul. Cut into the rock of Sinai, it +is a dead letter; written and printed in our Bibles, it is still a dead +letter; but wrought in this manner into the fabric of our own +constitution, waylaying us in our hours of weakness, and irresolution, +and secrecy, and speaking to our inward being in tones that are as +startling as any that could be addressed to the physical ear,--undergoing +this transmutation, and becoming a continual consciousness of duty and +obligation, the law of God is more than a letter. It is a possessing +spirit, and according as we obey or disobey, it is a guardian angel, or a +tormenting fiend. We have disobeyed, and therefore the sense of duty is a +tormenting sensation; the commandment which was ordained to life, is +found to be unto death. + +I. In the first place, to go into the analysis, the sense of duty is a +sorrow and a pain to sinful man, because it _places him under a continual +restraint_. + +No creature can be happy, so long as he feels himself under limitations. +To be checked, reined in, and thwarted in any way, renders a man +uneasy and discontented. The universal and instinctive desire for +freedom,--freedom from restraint,--is a proof of this. Every creature +wishes to follow out his inclination, and in proportion as he is hindered +in so doing, and is compelled to work counter to it, he is restless and +dissatisfied. + +Now the sense of duty exerts just this influence, upon sinful man. It +opposes his wishes; it thwarts his inclination; it imposes a restraint +upon his spontaneous desires and appetites. It continually hedges up his +way, and seeks to stop him in the path of his choice and his pleasure. If +his inclination were only in harmony with his duty; if his desires and +affections were one with the law of God; there would be no restraint from +the law. In this case, the sense of duty would be a joy and not a sorrow, +because, in doing his duty, he would be doing what he liked. There are +only two ways, whereby contentment can be introduced into the human soul. +If the Divine law could be altered so that it should agree with man's +sinful inclination, he could be happy in sin. The commandment having +become like his own heart, there would, of course, be no conflict between +the two, and he might sin on forever and lap himself in Elysium. And +undoubtedly there are thousands of luxurious and guilty men, who, if they +could, like the Eastern Semiramis, would make lust and law alike in their +decree;[1] would transmute the law of holiness into a law of sin; would +put evil for good, and good for evil, bitter for sweet and sweet for +bitter; in order to be eternally happy in the sin that they love. They +would bring duty and inclination into harmony, by a method that would +annihilate duty, would annihilate the eternal distinction between right +and wrong, would annihilate God himself. But this method, of course, is +impossible. There can be no transmutation of law, though there can be of +a creature's character and inclination. Heaven and earth shall pass away, +but the commandment of God can never pass away. The only other mode, +therefore, by which duty and inclination can be brought into agreement, +and the continual sense of restraint which renders man so wretched be +removed, is to change the inclination. The instant the desires and +affections of our hearts are transformed, so that they accord with the +Divine law, the conflict between our will and our conscience is at an +end. When I come to love the law of holiness and delight in it, to obey +it is simply to follow out my inclination. And this, we have seen, is to +be happy. + +But such is not the state of things, in the unrenewed soul. Duty and +inclination are in conflict. Man's desires appetites and tendencies are +in one direction, and his conscience is in the other. The sense of duty +holds a whip over him. He yields to his sinful inclination, finds a +momentary pleasure in so doing, and then feels the stings of the +scorpion-lash. We see this operation in a very plain and striking manner, +if we select an instance where the appetite is very strong, and the voice +of conscience is very loud. Take, for example, that particular sin which +most easily besets an individual. Every man has such a sin, and knows +what it is, Let him call to mind the innumerable instances in which that +particular temptation has assailed him, and he will be startled to +discover how many thousands of times the sense of duty has put a +restraint upon him. Though not in every single instance, yet in hundreds +and hundreds of cases, the law of God has uttered the, "Thou shalt not," +and endeavored to prevent the consummation of that sin. And what a +wearisome experience is this. A continual forth-putting of an unlawful +desire, and an almost incessant check upon it, from a law which is hated +but which is feared. For such is the attitude of the natural heart toward +the commandment. "The carnal mind is _enmity_ against the law of God." +The two are contrary to one another; so that when the heart goes out in +its inclination, it is immediately hindered and opposed by the law. +Sometimes the collision between them is terrible, and the soul becomes; +an arena of tumultuous passions. The heart and will are intensely +determined to do wrong, while the conscience is unyielding and +uncompromising, and utters its denunciations, and thunders its warnings. +And what a dreadful destiny awaits that soul, in whom this conflict and +collision between the dictates of conscience, and the desires of the +heart, is to be eternal! for whom, through all eternity, the holy law of +God, which was ordained to life peace and joy, shall be found to be unto +death and woe immeasurable! + +II. In the second place, the sense of duty is a pain and sorrow to a +sinful man, because it _demands a perpetual effort_ from him. + +No creature likes to tug, and to lift. Service must be easy, in order to +be happy. If you lay upon the shoulders of a laborer a burden that +strains his muscles almost to the point of rupture, you put him in +physical pain. His physical structure was not intended to be subjected to +such a stretch. His Creator designed that the burden should be +proportioned to the power, in such a manner that work should be play. In +the garden of Eden, physical labor was physical pleasure, because the +powers were in healthy action, and the work assigned to them was not a +burden. Before the fall, man was simply to dress and keep a garden; but +after the fall, he was to dig up thorns and thistles, and eat his bread +in the sweat of his face. This is a _curse_,--the curse of being +compelled to toil, and lift, and put the muscle to such a tension that +it aches. This is not the original and happy condition of the body, in +which man was created. Look at the toiling millions of the human family, +who like the poor ant "for one small grain, labor, and tug, and strive;" +see them bending double, under the heavy weary load which they must carry +until relieved by death; and tell me if this is the physical elysium, the +earthly paradise, in which unfallen man was originally placed, and for +which he was originally designed. No, the curse of labor, of perpetual +effort, has fallen upon the body, as the curse of death has fallen upon +the soul; and the uneasiness and unrest of the groaning and struggling +body is a convincing proof of it. The whole physical nature of man +groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the +adoption, that is the _redemption of the body_ from this penal necessity +of perpetual strain and effort. + +The same fact meets us when we pass from the physical to the moral nature +of man, and becomes much more sad and impressive. By creation, it was +a pleasure and a pastime for man to keep the law of God, to do spiritual +work. As created, he was not compelled to summon his energies, and strain +his will, and make a convulsive resolution to obey the commands of his +Maker. Obedience was joy. Holy Adam knew nothing of _effort_ in the path +of duty. It was a smooth and broad pathway, fringed with flowers, and +leading into the meadows of asphodel. It did not become the "straight and +narrow" way, until sin had made obedience a toil, the sense of duty a +restraint, and human life a race and a fight. By apostasy, the obligation +to keep the Divine law perfectly, became repulsive. It was no longer easy +for man to do right; and it has never been easy or spontaneous to him +since. Hence, the attempt to follow the dictates of conscience always +costs an unregenerate man an effort. He is compelled to make a +resolution; and a resolution is the sign and signal of a difficult and +unwelcome service. Take your own experience for an illustration. Did you +ever, except as you were sweetly inclined and drawn by the renewing grace +of God, attempt to discharge a duty, without discovering that you were +averse to it, and that you must gather up your energies for the work, as +the leaper strains upon the tendon of Achilles to make the mortal leap. +And if you had not become weary, and given over the effort; if you had +entered upon that sad but salutary passage in the religious experience +which is delineated in the seventh chapter of Romans; if you had +continued to struggle and strive to do your duty, until you grew faint +and weak, and powerless, and cried out for a higher and mightier power to +succor you; you would have known, as you do not yet, what a deadly +opposition there is between the carnal mind and the law of God, and what +a spasmodic effort it costs an unrenewed man even to _attempt_ to +discharge the innumerable obligations that rest upon him. Mankind +would know more of this species of toil and labor, and of the cleaving +curse involved in it, if they were under the same physical necessity in +regard to it, that they lie under in respect to manual labor. A man +_must_ dig up the thorns and thistles, he _must_ earn his bread in the +sweat of his face, or he must die. Physical wants, hunger and thirst, +set men to work physically, and keep them at it; and thus they well +understand what it is to have a weary body, aching muscles, and a tired +physical nature. But they are not under the same species of necessity, in +respect to the wants and the work of the soul. A man may neglect these, +and yet live a long and luxurious life upon the earth. He is not driven +by the very force of circumstances, to labor with his heart and will, as +he is to labor with his hands. And hence he knows little or nothing of a +weary and heavy-laden soul; nothing of an aching heart and a tired will. +He well knows how much strain and effort it costs to cut down forests, +open roads, and reduce the wilderness to a fertile field; but he does not +know how much toil and effort are involved, in the attempt to convert the +human soul into the garden of the Lord. + +Now in this demand for a _perpetual effort_ which is made upon the +natural man, by the sense of duty, we see that the law which was ordained +to life is found to be unto death. The commandment, instead of being a +pleasant friend and companion to the human soul, as it was in the +beginning, has become a strict rigorous task-master. It lays out an +uncongenial work for sinful man to do, and threatens him with punishment +and woe if he does not do it. And yet the law is not a tyrant. It is +holy, just, and good. This work which it lays out is righteous work, and +ought to be done. The wicked disinclination and aversion of the sinner +have compelled the law to assume this unwelcome and threatening attitude. +That which is good was not made death to man by God's agency, and by a +Divine arrangement, but by man's transgression.[2] Sin produces this +misery in the human soul, through an instrument that is innocent, and in +its own nature benevolent and kind. Apostasy, the rebellion and +corruption of the human heart, has converted the law of God into an +exacting task-master and an avenging magistrate. For the law says to +every man what St. Paul says of the magistrate: "Rulers are not a terror +to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou, then, not be afraid of the +power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For +he is the minister of God to thee for good: _but if thou do that which is +evil, be afraid_." If man were only conformed to the law; if the +inclination of his heart were only in harmony with his sense of duty; the +ten commandments would not be accompanied with any thunders or +lightnings, and the discharge of duty would be as easy, spontaneous, +and as much without effort, as the practice of sin now is. + +Thus have we considered two particulars in which the Divine law, +originally intended to render man happy, and intrinsically adapted to do +so, now renders him miserable. The commandment which was ordained to +life, he now finds to be unto death, because it places him under a +continual restraint, and drives him to a perpetual effort. These two +particulars, we need not say, are not all the modes in which sin has +converted the moral law from a joy to a sorrow. We have not discussed the +great subject of guilt and penalty. This violated law charges home the +past disobedience and threatens an everlasting damnation, and thus fills +the sinful soul with fears and forebodings. In this way, also, the law +becomes a terrible organ and instrument of misery, and is found to be +unto death. But the limits of this discourse compel us to stop the +discussion here, and to deduce some practical lessons which are +suggested by it. + +1. In the first place, we are taught by the subject, as thus considered, +that _the mere sense of duty is not Christianity_. If this is all that a +man is possessed of, he is not prepared for the day of judgment, and the +future life. For the sense of duty, alone and by itself, causes misery in +a soul that has not performed its duty. The law worketh wrath, in a +creature who has not obeyed the law. The man that doeth these things +shall indeed live by them; but he who has not done them must die by them. + +There have been, and still are, great mistakes made at this point. Men +have supposed that an active conscience, and a lofty susceptibility +towards right and wrong, will fit them to appear before God, and have, +therefore, rejected Christ the Propitiation. They have substituted ethics +for the gospel; natural religion for revealed. "I know," says Immanuel +Kant, "of but two beautiful things; the starry heavens above my head, and +the sense of duty within my heart."[3] But, is the sense of duty +_beautiful_ to apostate man? to a being who is not conformed to it? Does +the holy law of God overarch him like the firmament, "tinged with a blue +of heavenly dye, and starred with sparkling gold?" Nay, nay. If there be +any beauty in the condemning law of God, for man the _transgressor_, it +is the beauty of the lightnings. There is a splendor in them, but there +is a terror also. Not until He who is the end of the law for +righteousness has clothed me with His panoply, and shielded me from their +glittering shafts in the clefts of the Rock, do I dare to look at them, +as they leap from crag to crag, and shine from the east even unto the +west. + +We do not deny that the consciousness of responsibility is a lofty one, +and are by no means insensible to the grand and swelling sentiments +concerning the moral law, and human duty, to which this noble thinker +gives utterance.[4] But we are certain that if the sense of duty had +pressed upon him to the degree that it did upon St. Paul; had the +commandment "come" to him with the convicting energy that it did to St. +Augustine, and to Pascal; he too would have discovered that the law which +was ordained to life is found to be unto death. So long as man stands at +a distance from the moral law, he can admire its glory and its beauty; +but when it comes close to him; when it comes home to him; when it +becomes a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; then its +glory is swallowed up in its terror, and its beauty is lost in its truth. +Then he who was alive without the law becomes slain by the law. Then this +ethical admiration of the decalogue is exchanged for an evangelical trust +in Jesus Christ. + +2. And this leads us to remark, in the second place, that this subject +shows _the meaning of Christ's work of Redemption_. The law for an +alienated and corrupt soul is a burden. It cannot be otherwise; for it +imposes a perpetual restraint, urges up to an unwelcome duty, and charges +home a fearful guilt. Christ is well named the _Redeemer_, because He +frees the sinful soul from all this. He delivers it from the penalty, by +assuming it all upon Himself, and making complete satisfaction to the +broken law. He delivers it from the perpetual restraint and the irksome +effort, by so renewing and changing the heart that it becomes a delight +to keep the law. We observed, in the first part of the discourse, that if +man could only bring the inclination of his heart into agreement with his +sense of duty, he would be happy in obeying, and the consciousness of +restraint and of hateful effort would disappear. This is precisely what +Christ accomplishes by His Spirit. He brings the human heart into harmony +with the Divine law, as it was in the beginning, and thus rescues it from +its bondage and its toil. Obedience becomes a pleasure, and the service +of God, the highest Christian liberty. Oh, would that by the act of +faith, you might experience this liberating effect of the redemption that +is in Christ Jesus. So long as you are out of Christ, you are under a +burden that will every day grow heavier, and may prove to be fixed and +unremovable as the mountains. That is a fearful punishment which the poet +Dante represents as being inflicted upon those who were guilty of pride. +The poor wretches are compelled to support enormous masses of stone which +bend them over to the ground, and, in his own stern phrase, "crumple up +their knees into their breasts." Thus they stand, stooping over, every +muscle trembling, the heavy stone weighing them down, and yet they are +not permitted to fall, and rest themselves upon the earth.[5] In this +crouching posture, they must carry the weary heavy load without relief, +and with a distress so great that, in the poet's own language, + + "it seemed + As he, who showed most patience in his look, + Wailing exclaimed: I can endure no more."[6] + +Such is the posture of man unredeemed. There is a burden on him, under +which he stoops and crouches. It is a burden compounded of guilt and +corruption. It is lifted off by Christ, and by Christ only. The soul +itself can never expiate its guilt; can never cleanse its pollution. We +urge you, once more, to the act of faith in the Redeemer of the world. We +beseech you, once more, to make "the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" +your own. The instant you plead the merit of Christ's oblation, in simple +confidence in its atoning efficacy, that instant the heavy burden is +lifted off by an Almighty hand, and your curved, stooping, trembling, +aching form once more stands erect, and you walk abroad in the liberty +wherewith Christ makes the human creature free. + + +[Footnote 1: + "She in vice + Of luxury was so shameless, that she made + Liking to be lawful by promulged decree, + To clear the blame she had herself incurr'd." + DANTE: Inferno, v. 56.] + +[Footnote 2: Romans vii. 13, 14.] + +[Footnote 3: KANT: Kritik der Praktischen Vernunft (Beschlusz).--De +Stael's rendering, which is so well known, and which I have employed, +is less guarded than the original.] + +[Footnote 4: Compare the fine apostrophe to Duty. PRAKTISCHE VERNUNFT, +p. 214, (Ed. Rosenkranz.)] + +[Footnote 5: "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow +down their back alway." Rom. xi. 10.] + +[Footnote 6: DANTE: Purgatory x. 126-128.] + + + + + +THE SIN OF OMISSION. + +Matthew xix. 20.--"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I +kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" + + +The narrative from which the text is taken is familiar to all readers of +the Bible. A wealthy young man, of unblemished morals and amiable +disposition, came to our Lord, to inquire His opinion respecting his own +good estate. He asked what good thing he should do, in order to inherit +eternal life. The fact that he applied to Christ at all, shows that he +was not entirely at rest in his own mind. He could truly say that he had +kept the ten commandments from his youth up, in an outward manner; and +yet he was ill at ease. He was afraid that when the earthly life was +over, he might not be able to endure the judgment of God, and might fail +to enter into that happy paradise of which the Old Testament Scriptures +so often speak, and of which he had so often read, in them. This young +man, though a moralist, was not a self-satisfied or a self-conceited +one. For, had he been like the Pharisee a thoroughly blinded and +self-righteous person, like him he never would have approached Jesus of +Nazareth, to obtain His opinion respecting his own religious character +and prospects. Like him, he would have scorned to ask our Lord's judgment +upon any matters of religion. Like the Pharisees, he would have said, "We +see,"[1] and the state of his heart and his future prospects would have +given him no anxiety. But he was not a conceited and presumptuous +Pharisee. He was a serious and thoughtful person, though not a pious and +holy one. For, he did not love God more than he loved his worldly +possessions. He had not obeyed that first and great command, upon which +hang all the law and the prophets, conformity to which, alone, +constitutes righteousness: "Thou shalt _love_ the Lord thy God with all +thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength." He +was not right at heart, and was therefore unprepared for death and +judgment. This he seems to have had some dim apprehension of. For why, if +he had felt that his external morality was a solid rock for his feet to +stand upon, why should he have betaken himself to Jesus of Nazareth, to +ask: "What lack I yet?" + +It was not what he had done, but what he had left undone, that wakened +fears and forebodings in this young ruler's mind. The outward observance +of the ten commandments was right and well in its own way and place; but +the failure to obey, from the heart, the first and great command was the +condemnation that rested upon him. He probably knew this, in some +measure. He was not confidently certain of eternal life; and therefore he +came to the Great Teacher, hoping to elicit from Him an answer that would +quiet his conscience, and allow him to repose upon his morality while +he continued to love this world supremely. The Great Teacher pierced him +with an arrow. He said to him, "If them wilt be perfect, go and sell that +thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: +and come and follow me." This direction showed him what he _lacked_. + +This incident leads us to consider the condemnation that rests upon every +man, for his _failure_ in duty; the guilt that cleaves to him, on +account of what he has _not_ done. The Westminster Catechism defines sin +to be "any _want of conformity_ unto, or any transgression of, the law of +God." Not to be conformed, in the heart, to the law and will of God, is +as truly sin, as positively to steal, or positively to commit murder. +Failure to come up to the line of rectitude is as punishable, as to step +over that line. God requires of His creature that he stand squarely +_upon_ the line of righteousness; if therefore he is off that line, +because he has not come up to it, he is as guilty as when he +transgresses, or passes across it, upon the other side. This is the +reason that the sin of omission is as punishable as the sin of +commission. In either case alike, the man is off the line of rectitude. +Hence, in the final day, man will be condemned for what he lacks, for +what he comes short of, in moral character. Want of conformity to the +Divine law as really conflicts with the Divine law, as an overt +transgression does, because it carries man off and away from it. One +of the Greek words for sin [Greek: (amurtanein)] signifies, to miss the +mark. When the archer shoots at the target, he as really fails to strike +it, if his arrow falls short of it, as when he shoots over and beyond it. +If he strains upon the bow with such a feeble force, that the arrow drops +upon the ground long before it comes up to the mark, his shot is as total +a failure, as when he strains upon the bow-string with all his force, but +owing to an ill-directed aim sends his weapon into the air. One of the +New Testament terms for sin contains this figure and illustration, in +its etymology. Sin is a want of conformity unto, a failure to come clear +up to, the line and mark prescribed by God, as well a violent and +forcible breaking over and beyond the line and the mark. The _lack_ of +holy love, the _lack_ of holy fear, the _lack_ of filial trust and +confidence in God,--the negative absence of these and other qualities in +the heart is as truly sin and guilt, as is the positive and open +violation of a particular commandment, in the act of theft, or lying, or +Sabbath-breaking. + +We propose, then, to direct attention to that form and aspect of human +depravity which consists in coming short of the aim and end presented to +man by his Maker,--that form and aspect of sin which is presented in the +young ruler's inquiry: "What lack I yet?" + +It is a comprehensive answer to this question to say, that every natural +man lacks _sincere and filial love of God_. This was the sin of the +moral, but worldly, the amiable, but earthly-minded, young man. Endow +him, in your fancy, with all the excellence you please, it still lies +upon the face of the narrative, that he loved money more than he loved +the Lord God Almighty. When the Son of God bade him go and sell his +property, and give it to the poor, and then come and follow Him as a +docile disciple like Peter and James and John, he went away sad in his +mind; for he had great possessions. This was a reasonable requirement, +though a very trying one. To command a young man of wealth and standing +immediately to strip himself of all his property, to leave the circle in +which he had been born and brought up, and to follow the Son of Man, who +had not where to lay His head, up and down through Palestine, through +good report and through evil report,--to put such a burden upon such a +young man was to lay him under a very heavy load. Looking at it from a +merely human and worldly point of view, it is not strange that the young +ruler declined to take it upon his shoulders; though he felt sad in +declining, because he had the misgiving that in declining he was sealing +his doom. But, had he _loved_ the Lord God with all his heart; had he +been _conformed unto_ the first and great command, in his heart and +affections; had he not _lacked_ a spiritual and filial affection towards +his Maker; he would have obeyed. + +For, the circumstances under which this command was given must be borne +in mind. It issued directly from the lips of the Son of God Himself. It +was not an ordinary call of Providence, in the ordinary manner in which +God summons man to duty. There is reason to suppose that the young ruler +knew and felt that Christ had authority to give such directions. We know +not what were precisely his views of the person and office of Jesus of +Nazareth; but the fact that he came to Him seeking instruction respecting +the everlasting kingdom of God and the endless life of the soul, and the +yet further fact that he went away in sadness because he did not find it +in his heart to obey the instructions that he had received, prove that he +was at least somewhat impressed with the Divine authority of our Lord. +For, had he regarded Him as a mere ordinary mortal, knowing no more than +any other man concerning the eternal kingdom of God, why should His words +have distressed him? Had this young ruler taken the view of our Lord +which was held by the Scribes and Pharisees, like them he would never +have sought instruction from Him in a respectful and sincere manner; and, +like them, he would have replied to the command to strip himself of all +his property, leave the social circles to which he belonged, and follow +the despised Nazarene, with the curling lip of scorn. He would not have +gone away in sorrow, but in contempt. We must assume, therefore, that +this young ruler felt that the person with whom he was conversing, and +who had given him this extraordinary command, had authority to give it. +We do not gather from the narrative that he doubted upon this point. Had +he doubted, it would have relieved the sorrow with which his mind was +disturbed. He might have justified his refusal to obey, by the +consideration that this Jesus of Nazareth had no right to summon him, or +any other man, to forsake the world and attach himself to His person and +purposes, if any such consideration had entered his mind. No, the sorrow, +the deep, deep sorrow and sadness, with which he went away to the +beggarly elements of his houses and his lands, proves that he knew too +well that this wonderful Being who was working miracles, and speaking +words of wisdom that never man spake, had indeed authority and right to +say to him, and to every other man, "Go and sell that thou hast, and give +to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow +me." + +Though the command was indeed an extraordinary one, it was given in an +extraordinary manner, by an extraordinary Being. That young ruler was not +required to do any more than you and I would be obligated to do, _in the +same circumstances_. It is indeed true, that in the _ordinary_ providence +of God, you and I are not summoned to sell all our possessions, and +distribute them to the poor, and to go up and down the streets of this +city, or up and down the high-ways and by-ways of the land, as +missionaries of Christ. But if the call were _extra-ordinary_,--if +the heavens should open above our heads, and a voice from the skies +should command us in a manner not to be doubted or disputed to do this +particular thing, we ought immediately to do it. And if the love of God +were in our hearts; if we were inwardly "conformed unto" the Divine law; +if there were nothing lacking in our religious character; we should obey +with the same directness and alacrity with which Peter and Andrew, and +James and John, left their nets and their fishing-boat, their earthly +avocations, their fathers and their fathers' households, and followed +Christ to the end of their days. In the present circumstances of the +church and the world, Christians must follow the ordinary indications of +Divine Providence; and though these do unquestionably call upon them to +make far greater sacrifices for the cause of Christ than they now make, +yet they do not call upon them to sell _all_ that they have, and give it +to the poor. But they ought to be ready and willing to do so, in case God +by any remarkable and direct expression should indicate that this is +His will and pleasure. Should our Lord, for illustration, descend again, +and in His own person say to His people, as He did to the young ruler: +"Sell all that ye have, and give to the poor, and go up and down the +earth preaching the gospel," it would be the duty of every rich Christian +to strip himself of all his riches, and of every poor Christian to make +himself yet poorer, and of the whole Church to adopt the same course that +was taken by the early Christians, who "had all things common, and sold +their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had +need." The direct and explicit command of the Lord Jesus Christ to do any +particular thing must be obeyed at all hazards, and at all cost. Should +He command any one of His disciples to lay down his life, or to undergo +a severe discipline and experience in His service, He must be obeyed. +This is what He means when He says, "If any man come to me, and hate not +his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and +sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And +whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my +disciple" (Luke xiv. 26, 27). + +The young ruler was subjected to this test. It was his privilege,--and it +was a great privilege,--to see the Son of God face to face; to hear His +words of wisdom and authority; to know without any doubt or ambiguity +what particular thing God would have him do. And he refused to do it. He +was moral; he was amiable; but he refused _point-blank_ to obey the +direct command of God addressed to him from the very lips of God. It was +with him as it would be with us, if the sky should open over our heads, +and the Son of God should descend, and with His own lips should command +us to perform a particular service, and we should be disobedient to the +heavenly vision, and should say to the Eternal Son of God: "We will not." +Think you that there is nothing _lacking_ in such a character as this? Is +this religious perfection? Is such a heart as this "conformed unto" the +law and will of God? + +If, then, we look into the character of the young ruler, we perceive that +there was in it no supreme affection for God. On the contrary, he loved +_himself_ with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. Even his +religious anxiety, which led him to our Lord for His opinion concerning +his good estate, proved to be a merely selfish feeling. He desired +immortal felicity beyond the tomb,--and the most irreligious man upon +earth desires this,--but he did not possess such an affection for God as +inclined, and enabled, him to obey His explicit command to make a +sacrifice of his worldly possessions for His glory. And this lack of +supreme love to God was _sin_. It was a deviation from the line of +eternal rectitude and righteousness, as really and truly as murder, +adultery, or theft, or any outward breach of any of those commandments +which he affirmed he had kept from his youth up. This coming short of the +Divine honor and glory was as much contrary to the Divine law, as any +overt transgression of it could be. + +For love is the fulfilling of the law. The whole law, according to +Christ, is summed up and contained, in these words: "Thou shall _love_ +the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." To be +destitute of this heavenly affection is, therefore, to break the law at +the very centre and in the very substance of it. Men tell us, like this +young ruler, that they do not murder, lie, or steal,--that they observe +all the commandments of the second table pertaining to man and their +relations to man,--and ask, "What lack we yet?" Alexander Pope, in the +most brilliant and polished poetry yet composed by human art, sums up the +whole of human duty in the observance of the rules and requirements of +civil morality, and affirms that "an honest man is the noblest work of +God." But is this so? Has religion reached its last term, and ultimate +limit, when man respects the rights of property? Is a person who keeps +his hands off the goods and chattels of his fellow-creature really +qualified for the heavenly state, by reason of this fact and virtue of +honesty? Has he attained the chief end of man?[2] Even if we could +suppose a perfect obedience of all the statutes of the second table, +while those of the first table were disobeyed; even if one could fulfil +all his obligations to his neighbor, while failing in all his obligations +to his Maker; even if we should concede a perfect morality, without any +religion; would it be true that this morality, or obedience of only one +of the two tables that cover the whole field of human duty, is sufficient +to prepare man for the everlasting future, and the immediate presence of +God? Who has informed man that the first table of the law is of no +consequence; and that if he only loves his neighbor as himself, he need +not love his Maker supremely? + +No! Affection in the heart towards the great and glorious God is the sum +and substance of religion, and whoever is destitute of it is irreligious +and sinful in the inmost spirit, and in the highest degree. His fault +relates to the most excellent and worthy Being in the universe. He comes +short of his duty, in reference to that Being who _more than any other +one_ is entitled to his love and his services. We say, and we say +correctly, that if a man fails of fulfilling his obligations towards +those who have most claims upon him, he is more culpable than when he +fails of his duty towards those who have less claims upon him. If a son +comes short of his duty towards an affectionate and self-sacrificing +mother, we say it is a greater fault, than if he comes short of his duty +to a fellow-citizen. The parent is nearer to him than the citizen, and he +owes unto her a warmer affection of his heart, and a more active service +of his life, than he owes to his fellow-citizen. What would be thought of +that son who should excuse his neglect, or ill-treatment, of the mother +that bore him, upon the ground that he had never cheated a fellow-man and +had been scrupulous in all his mercantile transactions! This but feebly +illustrates the relation which every man sustains to God, and the claim +which God has upon every man. Our first duty and obligation relates to +our Maker. Our fellow-creatures have claims upon us; the dear partners of +our blood have claims upon us; our own personality, with its infinite +destiny for weal or woe, has claims upon us. But no one of these; not all +of them combined; have upon us that _first_ claim, which God challenges +for Himself. Social life,--the state or the nation to which we +belong,--cannot say to us: "Thou shalt love me with all thy heart, and +soul, and mind, and strength." The family, which is bone of our bone, and +flesh of our flesh, cannot say to us: "Thou shalt love us, with all thy +soul, mind, heart, and strength." Even our own deathless and priceless +soul cannot say to us: "Thou shalt love me supremely, and before all +other beings and things." But the infinite and adorable God, the Being +that made us, and has redeemed us, can of right demand that we love and +honor Him first of all, and chiefest of all. + +There are two thoughts suggested by the subject which we have been +considering, to which we now invite candid attention. + +1. In the first place, this subject _convicts every man of sin_. Our +Lord, by his searching reply to the young ruler's question, "What lack I +yet?" sent him away very sorrowful; and what man, in any age and country, +can apply the same test to himself, without finding the same +unwillingness to sell all that he has and give to the poor,--the same +indisposition to obey any and every command of God that crosses his +natural inclinations? Every natural man, as he subjects his character to +such a trial as that to which the young ruler was subjected, will +discover as he did that he lacks supreme love of God, and like him, if he +has any moral earnestness; if he feels at all the obligation of duty; +will go away very sorrowful, because he perceives very plainly the +conflict between his will and his conscience. How many a person, in the +generations that have already gone to the judgment-seat of Christ, and in +the generation that is now on the way thither, has been at times brought +face to face with the great and first command, "Thou shall love the Lord +thy God with all thy heart," and by some particular requirement has been +made conscious of his utter opposition to that great law. Some special +duty was urged upon him, by the providence, or the word, or the Spirit +of God, that could not be performed unless his will were subjected to +God's will, and unless his love for himself and the world were +subordinated to his love of his Maker. If a young man, perhaps he was +commanded to consecrate his talents and education to a life of +philanthropy and service of God in the gospel, instead of a life devoted +to secular and pecuniary aims. God said to him, by His providence, and by +conscience, "Go teach my gospel to the perishing; go preach my word, to +the dying and the lost." But he loved worldly ease pleasure and +reputation more than he loved God; and he refused, and went away +sorrowful, because this poor world looked very bright and alluring, +and the path of self-denial and duty looked very forbidding. Or, if he +was a man in middle life, perhaps he was commanded to abate his interest +in plans for the accumulation of wealth, to contract his enterprises, to +give attention to the concerns of his soul and the souls of his children, +to make his own peace with God, and to consecrate the remainder of his +life to Christ and to human welfare; and when this plain and reasonable +course of conduct was dictated to him, he found his whole heart rising up +against the proposition. Our Lord, alluding to the fact that there was +nothing in common between His spirit, and the spirit of Satan, said to +His disciples, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" +(John xiv. 30). So, when the command to love God supremely comes to this +man of the world, in any particular form, "it hath nothing in him." This +first and great law finds no ready and genial response within his heart, +but on the contrary a recoil within his soul as if some great monster had +started up in his pathway. He says, in his mind, to the proposition: +"Anything but that;" and, with the young ruler, he goes away sorrowful, +because he knows that refusal is perdition. + +Is there not a wonderful power to _convict_ of sin, in this test? If you +try yourself, as the young man did, by the command, "Thou shalt not +kill," "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not commit adultery," you may +succeed, perhaps, in quieting your conscience, to some extent, and in +possessing yourself of the opinion of your fitness for the kingdom of +God. But ask yourself the question, "Do I love God supremely, and am I +ready and willing to do any and every particular thing that He shall +command me to do, even if it is plucking out a right eye, or cutting off +a right hand, or selling all my goods to give to the poor?" try yourself +by _this_ test, and see if you lack anything in your moral character. +When this thorough and proper touch-stone of character is applied, there +is not found upon earth a just man that doeth good and sinneth not. Every +human creature, by this test is concluded under sin. Every man is found, +lacking in what he ought to possess, when the words of the commandment +are sounded in his ear: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy +heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength." This +sum and substance of the Divine law, upon which hang all the other laws, +convinces every man of sin. For there is no escaping its force. Love of +God is a distinct and definite feeling, and every person knows whether he +ever experienced it. Every man knows whether it is, or is not, an +affection of his heart; and he knows that if it be wanting, the +foundation of religion is wanting in his soul, and the sum and substance +of sin is there. + +2. And this leads to the second and concluding thought suggested, by the +subject, namely, that _except a man be born again, he cannot see the +kingdom of God._ If there be any truth in the discussion through which we +have passed, it is plain and incontrovertible, that to be destitute of +holy love to God is a departure and deviation from the moral law. It is a +coming short of the great requirement that rests upon every accountable +creature of God, and this is as truly sin and guilt as any violent and +open passing over and beyond the line of rectitude. The sin of omission +is as deep and damning as the sin of commission. "Forgive,"--said the +dying archbishop Usher,--"forgive all my sins, especially my sins of +omission." + +But, how is this lack to be supplied? How is this great hiatus in human +character to be filled up? How shall the fountain of holy and filial +affection towards God be made to gush up into everlasting life, within +your now unloving and hostile heart? There is no answer to this question +of questions, but in the Person and Work of the Holy Ghost. If God shall +shed abroad His love in your heart, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto +you, you will know the blessedness of a new affection; and will be able +to say with Peter, "Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love +thee." You are shut up to this method, and this influence. To generate +within yourself this new spiritual emotion which you have never yet felt, +is utterly impossible. Yet you must get it, or religion, is impossible, +and immortal life is impossible. Would that you might feel your straits, +and your helplessness. Would that you might perceive your total lack of +supreme love of God, as the young ruler perceived his; and would that, +unlike him, instead, of going away from the Son of God, you would go to +Him, crying, "Lord create within me a clean heart, and renew within me a +right spirit." Then the problem would be solved, and having peace with +God through the blood of Christ, the love of God would be shed abroad in +your hearts, through the Holy Ghost given unto you. + + +[Footnote 1: John ix. 41.] + +[Footnote 2: Even if we should widen the meaning of the word "honest," in +the above-mentioned dictum of Pope, and make it include the Latin +"honestum," the same objection would lie against dictum. Honor and +high-mindedness towards man is not love and reverence towards God. The +spirit of chivalry is not the spirit of Christianity.] + + + + +THE SINFULNESS OF ORIGINAL SIN. + + +MATTHEW xix. 20.--"The young man saith unto him, All these things have I +kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" + + +In the preceding discourse from these words, we discussed that form and +aspect of sin which consists in "coming short" of the Divine Law; or, as +the Westminster Creed states it, in a "want of conformity" unto it. The +deep and fundamental sin of the young ruler, we found, lay in what he +lacked. When our Lord tested him, he proved to be utterly destitute of +love to God. His soul was a complete vacuum, in reference to that great +holy affection which fills the hearts of all the good beings before the +throne of God, and without which no creature can stand, or will wish to +stand, in the Divine presence. The young ruler, though outwardly moral +and amiable, when searched in the inward parts was found wanting in the +sum and substance of religion. He did not love God; and he did love +himself and his possessions. + +What man has omitted to do, what man is destitute of,--this is a species +of sin which he does not sufficiently consider, and which is weighing him +down to perdition. The unregenerate person when pressed to repent of his +sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, often beats back the kind +effort, by a question like that which Pilate put to the infuriated Jews: +"Why, what evil have I done?" It is the subject of his actual and overt +transgressions that comes first into his thoughts, and, like the young +ruler, he tells his spiritual friend and adviser that he has kept all the +commandments from his youth up. The conviction of sin would be more +common if the natural man would consider his _failures_; if he would look +into his heart and perceive what he is _destitute_ of, and into his +conduct and see what he has left _undone_. + +In pursuing this subject, we propose to show, still further, the +guiltiness of every man, from the fact that he _lacks the original +righteousness that once belonged to him_. We shall endeavor to prove +that every child of Adam is under condemnation, or, in the words of +Christ, that "the wrath of God abides upon him" (John iii. 36), because +he is not possessed of that pure and perfect character which, his Maker +gave him in the beginning. Man is culpable for not continuing to stand +upon the high and sinless position, in which he was originally placed. +When the young ruler's question is put to the natural man, and the +inquiry is made as to his defects and deficiency, it is invariably +discovered that he lacks the image of God in which he was created. And +for a rational being to be destitute of the image of God is sin, guilt, +and condemnation, because every rational being has once received this +image. + +God has the right to demand from every one of his responsible creatures, +all that the creature _might_ be, had he retained possession of the +endowments which he received at creation, and had he employed them with +fidelity. The perfect gifts and capacities originally bestowed upon man, +and not the mutilated and damaged powers subsequently arising from +a destructive act of self-will, furnish the proper rule of measurement, +in estimating human merit or demerit. The faculties of intelligence and +will as _unfallen_, and not as fallen, determine the amount of +holiness and of service that may be demanded, upon principles of strict +justice, from every individual. All that man "comes short" of this is so +much sin, guilt, and condemnation. + +When the great Sovereign and Judge looks down from His throne of +righteousness and equity, upon any one of the children of men, He +considers what that creature was by _creation_, and compares his +present character and conduct with the character with which he was +originally endowed, and the conduct that would naturally have flowed +therefrom. God made man holy and perfect. God created man in his own +image (Gen. i. 26), "endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true +holiness, having the law of God written in his heart, and power to fulfil +it." This is the statement of the Creed which we accept as a fair and +accurate digest of the teachings of Revelation, respecting the primitive +character of man, and his original righteousness. And all evangelical +creeds, however they may differ from each other in their definitions of +original righteousness, and their estimate of the perfections and powers +granted to man by creation, do yet agree that he stood higher when he +came from the hand of God than he now stands; that man's actual character +and conduct do not come up to man's created power and capacities. Solemn +and condemning as it is, it is yet a fact, that inasmuch as every man was +originally made in the holy image of God, he ought, this very instant to +be perfectly holy. He ought to be standing upon a position that is as +high above his actual position, as the heavens are high above the earth. +He ought to be possessed of a moral perfection without spot or wrinkle, +or any such thing. He ought to be as he was, when created in +righteousness and true holiness. He ought to be dwelling high up on those +lofty and glorious heights where he was stationed by the benevolent +hand of his Maker, instead of wallowing in those low depths where he has +fallen by an act of apostasy and rebellion. Nothing short of this +satisfies the obligations that are resting upon him. An imperfect +holiness, such as the Christian is possessed of while here upon earth, +does not come up to the righteous requirement of the moral law; and +certainly that kind of moral character which belongs to the natural man +is still farther off from the sum-total that is demanded. + +Let us press this truth, that we may feel its convicting and condemning +energy. When our Maker speaks to us upon the subject of His claims and +our obligations, He tells us that when we came forth from nonentity into +existence, from His hand, we were well endowed, and well furnished. He +tells us distinctly, that He did not create us the depraved and sinful +beings that we now are. He tells us that these earthly affections, this +carnal mind, this enmity towards the Divine law, this disinclination +towards religion and spiritual concerns, this absorbing love of the world +and this supreme love of self,--that these were not implanted or infused +into the soul by our wise, holy, and good Creator. This is not His work. +This is no part of the furniture with which mankind were set up for an +everlasting existence. "God saw everything that he had made, and behold +it was very good." (Gen. i. 31). We acknowledge the mystery that +overhangs the union and connection of all men with the first man. We know +that this corruption of man's nature, and this sinfulness of his heart, +does indeed, appear at the very beginning of his individual life. He is +conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity (Ps. li. 5). This selfish +disposition, and this alienation of the heart from God, is _native_ +depravity, is _inborn_ corruption. This we know both from Revelation, +and observation. But we also know, from the same infallible Revelation, +that though man is born a sinner from the sinful Adam, he was created +a saint in the holy Adam. By origin he is holy, and by descent he is +sinful; because there has intervened, between his creation and his birth, +that "offence of one man whereby all men were made sinners" (Rom. v. 18, +19). Though we cannot unravel the whole mystery of this subject, yet if +we accept the revealed fact, and concede that God did originally make man +in His own image, in righteousness and true holiness, and that man has +since unmade himself, by the act of apostasy and rebellion,[1]--if we +take this as the true and correct statement of the facts in the case, +then we can see how and why it is, that God has claims upon His creature, +man, that extend to what this creature originally was and was capable of +becoming, and not merely to what he now is, and is able to perform. + +When, therefore, the young ruler's question, "What lack I?" is asked and +answered upon a broad scale, each and every man must say: "I lack +original righteousness; I lack the holiness with which God created man; I +lack that perfection of character which belonged to my rational and +immortal nature coming fresh from the hand of God in the person of Adam; +I lack all that I should now be possessed of, had that nature not +apostatized from its Maker and its Sovereign." And when God forms His +estimate of man's obligations; when He lays judgment to the line, and +righteousness to the plummet; He goes back to the _beginning_, He goes +back to _creation_, and demands from His rational and immortal creature +that perfect service which, he was capable of rendering by creation, but +which now he is unable to render because of subsequent apostasy. For, +God cannot adjust His demands to the alterations which sinful man makes +in himself. This would be to annihilate all demands and obligations. +A sliding-scale would be introduced, by this method, that would reduce +human duty by degrees to a minimum, where it would disappear. For, the +more sinful a creature becomes, the less inclined, and consequently the +less able does he become to obey the law of God. If, now, the Eternal +Judge shapes His requisitions in accordance with the shifting character +of His creature, and lowers His law down just as fast as the sinner +enslaves himself to lust and sin, it is plain that sooner or later all +moral obligation will run out; and whenever the creature becomes totally +enslaved to self and flesh, there will no longer be any claims resting +upon him. But this cannot be so. "For the kingdom of heaven,"--says our +Lord,--"is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his +own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five +talents, and to another two, and to another one; and straightway took his +journey." When the settlement was made. Each and every one of the parties +was righteously summoned to account for all that had originally been +intrusted to him, and to show a faithful improvement of the same. If any +one of the servants had been found to have "lacked" a part, or the whole, +of the original treasure, because he had culpably lost it, think you that +the fact that it was now gone from his possession, and was past recovery, +would have been accepted as a valid excuse from the original obligations +imposed upon him? In like manner, the fact, that man cannot reinstate +himself in his original condition of holiness and blessedness, from which +he has fallen by apostasy, will not suffice to justify him before God for +being in a helpless state of sin and misery, or to give him any claims +upon God for deliverance from it. God can and does _pity_ him, in his +ruined and lost estate, and if the creature will cast himself upon His +_mercy_, acknowledging the righteousness of the entire claims of God upon +him for a sinless perfection and a perfect service, he will meet and find +mercy. But if he takes the ground that he does not owe such an immense +debt as this, and that God has no right to demand from him, in his +apostate and helpless condition, the same perfection of character and +obedience which holy Adam possessed and rendered, and which the unfallen +angels possess and render, God will leave him to the workings of +conscience, and the operations of stark unmitigated law and justice. "The +kingdom of heaven,"--says our Lord,--"is likened unto a certain king +which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to +reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents; but +forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and +his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The +servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have +patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant +was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt" +(Matt, xviii. 28-27). But suppose that that servant had _disputed_ the +claim, and had put in an appeal to justice instead of an appeal to mercy, +upon the ground that inasmuch as he had lost his property and had nothing +to pay with, therefore he was not obligated to pay, think you that the +king would have conceded the equity of the claim? On the contrary, he +would have entered into no argument in so plain a case, but would have +"delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due +unto him." So likewise shall the heavenly Father do also unto you, and to +every man, who attempts to diminish the original claim of God to a +perfect obedience and service, by pleading the fall of man, the +corruption of human nature, the strength of sinful inclination and +affections, and the power of earthly temptation. All these are man's +work, and not that of the Creator. This helplessness and bondage grows +directly out of the nature of sin. "Whosoever committeth sin is the +slave of sin. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves slaves to +obey, his slaves ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of +obedience unto righteousness?" (John viii. 34; Rom. vi. 16). + +In view of the subject as thus discussed, we invite attention to some +practical conclusions that flow directly out of it. For, though we have +been speaking upon one of the most difficult themes in Christian +theology, namely man's creation in holiness and his loss of holiness by +the apostasy in Adam, yet we have at the same time been speaking of one +of the most humbling, and practically profitable, doctrines in the whole +circle of revealed truth. We never shall arrive at any profound sense of +sin, unless we know and feel our guilt and corruption by nature; and we +shall never arrive at any profound sense of our guilt and corruption by +nature, unless we know and understand the original righteousness and +innocence in which we were first created. We can measure the great depth +of the abyss into which, we have fallen, only by looking up to those +great heights in the garden of Eden, upon which our nature once stood +beautiful and glorious, the very image and likeness of our Creator. + +1. We remark then, in the first place, that it is the duty of every man +_to humble himself on account of his lack of original righteousness, and +to repent of it as sin before God._ + +One of the articles of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith reads thus: +_Every_ sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the +righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, +bring _guilt_ upon the sinner, whereby he is "bound over to the wrath of +God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all +miseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal."[2] The Creed which we accept +summons us to repent of original as well as actual sin; and it defines +original sin to be "the want of original righteousness, together with the +corruption of the whole nature." The want of original righteousness, +then, is a ground of condemnation, and therefore a reason for shame, and +godly sorrow. It is something which man once had, ought still to have, +but now lacks; and therefore is ill-deserving, for the very same reason +that the young ruler's lack of supreme love to God was ill-deserving. + +If we acknowledge the validity of the distinction between a sin of +omission and a sin of commission, and concede that each alike is +culpable,[3] we shall find no difficulty with this demand of the Creed. +Why should not you and I mourn over the total want of the image of God in +our hearts, as much as over any other form and species of sin? This +image of God consists in holy reverence. When we look into our hearts, +and find no holy reverence there, ought we not to be filled with shame +and sorrow? This image of God consists in filial and supreme affection +for God, such as the young ruler lacked; and when we look into our +hearts, and find not a particle of supreme love to God in them, ought +we not to repent of this original, this deep-seated, this innate +depravity? This image of God, again, which was lost in our apostasy, +consisted in humble constant trust in God; and when we search our +souls, and perceive that there is nothing of this spirit in them, but on +the contrary a strong and overmastering disposition to trust in +ourselves, and to distrust our Maker, ought not this discovery to waken +in us the very same feeling that Isaiah gave expression to, when he said +that the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint; the very same +feeling that David gave expression to, when he cried: "Behold I was +shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me?" + +This is to repent of original sin, and there is no mystery or absurdity +about it. It is to turn the eye inward, and see what is _lacking_ in our +heart and affections; and not merely what of outward and actual +transgressions we have committed. Those whose idea of moral excellence is +like that of the young ruler; those who suppose holiness to consist +merely in the outward observance of the commandments of the second table; +those who do not look into the depths of their nature, and contrast the +total corruption that is there, with the perfect and positive +righteousness that ought to be there, and that was there by +creation,--all such will find the call of the Creed to repent of original +sin as well as of actual, a perplexity and an impossibility. But every +man who knows that the substance of piety consists in positive and holy +affections,--in holy reverence, love and trust,--and who discovers that +these are wanting in him by nature, though belonging to him by creation, +will mourn in deep contrition and self-abasement over that act of +apostasy by which this great change in human character, this great lack +was brought about. 2. In the second place, it follows from the subject +we have discussed, that every man must, by some method, _recover his +original righteousness, or be ruined forever_. "Without holiness no man +shall see the Lord." No rational creature is fit to appear in the +presence of his Maker, unless he is as pure and perfect as he was +originally made. Holy Adam was prepared by his creation in the image +of God, to hold blessed communion with God, and if he and his posterity +had never lost this image, they would forever be in fellowship with their +Creator and Sovereign. Holiness, and holiness alone, enables the creature +to stand with angelic tranquillity, in the presence of Him before whom +the heavens and the earth flee away. The loss of original righteousness, +therefore, was the loss of the wedding garment; it was the loss of the +only robe in which the creature could appear at the banquet of God. +Suppose that one of the posterity of sinful Adam, destitute of holy love +reverence and faith, lacking positive and perfect righteousness, should +be introduced into the seventh heavens, and there behold the infinite +Jehovah. Would he not feel, with a misery and a shame that could not be +expressed, that he was naked? that he was utterly unfit to appear in such +a Presence? No wonder that our first parents, after their apostasy, felt +that they were unclothed. They were indeed stripped of their character, +and had not a rag of righteousness to cover them. No wonder that they hid +themselves from the intolerable purity and brightness of the Most High. +Previously, they had felt no such emotion. They were "not ashamed," we +are told. And the reason lay in the fact that, before their apostasy, +they were precisely as they were made. They were endowed with the image +of God; and their original righteousness and perfect holiness qualified +them to stand before their Maker, and to hold blessed intercourse with +Him. But the instant they lost their created endowment of holiness, they +were conscious that they lacked that indispensable something wherewith to +appear before God. + +And precisely so is it, with their posterity. Whatever a man's theory of +the future life may be, he must be insane, if he supposes that he is fit +to appear before God, and to enter the society of heaven, if destitute of +holiness, and wanting the Divine image. When the spirit of man returns to +God who gave it, it must return as good as it came from His hands, or it +will be banished from the Divine presence. Every human soul, when it goes +back to its Maker, must carry with it a righteousness, to say the very +least, equal to that in which it was originally created, or it will be +cast out as an unprofitable and wicked servant. _All_ the talents +entrusted must be returned; and returned with usury. A modern philosopher +and poet represents the suicide as justifying the taking of his own life, +upon the ground that he was not asked in the beginning, whether he wanted +life. He had no choice whether he would come into existence or not; +existence was forced upon him; and therefore he had a right to put an end +to it, if he so pleased. To this, the reply is made, that he ought to +return his powers and faculties to the Creator in as _good condition_ as +he received them; that he had no right to mutilate and spoil them by +abuse, and then fling the miserable relics of what was originally a noble +creation, in the face of the Creator. In answer to the suicide's +proposition to give back his spirit to God who gave it, the poet +represents God as saying to him: + + "Is't returned as 'twas sent? Is't no worse for the wear? + Think first what you are! Call to mind what you were! + I gave you innocence, I gave you hope, + Gave health, and genius, and an ample scope. + Return you me guilt, lethargy, despair? + Make out the invent'ry; inspect, compare! + Then die,--if die you dare!"[4] + +Yes, this is true and solemn reasoning. You and I, and every man, must by +some method, or other, go back to God as good as we came forth from Him. +We must regain our original righteousness; we must be reinstated in our +primal relation to God, and our created condition; or there is nothing in +store for us, but the blackness of darkness. We certainly cannot stand in +the judgment clothed with original sin, instead of original +righteousness; full of carnal and selfish affections, instead of pure and +heavenly affections. This great lack, this great vacuum, in our +character, must by some method be filled up with solid, and everlasting +excellencies, or the same finger that wrote, in letters of fire, upon the +wall of the Babylonian monarch, the awful legend: "Thou art weighed in +the balance, and art found wanting," will write it in letters of fire +upon our own rational spirit. + +There is but one method, by which man's original righteousness and +innocency can be regained; and this method you well know. The blood of +Jesus Christ sprinkled by the Holy Ghost, upon your guilty conscience, +reinstates you in innocency. When that is applied, there is no more guilt +upon you, than there was upon Adam the instant he came from the creative +hand. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Who +is he that condemneth, when it is Christ that died, and God that +justifies? And when the same Holy Spirit enters your soul with renewing +power, and carries forward His work of sanctification to its final +completion, your original righteousness returns again, and you are again +clothed in that spotless robe with which your nature was invested, on +that sixth day of creation, when the Lord God said, "Let us make man in +our image, and after our likeness." Ponder these truths, and what is yet +more imperative, _act_ upon them. Remember that you must, by some method, +become a perfect creature, in order to become a blessed creature in +heaven. Without holiness you cannot see the Lord. You must recover the +character which you have lost, and the peace with God in which you were +created. Your spirit, when it returns to God, must by some method be made +equal to what it was when it came forth from Him. And there is no method, +but the method of redemption by the blood and righteousness of Christ. +Men are running to and fro after other methods. The memories of a golden +age, a better humanity than they now know of, haunt them; and they sigh +for the elysium that is gone. One sends you to letters, and culture, for +your redemption. Another tells you that morality, or philosophy, will +lift you again to those paradisaical heights that tower high above your +straining vision. But miserable comforters are they all. No golden age +returns; no peace with God or self is the result of such instrumentality. +The conscience is still perturbed, the forebodings still overhang the +soul like a black cloud, and the heart is as throbbing and restless as +ever. With resoluteness, then, turn away from these inadequate, these +feeble methods, and adopt the method of God Almighty. Turn away with +contempt from human culture, and finite forces, as the instrumentality +for the redemption of the soul which is precious, and which ceaseth +forever if it is unredeemed. Go with confidence, and courage, and a +rational faith, to God Almighty, to God the Redeemer. He hath power. He +is no feeble and finite creature. He waves a mighty weapon, and sweats +great drops of blood; travelling in the greatness of His strength. Hear +His words of calm confidence and power: "Come unto me, all ye that labor +and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." + + +[Footnote 1: The Augustinian doctrine, that the entire human species was +created on the sixth day, existed as a _nature_ (not as individuals) in +the first human pair, acted in and fell with them in the first +transgression, and us thus fallen and vitiated by an act of self-will has +been procreated or individualized, permits the theologian, to say that +all men are equally concerned in the origin of sin, and to charge the +guilt of its origin upon all alike.] + +[Footnote 2: CONFESSION OF FAITH. VI. vi.] + +[Footnote 3: One of the points of difference between the Protestant and +the Papist, when the dogmatic position of each was taken, related to the +guilt of original sin,--the former affirming, and the latter denying. It +is also one of the points of difference between Calvinism and +Arminianism.] + +[Footnote 4: Coleridge; Works, VII. 295.] + + + + +THE APPROBATION OF GOODNESS IS NOT THE LOVE OF IT. + +ROMANS ii. 21--23.--"Thou therefore which, teachest another, teachest +Thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou +steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou +commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? +thou that makest thy boast of the law, through, breaking the law +dishonorest thou God?" + + +The apostle Paul is a very keen and cogent reasoner. Like a powerful +logician who is confident that he has the truth upon his side, and like a +pureminded man who has no sinister ends to gain, he often takes his stand +upon the same ground with his opponent, adopts his positions, and +condemns him out of his own mouth. In the passage from which the text is +taken, he brings the Jew in guilty before God, by employing the Jew's own +claims and statements. "Behold thou art called a Jew, and restest in the +law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the +things that are more excellent, and art confident that thou thyself art a +guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor +of the foolish. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not +thyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou +steal? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law +dishonorest thou God?" As if he had said: "You claim to be one of God's +chosen people, to possess a true knowledge of Him and His law; why do you +not act up to this knowledge? why do you not by your character and +conduct prove the claim to be a valid one?" + +The apostle had already employed this same species of argument against +the Gentile world. In the first chapter of this Epistle to the Romans, +St. Paul demonstrates that the pagan world is justly condemned by God, +because, they too, like the Jew, knew more than they practised. He +affirms that the Greek and Roman world, like the Jewish people, "when +they knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;" that as +"they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over +to a reprobate mind;" and that "knowing the judgment of God, that they +which commit such things" as he had just enumerated in that awful +catalogue of pagan vices "are worthy of death, not only do the same, but +have pleasure in them that do them." The apostle does not for an instant +concede, that the Gentile can put in the plea that he was so entirely +ignorant of the character and law of God, that he ought to be excused +from the obligation to love and obey Him. He expressly affirms that where +there is absolutely no law, and no knowledge of law, there can be no +transgression; and yet affirms that in the day of judgment every mouth +must be stopped, and the whole world must plead guilty before God. It is +indeed true, that he teaches that there is a difference in the degrees of +knowledge which the Jew and the Gentile respectively possess. The light +of revealed religion, in respect to man's duty and obligations, is far +clearer than the light of nature, and increases the responsibilities of +those who enjoy it, and the condemnation of those who abuse it; but the +light of nature is clear and true as far as it goes, and is enough to +condemn every soul outside of the pale of Revelation. For, in the day of +judgment, there will not be a single human creature who can look his +Judge in the eye, and say: "I acted up to every particle of moral light +that I enjoyed; I never thought a thought, felt a feeling, or did a deed, +for which my conscience reproached me." + +It follows from this, that the language of the apostle, in the text, may +be applied to every man. The argument that has force for the Jew has +force for the Gentile. "Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not +thyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou +steal?" You who know the character and claims of God, and are able to +state them to another, why do you not revere and obey them in your own +person? You who approve of the law of God as pure and perfect, why do you +not conform your own heart and conduct to it? You who perceive the +excellence of piety in another, you who praise and admire moral +excellence in your fellow-man, why do you not seek after it, and toil +after it in your own heart? In paying this tribute of approbation to the +character of a God whom you do not yourself love and serve, and to a +piety in your neighbor which you do not yourself possess and cultivate, +are you not writing down your own condemnation? How can you stand before +the judgment-seat of God, after having in this manner confessed through +your whole life upon earth that God is good, and His law is perfect, and +yet through that whole life have gone counter to your own confession, +neither loving that God, nor obeying that law? "To him that knoweth to do +good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James iv. 17.) + +The text then, together with the chains of reasoning that are connected +with it, leads us to consider the fact, that a man may admire and praise +moral excellence without possessing or practising it himself; that _the +approbation of goodness is not the same as the love of it_.[1] + +I. This is proved, in the first place, from the _testimony_ of both God +and man. The assertions and reasonings of the apostle Paul have already +been alluded to, and there are many other passages of Scripture which +plainly imply that men may admire and approve of a virtue which they do +not practise. Indeed, the language of our Lord respecting the Scribes and +Pharisees, may be applied to disobedient mankind at large: "Whatsoever +they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do ye not after their +works: for they say, and do not." (Matt, xxiii. 3.) The testimony of man +is equally explicit. That is a very remarkable witness which the poet +Ovid bears to this truth. "I see the right,"--he says,--"and approve of +it, but I follow and practise the wrong." This is the testimony of a +profligate man of pleasure, in whom the light of nature had been greatly +dimmed in the darkness of sin and lust. But he had not succeeded in +annihilating his conscience, and hence, in a sober hour, he left upon +record his own damnation. He expressly informed the whole cultivated +classical world, who were to read his polished numbers, that he that had +taught others had not taught himself; that he who had said that a man +should not commit adultery had himself committed adultery; that an +educated Roman who never saw the volume of inspiration, and never heard +of either Moses or Christ, nevertheless approved of and praised a virtue +that he never put in practice. And whoever will turn to the pages of +Horace, a kindred spirit to Ovid both in respect to a most exquisite +taste and a most refined earthliness, will frequently find the same +confession breaking out. Nay, open the volumes of Rousseau, and even of +Voltaire, and read their panegyrics of virtue, their eulogies of +goodness. What are these, but testimonies that they, too, saw the right +and did the wrong. It is true, that the eulogy is merely sentimentalism, +and is very different from the sincere and noble tribute which a good man +renders to goodness. Still, it is valid testimony to the truth that the +mere approbation of goodness is not the love of it. It is true, that +these panegyrics of virtue, when read in the light of Rousseau's +sensuality and Voltaire's malignity, wear a dead and livid hue, like +objects seen in the illumination from phosphorus or rotten wood; yet, +nevertheless, they are visible and readable, and testify as distinctly as +if they issued from elevated and noble natures, that the teachings of +man's conscience are not obeyed by man's heart,--that a man may praise +and admire virtue, while he loves and practises vice. + +II. A second proof that the approbation of goodness is not the love of it +is found in the fact, that _it is impossible not to approve of goodness_, +while it is possible not to love it. The structure of man's conscience is +such, that he can commend only the right; but the nature of his will is +such, that he may be conformed to the right or the wrong. The conscience +can give only one judgment; but the heart and will are capable of two +kinds of affection, and two courses of action. Every rational creature is +shut up, by his moral sense, to but one moral conviction. He must approve +the right and condemn the wrong. He cannot approve the wrong and condemn +the right; any more than he can perceive that two and two make five. The +human conscience is a rigid and stationary faculty. Its voice may be +stifled or drowned, for a time; but it can never be made to titter two +discordant voices. It is for this reason, that the approbation of +goodness is necessary and universal. Wicked men and wicked angels must +testify that benevolence is right, and malevolence is wrong; though they +hate the former, and love the latter. + +But it is not so with the human _will_. This is not a rigid and +stationary faculty. It is capable of turning this way, and that way. It +was created holy, and it turned from holiness to sin, in Adam's +apostasy. And now, under the operation of the Divine Spirit, it turns +back again, it _converts_ from sin to holiness. The will of man is thus +capable of two courses of action, while his conscience is capable of only +one judgment; and hence he can see and approve the right, yet love and +practise the wrong. If a man's conscience changed along with his heart +and his will, so that when he began to love and practise sin, he at the +same time began to approve of sin, the case would be different. If, when +Adam apostatised from God, his conscience at that moment began to take +sides with his sin, instead of condemning it, then, indeed, neither Ovid, +nor Horace, nor Rousseau, nor any other one of Adam's posterity, would +have been able to say: "I see the right and _approve_ of it, while I +follow the wrong." But it was not so. After apostasy, the conscience of +Adam passed the same judgment upon sin that it did before. Adam heard its +terrible voice speaking in concert with the voice of God, and hid +himself. He never succeeded in bringing his conscience over to the side +of his heart and will, and neither has any one of his posterity. It is +impossible to do this. Satan himself, after millenniums of sin, still +finds that his conscience, that the accusing and condemning law written +on the heart, is too strong for him to alter, too rigid for him to bend. +The utmost that either he, or any creature, can do, is to drown its +verdict for a time in other sounds, only to hear the thunder-tones again, +waxing longer and louder like the trumpet of Sinai. + +Having thus briefly shown that the approbation of goodness is not the +love of it, we proceed to draw some conclusions from the truth. + +1. In the first place, it follows from this subject, that _the mere +workings of conscience are no proof of holiness_. When, after the +commission of a wrong act, the soul of a man is filled with +self-reproach, he must not take it for granted that this is the stirring of +a better nature within him, and is indicative of some remains of original +righteousness. This reaction of conscience against his disobedience +of law is as necessary, and unavoidable, as the action of his eyelids +under the blaze of noon, and is worthy neither of praise nor blame, so +far as he is concerned. It does not imply any love for holiness, or any +hatred of sin. Nay, it may exist without any sorrow for sin, as in the +instance of the hardened transgressor who writhes under its awful power, +but never sheds a penitential tear, or sends up a sigh for mercy. The +distinction between the human conscience, and the human heart, is as wide +as between the human intellect, and the human heart.[2] We never think of +confounding the functions and operations of the understanding with +those of the heart. We know that an idea or a conception, is totally +different from an emotion, or a feeling. How often do we remark, that a +man may have an intellectual perception, without any correspondent +experience or feeling in his heart. How continually does the preacher +urge his hearers to bring their hearts into harmony with their +understandings, so that their intellectual orthodoxy may become their +practical piety. + +Now, all this is true of the distinction between the conscience and the +heart. The conscience is an _intellectual_ faculty, and by that better +elder philosophy which comprehended all the powers of the soul under the +two general divisions of understanding and will, would be placed in the +domain of the understanding. Conscience is a _light_, as we so often call +it. It is not a _life_; it is not a source of life. No man's heart and +will can be renewed or changed by his conscience. Conscience is simply a +law. Conscience is merely legislative; it is never executive. It simply +says to the heart and will: "Do thus, feel thus," but it gives no +assistance, and imparts no inclination to obey its own command. + +Those, therefore, commit a grave error both in philosophy and religion, +who confound the conscience with the heart, and suppose that because +there is in every man self-reproach and remorse after the commission of +sin, therefore there is the germ of holiness within him. Holiness is +_love_, the positive affection of the heart. It is a matter of the heart +and the will. But this remorse is purely an affair of the conscience, and +the heart has no connection with it. Nay, it appears in its most intense +form, in those beings whose feelings emotions and determinations are in +utmost opposition to God and goodness. The purest remorse in the universe +is to be found in those wretched beings whose emotional and active +powers, whose heart and will, are in the most bitter hostility to truth +and righteousness. How, then, can the mere reproaches and remorse of +conscience be regarded as evidence of piety? + +2. But, we may go a step further than this, though in the same general +direction, and remark, in the second place, that _elevated moral +sentiments are no certain proof of piety toward God and man_. These, too, +like remorse of conscience, spring out of the intellectual structure, and +may exist without any affectionate love of God in the heart. There is a +species of nobleness and beauty in moral excellence that makes an +involuntary and unavoidable impression. When the Christian martyr seals +his devotion to God and truth with his blood; when a meek and lowly +disciple of Christ clothes his life of poverty, and self-denial, with a +daily beauty greater than that of the lilies or of Solomon's array; when +the poor widow with feeble and trembling steps comes up to the treasury +of the Lord, and casts in all her living; when any pure and spiritual act +is performed out of solemn and holy love of God and man, it is impossible +not to be filled with sentiments of admiration, and oftentimes, with an +enthusiastic glow of soul. We see this in the impression which the +character of Christ universally makes. There are multitudes of men, to +whom that wonderful sinless life shines aloft like a star. But they do +not _imitate_ it. They admire it, but they do not love it.[3] The +spiritual purity and perfection of the Son of God rays out a beauty which +really attracts their cultivated minds, and their refined taste; but when +He says to them: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek +and lowly of heart; take up thy cross daily and follow me;" they turn +away sorrowful, like the rich young man in the Gospel,--sorrowful, +because their sentiments like his are elevated, and they have a certain +awe of eternal things, and know that religion is the highest concern; and +sorrowful, because their hearts and wills are still earthly, there is no +divine love in their souls, self is still their centre, and the +self-renunciation that is required of them is repulsive. Religion is +submission,--absolute submission to God,--and no amount of mere +admiration of religion can be a substitute for it. + +As a thoughtful observer looks abroad over society, he sees a very +interesting class who are not far from the kingdom of God; who, +nevertheless, are not _within_ that kingdom, and who, therefore, if they +remain where they are, are as certainly lost as if they were at an +infinite distance from the kingdom. The homely proverb applies to them: +"A miss is as good as a mile." They are those who suppose that elevated +moral sentiments, an aesthetic pleasure in noble acts or noble truths, a +glow and enthusiasm of the soul at the sight or the recital of examples +of Christian virtue and Christian grace, a disgust at the gross and +repulsive forms and aspects of sin,--that such merely intellectual and +aesthetic experiences as these are piety itself. All these may be in the +soul, without any godly sorrow over sin, any cordial trust in Christ's +blood, any self-abasement before God, any daily conflict with indwelling +corruption, any daily cross-bearing and toil for Christ's dear sake. +These latter, constitute the essence of the Christian experience, and +without them that whole range of elevated sentiments and amiable +qualities, to which we have alluded, only ministers to the condemnation +instead of the salvation of the soul. For, the question of the text comes +home with solemn force, to all such persons. "Thou that makest thy boast +of the law, through breaking of the law, dishonorest thou God?" If the +beauty of virtue, and the grandeur of truth, and the sublimity of +invisible things, have been able to make such an impression upon your +intellects, and your tastes,--upon that part of your constitution which +is fixed and stationary, which responds organically to such objects, and +which is not the seat of moral character,--then why is there not a +corresponding influence and impression made by them upon your heart? If +you can admire and praise them, in this style, why do you not _love_ +them? Why is it, that when the character of Christ bows your intellect, +it does not bend your will, and sway your affections? Must there not be +an inveterate opposition and resistance in the _heart_? in the heart +which can refuse submission to such high claims, when so distinctly seen? +in the heart which can refuse to take the yoke, and learn of a Teacher +who has already made such an impression upon the conscience and the +understanding? + +The human heart is, as the prophet affirms, _desperately_ wicked, +_desperately_ selfish. And perhaps its self-love is never more plainly +seen, than in such instances as those of that moral and cultivated young +man mentioned in the Gospel, and that class in modern society who +correspond to him. Nowhere is the difference between the approbation of +goodness, and the love of it, more apparent. In these instances the +approbation is of a high order. It is refined and sublimated by culture +and taste. It is not stained by the temptations of low life, and gross +sin. If there ever could be a case, in which the intellectual approbation +of goodness would develop and pass over into the affectionate and hearty +love of it, we should expect to find it here. But it is not found. The +young man goes away,--sorrowful indeed,--but he goes away from the +Redeemer of the world, _never to return_. The amiable, the educated, the +refined, pass on from year to year, and, so far as the evangelic sorrow, +and the evangelic faith are concerned, like the dying Beaufort depart to +judgment making no sign. We hear their praises of Christian men, and +Christian graces, and Christian actions; we enjoy the grand and swelling +sentiments with which, perhaps, they enrich the common literature of the +world; but we never hear them cry: "God be merciful to me a sinner; O +Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant me thy peace; +Thou, O God, art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." + +3. In the third place, it follows from this subject, that in order to +holiness in man there must be a change in his _heart and will_. If our +analysis is correct, no possible modification of either his conscience, +or his intellect, would produce holiness. Holiness is an affection of the +heart, and an inclination of the will. It is the love and practice of +goodness, and not the mere approbation and admiration of it. Now, suppose +that the conscience should be stimulated to the utmost, and remorse +should be produced until it filled the soul to overflowing, would there +be in this any of that gentle and blessed affection for God and goodness, +that heartfelt love of them, which is the essence of religion? Or, +suppose that the intellect merely were impressed by the truth, and very +clear perceptions of the Christian system and of the character and claims +of its Author were imparted, would the result be any different? If the +_heart_ and _will_ were unaffected; if the influences and impressions +were limited merely to the conscience and the understanding; would not +the seat of the difficulty still be untouched? The command is not: "Give +me thy conscience," but, "Give me thy _heart_." + +Hence, that regeneration of which our Lord speaks in his discourse with +Nicodemus is not a radical change of the conscience, but of the _will_ +and _affections_. We have already seen that the conscience cannot undergo +a radical change. It can never be made to approve what it once condemned, +and to condemn what it once approved. It is the stationary legislative +faculty, and is, of necessity, always upon the side of law and of God. +Hence, the apostle Paul sought to commend the truth which he preached, to +every man's conscience, knowing that every man's conscience was with him. +The conscience, therefore, does not need to be converted, that is to say, +made opposite to what it is. It is indeed greatly stimulated, and +rendered vastly more energetic, by the regeneration of the heart; but +this is not radically to alter it. This is to develop and educate the +conscience; and when holiness is implanted in the will and affections, by +the grace of the Spirit, we find that both the conscience and +understanding are wonderfully unfolded and strengthened. But they undergo +no revolution or conversion. The judgments of the conscience are the same +after regeneration, that they were before; only more positive and +emphatic. The convictions of the understanding continue, as before, to be +upon the side of truth; only they are more clear and powerful. + +The radical change, therefore, must be wrought in the heart and will. +These are capable of revolutions and radical changes. They can apostatise +in Adam, and be regenerated in Christ. They are not immovably fixed and +settled, by their constitutional structure, in only one way. They have +once turned from holiness to sin; and now they must be turned back again +from sin to holiness. They must become exactly contrary to what they now +are. The heart must love what it now hates, and must hate what it now +loves. The will must incline to what it now disinclines, and disincline +to what it now inclines. But this is a radical change, a total change, an +entire revolution. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature, +in his will and affections, in his inclination and disposition. While, +therefore, the conscience must continue to give the same old everlasting +testimony as before, and never reverse its judgments in the least, the +affections and will, the pliant, elastic, plastic part of man, the seat +of vitality, of emotion, the seat of character, the fountain out of which +proceed the evil thoughts or the good thoughts,--this executive, emotive, +responsible part of man, must be reversed, converted, radically changed +into its own contrary. + +So long, therefore, as this change remains to be effected in an +individual, there is and can be no _holiness_ within him,--none of that +holiness without which no man can see the Lord. There may be within him a +very active and reproaching conscience; there may be intellectual +orthodoxy and correctness in religious convictions; he may cherish +elevated moral sentiments, and many attractive qualities springing out of +a cultivated taste and a jealous self-respect may appear in his +character; but unless he _loves_ God and man out of a pure heart +fervently, and unless his will is entirely and sweetly submissive to the +Divine will, so that he can say: "Father not my will, but thine be done," +he is still a natural man. He is still destitute of the spiritual mind, +and to him it must be said, as it was to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born +again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The most important side of his +being is still alienated from God. The heart with its affections; the +will with its immense energies,--the entire active and emotive portions +of his nature,--are still earthly, unsubmissive, selfish, and sinful. + +4. In the fourth, and last place, we see from this subject _the necessity +of the operation of the Holy Spirit, in order to holiness in man_. + +There is no part of man's complex being which is less under his own +control, than his own will, and his own affections. This he discovers, as +soon as he attempts to _convert_ them; as soon as he tries to produce a +radical change in them. Let a man whose will, from centre to +circumference, is set upon self and the world, attempt to reverse it, and +set it with the same strength and energy upon God and heaven, and he will +know that his will is too strong for him, and that he cannot overcome +himself. Let a man whose affections cleave like those of Dives to earthly +good, and find their sole enjoyment in earthly pleasures, attempt to +change them into their own contraries, so that they shall cleave to God, +and take a real delight in heavenly things,--let a carnal man try to +revolutionize himself into a spiritual man,--and he will discover that +the affections and feelings of his heart are beyond his control. And the +reason of this is plain. The affections and will of a man show what he +_loves_, and what he is _inclined_ to. A sinful man cannot, therefore, +overcome his sinful love and inclination, because he cannot _make a +beginning_. The instant he attempts to love God, he finds his love of +himself in the way. This new love for a new object, which he proposes to +originate within himself, is prevented by an old love, which already has +possession. This new inclination to heaven and Divine things is precluded +by an old inclination, very strong and very set, to earth and earthly +things. There is therefore no _starting-point,_ in this affair of +self-conversion. He proposes, and he tries, to think a holy thought, but +there is a sinful thought already in the mind. He attempts to start out a +Christian grace,--say the grace of humility,--but the feeling of pride +already stands in the way, and, what is more, remains in the way. He +tries to generate that supreme love of God, of which he has heard so +much, but the supreme love of himself is ahead of him, and occupies the +whole ground. In short, he is baffled at every point in this attempt +radically to change his own heart and will, because at every point this +heart and will are already committed and determined. Go down as low as he +pleases, he finds sin,--_love_ of sin, and _inclination_ to sin. He never +reaches a point where these cease; and therefore never reaches a point +where he can begin a new love, and a new inclination. The late Mr. +Webster was once engaged in a law case, in which he had to meet, upon the +opposing side, the subtle and strong understanding of Jeremiah Mason. In +one of his conferences with his associate counsel, a difficult point to +be managed came to view. After some discussion, without satisfactory +results, respecting the best method of handling the difficulty, one of +his associates suggested that the point might after all, escape the +notice of the opposing counsel. To this, Mr. Webster replied: "Not so; go +down as deep as you will, you will find Jeremiah Mason below you." +Precisely so in the case of which we are speaking. Go down as low as you +please into your heart and will, you will find your _self_ below you; you +will find sin not only lying at the door, but lying in the way. If you +move in the line of your feelings and affections, you will find earthly +feelings and affections ever below you. If you move in the line of your +choice and inclination, you will find a sinful choice and inclination +ever below you. In chasing your sin through the avenues of your fallen +and corrupt soul, you are chasing your horizon; in trying to get clear of +it by your own isolated and independent strength, you are attempting +(to use the illustration of Goethe, who however employed it for a false +purpose) to jump off your own shadow. + +This, then, is the reason why the heart and will of a sinful man are so +entirely beyond his own control. They are _preoccupied_ and +_predetermined_, and therefore he cannot make a beginning in the +direction of holiness. If he attempts to put forth a holy determination, +he finds a sinful one already made and making,--and this determination is +_his_ determination, unforced, responsible and guilty. If he tries to +start out a holy emotion, he finds a sinful emotion already beating and +rankling,--and this emotion is _his_ emotion, unforced, responsible, +and guilty. There is no physical necessity resting upon him. Nothing but +this love of sin and inclination to self stands in the way of a supreme +love of God and holiness; but _it stands in the way._ Nothing but the +sinful affection of the heart prevents a man from exercising a holy +affection; but _it prevents him effectually_. An evil tree cannot bring +forth good fruit; a sinful love and inclination cannot convert itself +into a holy love and inclination; Satan cannot cast out Satan. + +There is need therefore of a Divine operation to renew, to radically +change, the heart and will. If they cannot renew themselves, they must +_be_ renewed; and there is no power that can reach them but that +mysterious energy of the Holy Spirit which like the wind bloweth where it +listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh +or whither it goeth. The condition of the human heart is utterly +hopeless, were it not for the promised influences of the Holy Ghost to +regenerate it. + +There are many reflections suggested by this subject; for it has a wide +reach, and would carry us over vast theological spaces, should we attempt +to exhaust it. We close with the single remark, that it should be man's +first and great aim _to obtain the new heart_. Let him seek this first of +all, and all things else will be added unto him. It matters not how +active your conscience may be, how clear and accurate your intellectual +convictions of truth may be, how elevated may be your moral sentiments +and your admiration of virtue, if you are destitute of an _evangelical +experience_. Of what value will all these be in the day of judgment, +if you have never sorrowed for sin, never appropriated the atonement for +sin, and never been inwardly sanctified? Our Lord says to every man: +"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or else make the tree +corrupt, and its fruit corrupt." The _tree itself_ must be made good. +The heart and will themselves must be renewed. These are the root and +stock into which everything else is grafted; and so long as they remain +in their apostate natural condition, the man is sinful and lost, do +what else he may. It is indeed true, that such a change as this is beyond +your power to accomplish. With man it is impossible; but with God +it is a possibility, and a reality. It has actually been wrought in +thousands of wills, as stubborn as yours; in millions of hearts, as +worldly and selfish as yours. We commend you, therefore, to the Person +and Work of the Holy Spirit. We remind you, that He is able to renovate +and sweetly incline the obstinate will, to soften and spiritualize the +flinty heart. He saith: "I will put a new spirit within you; and I will +take the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you an heart of +flesh; that ye may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do +them; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." Do not listen +to these declarations and promises of God supinely; but arise and +earnestly _plead_ them. Take words upon your lips, and go before God. Say +unto Him: "I am the clay, be _thou_ the potter. Behold thou desirest +truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts _thou_ shalt make me +to know wisdom. I will run in the way of thy commandments, when _thou_ +shalt enlarge my heart. Create within me a clean heart, O God, and renew +within me a right spirit." _Seek_ for the new heart. _Ask_ for the new +heart. _Knock_ for the new heart. "For, if ye, being evil, know how to +give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly +Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." And in giving the Holy +Spirit, He gives the new heart, with all that is included in it, and all +that issues from it. + + +[Footnote 1: See, upon this whole subject of conscience as distinguished +from will, and of amiable instincts as distinguished from holiness, the +profound and discriminating views of EDWARDS: The Nature of Virtue, +Chapters v. vi. vii.] + +[Footnote 2: Compare, on this distinction, the AUTHOR'S' Discourses and +Essays, p. 284 sq.] + +[Footnote 3: The reader will recall the celebrated panegyric upon Christ +by Rousseau.] + + + + +THE USE OF FEAR IN RELIGION. + +PROVERBS ix. 10.--"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Luke +xii. 4, 5.--"And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that +kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will +forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed +hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." + + +The place which the feeling of fear ought to hold in the religious +experience of mankind is variously assigned. Theories of religion are +continually passing from one extreme to another, according as they +magnify or disparage this emotion. Some theological schools are +distinguished for their severity, and others for their sentimentalism. +Some doctrinal systems fail to grasp the mercy of God with as much vigor +and energy as they do the Divine justice, while others melt down +everything that is scriptural and self-consistent, and flow along vaguely +in an inundation of unprincipled emotions and sensibilities. + +The same fact meets us in the experience of the individual. We either +fear too much, or too little. Having obtained glimpses of the Divine +compassion, how prone is the human heart to become indolent and +self-indulgent, and to relax something of that earnest effort with which +it had begun to pluck out the offending right eye. Or, having felt the +power of the Divine anger; having obtained clear conceptions of the +intense aversion of God towards moral evil; even the child of God +sometimes lives under a cloud, because he does not dare to make a right +use of this needed and salutary impression, and pass back to that +confiding trust in the Divine pity which is his privilege and his +birth-right, as one who has been sprinkled with atoning blood. + +It is plain, from the texts of Scripture placed at the head of this +discourse, that the feeling and principle of fear is a legitimate one.[1] +In these words of God himself, we are taught that it is the font and +origin of true wisdom, and are commanded to be inspired by it. The Old +Testament enjoins it, and the New Testament repeats and emphasizes the +injunction; so that the total and united testimony of Revelation forbids +a religion that is destitute of fear. + +The New Dispensation is sometimes set in opposition to the Old, and +Christ is represented as teaching a less rigid morality than that of +Moses and the prophets. But the mildness of Christ is not seen, +certainly, in the ethical and preceptive part of His religion. The Sermon +on the Mount is a more searching code of morals than the ten +commandments. It cuts into human depravity with a more keen and terrible +edge, than does the law proclaimed amidst thunderings and lightnings. +Let us see if it does not. The Mosaic statute simply says to man: "Thou +shalt not kill." But the re-enactment of this statute, by incarnate +Deity, is accompanied with an explanation and an emphasis that precludes +all misapprehension and narrow construction of the original law, and +renders it a two-edged sword that pierces to the dividing asunder of soul +and spirit. When the Hebrew legislator says to me: "Thou shalt not kill," +it is possible for me, with my propensity to look upon the outward +appearance, and to regard the external act alone, to deem myself innocent +if I have never actually murdered a fellow-being. But when the Lord of +glory tells me that "whosoever is angry with his brother" is in danger +of the judgment, my mouth is stopped, and it is impossible for me to +cherish a conviction of personal innocency, in respect to the sixth +commandment. And the same is true of the seventh commandment, and the +eighth commandment, and of all the statutes in the decalogue. He who +reads, and ponders, the whole Sermon on the Mount, is painfully conscious +that Christ has put a meaning into the Mosaic law that renders it a far +more effective instrument of mental torture, for the guilty, than it is +as it stands in the Old Testament. The lightnings are concentrated. The +bolts are hurled with a yet more sure and deadly aim. The new meaning is +a perfectly legitimate and logical deduction, and in this sense there is +no difference between the Decalogue and the Sermon,--between the ethics +of the Old and the ethics of the New Testament. But, so much more +spiritual is the application, and so much more searching is the reach of +the statute, in the last of the two forms of its statement, that it looks +almost like a new proclamation of law. + +Our Lord did not intend, or pretend, to teach a milder ethics, or an +easier virtue, on the Mount of Beatitudes, than that which He had taught +fifteen centuries before on Mt. Sinai. He indeed pronounces a blessing; +and so did Moses, His servant, before Him. But in each instance, it is a +blessing upon condition of obedience; which, in both instances, involves +a curse upon disobedience. He who is meek shall be blest; but he who is +not shall be condemned. He who is pure in heart, he who is poor in +spirit, he who mourns over personal unworthiness, he who hungers and +thirsts after a righteousness of which he is destitute, he who is +merciful, he who is the peace-maker, he who endures persecution +patiently, and he who loves his enemies,--he who is and does all this in +a perfect manner, without a single slip or failure, is indeed blessed +with the beatitude of God. But where is the man? What single individual +in all the ages, and in all the generations since Adam, is entitled to +the great blessing of these beatitudes, and not deserving of the dreadful +curse which they involve? In applying such a high, ethereal test to human +character, the Founder of Christianity is the severest and sternest +preacher of law that has ever trod upon the planet. And he who stops with +the merely ethical and preceptive part of Christianity, and rejects its +forgiveness through atoning blood, and its regeneration by an indwelling +Spirit,--he who does not unite the fifth chapter of Matthew, with the +fifth chapter of Romans,--converts the Lamb of God into the Lion of the +tribe of Judah. He makes use of everything in the Christian system that +condemns man to everlasting destruction, but throws away the very and the +only part of it that takes off the burden and the curse. + +It is not, then, a correct idea of Christ that we have, when we look upon +Him as unmixed complacency and unbalanced compassion. In all aspects, +He was a complex personage. He was God, and He was man. As God, He could +pronounce a blessing; and He could pronounce a curse, as none but God +can, or dare. As man, He was perfect; and into His perfection of feeling +and of character there entered those elements that fill a good being with +peace, and an evil one with woe. The Son of God exhibits goodness and +severity mingled and blended in perfect and majestic harmony; and that +man lacks sympathy with Jesus Christ who cannot, while feeling the purest +and most unselfish indignation towards the sinner's sin, at the same time +give up his own individual life, if need be, for the sinner's soul. The +two feelings are not only compatible in the same person, but necessarily +belong to a perfect being. Our Lord breathed out a prayer for His +murderers so fervent, and so full of pathos, that it will continue to +soften and melt the flinty human heart, to the end of time; and He also +poured out a denunciation of woes upon the Pharisees (Matt, xxiii.), +every syllable of which is dense enough with the wrath of God, to sink +the deserving objects of it "plumb down, ten thousand fathoms deep, to +bottomless perdition in adamantine chains and penal fire." The +utterances, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do: Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?" both fell from the same pure and gracious lips. + +It is not surprising, therefore, that our Lord often appeals to the +principle of fear. He makes use of it in all its various forms,--from +that servile terror which is produced by the truth when the soul is +just waked up from its drowze in sin, to that filial fear which Solomon +affirms to be the beginning of wisdom. + +The subject thus brought before our minds, by the inspired Word, has a +wide application to all ages and conditions of human life, and all +varieties of human character. We desire to direct attention to _the use +and value of religious fear, in the opening periods of human life_. There +are some special reasons why youth and early manhood should come +under the influence of this powerful feeling. "I write unto you young +men,"--says St. John,--"because ye are _strong_." We propose to urge upon +the young, the duty of cultivating the fear of God's displeasure, because +they are able to endure the emotion; because youth is the springtide and +prime of human life, and capable of carrying burdens, and standing up +under influences and impressions, that might crush a feebler period, or a +more exhausted stage of the human soul. + +I. In the first place, the emotion of fear ought to enter into the +consciousness of the young, because _youth is naturally light-hearted_. +"Childhood and youth," saith the Preacher, "are vanity." The opening +period in human life is the happiest part of it, if we have respect +merely to the condition and circumstances in which the human being is +placed. He is free from all public cares, and responsibilities. He is +encircled within the strong arms of parents, and protectors. Even if he +tries, he cannot feel the pressure of those toils and anxieties which +will come of themselves, when he has passed the line that separates youth +from manhood. When he hears his elders discourse of the weight, and the +weariness, of this working-day world, it is with incredulity and +surprise. The world is bright before his eye, and he wonders that it +should ever wear any other aspect. He cannot understand how the +freshness, and vividness, and pomp of human life, should shift into its +soberer and sterner forms; and he will not, until the + + "Shades of the prison-house begin to close + Upon the growing Boy."[2] + +Now there is something, in this happy attitude of things, to fill the +heart of youth with gayety and abandonment. His pulses beat strong and +high. The currents of his soul flow like the mountain river. His mood is +buoyant and jubilant, and he flings himself with zest, and a sense of +vitality, into the joy and exhilaration all around him. But such a mood +as this, unbalanced and untempered by a loftier one, is hazardous to the +eternal interests of the soul. Perpetuate this gay festal abandonment +of the mind; let the human being, through the whole of his earthly +course, be filled with the sole single consciousness that _this_ is the +beautiful world; and will he, can he, live as a stranger and a pilgrim +in it? Perpetuate that vigorous pulse, and that youthful blood which +"runs tickling up and down the veins;" drive off, and preclude, all that +care and responsibility which renders human life so earnest; and will the +young immortal go through it, with that sacred fear and trembling with +which he is commanded to work out his salvation? + +Yet, this buoyancy and light-heartedness are legitimate feelings. They +spring up, like wild-flowers, from the very nature of man. God intends +that prismatic hues and auroral lights shall flood our morning sky. He +must be filled with a sour and rancid misanthropy, who cannot bless the +Creator that there is one part of man's sinful and cursed life which +reminds of the time, and the state, when there was no sin and no curse. +There is, then, to be no extermination of this legitimate experience. +But there is to be its moderation and its regulation. + +And this we get, by the introduction of the feeling and the principle of +religious fear. The youth ought to seek an impression from things unseen +and eternal. God, and His august attributes; Christ, and His awful +Passion; heaven, with its sacred scenes and joys; hell, with its just woe +and wail,--all these should come in, to modify, and temper, the jubilance +that without them becomes the riot of the soul. For this, we apprehend, +is the meaning of our Lord, when He says, "I will forewarn you whom ye +shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into +hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." It is not so much any particular +species of fear that we are shut up to, by these words, as it is the +general habit and feeling. The fear of _hell_ is indeed specified,--and +this proves that such a fear is rational and proper in its own +place,--but our Lord would not have us stop with this single and isolated +form of the feeling. He recommends a solemn temper. He commands +a being who stands continually upon the brink of eternity and immensity, +to be aware of his position. He would have the great shadow of eternity +thrown in upon time. He desires that every man should realize, in those +very moments when the sun shines the brightest and the earth looks the +fairest, that there is another world than this, for which man is not +naturally prepared, and for which he must make a preparation. And what He +enjoins upon mankind at large, He specially enjoins upon youth. They need +to be sobered more than others. The ordinary cares of this life, which do +so much towards moderating our desires and aspirations, have not yet +pressed upon the ardent and expectant soul, and therefore it needs, more +than others, to fear and to "stand in awe." + +II. Secondly, youth is _elastic, and readily recovers from undue +depression_. The skeptical Lucretius tells us that the divinities are the +creatures of man's fears, and would make us believe that all religion has +its ground in fright.[3] And do we not hear this theory repeated by the +modern unbeliever? What means this appeal to a universal, and an +unprincipled good-nature in the Supreme Being, and this rejection of +everything in Christianity that awakens misgivings and forebodings within +the sinful human soul? Why this opposition to the doctrine of an +absolute, and therefore endless punishment, unless it be that it awakens +a deep and permanent dread in the heart of guilty man? + +Now, we are not of that number who believe that thoughtless and lethargic +man has been greatly damaged by his moral fears. It is the lack of a +bold and distinct impression from the solemn objects of another world, +and the utter absence of fear, that is ruining man from generation to +generation. If we were at liberty, and had the power, to induce into the +thousands and millions of our race who are running the rounds of sin and +vice, some one particular emotion that should be medicinal and salutary +to the soul, we would select that very one which our Lord had in view +when He said: "I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which +after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, +Fear him." If we were at liberty, and had the power, we would +instantaneously stop these human souls that are crowding our avenues, +intent only upon pleasure and earth, and would fill them with the +emotions of the day of doom; we would deluge them with the fear of God, +that they might flee from their sins and the wrath to come. + +But while we say this, we also concede that it is possible for the human +soul to be injured, by the undue exercise of this emotion. The bruised +reed may be broken, and the smoking flax may be quenched; and hence it is +the very function and office-work of the Blessed Comforter, to prevent +this. God's own children sometimes pass through a horror of great +darkness, like that which enveloped Abraham; and the unregenerate mind is +sometimes so overborne by its fears of death, judgment, and eternity, +that the entire experience becomes for a time morbid and confused. Yet, +even in this instance, the excess is better than the lack. We had better +travel this road to heaven, than none at all. It is better to enter into +the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into +hell-fire. When the saints from the heavenly heights look back upon their +severe religious experience here on earth,--upon their footprints stained +with their own blood,--they count it a small matter that they entered +into eternal joy through much tribulation. And if we could but for one +instant take their position, we should form their estimate; we should not +shrink, if God so pleased, from passing through that martyrdom and +crucifixion which has been undergone by so many of those gentle spirits, +broken spirits, holy spirits, upon whom the burden of mystery once lay +like night, and the far heavier burden of guilt lay like hell. + +There is less danger, however, that the feeling and principle of fear +should exert an excessive influence upon youth. There is an elasticity, +in the earlier periods of human life, that prevents long-continued +depression. How rare it is to see a young person smitten with insanity. +It is not until the pressure of anxiety has been long continued, +and the impulsive spring of the soul has been destroyed, that reason is +dethroned. The morning of our life may, therefore, be subjected to a +subduing and repressing influence, with very great safety. It is well to +bear the yoke in youth. The awe produced by a vivid impression from the +eternal world may enter into the exuberant and gladsome experience of the +young, with very little danger of actually extinguishing it, and +rendering life permanently gloomy and unhappy. + +III. Thirdly, youth is _exposed to sudden temptations, and surprisals +into sin_. The general traits that have been mentioned as belonging to +the early period in human life render it peculiarly liable to +solicitations. The whole being of a healthful hilarious youth, who feels +life in every limb, thrills to temptation, like the lyre to the plectrum. +Body and soul are alive to all the enticements of the world of sense; and +in certain critical moments, the entire sensorium, upon the approach of +bold and powerful excitements, flutters and trembles like an electrometer +in a thunder-storm. All passionate poetry breathes of youth and spring. +Most of the catastrophes of the novel and the drama turn upon the violent +action of some temptation, upon the highly excitable nature of youth. All +literature testifies to the hazards that attend the morning of our +existence; and daily experience and observation, certainly, corroborate +the testimony. It becomes necessary, therefore, to guard the human soul +against these liabilities which attend it in its forming period. And, +next to a deep and all-absorbing _love_ of God, there is nothing so well +adapted to protect against sudden surprisals, as a profound and definite +fear of God. + +It is a great mistake, to suppose that apostate and corrupt beings like +ourselves can pass through all the temptations of this life unscathed, +while looking _solely_ at the pleasant aspects of the Divine Being, and +the winning forms of religious truth. We are not yet seraphs; and we +cannot always trust to our affectionateness, to carry us through a +violent attack of temptation. There are moments in the experience of the +Christian himself, when he is compelled to call in the _fear_ of God to +his aid, and to steady his infirm and wavering virtue by the recollection +that "the wages of sin is death." "By the fear of the Lord, men,"--and +Christian men too,--"depart from evil." It will not always be so. When +that which is perfect is come, perfect love shall cast out fear; but, +until the disciple of Christ reaches heaven, his religious experience +must be a somewhat complex one. A reasonable and well-defined +apprehensiveness must mix with his affectionateness, and deter him from +transgression, in those severe passages in his history when love is +languid and fails to draw him. Says an old English divine: "The fear of +God's judgments, or of the threatenings of God, is of much efficiency, +when some present temptation presseth upon us. When conscience and the +affections are divided; when conscience doth withdraw a man from sin, +and when his carnal affections draw him forth to it; then should the fear +of God come in. It is a holy design for a Christian, to counterbalance +the pleasures of sin with the terrors of it, and thus to cure the poison +of the viper by the flesh of the viper. Thus that admirable saint and +martyr, Bishop Hooper, when he came to die, one endeavored to dehort him +from death by this: O sir, consider that life is sweet and death is +bitter; presently he replied, Life to come is more sweet, and death to +come is more bitter, and so went to the stake and patiently endured the +fire. Thus, as a Christian may sometimes outweigh the pleasures of sin by +the consideration of the reward of God, so, sometimes, he may quench the +pleasures of sin by the consideration of the terrors of God."[4] + +But much more is all this true, in the instance of the hot-blooded youth. +How shall he resist temptation, unless he has some _fear_ of God before +his eyes? There are moments in the experience of the young, when all +power of resistance seems to be taken away, by the very witchery and +blandishment of the object. He has no heart, and no nerve, to resist the +beautiful siren. And it is precisely in these emergencies in his +experience,--in these moments when this world comes up before him clothed +in pomp and gold, and the other world is so entirely lost sight of, that +it throws in upon him none of its solemn shadows and warnings,--it is +precisely now, when he is just upon the point of yielding to the mighty +yet fascinating pressure, that he needs to feel an impression, bold and +startling, from the _wrath_ of God. Nothing but the most active remedies +will have any effect, in this tumult and uproar of the soul. When the +whole system is at fever-heat, and the voice of reason and conscience is +drowned in the clamors of sense and earth, nothing can startle and stop +but the trumpet of Sinai.[5] + +It is in these severe experiences, which are more common to youth than +they are to manhood, that we see the great value of the feeling and +principle of fear. It is, comparatively, in vain for a youth under the +influence of strong temptations,--and particularly when the surprise is +sprung upon him,--to ply himself with arguments drawn from the beauty of +virtue, and the excellence of piety. They are too ethereal for him, in +his present mood. Such arguments are for a calmer moment, and a more +dispassionate hour. His blood is now boiling, and those higher motives +which would influence the saint, and would have some influence with him, +if he were not in this critical condition, have little power to deter him +from sin. Let him therefore pass by the love of God, and betake himself +to the _anger_ of God, for safety. Let him say to himself, in this moment +when the forces of Satan, in alliance with the propensities of his own +nature, are making an onset,--when all other considerations are being +swept away in the rush and whirlwind of his passions,--let him coolly +bethink himself and say: "If I do this abominable thing which the soul of +God hates, then God, the Holy and Immaculate, will burn my spotted soul +in His pure eternal flame." For, there is great power, in what the +Scriptures term "the terror of the Lord," to destroy the edge of +temptation. "A wise man feareth and departeth from evil." Fear kills out +the delight in sin. Damocles cannot eat the banquet with any pleasure, so +long as the naked sword hangs by a single hair over his head. No one can +find much enjoyment in transgression, if his conscience is feeling the +action of God's holiness within it. And well would it be, if, in every +instance in which a youth is tempted to fling himself into the current of +sin that is flowing all around him, his moral sense might at that very +moment be filled with some of that terror, and some of that horror, which +breaks upon the damned in eternity. Well would it be, if the youth in the +moment of violent temptation could lay upon the emotion or the lust that +entices him, a distinct and red coal of hell-fire.[6] No injury would +result from the most terrible fear of God, provided it could always fall +upon the human soul in those moments of strong temptation, and of +surprisals, when all other motives fail to influence, and the human will +is carried headlong by the human passions. There may be a fear and a +terror that does harm, but man need be under no concern lest he +experience too much of this feeling, in his hours of weakness and +irresolution, in his youthful days of temptation and of dalliance. Let +him rather bless God that there is such an intense light, and such a pure +fire, in the Divine Essence, and seek to have his whole vitiated and +poisoned nature penetrated and purified by it. Have you never looked with +a steadfast gaze into a grate of burning anthracite, and noticed the +quiet intense glow of the heat, and how silently the fire throbs and +pulsates through the fuel, burning up everything that is inflammable, +and, making the whole mass as pure, and clean, and clear, as the element +of fire itself? Such is the effect of a contact of God's wrath with man's +sin; of the penetration of man's corruption by the wrath of the Lord. + +IV. In the fourth place, the feeling and principle of fear ought to enter +into the experience of both youth and manhood, _because it relieves from +all other fear_. He who stands in awe of God can look down, from a very +great height, upon all other perturbation. When we have seen Him from +whose sight the heavens and the earth flee away, there is nothing, in +either the heavens or the earth, that can produce a single ripple upon +the surface of our souls. This is true, even of the unregenerate mind. +The fear in this instance is a servile one,--it is not filial and +affectionate,--and yet it serves to protect the subject of it from all +other feelings of this species, because it is greater than all others, +and like Aaron's serpent swallows up the rest. If we must be liable to +fears,--and the transgressor always must be,--it is best that they should +all be concentrated in one single overmastering sentiment. Unity is ever +desirable; and even if the human soul were to be visited by none but the +servile forms of fear, it would be better that this should be the "terror +of the Lord." If, by having the fear of God before our eyes, we could +thereby be delivered from the fear of man, and all those apprehensions +which are connected with time and sense, would it not be wisdom to choose +it? We should then know that there was but one quarter from which our +peace could be assailed. This would lead us to look in that direction; +and, here upon earth, sinful man cannot look at God long, without coming +to terms and becoming reconciled with Him. + +V. The fifth and last reason which we assign for cherishing the feeling +and principle of fear applies to youth, to manhood, and to old age, +alike: _The fear of God conducts to the love of God_. Our Lord does not +command us to fear "Him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into +hell," because such a feeling as this is intrinsically desirable, and is +an ultimate end in itself. It is, in itself, undesirable, and it is only +a means to an end. By it, our torpid souls are to be awakened from their +torpor; our numbness and hardness of mind, in respect to spiritual +objects, is to be removed. We are never for a moment, to suppose that the +fear of perdition is set before us as a model and permanent form of +experience to be toiled after,--a positive virtue and grace intended to +be perpetuated through the whole future history of the soul. It is +employed only as an antecedent to a higher and a happier emotion; and +when the purpose for which it has been elicited has been answered, it +then disappears. "Perfect love casteth out fear; for fear hath torment," +(1 John iv. 18.[7]) + +But, at the same time, we desire to direct attention to the fact that he +who has been exercised with this emotion, thoroughly and deeply, is +conducted by it into the higher and happier form of religious experience. +Religious fear and anxiety are the prelude to religious peace and joy. +These are the discords that prepare for the concords. He, who in the +Psalmist's phrase has known the power of the Divine anger, is visited +with the manifestation of the Divine love. The method in the +thirty-second psalm is the method of salvation. Day and night God's hand +is heavy upon the soul; the fear and sense of the Divine displeasure is +passing through the conscience, like electric currents. The moisture, +the sweet dew of health and happiness, is turned into the drought of +summer, by this preparatory process. Then the soul acknowledges its sin, +and its iniquity it hides no longer. It confesses its transgressions unto +the Lord,--it justifies and approves of this wrath which it has +felt,--and He forgives the iniquity of its sin. + +It is not a vain thing, therefore, to fear the Lord. The emotion of which +we have been discoursing, painful though it be, is remunerative. There is +something in the very experience of moral pain which brings us nigh to +God. When, for instance, in the hour of temptation, I discern God's calm +and holy eye bent upon me, and I wither beneath it, and resist the +enticement because I fear to disobey, I am brought by this chapter in my +experience into very close contact with my Maker. There has been a vivid +and personal transaction between us. I have heard him say: "If thou doest +that wicked thing thou shalt surely die; refrain from doing it, and I +will love thee and bless thee." This is the secret of the great and swift +reaction which often takes place, in the sinner's soul. He moodily and +obstinately fights against the Divine displeasure. In this state of +things, there is nothing but fear and torment. Suddenly he gives way, +acknowledges that it is a good and a just anger, no longer seeks to beat +it back from his guilty soul, but lets the billows roll over while he +casts himself upon the Divine pity. In this act and instant,--which +involves the destiny of the soul, and has millenniums in it,--when he +recognizes the justice and trusts in the mercy of God, there is a great +rebound, and through his tears he sees the depth, the amazing depth, of +the Divine compassion. For, paradoxical as it appears, God's love is best +seen in the light of God's displeasure. When the soul is penetrated by +this latter feeling, and is thoroughly sensible of its own +worthlessness,--when, man knows himself to be vile, and filthy, and fit +only to be burned up by the Divine immaculateness,--then, to have the +Great God take him to His heart, and pour out upon him the infinite +wealth of His mercy and compassion, is overwhelming. Here, the Divine +indignation becomes a foil to set off the Divine love. Read the sixteenth +chapter of Ezekiel, with an eye "purged with euphrasy and rue," so that +you can take in the full spiritual significance of the comparisons and +metaphors, and your whole soul will dissolve in tears, as you perceive +how the great and pure God, in every instance in which He saves an +apostate spirit, is compelled to bow His heavens and come down into a +loathsome sty of sensuality.[8] Would it be love of the highest order, in +a seraph, to leave the pure cerulean and trail his white garments through +the haunts of vice, to save the wretched inmates from themselves and +their sins? O then what must be the degree of affection and compassion, +when the infinite Deity, whose essence is light itself, and whose nature +is the intensest contrary of all sin, tabernacles in the flesh upon the +errand of redemption! And if the pure spirit of that seraph, while filled +with an ineffable loathing, and the hottest moral indignation, at what he +saw in character and conduct, were also yearning with an unspeakable +desire after the deliverance of the vicious from their vice,--the moral +wrath, thus setting in still stronger relief the moral compassion that +holds it in check,---what must be the relation between these two emotions +in the Divine Being! Is not the one the measure of the other? And does +not the soul that fears God in a _submissive_ manner, and acknowledges +the righteousness of the Divine displeasure with entire acquiescence and +no sullen resistance, prepare the way, in this very act, for an equally +intense manifestation of the Divine mercy and forgiveness? + +The subject treated of in this discourse is one of the most important, +and frequent, that is presented in the Scriptures. He who examines is +startled to find that the phrase, "fear of the Lord," is woven into the +whole web of Revelation from Genesis to the Apocalypse. The feeling and +principle under discussion has a Biblical authority, and significance, +that cannot be pondered too long, or too closely. It, therefore, has an +interest for every human being, whatever may be his character, his +condition, or his circumstances. All great religious awakenings begin +in the dawning of the august and terrible aspects of the Deity upon the +popular mind, and they reach their height and happy consummation, +in that love and faith for which the antecedent fear has been the +preparation. Well and blessed would it be for this irreverent and +unfearing age, in which the advance in mechanical arts and vice is +greater than that in letters and virtue, if the popular mind could be +made reflective and solemn by this great emotion. + +We would, therefore, pass by all other feelings, and endeavor to fix the +eye upon the distinct and unambiguous fear of God, and would urge the +young, especially, to seek for it as for hid treasures. The feeling is a +painful one, because it is a _preparatory_ one. There are other forms of +religious emotion which are more attractive, and are necessary in their +place; these you may be inclined to cultivate, at the expense of the one +enjoined by our Lord in the text. But we solemnly and earnestly entreat +you, not to suffer your inclination to divert your attention from your +duty and your true interest. We tell you, with confidence, that next to +the affectionate and filial love of God in your heart, there is no +feeling or principle in the whole series that will be of such real solid +service to you, as that one enjoined by our Lord upon "His disciples +first of all." You will need its awing and repressing influence, in many +a trying scene, in many a severe temptation. Be encouraged to cherish it, +from the fact that it is a very effective, a very powerful emotion. He +who has the fear of God before his eyes is actually and often kept from +falling. It will prevail with your weak will, and your infirm purpose, +when other motives fail. And if you could but stand where those do, who +have passed through that fearful and dangerous passage through which you +are now making a transit; if you could but know, as they do, of what +untold value is everything that deters from the wrong and nerves to the +right, in the critical moments of human life; you would know, as they do, +the utmost importance of cherishing a solemn and serious dread of +displeasing God. The more simple and unmixed this feeling is in your own +experience, the more influential will it be. Fix it deeply in the mind, +that the great God is holy. Recur to this fact continually. If the dread +which it awakens casts a shadow over the gayety of youth, remember that +you need this, and will not be injured by it. The doctrine commends +itself to you, because you are young, and because you are strong. If it +fills you with misgivings, at times, and threatens to destroy your peace +of mind, let the emotion operate. Never stifle it, as you value your +salvation. You had better be unhappy for a season, than yield to +temptation and grievous snares which will drown you in perdition. Even if +it hangs dark and low over the horizon of your life, and for a time +invests this world with sadness, be resolute with yourself, and do not +attempt to remove the feeling, except in the legitimate way of the +gospel. Remember that every human soul out of Christ ought to fear, "for +he that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him." And +remember, also, that every one who believes in Christ ought not to fear; +for "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and he +that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." + +And with this thought would we close. This fear of God may and should end +in the perfect love that casteth out fear. This powerful and terrible +emotion, which we have been considering, may and ought to prepare the +soul to welcome the sweet and thrilling accents of Christ saying, "Come +unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden," with your fears of death, +judgment, and eternity, "and I will give you rest." Faith in Christ lifts +the soul above all fears, and eventually raises it to that serene world, +that blessed state of being, where there is no more curse and no more +foreboding. + + "Serene will be our days, and bright, + And happy will our nature be, + When love is an unerring light, + And joy its own security." + + +[Footnote 1: The moral and healthful influence of fear is implied in the +celebrated passage in Aristotle's Poetics, whatever be the +interpretation. He speaks of a _cleansing [Greek: (katharsin)]_ of the +mind, by means of the emotions of pity and terror [Greek: (phobos)] +awakened by tragic poetry. Most certainly, there is no portion of +Classical literature so purifying as the Greek Drama. And yet, the +pleasurable emotions are rarely awakened by it. Righteousness and justice +determine the movement of the plot, and conduct to the catastrophe; and +the persons and forms that move across the stage are, not Venus and the +Graces but, + + "ghostly Shapes + To meet at noontide; Death the Skeleton + And Time the Shadow." + +All literature that tends upward contains the tragic element; and all +literature that tends downward rejects it. AEschylus and Dante assume a +world of retribution, and employ for the purposes of poetry the fear it +awakens. Lucretius and Voltaire would disprove the existence of such a +solemn world, and they make no use of such an emotion.] + +[Footnote 2: WORDSWORTH: Intimations of Immortality.] + +[Footnote 3: LUCRETIUS: De Rerum Natura, III. 989 sq.; V. 1160 sq.] + +[Footnote 4: BATES: Discourse of the Fear of God.] + +[Footnote 5: "Praise be to Thee, glory to Thee, O Fountain of mercies: I +was becoming more miserable and Thou becoming nearer, Thy right hand was +continually ready to pluck me out of the mire, and to wash me thoroughly, +and I knew it not; nor did anything call me back from a yet deeper gulf +of carnal pleasures, but _the fear of death, and of Thy judgment to +come_; which, amid all my changes, never departed from my breast." +AUGUSTINE: Confessions, vi. 16., (Shedd's Ed., p. 142.)] + +[Footnote 6: "Si te luxuria tentat, objice tibi memoriam mortis tuae, +propone tibi futuruin judicium, reduc ad memoriam futura tormenta, +propone tibi acterna supplicia; et etiaim propone aute oculos tuos +perpetuosignes infernorum; propone tibi horribiles poenas gehennae. +Memoria ardoris gehennae extinguat in te ardorem luxuriane." + +BERNARD: De Modo Bene Vivendi. Sermo lxvii.] + +[Footnote 7: BAXTER (Narrative, Part I.) remarks "that fear, being an +easier and irresistible passion, doth oft obscure that measure of love +which is indeed within us; and that the soul of a believer groweth up by +degrees from the more troublesome and safe operation of fear, to the more +high and excellent operations of complacential love."] + +[Footnote 8: "Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy +nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy +mother an Hittite. Thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing +of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee +and saw thee polluted in thy own blood, I said unto thee when, thou wast +in thy blood, Live; yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, +Live." Ezekiel xvi. 1, 5, 6.] + + + + + +THE PRESENT LIFE AS RELATED TO THE FUTURE. + +LUKE xvi. 25.--"And Abraham said, Son remember that thou in thy lifetime +receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he +is comforted, and thou art tormented." + + +The parable of Dives and Lazarus is one of the most solemn passages in +the whole Revelation of God. In it, our Lord gives very definite +statements concerning the condition of those who have departed this life. +It makes no practical difference, whether we assume that this was a real +occurrence, or only an imaginary one,--whether there actually was such a +particular rich man as Dives, and such a particular beggar as Lazarus, or +whether the narrative was invented by Christ for the purpose of conveying +the instruction which he desired to give. The instruction is given in +either case; and it is the instruction with which we are concerned. Be +it a parable, or be it a historical fact, our Lord here teaches, in a +manner not to be disputed, that a man who seeks enjoyment in this life as +his chief end shall suffer torments in the next life, and that he who +endures suffering in this life for righteousness' sake shall dwell in +paradise in the next,--that he who finds his life here shall lose his +life hereafter, and that he who loses his life here shall find it here +after. + +For, we cannot for a moment suppose that such a Being as Jesus Christ +merely intended to play upon the fears of men, in putting forth such a +picture as this. He knew that this narrative would be read by thousands +and millions of mankind; that they would take it from His lips as +absolute truth; that they would inevitably infer from it, that the souls +of men do verily live after death, that some of them are in bliss and +some of them are in pain, and that the difference between them is due to +the difference in the lives which they lead here upon earth. Now, if +Christ was ignorant upon these subjects, He had no right to make such +representations and to give such impressions, even through a merely +imaginary narrative. And still less could He be justified in so doing, +if, being perfectly informed upon the subject, He knew that there is no +such place as that in which He puts the luxurious Dives, and no such +impassable gulf as that of which He speaks. It will not do, here, to +employ the Jesuitical maxim that the end justifies the means, and say, as +some teachers have said, that the wholesome impression that will be made +upon the vicious and the profligate justifies an appeal to their fears, +by preaching the doctrine of endless retribution, although there is no +such thing. This was a fatal error in the teachings of Clement of +Alexandria, and Origen. "God threatens,"--said they,--"and punishes, but +only to improve, never for purposes of retribution; and though, in public +discourse, the fruitlessness of repentance after death be asserted, yet +hereafter not only those who have not heard of Christ will receive +forgiveness, but the severer punishment which befalls the obstinate +unbelievers will, it may be hoped, not be the conclusion of their +history."[1] But can we suppose that such a sincere, such a truthful and +such a holy Being as the Son of God would stoop to any such artifice as +this? that He who called Himself The Truth would employ a lie, either +directly or indirectly, even to promote the spiritual welfare of men? He +never spake for mere sensation. The fact, then, that in this solemn +passage of Scripture we find the Redeemer calmly describing and minutely +picturing the condition of two persons in the future world, distinctly +specifying the points of difference between them, putting words into +their mouths that indicate a sad and hopeless experience in one of them, +and a glad and happy one in the other of them,--the fact that in this +treatment of the awful theme our Lord, beyond all controversy, _conveys +the impression_ that these scenes and experiences are real and true,--is +one of the strongest of all proofs that they are so. + +The reader of Dante's Inferno is always struck with the sincerity and +realism of that poem. Under the delineation of that luminous, and that +intense understanding, hell has a topographic reality. We wind along down +those nine circles as down a volcanic crater, black, jagged, precipitous, +and impinging upon the senses at every step. The sighs and shrieks jar +our own tympanum; and the convulsions of the lost excite tremors in our +own nerves. No wonder that the children in the streets of Florence, as +they saw the sad and earnest man pass along, his face lined with passion +and his brow scarred with thought, pointed at him and said: "There goes +the man who has been in hell." But how infinitely more solemn is the +impression that is made by these thirteen short verses, of the sixteenth +chapter of Luke's gospel, from the lips of such a Being as Jesus Christ! +We have here the terse and pregnant teachings of one who, in the phrase +of the early Creed, not only "descended into hell," but who "hath the +keys of death and hell." We have here not the utterances of the most +truthful, and the most earnest of all human poets,--a man who, we may +believe, felt deeply the power of the Hebrew Bible, though living in a +dark age, and a superstitious Church,--we have here the utterances of the +Son of God, very God, of very God, and we may be certain that He intended +to convey no impression that will not be made good in the world to come. +And when every eye shall see Him, and all the sinful kindreds of the +earth shall wail because of Him, there will not be any eye that can look +into His and say: "Thy description, O Son of God, was overdrawn; the +impression was greater than the reality." On the contrary, every human +soul will say in the day of judgment: "We were forewarned; the statements +were exact; even according to Thy fear, so is Thy wrath" (Ps. xc. 11). + +But what is the lesson which we are to read by this clear and solemn +light? What would our merciful Redeemer have us learn from this passage +which He has caused to be recorded for our instruction? Let us listen +with a candid and a feeling heart, because it comes to us not from an +enemy of the human soul, not from a Being who delights to cast it into +hell, but from a friend of the soul; because it comes to us from One who, +in His own person and in His own flesh, suffered an anguish superior +in dignity and equal in cancelling power to the pains of all the hells, +in order that we, through repentance and faith, might be spared their +infliction. + +The lesson is this: _The man who seeks enjoyment in this life, as his +chief end, must suffer in the next life; and he who endures suffering in +this life, for righteousness' sake, shall be happy in the next._ "Son, +remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and +likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art +tormented." + +It is a fixed principle in the Divine administration, that the scales of +justice shall in the end be made equal. If, therefore, sin enjoys in this +world, it must sorrow in the next; and if righteousness sorrows in this +world, it must enjoy in the next. The experience shall be reversed, in +order to bring everything to a right position and adjustment. This is +everywhere taught in the Bible. "Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have +received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall +hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Blessed +are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep +now; for ye shall laugh" (Luke vi. 21, 24, 25). These are the explicit +declarations of the Founder of Christianity, and they ought not to +surprise us, coming as they do from Him who expressly declares that His +kingdom is not of this world; that in this world His disciples must have +tribulation, as He had; that through much tribulation they must enter +into the kingdom of God; that whosoever doth not take up the cross daily, +and follow Him, cannot be His disciple. + +Let us notice some particulars, in which we see the operation of this +principle. What are the "good things" which Dives receives here, for +which he must be "tormented" hereafter? and what are the "evil things" +which Lazarus receives in this world, for which he will be "comforted" in +the world to come? + +I. In the first place, the worldly man _derives a more intense physical +enjoyment_ from this world's goods, than does the child of God. He +possesses more of them, and gives himself up to them with less +self-restraint. The majority of those who have been most prospered by +Divine Providence in the accumulation of wealth have been outside of the +kingdom and the ark of God. Not many rich and not many noble are called. +In the past history of mankind, the great possessions and the great +incomes, as a general rule, have not been in the hands of humble and +penitent men. In the great centres of trade and commerce,--in Venice, +Amsterdam, Paris, London,--it is the world and not the people of God who +have had the purse, and have borne what is put therein. Satan is described +in Scripture, as the "prince of this world" (John xiv. 30); and his words +addressed to the Son of God are true: "All this power and glory is +delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it." In the parable +from which we are discoursing, the sinful man was the rich man, and the +child of God was the beggar. And how often do we see, in every-day +life, a faithful, prayerful, upright, and pure-minded man, toiling in +poverty, and so far as earthly comforts are concerned enjoying little or +nothing, while a selfish, pleasure-seeking, and profligate man is +immersed in physical comforts and luxuries. The former is receiving evil +things, and the latter is receiving good things, in this life. + +Again, how often it happens that a fine physical constitution, health, +strength, and vigor, are given to the worldling, and are denied to the +child of God. The possession of worldly good is greatly enhanced in +value, by a fine capability of enjoying it. When therefore we see wealth +joined, with health, and luxury in all the surroundings and appointments +combined with taste to appreciate them and a full flow of blood to enjoy +them, or access to wide and influential circles, in politics and fashion, +given to one who is well fitted by personal qualities to move in +them,--when we see a happy adaptation existing between the man and his +good fortune, as we call it,--we see not only the "good things," but the +"good things" in their gayest and most attractive forms and colors. And +how often is all this observed in the instance of the natural man; and +how often is there little or none of this in the instance of the +spiritual man. We by no means imply, that it is impossible for the +possessor of this world's goods to love mercy, to do justly, and to walk +humbly; and we are well aware that under the garb of poverty and toil +there may beat a murmuring and rebellious heart. But we think that from +generation to generation, in this imperfect and probationary world, it +will be found to be a fact, that when _merely_ earthly and physical good +is allotted in large amounts by the providence of God; that when great +incomes and ample means of luxury are given; in the majority of instances +they are given to the enemies of God, and not to His dear children. So +the Psalmist seems to have thought. "I was envious,"--he says,--"when I +saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death; +but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither +are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as +a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with +fatness; they have more than heart could wish. Behold these are the +_ungodly_ who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily _I_ +have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all +day long have _I_ been plagued, and chastened every morning" (Ps. +lxxiii). And it should be carefully noticed, that the Psalmist, even +after further reflection, does not _alter_ his statement respecting the +relative positions of the godly and the ungodly in this world. He sees no +reason to correct his estimate, upon this point. He lets it stand. So far +as this merely _physical_ existence is concerned, the wicked man has the +advantage. It is only when the Psalmist looks _beyond_ this life, that he +sees the compensation, and the balancing again of the scales of eternal +right and justice. "When I thought to know this,"--when I reflected upon +this inequality, and apparent injustice, in the treatment of the friends +and the enemies of God,--"it was too painful for me, until I went into +the sanctuary of God,"--until I took my stand in the _eternal_ world, and +formed my estimate there,--"_then_ understood I their end. Surely thou +didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down to +destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment! They +are utterly consumed with terrors." Dives passes from his fine linen and +sumptuous fare, from his excessive physical enjoyment, to everlasting +perdition. + +II. In the second place, the worldly man _derives more enjoyment from +sin, and suffers less from it_, in this life, than does the child of God. +The really renewed man cannot _enjoy_ sin. It is true that he does sin, +owing to the strength of old habits, and the remainders of his +corruption. But he does not really delight in it; and he says with St. +Paul: "What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." His sin +is a sorrow, a constant sorrow, to him. He feels its pressure and burden +all his days, and cries: "O wretched man, who shall deliver me from the +body of this death." If he falls into it, he cannot live in it; as a man +may fall into water, but it is not his natural element. + +Again, the good man not only takes no real delight in sin, but his +reflections after transgression are very painful. He has a tender +conscience. His senses have been trained and disciplined to discern good +and evil. Hence, the sins that are committed by a child of God are +mourned over with a very deep sorrow. The longer he lives, the more +odious does sin become to him, and the more keen and bitter is his +lamentation over it. Now this, in itself, is an "evil thing." Man was not +made for sorrow, and sorrow is not his natural condition. This wearisome +struggle with indwelling corruption, these reproaches of an impartial +conscience, this sense of imperfection and of constant failure in the +service of God,--all this renders the believer's life on earth a season +of trial, and tribulation. The thought of its lasting forever would be +painful to him; and if he should be told that it is the will of God, that +he should continue to be vexed and foiled through all eternity, with the +motions of sin in his members, and that his love and obedience would +forever be imperfect, though he would be thankful that even this was +granted him, and that he was not utterly cast off, yet he would wear a +shaded brow, at the prospect of an imperfect, though a sincere and a +struggling eternity. + +But the ungodly are not so. The worldly man loves sin; loves pleasure; +loves self. And the love is so strong, and accompanied with so much +enjoyment and zest, that it is _lust_, and is so denominated in the +Bible. And if you would only defend him from the wrath of God; if you +would warrant him immunity in doing as he likes; if you could shelter him +as in an inaccessible castle from the retributions of eternity; with what +a delirium of pleasure would he plunge into the sin that he loves. Tell +the avaricious man, that his avarice shall never have any evil +consequences here or hereafter; and with what an energy would he apply +himself to the acquisition of wealth. Tell the luxurious man, full of +passion and full of blood, that his pleasures shall never bring down any +evil upon him, that there is no power in the universe that can hurt him, +and with what an abandonment would he surrender himself to his carnal +elysium. Tell the ambitious man, fired with visions of fame and glory, +that he may banish all fears of a final account, that he may make himself +his own deity, and breathe in the incense of worshipers, without any +rebuke from Him who says: "I am God, and my glory I will not give to +another,"-assure the proud and ambitious man that his sin will never find +him out, and with what a momentum will he follow out his inclination. +For, in each of these instances there is a _hankering_ and a _lust_. The +sin is _loved and revelled in_, for its own deliciousness. The heart is +worldly, and therefore finds its pleasure in its forbidden objects and +aims. The instant you propose to check or thwart this inclination; the +instant you try to detach this natural heart from its wealth, or its +pleasure, or its earthly fame; you discover how closely it clings, and +how strongly it loves, and how intensely it enjoys the forbidden object. +Like the greedy insect in our gardens, it has fed until every fibre and +tissue is colored with its food; and to remove it from the leaf is to +tear and lacerate it. + +Now it is for this reason, that the natural man receives "good things," +or experiences pleasure, in this life, at a point where the spiritual man +receives "evil things," or experiences pain. The child of God does not +relish and enjoy sin in this style. Sin in the good man is a burden; but +in the bad man it is a pleasure. It is all the pleasure he has. And when +you propose to take it away from him, or when you ask him to give it up +of his own accord, he looks at you and asks: "Will you take away the only +solace I have? I have no joy in God. I take no enjoyment in divine +things. Do you ask me to make myself wholly miserable?" + +And not only does the natural man enjoy sin, but, in this life, he is +much less troubled than is the spiritual man with reflections and +self-reproaches on account of sin. This is another of the "good things" +which Dives receives, for which he must be "tormented;" and this is +another of the "evil things" which Lazarus receives, for which he must +be "comforted." It cannot be denied, that in this world the child of God +suffers more mental sorrow for sin, in a given period of time, than does +the insensible man of the world. If we could look into the soul of a +faithful disciple of Christ, we should discover that not a day passes, in +which his conscience does not reproach him for sins of thought, word, or +deed; in which he does not struggle with some bosom sin, until he is so +weary that he cries out: "Oh that I had wings like a dove, so that I +might fly away, and be at rest." Some of the most exemplary members of +the Church go mourning from day to day, because their hearts are still so +far from their God and Saviour, and their lives fall so far short of what +they desire them to be.[2] Their experience is not a positively wretched +one, like that of an unforgiven sinner when he is feeling the stings of +conscience. They are forgiven. The expiating blood has soothed the +ulcerated conscience, so that it no longer stings and burns. They have +hope in God's mercy. Still, they are in grief and sorrow for sin; and +their experience, in so far, is not a perfectly happy one, such as will +ultimately be their portion in a better world. "If in this life +only,"--says St. Paul,--"we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most +miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 19). + +But the stupid and impenitent man, a luxurious Dives, knows nothing of +all this. His days glide by with no twinges of conscience. What does he +know of the burden of sin? His conscience is dead asleep; perchance +seared as with a hot iron. He does wrong without any remorse; he disobeys +the express commands of God, without any misgivings or self-reproach. He +is "alive, without the law,"-as St. Paul expresses it. His eyes stand out +with fatness; and his heart, in the Psalmist's phrase, "is as fat as +grease" (Ps. cxix. 70). There is no religious sensibility in him. His sin +is a pleasure to him without any mixture of sorrow, because unattended by +any remorse of conscience. He is receiving his "good things" in this +life. His days pass by without any moral anxiety, and perchance as he +looks upon some meek and earnest disciple of Christ who is battling with +indwelling sin, and who, therefore, sometimes wears a grave countenance, +he wonders that any one should walk so soberly, so gloomily, in such a +cheery, such a happy, such a jolly world as this. + +It is a startling fact, that those men in this world who have most reason +to be distressed by sin are the least troubled by it; and those who have +the least reason to be distressed are the most troubled by it. The child +of God is the one who sorrows most; and the child of Satan is the one who +sorrows least. Remember that we are speaking only of _this_ life. The +text reads: "Thou _in thy lifetime_ receivedst thy good things, and +likewise Lazarus evil things." And it is unquestionably so. The meek and +lowly disciple of Christ, the one who is most entitled by his character +and conduct to be untroubled by religious anxiety, is the very one who +bows his head as a bulrush, and perhaps goes mourning all his days, +fearing that he is not accepted, and that he shall be a cast-a-way; while +the selfish and thoroughly irreligious man, who ought to be stung through +and through by his own conscience, and feel the full energy of the law +which he is continually breaking,--this man, who of all men ought to be +anxious and distressed for sin, goes through a whole lifetime, perchance, +without any convictions or any fears. + +And now we ask, if this state of things ought to last forever? Is it +right, is it just, that sin should enjoy in this style forever and +forever, and that holiness should grieve and sorrow in this style +forevermore? Would you have the Almighty pay a bounty upon +unrighteousness, and place goodness under eternal pains and penalties? +Ought not this state of things to be reversed? When Dives comes to the +end of this lifetime; when he has run his round of earthly pleasure, +faring sumptuously every day, clothed in purple and fine linen, without a +thought of his duties and obligations, and without any anxiety and +penitence for his sins,--when this worldly man has received all his "good +things," and is satiated and hardened by them, ought he not then to be +"tormented?" Ought this guilty carnal enjoyment to be perpetuated through +all eternity, under the government of a righteous and just God? And, on +the other hand, ought not the faithful disciple, who, perhaps, has +possessed little or nothing of this world's goods, who has toiled hard, +in poverty, in affliction, in temptation, in tribulation, and sometimes +like Abraham in the horror of a great darkness, to keep his robes white, +and his soul unspotted from the world,--when the poor and weary Lazarus +comes to the end of this lifetime, ought not his trials and sorrows to +cease? ought he not then to be "comforted" in the bosom of Abraham, in +the paradise of God? There is that within us all, which answers, Yea, and +Amen. Such a balancing of the scales is assented to, and demanded by the +moral convictions. Hence, in the parable, Dives himself is represented as +acquiescing in the eternal judgment. He does not complain of injustice. +It is true, that at first he asks for a drop of water,--for some slight +mitigation of his punishment. This is the instinctive request of any +sufferer. But when his attention is directed to the right and the wrong +of the case; when Abraham reminds him of the principles of justice by +which his destiny has been decided; when he tells him that having taken +his choice of pleasure in the world which he has left, he cannot now have +pleasure in the world to which he has come; the wretched man makes no +reply. There is nothing to be said. He feels that the procedure is just. +He is then silent upon the subject of his own tortures, and only begs +that his five brethren, whose lifetime is not yet run out, to whom there +is still a space left for repentance, may be warned from his own lips not +to do as he has done,--not to choose pleasure on earth as their chief +good; not to take their "good things" in this life. Dives, the man in +hell, is a witness to the justice of eternal punishment. + +1. In view of this subject, as thus discussed, we remark in the first +place, that no man can have his "good things," in other words, his chief +pleasure, in _both_ worlds. God and this world are in antagonism. "For +all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, +and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. If any +man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John i. 15, +16). It is the height of folly, therefore, to suppose that a man can make +earthly enjoyment his chief end while he is upon earth, and then pass to +heaven when he dies. Just so far as he holds on upon the "good things" of +this life, he relaxes his grasp upon the "good things" of the next. No +man is capacious enough to hold both worlds in his embrace. He cannot +serve God and Mammon. Look at this as a _matter of fact_. Do not take it +as a theory of the preacher. It is as plain and certain that you cannot +lay up your treasure in heaven while you are laying it up upon earth, +as it is that your material bodies cannot occupy two portions of space at +one and the same time. Dismiss, therefore, all expectations of being able +to accomplish an impossibility. Put not your mind to sleep with the +opiate, that in some inexplicable manner you will be able to live the +life of a worldly man upon earth, and then the life of a spiritual man in +heaven. There is no alchemy that can amalgamate substances that refuse to +mix. No man has ever yet succeeded, no man ever will succeed, in securing +both the pleasures of sin and the pleasures of holiness,--in living the +life of Dives, and then going to the bosom of Abraham. + +2. And this leads to the second remark, that every man must _make his +choice_ whether he will have his "good things" now, or hereafter. Every +man is making his choice. Every man has already made it. The heart is now +set either upon God, or upon the world. Search through the globe, and +you cannot find a creature with double affections; a creature with _two_ +chief ends of living; a creature whose treasure is both upon earth and in +heaven. All mankind are single-minded. They either mind earthly things, +or heavenly things. They are inspired with one predominant purpose, which +rules them, determines their character, and decides their destiny. And +in all who have not been renewed by Divine grace, the purpose is a wrong +one, a false and fatal one. It is the choice and the purpose of Dives, +and not the choice and purpose of Lazarus. + +3. Hence, we remark in the third place, that it is the duty and the +wisdom of every man to let this world go, and seek his "good things" +_hereafter_. Our Lord commands every man to sit down, like the steward in +the parable, and make an estimate. He enjoins it upon every man to reckon +up the advantages upon each side, and see for himself which is superior. +He asks every man what it will profit him, "if he shall gain the whole +world and lose his own soul; or, what he shall give in exchange for his +soul." We urge you to make this estimate,--to compare the "good things" +which Dives enjoyed, with the "torments" that followed them; and the +"evil things" which Lazarus suffered, with the "comfort" that succeeded +them. There can be no doubt upon which side the balance will fall. And we +urge you to take the "evil things" _now_, and the "good things" +_hereafter_. We entreat you to copy the example of Moses at the court of +the Pharaohs, and in the midst of all regal luxury, who "chose rather to +suffer affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin +for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the +treasures in Egypt: _for he had respect unto the recompense of reward_." +Take the _narrow_ way. What though it be strait and narrow; you are not +to walk in it forever. A few short years of fidelity will end the +toilsome pilgrimage; and then you will come put into a "wealthy place." +We might tell you of the _joys_ of the Christian life that are mingled +with its trials and sorrows even here upon earth. For, this race to which +we invite you, and this fight to which we call you have their own +peculiar, solemn, substantial joy. And even their sorrow is tinged with +glory. In a higher, truer sense than Protesilaus in the poem says it of +the pagan elysium, we may say even of the Christian race, and the +Christian fight, + + "Calm pleasures there abide--_majestic pains_."[3] + +But we do not care, at this point, to influence you by a consideration of +the amount of enjoyment, in _this_ life, which you will derive from a +close and humble walk with God. We prefer to put the case in its baldest +form,--in the aspect in which we find it in our text. We will say nothing +at all about the happiness of a Christian life, here in time. We will +talk only of its tribulations. We will only say, as in the parable, that +there are "evil things" to be endured here upon earth, in return for +which we shall have "good things" in another life. There is to be a +moderate and sober use of this world's goods; there is to be a searching +sense of sin, and an humble confession of it before God; there is to +be a cross-bearing every day, and a struggle with indwelling corruption. +These will cost effort, watchfulness, and earnest prayer for Divine +assistance. We do not invite you into the kingdom of God, without telling +you frankly and plainly beforehand what must be done, and what must be +suffered. But having told you this, we then tell you with the utmost +confidence and assurance, that you will be infinitely repaid for your +choice, if you take your "evil things" in this life, and choose your +"good things" in a future. We know, and are certain, that this light +affliction which endures but for a moment, in comparison with the +infinite duration beyond the tomb, will work out a far more exceeding and +eternal weight of glory. We entreat you to look no longer at the things +which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things that +are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. + +Learn a parable from a wounded soldier. His limb must be amputated, for +mortification and gangrene have begun their work. He is told that the +surgical operation, which will last a half hour, will yield him twenty or +forty years of healthy and active life. The endurance of an "evil thing," +for a few moments, will result in the possession of a "good thing," for +many long days and years. He holds out the limb, and submits to the +knife. He accepts the inevitable conditions under which he finds himself. +He is resolute and stern, in order to secure a great good, in the future. + +It is the practice of this same _principle_, though not in the use of the +same kind of power, that we would urge upon you. _Look up to God for +grace and help_, and deliberately forego a present advantage, for the +sake of something infinitely more valuable hereafter. Do not, for the +sake of the temporary enjoyment of Dives, lose the eternal happiness of +Lazarus. Rather, take the place, and accept the "evil things," of the +beggar. _Look up to God for grace and strength_ to do it, and then live +a life of contrition for sin, and faith in Christ's blood. Deny yourself, +and take up the cross daily. Expect your happiness _hereafter_. Lay up +your treasure _above_. Then, in the deciding day, it will be said of you, +as it will be of all the true children of God: "These are they which came +out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them +white in the blood of the Lamb." + + +[Footnote 1: SHEDD: History of Doctrine, II., 234 sq.] + +[Footnote 2: The early religious experience of John Owen furnishes a +striking illustration. "For a quarter of a year, he avoided almost all +intercourse with men; could scarcely be induced to speak; and when he did +say anything, it was in so disordered a manner as rendered him a wonder +to many. Only those who have experienced the bitterness of a wounded +spirit can form an idea of the distress he must have suffered. Compared +with this anguish of soul, all the afflictions which befall a sinner [on +earth] are trifles. One drop of that wrath which shall finally fill the +cup of the ungodly, poured into the mind, is enough to poison all the +comforts of life, and to spread mourning, lamentation, and woe over the +countenance. Though the violence of Owen's convictions had subsided after +the first severe conflict, they still continued to disturb his peace, and +nearly five years elapsed from their commencement before he obtained +solid comfort." ORME: Life of Owen, Chap. I.] + +[Footnote 3: WORDSWORTH: Laodamia.] + + + + +THE EXERCISE OF MERCY OPTIONAL WITH GOD. + +ROMANS ix. 15.--"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will +have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." + + +This is a part of the description which God himself gave to Moses, of His +own nature and attributes. The Hebrew legislator had said to Jehovah: "I +beseech thee show me thy glory." He desired a clear understanding of the +character of that Great Being, under whose guidance he was commissioned +to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. God said to him in +reply: "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim +the name of the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will +be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy."[1] + +By this, God revealed to Moses, and through him to all mankind, the fact +that He is a merciful being, and directs attention to one particular +characteristic of mercy. While informing His servant, that He +is gracious and clement towards a penitent transgressor, He at the same +time teaches him that He is under no obligation, or necessity, to shew +mercy. Grace is not a debt. "I will have mercy on whom I _will_ have +mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I _will_ have compassion." + +The apostle Paul quotes this declaration, to shut the mouth of him who +would set up a claim to salvation; who is too proud to beg for it, +and accept it as a free and unmerited favor from God. In so doing, he +endorses the sentiment. The inspiration of his Epistle corroborates that +of the Pentateuch, so that we have assurance made doubly sure, that this +is the correct enunciation of the nature of mercy. Let us look into this +hope-inspiring attribute of God, under the guidance of this text. + +The great question that presses upon the human mind, from age to age, is +the inquiry: Is God a merciful Being, and will He show mercy? Living +as we do under the light of Revelation, we know little of the doubts and +fears that spontaneously rise in the guilty human soul, when it is left +solely to the light of nature to answer it. With the Bible in our hands, +and hearing the good news of Redemption from our earliest years, it seems +to be a matter of course that the Deity should pardon sin. Nay, a certain +class of men in Christendom seem to have come to the opinion that it is +more difficult to prove that God is just, than to prove that He is +merciful.[2] But this is not the thought and feeling of man when outside +of the pale of Revelation. Go into the ancient pagan world, examine the +theologizing of the Greek and Roman mind, and you will discover that the +fears of the justice far outnumbered the hopes of the mercy; that Plato +and Plutarch and Cicero and Tacitus were far more certain that God would +punish sin, than that He would, pardon it. This is the reason that there +is no light, or joy, in any of the pagan religions. Except when religion +was converted into the worship of Beauty, as in the instance of the later +Greek, and all the solemn and truthful ideas of law and justice were +eliminated from it, every one of the natural religions of the globe is +filled with sombre and gloomy hues, and no others. The truest and best +religions of the ancient world were always the sternest and saddest, +because the unaided human mind is certain that God is just, but is not +certain that He is merciful. When man is outside of Revelation, it is by +no means a matter of course that God is clement, and that sin shall be +forgiven. Great uncertainty overhangs the doctrine of the Divine mercy, +from the position of natural religion, and it is only within the province +of revealed truth that the uncertainty is removed. Apart from a distinct +and direct _promise_ from the lips of God Himself that He will forgive +sin, no human creature can be sure that sin will ever be forgiven. Let +us, therefore, look into the subject carefully, and see the reason why +man, if left to himself and his spontaneous reflections, doubts whether +there is mercy in the Holy One for a transgressor, and fears that there +is none, and why a special revelation is consequently required, to dispel +the doubt and the fear. + +The reason lies in the fact, implied in the text, that _the exercise of +justice is necessary, while that of mercy is optional_. "I will have +mercy on whom I _please_ to have mercy, and I will have compassion on +whom I _please_ to have compassion." It is a principle inlaid in the +structure of the human soul, that the transgression of law _must_ be +visited with retribution. The pagan conscience, as well as the Christian, +testifies that "the Soul that sinneth it shall die." There is no need of +quoting from pagan philosophers to prove this. We should be compelled +to cite page after page, should we enter upon the documentary evidence. +Take such a tract, for example, as that of Plutarch, upon what he +denominates "the slow vengeance of the Deity;" read the reasons which he +assigns for the apparent delay, in this world, of the infliction of +punishment upon transgressors; and you will perceive that the human +mind, when left to its candid and unbiassed convictions, is certain that +God is a holy Being and will visit iniquity with penalty. Throughout this +entire treatise, composed by a man who probably never saw the Scriptures +of either the New or the Old Dispensation, there runs a solemn and deep +consciousness that the Deity is necessarily obliged, by the principles of +justice, to mete out a retribution to the violator of law. Plutarch is +engaged with the very same question that the apostle Peter takes up, in +his second Epistle, when he answers the objection of the scoffer who +asks: Where is the promise of God's coming in judgment? The apostle +replies to it, by saying that for the Eternal Mind one day is as a +thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, and that therefore "the +Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness;" +and Plutarch answers it in a different manner, but assumes and affirms +with the same positiveness and certainty that the vengeance will +_ultimately come_. No reader of this treatise can doubt for a moment, +that its author believed in the future punishment of the wicked,--and in +the future _endless_ punishment of the incorrigibly wicked, because there +is not the slightest hint or expectation of any exercise of mercy on the +part of this Divinity whose vengeance, though slow, is sure and +inevitable.[3] Some theorists tell us that the doctrine of endless +punishment contradicts the instincts of the natural reason, and that it +has no foundation in the constitution of the human soul. We invite them +to read and ponder well, the speculations of one of the most thoughtful +of pagans upon this subject, and tell us if they see any streaks or rays +of light in it; if they see any inkling, any jot or tittle, of the +doctrine of the Divine pity there. We challenge them to discover in this +tract of Plutarch the slightest token, or sign, of the Divine mercy. The +author believes in a hell for the wicked, and an elysium for the good; +but those who go to hell go there upon principles of _justice_, and those +who go to elysium go there upon the _same_ principles. It is justice that +must place men in Tartarus, and it is justice that must place them in +Elysium. In paganism, men must earn their heaven. The idea of +_mercy_,--of clemency towards a transgressor, of pity towards a +criminal,--is entirely foreign to the thoughts of Plutarch, so far as +they can be gathered from this tract. It is the clear and terrible +doctrine of the pagan sage, that unless a man can make good his claim to +eternal happiness upon the ground of law and justice,--unless he merits +it by good works,--there is no hope for him in the other world. + +The idea of a forgiving and tender mercy in the Supreme Being, exercised +towards a creature whom justice would send to eternal retribution, +nowhere appears in the best pagan ethics. And why should it? What +evidence or proof has the human mind, apart from the revelations made to +it in the Old and New Testaments, that God will ever forgive sin, or ever +show mercy? In thinking upon the subject, our reason perceives, +intuitively, that God must of necessity punish transgression; and it +perceives with equal intuitiveness that there is no corresponding +necessity that He should pardon it. We say with confidence and +positiveness: "God must be just;" but we cannot say with any certainty +or confidence at all: "God must be merciful." The Divine mercy is an +attribute which is perfectly free and optional, in its exercises, and +therefore we cannot tell beforehand whether it will or will not be shown +to transgressors. We know nothing at all about it, until we hear some +word from the lips of God Himself upon the point. When He opens the +heavens, and speaks in a clear tone to the human race, saying, "I will +forgive your iniquities," then, and not till then, do they know the fact. +In reference to all those procedures which, like the punishment of +transgression, are fixed and necessary, because they are founded in the +eternal principles of law and justice, we can tell beforehand what the +Divine method will be. We do not need any special revelation, to inform +us that God is a just Being, and that His anger is kindled against +wickedness, and that He will punish the transgressor. This class of +truths, the Apostle informs us, are written in the human constitution, +and we have already seen that they were known and dreaded in the pagan +world. That which God _must_ do, He certainly will do. He _must_ be just, +and therefore He certainly will punish sin, is the reasoning of the human +mind, the-world over, and in every age.[4] + +But, when we pass from the punishment of sin to the pardon of it, when we +go over to the merciful side of the Divine Nature, we can come to no +_certain_ conclusions, if we are shut up to the workings of our own +minds, or to the teachings of the world of nature about us. Picture to +yourself a thoughtful pagan, like Solon the legislator of Athens, living +in the heart of heathenism five centuries before Christ, and knowing +nothing of the promise of mercy which broke faintly through the heavens +immediately after the apostasy of the first human pair, and which found +its full and victorious utterance in the streaming, blood of Calvary. +Suppose that the accusing and condemning law written, upon his conscience +had shown its work, and made him conscious of sin. Suppose that the +question had risen within him, whether that Dread Being whom he +"ignorantly worshipped," and against whom he had committed the offence, +would forgive it; was there anything in his own soul, was there anything +in the world around him or above him, that could give him an affirmative +answer? The instant he put the question: Will God _punish_ me for my +transgression? the affirming voices were instantaneous and authoritative. +"The soul that sinneth it shall die" was the verdict that came forth from +the recesses of his moral nature, and was echoed and re-echoed in the +suffering, pain, and physical death of a miserable and groaning world +all around him. But when he put the other question to himself: Will the +Deity _pardon_ me for my transgression? there was no affirmative answer +from any source of knowledge accessible to him. If he sought a reply from +the depths of his own conscience, all that he could hear was the terrible +utterance: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." The human conscience can +no more promise, or certify, the forgiveness of sin, than the ten +commandments can do so. When, therefore, this pagan, convicted of sin, +seeks a comforting answer to his anxious inquiry respecting the Divine +clemency towards a criminal, he is met only with retributive thunders and +lightnings; he hears only that accusing and condemning law which is +written on the heart, and experiences that fearful looking-for of +judgment and fiery indignation which St. Paul describes, in the first +chapter of Romans, as working in the mind of the universal pagan world. + +But we need not go to Solon, and the pagan world, for evidence upon this +subject. Why is it that a convicted man under the full light of the +gospel, and with the unambiguous and explicit promise of God to forgive +sins ringing in his ears,--why is it, that even under these favorable +circumstances a guilt-smitten man finds it so difficult to believe that +there is mercy for him, and to trust in it? Nay, why is it that he finds +it impossible fully to believe that Jehovah is a sin-pardoning God, +unless he is enabled so to do by the Holy Ghost? It is because he knows +that God is under a necessity of punishing his sin, but is under no +necessity of pardoning it. The very same judicial principles are +operating in his mind that operate in that of a pagan Solon, or any other +transgressor outside of the revelation of mercy. That which holds back +the convicted sinner from casting himself upon the Divine pity is the +perception that God must be just. This fact is certain, whether anything +else is certain or not. And it is not until he perceives that God can be +_both_ just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; it is not +until he sees that, through the substituted sufferings of Christ, God can +_punish_ sin while at the same time He _pardons_ it,--can punish it in +the Substitute while He pardons it in the sinner,--it is not until he is +enabled to apprehend the doctrine of _vicarious_ atonement, that his +doubts and fears respecting the possibility and reality of the Divine +mercy are removed. The instant he discovers that the exercise of pardon +is rendered entirely consistent with the justice of God, by the +substituted death of the Son of God, he sees the Divine mercy, and that +too in the high form of _self-sacrifice,_ and trusts in it, and is at +peace. + +These considerations are sufficient to show, that according to the +natural and spontaneous operations of the human intellect, justice +stands in the way of the exercise of mercy, and that therefore, if +man is not informed by Divine Revelation respecting this latter +attribute, he can never acquire the certainty that God will forgive his +sin. There are two very important and significant inferences from this +truth, to which we now ask serious attention. + +1. In the first place, those who deny the credibility, and Divine +authority, of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments _shut up the +whole world to doubt and despair_. For, unless God has spoken the word of +mercy in this written Revelation, He has not spoken it anywhere; and we +have seen, that unless He has spoken such a merciful word _somewhere_, no +human transgressor can be certain of anything but stark unmitigated +justice and retribution. Do you tell us that God is too good to punish +men, and that therefore it must be that He is merciful? We tell you, in +reply, that God is good when He punishes sin, and your own conscience, +like that of Plutarch, re-echoes the reply. Sin is a wicked thing, and +when the Holy One visits it with retribution, He is manifesting the +purest moral excellence and the most immaculate perfection of character +that we can conceive of. But if by goodness you mean mercy, then we say +that this is the very point in dispute, and you must not beg the point +but must prove it. And now, if you deny the authority and credibility of +the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, we ask you upon what ground +you venture to affirm that God will pardon man's sin. You cannot +demonstrate it upon any _a priori_ and necessary principles. You cannot +show that the Deity is obligated to remit the penalty due to +transgression. You can prove the necessity of the exercise of justice, +but you cannot prove the necessity of the exercise of mercy. It is purely +optional with God, whether to pardon or not. If, therefore, you cannot +establish the fact of the Divine clemency by _a priori_ reasoning,--if +you cannot make out a _necessity_ for the exercise of mercy,--you must +betake yourself to the only other method of proof that remains to you, +the method of testimony. If you have the _declaration_ and _promise_ of +God, that He will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, you may be +certain of the fact,--as certain as you would be, could you prove the +absolute necessity of the exercise of mercy. For God's promise cannot be +broken. God's testimony is sure. But, by the supposition, you deny that +this declaration has been made, and this promise has been uttered, in the +written Revelation of the Christian Church. Where then do you send me for +the information, and the testimony? Have you a private revelation of your +own? Has the Deity spoken to you in particular, and told you that He will +forgive your sin, and my sin, and that of all the generations? Unless +this declaration has been made either to you or to some other one, we +have seen that you cannot establish the _certainty_ that God will forgive +sin. It is a purely optional matter with Him, and whether He will or no +depends entirely upon His decision, determination, and declaration. If +He says that He will pardon sin, it will certainly be done. But until He +says it, you and every other man must be remanded to the inexorable +decisions of conscience which thunder out: "The soul that sinneth it +shall die." Whoever, therefore, denies that God in the Scriptures of the +Old and New Testaments has broken through the veil that hides eternity +from time, and has testified to the human race that He will forgive sin, +and has solemnly promised to do so, takes away from the human race the +only ground of certainty which they possess, that there is pity in the +heavens, and that it will be shown to sinful creatures like themselves. +But this is to shut them up again, to the doubt and hopelessness of the +pagan world,--a world without Revelation. + +2. In the second place, it follows from this subject, that mankind must +_take the declaration and promise of God, respecting the exercise of +mercy, precisely as He has given it_. They must follow the record +_implicitly_, without any criticisms or alterations. Not only does the +exercise of mercy depend entirely upon the will and pleasure of God, but, +the mode, the conditions, and the length of time during which the offer +shall be made, are all dependent upon the same sovereignty. Let us look +at these particulars one by one. + +In the first place, the _method_ by which the Divine clemency shall be +manifested, and the _conditions_ upon which the offer of forgiveness +shall be made, are matters that rest solely with God. If it is entirely +optional with Him whether to pardon at all, much more does it depend +entirely upon Him to determine the way and means. It is here that we stop +the mouth of him who objects to the doctrine of forgiveness through a +vicarious atonement. We will by no means concede, that the exhibition +of mercy through the vicarious satisfaction of justice is an optional +matter, and that God might have dispensed with such satisfaction, had +He so willed. We believe that the forgiveness of sin is possible even to +the Deity, only through a substituted sacrifice that completely satisfies +the demands of law and justice,--that without the shedding of expiating +blood there is no remission of sin possible or conceivable, under a +government of law. But, without asking the objector to come up to this +high ground, we are willing, for the sake of the argument, to go down +upon his low one; and we say, that even if the metaphysical necessity of +an atonement could not be maintained, and that it is purely optional with +God whether to employ this method or not, it would still be the duty and +wisdom of man to take the record just as it reads, and to accept the +method that has actually been adopted. If the Sovereign has a perfect +right to say whether He will or will not pardon the criminal, has He not +the same right to say _how_ He will do it? If the transgressor, upon +principles of justice, could be sentenced to endless misery, and yet the +Sovereign Judge concludes to offer him forgiveness and eternal life, +shall the criminal, the culprit who could not stand an instant in the +judgment, presume to quarrel with the method, and dictate the terms by +which his own pardon shall be secured? Even supposing, then, that there +were no _intrinsic_ necessity for the offering of an infinite sacrifice +to satisfy infinite justice, the Great God might still take the lofty +ground of sovereignty, and say to the criminal: "My will shall stand for +my reason; I decide to offer you amnesty and eternal joy, in this mode, +and upon these terms. The reasons for my method are known to myself. Take +mercy in this method, or take justice. Receive the forgiveness of sin in +this mode, or else receive the eternal and just punishment of sin. Can I +not do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?" +God is under no necessity to offer the forgiveness of sin to any criminal +upon any terms; still less is He hedged up to a method of forgiveness +prescribed by the criminal himself. + +Again, the same reasoning will apply to the _time during which the offer +of mercy shall be extended_. If it is purely optional with God, whether +He will pardon my sin at all, it is also purely optional with Him to fix +the limits within which He will exercise the act of pardon. Should He +tell me, that if I would confess and forsake my sins to-day, He would +blot them out forever, but that the gracious offer should be withdrawn +tomorrow, what conceivable ground of complaint could I discover? He is +under no necessity of extending the pardon at this moment, and neither +is He at the next, or any future one. Mercy is grace, and not debt. Now +it has pleased God, to limit the period during which the work of +Redemption shall go on. There is a point of time, for every sinful man, +at which "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin" (Heb. x. 26). The +period of Redemption is confined to earth and time; and unless the sinner +exercises repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, +before his spirit returns to God who gave it, there is no redemption for +him through eternal ages. This fact we know by the declaration and +testimony of God; in the same manner that we know that God will exercise +mercy at all, and upon any conditions whatever. We have seen that we +cannot establish the fact that the Deity will forgive sin, by any _a +priori_ reasoning, but know it only because He has spoken a word to this +effect, and given the world His promise to be gracious and merciful, +In like manner, we do not establish the fact that there will be no second +offer of forgiveness, in the future world, by any process of reasoning +from the nature of the case, or the necessity of things. We are willing +to concede to the objector, that for aught that we can see the Holy +Ghost is as able to take of the things of Christ, and show them to a +guilty soul, in the next world, as He is in this. So far as almighty +power is concerned, the Divine Spirit could convince men of sin, and +righteousness, and judgment, and incline them to repentance and faith, in +eternity as well as in time. And it is equally true, that the Divine +Spirit could have prevented the origin of sin itself, and the fall of +Adam, with the untold woes that proceed therefrom. But it is not a +question of power. It is a question of _intention_, of _determination_, +and of _testimony_ upon the part of God. And He has distinctly declared +in the written Revelation, that it is His intention to limit the +converting and saving influences of His Spirit to time and earth. He +tells the whole world unequivocally, that His spirit shall not always +strive with man, and that the day of judgment which occurs at the end of +this Dispensation of grace, is not a day of pardon but of doom. Christ's +description of the scenes that will close up this Redemptive +Economy,--the throne, the opened books, the sheep on the right hand and +the goats on the left hand, the words of the Judge: "Come ye blessed, +depart ye cursed,"--proves beyond controversy that "_now_ is the accepted +time, and _now_ is the day of salvation." The utterance of our Redeeming +God, by His servant David, is: "_To-day_ if ye will hear His voice harden +not your hearts." St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, informs the +world, that as God sware that those Israelites who did not believe and +obey His servant Moses, during their wanderings in the desert, should not +enter the earthly Canaan, so those, in any age and generation of men, who +do not believe and obey His Son Jesus Christ, during their earthly +pilgrimage, shall, by the same Divine oath, be shut out of the eternal +rest that remaineth for the people of God (Hebrews iii. 7-19). +Unbelieving men, in eternity, will be deprived of the benefits of +Christ's redemption, by the _oath_, the solemn _decision_, the judicial +_determination_ of God. For, this exercise of mercy, of which we are +speaking, is not a matter of course, and of necessity, and which +therefore continues forever and forever. It is optional. God is entirely +at liberty to pardon, or not to pardon. And He is entirely at liberty to +say when, and how, and _how long_ the offer of pardon shall be extended. +He had the power to carry the whole body of the people of Israel over +Jordan, into the promised land, but He sware that those who proved +refractory, and disobedient, during a _certain definite period of time_, +should never enter Canaan. And, by His apostle, He informs all the +generations of men, that the same principle will govern Him in respect to +the entrance into the heavenly Canaan. The limiting of the offer of +salvation to this life is not founded upon any necessity in the Divine +Nature, but, like the offer of salvation itself, depends upon the +sovereign pleasure and determination of God. That pleasure, and that +determination, have been distinctly made known in the Scriptures. We know +as clearly as we know anything revealed in the Bible, that God has +decided to pardon here in time, and not to pardon in eternity. He has +drawn a line between the present period, during which He makes salvation +possible to man, and the future period, when He will not make it +possible. And He had a right to draw that line, because mercy from first +to last is the optional, and not the obligated agency of the Supreme +Being. + +Therefore, _fear_ lest, a promise being left us of entering into His +rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto you is the +gospel preached, as well as unto those Israelites; but the word, did not +profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Neither +will it profit you, unless it is mixed with faith. God limiteth a certain +day, saying in David, "_To-day_, after so long a time,"--after these many +years of hearing and neglecting the offer of forgiveness,--"_to-day_, if +ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Labor, therefore, _now_, +to enter into that rest, lest any man fall, after the same example of +unbelief, with those Israelites whom the oath of God shut out of both the +earthly and the heavenly Canaan. + + + +[Footnote 1: Compare, also, the very full announcement of mercy as a +Divine attribute that was to be exercised, in Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7. + +This is the more noteworthy, as it occurs in connection with the giving +of the law.] + +[Footnote 2: Their creed lives in the satire of YOUNG (Universal Passion. +Satire VI.),--as full of sense, truth, and pungency now, as it was one +hundred years ago. + + "From atheists far, they steadfastly believe + God is, and is Almighty--to _forgive_. + His other excellence they'll not dispute; + But mercy, sure, is His chief attribute. + Shall pleasures of a short duration chain + A lady's soul in everlasting pain? + Will the great Author us poor worms destroy, + For now and then a sip of transient joy? + No, He's forever in a smiling mood; + He's like themselves; or how could He be good? + And they blaspheme, who blacker schemes suppose. + Devoutly, thus, Jehovah they depose, + The Pure! the Just! and set up in His stead, + A deity that's perfectly well-bred."] + +[Footnote 3: Plutarch supposes a form of punishment in the future world +that is disciplinary. If it accomplishes its purpose, the soul goes into +Elysium,--a doctrine like that of purgatory in the Papal scheme. But in +case the person proves incorrigible, his suffering is _endless_. He +represents an individual as having been restored to life, and giving an +account of what he had seen. Among other things, he "informed his friend, +how that Adrastia, the daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, was seated in +the highest place of all, to punish all manner of crimes and enormities, +and that in the whole number of the wicked and ungodly there never was +any one, whether great or little, high or low, rich or poor, that could +ever by force or cunning escape the severe lashes of her rigor. But +as there are three sorts of punishment, so there are three several +Furies, or female ministers of justice, and to every one of these +belongs a peculiar office and degree of punishment. The first of +these was called [Greek: Poinae] or _Pain_; whose executions are swift +and speedy upon those that are presently to receive bodily punishment +in this life, and which she manages after a more gentle manner, omitting +the correction of slight offences, which need but little expiation. But +if the cure of impiety require a greater labor, the Deity delivers those, +after death, to [Greek: Dikae] or _Vengeance_. But when Vengeance has +given them over as altogether _incurable_, then the third and most severe +of all Adrastia's ministers, [Greek: 'Erinys] or _Fury_, takes them in +hand, and after she has chased and coursed them from one place to +another, flying yet not knowing where to fly for shelter and relief, +plagued and tormented with a thousand miseries, she plunges them headlong +into an invisible abyss, the hideousness of which no tongue can express." +PLUTARCH: Morals, Vol. IV. p. 210. Ed. 1694. PLATO (Gorgias 525. c.d. Ed. +Bip. IV. 169) represents Socrates as teaching that those who "have +committed the most extreme wickedness, and have become incurable through +such crimes, are made an example to others, and suffer _forever_ ([Greek: +paschontas ton aei chronon]) the greatest, most agonizing, and most +dreadful punishment." And Socrates adds that "Homer (Odyssey xi. 575) +also bears witness to this; for he represents kings and potentates, +Tantalus, Sysiphus, and Tityus, as being tormented _forever_ in Hades" +([Greek: en adon ton aei chronon timoronmenos]).-In the Aztec or Mexican +theology, "the wicked, comprehending the greater part of mankind, were to +expiate their sin in a place of everlasting darkness." PRESCOTT: Conquest +of Mexico, Vol. I. p. 62.] + +[Footnote 4: It may be objected, at this point, that mercy also is a +necessary attribute in God, like justice itself,--that it necessarily +belongs to the nature of a perfect Being, and therefore might be inferred +_a priori_ by the pagan, like other attributes. This is true; but the +objection overlooks the distinction between the _existence_ of an +attribute and its _exercise_. Omnipotence necessarily belongs to the idea +of the Supreme Being, but it does not follow that it must necessarily be +_exerted_ in act. Because God is able to create the universe of matter +and mind, it does not follow that he _must_ create it. The doctrine of +the necessity of creation, though held in a few instances by theists who +seem not to have discerned its logical consequences, is virtually +pantheistic. Had God been pleased to dwell forever in the +self-sufficiency of His Trinity, and never called the Finite into +existence from nothing, He might have done so, and He would still have +been omnipotent and "blessed forever." In like manner, the attribute of +mercy might exist in God, and yet not be exerted. Had He been pleased to +treat the human race as He did the fallen angels, He was perfectly at +liberty to do so, and the number and quality of his immanent attributes +would have been the same that they are now. But justice is an attribute +which not only exists of necessity, but must be _exercised_ of necessity; +because not to exercise it would be injustice.-For a fuller exposition of +the nature of justice, see SHEDD: Discourses and Essays, pp. 291-300.] + + + + +CHRISTIANITY REQUIRES THE TEMPER OF CHILDHOOD. + +MARK x. 15.--"Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the +kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." + + +These words of our Lord are very positive and emphatic, and will, +therefore, receive a serious attention from every one who is anxious +concerning his future destiny beyond the grave. For, they mention an +indispensable requisite in order to an entrance into eternal life. +"Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he +_shall not_ enter therein." + +The occasion of their utterance is interesting, and brings to view a +beautiful feature in the perfect character of Jesus Christ. The Redeemer +was deeply interested in every age and condition of man. All classes +shared in His benevolent affection, and all may equally partake of the +rich blessings that flow from it. But childhood and youth seem to have +had a special attraction for Him. The Evangelist is careful to inform us, +that He took little children in His arms, and that beholding an amiable +young man He loved him,--a gush of feeling went out towards him. It was +because Christ was a perfect man, as well as the infinite God, that such +a feeling dwelt in His breast. For, there has never been an uncommonly +fair and excellent human character, in which tenderness and affinity for +childhood has not been a quality, and a quality, too, that was no small +part of the fairness and excellence. The best definition that has yet +been given of genius itself is, that it is the carrying of the feelings +of childhood onward into the thoughts and aspirations of manhood. He who +is not attracted by the ingenuousness, and trustfulness, and simplicity, +of the first period of human life, is certainly wanting in the finest and +most delicate elements of nature, and character. Those who have been +coarse and brutish, those who have been selfish and ambitious, those who +have been the pests and scourges of the world, have had no sympathy with +youth. Though once young themselves, they have been those in whom the +gentle and generous emotions of the morning of life have died out. That +man may become hardhearted, skeptical and sensual, a hater of his kind, +a hater of all that is holy and good, he must divest himself entirely of +the fresh and ingenuous feeling of early boyhood, and receive in its +place that malign and soured feeling which is the growth, and sign, of a +selfish and disingenuous life. It is related of Voltaire,--a man in whom +evil dwelt in its purest and most defecated essence,--that he had no +sympathy with the child, and that the children uniformly shrank from that +sinister eye in which the eagle and the reptile were so strangely +blended. + +Our Saviour, as a perfect man, then, possessed this trait, and it often +showed itself in His intercourse with men. As an omniscient Being, He +indeed looked with profound interest, upon the dawning life of the human +spirit as it manifests itself in childhood. For He knew as no finite +being can, the marvellous powers that sleep in the soul of the young +child; the great affections which are to be the foundation of eternal +bliss, or eternal pain, that exist in embryo within; the mysterious +ideas that lie in germ far down in its lowest depths,--He knew, as no +finite creature is able, what is in the child, as well as in the man, and +therefore was interested in its being and its well-being. But besides +this, by virtue of His perfect humanity, He was attracted by those +peculiar traits which are seen in the earlier years of human life. He +loved the artlessness and gentleness, the sense of dependence, the +implicit trust, the absence of ostentation and ambition, the unconscious +modesty, in one word, the _child-likeness_ of the child. + +Knowing this characteristic of the Redeemer, certain parents brought +their young children to Him, as the Evangelist informs us, "that He +should touch them;" either believing that there was a healthful virtue, +connected with the touch of Him who healed the sick and gave life to the +dead, that would be of benefit to them; or, it may be, with more elevated +conceptions of Christ's person, and more spiritual desires respecting the +welfare of their offspring, believing that the blessing (which was +symbolized by the touch and laying on of hands) of so exalted a Being +would be of greater worth than mere health of body. The disciples, +thinking that mere children were not worthy of the regards of their +Master, rebuked the anxious and affectionate parents. "But,"--continues +the narrative,--"when Jesus saw it he was much displeased, and said unto +them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, +for of such is the kingdom of God;" and then immediately explained what +He meant by this last assertion, which is so often misunderstood and +misapplied, by adding, in the words of the text, "Verily I say unto you, +whosoever shall not _receive the kingdom of God as a little child"_ that +is with a child-like spirit, "he shall not enter therein." For our Lord +does not here lay down a doctrinal position, and affirm the moral +innocence of childhood. He does not mark off and discriminate the +children as sinless, from their parents as sinful, as if the two classes +did not belong to the same race of beings, and were not involved in the +same apostasy and condemnation. He merely sets childhood and manhood +over-against each other as two distinct stages of human life, each +possessing peculiar traits and tempers, and affirms that it is the meek +spirit of childhood, and not the proud spirit of manhood, that welcomes +and appropriates the Christian salvation. He is only contrasting the +general attitude of a child, with the general attitude of a man. He +merely affirms that the _trustful_ and _believing_ temper of childhood, +as compared with the _self-reliant_ and _skeptical_ temper of manhood, is +the temper by which both the child and the man are to receive the +blessings of the gospel which both of them equally need. + +The kingdom of God is represented in the New Testament, sometimes as +subjective, and sometimes as objective; sometimes as within the soul of +man, and sometimes as up in the skies. Our text combines both +representations; for, it speaks of a man's "receiving" the kingdom of +God, and of a man's "entering" the kingdom of God; of the coming of +heaven into a soul, and of the going of a soul into heaven. In other +passages, one or the other representation appears alone. "The kingdom of +God,"--says our Lord to the Pharisees,--"cometh not with observation. +Neither shall they say, Lo here, or lo there: for behold the kingdom of +God is within you." The apostle Paul, upon arriving at Rome, invited the +resident Jews to discuss the subject of Christianity with him. "And when +they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to +whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God,"--to whom he +explained the nature of the Christian religion,--"persuading them +concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, +from, morning till evening." The same apostle teaches the Romans, that +"the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, +and joy in the Holy Ghost;" and tells the Corinthians, that "the kingdom +of God is not in word, but in power." In all these instances, the +subjective signification prevails, and the kingdom of God is simply a +system of truth, or a state of the heart. And all are familiar with the +sentiment, that heaven is a state, as well as a place. All understand +that one half of heaven is in the human heart itself; and, that if this +half be wanting, the other half is useless,--as the half of a thing +generally is. Isaac Walton remarks of the devout Sibbs: + +"Of this blest man, let this just praise be given, Heaven was in him, +before he was in heaven." + +It is only because that in the eternal world the imperfect righteousness +of the renewed man is perfected, and the peace of the anxious soul +becomes total, and the joy that is so rare and faint in the Christian +experience here upon earth becomes the very element of life and +action,--it is only because eternity _completes_ the excellence of the +Christian (but does not begin it), that heaven, as a place of perfect +holiness and happiness, is said to be in the future life, and we are +commanded to seek a better country even a heavenly. But, because this is +so, let no one lose sight of the other side of the great truth, and +forget that man must "receive" the kingdom as well as "enter" it. Without +the right state of heart, without the mental correspondent to heaven, +that beautiful and happy region on high will, like any and every other +place, be a hell, instead of a paradise.[1] A distinguished writer +represents one of his characters as leaving the Old World, and seeking +happiness in the New, supposing that change of place and outward +circumstances could cure a restless mind. He found no rest by the change; +and in view of his disappointment says: "I will return, and in my +ancestral home, amid my paternal fields, among my own people, I will say, +_Here, or nowhere_, is America."[2] In like manner, must the Christian +seek happiness in present peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, and must here +in this life strive after the righteousness that brings tranquillity. +Though he may look forward with aspiration to the new heavens and the new +earth wherein dwelleth a _perfected_ righteousness, yet he must remember +that his holiness and happiness there is merely an expansion of his +holiness and happiness here. He must seek to "receive" the kingdom of +God, as well as to "enter" it; and when tempted to relax his efforts, and +to let down his watch, because the future life will not oppose so many +obstacles to spirituality as this, and will bring a more perfect +enjoyment with it, he should say to himself: "Be holy now, be happy here. +_Here, or nowhere_, is heaven." + +Such being the nature of the kingdom of God, we are now brought up to the +discussion of the subject of the text, and are prepared to consider: _In +what respects, the kingdom of God requires the temper of a child as +distinguished from the temper of a man, in order to receive it, and in +order to enter it_. + +The kingdom of God, considered as a kingdom that is within the soul, is +tantamount to religion. To receive this kingdom, then, is equivalent to +receiving religion into the heart, so that the character shall be formed +by it, and the future destiny be decided by it. What, then, is the +religion that is to be received? We answer that it is the religion that +is needed. But, the religion that is needed by a sinful man is very +different from the religion that is adapted to a holy angel. He who has +never sinned is already in direct and blessed relations with God, and +needs only to drink in the overflowing and everflowing stream of purity +and pleasure. Such a spirit requires a religion of only two doctrines: +First, that there is a God; and, secondly, that He ought to be loved +supremely and obeyed perfectly. This is the entire theology of the +angels, and it is enough for them. They know nothing of sin in their +personal experience, and consequently they require in their religion, +none of those doctrines, and none of those provisions, which are adapted +to the needs of sinners. + +But, man is in an altogether different condition from this. He too knows +that there is a God, and that He ought to be loved supremely, and obeyed +perfectly. Thus far, he goes along with the angel, and with every other +rational being made under the law and government of God. But, at this +point, his path diverges from that of the pure and obedient inhabitant of +heaven, and leads in an opposite direction. For he does not, like the +angels, act up to his knowledge. He is not conformed to these two +doctrines. He does not love God supremely, and he does not obey Him +perfectly. This fact puts him into a very different position, in +reference to these two doctrines, from that occupied by the obedient and +unfallen spirit. These two doctrines, in relation to him as one who has +contravened them, have become a power of condemnation; and whenever he +thinks of them he feels guilty. It is no longer sufficient to tell him. +that religion consists in loving God, and enjoying His presence,--consists +in holiness and happiness. "This is very true,"--he says,--"but +I am neither holy nor happy." It is no longer enough to remind him that +all is well with any creature who loves God with all his heart, and keeps +His commandments without a single slip or failure. "This is very +true,"--he says again,--"but I do not love in this style, neither have I +obeyed in this manner." It is too late to preach mere natural religion, +the religion of the angels, to one who has failed to stand fully and +firmly upon the principles of natural religion. It is too late to tell a +creature who has lost his virtue, that if he is only virtuous he is safe +enough. + +The religion, then, that a sinner needs, cannot be limited to the two +doctrines of the holiness of God, and the creature's obligation to love +and serve Him,--cannot be pared down to the precept: Fear God and +practise virtue. It must be greatly enlarged, and augmented, by the +introduction of that other class of truths which relate to the Divine +mercy towards those who have not feared God, and the Divine method of +salvation for those who are sinful. In other words, the religion for a +transgressor is _revealed_ religion, or the religion of Atonement and +Redemption. + +What, now, is there in _this_ species of religion that necessitates the +meek and docile temper of a child, as distinguished from the proud and +self-reliant spirit of a man, in order to its reception into the heart? + +I. In the first place, _the New Testament religion offers the forgiveness +of sins, and provides for it_. No one can ponder this fact an instant, +without perceiving that the pride and self-reliance of manhood are +excluded, and that the meekness and implicit trust of childhood are +demanded. Pardon and justification before God must, from the nature of +the case, be a gift, and a gift cannot be obtained unless it is accepted +_as such_. To demand or claim mercy, is self-contradictory. For, a claim +implies a personal ground for it; and this implies self-reliance, and +this is "manhood" in distinction from "childhood." In coming, therefore, +as the religion of the Cross does, before man with a gratuity, with an +offer to pardon his sins, it supposes that he take a correspondent +attitude. Were he sinless, the religion suited to him would be the mere +utterance of law, and he might stand up before it with the serene brow of +an obedient subject of the Divine government; though even then, not with +a proud and boastful temper. It would be out of place for him, to plead +guilty when he was innocent; or to cast himself upon mercy, when he could +appeal to justice. If the creature's acceptance be of works, then it is +no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. But if it be by grace, +then it is no more of works (Rom. xi. 6). If the very first feature of +the Christian religion is the exhibition of clemency, then the proper and +necessary attitude of one who receives it is that of humility. + +But, leaving this argument drawn from the characteristics, of +Christianity as a religion of Redemption, let us pass into the soul of +man, and see what we are taught there, respecting the temper which he +must possess in order to receive this new, revealed kingdom of God. The +soul of man is guilty. Now, there is something in the very nature of +guilt that excludes the proud, self-conscious, self-reliant spirit of +manhood, and necessitates the lowly, and dependent spirit of childhood. +When conscience is full of remorse, and the holy eye of law is searching +us, and fears of eternal banishment and punishment are rakeing the +spirit, there is no remedy but simple confession, and childlike reliance +upon absolute mercy. The sinner must be a softened child and not a hard +man, he must beg a boon and not put in a claim, if he would receive this +kingdom of God, this New Testament religion, into his soul. The slightest +inclination to self-righteousness, the least degree of resistance to the +just pressure of law, is a vitiating element in repentance. The muscles +of the stout man must give way, the knees must bend, the hands must be +uplifted deprecatingly, the eyes must gaze with a straining gaze upon the +expiating Cross,--in other words, the least and last remains of a stout +and self-asserting spirit must vanish, and the whole being must be +pliant, bruised, broken, helpless in its state and condition, in order +to a pure sense of guilt, a godly sorrow for sin, and a cordial +appropriation of the atonement. The attempt to mix the two tempers, to +mingle the child with the man, to confess sin and assert +self-righteousness, must be an entire failure, and totally prevent +the reception of the religion of Redemption. In relation to the Redeemer, +the sinful soul should be a vacuum, a hollow void, destitute of +everything holy and good, conscious that it is, and aching to be filled +with the fulness of His peace and purity. + +And with reference to God, the Being whose function it is to pardon, we +see the same necessity for this child-like spirit in the transgressor. +How can God administer forgiveness, unless there is a correlated temper +to receive it? His particular declarative act in blotting out sin depends +upon the existence of penitence for sin. Where there is absolute hardness +of heart, there can be no pardon, from the very nature of the case, and +the very terms of the statement. Can God say to the hardened Judas: +Son be of good cheer, thy sin is forgiven thee? Can He speak to the +traitor as He speaks to the Magdalen? The difficulty is not upon the side +of God. The Divine pity never lags behind any genuine human sorrow. No +man was ever more eager to be forgiven than his Redeemer is to forgive +him. No contrition for sin, upon the part of man, ever yet outran the +readiness and delight of God to recognize it, and meet it with a free +pardon. For, that very contrition itself is always the product of Divine +grace, and proves that God is in advance of the soul. The father in the +parable saw the son while he was a great way off, _before_ the son saw +him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. But while this is so, +and is an encouragement to the penitent, it must ever be remembered that +unless there is some genuine sorrow in the human soul, there can be no +manifestation of the Divine forgiveness within it. Man cannot beat the +air, and God cannot forgive impenitency. + +II. In the second place, the New Testament religion proposes _to create +within man a clean heart, and to renew within him a right spirit_. +Christianity not only pardons but sanctifies the human soul. And in +accomplishing this latter work, it requires the same humble and docile +temper that was demanded in the former instance. + +Holiness, even in an unfallen angel, is not an absolutely self-originated +thing. If it were, the angel would be worthy of adoration and worship. He +who is inwardly and totally excellent, and can also say: I am what I am +by my own ultimate authorship, can claim for himself the _glory_ that is +due to righteousness. Any self-originated and self-subsistent virtue is +entitled to the hallelujahs. But, no created spirit, though he be the +highest of the archangels, can make such an assertion, or put in such a +claim. The merit of the unfallen angel, therefore, is a relative one; +because his holiness is of a created and derived species. It is not +increate and self-subsistent. This being so, it is plain that the proper +attitude of all creatures in respect to moral excellence is a recipient +and dependent one. But this is a meek and lowly attitude; and this is, in +one sense, a child-like attitude. Our Lord knew no sin; and yet He +himself tells us that He was meek and lowly of heart, and we well know +that He was. He does not say that He was penitent. He does not propose +himself as our exemplar in that respect. But, in respect to the primal, +normal attitude which a finite being must ever take in reference to the +infinite and adorable God, and the absolute underived Holiness; in +reference to the true temper which a holy man or a holy angel must +possess; our Lord Jesus Christ, in His human capacity, sets an example to +be followed by the spirits of just men made perfect, and by all the holy +inhabitants of heaven. In other words, He teaches the whole universe that +holiness in a creature, even though it be complete, does not permit its +possessor to be self-reliant, does not allow the proud spirit of manhood, +does not remove the obligation to be child-like, meek, and lowly of +heart. + +But if this is true of holiness among those who have never fallen, how +much more true is it of those who have, and who need to be lifted up out +of the abyss. If an angel, in reference to God, must be meek and lowly of +heart; if the holy Redeemer must in His human capacity be meek and lowly +of heart; if the child-like temper, in reference to the infinite and +everlasting Father and the absolutely Good, is the proper one in such +exalted instances as these; how much more is it in the instance of the +vile and apostate children of Adam! Besides the original and primitive +reason growing out of creaturely relationships, there is the superadded +one growing out of the fact, that now the whole head is sick and the +whole heart is faint, and from the sole of the foot even unto the head +there is no soundness in human nature. + +Hence, our Lord began His Sermon on the Mount in these words: "Blessed +are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are +they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for +they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst +after righteousness; for they shall be filled."[3] The very opening of +this discourse, which He intended should go down through the ages as a +manifesto declaring the real nature of His kingdom, and the spirit which +His followers must possess, asserts the necessity of a needy, recipient, +asking mind, upon the part of a sinner. All this phraseology implies +destitution; and a destitution that cannot be self-supplied. He who +hungers and thirsts after righteousness is conscious of an inward void, +in respect to righteousness, that must be filled from abroad. He +who is meek is sensible that he is dependent for his moral excellence. He +who is poor in spirit is, not pusillanimous as Thomas Paine charged +upon Christianity but, as John of Damascus said of himself, a man of +spiritual cravings, _vir desideriorum_. + +Now, all this delineation of the general attitude requisite in order to +the reception of the Christian religion is summed up again, in the +declaration of our text: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +_as a little child_, he shall not enter therein." Is a man, then, +sensible that his understanding is darkened by sin, and that he is +destitute of clear and just apprehensions of divine things? Does his +consciousness of inward poverty assume this form? If he would be +delivered from his mental blindness, and be made rich in spiritual +knowledge, he must adopt a teachable and recipient attitude. He must not +assume that his own mind is the great fountain of wisdom, and seek to +clear up his doubts and darkness by the rationalistic method of +self-illumination. On the contrary, he must go beyond his mind and open a +_book_, even the Book of Revelation, and search for the wisdom it +contains and proffers. And yet more than this. As this volume is the +product of the Eternal Spirit himself, and this Spirit conspires with the +doctrines which He has revealed, and exerts a positive illuminating +influence, he must seek communion therewith. From first to last, +therefore, the darkened human spirit must take a waiting posture, in +order to enlightenment. That part of "the clean heart and the right +spirit" which consists in the _knowledge_ of divine things can be +obtained only through a child-like bearing and temper. This is what our +Lord means, when He pronounces a blessing upon the poor in spirit, the +hungry and the thirsting soul. Men, in their pride and self-reliance, in +their sense of manhood, may seek to enter the kingdom of heaven by a +different method; they may attempt to _speculate_ their way through all +the mystery that overhangs human life, and the doubts that confuse and +baffle the human understanding; but when they find that the unaided +intellect only "spots a thicker gloom" instead of pouring a serener ray, +wearied and worn they return, as it were, to the sweet days of childhood, +and in the gentleness, and tenderness, and docility of an altered mood, +learn, as Bacon did in respect to the kingdom of nature, that the kingdom +of heaven is open only to the little child. + +Again, is a man conscious of the corruption of his heart? Has he +discovered his alienation from the life and love of God, and is he now +aware that a total change must pass upon him, or that alienation must be +everlasting? Has he found out that his inclinations, and feelings, and +tastes, and sympathies are so worldly, so averse from spiritual objects, +as to be beyond his sovereignty? Does he feel vividly that the attempt to +expel this carnal mind, and to induce in the place thereof the heavenly +spontaneous glow of piety towards God and man, is precisely like the +attempt of the Ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard his spots? + +If this experience has been forced upon him, shall he meet it with the +port and bearing of a strong man? Shall he take the attitude of the old +Roman stoic, and attempt to meet the exigencies of his moral condition, +by the steady strain and hard tug of his own force? He cannot long do +this, under the clear searching ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, +without an inexpressible weariness and a profound despair. Were he within +the sphere of paganism, it might, perhaps, be otherwise. A Marcus +Aurelius could maintain this legal and self-righteous position to the end +of life, because his ideal of virtue was a very low one. Had that +high-minded pagan felt the influences of Christian ethics, had the Sermon +on the Mount searched his soul, telling him that the least emotion of +pride, anger, or lust, was a breach of that everlasting law which stood +grand and venerable before his philosophic eye, and that his virtue was +all gone, and his soul was exposed to the inflictions of justice, if even +a single thought of his heart was unconformed to the perfect rule of +right,--if, instead of the mere twilight of natural religion, there had +flared into his mind the fierce and consuming splendor of the noonday sun +of revealed truth, and New Testament ethics, it would have been +impossible for that serious-minded emperor to say, as in his utter +self-delusion he did, to the Deity: "Give me my dues,"--instead of +breathing the prayer: "Forgive me my debts." Christianity elevates the +standard and raises the ideal of moral excellence, and thereby disturbs +the self-complacent feeling of the stoic, and the moralist. If the law and +rule of right is merely an outward one, it is possible for a man +sincerely to suppose that he has kept the law, and his sincerity will be +his ruin. For, in this case, he can maintain a self-reliant and a +self-satisfied spirit, the spirit of manhood, to the very end of his +earthly career, and go with his righteousness which is as filthy rags, +into the presence of Him in whose sight the heavens are not clean. But, +if the law and rule of right is seen to be an inward and spiritual +statute, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and +becoming a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, it is not +possible for a candid man to delude himself into the belief that he +has perfectly obeyed it; and in this instance, that self-dissatisfied +spirit, that consciousness of internal schism and bondage, that war +between the flesh and the spirit so vividly portrayed in the seventh +chapter of Romans, begins, and instead of the utterance of the moralist: +"I have kept the everlasting law, give me my dues," there bursts forth +the self-despairing cry of the penitent and the child: "O wretched man +that I am.! who shall deliver me? Father I have sinned against heaven and +before thee." + +When, therefore, the truth and Spirit of God, working in and with the +natural conscience, have brought a man to that point where he sees that +all his own righteousness is as filthy rags, and that the pure and +stainless righteousness of Jehovah must become the possession and the +characteristic of his soul, he is prepared to believe the declaration of +our text: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little +child, he shall not enter therein." The new heart, and the right +spirit,--the change, not in the mere external behavior but, in the very +disposition and inclination of the soul,--excludes every jot and tittle +of self-assertion, every particle of proud and stoical manhood. + +Such a text as this which we have been considering is well adapted to put +us upon the true method of attaining everlasting life. These few and +simple words actually dropped, eighteen hundred years ago, from the lips +of that august Being who is now seated upon the throne of heaven, and who +knows this very instant the effect which they are producing in the heart +of every one who either reads or hears them. Let us remember that these +few and simple words do verily contain the key to everlasting life and +glory. In knowing what they mean, we know, infallibly, the way to heaven. +"I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those +things which we see, and have not seen them: and to hear those things +which we hear, and have not heard them." How many a thoughtful pagan, in +the centuries that have passed and gone, would in all probability have +turned a most attentive ear, had he heard, as we do, from the lips of an +unerring Teacher, that a child-like reception of a certain particular +truth,--and that not recondite and metaphysical, but simple as childhood +itself, and to be received by a little child's act,--would infallibly +conduct to the elysium that haunted and tantalized him. + +That which hinders us is our pride, our "manhood." The act of faith is a +child's act; and a child's act, though intrinsically the easiest of any, +is relatively the most difficult of all. It implies the surrender of our +self-will, our self-love, our proud manhood; and never was a truer remark +made than that of Ullmann, that "in no one thing is the strength of a +man's will so manifested, as in his having no will of his own."[4] +"Christianity,"--says Jeremy Taylor,--"is the easiest and the hardest +thing in the world. It is like a secret in arithmetic; infinitely hard +till it be found out by a right operation, and then it is so plain we +wonder we did not understand it earlier." How hard, how impossible +without that Divine grace which makes all such central and revolutionary +acts easy and genial to the soul,--how hard it is to cease from our own +works, and really become docile and recipient children, believing on the +Lord Jesus Christ, and trusting in Him, simply and solely, for salvation. + + + +[Footnote 1: "Concerning the object of felicity in heaven, we are agreed +that it can be no other than the blessed God himself, the +all-comprehending good, fully adequate to the highest and most enlarged +reasonable desires. But the contemperation of our faculties to the holy, +blissful object, is so necessary to our satisfying fruition, that without +this we are no more capable thereof, than a brute of the festivities of a +quaint oration, or a stone of the relishes of the most pleasant meats and +drinks." HOWE: Heaven a State of Perfection.] + +[Footnote 2: GOETHE: Wilhelm Meister, Book VII., ch. iii.] + +[Footnote 3: Compare Isaiah lxi. 1.] + +[Footnote 4: ULLMANN: Sinlessness of Jesus, Pt. I., Ch. iii., Sec. 2.] + + + + + +FAITH THE SOLE SAVING ACT. + +JOHN vi. 28, 29.--"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we +might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is +the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." + + +In asking their question, the Jews intended to inquire of Christ what +_particular_ things they must do, before all others, in order to please +God. The "works of God," as they denominate them, were not any and every +duty, but those more special and important acts, by which the creature +might secure the Divine approval and favor. Our Lord understood their +question in this sense, and in His reply tells them, that the great and +only work for them to do was to exercise faith in Him. They had employed +the plural number in their question; but in His answer He employs the +singular. They had asked, What shall we do that we might work the +_works_ of God,--as if there were several of them. His reply is, "This is +the _work_ of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." He narrows +down the terms of salvation to a single one; and makes the destiny of the +soul to depend upon the performance of a particular individual act. In +this, as in many other incidental ways, our Lord teaches His own +divinity. If He were a mere creature; if He were only an inspired teacher +like David or Paul; how would He dare, when asked to give in a single +word the condition and means of human salvation, to say that they consist +in resting the soul upon Him? Would David have dared to say: "This is the +work of God,--this is the saving act,--that ye believe in me?" Would Paul +have presumed to say to the anxious inquirer: "Your soul is safe, if you +trust in me?" But Christ makes this declaration, without any +qualification. Yet He was meek and lowly of heart, and never assumed +an honor or a prerogative that did not belong to Him. It is only upon the +supposition that He was "very God of very God," the Divine Redeemer of +the children of men, that we can justify such an answer to such a +question. + +The belief is spontaneous and natural to man, that something must be +_done_ in order to salvation. No man expects to reach heaven by inaction. +Even the indifferent and supine soul expects to rouse itself up at some +future time, and work out its salvation. The most thoughtless and +inactive man, in religious respects, will acknowledge that +thoughtlessness and inactivity if continued will end in perdition. +But he intends at a future day to think, and act, and be saved. So +natural is it, to every man, to believe in salvation by works; so ready +is every one to concede that heaven is reached, and hell is escaped, only +by an earnest effort of some kind; so natural is it to every man to ask +with these Jews, "What shall we _do_, that we may work the works of God?" + +But mankind generally, like the Jews in the days of our Lord, are under a +delusion respecting the _nature_ of the work which must be performed in +order to salvation. And in order to understand this delusion, we must +first examine the common notion upon the subject. + +When a man begins to think of God, and of his own relations to Him, he +finds that he owes Him service and obedience. He has a work to perform, +as a subject of the Divine government; and this work is to obey the +Divine law. He finds himself obligated to love God with all his heart, +and his neighbor as himself, and to discharge all the duties that spring +out of his relations to God and man. He perceives that this is the "work" +given him to do by creation, and that if he does it he will attain the +true end of his existence, and be happy in time and eternity. When +therefore he begins to think of a religious life, his first spontaneous +impulse is to begin the performance of this work which he has hitherto +neglected, and to reinstate himself in the Divine favor by the ordinary +method of keeping the law of God. He perceives that this is the mode in +which the angels preserve themselves holy and happy; that this is the +original mode appointed by God, when He established the covenant of +works; and he does not see why it is not the method for him. The law +expressly affirms that the man that doeth these things shall live by +them; he proposes to take the law just as it reads, and just as it +stands,--to do the deeds of the law, to perform the works which it +enjoins, and to live by the service. This we say, is the common notion, +natural to man, of the species of work which must be performed in order +to eternal life. This was the idea which filled the mind of the Jews when +they put the question of the text, and received for answer from Christ, +"This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Our +Lord does not draw out the whole truth, in detail. He gives only the +positive part of the answer, leaving His hearers to infer the negative +part of it. For the whole doctrine of Christ, fully stated, would run +thus: "No work _of the kind of which you are thinking_ can save you; +no obedience of the law, ceremonial or moral, can reinstate you in right +relations to God. I do not summon you to the performance of any such +service as that which you have in mind, in order to your justification +and acceptance before the Divine tribunal. _This_ is the work of +God,--this is the sole and single act which you are to perform,--namely, +that you _believe_ on Him whom He hath sent as a propitiation for sin. I +do not summon you to works of the law, but to faith in Me the Redeemer. +Your first duty is not to attempt to acquire a righteousness in the old +method, by doing something of yourselves, but to receive a righteousness +in the new method, by trusting in what another has done for you." + +I. What is the _ground_ and _reason_ of such an answer as this? Why is +man invited to the method of faith in another, instead of the method of +faith in himself? Why is not his first spontaneous thought the true one? +Why should he not obtain eternal life by resolutely proceeding to do his +duty, and keeping the law of God? Why can he not be saved by the law of +works? Why is he so summarily shut up to the law of faith? + +We answer: Because it is _too late_ for him to adopt the method of +salvation by works. The law is indeed explicit in its assertion, that the +man that doeth these things shall live by them; but then it supposes that +the man begin at the beginning. A subject of government cannot disobey a +civil statute for five or ten years, and then put himself in right +relations to it again, by obeying it for the remainder of his life. Can a +man who has been a thief or an adulterer for twenty years, and then +practises honesty and purity for the following thirty years, stand up +before the seventh and eighth commandments and be acquitted by them? It +is too late for any being who has violated a law even in a single +instance, to attempt to be justified by that law. For, the law demands +and supposes that obedience begin at the very _beginning_ of existence, +and continue down _uninterruptedly_ to the end of it. No man can come in +at the middle of a process of obedience, any more than he can come in at +the last end of it, if he proposes to be accepted upon the ground of +_obedience_. "I testify," says St. Paul, "to every man that is +circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the _whole_ law" (Gal. v. 3). The +whole, or none, is the just and inexorable rule which law lays down in +the matter of justification. If any subject of the Divine government can +show a clean record, from the beginning to the end of his existence, the +statute says to him, "Well done," and gives him the reward which he has +earned. And it gives it to him not as a matter of grace, but of debt. The +law never makes a present of wages. It never pays out wages, until they +are earned,---fairly and fully earned. But when a perfect obedience from +first to last is rendered to its claims, the compensation follows as +matter of debt. The law, in this instance, is itself brought under +obligation. It owes a reward to the perfectly obedient subject of law, +and it considers itself his debtor until it is paid. "Now to him that +worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. If it be of +works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (Rom. +iv. 4; xi. 6). + +But, on the other hand, law is equally exact and inflexible, in case the +work has not been performed. It will not give eternal life to a soul that +has sinned ten years, and then perfectly obeyed ten years,--supposing +that there is any such soul. The obedience, as we have remarked, must run +parallel with the _entire_ existence, in order to be a ground, of +justification. Infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old age, and then the +whole immortality that succeeds, must all be unintermittently sinless and +holy, in order to make eternal life a matter of debt. Justice is as exact +and punctilious upon this side, as it is upon the other. We have seen, +that when a perfect obedience has been rendered, justice will not palm +off the wages that are due as if they were some gracious gift; and on the +other hand, when a perfect obedience has not been rendered, it will not +be cajoled into the bestowment of wages as if they had been earned. There +is no principle that is so intelligent, so upright, and so exact, as +justice; and no creature can expect either to warp it, or to circumvent +it. + +In the light of these remarks, it is evident that it is _too late_ for a +sinner to avail himself of the method of salvation by works. For, that +method requires that sinless obedience begin at the beginning of his +existence, and never be interrupted. But no man thus begins, and no man +thus continues. "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray +as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Ps. lviii. 3). Man comes into +the world a sinful and alienated creature. He is by nature a child of +wrath (Eph. ii. 3). Instead of beginning life with holiness, he begins it +with sin. His heart at birth is apostate and corrupt; and his conduct +from the very first is contrary to law. Such is the teaching of +Scripture, such is the statement of the Creeds, and such is the testimony +of consciousness, respecting the character which man brings into the +world with him. The very dawn of human life is clouded with depravity; is +marked by the carnal mind which is at enmity with the law of God, and is +not subject to that law, neither indeed can be. How is it possible, then, +for man to attain eternal life by a method that supposes, and requires, +that the very dawn of his being be holy like that of Christ's, and that +every thought, feeling, purpose, and act be conformed to law through the +entire existence? Is it not _too late_ for such a creature as man now is +to adopt the method of salvation by the works of the law? + +But we will not crowd you, with the doctrine of native depravity and the +sin in Adam. We have no doubt that it is the scriptural and true doctrine +concerning human nature; and have no fears that it will be contradicted +by either a profound self-knowledge, or a profound metaphysics. But +perhaps you are one who doubts it; and therefore, for the sake of +argument, we will let you set the commencement of sin where you please. +If you tell us that it begins in the second, or the fourth, or the tenth +year of life, it still remains true that it is _too late_ to employ the +method of justification by works. If you concede any sin at all, at any +point whatsoever, in the history of a human soul, you preclude it from +salvation by the deeds of the law, and shut it up to salvation by grace. +Go back as far as you can in your memory, and you must acknowledge that +you find sin as far as you go; and even if, in the face of Scripture and +the symbols of the Church, you should deny that the sin runs back to +birth and apostasy in Adam, it still remains true that the first years of +your _conscious_ existence were not years of holiness, nor the first acts +which you _remember_, acts of obedience. Even upon your own theory, you +_begin_ with sin, and therefore you cannot be justified by the law. + +This, then, is a conclusive reason and ground for the declaration of our +Lord, that the one great work which every fallen man has to perform, and +must perform, in order to salvation, is faith in _another's_ work, and +confidence in _another's_ righteousness. If man is to be saved by his own +righteousness, that righteousness must begin at the very beginning of his +existence, and go on without interruption. If he is to be saved by his +own good works, there never must be a single instant in his life when he +is not working such works. But beyond all controversy such is not the +fact. It is, therefore, impossible for him to be justified by trusting in +himself; and the only possible mode that now remains, is to trust in +another. + +II. And this brings us to the second part of our subject. "This is the +work of God, that ye _believe_ on him whom He hath sent." It will be +observed that faith is here denominated a "work." And it is so indeed. It +is a mental act; and an act of the most comprehensive and energetic +species. Faith is an active principle that carries the whole man with it, +and in it,--head and heart, will and affections, body soul and spirit. +There is no act so all-embracing in its reach, and so total in its +momentum, as the act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In this sense, it +is a "work." It is no supine and torpid thing; but the most vital and +vigorous activity that can be conceived of. When a sinner, moved by the +Holy Ghost the very source of spiritual life and energy, casts himself in +utter helplessness, and with all his weight, upon his Redeemer for +salvation, never is he more active, and never does he do a greater work. + +And yet, faith is not a work in the common signification of the word. In +the Pauline Epistles, it is generally opposed to works, in such a way as +to exclude them. For example: "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By +what law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude +that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. Knowing +that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of +Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be +justified, by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. +Received ye the Spirit, by the works of the law, or by the hearing of +faith?"[1] In these and other passages, faith and works are directly +contrary to each other; so that in this connection, faith is not a +"work." Let us examine this point, a little in detail, for it will throw +light upon the subject under discussion. + +In the opening of the discourse, we alluded to the fact that when a man's +attention is directed to the subject of his soul's salvation, his first +spontaneous thought is, that he must of _himself_ render something to +God, as an offset for his sins; that he must perform his duty by _his +own_ power and effort, and thereby acquire a personal merit before his +Maker and Judge. The thought of appropriating another person's work, of +making use of what another being has done in his stead, does not occur to +him; or if it does, it is repulsive to him. His thought is, that it is +his own soul that is to be saved, and it is his own work that must save +it. Hence, he begins to perform religious duties in the ordinary use of +his own faculties, and in his own strength, for the purpose, and with the +expectation, of _settling the account_ which he knows is unsettled, +between himself and his Judge. As yet, there is no faith in another +Being. He is not trusting and resting in another person; but he is +trusting and resting in himself. He is not making use of the work or +services which another has wrought in his behalf, but he is employing +his own powers and faculties, in performing these his own works, which he +owes, and which, if paid in this style, he thinks will save his soul. +This is the spontaneous, and it is the correct, idea of a "work,"--of +what St. Paul so often calls a "work of the law." And it is the exact +contrary of faith. + +For, faith never does anything in this independent and self-reliant +manner. It does not perform a service in its own strength, and then hold +it out to God as something for Him to receive, and for which He must pay +back wages in the form of remitting sin and bestowing happiness. Faith is +wholly occupied with _another's_ work, and _another's_ merit. The +believing soul deserts all its own doings, and betakes itself to what a +third person has wrought for it, and in its stead. When, for +illustration, a sinner discovers that he owes a satisfaction to Eternal +Justice for the sins that are past, if he adopts the method of works, he +will offer up his endeavors to obey the law, as an offset, and a reason +why he should be forgiven. He will say in his heart, if he does not in +his prayer: "I am striving to atone for the past, by doing my duty in the +future; my resolutions, my prayers and alms-giving, all this hard +struggle to be better and to do better, ought certainly to avail for my +pardon." Or, if he has been educated in a superstitious Church, he will +offer up his penances, and mortifications, and pilgrimages, as a +satisfaction to justice, and a reason why he should be forgiven and made +blessed forever in heaven. That is a very instructive anecdote which St. +Simon relates respecting the last hours of the profligate Louis XIV. "One +day,"--he says,--"the king recovering from loss of consciousness asked +his confessor, Pere Tellier, to give him absolution for all his sins. +Pere Tellier asked him if he suffered much. 'No,' replied the king, +'that's what troubles me. I should like to suffer more, for the expiation +of my sins.'" Here was a poor mortal who had spent his days in carnality +and transgression of the pure law of God. He is conscious of guilt, and +feels the need of its atonement. And now, upon the very edge of eternity +and brink of doom, he proposes to make his own atonement, to be his own +redeemer and save his own soul, by offering up to the eternal nemesis +that was racking his conscience a few hours of finite suffering, instead +of betaking himself to the infinite passion and agony of Calvary. This is +a work; and, alas, a "_dead_ work," as St. Paul so often denominates it. +This is the method of justification by works. But when a man adopts the +method of justification by faith, his course is exactly opposite to all +this. Upon discovering that he owes a satisfaction to Eternal Justice for +the sins that are past, instead of holding up his prayers, or +alms-giving, or penances, or moral efforts, or any work of his own, he +holds up the sacrificial work of Christ. In his prayer to God, he +interposes the agony and death of the Great Substitute between his guilty +soul, and the arrows of justice.[2] He knows that the very best of his +own works, that even the most perfect obedience that a creature could +render, would be pierced through and through by the glittering shafts of +violated law. And therefore he takes the "shield of faith." He places the +oblation of the God-man,--not his own work and not his own suffering, but +another's work and another's suffering,--between himself and the judicial +vengeance of the Most High. And in so doing, he works no work of his own, +and no dead work; but he works the "work of God;" he _believes_ on Him +whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation for his sins, and not for +his only but for the sins of the whole world. + +This then is the great doctrine which our Lord taught the Jews, when they +asked Him what particular thing or things they must do in order to +eternal life. The apostle John, who recorded the answer of Christ in this +instance, repeats the doctrine again in his first Epistle: "Whatsoever we +ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandment, and do those +things that are pleasing in His sight. And _this is His commandment_, +that we should _believe_ on the name of His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John +iii, 22, 23). The whole duty of sinful man is here summed up, and +concentrated, in the duty to trust in another person than himself, and in +another work than his own. The apostle, like his Lord before him, employs +the singular number: "This is His commandment,"--as if there were no +other commandment upon record. And this corresponds with the answer which +Paul and Silas gave to the despairing jailor: "Believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ,"--do this one single thing,--"and thou shalt be saved." And all +of these teachings accord with that solemn declaration of our Lord: "He +that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth +not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." In +the matter of salvation, where there is faith in Christ, there is +everything; and where there is not faith in Christ, there is nothing. + +1. And it is with this thought that we would close this discourse, and +enforce the doctrine of the text. Do whatever else you may in the matter +of religion, you have done nothing until you have believed on the Lord +Jesus Christ, whom God hath, sent into the world to be the propitiation +for sin. There are two reasons for this. In the first place, it is _the +appointment and declaration of God_, that man, if saved at all, must be +saved by faith in the Person and Work of the Mediator. "Neither is there +salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given +among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 12). It of course rests +entirely with the Most High God, to determine the mode and manner in +which He will enter into negotiations with His creatures, and especially +with His rebellious creatures. He must make the terms, and the creature +must come to them. Even, therefore, if we could not see the +reasonableness and adaptation of the method, we should be obligated to +accept it. The creature, and particularly the guilty creature, cannot +dictate to his Sovereign and Judge respecting the terms and conditions by +which he is to be received into favor, and secure eternal life. Men +overlook this fact, when they presume as they do, to sit in judgment upon +the method of redemption by the blood of atonement and to quarrel with +it. + +In the first Punic war, Hannibal laid siege to Saguntum, a rich and +strongly-fortified city on the eastern coast of Spain. It was defended +with a desperate obstinacy by its inhabitants. But the discipline, the +energy, and the persistence of the Carthaginian army, were too much for +them; and just as the city was about to fall, Alorcus, a Spanish +chieftain, and a mutual friend of both of the contending parties, +undertook to mediate between them. He proposed to the Saguntines that +they should surrender, allowing the Carthaginian general to make his own +terms. And the argument he used was this: "Your city is captured, in any +event. Further resistance will only bring down upon you the rage of an +incensed soldiery, and the horrors of a sack. Therefore, surrender +immediately, and take whatever Hannibal shall please to give. You cannot +lose anything by the procedure, and you may gain something, even though +it be little."[3] Now, although there is no resemblance between the +government of the good and merciful God and the cruel purposes and +conduct of a heathen warrior, and we shrink from bringing the two into +any kind of juxtaposition, still, the advice of the wise Alorcus to the +Saguntines is good advice for every sinful man, in reference to his +relations to Eternal Justice. We are all of us at the mercy of God. +Should He make no terms at all; had He never given His Son to die for our +sins, and never sent His Spirit to exert a subduing influence upon our +hard hearts, but had let guilt and justice take their inexorable course +with us; not a word could be uttered against the procedure by heaven, +earth, or hell. No creature, anywhere can complain of justice. That is an +attribute that cannot even be attacked. But the All-Holy is also the +All-Merciful. He has made certain terms, and has offered certain +conditions of pardon, without asking leave of His creatures and without +taking them into council, and were these terms as strict as Draco, +instead of being as tender and pitiful as the tears and blood of Jesus, +it would become us criminals to make no criticisms even in that extreme +case, but accept them precisely as they were offered by the Sovereign and +the Arbiter. We exhort you, therefore, to take these terms of salvation +simply as they are given, asking no questions, and being thankful that +there are any terms at all between the offended majesty of Heaven and the +guilty criminals of earth. Believe on Him whom God hath sent, because it +is the appointment and declaration of God, that if guilty man is to be +saved at all, he must be saved by faith in the Person and Work of the +Mediator. The very disposition to quarrel with this method implies +arrogance in dealing with the Most High. The least inclination to alter +the conditions shows that the creature is attempting to criticise the +Creator, and, what is yet more, that the criminal has no true perception +of his crime, no sense of his exposed and helpless situation, and +presumes to dictate the terms of his own pardon! + +2. We might therefore leave the matter here, and there would be a +sufficient reason for exercising the act of faith in Christ. But there is +a second and additional reason which we will also briefly urge upon you. +Not only is it the Divine appointment, that man shall be saved, if saved +at all, by the substituted work of another; but there are _needs_, there +are crying _wants_, in the human conscience, that can be supplied by no +other method. There is a perfect _adaptation_ between the Redemption that +is in Christ Jesus, and the guilt of sinners. As we have seen, we could +reasonably urge you to Believe in Him whom God hath sent, simply because +God has sent Him, and because He has told you that He will save you +through no other name and in no other way, and will save you in this name +and in this way. But we now urge you to the act of faith in this +substituted work of Christ, because it has an _atoning_ virtue, and can +pacify a perturbed and angry conscience; can wash out the stains of guilt +that are grained into it; can extract the sting of sin which ulcerates +and burns there. It is the idea of _expiation_ and _satisfaction_ that we +now single out, and press upon your notice. Sin must be +expiated,--expiated either by the blood of the criminal, or by the blood +of his Substitute. You must either die for your own sin, or some one who +is able and willing must die for you. This is founded and fixed in the +nature of God, and the nature of man, and the nature of sin. There is an +eternal and necessary connection between crime and penalty. The wages of +sin is death. But, all this inexorable necessity has been completely +provided for, by the sacrificial work of the Son of God. In the gospel, +God satisfies His own justice for the sinner, and now offers you the full +benefit of the satisfaction, if you will humbly and penitently accept it. +"What compassion can equal the words of God the Father addressed to the +sinner condemned to eternal punishment, and having no means of redeeming +himself: 'Take my Only-Begotten Son, and make Him an offering for +thyself;' or the words of the Son: 'Take Me, and ransom thy soul?' For +this is what _both_ say, when they invite and draw man to faith in the +gospel."[4] In urging you, therefore, to trust in Christ's vicarious +sufferings for sin, instead of going down to hell and suffering for sin +in your own person; in entreating you to escape the stroke of justice +upon yourself, by believing in Him who was smitten in your stead, who +"was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities;" in +beseeching you to let the Eternal Son of God be your Substitute in this +awful judicial transaction; we are summoning you to no arbitrary and +irrational act. The peace of God which it will introduce into your +conscience, and the love of God which it will shed abroad through your +soul, will be the most convincing of all proofs that the act of faith in +the great Atonement does no violence to the ideas and principles of the +human constitution. No act that contravenes those intuitions and +convictions which are part and particle of man's moral nature could +possibly produce peace and joy. It would be revolutionary and anarchical. +The soul could not rest an instant. And yet it is the uniform testimony +of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the act of simple +confiding faith in His blood and righteousness is the most peaceful, the +most joyful act they ever performed,--nay, that it was the first +_blessed_ experience they ever felt in this world of sin, this world of +remorse, this world of fears and forebodings concerning judgment and +doom. + +Is the question, then, of the Jews, pressing upon your mind? Do you ask, +What one particular single thing shall I do, that I may be safe for time +and eternity? Hear the answer of the Son of God Himself: "This is the +work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." + + +[Footnote 1: Romans iii. 27, 28; Galatians ii. 16, iii. 2.] + +[Footnote 2: The religious teacher is often asked to define the act of +faith, and explain the way and manner in which the soul is to exercise +it. "_How_ shall I believe?" is the question with which the anxious mind +often replies to the gospel injunction to believe. Without pretending +that it is a complete answer, or claiming that it is possible, in the +strict meaning of the word, to explain so simple and so profound an act +as faith, we think, nevertheless, that it assists the inquiring mind to +say, that whoever _asks in prayer_ for any one of the benefits of +Christ's redemption, in so far exercises faith in this redemption. +Whoever, for example, lifts up the supplication, "O Lamb of God +who takest away the sins of the world, grant me thy peace," in this +prayer puts faith in the atonement, He trusts in the atonement, by +_pleading_ the atonement,--by mentioning it, in his supplication, +as the reason why he may be forgiven. In like manner, he who asks for the +renewing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost exercises faith, in +these influences. This is the mode in which he expresses his _confidence_ +in the power of God to accomplish a work in his heart that is beyond his +own power. Whatever, therefore, be the particular benefit in Christ's +redemption that one would trust in, and thereby make personally his own, +that he may live by it and be blest by it,--be it the atoning blood, or +be it the indwelling Spirit,--let him _ask_ for that benefit. If he would +trust _in_ the thing, let him ask _for_ the thing. + +Since writing the above, we have met with a corroboration of this view, +by a writer of the highest authority upon such points. "Faith is that +inward sense and act, of which prayer is the _expression_; as is evident, +because in the same manner as the freedom of grace, according to the +gospel covenant, is often set forth by this, that he that _believes_, +receives; so it also oftentimes is by this, that he that _asks_, or +_prays_, or _calls upon_ God, receives. 'Ask and it shall be given you; +seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For +every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to +him that knocketh, it shall be opened. And all things whatsoever ye shall +_ask in prayer, believing_, ye shall receive (Matt. vii. 7, 8; Mark xi. +24). If ye _abide_ in me and my words abide in you, ye shall _ask_ what +ye will, and it shall be done unto you' (John xv. 7). Prayer is often +plainly spoken of as the expression of faith. As it very certainly is in +Romans x. 11-14: 'For the Scripture saith, Whosoever _believeth_ on him +shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and +the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that _call_ upon +him; for whosoever shall _call_ upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. +'How then shall they _call_ on him in whom they have not _believed_.' +Christian prayer is called the prayer of _faith_ (James v. 15). 'I will +that men everywhere lift up holy hands, without wrath and _doubting_ (1 +Tim. ii. 8). Draw near in full assurance of _faith_' (Heb. x. 22). The +same expressions that are used, in Scripture, for faith, may well be used +for prayer also; such as _coming_ to God or Christ, and _looking_ to Him. +'In whom we have boldness and _access_ with confidence, by the _faith_ of +him' (Eph. iii. 12)." EDWARDS: Observations concerning Faith.] + +[Footnote 3: Livius: Historia, Lib. xxi. 12.] + +[Footnote 4: ANSELM: Cur Deus Homo? II. 20.] + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Sermons to the Natural Man, by William G.T. Shedd + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN *** + +***** This file should be named 13204.txt or 13204.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/0/13204/ + +Produced by G. 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