Chapter II — Sin
Section I. All men are sinners. The nature of man, since the fall, is depraved.
Since then the Scriptures are undoubtedly the word of God, with what reverence we should receive their divine instructions; with what diligence and humility we should study them; with what confidence we should rely upon the truth of all their declarations; and with what readiness we should obey all their directions! We are especially concerned to learn what they teach with regard to the character of men, the way of salvation, and the rule of duty.
With respect to the first of these points (the character of men), the Bible very clearly teaches that all men are sinners. The apostle Paul not only asserts this truth, but he proves it at length, in reference both to those who live under the light of nature, and those who enjoy the light of revelation. The former, he says, are justly chargeable with impiety and immorality. This is because the perfections of the divine
Being, His eternal power and godhead, have been manifested since the creation, by the things which are made. Yet men have not acknowledged their Creator. They neither worshipped him as God, nor were thankful for his mercies, but served the creature more than the Creator. In thus departing from the fountain of all excellence, they departed from excellence itself. Their foolish hearts were darkened and their corruption manifests itself not only by degrading idolatry, but by the various forms of moral evil both in heart and life. These sins are committed against the law which is written on every man's heart; Rom 2.15 so that they know that those who do such things are worthy of death, and are therefore without excuse even in their own consciousness.
With regard to those who enjoy a supernatural revelation of the character and requirements of God, the case is still more plain.
Instead of rendering to this God, the inward and outward homage which are His due, they neglect his service, and really prefer his creatures to himself. Instead of regulating their conduct by the perfect rule of duty contained in the Scriptures, they constantly dishonor God by breaking that law. Thus the apostle shows that all classes of men, when judged by the light they have severally enjoyed, are found guilty before God. Moreover, this universality of guilt, he says, is confirmed by the clear testimony of the Scriptures, which declare, There is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understands; there is none that seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way; they have altogether become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no not one. Rom 3.10-12
This language is not used by the Holy Spirit in reference to the men of any one age or country, but in reference to the human race. It is intended to describe the moral character of man. It is in this sense that it is quoted and applied by the apostle. And we accordingly find similar declarations in all parts of the Bible, in the New Testament, as well as in the Old, in the writings of one age, as well as in those of another. And there are no passages of an opposite character; there are none which represent the race as being what God requires, nor any which speak of any member of that race as being free from sin.
On the contrary, it is expressly said, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1Joh 1.3 We all offend in many things. Jas 3.2 There is no man that does not sin. 1Kng 8.46 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Rom 3.23 Hence the Scriptures proceed on the assumption of the universal sinfulness of men. To speak, to act, to walk in the manner of men is, in the language of the Bible, to speak or act wickedly. The world is filled with the wicked. This present evil world is the description of mankind, from whose character and deserved punishment, it is said to be the design of Christ's death, to redeem his people. Gal 1.4 The world cannot hate you, said our Savior to those who refused to be his disciples, but it hates me, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Joh 7.7 They are of the world; therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 1Joh 4.5 We are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness. 1Joh 5.19
This however is not a doctrine taught in isolated passages. It is one of those fundamental truths which are taken for granted in almost every page of the Bible. The whole scheme of redemption supposes that man is a fallen being. Christ came to seek and to save the lost.
He was announced as the Savior of sinners. His advent and work have no meaning or value except on the assumption that we are guilty, for he came to save his people from their sins; to die, the just for the unjust; to bear our sins in his own body on the tree. Those who have no sin, need no Savior; those who do not deserve death, need no Redeemer. As the doctrine of redemption pervades the Scripture, so does the doctrine of the universal sinfulness of men.
This doctrine is also assumed in all the Scriptural representations of what is necessary for admission into heaven. All men, everywhere, are commanded to repent. Act 17.30 But repentance supposes sin.
Every man must be born again, in order to see the kingdom of God; he must become a new creature; he must be renewed after the image of God. Being dead in trespasses and in sins, he must be quickened, or made partaker of a spiritual life. In short, it is the uniform doctrine of the Bible, that all men need both pardon and sanctification in order for their admission to heaven. It therefore teaches that all men are sinners.
The Scriptures moreover teach that the sinfulness of men is deep seated; or consisting in a corruption of the heart, it manifests itself in innumerable forms in the actions of the life. All the imaginations of man's heart are only evil continually. Gen 6.5 God says of the human heart that it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jer
17.9 All men by nature are the children of wrath. Eph 2.3 Therefore the Psalmist says, Behold I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Psa 51.5
This corruption of our nature is the ground of the constant reference of everything good in man to the Holy Spirit, and of everything evil, to his own nature. Hence in the language of the Bible, the natural man is a corrupt man; and the spiritual man alone is good. Hence too the constant opposition of the terms flesh and spirit; the former meaning our nature as it is apart from divine influence, and the latter meaning the Holy Spirit, or its immediate effects. To be in the flesh, to walk after the flesh, to mind the things of the flesh, are all
Scriptural expressions descriptive of the natural state of men. It is in this sense of the term that Paul says, In my flesh dwells no good thing; Rom 7.18 and that our Savior said, That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Joh 3.6
This humbling doctrine is, moreover, involved in all the descriptions which the Bible gives of the nature of that moral change which is necessary to salvation. It is no mere outward reformation; it is no assiduous performance of external duties. It is a regeneration; being born of the Spirit; a new creation; passing from death to life. It is a change never effected by the subject of it (the sinner), but has its source in God. Therefore, the Bible is full of no doctrine more than that which teaches that men are depraved and fallen beings, who have lost the image of God, and who must be created anew in Christ
Jesus Eph 2.10 before they can see the kingdom of heaven. Joh 3.3
These Scriptural representations respecting the universality of sin and the corruption of our nature, are abundantly confirmed by experience and observation. Men may differ as to the extent of their sinfulness, or as to the ill-desert 2 of their transgressions, but they cannot be insensible to the fact that they are sinners, or that they have sustained this character as long as they have had any selfknowledge. As far back as they can go in the history of their being, they find the testimony of conscience against them. As this consciousness of sin is universal, and as it exists as soon as we have any knowledge of ourselves, it proves that we are fallen beings; that we have lost the moral image of God with which our first parents were created. It is a fact, of which every human being is a witness, that our moral nature is such that instead of seeking our happiness in God and holiness, we prefer the creature to the Creator. It would be just as unreasonable to assert that this was the original, proper state of man, as to say our reason was sound if it universally, immediately, and infallibly led us into wrong judgments upon subjects fairly within its competency.
The proof, that man is a depraved being, is as strong as that he is a rational, social, or moral being. He gives no signs of reason at his birth; but he invariably manifests his intellectual nature as soon as he becomes capable of appreciating the objects around him or of expressing the operations of his mind. No one supposes reason to be the result of education, or the effect of circumstances, merely because its operations cannot be detected from the first moment of existence. The uniformity of its manifestation under all circumstances, is regarded as sufficient proof that it is an attribute of our nature.
The same remark may be made respecting the social affections. No one of them is manifested from the beginning of our course in this world; yet the fact that men in all ages and under all circumstances, evince a disposition to live in society; that all parents love their children, that all people have more or less sympathy in the joys and sorrows of their fellow men, is proof that these affections are not acquired but original, that they belong to our nature and are characteristic of it.
In like manner, the apostle reasons from the fact that all men perform moral acts and experience the approval or disapproval of conscience, that they have by nature — and not from example, instruction, or any other external influence, but by virtue of their original moral constitution — a law written on their hearts, a sense of right and wrong. But if the uniform occurrence of any moral acts is proof of a moral nature, the uniform occurrence of wrong moral acts is proof of a corrupt moral nature. If the universal manifestation of reason and of the social affections, proves man to be by nature a rational and social being, then the universal manifestation of sinful affections proves him to be by nature a sinful being. When we say that anyone is a bad man, we mean that the predominant character of his actions proves him to have bad principles or dispositions. And when we say that man's nature is depraved, we mean that it is a nature whose moral acts are wrong. And this uniformity of wrong moral action is as much proof of a depraved nature, as the acts of a bad man are proof of the predominance of evil dispositions in his heart. This is the uniform judgment of men, and it is sanctioned by the word of God. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Therefore by their fruits shall you know them. Mat 7.18, 20 This illustration was used by our Savior with the express design of teaching that the predominant character of the acts of men, is to be taken as a certain index of the state of the heart; and hence the uniform occurrence of sin in all men is a certain evidence of the corruption of their nature. Indeed, there is no one fact with regard to human nature, which consciousness and observation more fully establish than this: it is depraved.
Section II. The sins of men are numerous and aggravated.
The Bible not only teaches that all men are sinners, and that the evil is deeply seated in their hearts, but moreover that their sinfulness is very great. The clearest intimation which a lawgiver can give of his estimate of the evil of transgression, is the penalty which he attaches to the violation of his laws. If he is wise and good, the penalty will be a true index of the real demerit of transgression; and in the case of God, who is infinitely wise and good, the punishment which he denounces against sin, must be an exact criterion of its ill-desert. If we are unable to see that sin really deserves what God has declared to be its proper punishment, it only shows that our judgment differs from his; and it is no matter of surprise that it should thus differ. We cannot know all the reasons which indicate the righteousness of the divine threatenings. We can have no adequate conception of the greatness, goodness, and wisdom of the Being against whom we sin; nor of the evil which sin is suited to produce; nor of the perfect excellence of the law which we transgress. Therefore, that sin appears to us less evil than God declares it to be, is no evidence that it is really undeserving of his wrath and curse.
There is a still more operative cause of our low estimate of the evil of sin. The more depraved a man is, the less capable he is of estimating the heinousness of his transgressions. And the man who in one part of his career looked at certain crimes with abhorrence, may come at last to regard them with indifference. That we are sinners is therefore a sufficient explanation of the fact that we look at sin in a very different light from that in which it is presented in the word of God.
Nothing then can be more reasonable than to bow before the judgment of God, and acknowledge that sin really deserves the punishment which he has declared to be its due. That punishment is so awful, that nothing but a profound reverence for God, and some adequate conception of the evil of sin, can produce a sincere acquiescence in its justice. Yet nothing can be more certain than that this punishment is the proper measure of the ill-desert of sin.
The term commonly employed to designate this punishment is death; death not merely of the body, but of the soul; not merely temporal but eternal. It is a comprehensive term, therefore, to express all the evils in this world and the world to come, which are the penal consequences of sin. In this sense, it is to be understood in the threatening made to our first parents: In the day you eat of it you shall surely die; Gen 2.17 and when the prophet says, The soul that sins shall die; Eze 18.4 and when the Apostle says, The wages of sin is death. Rom 6.23 The same general idea is expressed by the word curse, As many as are of the law are under the curse; for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the book of the law, to do them; Gal 3.10 and also by the word wrath. We were by nature the children of wrath. Eph 2.3 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.
Rom 1.18
These and similar passages teach that sinners are the objects of the divine displeasure, and that this displeasure will certainly be manifested. As God is infinitely good and the fountain of all blessedness, his displeasure must be the greatest of all evils. The Scriptures, however, in order to impress this truth more deeply upon our minds, employ the strongest terms human language affords, to set forth the dreadful import of God's displeasure. Those who do not obey the gospel, it is said, shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. 2The 1.9 Our Savior says, The wicked shall be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched; where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Mar 9.43-44 At the last great day, he tells us, the judge shall say to those on his left hand, Depart from me you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Mat
25.41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those who do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Mat 13.41-42 In the last day, all who are in their graves shall hear his voice and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation; Joh 5.29 or as it is expressed in Daniel 12.2, to shame and everlasting contempt. Whatever explanation may be given of the terms employed in these and many similar passages, there can be no doubt that they are intended to convey the idea of endless and hopeless misery.
Where this misery will arise from, or what it consists in, are questions of minor importance. It is sufficient that the Scriptures teach that the sufferings spoken of here, are inconceivably great in degree, and endless in duration. The most fearful exhibition given of the future state of the impenitent, is that which presents them as reprobates, as abandoned to the unrestrained dominion of evil. The repressing influence of conscience, of a probationary state, of a regard to character, of good example, and above all, of the Holy
Spirit — all of these will be withdrawn, and unmingled malignity, impurity and violence will constitute the character and condition of those who finally perish. The wicked are represented as constantly blaspheming God, while they gnaw their tongues with pain. Rev 16.10
The God who pronounces this doom upon sinners, also said, As I live, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Eze 33.11 The most fearful of these passages fell from the lips of the Lamb of God, who came to die, that we might not perish, but have eternal life.
It must be remembered that it is not against the chief of sinners that this dreadful punishment is denounced. It is against sin, one sin, any sin. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the book of the law, to do them. Gal 3.10 Whoever would keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Jas 2.10 As far as we know, the angels were punished for their first offense. Adam and his race fell by one transgression. Human governments act on the same principle. If a man commits murder, he suffers death for the one offense. If he is guilty of treason, he finds no defense in his freedom from other crimes. Sin is apostasy from God; it breaks our communion with him, and it is the ruin of the soul. The displeasure of God against sin, and his fixed determination to punish it, are also manifested by the certain connection which he has established between sin and suffering. It is the undeniable tendency of sin to produce misery; and although in this world the good are not always happier than the wicked, this only shows that the present is a state of trial and not of retribution. It affords no evidence to contradict the proof of the purpose of God to punish sin, derived from the obvious and necessary tendency of sin to produce misery. This tendency is as much a law of nature as any other law with which we are acquainted.
Men flatter themselves that they will escape the evil consequences of their transgressions, by appealing to the mercy of God, and obtaining a suspension of this law in their behalf. They might as reasonably expect the law of gravitation to be suspended for their convenience.
He that sows to the flesh, will reap corruption from the flesh, as certainly as he who sows tares will reap tares. The only link which binds together causes and effects in nature, is the will of God; and that same will, no less clearly revealed, connects suffering with sin.
And this is a connection absolutely indissoluble save by the mystery of redemption.
To suspend the operation of a law of nature (such as stopping the sun in its course) is a mere exercise of power. But to save sinners from the curse of the law, required that Christ should be made a curse for us; that he should bear our sins in his own body on the tree; that he should be made sin for us and die, the just for the unjust. It would be a reflection on the wisdom of God to suppose that he would employ means to accomplish an end more costly than that end required. If our redemption could have been effected by corruptible things, such as silver or gold, or if the blood of bulls or of goats could have taken away sin, who can believe that Christ would have died? The apostle clearly teaches that it is to make the death of Christ vain, to affirm that our salvation could have been secured another way. Gal 2.21 Since, then, the death of Christ was necessary in order for the pardon of sin, it is evident that the evil of sin in the sight of God must be estimated by the dignity of the one who died for our redemption. Here we approach the most mysterious and awful doctrine of the Bible. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him nothing was made that was made. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Joh 1.1,3,14 God therefore was manifested in the flesh.
Being in the form of God, He did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Phi 2.6-8 He then, is the one declared to be the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power; Heb 1.3 whom all the angels are commanded to worship; of whom the Scriptures say, your throne O God is forever and ever; You Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands; They shall perish, but you remain; they shall wax old as does a garment; and as a vesture you shall fold them up, and they shall be changed; but you are the same, and your years shall not fail Heb 1.8-12 — even He who is God over all and blessed forever, Rom 9.5 inasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, himself also took part of the same; that through death he might destroy the one who had the power of death, that is the Devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Heb 2.14-15
It is the doctrine of the Bible, that the infinite and eternal Son of God assumed our nature, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. It is obvious that no severity of mere human suffering; no destroying deluge; no final conflagration, not hell itself can present such a manifestation of the evil of sin and of the justice of God as the cross of his incarnate Son. It declares in language which is heard by the whole intelligent universe, that sin deserves God's wrath and curse, and that none who refuse submission to the appointed method of pardon, can escape its condemnation.
The penalty then, which God has attached to the violation of his law, the certainty with which that penalty is inflicted, the doom of the fallen angels, the consequences of Adam's sin, and above all, the death of Christ, are manifestations of the evil of sin in the estimation of God, which it is the highest infatuation for us to disregard.
However obdurate our hearts maybe in reference to this subject, our reason is not so blind as not to see that our guilt must be exceedingly great. We cannot deny that all the circumstances which aggravate the heinousness of sin concur in our case. The law which we transgress is perfectly good. It is the law of God; the law of right and reason. It is the expression of the highest excellence; it is suited to our nature, necessary to our perfection and happiness. Opposition to such a law must be in the highest degree, unreasonable and wicked.
This law is enforced not only by its own excellence but by the authority of God. Disregard of this authority is the greatest crime of which a creature is capable. It is rebellion against a being whose right to command is founded on his infinite superiority, his infinite goodness and his absolute propriety in us as his creatures. It is apostasy from the kingdom of God to the kingdom of Satan. There is no middle ground between the two. Everyone is either the servant of God, or the servant of the devil. Holiness is the evidence of our allegiance to our maker; sin is the service of Satan. If we could form any adequate conception of these two kingdoms, of the intrinsic excellence of the one and the absolute evil of the other, of the blessedness attendant on the one and the misery connected with the other; if we could, in short, bring heaven and hell in immediate contrast, we might have some proper view of the guilt of this apostasy from God. It is the natural tendency of our conduct to degrade ourselves and others, to make Eden like Sodom, and to kindle everywhere the fire that never shall be quenched. This cannot be denied, for moral evil is the greatest of all evils and the certain cause of all others. Therefore, he who sins is not only a rebel against
God, but a malefactor, an enemy to the highest good of his fellow creatures.
Again, our guilt is great because our sins are exceedingly numerous.
It is not merely outward acts of unkindness and dishonesty with which we are chargeable; our habitual and characteristic state of mind is evil in the sight of God. Our pride, vanity, and indifference to his will and to the welfare of others, our selfishness, our loving the creature more than the Creator, are continuous violations of his law.
We have never, in any one moment of our lives, been or done what that law requires us to be and to do. We have never had that delight in the divine perfections, that sense of dependence and obligation, that fixed purpose to do the will and promote the glory of God, which constitute the love which is our first and highest duty. It is in this sense that mankind are said to be totally depraved; they are entirely destitute of supreme love to God. Whatever else they may have, is as nothing while this is lacking. They may be affectionate fathers or kind masters, or dutiful sons and daughters, but they are not obedient children of God; they don't have those feelings towards God which constitute their first and greatest duty, and without which they are always transgressors. The man who is a rebel against his righteous sovereign, and whose heart is full of enmity to His person and government, may be faithful to his associates and kind to his dependents, but he is always and increasingly guilty as it regards his Ruler. Thus we are always sinners; we are at all times and under all circumstances in opposition to God, because we are never what his law requires us to be. If we have never loved him supremely; if we have never made it our governing purpose to do his will; if we have never been properly grateful for all his mercies; if we have never made his glory, but some other and lower object, the end of our actions — then our lives have been an unbroken series of transgressions. Our sins are not to be numbered by the conscious violations of duty; they are as numerous as the moments of our existence.
If the permanent moral dispositions of a man are evil, it must follow that his acts of transgression will be past counting up. Every hour there is some work of evil, some wrong thought, some bad feeling, some improper word, or some wicked act, to add to the number of his offenses. The evil exercise of an evil heart is like the ceaseless swinging of the pendulum. The slightest review of life is therefore sufficient to overwhelm us with the conviction of the countless multitude of our transgressions. It is this which constitutes our exceeding sinfulness in the sight of God. While conscience sleeps, or our attention is directed to other subjects, the number of our transgressions grows like the unnoticed pulsations of our heart. It is not until we pause and call ourselves to an account, that we see how many feelings have been wrong; how great is the distance at which we habitually live from God, and how constant is our lack of conformity to his will. It was this that forced the Psalmist to cry, My iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart fails me.
Psa 40.2
Again, we may judge the greatness of our guilt before God, by considering the numerous restraints of His truth, providence, and spirit, which we habitually disregard. The simple fact that sin is wrong, that our conscience condemns it, is a constant and powerful restraint. We cannot avail ourselves of the plea of ignorance, because we have a perfect standard of duty in the law of God. We cannot resist the conviction that His commands are righteous; and yet, despite this conviction, we live in constant disobedience.
We are, moreover, fully aware of the consequences of sin. We know the judgment of God that those who do such things are worthy of death, and yet continue our transgressions. We are surprised at the drunkard who indulges his fatal passion in the very presence of ruin; yet we are blind to our own infatuation in continuing to disobey God despite threatened death. We stupidly disregard the certain consequences of our conduct, and awake only in time to see that madness is in our hearts. This insensibility — notwithstanding the occasional admonitions of conscience and the constant warnings of the word of God — constitutes a peculiar aggravation of our guilt.
Nor are we more mindful of the restraining influence of the love of God. We disregard the fact that the Being against whom we sin, is He to whom we owe our existence and all our enjoyments; who has carried us in his arms, and crowned us with loving kindness and tender mercies; who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy; who has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, but has borne with our provocations, waiting that His goodness might lead us to repentance.
We have despised his forbearance, deriving from it a motive to sin, as though He were slack concerning his promises, and would not accomplish his threatenings; thus treasuring up for ourselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Besides all this, we disregard the love of Christ. He came to save us from our sins, and we will not accept his mediation, or reciprocate his love. There stands his cross, mutely eloquent; at once an invitation and a warning. It tells us both of the love and justice of God. It assures us that He who did not spare his own Son, is ready to be gracious. All this we disregard. We count the blood of the covenant, an unholy thing; we act as if it were not the blood of the Son of God, shed for us for the remission of sins. Or it may be, we turn the grace of God into licentiousness, and draw encouragement from the death of Christ to continue in sin. This unbelieving rejection of the Savior involves guilt so peculiarly great, that it is often spoken of as the special ground of the condemnation of the world. He that does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will convince the world of sin, because they do not believe in me. If he that despised Moses' law died without mercy, under two or three witnesses, how much sorer punishment do you suppose he is thought worthy of, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God!
This great sin of rejecting Jesus Christ as a Savior, it must be remembered, is an often repeated and long continued sin. It is also one which is chargeable not merely on the openly wicked, but upon those whom the world calls "moral." They too resist the claims of the Son of God; they too refuse his love and reject his offers. It was when all other messengers had failed, that the Lord of the vineyard sent his Son to his disobedient servants, saying, They will reverence my Son.
Mat 21.37 The guilt of thus rejecting Christ, will never be fully appreciated until the day when He sits on the throne, and the earth and heaven will flee from his face, and no place be found for them.
Besides these restraints from without, we resist the still more powerful influence of the Spirit of God. That Spirit strives with all men; suggesting truth and exciting conscience, expostulating and warning, and drawing men from sin to God. It is from Him that all good thoughts and right purposes proceed. This spirit we quench; we resist his gracious influences, not once or twice, but a thousand times. Though He will not always strive with men, he strives long, and returns after many insulting rejections, repeating the warnings and invitations of mercy. All men are sensible of this divine influence, though they may not be aware of its origin. They don't know from where proceed the serious thoughts, the anxious forebodings, the convictions of truth, the sense of the emptiness of the world, the longing after security and peace of which they are conscious. God sends these admonitions even to those who are most contented with the world, and most happy in their estrangement from Himself. He leaves no man without a witness and a warning.
These strivings of the Spirit are not only frequent, but often urgent.
Almost every man can look back and see many instances in which an unseen hand was upon him, when a voice, not from man, has sounded in his ears, when feelings to which he was a stranger before, were awakened in his breast, and when he felt the power of the world to come. The shadow of the Almighty has passed over him, and produced the conviction that God is; and that He is an avenger.
From a review of what has been said, it is plain that the Scriptures teach not only that all men are sinners, but that their corruption is radical, seated in their hearts, and that it is exceedingly great. The severity of the penalty which God has attached to transgression, the certainty of its infliction, the costliness of the sacrifice by which alone its pardon could be obtained, are all proofs of the evil of sin in the sight of God. The greatness of our personal guilt is plain from the excellence of the law which we have violated; from the authority and goodness of the Being whom we have offended; from the number of our sins; and from the powerful restraints which we have disregarded.