Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-06-30
T" What Lack I Yet v

If there is no man who does not do wrong,
then the great question of life--at least one
great question of life-must be What will
become of the wrong that any man has
done T.? 1t is mere wantonness and folly,
mere ignoring of the fundamental character
of man to think that nothing need be done
with it, that the man can just let it go and
be exactly as if he never sinned. No wise
man, no thoughtful man, dares to think that.
And what is the best, then, that the unchris-
tian man can think about his sin? He sees
that it does him harm. Nay, deeper than
that, he sees that in itself, whether it does
him harm or not it is dreadful thing. In
sorrow and regret he makes up his mind
that he will not do wrong any more. He
keeps the memory of his wickedness for a
perpetual warning, He studies it to ssee
Just how he came to do it and Just wherein
its wickedness resides. Every time the pas
sion that made him do it burns anew, he
sezes on the recollection of that sin and its
old misery to save himself. 1t is an ever
lasting Sinai laundering in his ears "Thou
shalt not" There come up in him appe-
tites for goodness which combine with the
dreadfulness of the remembered sin to help
him to resist. And so, remembering and
resisting, he goes on through the hard strug-
giles Of his life. 1t is life that is full Of
nobleness, life to honor and praise. And
now, while we honor and praise it, see what
the Christian faith would do with that same
sin. Remember, we are not asking whether
the Christian faith be true. Only it stands
as great, clear, recognizable theory of hui
man life. We can see, il it were true, what
it would do with such fact as mans sin.
1t would do two things. First, it would go
back behind all the consequences of wick
edness-behind all the shame and suffering
that that wickedness brings upon man, and
find the real dreadfulness Of sin in the fact
that it is disobedience and disloyalty to
God, And then, taking Gods forgiveness
for it, it would find the impulse of the souls
future resistance to temptation, of the new
life which it would at once begin, in pro-
found and living gratitude to the Forgiven.
Any one can see the difference. Here is the
conscientious man smitten with shame at
his sin, seeing what foolish fool he has
been and determining that he will not yield
to temptation any more. Here is the Chris
tian penitent, deeply sorry that he has dis
obeyed his Father, and gathering into his
soul that Fathers full forgiveness, starting
with all the glow of gratitude to thank his
Father by filial life. Is there no differ
ence? Suppose the first man, struck with
some strange misgiving, feeling his weak
ness when he knows he ought to be su-
premely strong, looks up and says; "What
lack | yet ?" what shall the answer be
Must it not be this You lack exactly what
the other man has You may keep all that
you have now. You ought to keep it But,
beyond it, "you need that dread of sin
which comes with the knowledge of the God
against whom the sin is done, and that pas
sionate desire TO thank him by holy life
which can only come with the deep assur-
ance that he has forgiven you." 1t may be
true, it may be false; but at least the faith
of Christ draws a picture of renewing, and
restraining, and redeeming power such as
no soul dares even to conceive without it..
These are the two great departments in
which the spiritual promise of Christ and
his gospel comes to men. IL offers them the
deepening and steadying OF all their life.
And it offers them the forgiveness of their
sins and the new motive of goodness which
is born of grateful love. To one who under
stands what those offers are, to one who has
gone deep enough in the sense Of spiritual
need and in spiritual desire, those two offers
really mean new life. One tries to tell them
to his fellow-man, and it is as if child liv.
ing in all the rich and warm love of his
fathers home tried to tell another child, who
with brave heart but with torn and tired
hands was trying to fight the battle of his
little life alone, what different thing that
battle was when it was taken into the at.
mosphere of love, how duty became easy
and patience perpetual JOY, and self-sur-
render a self-indulgence when it was done
under the fathers eye and for the fathers
sake. He could not tell it so as TO be under
stood unless there were child-heart in that
child to which he could speak, and no Chris
tian can tell what the man lacks who is not
Christian unless he speaks to the power Of
being a Christian which is in every man.
To that alone in any man can he speak with
any hope of being understood. Phil
HpS Br00kS