National Republican., 1883-01-29

selves by drowning the recollection Of un-
pleasant things God, by calling them to re.
mcmbruncc. The most dangerous state a
man can be in, is that of spiritual ulcon-
seriousness. The man who is all the time an
tagoniziug the truth, is salor than the one
/ who is unconscious that his life is inconsist-
cut with IT, UnrDnsciousnCss of sin Is the
beginning of spiritual de- th The world
needs only to be let 0lonedn order to go to
I perdition. We 30 to sleep at nights, totally
iorgctlu of what goes on in the heavens.
But the great astronomical facts are trans
piring there all the same.- giod still moves ON
his undisturbed affairs. He keeps his night
school open to the astrouomers Spiritual
truths are just as real, as astronomical,
| That awful expression, "dcad in trcspassos
aud sins means that while God Is alive in
the movements of his love- the world is dead
to them. In his armament of eternal truth
| his suns keep UP their uniading brightness.
! There is no night there. Men may sec to-day
( just what Abraham saw. All this commGni-
| cation between God and man seems great
| way of, as the celestial bodies seem to our
earth But our earth is one OF them. The
! Comforter comes to rcprovc our unbGliof of
these great realities. But this is not ali, His
| reproJf has a personal direction. II narrows
! itself down to u failure TO believe on Christ.
| H. Why sit thatwhen the Comforter might
rcproyc us for so many other things lie linn
| its Himself 10 thisY' This is Il sin restricted
7 TO those who have heard of Christ. IL is u
Christian sin. Degraded as are the hcathon,
! they cannot cOmmitit To hear of Christ in
! troduccs new factor into mans life. The
heathtn will be judged by n standard adapted
| to themselves. 1. Af Of Gods gifts are in
| tended to make us better. Jesus Christ is
Gods unspcaSablc gift" The method of
the Comforter Is to take the things Of Christ
and show them unto mon. The hest arglIs
! mcnt sometimes, Is a simple statement of the
N Fl.. 4 Il y ~
gllirCnt God has put Ills latherhoud into an
whlterable fact ON Calvary, aid men do not
receive it. They talk about not being %
Christian as their misfortune. Christ talks
about IL rs u sin, 2, When Gods gifts do not
make It's better, if they fail TO make ms worse,
they yetChangc the standard by which He
judges us, When the heather aro Judged the
books that will be opened will be the books
of nature :, what God has written on their
conscicnccs and in the world around thom.
When you and l are judged, in addition to
these books Twill be the Bible will be tho
gift .of Gods son, will be what Christianity
has been doing for humanity these nineteen
centuries. The sin of not believing in Christ
accumulates with the progress Of the world.
1t is more in 1883 than iu 1882. This gift was
uhspeakable" nineteen centuries ago. Read
that recent publication " Gesta Christi" The
unspeakaboness of this gift has gone into
laws and customs and institutions. Bonar, in
one Of his hymns, speaks of imagining him
self among the mocking crowd " in Pilates
judgment hall. If he had been there he might
be undone by man Oflthis generation who
does not believe in Christi. u.r -rr. d..
III. | want to show you how the Comforter
justifcs His name by His methods. First.
the greatest favor that any man can have
done lin is to tell Him the truth about his
spiritual state. Only Gods spirit is really
competent to do this. The crusial truth, the
truth that reveals man of spiritual state. is
the truth that Christ has died for him. FAKE
stick aud stir peck of sand to find steel
filings that are hid there The more YOU stir
the more you hide the filings. Take a mag
net and it will draw every one of them to it.
self The doctrine of the cross is the mag
net which separates the believer from the un-
believer. There are many people to whom
the Lord supper Is not an agreeable sight
IL is sign Of this great spiritual fact which
the Comforter uses to convince men of
sin. Second, when you have told Il man
his spiritual state, the next greatest
favor. is to show him the sin of not believing
1t. This Christian civilization, of which we
make orr boast, is Il period in which we sin
very FAST in which character is formed and
destiny determined very fast. 1t is period
ot the dispcnsatiOn of the comforter. And he
is here TO convince MS of the sin of not bCicv-
ing in Christ. This Christ is here, and we
can find it ont cxperimcntally. Instead of
trying TO understand the Christ of history we
car confronj the living Christ. The Office of
the spirit and the bride is TO say Behold
the lamb of God, which takcth away the sin
Of the world Let MS remember that he
takes not away the sin Of not believing in