The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1891-08-26
An All-Important Matter.

IL mas Oeen Sdlu InaJ repentance
toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ are joachim and
Boaz, the two great pillars before
the temple of our religion, the cor
ner-stones in the system of our Chris
tianity. 1t is certain that no sub
ject is brought more constantly be-
fore us in the Bible than that of
repentance.
AT the time of Israel's greatest
degeneracy, when the moral condi-
ton of the people was deplorable in
+ the extreme, the brayest man of his
/ age in Jerusalem stood up in the
temple gateway and called the peo-
pie TO repentance, as he delivered
this pungent but brief sermon: Cali
We people of Judah, if we will
Thoroughly amend your ways and
your doings, then will | cause you
to dwell in this place, the land that
| gave to your fathers"
John the Baptist made repentance
the keynote of his preaching, and
declared that it was only thus that
the way could be prepared for the
coming kingdom of God. Our Lord
I put the greatest emphasis on the
same theme, and Matthew declares
that this was the subject of His
preaching, while He himself an
nounces that the object of His mis-
/ sion was to call sinners to repent
ance. When he sends the disciples
out, stwo by two, this is the great
theme with which, by his command,
they are burdened; and Peter de-
clares, after His ascension, that the
/ object of His eXaltation was to give
repentance to Israel and forgive
ness of sins. When Peter delivered
his memorable sermon on the day
of Pentecost, which pricked and
aroused the consciences Of 5000
hearers so that they cried out:
what shall we do to be saved?"
his prompt answer was, Repent"
Paul declared to the elders of the
Church at Ephesus that both in his
public and private ministry he had
preached repentance toward God
and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ"
Men are the same to-day that
they were in the times of jeremiah,
John the Baptist and our Lord.
They still need to have the plow-
share of conviction driven through
their hearts and consciences, lead
ing them to repentance and faith.
The first step toward a genuine
abiding Christian character, is deep
and thorough repentance of sin. 1t
Is the first movement of the soul
God-ward. We can readily see the
logical necessity in this; for no man
can cleave to his sins and lay hold
on Christ with the same hand. And
with the determination to leave his
sins, there must come to every man
the deep conviction of his inability
to do this himself. 1t is just then
that the sinner realizes his great
need of a Saviour, and he cries out
with Paul: so, wretched man that
| am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?" The sinners
extremity becomes Gods opportu-
nifty, and as soon as a soul thus feels
its need of Saviour and cries out
for pardon and peace, the answer
comes, and that soul is born into
the kingdom
Our quarrel with the system of
modern evangelism, so-called, is
that it teaches a cheap and easy
religion-a rose-water creed which
says that cit is the easiest thing in
the world to be a Christian" It
does not preach with sufficient en-
ergy, and emphasis the "must" of
the Gospel 1t holds up very at
tractively summer religion, which
is all clear weather and sunshine.
and makes very little allowance for
the stubborn depravity of the hui
man heart, for the tremendous pow
'er and malignity of Satan and for
the poisonous atmosphere Of this
world. Men are voted" into the
Kingdom, and the lifting of the
hand is taken as evidence of CONVEX
sion. A good manipulation can
count his converts by the score, and
by the hundred, for it is an easy
thing to induce men to say they will
try to do better and to love so pure
and lovable a character as Christ.
As sure as Gods word is true,
something more than this is needed.
There is no self-regenerative power
in human nature. A man cannot
quit his evil deeds or reform his