Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-09-03
SERMON BY Mr.. MEESER.

The Rev. S. B. Meeser preached a
fine sermon in Second baptist Church.
Sunday. His text was John l6, Sill:
"And He, when He is come, will cons
vert the world in respect Of sin and Of
righteousness and of judgment: Of sin
because they believe not on me ; of
righteousness because | go TO the,
Father and ye behold Me no more; OF
judgment because the prince Of this
world hath been Judged lie said:
Whatever conviction comes to men
concerning Christianity will be through
the work OF the holy Spirit. 1t will
consist in an illumination OF the heart
with the knowledge of Jesus Christ
himself, the truths which He taught.
and the facts which, the spiritual
capacity of men in His day. made 1t
impossible to teach at that time. n
The Spirit will testify of Christ only
and the truth related to Him. He will
not speak of Himself nor from Him
self. His supreme mission is the
bringing of conviction to mems hearts
| and his sole text and testimony will be
| Christ. So the Master teaches and no
later word of Scripture teaches to the
contrary. The Spirit will be like the
light, which, itself invisible, reveals
the life and objects around US. The
light does not speak of itself; doea not
show itself. but glorifies the objects on
which 1t Shines Even when Thought
lessly we say we see the light shining,
| what we see ia fact is the illuminated
particles of dust and moisturey upon
which the light falls. The world is
revealed by the light, but the light is
not seen. We know there is light by
the revelation of the objects We see,
not by seeing the light; so also We are
to know there is present the Htly
Spirit. by the Christ and the, truth re,
| vealed; through the Spirit like the
| light is unseen.
| Many of the errors of our thought
about the Hoy Spirit would be. avoided
| il We remembered how Christ himself
has appointed that all the revelation of
tho Spirit will be drawn from the di-
vine plan realized in Christ; and has
defined his mission as .'taking the
things of mine and showing them unto
| you. We are not, therefore, to look
| for subtle and undesirable impressions
and feelings as the evidence of the
Spirits power and nearness. We shall
| know the Spirit Is near and at work by
the fuller, the truer, the deeper, the
wider, knowledge OF Christ, which
comes to our hearts, and by the revela-
ton of truth and Christ which brings
men to the foot of the cross.
The Spirit, in His contact with the
world, will, by His revelation Of
Christ to the heart and conscience,
bring a three fold conviction; of sin.
of righteousness and OF Judgment.
This conviction is not AN end in itself I;
but has for it's object the same purpose
| Christ had in His own coming. Men
are to be thus influenced by the Spirit
that they may be led to accept Jesus
Christ as the Saviour and MASTER. N
The Spirit will convict men of sin
for their unbelief in Christ. because
Christ is the tombstone of righteous
ness They are sinners who reject him
| just as they are untrue in their musi-
cal instincts who do not believe in
Mozart or Handel, or they are sinners
in literary instincts who reject Homer
or Shakespeare
Christ's going to the Father will
convict them of'righteousness, because
1t is evident thatif He were not righte-
Gus He would have been lost In the
chaos of His own teaching and deeds.
In the fact of his resurrection be is
proven righteous, because instead of
death conquering him he rises and goes
to God. The living Christis evidence
of the righteous Christ, and the PEN
tacostal day saw conviction of righte-
BUSINESS in the power of the'Holy Spirit.
The prince of this world has been
| judged, as men must see, both by the
hatred he inspired in men toward the
righteous Christ at the crucitixion
and by his powerlessness, with all his
hate. over Christ. He is condemned
by Christ's success; as are all they
who reject Him.
But in this teaching of Christ is
there anything to compel us to believe
that before man is ready to receive
and serve Christ he must experience, in
the order given, this total OF convic-
tion2 l answer that / do not know
1 how far the cnoyiction Of the Spirit
may go toward including all the steps
Christ mentions in one persons expe-
rience; and whether they come collec-
| lively, or separately, in each or any
| case, is difficult to determine. Neither
am l sure that it can be determined by
the word of Christ whether the order
which He here describes is the neces-
sary order of the Spirits work. The
object of the Spirits conviction being
the retaining of man TO Christ, must
man pass in order through all these
movements? IL would not be necessary
to ask such question IL the church
had not placed such marked and un-
usual emphasis on the conviction of
SIM, and SO comparatively little upon
the :" conviction of righteousness !"
while of the conviction of judgment"
one scarcely even hears, save as these
words of Christ are read. 1t can be
shown to be vastly significant to an
swer these questions by reasons that
may be briefly stated. The conviction
of sin is negative. It reveals simply
that the motive and conduct of men
has been wrong. 1t leaves man in
the condition of one who has builded
a house upon wrong principles and who
sees it fall to pieces. Two things
await his action: either to give up
any attempt at building and retire as
tenant TO the protection of another 8
building, or to start anow upon the
right principles and erect permanent
structure. The conviction OF sin is a
conviction ofsfailure The man who SECS
his life a failure may deem his duty
to give up building character and
simply receive the protection OF Christ.
He enters passively into Christianity.
| righteousness and the service Of Christ
receive no approval in his soul; be
| simply gives up and sinks back into
the repose Of trust. This is the con-
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