The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-11-23
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
MANS CONDITION: GODS REMEDY"
An Address Delivered at the Mildmay
Conference by Sir Robert Anderson, X.
C. B., LL.D.-The Spiritual Helpless
hess and Hopelessness OF Man.

Remedy" was delivered at the Mildma!
Conference by Sir Robert Anderson, n. Z
B., LII. D. g.
The special subject assigned to me il
"The Spiritual Helplessness of Man b,
Nature, and the New Birth From Above
I am not here to defend the dogmas tina
theology has based upon this truth. Wha
concerns US is the truth itself: l say thu
with emphasis, because Of what Is pass
ing around US.
And this should be our position in re
gard to all the great doctrines of faith
The age of creeds is passed. In days O
and honor, creeds shut out those who
could not honestly accept them. But nov
they avail nothing to protect the goiS
against thieves and robbers" Men vii
publicly, and in the most solemn way
pledge their belief in every Christian
truth in order to gain office in oul
churches; and as soon as they secure the
prestige and pay which Office affords, they
use the pulpits to attack the very truth:
they are pledged and subsidized to defend
This being so, let us abandon the out
works of our ereeds, and, falling bach
upon the Bible, stand ~four-square IN 1T
defense. .
In this spirit I approach my subject: J
| nm nOU lRuOIulI VI NuQU CllSSlNsJ 49,
about human depravity, nor of the contro
versies respecting it which preceded the
settlement of our creeds. But on this
platform ] will recognize no authority save
an open Bible. My reason for saying this
is because here, as on many other ques
lions, the opponents of the truth owe thell
vantage ground to what is called Chris
tian doctrine on the subject. For the
doctrine is inconsistent with facts, where
as between truth and fact conflict Is Inn
possible.
A natural man, j. e., a man who has
not experienced the new birth. and who
has not the Spirit of God, may live Q
life of the highest morality and rectltude
| Scripture t~estifes that in these qualities
the Apostle Paul made no advance after
his conversion. 1t is no answer to this
to say that in his unconverted days he
came under the external influences of di
vine truth. The fact remains that they
were u~nconverted days, and that with
such an environment he was able to main,
tain such a life of purity and piety and
zeal, albeit he was spiritually dead in sins
He took to religion as another man might
take to pleasure, or to study, or to trade
or to drink. But in this, as he himself
declares, he was only following his natura
bent-"the desires of the flesh and OF the
mind"
Neither is it an objection that such Q
men may do. If the Fall made it impos
sible for men to live pure and upright
lives, in would be unjust in God to judge
them for their vices.
There are two great standards or prin
ciples of divine judgment. With those
who hear the Gospel, the consequences o.
accepting or rejecting Christ are final and
irreversible. AS for the rest, men will be
Judged by the law of their being, whether
as stamped on heart or conscience, or as
formulated in express commands at Sinai
THE NATURAL MAN.
The first three chapters of Romans claim
notice here. The first chapter describes
the condition in which the mass, of the
heather world was sunk even in days
when the tide of human progress and cul
ture was at the flood, and when, more
over, the great religious cults Of classic
Paganism held up a standard of life as
high as any that apostate Christendom
presents-cults of which one at least had
such spiritual vitality that three centuries
afterwards it bid fair to supplant Chris
tianity as the religion Il am not speak
Church of God) maintained its ascend
ancy, it was first by penal laws of eX'
treme severity, and second by adopting
the chief characteristic rites and errors
of the Paganism which it thus prosecuted
These things need stating if we are to
understand Alright the closing words OF
the first chapter of Romans. The vile
practices of the heather world were not
due to ignorance. They knew that their
deeds were evil. They knew the judg'
ment of God, that they who practiced such
things were worthy of death, and yet they
practiced them.
But the case of Saul of Tarsus was
wholly different. If what men call con-
science were the arbiter of human con
duct; if that were right which a man
honestly believed to be right. his was a
perfect life. As judged by any and every
human standard, Saul of Tarsus was a
pattern saint; but as judged by God he
was a pattern sinner. And if you read
the middle verses of Romans 3 intelligent
w, this is the lesson you will learn from
them: 1t is Gods estimate of the life
of the natural man at his best-the life Of
the upright, pious, Jealous Jew under law,
"For that which is highly esteemed among
men is abomination in the sight Of God"
The story is told of the first Duke Of
Cambridge, thai when, in the reading Of
the Decalogue, the Seventh Commandment
wao reached, instead OF the orthodox re-
| Spouse, he answered, in an aside, that was
| plainly audible, 81 never did that" But
| here was a man who could make a like
response to every commandment in the
Decalogue. CAS- touching the righteous
ness that is in the law, blameless." Such
was his pround boast.
You will say, perhaps, that this only
proves that he was utterly blind and dead,
But that is precisely what l ain insisting
on; that so far is it from the truth that
human nature is hopelcssiy corrupt and
depraved, as men judge OF corruption and
depravity, that Il natural man may live a
life that would put to shame half the
saints in the calendar. BY a course of I'M,
for furnishing the body" these calendar
! saints attained to what men deem saint.
ship. But to this man saintship was as
natural as sin was to many of the saints
Of the calendar.
One of the tests which people hold to be
final is that man shall do his best"
What more can possibly be expected of
him? This man did his best" and his
best was a record" that has never been
beaten. What purity of life was his!
What piety! What burning zeal! What
self-sacrificing devotion to what he be-
lieved to be the cause of God! But looking
fore a ,blasphemer." And what q bias.
phemer!
And so, when he comes under the Divine
searchlight, he declares himself the chief
of sinners. Scanning the long line of all
the sinners of the race, he takes his place
at their head, "of whom I am the first
If these were not the words of an in.
spired Apostle in an inspired epistle, W:
might suspect exaggeration. And yet they
only express the we'll recognized principle
that privilege increases responsibility and
responsibility deepens guilt. Of course he
knew no better. But that only made his
case the worse, for if ever there was a
man who ought to have known better il
was he. And so he takes his place as
"chief OF sinners.n And he humhiv add