The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-03-08
A LENTEN PASTORAL
Sin. Suffering, or Different Aspects of
Our Lords Passion
My dear Friends:

| w Nv kiil ~ nv Will Ait lHbuEHN "
: Sin, our sins, about which we are bid
!. den to examine ourselves and I
n humble ourselves before God whicl
r we are to set ourselves earnestly 4
e fight against We end Lent with tn,
], solemn commemoration of our Lord
+ Sufferings. His Agony and Blood,
, Sweat, His Cross and Passion, Hi
precious Death and Burial | desir,
in my Pastoral Letter for this Lent tC
put before you some thoughts on tn,
connection between Sin and Suffering
which may help to explain the mean.
ing of our Lords Passion, and at tn,
same time be applicable to our own ex.
perience. And while | hope the Let
ter may be read publicly in each con.
gregation, am printing it in order
that more people may have the oppor.
tunity of keeping it, and going over il
by themselves thoughtfully and pray
erfuly Three thoughts particularly
| want to suggest. Christ died by sin
and for sin, and to sin.
l. Sin is the chief cause of suffering
our own sins and others. Sin is the
violation in one form or another of the
law of right living. 1t is "lawless-
ness" st. John says, disregard of
Gods law of truth and honor, of pur-
ity and love. Think how much suffer
ing can be directly traced to sins of
self-indulgence, of unkindness, of
falsehood. Broken hearts, broken
homes, broken fortunes, broken health
are due to selfishness, cruelty, neglect,
dishonesty, vice. Oftentimes the suf-
fering falls on the innocent as we'll as
on the guilty.
Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us an
illustration in His own person of the
effects of sin. He exposed Himself to
the hatred, the envy, the violence, the
cowardice, the treachery of man. In
the story Of His Passion we see to
what lengths these sins may go, what
their consequences may be- What sin
does to man is illustrated in its effect
upon the Son of man, the Representa-
tive Leader of the race. And what sin
did to Christ, the Son of God in our
nature, is figure of the attitude of
sin to God, of what is would do to
Him. Sin ignores God and would get
rid of Him from the world; sin insults
God, denies His word, mocks at His
commandments.
Christ then, we see, suffered by sins,
at the hands of sin. We learn its evil
from the i'll treatment of Jesus in His
Passion. And we must patiently and
penitently bear our share in the suf-
ferings of sinful world. Alas, we
have ourselves contributed TO its dis
order.
2. Christ suffered for sins, for the
sins Of the world and for our sins. As
the Representative of man He mourn.
ed over the sins of men and women
which so sadly disgraced their nature
and disordered their lives, and so
offended God, His Father
and theirs. To show His love for His
Father, and for all for which God ,
stands, truth and goodness, He was
ready to suffer rather than offend God ,
Or fail in perfect obedience to Him. [
Men and women had chosen pleasure,
riches, honor in preference to God; {
Christ would endure pain and poverty /,
and shame to prove His love for God 9
md goodness. m this way He offers
'eparation for our sins, for the sins Of |
he whole world. And in our poor I
way we must, after His example and q
'long with Him, be ready and glad to r
,rove our sorrow for the sins, our own S
md Others, by which God is offended, b
n bearing some pain and shame for
lis sake. This is a part of that n
Cody sorrow" Of which St. Paul b
writes: what carefulness it wrought q
n you, what clearing of yourselves, t
What indignation, what zeal, what re- s
engew a
3. Christ suffered and died at the b
ands Of sin; Christ suffered and died v
Or sin, offering reparation and salts n
action for sins offence to God. And 81
Ie died 70 sin suffering in struggling
} free our nature from its entangle-
lents and londagc In a sinful and o
world il Is difficult 10 serve Is
cd, 70 be true and pure and loving. u
he force Of custom in society and Of ~
lbits in ourselves is a barrier in our al
ay. We have 70 break through at u
c cost Of painful struggle, perhaps r
loss Or ridiculc. That is what st ll
lu speaks Of az dying 70 or from The di
orld, or our lower self or Sin, in 10
der that we may more truly live to a
"a ard in holiness. That Is what
lrist did perfectly, and enables Us
ore and more to do after His ex- ie
aple. he broke away from, rcnounc- ni
died 10 (the words am express the pr