Year: 1877

other conditions had been promulgated,


this must needs have been added to the


list. Without faith, heaven is an i'm


possibility. If heaven means state or


place of happiness, then no unbelieving


soul can enter there because without


faith no soul can be happy. And if


heaven is the dwelling place of God,


much less can any unbelieving soul en-


ter and live there happy in the presence


of One upon whom it must look with |


feelings of distIdst and terror. The soul


that trusts not God, by that fact shuts


itself out of heaven. Its unbelef is not


the arbitrary reason of it's exclusion,


but the natural and necessary cause of


it, and when God promulgates such a


decree he but reaffirms the law of fit


ness, of order, of harmony, which runs


through the whole construction and


government of the universe. TO have


legislated differently in this particular


case would have been exceptional and


arbitrary.





shut out of heaven, perhaps after many


fond dream of eternal rest within its


gates, terrible as must be the fate of


him who is forever banished from the


sunlight of the Divine Presence, it is


but one of the natural consequences of
uubelief 1t is fatal defect of that
moral character whose perfection is all


important to the emplOyments of that
, sphere 1t is the want of a right hand,
of eyesight, of spiritual perception. 1t
is such radical deformity as to unfit
one for even the lowest place and the
, meanest service in that realm. 1t is
such IA disease of the tender and sensi
t tive portions of the soul that exposure
: to the light and the atmosphere of that
world would be most painful to endure
: and sad to witness.


| Such Il misfortune is unbelief. What
f temporal calamity is to be compared
e with it The ills that flesh is heir to
I may be left in the grave and the body
e rise redeemed, purified, perfected, glori-
| fed. The beholder of physical disease
D or defOrmity is cOmfOrted by the
f thought that in the resurrection, in ac-
/ cordance with the laws of that wonder
Y ful change, that which is lacking may
e be supplied and that which is corrupt,
e transmitted. He who views in sorrow
= the wreck of an intellect may take COM
i fort in the thought that the sleep Of
f death will soothe its discordant strings
o which the resurrection angel may re-
II tune into harmony. But what can
/. cheer the heart of him who contemplates
} with any degree of appreciation soul
II afflicted with unbelief? What CLEAN
IT of light gilds any point in that sufferers
Il future history? What object in all the


alms-houses or the lunatic asylums OF
IS the world so calls for pity as this ?
d And now when we add the truth that
II this condition is voluntary, that the
d subjects of this moral unsoundness are
$ what they are day after day and yeal
f, after year, of choice, when they might
IA be sound and whole, can we do les
ID than JON the hosts of heaven in thei
al gaze of wonder? Can we point to any


thing more marvellous among all the
E. mysteries of which the world is full
es Think of the array of sad results of sucl
n a state of heart which Gods word ha
I'd spread out-some of which have al
at ready enumerated, which are so i'm


pressive, and which exclude the plea o
lis ignorance of consequences. Call t.
ne mind the possibility of rescue from sucI
Y Il condition through Divine aid, pos
nd sibilty clearly set forth in Gods wor'
Nv andattested by the experience of mul
Oh titudes, an aid promised by the moutl
d, of that God who cannot lie. Remembe
p the Spirit who works the change, an
H. who stands awaiting only the accept
ur ance of his services. Consider all tn
Oh motives addressed to the soul 10y na
er ture and Providence and the Divin
e word to induce it to trust in God an
he then say if to persist in unbelief afte
all all this might not well awaken aston
v ishment in the minds of those accus
il toned even to the ever-varying VOL
vii ders of the world of spirits.


to If Paul, familiar by experience wit
de the perversity of the human heart, wa
, so impressed with the strangeness {
ny this rejection of the gospel, OF which h
ill had been himself guilty, that he coul
is attribute it to nothing but some spe
ed or sorcery, exclaiming, go foolish Gs
he lations, who hath be,Citched you that y
1t should not obey the truth ?" we'll migl
lid Christ, over whose soul never fitted
to shadow of unbelief, marvel at the spec
Is tacle which his eyes beheld i'll Galile
'ut Nor will it eveI cease to be wonde
ICE We will not turn aside to ask for til
ct, reasons satisfactory or unsatisfactory
nd which may be given. They would lea
by us away frOm the thought l am seekil
nd to impress Nor let the view we al
Or now taking seem to deny the guilt
DIS unbelief. 1t is a crime. 1t is robbel
tn. and insult to Him, the great object !
NJ faith. 1t is voluntary attitude of di
lse trust and hostility toward God. Bl
)ut let that truth also, solemn and impo
cir tant as it is, be considered in it's prop
of place. To-day let us carry home vii