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themselves followers of Christ would meet him in the vestry, Frank Reed left his pew. The next day he wrote to his father, "I could not hold out any longer, last night after service, I gave myself entirely to the Lord. I cannot tell you how much happier I am now. I only want your approval to make my joy complete. I do hope Edith knows all about it."

The worst had happened. Frank Reed's feelings had been so wrought upon as to result in his conversion. Richard Reed thought long and earnestly over his son's letter, and that night, for the first time, he and his wife knelt together in prayer.

(To be continued.)

MUST WE SIN?

A Paper read before the Local Preachers, St. Paul's, Leicester, and published by request.

THE subject of this paper is not "Christian perfection;" neither is it a question as to the possibility of sinning; for to this there could be but one answer. The liability to sin will continue, I apprehend, to the close of our earthly life. For though Christ was "manifested to destroy the works of the devil," He did not come to destroy human nature, nor to take away its susceptibility to sin. Neither are we to consider the question, "Do Christians sin?" I have more than once heard the statement that "all Christians sin,” but this assertion, I think, is unproved, and beyond proof. As 1,800 years ago there were "a few names in Sardis who had not defiled their garments," so I would fain hope and believe that in every succeeding age there have been some who, like the Apostle Paul, have successfully "exercised themselves to have a conscience void of offence toward God and man." This, however, is not the subject before us. The question is, Must we sin? Before we can answer this question, we must have a clear apprehension as to what is meant by sin. What is it? Briefly, "sin is the transgression of the law." I do not press to the quick the inflexible rigidity of this definition. Let me rather place by its side another Scripture which, without contradicting, yet seems to soften its unbending rigour: "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." These two passages cover all departure from moral rectitude. We may say, then, that it is the voluntary indulgence of any known sin; the doing, saying, feeling, and thinking what we know we ought not to do, say, think, and feel. In the kingdom of the Spirit, thoughts, feelings, words are as truly

acts as are the outward and visible doings of men. Hence, "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." And again, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." I do not dwell on this further, for it is mine now to suggest rather than to exhaust. The definition of sin here given is amply sufficient for our present purpose.

I once

Must we sin? I lay stress on the word "must." heard a member of a Christian Church, occupying a high official position, say, "No, we must not sin; but," he added, "we cannot help it." How we must not do that which we cannot help doing, is a problem which I leave others to solve. The second half of this statement is, to say the least, unscriptural. So far as I understand the spirit and teaching of the Word of God, it is, that everything we ought to do, by the help of God we can do; and everything we ought not to do, we can by His grace avoid doing. To every forgiven penitent are addressed the words, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Does our Lord here give an impossible command? Does He mock us by telling us not to do that which He knows we cannot avoid doing? The measure of responsibility is determined by the measure of capacity; and where there is utter inability, there can be no responsibility, and where there is no responsibility, there can be no sin. To say that we must not do that which we cannot help doing is unreasonable and tyrannical. Do not let us "charge God foolishly." "There is no unrighteousness in Him." This is my first answer to the question under consideration.

Yet I am bound to admit that the possibility of a "sinless life" does not appear to be the common and current opinion entertained amongst Christians. The generally received view is that whilst weare in the world we must expect to sin that sin is, in fact, a necessity. They would hardly like to put it thus plain and nakedly, yet their frequent lapses and confessions amount to this. And so they manifest no surprise when men "err from the truth," and fall into sin. Indeed, they would be much surprised if this were not their experience.

The idea that sin must, to a greater or less extent, have dominion over them, goes far to explain the reason of their frequent departures from the "old paths." A general leading his army into battle endeavours to impress his soldiers with the belief that they will conquer. This conviction, in and of itself, is often a pledge of victory. To engage the foe with the expectation of being defeated would be to invite disaster. It is so in the spiritual warfare. To believe that it is impossible to fight against "the world, the flesh, and the devil," without sustaining some measure of defeat, will render

us an easy prey to the adversary. It is one thing to fight against sin, believing and expecting that God can and will make us "more than conquerors," and it is quite another thing to fight against it expecting to be overcome. Such a conviction may well paralyse the strongest arm, and strike fear into the bravest heart. If we expect to defile our garments, we shall defile them. Let us not only pray, "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin," but let us really trust God to do this for us.

Must we sin? If so, why these unspeakable longings, these unutterable yearnings after holiness? Can we believe that God has created a thirst which He cannot quench, and a hunger which He cannot satisfy; desires and aspirations which He cannot answer? Then "are we of all men most miserable." O my soul! cease thy struggles! Why sigh for that which is impossible, and pant for that thou canst never realise? God is not the God of the living, but of the dead. Like a chained eagle, bruising and breaking its wings in the vain endeavour to be free, so must thou fret and pine, and vainly sigh to be delivered from the bondage of corruption. But is it so? Let us "to the law and the testimony." The Bible is and must be supreme here. It is nothing what I say, it is nothing what anyone else may say; the all-important thing is, what saith the Word of God? I confine myself to the New Testament, not because the teaching of the Old does not harmonise with the teaching of the New-to believe otherwise would be to impute to the Spirit of inspiration palpable contradiction-but because the New Testament alone yields such abundance of treasure as fairly to embarrass me with riches, making, with the limited space at my disposal, selection and order extremely difficult.

The whole scope and tenour of the New Testament is none other than to set forth, not only entire forgiveness of all past sin, but complete deliverance from it. This idea confronts you everywhere. It flashes forth from every page of the inspired Word. Question the meaning of the passages I am about to bring before you, explain away every Scripture that appears to bear on this point, there still remains the tone, the undefinable quality, which cannot be destroyed. You may evade the letter, but the spirit, the impalpable essence, if I may so say, will still exhale and diffuse from the sacred page, like the sweet scent from flowers, or as insensible perspiration from the body.

It is true there is not much in the way of argument. The Bible does not stoop to prove this or any other truth, as men try to establish conclusions. But in a right royal way the truth is presented, not as something to be demonstrated by argument, but as a matter of course, a thing not to be disputed, but to be received

without question. It speaks with commanding gesture, and with the voice of authority, from which there can be no appeal. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

I draw the conclusion that a sinless life is actually attainable on earth, from the nature and design of the sacrifice of Christ, as revealed in the Word of God. If I understand the teaching of Scripture aright on this point, Christ died, not only to deliver men from the guilt of sin, but from its power. He not only shed His blood for the remission of sins that are past," but also to save from the dominion of sin, and so let the "oppressed go free." "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." And again, "Ye know that He was manifested to take away our sin, and in Him is no sin." And, further, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." It is distinctly affirmed in these passages that the blood of Christ is adequate to the removal of all past guilt, that it cleanseth from "all sin." Shall we say that with entire forgiveness there can be only a partial deliverance from sin? If this be so, I would like to ask how much deliverance is granted to us, or is possible to us? Where shall we draw the line? If God has left us under the necessity of sinning, what is the extent of this necessity, so that at least we may get rid of it up to that point. Must we not, rather, believe that in Christ ample provision is made for the continual cleansing of the soul from sin, as well as for the pardon of all past guilt?

The cleansing here spoken of is not something done for men, at the outset of their Christian course, after which they are left entirely to themselves. The word "cleanseth" is in the present tense, and represents a current work. Like pebbles at the bottom of a stream, over which the limpid waters ever flow, so the soul, ever immersed in the outflowing of Christ's blood, is made and kept spotlessly clean. Now we can understand the meaning of those words, "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, and present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without blemish." He is spoken of as "able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultlessly before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." From these and other passages it is plain that forgiveness and

purification, regeneration and sanctification go together in God's plan, that they are inseparably connected in the Divine purpose, and that the power by which a man becomes regenerate is fully equal to the work of preserving him from sin. "What God hath joined, let not man put asunder."

I infer the non-necessity of sinning from the silence of Scripture. So far as I am aware, there is not in the New Testament a hint, the remotest suggestion even, that a sinless life is impossible to us in this world. It is generally admitted that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." When is this holiness to be obtained? Those who deny the possibility of holiness in life, fix the period at death. They suppose that, by some means or other, they will at the last moment be fully and entirely delivered from the power and dominion of sin; that God will do in the hour of dissolution what He either will not or cannot do in life. Where they derive this notion from I know not; certainly they do not get it from the Scriptures. We are promised at death entire deliverance from other evils incident to a probationary state-such as " pain, sorrow, sighing, tears, poverty, hunger, thirst, ignorance," and from these bodies of humiliation and death; but not a word is said about deatli bringing us deliverance from the greatest of all evils-sin. This silence is eloquently expressive, and affords a strong confirmation of the view that the Lord is as surely our keeper as our salvation. To doubt it is to make sin stronger than God, and death mightier than the Saviour. Do not let us so "put on Christ."

But let us hear what inspiration has to say affirmatively on this subject. The voices are many, but the message is one: "Whosoever is begotten of God, doth not sin, because His seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God." This absolute freedom from sin is taught in several classes of passages, and, where not so explicitly set forth, is yet there by strong implication.

One class presents this idea to us by sharp contrasts, or complete opposites. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." Not the old repaired or made better, but "all things become new," the old self gone, and another and better one supplying its place; new thoughts, new feelings, new desires, new impulses, new aspirations, a new life, a "new creature." What could be more definite? To the unregenerate are addressed words of startling significance, "Ye must be born again." "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Believers are spoken of as being born again, "Born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Spiritual birth set over against natural

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