not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.* God hath saved us, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus.'† The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.' 'By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.'§" The reader stopped and closed his book. "This is astonishing," said the friend of Rousseau. "Well, Monsieur l'Instituteur," said another, 66 you who spoke to us of a God so terrible, you see that it would be better to have to do with God than the saints, with the Bible than the Church. "Indeed," said the third, "since it is thus, I accept the God of your gospel." "Well, gentlemen," said the bible reader, "now let me apply what I have said; let us draw our conclusions from the word of God-'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?' 'Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.'|| "Thus, gentlemen, in a word, God pardons you, pardons you at once; and since you are pardoned and saved, your heart, full of love and gratitude for so great a benefit, strives henceforth to please so good a God. He loves holiness—you will then live holily; he is a God of truth-you will ever be sincere; he is a God of mercy-you will always be merciful to your enemies; you will love your brethren; egotism, pride, and vanity will no longer rule over you, and you will daily seek more and more joyfully to cast away from you those sins John v. 24. + 2 Tim. i. 9. § Eph. ii. 8. which grieve your God. You, being saved and pardoned by love, you will seek then, in a feeling of love, to live holily and purely." Our four travellers were astonished. They were far from expecting such a conclusion, but as their conscience told them it was a just one, they knew not, at the moment, what answer to make; they seemed taken in a net which they had themselves spread. After turning again and again, the fashionable young man attempted to escape by a ruse. "Well, sir," said he, "keep your God and his goodness; I love "And I mine." "And I also." my own better." "You see, then, gentlemen," said the tutor, "that the Church is right." "It appears to me," replied the bible reader, "that I was not very wrong when I said at the commencement that, notwithstanding our apparent unity, we worshipped three different gods. But, would you wish that I should now tell you frankly why you reject my God, who is so good, and whom you seemed at first disposed to accept? Do you wish to know why you each prefer your own god, notwithstanding his imperfect goodness?" All were silent. The friend of Rousseau looked out at the window; the young man cast his eyes over the engravings; at last I saw that all wished to close the subject. Then, raising myself from my corner, I said, "Yes, gentlemen; I am curious, on my own account, to hear your explanation." These words were like the key which again sets the timepiece in motion; and, without stopping, the intrepid preacher boldly renewed the conversation in a tone of mildness and authority. "Gentlemen," said he, "I have not the slightest intention to wound you, but the subject is too grave for me to say less than the whole truth. The great difference between my God and your gods is, that mine pardons and that yours will pardon. It is evident that a present is better than an expectant pardon. How is it, then, that you nevertheless reject it? Why do you look to the future for that which God is willing to give you at once? It is because you know that if you accept the pardon of God at once, you must also, at once, live a life in accordance with that pardon—that is, a life of holiness. You delay pardon that you may put off repentance; you postpone absolution that you may defer holiness; in fine, you do not wish for the pardon of your sins until the day of judgment, in order that you may remain in your sins until the day of judgment; and your deceitful heart says to you, I can continue as I have commenced, for God will pardon me.' the Bible says, God pardons thee now; thou must turn, repent, and change thy life now. So that if you reject the boundless goodness of my God-if you accommodate yourself to the partial or dwarfed goodness of your god, it is simply because you love sin and wish to live in sin.” 66 Gentlemen," said the tutor, "this is much too strong." But "Calm yourself, sir; I assert nothing without proofs. For instance, you, sir (although you are not aware of it), you are not sorry to retain the belief in a purgatory, because it will always be a means of redeeming the little sins that you will repeatedly commit; this thought makes you easy. A sin more-never mind, that will not damn me a little longer purgatory, that is all; besides, purgatory may be abridged by masses, and there will be time to leave direction as to masses in my will. Finally, the passions turn a change in your heart without being compromised by conscience." A malicious smile played upon the lips of the unbeliever, who had spoke of annihilation." f "And you, sir," said the incorrigible lecturer, "you prefer to believe in annihilation because thus, having nothing to fear in a future life, you feel that you need not deny yourself anything in this. All that the tribunals of men do not repress, you fancy to be allowable; and as voluptuousness, egotism, and vanity are things that are not branded by public opinion, it is pleasant to you to think that all this may be practised in this world and not punished in another, since, after public opinion, and human tribunals, there is nothing but annihilation. This is why you would limit the goodness of God to this world. Your principles and your life accord, and you say, "If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we "Admirable!" said the young man; "an admirable sermon! And these gentlemen-will they not have their part?" "Yes; but I scarcely need repeat what I have already said to you; I only add, that Monsieur wishes that God may pardon slight sins and punish crime, because he thinks he shall only have to reproach himself with little sins, and hopes he may never commit great crimes; so that he proportions the goodness of God to the measure of his own wants; he says, Let God pardon according to the measure of my sins, and he may punish beyond that if he will. He is not sorry, even, to admit that there is a degree of condemnable culpability, because he thus can obtain an easy victory to his self-love, and, after all, be better than others. And if the gentleman who is there so magnified the goodness of God as to believe that all men and every crime will be pardoned, it is because he finds it more convenient not to be restrained by any limits. I do not say that Monsieur could be capable of committing a crime. God forbid that I should have such a thought. But he wishes to spare himself that little sting of conscience which sometimes will, perhaps, trouble him; and in order to avoid the embarrassment of imposing a line of demarcation to the course he would permit himself to indulge in, he says to himself, God is too good to condemn any creature." “And you, Mr. Preacher, you, who judge others so well, what do you think of yourself? Will you tell us?" 66 Willingly. I believe myself to be the most miserable of sinners-more miserable before God than you all put together. My conscience and the word of God tell me that I have done evil every day of my life. Thus, when I learned from this Bible that God offers me the pardon of all my sins, and an entrance into his house, on the sole condition of my trusting in Jesus Christ; when I learned that, to possess all these blessings, I have only to receive them and they are instantly * 1 Cor. xv. 32. mine, oh! from that moment I accepted them with joy, and understood that I was at once a child of God, an heir of heaven, and that, consequently, I could no longer live so as to grieve my Father, in a manner unworthy of my new country. I understood that, since God has so loved me, my love to Him ought to be unbounded, and that even my whole life will not be long enough to testify my love by my obedience. No doubt I often fall into evil; but, at least, I can bear witness that it is always with deep regret, and that I never recover from it without renewed strength for future trial. In a word, I acknowledge that, since God pardons me entirely and from this time, I feel obliged to obey him entirely and from this time." The diligence now stopped; and the conductor came to the door, and said, "M. le Pasteur, get ready, you have arrived." "Ah! that is well-I thank you. Gentlemen, here is my village-I must leave you-I wish you a good journey—and remember, that the best god is, not the god of purgatory, not the god of Jean Jacques Rousseau, not the god of the world, not the god of annihilation, but is the God of the Bible. He pardons entirely and now-his salvation is free-but on him who refuses it rests condemnation." He alighted-the night wore on-each wrapped himself in his mantle, and the diligence continued its journey, bearing the travellers, plunged in their reflections. J. F. SHAW, BOOKSELLER, SOUTHAMPTON ROW, AND W. INNES, BOOKSELLER, SOUTH HANOVER STREET, EDINBURGH. J. & W. RIDER, Printers, 14, Bartholomew Close, London. |