SIN
IN SAINTS
The dream of total sinlessness on
this side of the grave is against the experience of the godliest of the race.
Editor
The
German Monk who became the" Father of the Reformation," met the enemies
of God's truth with rare bravery; writing from his imprisonment, to one of the
highest prelates of the Romish Church, he said, "You think perhaps that I am
disabled, and that the Emperor will easily stifle the cries of the poor Monk-But
know that I shall discharge the duties which Christian charity has imposed upon
me, without fearing the gates of hell, and much less the pope, his bishops and
cardinals." As he turned his gaze within, however, this brave man could cry "I AM MORE AFRAID OF MY OWN HEART THAN OF THE POPE AND ALL HIS CARDINALS. I
HAVE WITHIN ME THE GREAT POPE--SELF."
This
bold Scotchman was, in turn, for Christ's sake, teacher, preacher, prisoner,
galley slave, exile-fugitive, reformer, and statesman. In his last recorded
prayer, bearing the quaint rubric, "Pronounced with my half-dead tongue, John
Knox, with deliberate mind, to his God," these words are found:
"BE MERCIFUL UNTO ME, O LORD, AND CALL NOT INTO JUDGMENT MY
MANIFOLD SINS; AND CHIEFLY THOSE WHEREOF THE WORLD IS NOT ABLE TO ACCUSE ME. IN
YOUTH, MID-AGE, AND NOW AFTER MANY BATTLES, I FIND NOTHING IN ME BUT VANITY AND
CORRUPTION. I TAKE THEE, O LORD, WHO ONLY KNOWEST THE SECRETS OF HEARTS, TO
RECORD, THAT IN NONE OF THE FORESAID DO I DELIGHT; BUT THAT WITH THEM I AM
TROUBLED, AND THAT SORE AGAINST THE DESIRE OF MY INWARD MAN, WHICH SOBS FOR MY
CORRUPTION, AND WOULD REPOSE IN THY MERCY ALONE."
Because
he refused to be silenced from proclaiming the gospel of the grace of God, this
godly tinker and illustrious preacher languished for thirteen years in Bedford
jail. There he wrote the Pilgrim's Progress, which has been more widely read, and
translated into more languages than any book besides the Bible. C. H. Spurgeon
said of him: "I regard the style of John Bunyan as being the nearest approach
to the style of the Lord Jesus of any man who has ever written." He could
write of himself: "ANOTHER THING THAT HATH TROUBLED ME EVER SINCE MY LATE
AMENDMENTS, IS, THAT IF I LOOK NARROWLY INTO THE BEST OF WHAT I DO NOW I SEE
SIN, NEW SIN, MIXING ITSELF WITH THE BEST OF THAT I DO: SO THAT NOW I AM FORCED
TO CONCLUDE, THAT, NOT WITHSTANDING MY FORMER FOND CONCEITS OF MYSELF AND MY
DUTIES, I HAVE COMMITTED SIN ENOUGH IN ONE DAY TO SEND ME TO HELL, THOUGH MY
FORMER LIFE HAD BEEN FAULTLESS,"--and from the depths of his own iniquities
he cried out, "NOTHING BUT A GREAT SAVIOUR WILL DO FOR SUCH A GREAT SINNER AS
I."
Sometime
before his death, this mighty preacher could say-- "Oh that I may drop and
die in my Master's work, I think it is worth dying for. Had I a thousand
bodies, they would all be itinerants for Jesus." And it is recorded of him
that as he took the candle to retire for the last time, a crowd had gathered
about the door urging him to speak to them once more. He spoke until the candle
went out, and then went upstairs to die. Of himself he said:--" THERE IS A
MIXTURE OF CORRUPTION IN EVERY ONE OF OUR DUTIES; SO THAT AFTER WE ARE
CONVERTED, WERE JESUS CHRIST ONLY TO ACCEPT US ACCORDING TO OUR WORKS, OUR WORKS
WOULD DAMN US, FOR WE CANNOT PUT UP A PRAYER BUT IT IS FAR FROM THAT PERFECTION
WHICH THE MORAL LAW REQUIRETH. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU MAY THINK, BUT I CAN SAY
THAT I CANNOT PRAY BUT I SIN--I CANNOT PREACH TO YOU OR ANY OTHERS BUT I SIN;
AND, AS ONE EXPRESSETH IT, MY REPENTANCE WANTS TO BE REPENTED OF, AND MY TEARS
TO BE WASHED IN THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF MY REDEEMER. OUR BEST DUTIES ARE AS SO
MANY SPLENDID SINS."
It
was after this devoted man had estimated his sins to be at least one every
second, or over three hundred millions in ten years, that he set forth the words
of that glorious hymn upon which thousands have found rest for their weary, sin
tossed hearts:
"
Rock of ages, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in Thee."
And he plainly wrote: --" OH THAT EVER SUCH A WRETCH AS I SHOULD BE TEMPTED TO THINK
HIGHLY OF HIMSELF, I THAT AM OF MYSELF NOTHING BUT SIN AND WEAKNESS, IN WHOSE
FLESH NATURALLY DWELLS NO GOOD THING, I WHO DESERVE DAMNATION FOR THE BEST WORK
I EVER PERFORMED." Yet when he
lay dying of consumption in London, he put his poor sinful head upon his
Savior's breast, and said, "I am the happiest man in all the world."
This
was so spiritual a man that under his preaching multitudes, out of the
deepest concern and conviction of their sins, sought the Savior for forgiveness.
He was so sincere a man that he humbly wrote the following: "OFTEN I HAVE HAD
VERY AFFECTING VIEWS OF MY OWN SINFULNESS AND VILENESS; VERY FREQUENTLY TO SUCH
A DEGREE TO HOLD ME IN A KIND OF LOUD WEEPING, SOMETIMES FOR A CONSIDERABLE TIME
TOGETHER, SO THAT I HAVE OFTEN BEEN FORCED TO SHUT MYSELF-UP.
I HAVE HAD A VASTLY GREATER SENSE OF MY OWN WICKEDNESS, AND THE BADNESS
OF MY HEART, THAN EVER I HAD BEFORE MY CONVERSION. MY WICKEDNESS, AS I AM IN
MYSELF, HAS LONG APPEARED TO ME PERFECTLY INEFFABLE, SWALLOWING UP ALL THOUGHT
AND IMAGINATION. AND YET IT SEEMS TO ME THAT MY CONVICTION OF SIN IS EXCEEDINGLY
SMALL AND FAINT; IT IS ENOUGH TO AMAZE ME THAT I HAVE NO MORE SENSE OF SIN. I
HAVE GREATLY LONGED OF LATE FOR A BROKEN HEART, AND TO LIE LOW BEFORE GOD."
"Oh
that the things that were seen and heard in this extraordinary person, his
holiness, heavenliness, labor and self-denial in life, his so remarkably
devoting himself and his all, in heart and practice to the glory of God, and the
wonderful frame of mind manifested, in so steadfast a manner, under the
expectation of death, and the pains and agonies that brought it on, may excite
in us all, both ministers and people, a due sense of the greatness of the work
we have to do in the world, the excellency and amiableness of thorough religion
in experience and practice, and the blessedness of the end of such."
These
were the words of Jonathan Edwards spoken over the ashes of his own son in the
Gospel, who at the age of twenty- five plunged into the forests of New Jersey,
where he toiled and suffered, prayed and fasted among his poor Indians until he
saw the mighty outpourings of God's Spirit upon them, and scores of them
converted to Christ and lives of earnest devotion, and in five short years
finished his work and rested from his labors.
Yet
of himself he groaned, "Oh my inward
pollutions. OH MY GUILT AND SHAME
BEFORE GOD: OH THE PRIDE, SELFISHNESS, HYPOCRISY, IGNORANCE, BITTERNESS, PARTY
ZEAL, AND THE WANT OF LOVE, CANDOUR, MEEKNESS AND GENTLENESS THAT HAVE ATTENDED
MY ATTEMPTS TO PROMOTE RELIGION."
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