the malady, the misery, the shame
of our whole race, by Henry Law. He must bring to the Lord a young
bull without defect, as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. Leviticus 4, verse 3. Sin. The sound is brief, but it presents
a dark abyss of thought. No mind can trace its birth.
No eye can see its death. Before the worlds it scaled the
heavens and dragged angels down. In life's first dawn it entered
Eden and slew innocents. It ends not with the end of time. It ever rolls on in its ever-deepening
course. Reader, think much of sin. It is earth's death blow. It marred the beauty of a beauteous
world and stripped it of its lovely robe. It caused the soil
to harden and the leaves to wither and decay. It turned fertility
into weeds and armed the briar with its bristling thorns. It
made the clouds to blacken and the storm to rage. It raised
the tempest's roar and plumed the lightning with its forked
wings. It placed its foot upon a perfect workmanship and left
it a disordered wreck. Reader, think much of sin. It is man's ruin. Its most tremendous
blight fell on our inner life. It drove the soul from peaceful
fellowship with God. It changed the loving child into
a hardened rebel. It robbed the mind of light.
It rendered reason a bewildered maze. It made the heart a nest
of unclean birds, a spring of impure streams, a whirlpool of
tumultuous passions, a hotbed of ungodly lusts, a den of God-defying
schemes. It is the malady, the misery,
the shame of our whole race. It is the spring of every tear. Each sigh which rends the bosom,
each frown which plows the brow, each pain which racks the limbs
are cradled in its arms. It is the mother of that mighty
monster, death. It digs each grave in every graveyard. Each widow and each orphan tastes
its gall. It fills each hospital with the
sick. It strews the battlefield with
the slain. It is the core in every grief. It is the worm which gnaws the
root of peace. Reader, think much of sin. Its
terrible destructions do not die in the grave. There is a
region where its full-blown torments reign. It built the prison-house
of hell. It kindled quenchless flames.
It forged the chains which bind lost sinners to their burning
beds. It sharpened the undying sting
of an upbraiding conscience. It arms the jailer, Satan, with
his scourge. It bars the hopeless in that
outer darkness where Weeping ever weeps, and wailing ever
wails, And teeth forever gnash, and all is woe Which knows neither
respite nor end. Reader, think much of sin. It
works this bitter and eternal anguish, because God's curse
attends it. It raised a rebel hand against
His will. It dared to violate His holy
law. It strove to lay His honor in
the dust. It trampled on the statute Book
of Heaven. Therefore, God's anger fiercely
burns against it. Hence, every misery follows in
its succession. He must be wretched. Who has
God against him? Reader, here is a picture in
which all horrors meet. Regard it with an earnest eye.
No fiction colors it. No power can overpaint the terrible
reality. No artist's skill can represent
a flame. The dreadful truth exceeds description. the lost writhe out eternity
in fully learning the deserts of sin. Reader, receive the soul-reviving
voice. Though sin is death, the sinner
need not die. There is a fortress of escape.
There is a remedy to heal these wounds. What, though your sins
are as countless as the sands, they all may disappear. What,
though the dye of each sin is double crimson? Each may be washed
away. The filth may be all cleansed. The debt may be wiped out. The
soul may meet Jehovah's eye without one stain. There is a way by
which the vilest may stand pure. God's love decreed a plan. He willed a ransom, and His Son
achieved it. Let us draw nearer to the amazing
sight. Each sin must bear its merited
load of woe. Each curse must be endured. Each
violation of the holy law must drink the dregs of condemnation. Jesus comes forth to help. The
guiltless one takes the guilty place. The God-man represents
his chosen flock. He stands as their complete sin-offering. He pays in anguish and in blood
their every due. Their wrath is endured. Their
penalties are paid. Their sufferings are suffered.
Their agonies are agonized. The saving work requires infinity
of woe. Infinity of woe is born by Him. His deity enables. His manhood
qualifies. Thus their sin is fully punished. Thus the redeemed are fully saved.