THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1179, 4 July 1874, Page 5

THE SOUL AND ITS DIFFICULTIES.

because of sudden temptation ; but he turned his eye inward, and learned the natural depravity of his own heart — a depravity that remained, even after he had believed in God : and he exclaimed, " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. " If such was his birth-condition, what is ours ? How, then, can a man be clean that is born of a woman ?

It will be attempted, by the help of God, in the following remarks, to reply to these, and such like all-important questions, so that any, who are really anxious concerning their everlasting welfare, may have their doubts and difficulties solved or answered from the word of God. In doing so, let us turn to some of the cases recorded in Scripture. What must Ido to be saved? AcTSXvi. 23-34. — Here we have the instance of a heathen jailor — a hardened man, inured to scenes of crime and blood, suddenly aroused to a sense of his lost state. The kindness of the Lord's prisoners melted that stubborn heart, which no danger or death could terrify. The voice of pity, " Do thyself no harm," seemed to him like a voice from heaven. It waß a new sound in the jail ; and suddenly his ruined state burst upon his conscience. TLe light of mercy discovered the darkness that was within him, and he cast himself as a poor suppliant at the feet of his prisoners, exclaiming, " Kirs, what must I do to be saved ? " Is npt this the first effect of conviction upon the soul : viz., to stir up the inquiry, What must I do ? We naturally think that the sense of our own evil is a call for us to exert ourselves in some way or other, in order to deliver ourselves from it. In the inquiry, " What must I do to be saved ? " there is also evidence that the soul confesses itself ignorant and begins to take the place of a learner, instead of being satisfied with itself. At the same time, there is a remarkable contradiction in the very expression ; for if I am to be saved by another, surely I have nothing to do myself. If, as a drowning man, I cry out for help, in order that one on the bank may pull me out, then I am saved by the grasp of him who pulls me out of the water, and whose proffered aid I eagerly seize and welcome. What, then, was Paul's answer to the jailor's cry ? " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It was an absolute declaration. "Believe, and thou shalt be saved." The apostle did not direct the jailor to pray for salvation : for the cry of distress, " What must I do to be saved ? " was, in reality, the only needful prayer. Neither did Paul tell him that, after much repentance and amendment of life, he might hope in the end to be saved ; but he pointed him at once to salvation, present, ready, and immediate, as soon as the poor convicted sinner trusted in the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, he was directed to commit his salvation altogether into the hands of another ; viz , the Lord Jesus. And what was the result ? The jailor, being an ignorant heathen, of course needed to have a little more instruction on this great subject, and especially respecting Him whose name he had heard from the apostle's lips. So Paul and Silas " spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house ; " and that very night he rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. He had not to wait in uncertainty for days and weeks ; it was not necessary for him to go hither or thither to hear many sermons or discourses ; but he simply believed God ; that is, he trusted in the Saviour whom God had sent ; he considered [ that God would not provide an insufficient Saviour, or one who had only done part of the work, and who left the rest to be done by the sinner ; but he believed that God had | chosen His own Son, His own equal, to be the Saviour, in order that salvation might be complete and effectual. And thus he rejoiced in the assurance that all had been accomplished for him by another.

A WORD TO THE ANXIOUS.

BY H. W. SOLTAU.

The following Queries and Answers have been written at the suggestion of a servant of Christ, who has found the need of a short and simple exposition of Scripture which he could put into the hands of those who are troubled by doubts and perplexities. The usual difficulties presented to the minds of enquirers are stated, and attempted to be answered ; but the writer is fully aware that the clearest declarations of truth are utterly unavailing unless God be pleased to make them effectual upon the soul by the almighty power of the Holy Spirit. H. W. S. How can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Job xxv. 4. — These are questions of the utmost importance ; for eternal happiness or eternal misery is involved in them. A mistake as to such momentous subjects will be terrible in its consequences. It cannot be rectified in another world. A boundless existence of unspeakable joy, or untold sorrow, stretches out before us ; and all depends on tins little span of life, during which God gives us the opportunity to come to a true decision on these points. It will be wise, therefore, to give earnest attention to the solution of these questions, and to determine to make it the first object of our search. How can man be justified with God? — Observe, the question is not, How can I be justified in the judgment of men? or, How can Ibe righteous in my own estimation ? but, I How can Ibe justified with God ? How can I attain to a righteousness that will satisfy God ? the holy, the just, the glorious God — who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity — who is Light, and in whom is no darkness at all— who will by no means clear the guilty. Yea, the Heavens are not clean in His sight : He charged His angels with folly. Again, the question is not, How can I attain a righteousness to fit me for earth ? or to enable me to fulfil my duties here ? but, How can I bo righteous so as to dwell with God I above ? that He may delight in me, and I in Him ; so that there may be perfect, unbroken fellowship with Him for ever. How can he be clean that is born of a Woman ?— II s I am born unclean, how can I ever become clean ? " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? " Why cannot the negro turn his black skin into white ? For this simple reason : He is born black. His dark complexion is not the result of accident or of circumstances, but is the stamp of his parentage. No possible change of circumstances, or of climate, can efface his blackness. So, also, as regards the leopard : the spots on his skin are birth- spots, and are therefore indelible. Man's uncleanness, in like manner, is inherent in him because of his birth. No effort j of his own can alter him. He is born unclean. Unclean he must grow up, and unclean he must remain for ever, unless, through a mightier power than his own, a power of creation, he be " born again." The thorn or the thistle, if transplanted from the waste into the greenhouse, if pruned, manured, and watered, would be the thorn or thistle still. The one could bear no grapes, and the other i no figs. When David had, through carelessness and indolence, allowed himself to be tempted to open sin, whereby he dishonoured God, and brought down heavy chastisement on himself, he did not trace his sins to the circumstances in which he was placed, or excuse himself