But it helps us to understand the deep mystery of the Evangel. We have seen human love stoop, and hence dare believe in the Incarnation. We have seen in human hearts the " rage to suffer " for others, and can therefore rest ourselves in the Cross of our Redeemer. pated the coming of some undiscovered body in the heavens. They said "It is there, and some day it will be seen." Searching the firmament with this expectation they, at last, cried in triumph: "See Neptune stand!" Many were the anticipations of the coming of the Redeemer. Prophets and seers strained their eyes across the ages for Him Who was to fulfil their hopes, and accomplish their hearts' desire. At last He came. He was made manifest unto us. He stands before our hearts' adoration, the central, peerless, Universal Figure of human history. He came to make known the Father's love. He came also "that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed." This deep reasoning of love has been forever confirmed by the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE: "THE SCARLET LETTER "* THE FACT OF SIN "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." PSALM XXXII. 1-5. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 JOHN I. 8-9. N LORD MORLEY'S " Essay on Emerson IN a grave defect is pointed out in the teaching of that great philosopher. Emerson failed to realise, * I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness in the preparation of this Lecture to Sir W. Robertson Nicoll's "Murtle Lecture" published in The British Weekly on November 5th, 1908. declares the essayist, "that horrid burden and impediment on the soul which the churches call sin, and which, by whatever name we call it, is a very real catastrophe in the moral nature of man." Probably most careful readers of Emerson have been conscious, in some degree, of the almost casual manner in which he deals with certain phases of life. Persuasive and powerful as he is, we feel, at times, that real experiences of the soul are being glozed over by eloquent words and phrases. Morley's criticism, however, is quoted here because it comes from one who could not be classed as a religious teacher. He may be uncertain of God; his views on the Bible are not ours; but he does not for a moment question the fact and power of sin. That is real. Its existence cannot be denied. Some have assumed that sin is a creation of the Bible, a product of the hour of worship, a projection of priest and prophet upon the consciousness of the race. It is true that religion, by its pure revelation, deepens our sense of failure; but the sense of sin was in existence before the Bible. The disease was felt when the remedy was unknown; the riddle perplexed human thought be |
