Are we sick? Do we need healing? Alas! every man is born into this world infected with a loathsome disease, as it is written of Seth that he was begotten in the likeness of his father Adam, "after his image." Adam had become a sinner, and therefore Seth was born a sinner, and so were you. As you were born into this world, you were hateful in the sight of God, because you were contaminated with the sin of your father Adam. And though you say: I could not help it that I was born so, that will not better the case. Whether you could help it or not, the fact is there, you were born sinners. You dread a spider because it is a poisonous insect, and if I speak for that spider and say: You ought not to dread it, because it was born a spider and could not help it, you will say: That is just the reason why I am afraid of it, because it was born with the nature of a spider, and its bite is poisonous. Just this is the evil plight that you and I are in; we were born sinners and could not help it, as that man in the Gospel was born blind; and this was the calamity which was upon him, - he was born so and could not see.

And what will the spider do but works to which it is prompted by its nature? It early begins to spin a web to catch other insects, to murder them and suck their blood. It is the very nature of the spider to live selfishly for its own enjoyment and the harm of others. And is it not just so with man? As the spider grows up to do the works of a spider, so man, born a sinner, grows up to live in sin and to do the works of sin. Is it not natural to man to live selfishly for his own gain and the gratifying of his own desires and wishes, though it be at the expense and with the injury of others? Is it not a true description of man in his very nature when Paul says: "They all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's?" Is not man the inverted summary of the Second Table of the Law, which says: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"? Is it not a maxim with man to look out for himself, let others fare as they can? Man, verily, is as the prophet describes him: "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint," and he certainly does need healing.

2.

Where shall man find healing? Herbs and minerals may heal the body in some of its ailings, but what can heal the soul? "You must discard vice and practise virtue," is the advice of rationalists, and this is what the moralists are working at, to heal themselves.

Can the sinner heal himself? The text before us almost sounds so; for to Israel God said: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord, thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians." The Egyptians were a wicked nation, and had dealt arrogantly with Israel, and God brought great plagues upon them; but the Israelites were to be free from these plagues, if they would walk in the Lord's statutes. This was promising a bodily good thing, and this rule certainly does obtain: Those who walk in vice, in gluttony and drunkenness, in chambering and wantonness, soon undermine their health, and those who live temperately and virtuously enjoy health and length of days. But that Israel could not heal himself God distinctly declares when He goes on to say: "For I am the Lord that healeth thee." Man cannot always heal his body, much less his soul.

What can the Ethiopian do to change the color of his skin? He may paint it and make it look white, but the skin remains unchanged. The vicious man may change his morals, but the evil nature will still be in him. You cannot heal yourself. The inclination to evil is in you and you cannot eradicate it. Neither can you recall sins which you have committed. You can never undo the evil you did yesterday. The untruth which you told, the curse which went forth out of your mouth, have gone on record, and you cannot recall them. The suspicion which your tongue cast on the character of another years ago may even now be going the rounds in the mouths of the people, doing harm, and you cannot make it undone. When it comes to undoing sin and healing the soul, you are more helpless. than a babe.

Would you be healed, you must go to Him that says: “I am the Lord that healeth thee." He that spoke these words to Moses was the One who led Israel through the wilderness in the pillar of the cloud, the Rock that followed them; "and that Rock," says Paul, "was Christ." He made those waters sweet; He must heal us. Do you want your soul healed? Go to Jesus Christ and say to Him: Lord, I am sick, and Thou must heal me. I was born diseased, my soul poisoned with the seed of the Old Serpent; heal me from my sinful birth by imputing unto me Thy sacred birth, which was so wellpleasing before Thy Father that the glory of God shone on earth, and

the angels sang of it. If Thy birth is accounted unto me, the evil in my birth will be remedied. And, behold, here I have an old sore, sins committed years ago, which ever again come up and cause me trouble. Thou must cover them with Thy righteousness, and they will be healed. And there is that evil habit against which I must continually battle; Thou must not account it against me, but grant me grace to overcome it. I am sinking in the mire, Thou must help me. I am fallen, Thou must raise me up. I am weak, Thou must strengthen me. I am faint, Thou must uphold me. My soul is tossed to and fro by doubts and scruples; oh, grant me the assurance that Thou healest me.

If thus you come to this Physician of the soul, He can and will in no wise cast you out; He will prove Himself the one true Helper and will say: Come now to My bosom, thou trembling soul, and I will heal thee of all thy diseases. I bore thy sin in My own body on the tree, and shed My blood to atone for the guilt of thy soul, and I have made a testament to assure you of My forgiveness and My righteousness. Come to My table, and receive My body and My blood, the purchase-price of thy soul, and know thereby that thou art Mine, and I will in no wise cast thee out. Amen.

TWELFTH SERMON.

A Communicant Consulting His Own Conscience.

TEXT: Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world. 2 Cor. 1, 12.

When God created man, He gave him this high prerogative before all visible creatures that He endowed him with understanding to know what is right and good. This knowledge was increate in man, and it was a safe guide to lead him in the way of right. As he came forth out of God's creative hand, man's knowledge of right was perfect. He could not err in his judgment, and was wholly inclined to do only right. In addition to this increate knowledge of right, God gave Adam a special command not to eat of a certain fruit.

By transgressing this command man's knowledge of right was darkened, and he became inclined to evil.

Yet the knowledge of right did not become "altogether extinct in man. There is a something left in man which speaks to him of right and wrong, which warns him against evil, and prompts him to good, which accuses him of guilt when he sins, and exculpates him when he does right. This something is called conscience. It is that power in the soul which makes us conscious of right or wrong. But because conscience was darkened in the Fall, therefore God gave the Moral Law, a complete summary of which is comprised in the Ten Commandments. When man hears the Law, his conscience responds, That is right. Conscience is no more infallible, it may err; but by the Law it is again educated, stimulated, sharpened. The better a man becomes acquainted with the Law, the more will his conscience speak to him of right and wrong; and we are to heed its voice. We are, of course, to be ready to have our conscience corrected and enlightened by the Law laid down in the Bible, which alone is the infallible guide, but to each one individually his conscience is to be a guide by which he walks. We are to do nothing against conscience, but in everything we are to heed its warnings and its promptings. Preparing for Communion, it is of primary importance to ask our own conscience for its testimony for or against us. To aid you in this, let me speak of

A COMMUNICANT CONSULTING HIS OWN CONSCIENCE,

showing,

1. How to institute this inquiry; and

2. How to obtain a good conscience toward God.

1.

He

In this text Paul speaks of the testimony which his conscience gave him; for he says: "Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." Paul did not practise hypocrisy of any kind. walked honestly, uprightly, conscientiously. In the fourth chapter he asserts the same, writing: "We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty; not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but, by manifestation of the truth, commending

ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Paul's conscience gave him a good testimony.

What testimony does your conscience give to you? Has your heart been upright toward God? Has it been your sincere desire to do only what is pleasing to God, and never to do anything displeasing to Him? Can you say that you walked not in fleshly wisdom? The flesh is exceedingly inventive in suggesting pretenses and excuses for sin. It will say: You cannot help it, you must do it; you would be foolish not to do it; it would be displeasing to your friends, — and innumerable like excuses. The flesh has the wisdom of the Old Serpent, and to walk in "fleshly wisdom" is to consent to its wily suggestions, and to act up to them. Seeking subterfuges and excuses to disregard the voice of conscience is not walking "by the grace of God"; it is walking after the flesh.

Can you say with St. Paul that you have walked with a good conscience? I have no doubt that there are men and women here who can candidly say that wilfully and intentionally they have not acted against conscience. So the Christian strives to walk always; for if he deliberately acts against conscience, he ceases to be a Christian. If there are any among us who are living in defiance of conscience, I charge you to repent and implore mercy for Christ's sake, or you will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Those also who can truthfully say that they have not walked in violation of their conscience have nevertheless reason to repent. They, too, have sinned. Paul here says that he walked with a good conscience, but he does not say that he walked without sin; he rather confessed that the law of sin was still in his members. To walk with a good conscience is to walk so as never to give our consent to do anything against which conscience raises protest. But how often are we overtaken by sin, and must confess that we daily sin much! Therefore we have great reason to look and see whether we have walked so carefully, so guardedly, as a Christian ought. To walk thus requires vigilance and frequent self-examination. Seneca, a heathen philosopher, writes: "Every night, when the lamp is put out, I judge myself. I examine what I have done or spoken during the day. I hide nothing from myself; nothing do I skip that I may say: Beware, do it not again." Seneca was a heathen, but he puts all those to shame who are called Christians, and yet are little concerned as to whether everything they do is right. If you have walked carelessly,