Thus the statement of our Lord will find its due fulfillment. It is one
of many statements which can be explained only on the basis of its
application to the next life. But when we give such statements their
true application, they require no forcing to make them seem natural and
reasonable.
Further, I think it is fair to imagine, as we said before, that the
suffering induced by sin will be an object lesson to all eternity of the
evil of sin. Possibly it may be an infallible safeguard against sin in
every form. This would be an expansion of the principle that God brings
good out of evil; and it would be the grandest expansion of that
principle that we can conceive.
When we put all these considerations together, and when we add to them
the further consideration that God's love is from everlasting to
everlasting, we begin to see wonderful possibilities of redeeming grace.
* * * * *
Along the same line, take as an illustration the salvation of particular
individuals. We see what has been enacted in the case of a lost world.
Now take the case of one lost soul; and the matter may become a
little clearer.
NOT ASKED TO SURRENDER.
Take the case of Saul of Tarsus. I have referred to him elsewhere as a
man who went as far as man could go in crime. But he was arrested and
saved in a moment. And mark you, he was not coerced. No violence was
done to his perfect freedom. Every man is free; that is his birthright;
in Saul's case he was not asked to surrender an iota of it. Yet by some
mysterious divine power he changed in a moment of time. Henceforth he
was a new man, with a new heart, new ideals, new hopes, new ambitions,
a new life.
Now what I contend is, that the power and grace that could so radically
and so quickly change a man like that, is not to be limited to this
little span of life, nor to the most incorrigible transgression. What
are a few years of time to Him whose power, whose presence, whose love,
fill all eternity? I imagine that He who knew how to convert Saul in a
moment, can convert the most abandoned of mankind.
Then, as I said, there is another class of men to be considered. I mean
the heathen, and all those who never had the means of knowing the way of
life. What about the untold millions that passed away in the darkness?
Will not the grace and power that redeemed such a man as Saul be
available in their case? Yes! we think that--judged by the highest
standards we know--there would be far more mercy for them, and the work
of saving them would be a thousand fold easier. But we are dealing here
with power and love that are infinite. No doubt the sin that has to be
overcome is great; but we believe it will come true again that "where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound." After all, it is infinite
grace against human sin. In such a case, it is not hard to forecast
which will win the day. God will evermore be triumphant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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