The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Books of the Bible, Volume 15 (of 32): The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Volume IBertram, Robert Aitkin
Religion
The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Books of the Bible, Volume 15 (of 32): The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Volume I
[2] Our sin is not so much a violation of a law that lies
outside of the bosom of God, as it is a disregard of the
feelings and nature of God Himself. You will by a moment's
reflection see that there is a marked distinction between
personal feeling infringed upon and law transgressed. The
magistrate sits upon the bench, and a culprit is brought
before him. There are two ways in which that culprit may be
considered as transgressing. He may have broken the law of
the land, which the magistrate represents officially, but
not personally. The magistrate regards him as a culprit, to
be sure. But suppose that, in the exercise of truth and
justice by a pure administration or decision, the
magistrate arouses the anger of the culprit, and he insults
him to his face, and in his own court; is there any
difference between his former crime, which was the
violation of the law of the land, and in his latter crime,
which is a transgression of the feeling of the magistrate,
sitting as a magistrate?
It is the same everywhere. When you employ men in your
affairs, you know that there is a distinction between a
disregard of the rules of business, and a personal
disagreement with yourself. You know that when a man
offends against you, his wrong is more heinous and
provoking than when he offends against your rules or laws.
We know that a child may violate the laws of morality as
they are established by the Word of God and by the consent
of the community; that he may violate the civil law of the
land in which he dwells; that he may violate the rules and
regulations of a well-ordered family; and yet, though all
these courses of conduct are grievous wrongs which shock
the parent, not be as culpable as when he treads on the
feelings of the parent. There are exigencies in which the
child flies, as it were, in the heart of the father and
other, and does not so much violate their command as their
living feeling; intolerable and more flagrant than simply
setting aside and forgetting or transgressing a law. In
other words, it is possible to break a statute; that is one
kind of transgression. It is possible, also, to sin by
directly infringing upon the heart and the feeling; that is
another kind of transgression, and one that is considered
more stinging, more intolerable, and more unforgivable than
any other.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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