The Supreme Conquest; And Other Sermons Preached in America (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Ill EMANCIPATION FROM THE PAST Having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.?2 Pet. i. 9. HE who proposes to lead a new and better life immediately becomes conscious that the past is his enemy, his most formidable enemy; in many ways it discourages, entangles, paralyzes. Could he get rid of the past, its relics and memories, the new and better life would seem as easy as it is attractive. Is it, then, possible to break with the hateful tyranny, and to enter upon the heavenly pathway? If so, how may it be done? This is the question to which the serious man addresses himself. Our text incidentally answers the question and answers it in the affirmative. Cleansing from old sins is possible; the apostle speaks of those who were actually made clean. Our purpose now is not to consider further the conduct and punishment of these degenerate souls, but simply to fix attention upon the fact that they once knew the delightful experience of forgiveness and purification. Let us at once recognize the inevitable struggle by which emancipation from thepast is achieved, and yet insist on the glorious possibility of complete redemption. I. The Condemnation Of The Past must be dealt with. The solemn truth that "God requireth that which is past" is registered in our conscience, and urged by it. The sins of our youth, the sins of past years, hold us with grim grip. They may have been committed in scenes far removed: some who were partners in our guilt may long since have disappeared; those of a past generation who survive may have forgotten our falls, or perhaps never knew of them; but the painful incidents cannot be glossed over by us who are personally concerned. It may be objected, What is easier to God than forgiveness? The thoughtless regard forgiveness as the simplest, easiest, ...