Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 301, 14 October 1891 — How to Understand God's Will. [ARTICLE]

How to Understand God's Will.

j A Sermon preach«d in St. Anclrews Cathedral on the 20th Suudny nftcr ' ..Trinttyv ■bf' .Willis: *\Vherefore be ye not unwiso. but understan<Jfng tho will of the Lord i.s." Eph.:s;l7. In thc prec&dkigj>art ot' -kis ietter I to the Chureh atrEphegny, tbe Apostle haa dwelt very tullv oii the oonduct required of those whohad"learned Christ," sh % * T ing,that all lying, dishonesty, corrupt language, bitterness »nd wrath were whoHy 'alion to, i the Otiristkfen character; and thcn : j proceeds in that paesage Wliieh forms 1 j the Epistle for this Sunday: ; \See j then that ye walk circumspectiy. not |as fools, butaswlse, i"edeeniing the | j time because the days are evii. Whercfor« be ye not unwiso,but understiind- | ingwhat the wili oi' the Lordis." UuI derstancling. Not raerely knowing it | as a matter of Xaet/ b ut haviug that | intelligent. knowledge; of it. whieh' is | the mother of a loving obedienee. ] !That is what he means i» t y << »inder-1 l S'tanding." ] If there was need of uttering this language in the early days of the Gospel, thore is not toss need now. Looking &t the teinptations • that abound, thc prcāent days am not iess evil then thoso, and having i*egard to the vain babblinga ofsome who pa-, rade tliemselves as Christian teachers*, th©re is mneh daager of your not oAly misund©r«taud?ng what the will of the Lord is, but of being led wholly astray m t<> th(? t'oundaUon of raorality. ! Let me thcn this morning put be- | fore you one <yr two plain t.ruths, the grasp of whieh will enahle you to I continue in the things whieh you have | leamwl and keep you from being carried about with every windof doeitrine, and the sieight of men, mid ; cunning craftincss whcn)l>y i;hev loy j j in wuit U) deecive. ! Now with regard t,o our duty hoth toward (iod aiul man has tlie wili of! the Lord been so phiJuly laid down J so that he may mn that readcth it ? To this our answer is: Most eertain!y it has. The Ten Conimandmccts given from Monnt Sinai embrace the whole range of >iuman duty, jf we have sounded thoir dor>ths >vith the i plumhline of the Go?pel, them will be 110 fear of our misund( v rstanding what the will of the Lord is. How they cover the eiitire cange v cif huinan j responsibility, I will show pie >en\ly, j if time penniK Jsut, first I wish i«>! fui nish voii with the answer to ob-: jeetions that are r«ised to fhe posj-! tion we ni;iint«in tliat tiu' r ftn ('oiii-; ma.ndments are the ChristiMtt ? s ruie : ol' lil'e. j Ii is that theT.M! <'onnnaml-' ment* liave no U<n;jor ;>ny hiiMli:iLC • part «M' th«- law $yiven t<> Ihe wiiii ti, \v;r h.-}\ s-M*V«Ht i(>- purpo . ;< :»1. '»jated . t'( i< '-| •« i,.?, \\ !«•<! ;■ ;n. .Now. wh;it a»«' y.i:i [>)•'• • i'C-.r»-i) "<> \r»ve t«, fh:s a->i»ni«»n. \ V i! ;• .-w» »• »ai;-1 ho ihal t!u' , lrt- if > ,<it U> ro-t uj<- ' "ii, \ -.■!t the '1 f!i ei:<4t::enf< .; i\. i....» anu«t tbe th»»n<j,>r - ( >i"'

Mount Sinai—althougli fsrst eommiitf'd to the keeping oi' thc «liosen poople by the hand of Mosos. who aoted as a mediator betwcon God and niaii.— \vere for all time and for all nien. That they do not t'orm a pai l of that Legislatiou whieh -wasi ■ ifttended only for the Jc\vish people duriiig tliat jierio<l their history whieh preeeded the fidvcnt of th(* promised Bted. Cons£,4iiently they remain wholly unaffected by gfche übrogation of the -Jewish law, and t,he bvinging in of the new covcnant. This is eapāhle of "thc clcarcst piooi'. In the givingof thc Ten Commandment« there wias 110 new revelation of to Tuan, no new eoiiimandnsfejat : giveii. Ihe- lāw proclaimed amid thunderings Hghtnings ? -.and delivered to the >Jewish people, that they as ty.nafciotr might set an example to the world of ohedience to it, was no new- law. It was the samē that bad been written on tlhe |icart and eonaeienee of man at the beginning. For twenty- ' five. centuTies man had been -ltift to the light of natural reltgion: But owing to tho depravity of his mture that light not siifficifent for him, and the wftting 'on the tablet of the human heart oeeame more and more blurrCd alld indistiftct. Then it »vas that God made known His will In the ten pre£epts whieh was engraven on the two of stone that they might ncver again bc forgotten and obliterated. It" will o!il^i»ed : a few reforenc<?s to show the priuciples underl3ing the Were written on the heart fiom t"he begiiming as . fotmdation of moralitv. -

Why shoiild Oain have been brauded a murderer tw©nty-fi- c eenturies before thc sixth *commandment was given, unl«s« a sense of Baci'e<lness oi liuman life, wliiek it is the purpose of that comnmndiiient to guard, had been implanted on man's henH hia creation ? You have only to ī'eaa of Abrftham's iutereonrse tlio and c the Philistine?i to aee thftt tke Barredness of the bond of marriage, | whieli it is the purpose of the !seventh commantbiient to guard, wm recognized by those nations as well as by Father of the Faithfnl, The Ktoiy of Joseph's eup hidden in saek, is a clear indication prineiple of the eighth comJnandmenthad been reeognized in Egyptian legislation. The sendiiig out of the dove from the ark by Noah, ai interTals of «even day<|j>ni¥ords e!ear indicartion of thē Berenth-dav rest, mstituted for man and m a memoria of his Creatpr, centuries before the proclaiimtio«twaB made £romMouat Binai, that thou keep holy the Sabbfeth day."

Another point for you to observe it this. It is eontrary to our belief in God to snppoae that the line t»f condnet preacribed atone period of the workVa liistory should l>e differeut from the preeepts given at another. For it is an esseiitial attribute of God that *«wifch Him ūs no variablt iif ss, neither shadow of turmng\ He is not a man, thaiHe shoutd l>e; nor the son of man that he shouid repent." Consoquently the foundations of morality reatiim ou the will of God aro etornal and immutable.

Bui aiK)tlmr objeotion is niineil whieh \ve have to im»et It. is uot (we are asked) diKtinctly iaid down by Siviut Paul, that wo are not uudor the iaw, but uuder grace? Cei'ti\inlv it is. And lot u« be sure that. we what Bt. Paul m«.ans, For 81 Poirr warns us that. in St PaulV £|nstlrs aw nome thingh hard to und<>rstiuul, whieh thoy thnt are unloaniei! nnd uiißtablo wre«t to tu<'ir own do*tnu*tion. W)iat thon <l(H v s St. l'.uil menn by boii»«>- umler tlie luw '? Ti arnvo at ihis. let mo īvu;iuvl you our S'i\ iouY x words • .} \vr wh,» eamo to iliui \vith vh* v «;!ks»u«u, "M;isti r. wh,*it shnl) I d>■ j!;[, VM vtorn?jj iii'o '? " To whioh i.'"vl by hi>n, "\\ iv \viiitrii in luw. how Vv-;i<i<ti»ou'. ; " Tho lawyor ausWv s «.\i : v sniniuary v»f :in iou oimmaulniouM. "Thou shnst l<>vo

tlie Lord thy (rod witb all tliy heart, imd with al! th % y soul, and witli all thy BtreDgtH, and with allthy mmd; aud thy noighbbr a« thyise]f."-» H,iv-! ing receivod this answer, our Baviour aaid t(> lu •, "thou hast answered right, Ihis <īo atul thou shalt live. From tliiK reply yon may undcrfstand wliat iis m6fiiii- hy being under the law. The law promi«ed lile 011 condition of its l>eing kept. If man should have kept the law of God, salvation would havo becn by the law, and th;ere wo«ld have becn 110 need of a Redeemei to eome. But £ian could i not fnliil the eondition on whieh alone the promiseß of i the law weue to be obtain,ed. In other words. he could not keep the Mw, atid f*o the law whieh was or,iiailiQd for life was found to be un»4s death. Meanwhile the law waa. th«. of making man i realise his sinfulne£s- and kis' need Lof a Redeemer through this inability to keep the law. It brought home fco the human conscience the | helplessness of mSn'B eondition if 1 his hope of salyation had no otheri for.ndation than hiß own righteous- j ness. Ji we were under the law, wx? should havo nōthmg tb depend 'on biH onr tfwn works and leservings,—i. e., our own imperfect ānd fragmentary |obedience throūgh I whieh to look for sah ation. But .our liope of salvation dōes hot rest on our for we , ; -And t-his do§s* nQt imply, ihafc ,tjie#§ has been a chatog^; m <iofV% 4 w|ll, o$ that God wifi' aecept a l,owcr standard of obdience now thatt form&rly, for it is plainjy declar©d: "Without holiness no inan shall sce. the Lord.' : But iti implies that our hope of salvation | resis not on our own obedience, but on Christ's merit for whose sake we plead forgiyeness for oui* own short comings | and transgrcBHions oi <Tod'a | |