THE TEAonmas of the bible 247 



does not mean, as some seem to think, that it is safe 

 to sin. Otherwise the forgiveness of God becomes 

 the lowest form of indulgence slanderously attributed 

 to the Church of Rome. We gain freedom from law 

 as weU as penalty only by obedience. The artist can 

 safely forget the laws and rules of his art only when 

 by long obedience and practice he obeys them un- 

 consciously. "We seem to be threatened with a belief 

 that God will never punish sin in one who has pro- 

 fessed Christianity. This view cheapens sin and 

 makes pardon worthless, it takes the iron out- of the 

 blood, and the backbone out of all our religion and 

 ethics. It ruins Christians and disgraces Christian- 

 ity. We sometimes seem to think that our nation or 

 church or denomination is so important to the carry- 

 ing on of God's work that he cannot afford to let any 

 evil befall us, whatever we may do or be. 



" Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of 

 Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor 

 judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion 

 with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads 

 thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach 

 for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money : 

 yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, Is not the 

 Lord among us ? none evil can come upon us. There- 

 fore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as afield, and 

 Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of 

 the house as the high places of the forest." That was 

 plain preaching, and the people did not like it. They 

 would not like it any better to-day ; it would come 

 too near the truth. 



But others seem to think that God is too kind, not 

 to say good-natured, to allow his children to suffer 



