THE SIN CONTROVERSY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 467, 30 April 1890, Page 5

THE SIN CONTROVERSY.

REV. W. L. SALTER REPLIES TO MR VARLEY. Auckland, April 28. Preaching in the Onehunga Public Hall on Sunday afternoon for Pastor Birch, Rev. W. L. Salter took for his text Ist Epistle of John, chapter 1, verses 8,9, 10 : “If we say we have no ein we deceive ourselves,” etc. In his opening remarks the preacher referrod to the exposition of this passage in a letter which appeared in the press recently, and expressed deep regret that an evangelist of such repute as the writer of that Tetter should have given to the general public so dangerous an exposition which is at variance with the whole tenor of Scripture. To represent God, as Mr Varley did, as looking down upon His sinning children with continuous pity, yet apparently unable to help them, and teaching them ever to say, “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves,” might succeed in making infidels, but it is difficult to see how it could bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mr Salter then pointed out the object for which the epistle was written, viz., to warn the disciples against certain heretical sects who sought to lead them astray by teaching that man was created with a holy soul, but with a body altogether evil, and for the actions of which the man was in nowise responsible. Their theory made the atonement for sin unnecessary, they consequently utterly rejected it. They all professed inherent sinlessness. In warning the Christians against this fearful error the Apostle says, “If we say (as do these false teachers) that we have no sin (that we are born holy, and need no Saviour), we deceive ourselves,” for “ All have siuned, and come short of the glory of God.” To the same effect is the teaching in the tenth verse, “If we say that we have not sinned," etc. The Apostle, after refuting the error referred to, and proving that all are born in sin, and as a consequence have committed sins, points out the complete remedy : “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He then urges them to live, as all may whose sins are forgiven, and whose hearts are made pure, a sinless life. “My beloved children (in the Gospel), these things write I unto you that ye may not sin.” Is it not reasonable to suppose that a God of infinite power, a God of infinite love, in seeking to save a lost world would provide a Saviour able to save from all sin and able to keep from all sin ? Surely God’s remedy for sin is equal to the disease. At the time of Dr. Adam Clarke’s death, the then Bishop of London said, “ Since the Apostle Paul there has not lived a greater or more learned Biblical scholar than Dr. Adam Clarke.” Andthisis what this learned man of God has written on the subject: “As all unrighteousness is sin, so he that is cleansed from all unrighteousness is cleansed from all sin. To attempt to evade this, and plead for the continuance of sin in the heart through life, is ungrateful, wicked, and even blasphemous ; for as he who says he has not sinned makes God a liar, who has declared the contrary through every part of His revelation ; so he that says the blood of Christ either cannot, or will not, cleanse us from all sin in this life, gives also the lie to his Maker, who has declared the contrary, and thus shows that the word, the doctrine of God, is not in him. It is the birthright of every child of God to be cleansed from all sin, to keep himself unspotted from the world, and so to live as never more to offend his Maker. All things are possible to him that believeth, because all things are possible to the infinitely meritorious blood and energetic spirit of the Lord Jesus.”

Such reasoning as this I take to be unanswerable, .if the spirit of Scripture, and the rules of logic and common sense, be adhered to. Brethren, when it can be shown that a large portion of this Holy Book is spurious, when you can inject a doubt into my mind as to the omnipotence of my Lord Jesus Christ, when you can show tHat sin can in any way bring glory to God, then, but not till then, will I, dare I, believe in the impossibility of the Christian living without sin. We preach a Saviour who can just now extirpate the foe, expel the fiend, and extract the virus of sin from thelmsaail heart.