The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit by James Buchanan

Author:James Buchanan
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Monergism Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

But, in the case before us, as in every other where there is a commencement of a work of grace in the heart, conviction of sin was accompanied, not only with the fear of danger, but with such a sense of demerit, as led to the acknowledgement that punishment was justly deserved. This is not always implied in the mere terrors of an awakened conscience, and would be altogether repudiated by a conscience still asleep. The malefactor who railed at Jesus might not be able to deny his guilt, and he might yield himself as a passive and unresisting victim to the arm of public justice, merely because he could not, by any resistance, escape from the punishment of his crimes; but had he been asked to acknowledge that he justly merited the bitter death which he was called to endure, he would, too probably, have denied that he was so guilty as to deserve such a punishment, and complained of the hardship and severity of his case. In reference to God, the supreme judge, and the retributions of an eternal world, he seems to have had no fear; for he could join, even at that solemn hour, and in spite of his own sufferings, in the insults and blasphemies which were poured out on the meek and lowly Saviour: but even had his conscience been so far awakened as to impress him with the fear of God and eternity, he might still have been utterly destitute of that deep sense of the evil nature of sin which led his fellow-sufferer to acknowledge that he was receiving only the due reward of his deeds. A convinced sinner may tremble, as Felix did when he heard of temperance, and righteousness, and judgment to come; and he may be conscious of a deep horror when he hears of 'the worm that shall never die, and the fire that cannot be quenched;' yet the omniscient eye of him who can analyse the confused emotions of a sinner's heart might not discern there any one element of genuine contrition; on the contrary, he might find the fear of wrath, and the dread of hell, combined with an invincible spirit of opposition to God's authority, an undying reluctance to condemn his own sin, and an unyielding determination to deny the rectitude and reasonableness of its penalty. And when, therefore, the poor malefactor was so far convinced of his sin as not only to be impressed with a sense of his danger but also with a sense of his demerit and of God's justice, we see the commencement of a great change, which affords the best and most hopeful symptom of his ultimate and entire conversion.

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