the inexorability of His Law's decree. No one will enter the Kingdom who has not understood the horrible danger of sin. and made clear to the Almighty his intention never to commit it. By the Cross all hope of escaping punishment of sin is taken away. The Law is the custodian of the happiness of Society. Contempt of it brings its inevitable reward. To forgive the sinner without establishing the Majesty of the Law would encourage sin, and render justice impossible. (Is. 42:21, Ps. 138:2, Rom. 3:21.)
The Leprosy of Sin
The plague of sin is:
(a) That successful selfishness at the expense of others tempts them to play the same game, and so fills the earth with violence, and leads to the final triumph of the most unscrupulous, and the servitude of the righteous. (Gen. 6:11, Rev. 13:3-4.)
(b) that the risks of living with those who will take advantage of one are so great as ultimately to force a man into a similar line of evil conduct for mere self preservation. The righteous make themselves the prey of the wicked, (Is. 59:15, James 5:6.)
(c) That it provokes retaliation from those who are wronged and plants a root of bitterness whose fruit grows more and more bitter with the passage of time. The wheel of nature, when once it has started rolling, is not too easily stopped. Ishmael still despises Isaac, and Esau hates Jacob! (James 3:6.)
(d) That when unchecked it advances from evil to evil, until at last there is no part of the soul which is not infected with a perfect selfishness, which knows no repentance and has no regrets, but finds its satisfaction in the torture and misery of others, and in a self-advancement which rises upon the slaughter of its rivals, and plunges its possessor into a ceaseless apprehension of retaliation from its victims. It is the same tree which bears Athaliah and Herod, Nero and Hitler! (Gen. 6:5, Prov. 4:14-17, Micah 7:1-6.)