God Made a Minister of Sin
THE modern claim that each man has within him a sufficient light to guide him, without being compelled to appeal to any external revelation, is simply the ancient doctrine of self-assertion in a new guise. The real nature of this teaching has been well shown by Dr. C. H. Parkhurst in a recent sermon, in the following words: Whether acknowledged or not, the tendency that is operating, and with exceeding vigor, is to allege for ourselves a good deal of subjective infallibility, with only enough reference to the eternal and divine fitness of things to throw upon the situation a tint of religiousness, but not so much as to be inconvenient or to interfere with our doing substantially as we would prefer to do. When a man once believes that it is God within him who is responsible for all that is done by him, it becomes an easy matter for him to have his own way without assuming any responsibility for his conduct. Thus is God made a minister of sin.