p. 110 | CONVERTED SCOUNDRELS

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 4, 1868

CONVERTED SCOUNDRELS.

The late Prof. Shepherd of Bangor Theological Seminary used to say to his pupils, when they were about to leave the Institution, “Young men, preach the duties. Often recur to the tables of the law, and dwell upon, Thou shalt and thou shalt not, lest you fill the churches with converted scoundrels.” This may seem strong language, but it is to the point, and specially appropriate to our times. Of course, it does not mean that the worst of men, bearing the worst of names, may not be truly converted, and justly admitted to membership of a church, but it signifies the imminent danger under a defective style of preaching and teaching, of introducing unregenerate and self-deceived souls into the “household of faith.” It is a sharp thrust at that shallow sort of preaching which fails to proclaim, as well the law of God, as the grace of the Divine; as well the terrors of Sinai, as the hopes of Calvary.

It is a skillful blow at that superficial theory of conversion, which essays to reform men and save souls, chiefly upon aesthetic principles, or with little practical reliance upon the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart.

There is an intimate relation between right views of the law of God and thorough reformation—between God’s truth and men’s morality.

A plain “Thus saith the Lord,” “thou shalt, and thou shalt not,” comes with an authority to the conscience, which attaches to no other words falling from men’s lips.

Genuine conversion without lively perception of the justice and verity of God’s holy commandments, is not to be expected. The law is “our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” “I had not known sin but by the law,” saith the apostle. “For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”

Has the prevalent style of preaching in these years past, partaken sufficiently of the apostolic quality of setting forth the Divine, “Thou shalt, and thou shalt not?”

Let the recent developments of immorality and crime in our land, some of which appear even among those who have stood high in religious positions, and in the very churches, move to serious reflection.

Have “converted scoundrels,” in the sense of the Professor, been finding their way into Christian churches? Is there any culpable deficiency in ministers or people in setting forth the claims of the immutable law of God?—Vermont Chronicle.