The Remains of the REV. James Marsh, D. D., Late President and Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in the University of Vermont; With a Mem

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1843. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... THREE DISCOURSES ON THE NATURE, GROUND AND ORIGIN OF SIN. DISCOURSE I. IF WE SAY THAT WE HAVE NO SIN, WE DECEIVE OURSELVES, AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN US. --1 Johh i. 8. This declaration of the inspired Apostle has obviously a primary reference to those whom he recognizes as his fellow disciples. He is addressing them affectionately as his children, and holding forth to them the grand truths and messages of revelation, that they may more fully participate with him in the divine light and life which they impart. But though enlightened by the knowledge of God, and walking in the light which shines from heaven, he yet does not represent them as in themselves perfect, or wholly freed from the contamination of evil. In saying that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin, he cannot be understood, consistently with his other declarations, as meaning that our hearts are made so pure and holy as no longer to need the exercise of pardoning grace. For he immediately adds, with reference to the same persons, in the language of the text, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. It is not those, indeed, who partake most largely of the redemption that is in Christ, and are most illuminated by the truth of God as revealed in their own consciousness, who are liable to think of themselves as without sin. Though they may be, as compared with those who know nothing of themselves, eminently good men, and gaining daily conquests over their yet unsubdued and evil propensities, yet such at the same time is the increasing brightness of that divine light which shines within them, and their deeper sense of the extent and strictness of that law which reaches to the thoughts and intents of the heart, that they become more self-abased as they become...