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SERMONS TO THE NATURAL MAN.
BY
WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D. D.,
AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE," "HOMILETICS AND PASTORAL.THEOLOGY," "DISCOURSES AND ESSAYS," "PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY," ETC.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY. 1871.
PREFACE.
It is with a solemn feeling of responsibility that I send forth thisvolume of Sermons. The ordinary emotions of authorship have little placein the experience, when one remembers that what he says will be either ameans of spiritual life, or an occasion of spiritual death.
I believe that the substance of these Discourses will prove to accordwith God's revealed truth, in the day that will try all truth. The titleindicates their general aim and tendency. The purpose is psychological. Iwould, if possible, anatomize the natural heart. It is in vain to offerthe gospel unless the law has been applied with clearness and cogency. Atthe present day, certainly, there is far less danger of erring in thedirection of religious severity, than in the direction of religiousindulgence. If I have not preached redemption in these sermons so fullyas I have analyzed sin, it is because it is my deliberate convictionthat just now the first and hardest work to be done by the preacher, forthe natural man, is to produce in him some sensibility upon the subjectof sin. Conscience needs to become consciousness. There is considerabletheoretical unbelief respecting the doctrines of the New Testament; butthis is not the principal difficulty. Theoretical skepticism is in asmall minority of Christendom, and always has been. The chief obstacle tothe spread of the Christian religion is the practical unbelief ofspeculative believers. "Thou sayest,"—says John Bunyan,—"thou dost indeed and in truth believe the Scriptures. I ask, therefore, Wast thouever killed stark dead by the law of works contained in the Scriptures?Killed by the law or letter, and made to see thy sins against it, andleft in an helpless condition by the law? For, the proper work of the lawis to slay the soul, and to leave it dead in an helpless state. For, itdoth neither give the soul any comfort itself, when it comes, nor doth itshow the soul where comfort is to be had; and therefore it is called the'ministration of condemnation,' the 'ministration of death.' For, thoughmen may have a notion of the blessed Word of God, yet before they beconverted, it may be truly said of them, Ye err, not knowing theScriptures, nor the power of God."
If it be thought that such preaching of the law can be dispensed with, byemploying solely what is called in some quarters the preaching of thegospel, I do not agree with the opinion. The benefits of Christ'sredemption are pearls which must not be cast before swine. The gospel isnot for the stupid, or for the doubter,—still less for the scoffer.Christ's atonement is to be offered to conscious guilt, and in order toconscious guilt there must be the application of the decalogue. JohnBaptist must prepare the way for the merciful Redeemer, by legal andclose preaching. And the merciful Redeemer Himself, in the opening of Hisministry, and before He spake much concerning remission of sins, preacheda sermon which in its searching and self-revelatory character is a morealarming address to the corrupt natural heart, than was the firstedition of it delivered amidst the lightnings of Sinai. The Sermon on theMount is called the Sermon of the Beatitudes, and many have theimpression that it is a very lovely song to the sinful soul of man. Theyforget that the blessing upon obedience