The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 641

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THE HARDENING OF NATIONS ronment.

In like

without which

man

is

matter

manner there

it is

is

own

"

Every

store"; and with such-like sinful jests the

Every new clerk

dismissed.

know

every trade and business,

said one can not be a business man.

a thief in his

that does not

is sin in

6oi

the tricks

is

is

properly initiated.

deemed incompetent, and

He

the un-

willing are said to spoil the game. In this sense there

is

and churches which has slumber.

One has only

a collective hardening in many countries upon the multitudes as a spirit of

fallen to

compare the churches of Scotland and

The churches of both counsame Lord Jesus Christ; they read partly sing the same psalms there is scarcely one

of Spain to be convinced of the fact.

name

tries confess the

the

same Gospel

;

of the

;

mystery of faith confessed in Scotland that is not confessed in But with all this similarity, what immeasurable difference Spain. In both nations one is baptized with the same Baptism and nourished with the same Lord's Supper; but how vastly different the We do not deny that in the manifestation of the ecclesiastical life churches of Scotland there may be many a lack and defect. We even allow that in the Church of Spain there may be an occasional tender glow of love, while in the north of Great Britain we find something cold and chilling. But apart from this, what clear and positive consciousness in Scotland, and how heavy the veil which covers the face of Christ's Church in Spain! It is true Spain still possesses the confession of saving truth, but deeply buried under numberless human institutions. The luster of holy things divine is dim and feeble. We deny not the working of divine grace in the Spanish Church, and we gladly admit that Christ is preached even under the veil, and that His elect are being gathered unto eternal life. But for the rest, what dulness of soul, what hardening of spirit It is evident that in that grandly beautiful country an evil power oppresses the spirits, against which they wrestle in vain. Altho less conspicuously and on a smaller scale, the same collective hardening is found everywhere. In the Scottish Highlands the Church is much purer than in the Lowlands. In the Lutheran Church in Norway spiritual life is much tenderer than in Saxony. In the Canton du Vaud it is much more energetic than in Berne. And in our own land, who does not mourn for Drente as compared to Zeeland? Who does not know that the rural districts of South Holland are spiritually much more susceptible than those of North Holland? And who can fail to notice the difference between sand !

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