^ A man lying drunk was accosted by Dr. Kidd, who asked him what he was and why he was lying there. "Do you not know me, Doctor ? I am ane o' your converts," was the reply. " Very like my handiwork," rejoined the Doctor ; " for if God had converted you, you wouldn't be where you are." ^
(2) Another sign of the reality of our new attitude to our past life is that we obtain a clear victory over sin. It is impossible to overestimate the terrific hold that sin has on the natural man. It grips him with such a grasp that he has no better hope of escape than a fly has in a spider's web. But when a person is reconciled to God through the precious blood of Christ, and born in Him into the family of God, the web is broken, the chains are loosed, the conqueror is conquered, and the captive free. Look at the words in 1 John v. 4, 5 : " For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world : and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? " The change therefore is not merely one in thought or feeling, nor only an alteration of opinion ; it is essentially practical, and the result of it is that the dishonest man becomes honest; the drunkard becomes sober ; the rough-tempered man gentle ; the corrupt man pure ; and the immoral profligate is transformed into the humble, holy, repentant, and God-fearing servant of the Lord.
11 I would not for one minute have you suppose that God's children are perfect, and without spot or stain or defilement in themselves. Do not go away and say I told you they were pure as angels and never made a slip or stumble. The same St. John in the same Epistle declares : " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not
^ Jamea Stark, Dr. Kidd of Aberdeen, 277.
ST. JOHN III. 5 167
in us." But I do say that in the matter of breaking God's commandments, every one that is born again is quite a new man. He no longer takes a light and cool and easy view of sin ; he no longer judges of it with the world's judgment ; he no longer thinks a little swearing, or a little Sabbath-breaking, or a little fornication, or a little drinking, or a little covetousness, small and trifling matters ; but he looks on every sort of sin against God or man as exceeding abominable and damnable in the Lord's sight, and, as far as in him lies, he hates it and abhors it, and desires to be rid of it root and branch, with his whole heart and mind and soul and strength.^
^ Immediately upon his conversion the conviction came clearly to the scholar's mind that his opium -habit must at once be broken. There seems to have been no parleying about it. Ever since he first entered the missionary's household his conscience had troubled him on the subject. Mr. Hill's kind but sorrowful words would not leave him, and their reproach was burnt into his soul.
" Mr. Hsi," he had said, '* you are a distinguished member of a scholarly family. I deeply regret to see you brought to so enfeebled a condition through opium. If you do not cleanse your- self, how can you be an example to others ? "
But at that time he knew no power that could enable him to cleanse himself from the degrading vice. Now all was different. He belonged to Christ, and there could be no doubt as to the will of his new Master. It was thoroughly in keeping with the character of the man to come to this clear decision at once. Of course, he knew well what leaving off opium-smoking would involve. But there was no shrinking; no attempt at half measures. He saw it must be sacrificed at once, entirely, and for ever.
Then came the awful conflict. It was as though the great enemy of souls, seeing his prisoner escaping, fell back upon this opium-habit as an invincible chain with which to bind him. How critical was the struggle, how momentous the issues, Hsi himself hardly realized. Upon its outcome all his future power and usefulness depended. As angels lingered near the Saviour tempted in the wilderness, may we not believe the watchful ones lingered near Hsi in the hour of his great need ? By the merciful aid of God he was at last victorious.^
(3) Another sign is that we gain the victory over the world. What is the natural man ? — a wretched slave to the opinion of ' J. C. Ryle, The Christian Race, 44. ^ J. E. Hellier, Life of David Hill, 136.
i68 A NEW BEGINNING
this world. What the world says is right he follows and approves; what the world says is wrong he renounces and condemns also. How shall I do what my neighbours do not do ? What will men say of me if I become more strict than they? This is the natural man's argument. But from all this he that is born again is free. He is no longer led by the praise or the blame, the laughter or the frown, of children of Adam like himself. He no longer thinks that the sort of religion which everybody about him professes must necessarily be right. He no longer considers " What will the world say ? " but " What does God command ? "