I know that some people doubt or disbelieve that sin is the cause of all suffering.  I have met such.  They freely aver that this cannot be so, because the brute creation suffers, which they say is sinless.  It is a well conceded fact that brutes are not accountable.  They have no future state of existence.  They lack that freedom of the will to choose good or evil, and that understanding to know good from evil, both of which man has in unlimited possession.  Still, brutes are subject in a low degree to the very same vile passions, the indulgence of which in man becomes sin to him.  And why?  Because man is destined to live to eternity, in another state of existence.  If man’s existence were to terminate with the life of his body, his sins, although of a somewhat viler character than those of the brute creation, would be of no more account.  The Lord sent out his apostles, and in their steps others to follow, whose great business it was, has been, and ever will be to tell people that they are sinners; that sin is the cause of all the misery, wretchedness, suffering and unhappiness in earth and hell, and that the only way for people to be rid of the multiform evils of existence is to be rid of sin.

Salvation from sin, then, is immensely the most important matter that can possibly engage man’s heartfelt attention, as I said at the start.  How to get rid of the evil of sin—­I mean the love of evil—­and how to come into the possession of the love of what is good, and as a result of that love lead a good life, is the sum and substance of all divine teaching.  And why?  Because a man’s character, whether good or bad, goes with him when he dies.  Character is the only thing we do take with us when we leave this world and enter the next.  “He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”  “Whatsoever a man soweth the same shall he reap,” is a law as immutable as the law of gravitation.  Our Lord has mercifully opened up a way, a highway, out of a life of sin into a life of holiness.  The first step in this way, nay, the first step towards it, is repentance.  This involves a very great change in the state of man’s will or heart.  Heart and will have the same meaning.  Repentance is a change in the affections of the heart.  It is a change so great that man of himself, unaided by the Lord, would never make it.  It is a change from the supreme love of self and the world to love of the Lord and one’s neighbor.  “Except a man deny himself, and take up his cross daily, he cannot be my disciple.”  Self-denial and bearing the cross are repentance.

“If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”  All these relationships symbolize evil affections and thoughts which are to be no longer loved.  The withdrawal of the affections from all our inherited and acquired evils is repentance.  If the right hand be in the way of our repentance, it must be cut off.  If the right eye cause us to stumble, it must be plucked out.