Romans 2:16

Romans 2:16

The Secrets of the Soul.

I. We live in a strange secrecy, even hidden from our most loving and intimate friends. If any one of us were asked to relate his own life, he might relate two lives which would seem all but independent of each other. He might tell when he was born, where he had lived, where he had passed year after year, what persons he had lived with, what he had done by way of study or amusement, what had happened to him that was remarkable, what events had made a great difference in his life. Or, again, he might tell quite a different story. He might tell to what thoughts his mind naturally turned in the moment of leisure, what unfinished pictures were, as it were, hung up all round the chamber of his soul. He might tell of deeds done in darkness, which though actual deeds and not mere thoughts, yet are part of this secret inner life by virtue of their absolute concealment. How different these two lives would be 1

II. The secret will not be kept longer than enough to serve its purpose. And woe betide the soul that uses it ill. This sacred veil cast by the Creator in front of a man's holy of holies can be used; nay, we must confess it, such is our fallen state, that it is used to hide evil of every kind. It is the special characteristic of Christians that they are not of the night nor of darkness. It is with the unfruitful works of darkness that we are to have no fellowship. Let us then determine to force all our faults outwards. At whatever cost let us keep sacred to God that inner shrine which He has thus hidden with a secrecy of His own making. If we can be fair anywhere, let it be in that which God has reserved for Himself and where Christ is willing to dwell.

Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons,1st series, p. 266.

References: Romans 2:16. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxxi., No. 1849; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 18; J. B. Heard, Christian World Pulpit,vol. viii., p. 225.Romans 2:17. Spurgeon, 1st series, vol. ix., p. 214.Romans 2:28; Romans 2:29. Homilist,3rd series, vol. i., p. 41; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. i., p. 81.Romans 2:29. J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons,p. 41.