the sinner's need for christ

man was originally endowed with noble powers and a well-balanced mind. he was perfect in his being, and in harmony with God. his thoughts were pure, his aims holy. but through disobedience, his powers were perverted, and selfishness took the place of love. his nature became so weakened through transgression that it was impossible for him, in is own strength, to resist the power of evil. he was made captive by satan, and would have remained so forever had not God specially interposed. it was the tempter's purpose to thwart the divine plan in man's creation, and fill the earth with woe and desolation. and he would point all this evil as a result of God's work in creating man.

it is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. they may produce an outward correctioness of behaviour, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. there must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. that power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.