THESE are the words of the Holy Ghost, You will find them in the Bible, Rom. 3:2222Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:22). They are also the formula of the gospel of a considerable part of the more cultivated section of American and English society, especially of the former; but in how widely a different sense the words are used, this little paper will attempt to explain. And may God in His sovereign mercy use the explanation, as far as it is true, to the saving of some soul.
The autumn before last the writer was staying in the Bernese Oberland, seeking health and strength.
In the large hotel in which he stopped he met with an exceedingly attractive American lady. She was the wife of an Independent minister, who, like the writer, was also traveling for his health. I only saw him once; he seemed a kind, benevolent old gentleman. But as it is of his wife I wish to speak, I will attempt in a few words to describe her.
Her shapely head was covered with nearly white wavy hair, her eyes were large and luminous, her features chiseled and almost Grecian in their regularity, and her bearing gentle and dignified.
She was extremely courteous; and her face was full of kindness, sympathy, and refined intelligence.
In short, though past middle age, she was beautiful. I was naturally attracted to her, as was everybody else; she was a general favorite, and all paid her court. I sat next her at table d'hôte, and soon found she had read the best of English and American literature, and not a little of French and German. She sketched and painted rapidly and skillfully, and while she did so I used to sit, by, and talk at intervals with her. We soon got on to serious subjects, and then her creed came out which is embodied in the words at the head of this paper, “There is no difference." "Any opposite," she said, “is not a difference; there is no difference, it is only the other side of the same thing. Thus," she argued, "you could not know what light was without darkness, or darkness without light; in fact, light is only more or less of darkness, and darkness only more or less of light." And then she would point to her painting, and say, “You see Art taught me this; shade is not different from light, only less of it,” and then she would put on her shade and bring out her high lights. "The same thing is true," she added,” of a crooked line or a straight one; they are opposite, but not different, only in the sense of degree." From this she slid on to knowledge and ignorance, spirit and matter, good and evil, heaven and hell, and finally to God and Satan. “We shall see it all, "she said," in the blessed future; all is in harmony, if we could but see it; and the conditions we designate by these words, are merely the necessary steps in our moral and spiritual evolution. The words we use are only necessary expressions of our ignorance; and oh it is such a relief to me to know that it is so, amidst all the suffering and misery of the world," her face meantime beaming with enthusiasm and hope.
I was for the moment silent. I had heard something of this before, but never so blatantly set forth, and with such evident sincerity.
I asked her if her husband shared these views.
“Oh, no," she replied, "he is much more orthodox.”
When I came to think over this specious reasoning, the use the Holy Spirit makes of these words came to my mind. "There is no difference” truly, and why? “There is none that doeth good, no, not one; all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Well, here is a difference truly, and a terrible difference; for according to this poor lady none have sinned, or, if they have, it is only a difference in degree of goodness or badness, which was no difference after all,—and so on, with all the rest of the terrible condemnation contained in Rom. 3:10-1910As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:10‑19).
May God preserve all of us from such awful folly and delusion. There is such a "difference” between sin and righteousness, that the blood of Christ was required to make reconciliation between God and the sinner; and He, the Holy One of God, had to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
And if His blood be not applied to our souls, there is such a "difference," both now and to eternity, that a "great gulf" is placed to keep us out of heaven, and in hell; and I need scarcely point out, that when a sinner is really in hell, he will find there is a "difference" and that it is not heaven, though he does not know and cannot know what heaven is,—but he will know there is a "difference" all the same, a mighty "difference," and an eternal and infinite "difference," between the love and the wrath of a holy God. But do not deceive yourself, there is "no difference" between you and the worst criminal that ever existed in God's sight, even the Whitechapel murderer if you like. " There is no distinction," the Revised Version has it, which perhaps more clearly conveys what is meant,—that is, that naturally we are all short of the glory of God, and all have sinned and are all guilty of all contained in the verses already referred to, Rom. 3:10-1910As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:10‑19). The distinctions men make are of no avail in God's sight,—proper enough in their place, but out of court here. God made man for Himself, and man has outraged and insulted God in every possible way. All have done it; "there is no difference," "no distinction." That you, sinner, cannot see it until you are on God's side is no wonder; you have not the moral position necessary until you own it as true; but it is true all the same, and God could not be God if it were not so. A blind man knows he is blind though he never saw; but the terrible fact about the unconverted soul is, that though blind, it thinks and says it can see, therefore, adds our blessed Lord, "your sin remaineth.”
If you would acknowledge your blindness, half your trouble would be over; but you won't, and, what is more, you do not want to. There is willfulness in it, as I heard a servant of God say a few days since. "Unbelief is the child of dislike." Conscience continually warns you—sometimes in feeble, sometimes in forcible, tones—something is wrong within you. Beware Now you have been told what God says; and if only you would credit it, why, that would be faith. And oh, the peace and rest of faith and then the remedy, how you would seize it I conclude with beseeching you to accept God's words as to your natural state, and as to the provision which His love has furnished, in that He gave His only begotten Son for your salvation, otherwise you are forever undone. "There is no difference.”