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Wherefore our soil is not to be blamed, as though our nights were so exceeding short that in August and September the moon, which is lady of moisture and chief ripener of this liquor, cannot in any wise shine long enough upon the same: a very mere toy and fable, right worthy to be suppressed, because experience convinceth the upholders thereof even in the Rhenish wines.
Remember that whilst there may be good men who sin, there is One entire and flawless, in whom all types of excellence do meet, and who alone of humanity can front the verdict of the world, and has fronted it now for nineteen centuries, with the question upon His lips, which none have dared to answer, 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin? II. Secondly, notice the divine Helper who makes men good.
He likewise taketh away that desire and willingness, which we have, to lie still in our natural condition, by convincing us of the dreadful hazard thereof, through the spirit of conviction, whereby he convinceth the world of it, John xvi. 8, and circumciseth their ears to hear, and maketh them willing to hearken to the counsel of God.
And here is friend Roger, who makes private conscience free; but what is private conscience but the private reasonings whereby a man convinceth himself? and how shall he call his conviction the truth, since all truth is one, but the testimony of no man's private conscience is the same as another's?
We have to reckon with the fact of it as expressed in His own words: 'I do always the things that please Him. Which of you convinceth Me of sin? 'The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me. In Him there is the absence of all trace of sense of sin. No prayer for forgiveness comes from His lips. No penitence, no acknowledgment of even weakness is heard from Him.
'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us' are we to apply that canon to Him when He stands before us and asks, 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin? Surely it augurs small self- knowledge or a low moral standard if, from the lips of a religious teacher, there never comes one word to indicate that he has felt the hold of evil on him.
In the midst of His career He could front His enemies with 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin? and no man then, and no man in all the generations that have elapsed since though some have been blind enough to try it, and malicious enough to utter their attempts, has been able to answer the challenge.
And remember, too, that when He challenges the world with, 'Which of you convinceth Me of sin? with the exception of half a dozen men, of whom we can scarcely say whether their want of spiritual insight or their arrogance of self-importance is the most flagrant, who, in the course of nineteen centuries, have ventured to fling their little handfuls of mud at Him, the whole world has answered, 'Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
With that race, in its sin and degradation, our Lord now formally identified Himself. His baptism was his formal identification with our fallen and sinful race, though He knew no sin for Himself, and could challenge the minutest inspection of his enemies: "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" Was He baptized because He needed to repent, or to confess his sins? Nay, verily!
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