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 Sinfulness of Little Sins. 
 
 JOHN JACKSON, D.D., 
 
 iffiittmt^ emim. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 William Skeffington, 163, Piccadilly. 
 
 186.3.
 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 I. 
 
 The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin 
 
 I 
 
 II. 
 
 Sins of the Temper 
 
 . 22 
 
 III. 
 
 Sins of Pride and Vanity 
 
 • 43 
 
 IV. 
 
 Sins of the Thoughts . 
 
 , 66 
 
 V. 
 
 Sins of the Tongue 
 
 . 88 
 
 VI. 
 
 Sins of Omission 
 
 . Ill 

 
 THE EXCEEDING SINFULNESS OF 
 SIN. 
 
 Romans, vii., 13. 
 
 Was then that which is good made death unto me ? 
 God forbid ! But sin, that it might appear sin, working 
 death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the 
 commandment might become exceeding sinfuh 
 
 J/^NOW thyself ^^ said the wise man of Greece, 
 " know thyself^ is a maxim which came down 
 from heaven." And, undoubtedly, self-know- 
 ledge is one of the great wants of fallen man. 
 We do not know ourselves. We have inherited 
 not only a corrupt will, but a darkened under- 
 standing ; and though we may have sufficient 
 light imperfectly to distinguish the broad con- 
 trast between right and wrong, we are unable to 
 detect the finer lines of demarcation even in 
 others ; and in ourselves are so blinded by the 
 
 B
 
 1 The Exceeding 
 
 prejudices and interests of self, that we habitually 
 " call evil good and good evil, put darkness foi- 
 light and light for darkness, bitter for swreet, and 
 sweet for bitter."* Nor is this ignorance re- 
 moved by our intercourse with one another ; to 
 a certain extent it is perpetuated. Men observe 
 each other's actions and principles ; and taking 
 the general character of each which they find 
 prevailing around them, erect it into a standard 
 of morals to which they conform, and by which 
 they try their own lives. Hence, the opinion of 
 the world, the law of honour, the conventional 
 usages of society, become tests by which men 
 learn to judge of right and wrong, — crooked 
 rules, which, false in themselves, can but mis- 
 lead those who apply them to the decision ot 
 their conduct. Thus error is perpetuated ; and 
 man, left to himself, would form, and has 
 formed, systems of morality in which vices are 
 strangely blended with virtues, and the whole is 
 put in action by a set of motives which them- 
 selves are sins. 
 
 But if we do not naturally know the true 
 distinctions between right and wrong, still less 
 tan we properly estimate the due obligations to 
 * Isaiah, v., 20.
 
 Sinfulness of Sin. 3 
 
 the one or the real guilt of the other. They 
 depend, indeed, on considerations which are 
 beyond our reach, and can be rendered percep- 
 tible only by the same light which shows us our 
 relations to God. Hence the necessity of reve- 
 lation to teach us the nature of sin and our owr 
 sinfulness. We need a standard of goodness 
 furnished from the Source of all goodness Him- 
 self, that we may be able to measure our own 
 deficiencies ; and we need to be informed of 
 what we owe to God, that our consciences 
 may be awakened to a more adequate sense of 
 our guilt. Now such a standard is the law- 
 given by God under the old covenant. Its 
 object was, and is, to teach men their duty, and 
 to convince them of sin ; and as such it is exhi- 
 bited to us in the text. 
 
 St. Paul had been arguing that the law, to 
 which the Jews trusted, could not be the instru- 
 ment of justification, or of presenting men 
 righteous and acceptable to God, because its 
 condition, which was perfect obedience, had 
 never been fulfilled by any. On the contrary^, 
 being broken, it was the occasion of sin and 
 condemnation ; and man, if justified at all, must 
 be justified on the terms of the Gospel covenant^ 
 
 B 2
 
 4 *The Exceeding 
 
 by the free mercy of God, through faith in Jesus 
 Christ. But the question occurs, If the law, 
 being given and broken, became the occasion of 
 sin, what are we to think of the law ? " What 
 shall we say then r is the law sin ? God forbid ! 
 Nay, I had not known sin," replies the Apostle, 
 speaking in the person of corrupt human nature; 
 I should not, on account of my ignorance, have 
 known the real nature of sin, " but by the law : 
 for," to take an instance, " I had not known 
 lust," I should not have known coveting to be a 
 sin, " except the law had said. Thou shalt not 
 covet.* But sin, taking occasion by the com- 
 mandment," seizing the opportunity, as it were, 
 of this direct command of God, tempted me to 
 break it, and " wrought in me all manner of 
 concupiscence;" and thus led me into disobe- 
 dience, which it could not have done if there 
 had been no commandment to disobey : " for 
 without the law sin is dead." Where there is 
 no law pointing out what should be done, and 
 denouncing what should not be done, there is no 
 opportunity or room for sin. " For 1 was alive 
 without the law once :" you may suppose a time 
 when there was no law ; there could, conse- 
 * Rom., vii., 7.
 
 Sinfulness of Sin, 5 
 
 quently, be no disobedience, and I should so far 
 be living uncondemned : " but when the com- 
 mandment came, sin revived :" I disobeyed it, 
 '^and I died,'* — fell under condemnation. "And 
 the commandment which was ordained to life," 
 the statutes and judgments of which God had 
 said, "If a man do them he shall live in them,"* 
 " I found,*' on account of my disobedience, " to 
 be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the 
 commandment, deceived me," persuaded me to 
 break it, much as Satan did Eve, " and by it 
 slew me," brought me under the condemnation 
 of all sin, — death. " Wherefore the law k 
 holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and 
 good. Was then that which is good made 
 death unto me ?" was this holy law the real 
 cause of my death? "God forbid! But sinj, 
 that it might appear sin, working death in me 
 by that which is good." It was not the law, 
 it was sin which was the cause ; so that sin 
 became manifest, working death in me by that 
 law v/hich is itself so good ; " that sin by the 
 commandment might become exceeding sinful ;" 
 so that sin, by causing me to break so holy 3, 
 
 * Lev., xviil., 5.
 
 6 ne Exceeding 
 
 commandment, appeared in all the enormity of 
 its real sinfulness. 
 
 It is evident, then, that one of the purposes of 
 the law was to teach us the real nature of sin, 
 and to convince us of our sinfulness ; and a pur- 
 pose it was, full of mercy as well as of wisdom, 
 and an essential part of that office of the law 
 which consists in preparing and fitting men to 
 receive the Gospel. For a conviction of the real 
 nature of sin, and of its exceeding sinfulness, is 
 necessary, in the first place, to that sincere 
 repentance which is the first requisite for admis- 
 sion into the new covenant. If we do not know 
 the greatness of our guilt, we cannot sorrow for 
 it as we ought ; and if we are ignorant of the 
 malignity of sin, we shall not renounce it v/ith 
 sufficient earnestness, nor guard against it with 
 sufficient caution. Such knowledge, then, is one 
 of the first elements of real repentance. But 
 again ; an acquaintance with the true character 
 of sin is necessary to make us humble and to 
 destroy all self-dependence. Humility is the 
 very door of the Gospel. " Except ye be con- 
 verted and become as little children," as humble, 
 that is, and as simple, " ye shall not enter into
 
 Sinfulness of Sin, 7 
 
 the kingdom of heaven."* But that which most 
 effectually breaks down the self-satisfied spirit, 
 with which we love to appear before God as well 
 as before men, — that which prostrates us in the 
 very dust before the throne of infinite holiness, 
 is a due sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. 
 It is the only real self-knowledge. It exhibits us 
 to ourselves as we are. It tears off the mask 
 which our natural pride and the world's principles 
 had combined to hold before our moral deformi- 
 ties ; and teaches those who, like the church of 
 Laodicea, beHeved that they were "rich, and 
 increased with goods, and had need of nothing," 
 that they are " wretched, and miserable, and 
 poor, and blind, and naked j"t and thus it minis- 
 ters to true humility. And, lastly, a knowledge 
 of the sinfulness of sin tends to bring us to 
 Christ. "They that be whole need not a phy- 
 sician, but they that are sick ;" J and in propor- 
 tion to our belief in the malignancy of the disease, 
 will be the earnestness and perseverance with 
 which we shall seek a Cure. To feel our sinful- 
 ness and helplessness is to learn to value the 
 blessings of redemption. It is when the heart 
 
 * Matt., xviii., 3. f Rev., iii., 17. 
 
 \ Matt., ix., 12.
 
 8 ^he Exceeding 
 
 becomes acquainted v/ith its own depri.vity that 
 man seriously inquires, " What shall I do to be 
 saved ;" and as long as we are deeply sensible of 
 our guilt and danger, we may well turn away 
 from the allurements of the world and the flesh, 
 with the Apostle's declaration, " Lord, to whom 
 shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal 
 life."* The law was, indeed, in many respects, 
 as '' a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ ;"t 
 but in none more so than as it convinced them 
 of the deep corruption of their moral nature, by 
 holding up to their view a transcript of God's 
 perfect holiness ; and as it contrasted their lives 
 with the commandments, which are holy, and 
 just, and good, that " sin by the commandment 
 might become exceeding sinful." 
 
 It is evident, then, from these considerations, 
 as well as from the purpose which, we learn 
 from the text, the law was intended to serve, that 
 it is both our interest and duty to form as correct 
 an estimate as we can of the real enormity of sin. 
 It is our duty, because it ns to follow out God's 
 own purpose ; it is our interest, because it tends 
 to quicken our repentance, to deepen our humi- 
 lity, and to bring us to Christ and keep us there, 
 * John, vi., 68. f Gal.^ iii., 24.
 
 Sinfulness of Sin. 9 
 
 by the exercise of a lively and self-renouncing 
 faith. May it please Almighty God to make 
 such the fruits of our present meditations on this 
 important subject, — a subject, I need not add, 
 perfectly in harmony with the humiliation, the 
 penitence, the godly sorrow, which ought to 
 possess our hearts at the season of Lent. 
 
 Our present purpose, as introductory to the 
 subject of the following discourses, is so to look 
 at sin as to perceive more distinctly than, per- 
 haps, we mostly do, its exceeding sinfulness. 
 And by sin we are to understand disobedience to 
 God's commands, either given in the dictates of 
 our conscience, or revealed far more fully and 
 accurately in His Holy Word. 
 
 I. Now the very lowest view we can take, 
 shows us sin in a very awful light, as self-destruc- 
 tion, — the troubler of our peace here, and the 
 ruin of our eternal happiness hereafter. It is a 
 truth which appearances seem to contradict, but 
 which is fully borne out by fact, that there is 
 little real peace enjoyed by those who make their 
 own wills, not God's law, the rule of their lives 
 There may be prosperity, there may be mirth, 
 there may be much which the world envies ; but 
 within is the tyranny of the passions, who are
 
 lO The Exceeding 
 
 hard taskmasters, a secret dissatisfaction with 
 self and a soreness of conscience, and an often- 
 recurring dread of something to come hereafter, 
 to which men may close their eyes, but which 
 will float before them still. And when sorrow 
 and suffering are their lot, as at some time or 
 other in this life they must be, they are exposed 
 to all their bitterness, without any sufficient con- 
 solation, or any solid ground of confidence and 
 hope. " The wicked," it is written, " are like 
 the troubled sea v/hen it cannot rest, whose 
 waters «ast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, 
 saith my God, to the wicked."* 
 
 But this is a very small part of the destructive 
 effects of sin. It is the ruin of the soul's life, — 
 that eternal life of happiness inexpressible which 
 has been purchased for us by the merits and 
 passion of Jesus Christ. " The wages of sin is 
 death. "t " The soul that sinneth, it shall die.*'J 
 " Then shall the Judge say unto them on the 
 left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
 everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his 
 angels. "§ They who, for Christ's sake, might 
 have dwelt amid the glories of the presence of 
 
 * fsa., Ivii., 20, 21. f Rom., vi., 23. 
 
 \ Ezek., xviii., 4. § Matt., xxv., 41.
 
 Sinfulness of Sin, 1 1 
 
 God in still increasing holiness and happiness for 
 ever, will, for sin's sake, be driven out to live in 
 eternal torment and the company of the vi^retched. 
 And to this horrible state every sin brings us 
 nearer, and every unrepented sin will condemn 
 us. Sin is, therefore, in the most fearful sense, 
 self-destruction: it is the soul's suicide: and, 
 viewed in this light, from the tremendous nature 
 of its consequences, must be inferred to be " ex- 
 ceeding sinful.'' 
 
 2. But our business at present is rather with 
 its moral nature than with its consequences ; and 
 therefore, we may observe, secondly, that sin is 
 opposition to our Creator. It is a principle to 
 which every mind at once readily gives its assent, 
 that the Maker of all things has a right to the 
 service of the things which He has made. And 
 in general He receives it. Animate and inani- 
 mate nature alike perform their allotted duties. 
 Bird, beast, and fish, herbs and trees, earth, air, 
 and ocean, the orbs of heaven wheeling in their 
 assigned orbits, all do Him homage by their 
 regularity and uniform obedience to His laws. 
 But man, the last best work of the Creator's ' 
 hand, mars the order and harmony of the uni- 
 verse. His sin crosses and contradicts his
 
 12 The Exceeding 
 
 Maker's will. Formed to adore, to obey, to 
 glorify Him, he treats Him with neglect, disobe- 
 dince, and dishonour. He has defaced God's 
 image, and though made "upright," has "sought 
 out many inventions"* of iniquity. This has sin 
 done : and on this ground alone, as opposition to 
 our Creator, might be pronounced " exceeding 
 sinful." 
 
 3. But, thirdly, it must be regarded as rebel- 
 lion against our lawful king. The sovereignty of 
 all things is undeniably God's. "The Lord 
 most high is terrible j He is a great King over 
 all the earth. "t "I am a great King, saith the 
 Lord of hosts and my name is dreadful among 
 the heathen.":}; Independently, then, of the 
 claims of our mediatorial King, Christ, the Lord 
 of glory, we are bound to honour and obey God 
 as King of the whole earth. His laws should be 
 the rule of our conduct ; His will the object of 
 our efforts. His enemies should be our ene- 
 mies ^ and it should be our glory to promote His. 
 I need hardly add, that it is not so. We forget 
 His laws, or wilfully disobey them. We dis- 
 honour His name with our lips or in our lives. 
 For some poor pleasure we sell ourselves to His 
 * Eccles., vii., 29. f Ps. xlvii., 2. % Mai., i., 14.
 
 Sinfulness of Sin, ij 
 
 enemies ; and either quit His service for theirs 
 altogether, or vainly attempt to reconcile them 
 both. If WQ do not profess in words, wq at 
 least delare in practice, that we will not have 
 Him to rei2;nover us. Rebellion and treason are 
 among the foulest crimes which stain the- cata- 
 logue of man's injuries to man ; yet rebels and 
 traitors has sin made us against our heavenly 
 King, the Lord our God. 
 
 4. But there are fouler crimes than these : 
 and none, perhaps, is so justly branded by the 
 universal voice of reprobation as ingratitude. 
 Yet we must confess, that sin is ingratitude 
 against God — and ingratitude, too, of the most 
 aggravated kind ; for He is our Benefactor, our 
 Father, and our Redeemer. 
 
 God is our Benefactor. Even the most un- 
 happy must admit, that, notwithstanding the 
 many ills which our sinfulness has brought upon 
 us, this life has many blessings and enjoyments. 
 All these are God's free and undeserved gifts : — 
 our life itself, our preservation from the dangers 
 to which our frail frame is every instant exposed ; 
 every interval of health, every hour of liberty 
 and free enjoyment ; and our senses, with their 
 .varied pleasures, — the mirror of the eye imaging 
 
 c
 
 14 The Exceeding 
 
 to the soul itself the hues and forms of nature's 
 inexhaustible beauty ; the ear vibrating to the 
 chords of harmony, collecting and pouring on the 
 brain the words of wisdom or the voice of love; 
 the tongue, the mind's interpreter, conveying to 
 others the sentiments and feelings of our own 
 breasts, and knitting in a common bond of 
 fellowship those who would otherwise be isolated 
 wanderers in a dreary world ; and even the infe- 
 rior senses, so fitted to external things and exter- 
 nal things to them, that they bear their part in 
 contributing to our security and delight. Add 
 to these the gift of intellect, of terrestrial beings 
 man's peculiar heritage; memor}^, which collects 
 and retains ; imagination, which combines and 
 embellishes ; judgment, which distinguishes, 
 classifies, and corrects ; and reason, which from 
 materials thus prepared draws new conclusions, 
 elicits new truths, and carries the whole mind on 
 in the career of knowledge. Nor must we for- 
 get the affections so abused, alas ! and unworthily 
 exerted, but formed to be the sources of our best 
 and holiest happiness ; — the pleasures of loving 
 and being loved, of pitying and doing good, of 
 glowing with admiration, of sympathising with 
 joy or grief; the silken bonds of kindred and
 
 Sinfulness of Sin, 15 
 
 affections, the tranquil enjoyments of home, and, 
 above all, — that noblest employment of a created 
 being, — the rising to the love of God^ the resting 
 all our hopes, and aims, and self, on Him, the 
 adoring contemplation of His attributes and Him- 
 self. I will not stay to add our many obliga- 
 tions to God's watchful providence, to His ever- 
 present hand, shielding our march and. directing 
 our paths, ever and anon leading us to good by 
 most unlikely v/ays, and calling a blessing out of 
 the darkest shades of affliction and disappoint- 
 ment. I will at once ask, Whether sin, which 
 is disobedience to such a Benefactor, — whether 
 ingratitude so base, so aggravated, so unpro- 
 voked, — whether to requite infinite mercies with 
 ofFences ail but innumerable, be not indeed 
 *' exceeding sinful ?'*' 
 
 5. But we must go further still : filial ingrati- 
 tude is dyed with a yet deeper stain of guilt. 
 And God is our Father, as well as our Bene- 
 factor. By creation, indeed. He had purchased 
 Himself that title j and on that ground He ex- 
 postulates with His disobedient children, " If 
 then I be a father, where is mine honour?"* 
 But His claims on us arise from a nearer and 
 * Mai, i., 6. 
 
 C 2
 
 i6 The Exceeding 
 
 more exalted relationship. Born in sin and chil- 
 dren of God's wrath, with no more title to His 
 compassion than those vast multitudes who are 
 still left aliens from Him and without God in 
 the world, we have been adopted into His family 
 fur the merits of Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of 
 grace, and in the sacrament of baptism. To us 
 is the promise made and the covenant sealed, 
 " Come out from among them, and be ye sepa- 
 rate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean 
 thing ; and I will receive you, and will be a 
 Pather unto you, and ye shall be my sons and 
 daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."* These 
 are privileges which should be ever present with 
 us, brethren. We should bind them for a sign 
 upon our hand, and they should be as frontlets 
 between our eyes. For we may forfeit them in- 
 deed by negligence and sin ; we may sell our 
 birthright, and lose the blessing : but we have 
 received the title of the adoption, and have been 
 enrolled among the children of God ; and we 
 cannot disobey God without disobeying a Father. 
 Every oftence against Him is an act of filial in- 
 gratitude ; and the freeness of His paternal love 
 infinitely aggravates the sinfulness of sin. 
 * 2 Cor., vi., 17, 18.
 
 Sinfulness of Sin. 17 
 
 6. But God, as a Benefactor, stands in a rela- 
 tion towards us which has no parallel with any- 
 thing of earth. Our parents here were the 
 authors of our first birth, but could not free us 
 from the corrupt nature we inherited from them, 
 nor deliver us from its consequences, sin and 
 eternal death. Our own actions but add to our 
 guilt and our danger. But God is our Redeemer, 
 as well as our Father. In our lost estate, although 
 that lost estate was but the just penalty of sin 
 against Him, His mercy visited us. His wisdom- 
 devised a wonderful plan, which His love more 
 wonderfully executed, to vindicate His justice 
 while He pardoned the sinner. " Sending His 
 own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for 
 sin. He condemned sin in the flesh."* The 
 eternal Son of God '' was made flesh, and dwelt 
 among us," bore all the infirmities and more than 
 the afflictions of our nature, was rejected and 
 persecuted by those He came to save,^ and by 
 their hands was nailed to the cross, on which He 
 made a full and sufficient atonement for the sins 
 of the whole world. His death was our life. 
 Through Him God offers pardon, reconciliation, 
 sonship, yea, the glories and happiness of heaven, 
 * Rom., viii., 3. 
 
 C3
 
 1 8 The Exceeding 
 
 to all who in sincere repentance and lively faith 
 will turn to Him. And pitying our weakness as 
 well as our danger, He offers to all who seek it 
 heartily the aid of the Holy Spirit to convert, 
 renew, sanctify, strengthen, and direct them ; to 
 enable them to live as those must who have 
 taken up the cross of Jesus Christ ; and who, 
 having the hope in them of being like their Lord 
 when He shall appear, would purify themselves 
 even as He is pure.* This is the Being, my 
 brethren, against whom our sins are committed. 
 This thrice-merciful Redeemer, the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost, is He of whom we 
 think so little, and whom we, perhaps habitually, 
 disobey. He v/ho died for us, and lives to bless 
 us with His ov/n divine grace, is Pie to whose 
 service we prefer that of self, the world, nay, 
 even of the devil. Surely the sin of those who 
 have been thus redeemed must be exceeding sin- 
 ful ! Surely it can be no light thing — no ordi- 
 nary guilt — to rebel ungratefully against our 
 reconciled Father ; to crucify, as it were, the 
 Son of God afresh : to grieve, if not to quench, 
 the Holy Spirit ! 
 
 7, Once more, my brethren, let us change 
 * I John, iii., 3.
 
 ^Sinfulness of Sin. 1 9 
 
 our ground, and view our sins in the odious light 
 of perjury. We have promised solemnly to God, 
 and before the Church vv^e have confirmed the 
 vow, that we renounce the devil, the world, and 
 the flesh, and that we would not only steadfastly 
 believe God's revelations to us, but keep His holy 
 will and commandments, and walk in the same 
 all the days of our life. Every sin, therefore, is 
 a breach of this solemn promise — a promise ren- 
 dered still more sacred by being made when God 
 in His mercy took us into covenant with Him, 
 and sealed His grace to us with the waters of 
 baptism. Every yielding to Satan, the v/orld, 
 and our selfish passions, is in the face of a vow 
 which is registered on high : every instance of 
 neglect of God's revealed will involves the guilt 
 of faithlessness and falsehood. Thus, too, then, 
 as the breach of our baptismal promise, does sin 
 become " exceeding sinful." 
 
 And, now, let us collect the sum of what has 
 been said. It is this : that every wilful sin we 
 commit, as it is destructive to our own souls, is 
 also disobedience to our Creator, rebellion against 
 our King, aggravated ingratitude towards our 
 Benefactor, our Father, our thrice-merciful Re- 
 deemer, and perjury in the sight of Him, whose
 
 2c The Exceeding 
 
 vows are upon us. And now, dear brethren, go 
 and apply this awful truth to the gins of this day, 
 of the last week, the last year ; and then throw 
 your memory back over the accumulated trans- 
 gressions of your past lives. Do not shrink from 
 the sad, the humiliating prospect. It is well to 
 know ourselves, though the first-fruits of our 
 knowledge be, as with our iirst parents, fear and 
 shame. Gaze on your own deformity, till shame 
 begets humility, and sorrow becomes repentance. 
 Confess before God your utter worthlessness, 
 and from the dust of self-abasement beseech Him 
 to absolve you from your sins, and to raise you 
 by His power to newness of life. Beseech Him 
 earnestly, but beseech Him in faith. Let not 
 the keen sense of your unworthiness tempt you 
 to doubt His will to save you. He would have 
 all men to be saved. He, in whose sight the 
 heavens are not clean, knows far better than we 
 can do the hatefulness and deformity of sin ; yet 
 it was to saye sinners that he gave His only- 
 begotten Son, whose blood cleanseth from all 
 sin, and who is the propitiation for our sins. 
 Our transgressions are innumerable, but His 
 merits are infinite ; and "where sin hasaDounaed,
 
 Sinfulness of Sin, 21 
 
 grace did much more abound."* Look trust- 
 ingly, then, but humbly, for pardon to the cross 
 of Christ 5 and seek through Him the aid and 
 guidance of the Holy Spirit. And let your con- 
 viction of sin's exceeding sinfulness work in you, 
 not holy resolutions merely, but greater watch- 
 fulness and stricter self-control, more fervent 
 prayer, and more diligent employment of the 
 means of grace. Above all, let it teach you per- 
 petual distrust of self, and simple, confiding re- 
 liance on the grace of God. Then only are we 
 strong when we are weak ; then only safe when 
 we are fearful of ourselves ; then only advancing 
 m holiness, when we are deeply conscious of our 
 own exceeding sinfulness. 
 
 * Rom., v.. 20.
 
 SINS OF THE TEMPER. 
 
 Titus, iii., 2. 
 Gentle, showing ail meekness unto all men. 
 
 J^ KNOWLEDGE of sin, which is the first 
 element of true repentance, may be said to 
 comprise two requisites ; a knowledge of the 
 exceeding sinfulness of sin, and a knowledge of 
 what actions, thoughts, and principles are sinful. 
 On both these points conscience is apt to 
 require instruction. Many who take far too low 
 a view of the heinousness of sin, can never 
 mourn for it as deeply, nor guard against it as 
 anxiously, as it deserves. And many, observing 
 only the broad lines of morality and the more 
 obvious of God's commandments, from careless- 
 ness and habit remain ignoijant of many parts of 
 their bounden duty, and live without alarm or
 
 Sins of the Temper. 23 
 
 uneasiness in the habitual commission of what 
 they ought to know to be sins. My last dis- 
 course had reference to the former of these 
 points. I endeavoured to shov/ you that sin is 
 exceeding sinful, not only because it is the 
 destruction of our happiness in this life and the 
 next, but because it is disobedience to our 
 Creator, rebellion against our King, aggravated 
 ingratitude to our Benefactor, our Father, our 
 thrice- merciful Redeemer, and the faithless 
 breach of our solemn and repeated vows to God. 
 We may now proceed to the second point, and 
 consider some classes of sins which, dangerous 
 though they are, may be most likely to escape 
 detection. Our object will be to throv/ the 
 light of Scripture into our own breasts, to dis- 
 cover what may be lurking there which God 
 forbids and condemns, in order that by His 
 grace it may be cast out and crucified. We 
 know not, it may be, half the idol forms which 
 are portrayed within, in the soul's chambers of 
 imagery ; and we may require to be led there, as 
 was the prophet in his vision,* to learn our sin- 
 fulness, to mourn for, and forsake it. But in 
 order to receive any practical advantage from the 
 * Ezek., viii.
 
 24 Sins of 
 
 subject before us, it will be necessay to accom- 
 pany our meditations with strict and candid self- 
 examination, and with fervent prayer to Almighty 
 God for the illumination, direction, and strength 
 of the Holy Spirit. May He mercifully vouch- 
 safe us His blessing, for our Lord Jesus Christ's 
 sake ! 
 
 I do not propose to dwell on those sins which 
 are of so obvious a nature that they almost 
 preclude the possibility of ignorance. The 
 adulterer, the swearer, the drunkard, the un- 
 chaste, the fraudulent, the sabbath-breaker, and 
 the like, know well enough that they are sin- 
 ning. They have learnt it from the unwelcome 
 voice within, which they have been endeavour- 
 ing with various success to silence or escape. 
 They do not need to be told what their sin is. 
 To them we can but point, on the one hand, to 
 the mercy and forbearance of God, which has so 
 long been calling them to repentance, and to the 
 cross of Christ, where pardon may yet be sought 
 and found ; and on the other, to " the wrath of 
 God revealed from heaven against all ungodli- 
 ness and unrighteousness of men,"* to the 
 terror of His threatenings, to the uplifted hand 
 * Pvom., i., iS.
 
 the 'Temper, 25 
 
 of death, to the throne of judgment, and ^' the 
 blackness of darkness for ever," reserved for the 
 unrepentant, together with the devil and his 
 angels. We can remind them of the solemn 
 words of inspiration : " Nov/ the works of the 
 flesh are manifest, which are these : adultery, 
 fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,, 
 witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, 
 strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, 
 drunkenness, revellings, and such-like ; of the 
 which I tell you before, as I have also told you 
 in time past, that they which do such things 
 shall not inherit the kingdom of God."* Not 
 to inherit the kingdom of God is to be lost for 
 ever. 
 
 I wish rather to direct your attention to those 
 sins, which, being little thought of by the world, 
 and less obtrusive in their own character, are 
 mgre likely to escape our observation, and to be 
 poisoning our soul's life, while we are scarcely 
 conscious of their existence. Of this nature, in 
 a greater or less degree, are sins of the temper, 
 sins of pride and vanity, sins of the thoughts, 
 sins of the tongue, and sins of omission. Rarely 
 amenable to the laws of human tribunals, seldom 
 * Gal., v., 19 — 21. 
 
 D
 
 26 Sins of 
 
 judged of severely in the code of worldly 
 morality, they have not the brand of sin so 
 clearly stamped upon them as to startle us into 
 watchfulness. They are stealthy foes. They 
 master us before they alarm us,, and often 
 become habitual before we feel the chain they 
 have been winding round us. Hence we require 
 to be put on our guard against them, and to 
 learn to detect them by the touch of the 
 unerring word of God. 
 
 We have to consider at present the sins of the 
 temper ; by v/hich I mean not hatred, malice, 
 and revenge, which belong to the class of 
 obvious and self-condemning sins, but anger, 
 fretfulness, and discontent, moroseness and in- 
 civility, and a petulant and unforgiving spirit; 
 sins which, it must be admitted, are found not in 
 the irreligious only, the careless, and the worldly, 
 but also in those who have the appearance and 
 some of the reality of better principles and more 
 Christian lives. And yet are such tempers 
 undeniably opposed to the requirements and 
 spirit of the Gospel. Meekness, gentleness, 
 patience, a mild and forgiving disposition, are 
 constituent features of that charity, or Christian 
 love, without which, we are told, the most
 
 the Temper. 27 
 
 brilliant gifts, the most accurate knowledge, the 
 most unshrinking constancy, the most extensive 
 beneficence, are nothing.* And they are bound 
 upon us at once by the commands of God, the 
 example of our SaViour, and the terms of the 
 Christian covenant. Of the commands of God 
 we have one instance among many in the words 
 of the text. It was St. Paul's inspired injunc- 
 tion to Titus, whom he had left in Crete to 
 govern the church there, and to teach the con- 
 verts their duty both to God and man : " Put 
 them in mind to be subject to principalities and 
 powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to 
 every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be 
 no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness to 
 all men."t Our Lord's words are very remark- 
 able and awful. It was just after pronouncing 
 a blessing on the meek and the peacemakers 
 that He said, " Ye have heard that it was said 
 by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill : and^ 
 Whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the 
 judgment. But I say unto you, That whoso- 
 ever is angry with his brother without a cause 
 shall be in danger of the judgment : and whoso- 
 ever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in 
 
 * I Cor., xiii., i — 3. t Tit., iii., i, 2. 
 
 D 2
 
 28 Sins of 
 
 danger of the council : but whosoever shall say. 
 Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire :"* 
 words which, however they are explained, indi- 
 cate a high degree of danger and guilt in the 
 indulgence of anger, as well as of uncharitable- 
 ness and hatred. Again, the Jewish teachers, 
 making an unwarrantable inference from God's 
 threatenings by His prophet Amos, " For three 
 transgressions of Moab [or Judah, or Israel], 
 and for four, I will not turn away the punish- 
 ment thereof,"t had decided that the sum of 
 these two numbers, seven, was the limit of 
 man's duty in forgiving others ; and that after 
 this, revenge might have its will. Simon Peter 
 inquired of our Lord whether this interpretation 
 was correct. The reply is well known : " I say 
 not unto you until seven times, but until seventy 
 times seven. "J There is no limit to the duty 
 of Christian forgiveness. How, indeed, can 
 there be, when it is our Saviour's express com- 
 mand, " Love your enemies, bless them that 
 curse you, do good to them that hate you, and 
 pray for them which despitefully use you, and 
 persecute you ?"§ And in accordance with this 
 
 * Matt., v., 2 1, 22. t Amos, i., 2. 
 
 X Matt., xviii., 22. § Matt., v., 44. 
 
 I
 
 the 'Temper, ig 
 
 teaching are the inspired directions of His 
 Apostles : " Let all bitterness, and wrath, and 
 anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put 
 away from you, with all malice : and be ye kind 
 one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one 
 another, even as God for Christ's sake hath 
 forgiven you."* '' The servant of the Lord 
 must not strive, but be gentle unto all men."t 
 " Let your moderation be known unto all 
 men. "J Such passages might easily be multi- 
 plied. But enough has been said to show us, 
 that God's commands require from us an absti- 
 nence from anger, impatience, moroseness, and 
 an unforgiving spirit; and the exercise of the 
 opposite graces : in a word, a due regulation of 
 the temper. 
 
 But our Lord taught by practice as well as by 
 precept. He not only "suffered for us," but 
 left us " an example that we should follow His 
 steps." § And what an example! He was 
 " meek and lowly of heart." Gentle He was ta 
 all, kind, compassionate, and forgiving. To the 
 rich and the poor He was courteous ; to the ig- 
 norant and the learned alike. Publicans sought 
 
 * Eph., iv., 31, 32. t 2 Tim., ii., 24. 
 
 + Philip., iv., 5. § I Pet., ii., 21.
 
 JO Sins of 
 
 Him, and He ate with them ; infants were 
 brought to Him, and he blessed them. His 
 anger was only against sin ; He was ever merciful 
 to the sinner. Opposition, persecution, insults, 
 could not ruffle His calm and kindly spirit, 
 " When He was reviled. He reviled not again ; 
 when He suffered He threatened not."* He 
 pitied his enemies, and wept over them : and 
 even whilst they nailed Him to the cross, breathed 
 out for them amidst his His agony that godlike 
 prayer, " Father, forgive them, for they know 
 not what they do.^f "Let this mind be in 
 you," said the Apostle, "which was also in Christ 
 Jesus." t 
 
 Lastly, besides the commands of God and the 
 example of our Saviour, we are bound to the 
 exercise of meekness, forbearance, and forgive- 
 ness, by the very terms of the Christian covenant. 
 The Gospel is a dispensation of grace. It deals 
 with us as with helpless sinners, who, having no 
 merits of our own, must be pardoned only by the 
 sovereign grace of God through Jesus Christ. 
 He has a right then to make the condition, and 
 it is one agreeable even to our imperfect sense of 
 
 * 2 Pet., ii., 23. t Liike, xxiii., 34. 
 
 X Philip., ii., 5.
 
 the 'Temper. 31 
 
 justice, that we must forgive, if we would be 
 forgiven. This is a truth which our Lord incul- 
 cates perhaps oftener than any other. He re- 
 peats it again and again. He illustrates it by the 
 parable of the lord and his two servants, where 
 the vast disproportion of our offences against one 
 another to the exceeding guilt of our sins against 
 God, is expressed by representing the one by an 
 hundred pence, the other by the enormous sum 
 of ten thousand talents.* And He has bound it 
 upon us, and obliged us, as it were, to pass sen- 
 tence on ourselves if we neglect it, by inserting 
 in the prayer which He has taught us, " Forgive 
 us our trespasses, as we forgive them that tres- 
 pass against us." And thus, too, God is angry 
 with those who are angry with others ; He judges 
 those who judge others ; while the meek and 
 peaceable inherit a blessing, and the merciful shall 
 find mercy. We cannot, indeed, too carefully 
 bear in mind, as one of the conditions of the 
 Christian covenant : " With what measure ye 
 mete, it shall be measured unto you again. "f 
 
 Having thus placed the duty of restraining and 
 regulating the temper on the basis of Scripture, 
 
 * Matt., xviii, 23, &c. 
 t Matt., vii., 2.
 
 32 Sins of 
 
 we may proceed to consider some of the sins 
 into which it is most apt to betray us. 
 
 And, first, anger. This passion, which ap- 
 pears to have been implanted in us for the pur- 
 pose of repelling injuries from without, and, in 
 some degree, of punishing injustice in others, is 
 subject, as we all know, to violent irregularities. 
 I am not now, however, to speak of its extreme 
 degrees, which all will admit to be sin, and which 
 can hardly, one would think, be admitted by any 
 who have even the smallest share of Christian 
 principle. That anger, which is a short mad- 
 ness, should not even be named among Christians. 
 But, even in its lesser degrees, we are often 
 carried by it into sin, by indulging it both more 
 than we ought, and when we ought not. It 
 would, perhaps, be going beyond Scripture and 
 the capabilities of our nature to assert that anger 
 is never justifiable. It was no unbecoming pas- 
 sion in Moses, when " he cast the tables out of his 
 hands and brake them," and "ground to powder" 
 the idol of the Israelites ;* and it is once narrated 
 of our Lord, that " He looked round about" on 
 His hearers "with anger, being grieved for the 
 hardness of their hearts." f There may be a 
 * Exod., xxxii. f Mark, iii., 5.
 
 the 'Temper. <' 33 
 
 holy anger when God's honour or the interests 
 of His religion are attacked, and there are occa- 
 sions and provocations which must necessarily 
 rouse the anger even of the meekest, and which 
 bring, therefore, to a certain extent, their own 
 excuse. But the fault is, that we are too angry, 
 and angry too long. We do not attempt instantly 
 to check the roused passion, and to restrain its 
 force. We do not shorten its career by con- 
 sideration, by the power of an earnest prayer, 
 and by the firmness of self-control. We rather 
 encourage it by dwelling on the circumstances 
 which excited it, and, perhaps, aggravating them 
 in the remembrance. Thus the mind is poisoned. 
 We are out of charity with our neighbour, and, 
 therefore, not at peace with God. Anger has 
 betrayed us into sin. Your own consciences will 
 supply you with instances, my brethren. The 
 rule of Scripture is simple, " Be ye angry and 
 sin not ; let not the sun go down upon your 
 wrath."* Moderate anger as soon as it arises, 
 that it may not grow into sin ; and, at any rate, 
 do not lie down to rest till you have calmed and 
 cleansed your bosom. If you are angry, you 
 cannot pray : if you sleep in anger, you sleep in 
 * Eph., iv., 26.
 
 ^4 Sins of 
 
 danger ; your waking may be in another world, 
 where you will be judged, even as you have 
 judged. 
 
 But by far the largest number of sins of anger 
 arise from being angry when we ought not. How 
 easily are we provoked by slight offences, fancied 
 neglects, and the triHing inadvertencies of others ! 
 How soon is the mind thrown off its balance, 
 and the smooth surface of charity ruffled, by 
 every little thing that thv/arts our inclinations, or 
 even goes contrary to our expectations ! And, 
 what is most to be considered, we are apt to 
 regard these ebullitions of temper, not as sins, 
 but as trifling foibles scarce worth the remember- 
 ing. My dear brethren, these foibles, as we 
 think them, unhinge the frame of our religion, 
 grieve the Holy Spirit, and, as they are carefully 
 observed by others, dishonour our profession and 
 God. Repeated and indulged, they add to the 
 strength of passion, and nourish anger into a 
 powerful habit. They weaken our self-control, 
 and thus lay us open to the attacks of other, and, 
 perhaps, deadlier sins. They form links, small, 
 perhaps, singly, but strong when knit together, 
 of that chain of little sins with which Satan de- 
 lights to bind unsuspecting souls. They need
 
 the Temper, 35 
 
 to be watched against, striven against, prayed 
 against, and confessed before God in penitence 
 and supplications for forgiveness. 
 
 Other effects of ill-regulated temper are sins 
 of impatience and fretfulness : and these as ex- 
 hibited either against God or against man. In 
 the former case it may, perhaps, be considered 
 the greater sin ; for even human reason admits 
 the propriety of a created being submitting with- 
 out murmuring to the will of his Creator ; and 
 the Gospel places patience and cheerful resigna- 
 tion among the very first requisites of the Chris- 
 tian character. Yet even here let us ask our- 
 selves, whether we have never repined at the lot 
 assigned us, murmured at the dispensations of 
 God's providence, or, at the best, submitted with 
 a sullen, ungracious acquiescence to what we 
 found we had not the power to escape ? How 
 unlike is this to what should be the conduct of 
 those who believe that their merciful God will 
 make everything v/ork together for good to them 
 who love Him, and who feel, that by a double 
 title, by creation and by the purchase of Christ's 
 blood, they are altogether, soul and body. His ! 
 
 But men are generally somewhat more on 
 their guard against fretfulness and impatience
 
 ^6 Sins of 
 
 towards God, than against giving way to those 
 feelings towards their fellow-creatures. Of this, 
 indeed, they think little, and scarcely consider it 
 a sin. They suffer themselves to be vexed and 
 ruffled by trifling occurrences and trivial mis- 
 takes. They feel peevish and discontented, and 
 indulge the feeling, instead of resolutely shaking 
 it oft'. In this mood they perversely oppose the 
 wishes and hurt the feelings of others, for the 
 most trifling causes, or for no cause at all. They 
 are vexed and unhappy themselves, and do their 
 utmost to make those about them so too. My 
 brethren, this is not to be " gentle, showing all 
 meekness to all men." This is not '' charity," 
 which " suffereth long and is kind." This is 
 not to walk in the steps of our meek and merci- 
 ful Redeemer, or even to " do unto others as we 
 would they should do unto us." Believe it, 
 these little trials of temper (unimportant as many 
 think them) are part of our daily probation. 
 Their eft'ects may last throughout eternity. In 
 overcoming them by watchfulness and the grace 
 of God lies our duty, our safety, and our happi- 
 ness. To yield to them is to strengthen the power 
 of sin, to recede further from the example of
 
 the Tempe7\ 37 
 
 Him, to be like whom will be heaven, and to 
 increase our guilt and condemnation. 
 
 And here we may observe, that harshness, 
 moroseness, and incivility, are inconsistent with 
 our duty and profession, even when they pro- 
 ceed not from ill-will, but from habit. Such 
 ought never to be the habit of a Christian. 
 Courtesy is the outward expression of charity ^ 
 and though courtesy may exist where charity is 
 not, yet charity should ever show itself in kind- 
 ness, meekness, and gentleness, to all men. We 
 are to " let our light so shine before men that 
 they may see our good works and glorify our 
 Father which is m heaven : " *' but who will 
 believe that the tree is planted in love, when 
 harshness, moroseness, and incivility, are the 
 visible and forbidden fruits ? 
 
 Forgiveness of injuries we have already seen 
 to be so necessary a Christian duty, that it is 
 even made a condition, without which v/e may 
 not hope that our sins will be forgiven. Indeed, 
 Scripture is so explicit on this point, that all 
 who have any real sense of religion must forgive, 
 or conscience will destroy their peace. But it 
 is to be feared, that in practice we often put a 
 * Matt., v., 16.
 
 2 8 Sins of 
 
 fallacy on ourselves, and require to be reminded 
 that the warning runs thus : " So likewise shall 
 my heavenly Father do also unto you, ifyefro?n 
 your hearts forgive not every one his brother 
 their trespasses." * Obliged to confess the 
 necessity of forgiveness, we pass in our minds 
 a kind of sentence of absolution on our offend- 
 ing brother ; we profess to others to have for- 
 given him ; we, perhaps, ewen go so far as to 
 pray for him. But how do we behave to him ? 
 Do we really reinstate him in the place he held, 
 and treat him as before the offence was given ? 
 Or do we, either because enmity is still really 
 lurking in our bosoms, or (what is nearly as 
 bad) because we are ashamed to make advances 
 of reconciliation, remain as estranged from him 
 as ever ? My brethren, this is to trifle with 
 God's commands, and to still our consciences 
 with a practical falsehood. As we must love, 
 so must we forgive, '' not in word, neither in 
 tongue, but in deed and in truth." -f* We should 
 be as ready (perhaps even more ready) to serve 
 those we profess to have forgiven, as those with 
 whom we have never been offended. We should 
 carefully mortify all disposition to be pleased at 
 * Matt., xviii., 35. f ^ John, iii., 18
 
 the Temper. 39 
 
 their misfortunes, or uneasy at their success. 
 We should dwell on all the good points of their 
 character till we learn to love them, instead of 
 clinging to the remembrance of what they have 
 done amiss. And w^e should seek to the utmost 
 of our power an open and cordial reconciliation, 
 that the broken bands of charity may again be 
 knit together in the sight of God and man, and 
 that we may in reality dwell together in unity. 
 Should we succeed, we have gained our brother. 
 Should he reject our advances, we have at least 
 dehvered our own soul. 
 
 One or two brief remarks in conclusion. Of 
 all v/hom I am addressing, it is no breach of 
 charity to say, that there is not one who has 
 not been guilty, in a greater degree or less, of 
 some of the sins of temper we have been con- 
 sidering: though many, perhaps, are accustomed 
 to think very lightly of them. But consider, 
 dear brethren, whether that can be of little im- 
 portance which is contrary to God's command- 
 ments, opposed to the example of our Divine 
 Redeemer, and inconsistent with the terms of 
 the Christian covenant. No : it is sin. And 
 sin, all sin, is the destruction of our souls, dis- 
 obedience to our Creator, rebellion against our 
 
 E 2
 
 40 Sins of 
 
 King, ingratitude to our Benefactor, Father, 
 Redeemer, and the breach of our solemn bap- 
 tismal vow. Search out then these dangerous 
 foes, and drag them into light. Examine your 
 tempers, and prove them by the word of God 
 and the example of Jesus Christ. Anger and 
 passion, fretfulness and impatience, harshness 
 and moroseness, an unforgiving spirit, either 
 avowed or lurking behind an apparent but unreal 
 forgiveness, — see whether these in any of their 
 forms are inmates of your hearts; confess them, 
 when discovered, to God ; and humble your- 
 selves before Flim in the sorrov/ of true jepent- 
 ance. 
 
 And secondly, set yourselves in earnest to 
 reform and regulate your tempers. It is a work 
 of necessity, v/e have seen : it is a work of 
 difficulty also : and must be begun, continued, 
 and ended v/ith fervent prayer for the assistance 
 of God's Holy Spirit. He alone in this, as in. 
 all other things, can give us the victory over 
 ourselves. But with this we must also use our 
 utmost endeavours. 
 
 And, first, we shall need much watchfulness* 
 Our tempers are parts of ourselves. They are 
 ever with us. We carry them about with us.
 
 the "Temper, ' 41 
 
 and everything we do may minister occasion to 
 them for sin. Our business and our pleasure, 
 company or solitude, alike have their dangers 
 and temptations. We must be sober and vigi- 
 lant, watching the first ebullitions of temper, 
 and checking them at once by prayer and reso- 
 lute self-control. We may be often surprised 
 at first, and foiled, but we should but redouble 
 our endeavours ; and the task, by God's grace 
 and strength, will gradually become more easy, 
 and our victory over ourselves more complete. 
 
 Again, 'let us often meditate on the character 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a special reference 
 to His meekness, gentleness, patience, and readi- 
 ness to forgive. He is the model on which we 
 are to form ourselves, the copy after which we 
 are to draw ; and on Him our admiring and 
 adoring gaze should often be fixed. We shall 
 be better enabled to " lay aside every weight, 
 and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and to 
 run with patience the race that is set before us," 
 if we " look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher 
 of our faith." * 
 
 And lastly, let us encourage and animate our- 
 selves by the reflection, that, while subduing our 
 * Heb., xii., i, 2. 
 
 E X
 
 42 Sins of the T^emper, 
 
 tempers by the grace of God, we are being pre- 
 pared for the enjoyment of that blessed state, 
 which He reserves hereafter for those who love 
 Him. We are now in our probation : we are 
 now in our education for eternity. Habits of 
 meekness, of gentleness, of charity, deep, pure, 
 and enduring, must be begun here, that they 
 may be completed in heaven. Every tem.per 
 which God checks in us, every passion which 
 He subdues, in another pledge of His purposes 
 of mercy towards us ; a fresh ground of hope 
 that " He which hath begun a good work in us, 
 will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: "*' 
 a nearer approach to that throne of light and 
 purity, which is the fountain of all grace and 
 bliss, and in the presence of which is fulness of 
 of joy. 
 
 * Philip., i., 6.
 
 SINS OF PRIDE AND VANITY. 
 
 Philippians, ii., 3, 
 Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory;. 
 but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better 
 than themselves. 
 
 IT is a very frequent complaint among those 
 to vi^hom religion has begun to be a matter 
 of serious concern, that they do not love God 
 nearly so much as in their reason and con- 
 sciences they are persuaded that they ought. 
 They admit their duty to Him ; they are sensi- 
 ble of their obligations to Him ; but their heart 
 continues cold, dead, and worldly. And doubt- 
 less something of this dissatisfied feeling vi^ill 
 ever be found in the breasts of the sincere, as 
 long as we continue in this imperfect state of 
 being ; in which not only " do we see through 
 a glass darkly,"* but " the flesh lusteth against 
 the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ^ and 
 • I Cor., xiii., 12.
 
 44 ^^^^ of 
 
 these are contrary the one to the other : so that 
 we cannot do the things that we would."* At 
 the same time, it must be confessed, that we do 
 not generally improve the opportunities which 
 God puts into our hands for our own spiritual 
 advantage, nor employ with sufficient earnest- 
 ness the means of grace. The love of God, for 
 instance, would be much deepened and strength- 
 ened by a more accurate knowledge of the sin- 
 fulness of sin and of our own sinfulness, than 
 we, for the most part, take the pains to acquire. 
 It was while our Lord Jesus Christ sat at meat 
 in the house of Simon the Pharisee, that a 
 woman ''which was a sinner, brought an ala- 
 baster box of ointment, and stood at His feet 
 behind Him weeping, and began to wash His 
 feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs 
 of her head, and kissed His feet, and anointed 
 them with ointment.^f In reply to the mur- 
 murs of the Pharisee our Saviour spoke this 
 parable : " There was a certain creditor which 
 had two debtors, the one owed five hundred 
 pence, and the other fifty. And when they had 
 nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. 
 Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him 
 * Gal., v., 17. t Luke, vii.
 
 Pride and Vanity. 45 
 
 most ? Simon answered and said, I suppose 
 that he, to whom he forgave most. And He 
 said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged."* 
 Now we have all sinned deeply and repeatedly 
 against God ; and these sins He promises on our 
 repentance to forgive for Jesus Christ's sake^ 
 But some have a greater acquaintance with their 
 own sinfulness than others ; and none know it 
 so well as they ought. It is evident, however,, 
 that those will love God most, who best know 
 the greatness of the guilt which He has forgiven. 
 They best will appreciate His goodness, who are 
 most deeply penetrated with a conviction of their 
 own unworthiness. Hence, it will be well for 
 those, who are grieved with the consciousness 
 that they do not love God as they ought, to aim 
 at a livelier sense of the exceeding sinfulness of 
 sin, and of their own sinfulness \ that by com- 
 paring the infinitude of His mercy with the 
 number and aggravated character of their own 
 offences, they " may be able " the better " to 
 comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, 
 and length, and depth, and height, and to know 
 the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,"t 
 and thus to love Him, who first loved us. 
 * Luke, vii. f Eph., iii., 18, 19.
 
 46 Sins of 
 
 To aid any such attempt as this, and to assist 
 the self-examination and penitence, which should 
 be the employments of the present season, I en- 
 deavoured in my first discourse to show from 
 Scripture the exceeding sinfulness of sin ; and 
 in my last, began the consideration of some 
 classes of sins, which, though condemned by the 
 word of God, are lightly treated in the opinion 
 of man, and are likely more or less to escape the 
 observation even of those who are not altogether 
 careless about their souls. We examined then 
 the sins of the temper — anger, fretfulness, and 
 impatience, harshness and moroseness, and an 
 unforgiving spirit : and we found that, however 
 men may disregard them, they are contrary to 
 God's commandments, opposed to the example 
 of our Divine Redeemer, and inconsistent with 
 the very terms of the Christian Covenant. 
 
 Let us now throw a brief glance over another 
 class of sins, not less dangerous and still more 
 numerous and subtle, sins of pride and vanity. 
 These may indeed be termed the besetting sins 
 of human nature ; and are the natural offspring 
 of that selfishness, which is the grand disease of 
 our corrupt moral frame. Even before the fall, 
 indeed, these passions appear to have exerted a
 
 Pride and Vanity, 47 
 
 baleful influence. We can trace their power in 
 the readiness with v/hich Eve listened to the 
 suggestions of the tempter, when he oiFered her 
 the lure of wisdom beyond what the Creator had 
 given, and falsely asserted, that '' God doth 
 know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your 
 eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, 
 knowing good and evil."* And undoubtedly 
 their influence is widely extended over all her 
 children. Where is he who is proof against the 
 fascinations of flattery, or the spell of praise ? 
 Who is not tempted by overweening thoughts 
 of his own good qualities, and delighted to com- 
 pare himself complacently with others ? Who 
 does not writhe under the smart, when degraded 
 in the estimation of others, even when the de- 
 gradation arises from events over which he could 
 have no control ? And as pride and vanity are 
 universal passions, so they display themselves in 
 a thousand different ways. In no case, under 
 no conceivable circumstances, can they want 
 matter on which to feed. If one is proud of his 
 virtue, another will be proud of his vice. When 
 there is no positive excellence to be found or 
 imagined, the absence of some evil will serve as 
 * Gen., iii., 5.
 
 48 Sins of 
 
 a step for vanity to rise on. Birth, station, 
 talent, beauty, wealth, and every grade and kind 
 •of earthly good, by turns vv^ill minister to this 
 all-present passion. Nay, even spiritual privi- 
 leges may thus be turned by the carnal mind 
 into poison ; men may be puffed up by the re- 
 ligion of the meek and lowly Jesus ; and after 
 mortifying vanity in a thousand shapes, may be 
 conquered at last by the conquered foe, and 
 become proud even of their humility. Nor is 
 this class of sins judged severely by mankind 
 in general. When pride indeed swells into 
 haughtiness, and hurts the self-love of others, 
 it is detested, not for itself, but for its effects. 
 Preposterous vanity is ridiculed and despised. 
 But many branches of the same corrupt tree 
 are valued and cherished in the conventional 
 morality of the world ; and in its law of honour, 
 pride is at least no vice. 
 
 But God judges not as man judges. Let us 
 turn to His word, and weigh these habits in the 
 balance of the sanctuary. They are no light 
 thing there. Again and again they are forbidden 
 and condemned. God's commands condemn 
 them. Our Lord's example condemns them*
 
 Pride and Vanity. 49 
 
 They are pointed out as marks of the unre- 
 newed and carnal heart. ♦ 
 
 To prove God's estimate of such sins, a few 
 passages only out of very many need be adduced. 
 " Every one that is proud in heart/' we read, 
 " is an abomination to the Lord ; though hand 
 join in hand, he shall not be unpunished."* 
 '^ An high look, and a proud heart, and the 
 plowing of the wicked, is sin."t " Pride and 
 arrogancy," says Solomon, speaking in the 
 person of heavenly Wisdom, " and the evil way 
 and the froward mouth, do I hate. "J "Thus 
 saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth 
 eternity, whose name is Holy : I dwell in the 
 high and Holy place, with him also that is of a 
 contrite and humble spirit : to revive the spirit 
 of the humble, and to revive the heart of the 
 contrite ones."§ And if such was the voice of 
 God under the Law, we may well expect to find 
 it speaking in the same tones in the Gospel. 
 Accordingly two Apostles repeat the warning. 
 " God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to 
 the humble ;" and St. Peter joins the exhort- 
 ation, "Yea, all of you be subject one to* 
 
 * Prov., xvi., 5. f Prov., xxi., 4. 
 
 % Prov,, viii., 13. § Isaiah, Ivii., 15. 
 
 F
 
 CO Sifis of 
 
 another, and be clothed with humility."* "Let 
 us not be desirous of •vain-glory,"t St. Paul 
 wrote to the Galatians ; and to the Colossians, 
 " Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy 
 and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, hum- 
 bleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. "J 
 Our blessed Lord required of all who would be 
 His disciples, that they should become as little 
 children ; the mysteries of His kingdom were 
 hidden from the wise and prudent in their own 
 conceit, " and revealed unto babes,"§ the 
 humble and teachable : and His apostle Paul 
 thought it necessary to testify to the elders of 
 Miletus and Ephesus, that he " had served the 
 Lord with all humility of mind."|| Humility 
 indeed is the only Christian greatness, and the 
 foundation of all holiness. When the wife of 
 Zebedee with her two sons had preferred the 
 bold request that they " might sit, the one on 
 His right hand and the other on His left, in His 
 kingdom," our Lord "called" His apostles 
 " unto Him and said. Ye know that the princes 
 of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, 
 >and they that are great exercise authority upon 
 
 * Jam., iv,, 6 ; i Pet., v., 5. f Gal., v., 26. 
 
 X Col., iii., 12. § Matt., xi., 25. || Acts., xx., 19.
 
 Pride and Vanity, 51 
 
 them. But it shall not be so among you : but 
 whosoever will be great among you, let him be 
 your minister," or attendant ; " and whosoever 
 will be chief among you, let him be your ser- 
 vant : even as the Son of man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His 
 life a ransom for many."* And He more than 
 once repeated the saying, " Whosoever exalteth 
 himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth 
 himself shall be exalted. "f 
 
 The reason given by our Lord in the passage 
 just quoted leads us to observe further, that sins 
 of pride and vanity are opposed as directly as 
 possible to His example, which is our rule. As 
 man, He was emphatically meek and lowly of 
 heart ; and therefore bids us " learn of Him." 
 He lived for thirty years in poverty and obscu- 
 rity. During His ministry He was content to 
 be despised, and rejected. He sought no ho- 
 nours, and aimed not at applause. Those 
 whom He healed. He charged that they should 
 not make Him known, :{; and Fie fulfilled Isaiah's 
 prediction, "He shall not strive nor cry \ neither 
 
 * Matt., XX., 20 — 28. 
 
 t Matt., xiii., 12 ; Luke, xiv., 2 ; viii., 14. 
 
 \ Matt., xii., 1 6. 
 
 F 2
 
 52 Sins of 
 
 shall any man hear His voice in the streets."* 
 He washed His apostles' feet,t and though 
 " their Lord and Master," yet " was among 
 them as he that serveth.":|: And even at the 
 time of His greatest earthly triumph, when all 
 the city was moved to meet Him, as the Mes- 
 siah, the prophecy of Zechariah was strictly 
 accomplished in Him : " Tell ye the daughter of 
 Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, 
 meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the 
 foal of an ass.''§ But it was not merely as man 
 that our Lord taught us humility : that He 
 should vouchsafe to he made man is the most 
 wonderful lesson. The Word made flesh to 
 dwell among us, — God manifest in the flesh ^ — 
 this great truth should itself be suflicient to still 
 every vain thought, and cast down every proud 
 imagination. This is indeed the argument 
 which St. Paul employs in the text : " Let no- 
 thing be done through strife or vain-glory ; but 
 in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better 
 than themselves. Look not every man on his 
 own things, but every man also on the things of* 
 others. Let this mind be in you, which was 
 
 * Matt., xii., 20; Isaiah, xliii., 2. j Jolin, xiii., 5. 
 \ Luke, xxii., 27. § Matt., xxi., 5 ; Zech., ix., 9
 
 Pride and Vanity. 53 
 
 also in Christ Jesus : who being in the form of 
 God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
 God ; but made Himself of no reputation, and 
 took upon Him the form of a servant, and was 
 made in the likeness of men : and being found in 
 fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and 
 became obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the cross."* What should the servants be of 
 such a Lord ? Pride, vanity, self-conceit, — 
 can this be the livery of those who follow Him, 
 who for our sakes emptied Himself of the glories 
 of His Divinity, and, though Lord of all, 
 became as one of us ? Do we not rather, 
 while such inmates dwell unmortified in our 
 breasts, confess by our unlikeness to Him that 
 we are none of His ? 
 
 For, lastly, if such be the commands of 
 God, and such be the example of our Re- 
 deemer, we must be prepared to find that humi- 
 lity is a necessary feature of true Christianity; 
 and that sins of pride and vanity are pointed out 
 as marks of the unrenewed and carnal heart. 
 When our Saviour was asked, " Who is the 
 greatest in the kingdom of heaven ? He called a 
 little child unto Him, and set him in the midst 
 of them, and said, Verily I say unto you. Except 
 * Philip., ii., 3 — 8. f 3
 
 54 Si^^^ of 
 
 ye be converted, and become as little children, 
 ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as 
 this little child, the same is greatest in the king- 
 dom of heaven."* True humility, then, is a 
 necessary part, nay the very threshold and 
 entrance, of real Christianity. Thus St. John, 
 knowing that the love of God is the very sub- 
 stance of religion, which, v/ithout it, is an unreal 
 shadow ; and warning us " not to love the 
 world, neither the things that are in the world, 
 for if any man love the world the love of the 
 Father is not in himx ;" goes on to enumerate, as 
 constituting that world, whose love is ruin, not 
 only " the lust of the flesh and the lust of the 
 eyes," but also " the pride of life."t Our 
 Saviour classes " pride " among the " evil 
 things," which " come from within, out of the 
 heart, and defile a man:":j: and St. Paul ranks 
 the " proud " among those who having " a form 
 of godliness, deny the power thereof."§ We 
 must therefore admit it as serious and important 
 truth, that sins of pride and vanity, condemned 
 as they are by God's commandments and our 
 
 * i\Tatt., xviii., i — 4. f ^ John, ii., 15, 16. 
 
 J Mark, vii., 22, 23. § 2 Tim., iii., 2, 5.
 
 Pride and Vanity, 55 
 
 Lord's example, are inconsistent with true 
 Christianity, and a heart really set to love and 
 obey our Redeemer. 
 
 Bearing in mind, then, this solemn consi- 
 deration, let us briefly cast our eyes over the 
 many kinds of vanity, conceit, and pride, vv^hich 
 prevail among us. There is, for instance, the 
 pride of birth, vv^hich makes many look with a 
 kind of contempt on those whose family is not 
 so noble, or so respectable as their own. Now 
 religion is far from diminishing the respect with 
 which we should look up to those whom God's 
 providence has made superior to us in rank j 
 nor would it entirely eradicate the feeling, which 
 makes men anxious not to degenerate from the 
 virtues of their ancestors : but a Christian ought 
 to know, that he is but an unworthy member of 
 one large family ; that in the eye of God, worth, 
 not birth, has the precedence 5 that many who 
 are first in the blazonry of the world's dis- 
 tinctions will be last with Him ; and that rank 
 is nothing in His sight, who from these stones 
 could raise up children unto Abraham. And 
 they should feel that, while to despise even the 
 humblest of Christ's disciples is an insult to 
 their Redeemer, the only rank worth caring for
 
 56 Sins of 
 
 is to be of the family of God, — His child and an 
 inheritor of His kindgdom. "Mind not high 
 things," said the Apostle, "but condescend to 
 men of low estate." * 
 
 There is also the pride of money, — a sin 
 widely prevalent in our day, when society is 
 divided into sections, as it were, according to 
 men's possessions ; and each grade is too apt to 
 think meanly of those below it. Is it not the 
 case, that, though we may compassionate and 
 relieve the wants of those poorer than ourselves, 
 we find a difficulty, — if indeed we are ever 
 sufficiently humble to make the trial, — in putting 
 ourselves on an exact level with them as to our 
 spiritual privileges ; in considering ourselves 
 fellow-sinners, partakers of the same grace, 
 fellow-heirs of the same promises ? I speak not 
 merely of the wealthy, but of all of us, as far as 
 there are any who are below us in the scale of 
 society. Can we realise in our own sentiments 
 the description which St. Paul gives of the 
 the Church, into which we are baptized, the 
 body of Christ, which " is one and hath many 
 members, and all the members of that one body, 
 being many, are one body ; " and which " God 
 * Rom., xii., 16.
 
 Pride and Vanity, 57 
 
 hath so tempered together, having given more 
 abundant honour to that part that lacked ; that 
 there should be no schism in the body ; but that 
 the members should have the same care one for 
 another : and vi^hether one member suffer, all the 
 members suffer with it ; or one member be 
 honoured, all the members rejoice with it?"^^ 
 Can we read without a pang of conscience the 
 inspired reproof of St. James, " My brethren, 
 have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For 
 if there come unto your assembly a man with a 
 gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in 
 also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have 
 respect unto him that weareth the gay clothing, 
 and say unto him. Sit thou here in a good place ; 
 and say to the poor. Stand thou there, or. Sit here 
 under my footstool : are ye not then partial in 
 yourselves, and become judges of evil thoughts ? 
 Hearken, my beloved brethren," adds the Apostle 
 earnestly, " hath not God chosen the poor of 
 this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingcTom 
 which He hath promised to them that love 
 Himr"t And that feeling must be a sin, 
 
 * I Cor., xii., 12, 24 — 26. 
 t Jam., ii., 1—5.
 
 58 Sins of 
 
 v/hlch slackens at least, if not rends, the links of 
 Christian love and union with those who are 
 children of the same God, and must be equal at 
 least with us hereafter ; merely because v/e have 
 allotted us a larger share of those earthly goods, 
 which in no way increase our merit, nor approve 
 us to God, but only involve us in a heavier and 
 more perilous responsibility. 
 
 The pride of talent, of wisdom; of education, 
 is another of the sins to which human nature 
 and the temper of our times render us peculiarly 
 liable. We live in days when intellectual ability 
 is more prized than moral worth, and when 
 knowledge of every description (excepting the 
 knowledge of God's truth) is rated usually far 
 above its real value. The consequence is, that 
 men are readily pufFed up with any real or ima- 
 gined mental talent, or any acquirement they 
 may have made : and thus intellectual pride has 
 become one of the prevailing sins of society, 
 from the ponderous knowledge of the deeply- 
 learned and the practised sagacity of the man of 
 science, to him who, having just mastered the 
 rudiments of elementary education, thinks him- 
 self entitled to look down with contempt on 
 those less informed than himself. We need not
 
 Pride and Vanity, 59 
 
 depreciate the worth of sound and useful learning. 
 We may admit to the full the importance of edu- 
 cation. We may admire the talents which God 
 bestows, as He wills, on those whom He is 
 pleased to employ to work out his various pur- 
 poses. We may, we ought to do this. But we 
 must bear in mind, that we have nothing which 
 we have not received ; that God alone made us 
 to differ from others ; that in His sight mere 
 human knowledge is of little worth ; and that 
 one Christian grace would sink the scale, weighed 
 in the balance of the sanctuary, against the con- 
 centrated wisdom of collected ages. Knowledge 
 is an evil when it begets pride, which is a sin ; 
 and there is a humiliating truth recorded for our 
 instruction in the word of God : " Seest thou a 
 man wise in his own conceit ? there is more 
 hope of a fool than of him." * 
 
 The vanity of personal appearance and dress 
 would seem perhaps a subject more fit for the 
 pen of the satirist, than for the solemnity of the 
 pulpit ; were it not that, tried by Scripture, it 
 must be pronounced, not a foible merely, but a 
 sin. And how unworthy of Christian men and 
 women, called to be children of God and heirs 
 * Prov., xxvi., 12.
 
 Go Si /IS of 
 
 of immortality, to be betrayed into a spirit the 
 very opposite to the Gospel and the example of 
 their Redeemer, by a triHing regard for this clay 
 frame which must soon be laid aside, or for its 
 trappings and ornaments, more worthless and 
 perishable still ! And yet does this sin spread 
 through all ranks of society, bringing with it not 
 seldom habits of extravagance and acts of dis- 
 honesty, and always a spirit of worldliness, sel- 
 fishness, and alienation from God. 
 
 But it would be impossible to trace this Proteus 
 passion through its innumerable forms, — habits 
 of deprecating and ridiculing others to gratify 
 ourselves secretly by the contrast j self-com- 
 placent thoughts and imaginations : the day- 
 dreams of youth and ambition ; the almost uni- 
 versal dread of neglect and censure, however 
 undeserved ; the general effort for display ; the 
 traps laid, as it were, for praise, and concealed 
 often under the lure of an affected humility ; 
 the whispering voice within commending all we 
 do, and elating us even in silence and solitude 
 with an exhilarating sense of our own merit ; — 
 all this, and much more, must be left, my 
 brethren, to your own experience, as you search, 
 each in the mazes of his own heart, the disguises 
 
 i
 
 Pride and Vanity, 6i 
 
 which pride and vanity there assume. But I 
 must say a ^qw v/ords of one kind, which if not 
 the most common, Is perhaps the most melan- 
 choly of any ; as the abuse of the best things is 
 usually proportlonably the worst. Spiritual pride 
 is a snare by which Satan too often succeeds In 
 retaining those who would seem to have escaped 
 his power. Made sensible of their sins, and 
 seriously anxious to serve God and save their 
 souls, men become vain of their seriousness and 
 supposed sincerity. They pray, and are vain of 
 their prayers ; are charitable, and are vain of 
 their charity. Their devotions, their acts of 
 self-control, their separation from the world, 
 their Internal struggles with sin, their very hu- 
 mility Itself, may all become grounds on which 
 to build a pleasing, but sinful, claim of merit. 
 In some this pride remains a secret canker, 
 preying on the core of their religion. In others 
 it swells to a pharisaical affectation of superiority 
 over others, adopting the feeling, if not the 
 words, of God's rebellious people of old, '^ which 
 said. Stand by thyself, come not near to me ; for 
 I am holier than thou." * And by all it requires 
 to be guarded against by frequent self-reflection, 
 * Isaiah, Ixv., 5. 
 
 G
 
 52 Sins c 
 
 r 
 
 repeated humiliation, and earnest prayer to Him 
 who alone can rule and cleanse the heart. 
 
 Such then is a very imperfect sketch of the 
 sins of pride and vanity, which are so contrary 
 to God's commandments, so opposite to the 
 example of our Redeemer, so contradictory to 
 the spirit and character of the Gospel, that we 
 cannot wonder to see them placed prominently 
 forward among the marks of the unrenewed and 
 carnal heart. Let it be our care, my brethren, 
 to search them out in our own breasts, and to 
 confess them in sorrowful repentance to God ; 
 remembering the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and 
 the condemration which it justly deserves; but 
 remembering too the infinite mercy of God in 
 Jesus Christ, and praying, hoping, trusting, for 
 pardon for His sake. And at the same time let 
 us form steadfast resolutions, and from hence- 
 forth employ all our efforts, to check the passions 
 of pride, vanity, and conceit, and to form habits 
 of sincere humility. 
 
 This is no easy task, dear brethren. They 
 are sins tenacious of life, and assuming forms 
 innumerable. Like certain diseases, if healed in 
 one place they are apt to break out in another. 
 It would be impossible to subdue them, but that
 
 Pride and Vanity, 63 
 
 with God all things are possible. To Him then 
 let us first and continually apply for aid, and 
 beseech Him daily to beat down in us the power 
 of pride, and to clothe us with humility \ to im- 
 plant " that mind in us which was also in Christ 
 Jesus ;" and to teach us so to " learn of Him," 
 who is " meek and lowly of heart," that we may 
 " find rest unto our souls." 
 
 Secondly, we should accustom ourselves to 
 meditate on our own sinfulness and vileness. 
 Much of the influence of vanity and pride may be 
 attributed to neglect of self-consideration. We 
 look on the faults of others, and on our own 
 good deeds, and thus become uncharitable at 
 once and proud. We should, on the con- 
 trary, judge others in a spirit of love, conceal 
 all things, believe all things, hope all things. In 
 ourselves we should probe the evil to the bottom, 
 endeavour to gain a true knowledge of ourselves, 
 and of our real weakness, worthlessness, and 
 guilt. Oh, if we could see our hearts as they 
 :iust appear to God, surely vanity would be im- 
 ^^ossible, and our only attitude, humiliation and 
 shame ! 
 
 We should meditate also on our distance from 
 God, till we learn to know our own littleness. 
 
 G 2
 
 64 ^^'///j of 
 
 He in heaven, we on earth ; He infinite, we 
 minutest atoms in a universe itself minute to 
 Him ; He eternal, we the creatures of a day ; 
 He almighty, we weak and helpless ; He inex- 
 pressibly and inconceivably holy, we sinful by 
 birth, by will, by practice. Thus may our swell- 
 ing thoughts be taught to shrink within the limits 
 of our own insignificance, and our vanity be 
 checked by the question of the son of Sirach, 
 ''Why is earth and ashes proud ?"* 
 
 But, above all, we should meditate much and 
 often on the humility of our Divine Redeemer. 
 God made man for us ; the Lord of glory, born 
 in a stable and cradled in a manger ; the Creator 
 of the world, mocked, scourged, crucified by His 
 creatures : — surely pride should be impossible to 
 those who contemplate such truths as these. 
 And as man His whole life is a lesson of true 
 humility to be studied by us, admired and imi- 
 tated ; that in this, as in all the other lovely fea- 
 tures of His character, "with open face behold- 
 ing as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we may 
 be changed into the same image from glory to 
 glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."t 
 
 And lastly, we must be strictly watchful over 
 * Ecclus., X., 9 f 2 Cor., iv., i8.
 
 Pride and Vanity. 65 
 
 ourselves to detect the secret foe, and to check 
 the rising thought of vanity at once. We must 
 shun, as much as may be consistently w^ith duty, 
 the scenes and employments which experience 
 teaches us are most apt to foster pride. The 
 v/orld has many such, v^^hich it calls innocent. 
 We must take disappointments and reverses, 
 shame, ridicule, and contempt, as sent by God 
 to aid us in our struggle with ourself, and must 
 patiently and thankfully turn them to good ac- 
 count. Nay, — v/e must mortify ourselves ; deny- 
 ingourselves honour, respect, and praise, and satis- 
 fied to lose the approbation of men, if He regard 
 us who seeth in secret. We shall not labour 
 for nought. The reward is well worth the con- 
 test. True humility is real glory ; the mother 
 of peace and the sister of happiness. It is the 
 Christian's badge, the image of Christ, the cho- 
 sen habitation of the Holy One who inhabiteth 
 eternity. It is the robe of heaven's inhabitants, 
 the symbol of their dignity; and if there be a 
 cherub nearer than others to the throne of glory, 
 it is humility which has exalted him. 
 
 G3
 
 SINS OF THE THOUGHTS. 
 
 ECCLESIASTES, xii., 1 4. 
 
 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with 
 every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be 
 evil. 
 
 r^F the many practical errors which tend to 
 deaden our sense of the exceeding sinful- 
 ness of sin, and thus to indispose us to real re- 
 pentance, not the least dangerous is that which 
 estimates the guilt of an oftence almost entirely 
 by the outward act, negletting or underrating 
 the internal processes from which it proceeds. 
 In this v/ay, indeed, we are to a certain extent 
 obliged to form our judgment of the merits and 
 demerits of others. Their actions alone are 
 obvious to us ; the moral machinery, so to 
 speak, works concealed from our view. We 
 can measure the health and viwur of the tree
 
 Sins of the Thoughts, 67 
 
 only by the character of its produce ; and are 
 therefore furnished by Divine wisdom itself with 
 the practical rule, " By their fruits ye shall know 
 them."* But men are apt to apply this prin- 
 ciple from others to themselves ; and, provided 
 their external conduct is correct, to examine or 
 care little what is going on within. Thus their 
 life becomes a system of mere outward decen- 
 cies, without any of the principles of true re- 
 ligion, or even of ordinary morality; and sin 
 may have undisputed possession of their hearts, 
 while in their conduct the world may find no- 
 thing to blame. How possible this combination 
 is, we may learn from the Scribes and Pharisees 
 of old, who were conscientiously scrupulous of 
 outward acts, " paid tithe of mint, and anise, 
 and cummin," and thanked God they were not 
 as other men are, but '' omitted the weightier 
 matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith," 
 and who were, therefore, in our Lord's expres- 
 sive language, " like unto whited sepulchres, 
 which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are 
 within full of dead men's bones, and of all un- 
 cleanness."t And how many, must we fear, 
 in our own day, and amidst the light of Christianity, 
 * Matt., vii., 20. t Matt., xxv., 23, 27.
 
 68 Sins of 
 
 pass- through the world with a fair reputation 
 and the name of virtue, in whose hearts reign 
 evil thoughts, sinful principles, and selfishness 
 unrestrained. And yet even heathen morality- 
 could teach the truth, that virtue and vice derive 
 their character riot so much from the outward 
 act, as from the motive and intention ; that to 
 judge of ourselves we must look to our princi- 
 ples ; nay, that the goodness and badness of 
 actions themselves arc, in a certain sense, acci- 
 dental and independent of our virtue and vice : 
 so that a good man may do a bad act, and even 
 be good for doing it ; and a bad man may do a 
 good action in such a way as justly to incur fresh 
 guilt. An honest man may ruin his neighbour 
 in a well-meant attempt to aid him ; and we 
 may receive the greatest kindness from a wicked 
 man, who is all the while intent on some sinful 
 gratification of self. 
 
 And if it be the procedure of even sound human 
 morality to judge of virtue and vice, not by the act 
 only, but by the internal motives and principles, 
 much more might we infer it to be His, who is 
 free from all the obstacles which impede our 
 huinan judgment. We can only conjecture the 
 motives and intents of others ; our own even
 
 the Thoughts, 6<^ 
 
 it is difficult to disentangle and clearly discern. 
 But God "knows the hearts of all the children 
 of men."* " The Lord searcheth all hearts, 
 and understandeth all the imagination of the 
 thoughts. "t "Neither is there any creature 
 that is not manifest in His sight ; but all things 
 are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him 
 v/ith whom we have to do.":{: And therefore 
 we read, " The Lord seeth not as man seeth ; 
 for man looketh on the outward appearance, 
 but the Lord looketh on the heart. "§ "I the 
 Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to 
 give every man according to his ways, and 
 according to the fruit of his doings. "|| With 
 this perfect knowledge, then, it is evident that 
 God's judgment of our sinfulness cannot for a 
 moment be supposed to be limited to our exter- 
 nal actions, but must extend at once to the 
 source of evil within. " Thou requirest 
 truth," says David, "in the inward parts. "^ 
 Hence the thoughts, which are our internal 
 actions, are noted and judged by Him. 
 "Understood" by Him "afar ofF," they are 
 
 * I Kings, viii,, 39. I i Chron., xxviii., 9. 
 
 X Heb., iv, 13. § I Sam,, xvi., 7. 
 
 II Jcr., xvii., 10. II Ps. li., 6.
 
 yo Sins cf 
 
 weighed in the balance of His justice, and added 
 when found wanting to the account of our sins. 
 And, oh ! what a fearful page in the book of 
 God's remembrance must be filled by the record 
 of those innum.erable thoughts which throng the 
 mind m rapid and scarce distinguishable succes- 
 sion, each bearing from its birthplace in the 
 heart some burden or trace of native corruption ; 
 nov/ glov/ing with anger and now burning with 
 lust, now fluttering on the wings of vanity, now 
 dark with envy, discontent, or hate. 
 
 Thoughts, indeed, are often doubly sinful : 
 sinful in themselves, and the parents of sinful 
 words and acts. And they are the expositors of 
 the real condition of the heart, embodying those 
 habits, and displaying those passions, which 
 prudence or want of opportunity restrain from 
 breaking forth into spoken or acted sin. They 
 are a truer picture of ourselves than are our 
 lives ; because we have neither the same temp- 
 tation nor power to gloss them over with a fair 
 appearance. 
 
 These {q\y observations will be suincient to 
 show the importance of forming a true estimate 
 of the sinfulness of sins of the thoughts : that 
 we may be enabled sincerely to repent of what
 
 the Thoughts, 71 
 
 God hates, and to seek to be renewed, not in 
 our outward v/a!k merely, but in the spirit of 
 our minds. And this is the rather necessary, 
 because, these are sins of which the world 
 takes no cognizance, and to which we are 
 usually very indulgent ourselves. Many, in- 
 deed, take no account of their thoughts at all, 
 but let them pass at will unchecked and un- 
 heeded through the mind, as if they were no 
 more responsible for them than for their dreams. 
 Others knowingly and willingly indulge their 
 thoughts ; enjoy in imagination those sins which 
 they dare not act ; and are scarcely troubled by the 
 voice of conscience, because, as they suppose, 
 they have not openly violated any of God's 
 commandments. And all, it is to be feared, are 
 too apt to think lightly of sins of the thoughts, 
 as if they were things of course, scarcely to be 
 avoided, and when committed, venial, and of 
 trivial import. 
 
 To the lav/ and to the testimony, then, let us 
 again betake ourselves; and we shall find that 
 both in the Old Testament and in the New it is 
 required that our thoughts be free from sin; 
 while in both we are warned that for oic
 
 72 Sins of 
 
 thoughts we shall have to give account in the 
 day of judgment. 
 
 We may observe, then, first, that in the Old 
 Testament the thoughts are often spoken of as 
 the seat, or occasions of sin. When the inspired 
 historian was to describe the iniquity of the 
 world before the flood, he tells us that " God 
 saw that the wickedness of man was great in the 
 earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts 
 of his heart is only evil continually.'^* David, 
 speaking of " the wicked," who " through the 
 pride of his countenance will not seek after 
 God," adds, " God is not in all his thoughts."t 
 His own protestation is, " I hate vain thoughts : 
 but thy law do I love. "J And Solomon has left 
 us the distinct assurance, that " the thoughts of 
 the wicked are an abomination to the Lord."§ 
 
 But it is one of the distinguishing features of 
 the Gospel, as compared with the former dispen- 
 sation, that it is more spiritual. Its laws are 
 written in the heart. Its worship is in spirit 
 and in truth. We might expect, then, to find 
 sins of the thoughts more strictly guarded 
 against in it, than by the Law. And accordingly 
 
 * Gen., vi., 5. f Ps. x., 4. 
 
 % Ps. cxix., 113. § Prov., XV,, 26.
 
 the Thoughts. 73 
 
 our Lord, in His sermon on the mount, coni 
 menting on the commandments, extends their 
 force and sanctions from the outward action to 
 the inward thoughts \ and teaches us that, with- 
 out committing any sin of which men can take 
 cognizance, we may be murderers and adulterers 
 m our hearts.* And at another time. He 
 classes " evil thoughts " with " murders, adul- 
 teries, fornications, thefts, false witness and blas- 
 phemies," as being the things which " come 
 forth from the heart, and defile the man."t 
 
 The position, indeed, and privileges of Chris- 
 tians under the new covenant, are such as neces- 
 sarily attach much consequence to sins of the 
 thoughts. They are buried with Christ in. 
 baptism, to rise with him to newness of life.:|: 
 They are to " seek those things which are 
 above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand 
 of God;"§ and no longer "to mind earthly 
 things." They are " not their own, but are 
 bought with a price." Their hearts, as well as 
 their bodies, are " the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost." They must admit, then, no impure 
 unholy, vain, or trifling inmates there. The 
 
 ♦ Matt., v. t Matt, iv., 18, 19. 
 
 X Rom., vi., 4. § Col., iii., i. 
 
 H
 
 74 ^^^^ of 
 
 shrine must be kept unprofaned : and they must 
 ^' glorify God in their body and in their spirit 
 which are God's." * 
 
 And lastly, God has distinctly forewarned us 
 that so far from our thoughts being harmless, — 
 mere mental phenomena for which we are not 
 responsible, — we shall have to give account of 
 them all at the day of judgment. Such indeed 
 is the import of the text, with which the royal 
 moralist concludes his inquiry into human hap- 
 piness ?nd human duty. " Let us hear the 
 conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God and 
 keep His commandments ; for this is the whole 
 duty of man. For God shall bring every work 
 into judgment, with every secret thing," — each 
 inmost thought of the heart, — ''whether it be 
 good, or whether it be evil." St. Paul in like 
 manner speaks of the judgment as " the day 
 when God shall judge the secrets of men by 
 Jesus Christ :" f and desires the Corinthians to 
 "judge nothing before the time, until the Lord 
 come, who both will bring to light the hidden 
 things of darkness, and will make manifest the 
 counsels of the hearts. "+ It is a solemn thought ! 
 
 * I Cor., vi., 19, 20. t Rom., ii., 16. 
 
 X I Cor., iv., 5.
 
 the noughts* 75 
 
 *' There is nothing covered that shall not be 
 revealed ; neither hid, that shall not be knov^^n."* 
 Before the assembled myriads of all the earth"* 
 inhabitants, before listening angels, before the 
 great Judge Himself, the secrets of our hearts 
 will be laid bare, and our inmost thoughts 
 brought into the light of justice. The veil of 
 hypocrisy vj'iW drop off"; and many, who in the 
 praise of men have had their reward, will stand 
 exposed in the shame and deformity of their own 
 imaginations. The self-deceiver and the careless 
 alike will be dismayed at the array of sins, which 
 dwelt unheeded, if not encouraged, in the secret 
 chambers of their hearts. And the most faithful,, 
 watchful Christian, may find matter for serious 
 meditation in the truth that his every thought, 
 as well as. word and work, must be exposed on 
 that day to the scrutiny of a most righteous 
 Judge. 
 
 Such considerations, dear brethren, put sins 
 of the thoughts in a very different light from 
 that in which men usually view them ; as con- 
 demned by the word of God both in the Old 
 and New Testaments ; as inconsistent with our 
 privileges and position as Christians; and as 
 * Matt., X., 26. 
 
 H 2
 
 76 Sins of 
 
 amenable to the solemn account at the last day. 
 It is obvious, then, that they are sins, which, on 
 the one hand, we should seek out, to confess 
 nnd repent of; and on the other, should guard 
 against with habitual caution and self-control. 
 It is with the thoughts Satan is most busy. 
 Here he works most concealed, and eives the 
 
 gi^ 
 
 least alarm. By occupying and poisoning these, 
 he prepares the way for more open sins, under- 
 mines resolutions and principles, weakens the 
 force of better habits, inflames the passions, 
 and gradually familiarises men to evil. Sinful 
 thoughts indulged, become soon, he knows, 
 sinful words and actions ; and thus, besides their 
 own guilt, prepare the way for other and more 
 open transgression. In proportion, then, to his 
 art and the danger, ought to be our watchfulness 
 and care. 
 
 It were vain to attempt to enumerate, or even 
 class, the sins of which we are now speaking. 
 They are as many in kind as are the external 
 sinful acts to which they are akin. A kw7 re- 
 marks are all that can be offered. 
 
 Sins of vanity are almost entirely in the 
 thoughts. Of these we spoke in the last dis- 
 course, and need not repeat the subject now.
 
 I 
 
 the Thoughts. 77 
 
 But it may be well to warn you, my brethren, 
 and especially my younger hearers, against in- 
 dulging self-pleasing reveries, day-dreams of 
 imaginary scenes and fancied successes, in all of 
 which self is the hero, and which are indeed but 
 artifices which the mind contrives for flattering 
 vanity, when it cannot find food enough in the 
 occupations and incidents of ordinary life. These 
 not only are a waste of time and energy, which 
 should be turned to better account ; not only do 
 they unfit us for our proper duties and give an 
 unhealthy tone to the whole character ; but they 
 are actual sins, — vain thoughts, — puffing us up 
 in our own conceit, inconsistent with the hu- 
 mility of the Gospel, and among the abuses of 
 our mental powers for which we shall have to 
 render an account to Him who gave them. 
 They mxust be checked by all who would "walk 
 humbly with their God." 
 
 Impure thoughts, again, require to be spoken 
 of in a tone of serious and anxious warninjr. 
 
 o 
 
 , cry many, it is to be feared, indulge in these 
 
 vith little scruple, content that they abstain 
 
 om the actual and open sin. But, my brethren, 
 
 v/e know our Lord's judgment on this point. 
 
 He has taught us that the commandments may 
 
 H3
 
 78 Sins of 
 
 be broken in the heart. In His sight our 
 thoughts are sins ; and He it is who will come 
 to be our Judge. And besides their own sin- 
 fulness, impure thoughts prepare the way for 
 sinful words and actions. They throw down 
 the defences of the soul, and lay it open to the 
 attacks of temptation. They are as traitors 
 within, ready to co-operate with the enemy 
 without. And there is this further evil in such 
 thoughts as these : they leave a stain on the 
 soul, v/hich in this life at least is indelible. 
 They may have been repented of; they may, 
 we may trust, have been pardoned ; but our 
 corrupt moral nature is tenacious to retain what 
 is bad ; and evil thoughts, once indulged, will 
 ever and anon return. We may dread them, 
 we may abhor them, but we cannot erase the 
 black stain from the page of memory. They 
 are their own avengers. 
 
 Uncharitable thouo-hts will be found to form 
 another and very numerous class of sins. It 
 would be a great mistake to suppose that the 
 great rule of Christian love can be broken only 
 by outward acts and behaviour. On the con- 
 trary, St. Paul speaks of charity as that which
 
 the noughts. 79 
 
 *' thinketh no evil." * But men too often do 
 " think evil " of their brethren. They note 
 their failings and imagine more ; not for the 
 purpose of praying for them and correcting 
 them, but to draw a secret satisfaction from the 
 thought. They are vexed at the successes of 
 others, and not unpleased at their failure. They 
 attribute bad motives to their good actions, and 
 aggravate in imagination their faults. They 
 conceive an ill-will against some one, and are 
 fond of rehearsing, as it were, in their hearts 
 imaginary quarrels and contests with him. And 
 thus without proceeding so far as hatred, which 
 is murder, they break the bonds of love, which 
 is the necessary badge of Christianity, and des~ 
 troy the grace of charity, without which, know- 
 ledge, and almsgiving, and even an unflinching 
 faith itself, are nothing. 
 
 But besides these classes of more obviously 
 sinful thoughts, the indulgence of idle thoughts 
 must be considered a sin. I do not mean that 
 the mind is never to be relaxed, — that the 
 strained bow is to be for ever bent. While the 
 powers of the intellect rest, the thoughts will 
 run on, ever unconsciously, over trifling things. 
 * I Cor., xiii., 5.
 
 So Sins of 
 
 But I am speaking of habits of mental sloth, 
 analogous to bodily indolence, which suffers the 
 mind to be filled perpetually with the merest 
 trifles, which is impatient of continuous thought 
 on any subject, and which turns away from the 
 consideration of serious and important things as 
 demanding too great an effort. This is the frame 
 of mind naturally resulting from the desultory, 
 trifling reading of the present day j and, though 
 not confined to them, is peculiarly the danger of 
 that sex, whose occupations are not usually of a 
 sufficiently exciting character to oblige them to 
 think more closely and continuously. And thus 
 the mental powers become weakened and dissi- 
 pated : trifles are the mind's food, till it can 
 relish nothing but trifles ; and it becomes diffi- 
 cult, and well-nigh impossible, to lix the faculties 
 on anything which is really worth their energies. 
 Now this is not a weakness merely : it is a sin. 
 Our mental powers are talents given to us by 
 God to be improved ; we conceal and neglect 
 them. His purpose is, that they should be em- 
 ployed in His honour, to the good of our souls, 
 and the benefit of His creatures : we spend 
 them on trifles. Our time too is His gift, and 
 to be accounted for to Him : we waste it in vain
 
 the noughts, 8 1 
 
 thoughts. Religion besides, — real religion, — the 
 effect of grace upon sober reason, — can have no 
 hold upon such a mind as this. To understand 
 God's word we must meditate upon it. To 
 know our own sinfulness, we must be capable of 
 looking with a steady eye into our own hearts. 
 To value God's mercy and to love Him, we 
 must be able to dwell in adorins; thou2;ht on His 
 attributes, the wonders of His redeeming grace, 
 our own vileness and His exceeding goodness, 
 and on Himself, revealed to us in the person of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The 
 Christian should have the mastery of his thoughts, 
 as well as of his appetites, and be able to turn 
 them to the service of God. To this pertain 
 the exhortations of Scripture to be " sober ""^' 
 and the expression of Paul to Timothy, " God 
 hath given us the spirit of a sound mind:"t 
 and it is this trifling spirit which is condemned 
 in the words of Solomon : " Wisdom is before 
 him that hath understanding ; but the eyes of a 
 fool are in the ends of the earth." J 
 
 But to quit a subject which can hardly be 
 exhausted, let us conclude with one or two 
 
 * I Thcss.,v., 6 — 8; 1 Peter,!., 13; iv., 7 ; x., 8. 
 t 2 Tim., i., 7. \ Prov., xvii., 24.
 
 8 2 Sins of 
 
 practical remarks. And first, it Has been the 
 one object of our meditations this Lent to extend 
 our knowledge and deepen our sertse of sin, in 
 order that our repentance may be quickened ; 
 and that judging ourselves here, and humbly 
 confessing our ofFences before God, we may 
 receive the pardon which He has promised for 
 Jesus Christ's sake. Let us then, dear brethren, 
 as the improvement of the subject v/e have been 
 considering, examine carefully the general tenor 
 of our thoughts. Let us ask, whether their 
 usual character is sober, profitable, and godly ; 
 or whether they are vain, trifling, and worldly ? 
 Do we detect among them thoughts of pride, 
 self-esteem, impurity, or uncharitableness in 
 some of its various forms ; and are these, when 
 they occur, checked at once and expelled, or 
 suffered, if not encouraged and delighted in ? 
 These are questions which we should seriously 
 ask and sincerely answer ; and should lay the 
 result before God in humble penitence, and 
 prayer for pardon and for grace. 
 
 At the same time, let us resolve to exercise 
 for the time to come a strict supervision of our 
 thoughts. Great self-discipline will be here 
 required. We must endeavour at all times to
 
 the l^houghts, 83 
 
 check wandering ideas, even when not in them- 
 selves unlawful ; and to fix the mind steadily on 
 the subject before it. We must watch the first 
 entrance of forbidden thoughts, and must en- 
 deavour to expel them by mentally protestino; 
 against them, by offering a short, earnest prayer 
 for help, and by resolutely turning the attention 
 upon something else. This task, difficult at 
 first, will become easier by habit \ and, if we are 
 in earnest and look up to Him for strength, God 
 will give us at length the victory over ourselves. 
 But especially let me recommend this discipline 
 to the young. Endeavour to gain the mastery 
 over your thoughts ; to restrain their wander- 
 ings ; and to fix them, time by time, on what 
 you ought to be thinking about. It is a habit 
 you may form now, much more read fly than in 
 after life. You will find the advantage in a 
 mind better trained and adapted for the duties 
 and pursuits of this life, and, still more, better 
 fitted for the service of God. And you will 
 escape those foul stains, which ill-regulated 
 thoughts ever imprint upon the page of me- 
 mory ; and which in after years the soul would 
 give the world to obliterate, but cannot. 
 
 But thirdly, a right direction and character
 
 $4 Sins of 
 
 should be given to our thoughts by accustoming 
 ourselves to fix them on profitable objects. 
 Meditation is a very difficult as well as a very 
 important duty. We are naturally indisposed to 
 think seriously and connectedly. We prefer to 
 let the current of ideas float by as it will, with- 
 out making any effort to direct its course. And 
 here is one of the ways in which we should 
 deny ourselves. We should oblige ourselves to 
 think of what we ought, not of what we would. 
 Subjects for profitable meditation abound. Nature 
 is full of them, and the course of God's provi- 
 dence ; but above all, they are most richly sup- 
 plied by the wonders of His redeeming grace. 
 The word of God should be the most frequent 
 source of our topics of meditation. Our sinful- 
 ness and God's love ; life and death ; heaven 
 and hell ; the infinite mercies ^of redemption ; 
 the graces and duties of the Christian character ; 
 and chiefly the example of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ ; — these are the topics, which 
 having culled them from the sacred page, we 
 should by meditation mark, learn, and inwardly 
 digest. Thus will the mind be occupied, 
 strengthened, and improved. Sinful thoughts 
 will be excluded by more fitting occupants.
 
 the Thoughts, 85 
 
 And we shall grow in the knowledge of heavenly- 
 things, becoming by God's grace more spiri- 
 tually-m-inded, and learning day by day to 
 *' walk " more steadily " by faith," and " not 
 by sight." 
 
 Fourthly, that we may not flag or grow neg- 
 ligent in our efforts, let us often call to mind, 
 that as our thoughts are all known to God now, 
 so they will all be bcought to judgment by Him 
 hereafter. Our hearts are now bare to Him. 
 Every silent thought is as audible to. Him, as if 
 uttered with the blast of a trumpet. We can 
 hide nothing from Him, " O Lord, Thou hast 
 searched me, and known me. Thou knowest 
 my down-sitting and mine uprising. Thou un- 
 derstandest my thought afar off."* And it is 
 He who "will bring every work into judgment, 
 with every secret thing, whether it be good or 
 whether it be evil." Let us endeavour to gain 
 an abiding conviction of this solemn truth. Let 
 us remember God's eye ever upon us, and 
 piercing to the inmost recesses of the heart. 
 And let us check each sinful, wandering thought, 
 with the behef, that for all these things God will 
 bring us to judgment. 
 
 * Ps. cxxxix., I, 2. 
 
 I
 
 86 Shis of 
 
 And lastly, let all our efforts be accompanied 
 with earnest prayer. As our hearts are known 
 to God, so they are wholly in His power to turn 
 them as he will. As all sin can be subdued but 
 by the Holy Ghost, so it is especially true with 
 respect to sinful thoughts. They are far too 
 numerous and too subtle to be suppressed by our 
 own efforts, and spring too readily from our 
 heart's evil soil. 
 
 In struggle with such foes, " the v/eapons of 
 our warfare must not be carnal, but mighty 
 through God to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds," in order to the " casting down imagina- 
 tions and every high thing that exalteth itselt 
 against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into 
 captivity every thought to the obedience of 
 Christ."* Let it then be our daily, earnest 
 prayer to him, who sees that we have no pov/er 
 of ourselves to help ourselves, that He will 
 " keep us not only outwardly in our bodies, but 
 inv/ardly in our souls : that we may be defended 
 from all adversities which may happen to the 
 body, and from all evil thoughts which may 
 assault and hurt the soul." And let us make 
 
 * 2 Cor., X., 4, 5.
 
 the Thoughts. 87 
 
 David's petition burs : " Search me, O God, 
 and know my heart : try me, and know my 
 thoughts : and see If there be any wicked way 
 in me, and lead me In the way everlasting."* 
 
 * Ps. cxxxix., 23, 24.
 
 SINS OF THE TONGUE. 
 
 James, i., 26. 
 
 If any man among you seem to be religious, and 
 bridlcth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, 
 this man's religion is vain. 
 
 npHE faculty of speech is one of the best gifts 
 of God's mercy to man. It is an essential 
 element of his well-being. Without it, though 
 placed in a world teeming with inhabitants, he 
 would have dragged on an all but isolated ex- 
 istence, communing only with his own thoughts, 
 and these dull and sluggish for want of inter- 
 course and collision with other minds. A help- 
 less and desolate being he would have been, 
 incapable of that unity of purpose which blends 
 the wills of many into one, and thus of the union 
 of weakness creates strength ; and inferior to
 
 Sins of the Tongue, 89 
 
 many of the brute creation, in whom instinct 
 supplies this social bond, and joins them in 
 leagues of mutual assistance and defence. But 
 God could not leave His last work thus imper- 
 fect. The gift of speech, as it distinguished man 
 from the most sagacious and reasonable of the 
 brute creation, formed also a medium of commu- 
 nication from mind to mind, and gave men access 
 into the hearts of one another. It gave not ex- 
 istence, indeed, but scope and energy to the 
 affections, and enabled them to fly abroad to call 
 forth kindred affections from other breasts.' It 
 rendered the increase of knowledge possible; and 
 advanced the cause of truth by enabling each 
 individual inquirer to pour his discoveries into 
 the common stock, and to share in those of others 
 in return. It sharpened the faculties by the play 
 of intellects one on the other ; and enriched all 
 minds by the mutual interchange of the ideas of 
 each. It unlocked the gates of sympathy — of 
 compassion, affection, and charity — and thus gave 
 liberty not only to the best virtues, but also to 
 the purest happiness of our nature. It was, 
 therefore, that the heathen, both poets and phi- 
 losophers, would define man by the gift of speech, 
 as his distinguishing quality: and that the tongue, . 
 
 13
 
 90 Sins of 
 
 in Scripture, is called the glory of man. "Awake 
 up, my glory,"* said David : " I will sing and 
 give praise, even with my glory." f 
 
 It is not the kast melancholy effect of the 
 fall, then, that this noble faculty should be de- 
 graded from its high purposes to be the minister 
 of sin. Formed to be the messenger of peace 
 and love, knitting hearts together in a mutual 
 bond of amity, it has become the fomenter of 
 jealousy, distrust, and ill-will, the lash of un- 
 charitableness, and the weapon of hatred. In- 
 tended to be the interpreter of sincerity and the 
 propagator of truth, it has been made the ready 
 instrument of falsehood and deceit. Created to 
 speak the praises of God, and to give utterance 
 to the feelings of thankfulness, it is wasted on 
 the follies of worldliness and self, and profaned 
 by the awful accents of impurity, impiety, and 
 blasphemy. It has become the index of the cor- 
 ruption of our moral nature, the test by which 
 we may, in a great degree, guage and measure 
 the spiritual unsoundness and sinfulness of our 
 souls ; " for out of the abundance of the heart 
 the mouth speaketh."| 
 
 * Ps. Ivii,, 8. t Ps. cviii., l. 
 
 + Matt., xxi., 34.
 
 the Tongue 91 
 
 It is obvious, then, that sins of the tongue 
 hold a prominent place among those sins which, 
 in order to true repentance, we must search out, 
 examine, and condemn in ourselves, that we may 
 seek forgiveness of them from God through the 
 merits of Jesus Christ. Some, indeed, of this 
 class of sins are of so daring and offensive a cha- 
 racter, that few, one would think, in a Christian 
 country would require to have their wickedness 
 pointed out. Lying, swearing, obscenity, and 
 blasphemy, are offences from which the mind 
 recoils ; and against which even the world has 
 pronounced its verdict of condemnation. But 
 this is not the case with all sins of the tongue ; 
 some of which are wholly acquitted by mere 
 human morality, and others are estimated far 
 below the standard of their real sinfulness. Nor 
 are we, perhaps, in any Instance, in the habit of 
 fully admitting the guilt of this kmd of sins : nor 
 consequently, of either confessing them with 
 sufficient sorrow, or guarding against them with 
 sufficient care. 
 
 Let us then, as we have done In the case of 
 other sins, first observe the estimate of them 
 with which we are furnished by the word of 
 God; then briefly enumerate some of the sins of
 
 92 Sins of 
 
 the tongue of which we may be in the greatest 
 danger; and conclude with a few practical re- 
 marks. 
 
 Now of God's estimate of this kind of sins we 
 are assured bqyond any possibility of doubt, as 
 well as by His declarations both in the Old and 
 New Testaments, as by the precept and example 
 of cur Lord ; and by the solemn account which, 
 it is revealed, we shall have to render of our 
 v/ords. 
 
 A few passages out of many will suffice. 
 "VV hen David calls children to him, that he may 
 '' teach them the fear of the Lord," his very 
 first precept is, " Keep thy tongue from evil, 
 and thy lips from speaking guile,"* and his 
 v/ords are applied and enforced by St. Peter. f 
 " The wicked," we read in the book of Proverbs, 
 "is snared by the transgression of his lips.";]: 
 "A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips 
 are the snare of his scul."§ "Suffer not thy 
 mouth to cause thy flesh to sin."|| "In the 
 multitude of v/ords there wanteth not sin : but 
 he that refraineth his lips is wise."^ 
 
 * Ps. xxxiv., II, 13. t I Peter, iii., 10. 
 
 X Prov., xii., 13. § Prov., xviii., 7. 
 
 li Eccles., v., 6. ^ Prov., x.. 19.
 
 the Tongue. 93 
 
 Of the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the New 
 Testament the words of the text are a striking 
 example. St. James is warning the disciples 
 against a mere form of godliness without the 
 power, and exhorting them to " be doers of the 
 word, and not hearers only :" and one of the 
 tests by which he bids them prove their sincerity, 
 is freedom from the very sins of which we are 
 speaking. " If any man among you seem to be 
 religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but de- 
 ceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is 
 vain." He afterwards pursues the subject more 
 at length, and points out the difficulty, as well 
 as the necessity, of self-control in this respect. 
 " In many things," he says, " we offend all."* 
 "If any man offend not in word, the same also 
 is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the 
 whole body." The influence of the tongue on 
 the general character is then illustrated by two 
 apt similes : " Behold, we put bits in the horses' 
 mouths, that they may obey us ; and we turn 
 about the Vv''hole body. Behold also the ships, 
 which, though they be so great and are driven of 
 fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a 
 very small helm, withersoever the governor 
 * Chap, iii., 2, &c.
 
 94 *5'/;7j- of 
 
 listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, 
 and boasteth great things." He then enforces, 
 in very strong and expressive language, the mis- 
 chievous effects of an ill-regulated tongue. " Be- 
 hold how great a matter a little fire kindleth ! 
 And the tongue is a fire, a v^^orld of iniquity ; so 
 is the tongue among our members, that it defileth 
 the vv^hole body, and setteth on fire the course of 
 nature, and it is set on fire of hell," by those 
 evil feelings v/hich have the devil for their author 
 and instigator. Nor is the difficulty of govern- 
 ing the tongue less than the guilt of indulging it. 
 " For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of 
 serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and 
 hath been tamed by mankind, but the tongue 
 can no man tame : it is an unruly evil, full of 
 deadly poison." Hence it is, that that faculty, 
 which was given us to glorify our Creator, is 
 employed to purposes which He abhors : and 
 that His worship is profaned by lips desecrated 
 by words of sins. " Therewith bless we God, 
 even the Father : and therewith curse we men, 
 which are made after the similitude of God. 
 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and 
 cursing. My brethren, these things ought not 
 so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the
 
 the 'Tongue, 95 
 
 same place sweet water and bitter? Can the 
 fig-tree, my brethren, bear ohve berries ? . either 
 a vine, figs ? so can no fountain both yield salt 
 water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued 
 with knowledge among you ? let him show out 
 of a 2:ood conversation his words with meekness 
 of wisdom." 
 
 Nothing need be added to this remarkable 
 passage to show the serious light in which sins 
 of the tongue are exhibited in the New Testa- 
 ment. But if confirmation were required, it 
 might be furnished by our blessed Lord's ex- 
 ample to conform to which is duty, and to err 
 from which is sin. " He did no sin, neither was 
 guile found in His m.outh."* From thence 
 there" issued no idle words, no expressions of 
 vanity, uncharitableness, or deceit. When He 
 spoke, it was to teach, to comfort, to heal, or to 
 reprove. " All bare Him witness, and won- 
 dered at the gracious words which proceeded 
 out of His mouth. "f The very officers who 
 were sent to apprehend Him returned without 
 performing their orders, and excused themselves 
 on the plea, " Never man spake like this 
 * I Peter, ii., 22. f Luke, iv., 22.
 
 9 6 Si}is of 
 
 man."* Words of folly and of sin must mar 
 our likeness to such a Saviour as this. 
 
 But there is another consideration, far too 
 solemn and important to be omitted; that for ever) 
 abuse of the foculty of speech we shall have to 
 answer to our God hereafter, " I say unto you," 
 said He, who Himself will come to be our 
 Judge, " that every idle word that men shall 
 speak, they shall give account thereof in the day 
 of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be 
 justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con- 
 demned."! Sins of the tongue, then, are no 
 trifling things. Not only are they pointed out 
 and forbidden in the word of God ; not only are 
 they contrary to the example of our Lord and 
 Saviour ; but they fly upward to the throne of 
 heaven, and testify against us in judgment. Oh 
 no ; believe it not ! those accents do not die 
 away with the breath that forms them ; — they 
 are living still. Each word of anger, or malice, 
 or flilsehood, or impurity, or blasphemy, or 
 pride, — yea, every idle word, the useless product 
 of the vain and worldly heart, — will dwell upon 
 the menaory of infinite justice; will make itself 
 heard before the assembled myriads of men and 
 * John, vii,, 46. t Matt., xii., 36, l"].
 
 the Tongue. ^j 
 
 r.ngels ; and join its echoes to swell the con- 
 demnation of the unrepentant on that awful day. 
 
 With this conviction, then, of the sinfulness 
 of sins of the tongue, let us proceed briefly to 
 consider some of the forms under which they 
 usually occur. 
 
 We have said, that many sins of the tongue 
 are so obvious, that none can be wilfully guilty 
 of them, but those who are wholly destitute of 
 religion, — a class whom we are not now ad- 
 dressing. Of this kind are sins of falsehood, as far 
 as that is a wilful and direct breach of truth : — a 
 crime which the world itself brands with diso-race, 
 and whose condemnation is pronounced in Scrip- 
 ture in words which, once read, can scarcely be 
 forgotten : " Ye are of your father, the devil, 
 and the lusts of your father ye will do. 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 therefore among those who will be shut 
 out from the heavenly Jerusalem, we cannot 
 wonaer to find " whosoever loveth and maketh 
 a lie."t But many are guilty of falsehood, 
 * John, viii., 44, f Rev., xxii., 15. 
 
 K
 
 9 3 Sins of 
 
 whose conscience does not accuse them, when 
 they read such passages as these. There is a 
 practice, for instance, the offspring of vanity 
 and inconsideration, of embellishing stories to 
 heighten their effect, and gratifying at the same 
 time our hearers and our own love of display. 
 It matters little that such habits may be called 
 harmless, and tending rather to amuse than to 
 injure. "Whatever is more than truth is false- 
 hood ; and, besides its own sinfulness, vv^eakens 
 the moral sense, and destroys the healthy tone of 
 a sensitive conscience. A careful self-examina- 
 tion, my brethren, will show that we have all 
 need of viratchfulness and self-control on this 
 head. 
 
 To falsehood, too, belongs the sin of flattery ; 
 by which I do not mean here the praising others 
 falsely with a view to profit by them, which is 
 the worst kind of dishonesty ; but that flattery 
 v/hich takes the name of courtesy, and which 
 men are apt to imagine is demanded of them by 
 good breeding and even by Christian charity. 
 Now we certainly are not obliged to upbraid our 
 neighbours with their faults, nor even to notice 
 them, excepting where to do so may lead to 
 their amendment or tend to God's honour. But
 
 the longue. 99 
 
 then nothing whatever can make it right for us 
 by undeserved praise or undue complaisance to 
 strengthen another in too good an opinion of his 
 own merits, and to darken the mist of vanity 
 which conceals his real character from himself. 
 They v/ho do this skilfully, indeed, will be gene- 
 rally sure of the good-will of others ; and if they 
 are content with the praise of m.en, instead of 
 the praise which cometh from God, they may 
 usually have their reward. But they are guilty 
 of falsehood. They are incurring the condem- 
 nation of "lying lips and a deceitful tongue." 
 They need to be reminded of the warnings of 
 Scripture ; " He that speaketh flattery to his 
 friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail."* 
 "Meddle not with him that flattcreth with his 
 iips."t 
 
 There is a sin of the tongue, at once so 
 wicked, disgraceful, and senseless, that it moves 
 v/onder that it should be so commonly heard ; 
 that is, profane swearing. This sin, indeed, 
 may truly be called devilish; for it has no temp- 
 tation, — no one thing to recommend it, — but 
 that it is a sin. Nor should I mention it here, 
 but that there are some persons, who, though 
 * Job, xvii., 5. t Prov., xx., 19. 
 
 K 2
 
 lOO Sins of 
 
 they would on no account be guilty of a direct 
 oath, yet indulge in expressions of the like 
 nature, which they consider harmless. Now 
 this was exactly the practice of the Jews of our 
 Saviour's time, who scrupulously abstained from 
 pronouncing the name of Jehovah, but swore 
 commonly by heaven, by the temple, by their 
 head, and the like. Our Lord's judgment is 
 well known : "I say unto you. Swear not at all; 
 neither by heaven ; for it is God's throne : nor 
 by the earth ; for it is His footstool : neither by 
 Jerusalem 3 for it is the city of the great King : 
 neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because 
 thou canst not make one hair white or black. 
 But let your communication be Yea, yea ; Nay, 
 nay ; for whatsoever is more than these cometh 
 of evil."* These harmless oaths, then, my 
 brethren, are a breach of God's commandments, 
 and, as such, sins injurious to the soul. 
 
 Perhaps the most common of all sins of the 
 tongue are sins of uncharitableness ; by which I 
 do not mean words indicative of malice, hatred, 
 and revenge, which are sins of a deeper dye than 
 we are now considering; nor expressions of 
 anger, fretfulness, and impatience, which wc 
 * Matt., v., 34—37.
 
 the 'Tongue, loi 
 
 have already noticed, while speaking of sins of 
 the temper; but censoriousness and, what is 
 usually termed, scandal, — a satisfaction in can- 
 vassing the faults and follies of others, and in re- 
 peating what we have heard to their disadvan- 
 tage. How much of ordinary conversation is 
 made up of such materials ! Now what we 
 thus say must either be true or not. If not, — 
 (and how generally are the reports of the day 
 exaggerated, if not invented wholly!), — we are 
 guilty of falsehood, and of bearing false witness 
 against our neighbour. And even if true, unless 
 the honour of God or the interests of others 
 require us to m.ake it known, we should rather 
 conceal what we know in charitable silence, and 
 put the best construction we can on our 
 brother's faults. It was one of the comm.and- 
 ments of the Levitical law : " Thou shalt not 
 go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy 
 people:"* and as all "evil speaking" is to be 
 put away among Christians,t so charity, with- 
 out which we are Christians only in name, 
 "thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but 
 rejoiceth in the truth : beareth," or rather con- 
 
 * Levit., xix., i6. f Eph., iv., 31 
 
 K 2
 
 1C2 Sins of 
 
 cealeth,* "all things, believeth all things, hopeth 
 all things. "t 
 
 Another common abuse of the gift of speech 
 is to employ it in the service of vanity ; to talk, 
 neither for the purpose of instructing, nor learn- 
 ing, nor the mutual interchange of kind and 
 wholesome sentiments, nor even of mere relaxa- 
 tion, but.of display ; to extort admiration by our 
 learning, or to v^in it by our v^it, or to seek it 
 (probably in vain) by a boastful enumeration of 
 our qualifications, actions, or intentions. It is 
 not to the purpose to say, that such attempts 
 generally fail of their end ; that men are easily 
 disgusted by the efibrts of vanity to win ap- 
 plause ; and that, even by the world's verdicts, 
 "whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, 
 and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 
 Successful, or not, the attempt is sinful j and he 
 who employs his tongue to pander to his vanity, 
 abuses a talent committed to him to be im- 
 proved, while he neglects the teaching of the 
 Holy Spirit : " Let nothing be done through 
 strife or vain-glory ; but in lowliness of mind, 
 let each esteem other better than themselves. ":|; 
 * TiciVTa (Trlyd. f ^ Cor., xiii., 6, /. 
 
 : Phii.ii., 3.
 
 the Tongue. 103 
 
 Lastly, we may observe that idle talking is a 
 sin. This follows indeed necessarily from the 
 truth, that the gift of speech is committed to us 
 as a talent, to be used in the service of God to 
 our own and our neighbour's profit. To employ 
 it idly is, at best, to hide our talent. I do not 
 mean that cheerful conversation is sinful 5 the 
 great alleviator of the toils and cares of life, 
 and that which braces the energies for fresh 
 efforts of usefulness. Far from it. " There are 
 secondary uses of our faculties :" says one of 
 the most acute and able prelates of the Anglican 
 Church : " they administer to delight as well 
 as to necessity ; and as they are equally adapted 
 to both, there is no doubt but God intended 
 them for our gratification, as well as for the 
 support and continuance of our being. The 
 secondary use of speech is to please and be en- 
 tertaining to each other in conversation. This 
 is in every respect allowable and right : it unites 
 men closer in alliances and friendships ; gives 
 us a fellow-feeling of the prosperity and unhap- 
 piness of each other ; and is in several respects 
 serviceable to virtue, and to promote good be-' 
 havlour in the world. And provided there be 
 not too much time spent in it, if it were con
 
 104 Sins of 
 
 • idered only in the way of gratification and 
 delight, men must have strange notions of God 
 ?:nd of religion, to think that He can be offended 
 with it, or that it is in any way inconsistent with 
 the strictest virtue. But the truth is, such 
 sort of conversation, though it has no particular 
 good tendency, yet it has a general good one : 
 it is social and friendly, and tends to promote 
 humanity, good nature, and civility."* But 
 v/hile we thus admit the innocence and utility 
 of cheerful conversation and mirth chastened by 
 the fear of God, let us not attempt to excuse 
 under these names that trifling loquacity, which 
 talks for talking sake, v/asting the tim^e both of 
 speaker and hearer, and tending to no conceivable 
 good. Our conversation, to be innocent, must 
 be at least " seasoned with salt." Mere idle words 
 are, and v/ill be judged as, sin. Besides, they 
 who talk much, will seldom long talk innocently. 
 An unbridled tongue will hurry us into evil speak- 
 ing, for lack of other matter : and the caution of 
 Solomon cannot be too carefully remembered : 
 *' In the multitude of words there wanteth not 
 sin ; but he that refraineth his lips is wise."t 
 
 * Bp. Butler, " Sermon on the Government of the 
 Tongue." t Prov., x., 19.
 
 the "Toiigiie, 105 
 
 Let us examine ourselves, then, dear brethren, 
 and see whether we may not be guilty of sins of 
 the tongue in some at least of their forms. It 
 is wise to judge ourselves in that for which we 
 shall be judged hereafter. Let us confess our 
 transgressions when discovered — as discover 
 them we doubtless shall — and pray earnestly for 
 their pardon for His sake, who is the propiation 
 for our sins. And let us steadfastly resolve hence- 
 forth so to bridle our tongue, and set a watch 
 upon our lips, that our religion may not be ren- 
 dered vain by our words, nor our conversation 
 be unfitting the disciples of the meek and guile- 
 less Jesus. 
 
 And here one or two practical remarks may 
 not be without their use. 
 
 And first : " Out of the abundance of the 
 heart the mouth speaketh." It is in vain to 
 attempt to heal the stream of an embittered 
 fount. To avoid sins of the tongue, and the 
 condemnation they will draw down, we must 
 begin the reformation at the heart. " Either 
 make the tree good and his fruit good ; or else 
 make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt : 
 for the tree is known by his fruit."* When 
 * Matt., xii., 33.
 
 io6 Sbis of 
 
 malice, deceit, uncharitableness and vanity, are 
 in the heart, the words will be malicious, false, 
 .uncharitable, and vain. " O generation of 
 vipers," exclaimed our blessed Lord, " how can 
 ye, being evil, speak good things?"* Before 
 all things, and above all things, let us seek from 
 God a new heart and a right spirit, the only 
 source and groundwork of Christian virtue. 
 Let us entreat God, for the sake of Him who 
 died and rose again for us, to destroy the power 
 of sin in us, and to re-create us in His own 
 image. Let us give ourselves up to the guid- 
 ance of His Holy Spirit, and to the utmost of 
 our power co-operate with Kim, " working out 
 our own salvation with fear and trembling;" 
 that by His inspiration we may be made, as to 
 our moral state, " nev/ creatures," that "old 
 things have passed away, all things " may " be- 
 ifome new." As the rest of our character and 
 actions, so our v/ords will partake of the blessed 
 change. No longer misused to the purposes of 
 sin, they will become the servants of righteous- 
 ness, and tend, directly or indirectly, to glorify 
 God and benent His creatures. For "a good 
 man out of the good treasure of his heart 
 * Matt., v., 34.
 
 the Tongue, 107 
 
 bringeth forth good things : and an evil man 
 out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil 
 things."* 
 
 But, secondly, and more particularly, V7e 
 must carefully vi^atch our words, and put a re- 
 straint upon them. We must not let them pass 
 by unexamined or unreproved, but must each 
 day question their tenor and character, whether 
 they have been agreeable to God's word and our 
 Lord's example. Nor must we let our m^ouths 
 utter v/hatever our thoughts suggest. We must 
 practise self-denial : we must " bridle our 
 tongue." Not only must we carefully silence 
 all expressions savouring of falsehood, irreve- 
 rence or malice ; not only must v/e be content 
 to part with a character for wit and ability, 
 rather than gain it by words more entertaining 
 than innocent ; but we must learn to speak con- 
 siderately and discreetly, checking all idle con- 
 versation, which is folly and tends to sin, and 
 even in mirth remembering whose we are, and 
 whom we serve. 
 
 Thirdly, we should endeavour to make our 
 conversation useful. By our v/ords, as well as 
 our actions, v/e should do good, as well as ab- 
 * Matt., xii.,.35.
 
 ic8 Sins of 
 
 stain from evil. To conciliate the affections, to 
 increase the knowledge, to correct the faults, to 
 encourage the virtues, to alleviate the sorrows, 
 or even to amuse the cares, of our fellow-crea- 
 tures, are worthy employments of the faculty of 
 speech : but still more so, to spread the know- 
 ledge of religion, to honour God and benefit the 
 souls of men, and in the Christian meekness 
 and unfeigned piety of our conversation so to 
 ** let our light shine before men, that they may 
 see our good works, and glorify our Father 
 which is in heaven." To be extensively useful 
 in this way, indeed, requires not only right in- 
 tentions, but also considerable tact and certain 
 personal endowments. But all, even the most 
 bashful and slow of speech, have it in their 
 power to do some good by purifying and im- 
 proving the tone of conversation, turning a deaf 
 ear to words of vice and folly, and taking care 
 that their words are innocent at least, if not pro- 
 fitable. A willing heart is ever on the watch 
 for opportunities, and can do much with little 
 means. 
 
 But lastly, sins of the tongue are not to be 
 overcome, but by daily and earnest prayer. 
 God's grace it is, which must prevent, accom-
 
 the ToJigue. - 109 
 
 pany, and give success to our endeavours. To 
 labour without this, is to labour in vain. And 
 therefore David, who one while exhorts to the 
 use of our own efforts, " Keep thy tongue from 
 evil, and thy lips from speaking guile ; " * at 
 another makes his earnest prayer to God, " Set 
 a watch, O Lord, before my mouth ; keep the 
 door of our lips." t So let it be with us. Let 
 prayer and watchfulness go hand in hand ; self- 
 control and entire dependence upon God. And 
 in His strength let us bridle our tongue, lest we 
 deceive our own hearts, and our rehgion be found 
 at last to be vain. 
 
 And if we need encouragement in our task, 
 let us bear in mind, dear brethren, that our 
 tongues have a noble destiny. They will not, 
 when this brief life is over, rest for ever voiceless 
 in the grave. With our bodies we shall rise 
 again ; and unless we forfeit here our glorious 
 inheritance, shall swell with our notes of praise 
 the everlasting anthems of the blessed. Let us 
 not then profane our " glory " with the words 
 of sin. Rather let us anticipate here the strains 
 of heaven : and remembering that " here have 
 we no continuing city, but seek one to come, by 
 * Ps. xxxiv., 13. f Ps. cxli., 3. 
 
 L
 
 no Sins of the Tongue, 
 
 Jesus Christ let us offer the sacrifice of praise to 
 God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, 
 giving thanks to His name." * 
 
 * Heb., xiii., 14, 15.
 
 SINS OF OMISSION. 
 
 Matthew, xxv., 26, 27. 
 
 His lord answered and said unto him. Thou wicked 
 and slothful servaht, thou knewest that I reap where I 
 sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 
 thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the 
 exchangers, and then at my coming I should have 
 received mine own with usury. 
 
 A LL sin is disobedience to God's wil)^ made 
 known to us either by the dictates of 
 conscience, or more fully by His revealed word. 
 His commands, thus declared to us, are of two 
 kinds : they either forbid us to do what is dis- 
 pleasing to Him ; or enjoin us to do what is 
 pleasing to Him. Disobedience to either of 
 these alike is sin : and hence sins also admit of 
 two divisions ; sins of commission, or the doing 
 
 L 2
 
 112 Sins of 
 
 what we ought not to do ; and sins of omission, 
 or the leaving undone what we ought to do. 
 But though these two classes of sins are alike 
 sinful, being equally disobedience to God's re- 
 vealed will, yet they do not receive from us an 
 equal share of attention. •And the reason is 
 obvious. Sins of commission have something 
 positive in them, run clearly and intelligibly 
 counter to the commandment, are sometimes 
 discernible even by the senses, and generally 
 strike a sensible blow upon the conscience. 
 There is something actually done : and the ob- 
 liquity of the action may be measured by the 
 standard of the divine law. But sins of omission 
 are negative, and escape the observation. There 
 is nothing doiie^ which rouses the attention or 
 startles the conscience. The careless, and those 
 who are unaccustomed to watch their own hearts 
 narrowly, are ignorant of them altogether : and 
 even the serious and earnest are often deceived 
 by the stealthy step of these unobtrusive foes. 
 It may be remarked, too, that human laws 
 seldom take cognizance of faults of omission. 
 Their office is to prevent crime, the actual com- 
 mission, that is, of ofFences ; and having done 
 this they are generally satisfied. And men
 
 Omission. 113 
 
 transfer their notions imperceptibly from human 
 laws to divine : and because those are usually 
 accounted good citizens and loyal subjects 
 who break none of the ordinances of a state, 
 although they may make no personal sa- 
 crifice for its advantage ; so they are satisfied, 
 that they are obeying God if they do not directly 
 violate His commandments, although they may 
 leave undone much which it is their duty to do. 
 Thus it is, that many pass through life, unaccused 
 of any serious offence, respected by their fellow- 
 men, not dissatisfied with themselves, who are 
 yet guilty daily of a large amount ot sin. They 
 are regular, decent, and honest. They neither 
 swear nor lie, break the sabbath, nor defraud or 
 defame their neighbours. They are chaste and 
 temperate, good-natured perhaps, and free from 
 any excess of pride or self-conceit. So far is 
 well. But their sins are sins of omission. They 
 do not love God, nor fear Him, nor seek His 
 honour and glory, nor pray to Him, nor study 
 His word, nor value and improve His sacra- 
 ments. They do not love their brethren for 
 His sake, nor give alms to the poor, nor comfort 
 the distressed, nor instruct the Ignorant, nor send 
 the Gospel to the heathen, nor employ their 
 
 1-3
 
 114 S^^^ of 
 
 influence and example to promote the welfare of 
 others. Or if they do some of these duties, 
 they neglect others ; and are therefore guilty of 
 sins of omission, probably without being con- 
 scious of their existence, or setting little weight 
 upon them, if they are. 
 
 Give me your attention then, my brethren, as 
 we proceed to observe the light in which sins of 
 omission are exhibited in Scripture ; and then to 
 particularise some of this class of sins into which 
 we may be most in danger of falling. 
 
 The well-known parable, from which I have 
 taker^ the text, clearly teaches us the sinfulness 
 of sins of omission in the sight of God. The 
 lord, travelling into a far country, had entrusted 
 to one of his servants " five talents, to another 
 two, and to another one, to every man according 
 to his several ability." Two of them, having 
 each doubled his talents by trading, were re- 
 warded by their lord's praise on his return; 
 " Well done, good and faithful servant : thou 
 hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
 thee ruler over many things ; enter thou into the 
 joy of thy lord." The third servant, meanwhile, 
 had not misspent his talent on any positive sin : 
 he had not squandered it in riotous living ; nor
 
 Omission, 115 
 
 even lost it by mismanagement or neglect. He 
 had simply not used it. He " went and hid his 
 talent in the earth;" and had it, but nothing 
 more, to bring back to his master. He made 
 his fault worse indeed by his false and unjust 
 excuse : " Lord, I knew thee, that thou art an 
 hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, 
 and gathering where thou hast not strawed : and 
 I was afraid." But the only use his master made 
 of this speech was to convict him by it out of his 
 own mouth : and to show him, that, had this 
 been his lord's character, which it was not, this 
 should only have made him more careful to turn 
 his talent to the best advantage. " Thou oughtest 
 therefore to have put my money to the ex- 
 changers, and then at my coming I should have 
 received mine own with usury. Take therefore 
 the talent from him, and give it unto him which 
 hath ten talents. And cast ye the unprofitable 
 servant into utter darkness : there shall be weep- 
 ing and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 Such was our Lord's estimate of a sin, which 
 after all was but a sin of omission. A still more 
 awful proof of the sinfulness of such offences in 
 His sight is furnished by the same chapter. In 
 it our Saviour has been pleased to reveal to us a
 
 ii6 Sins of 
 
 glimpse, as it were, of the proceedings on the 
 judgment day; and to tell us, that "when the 
 Son of man shall come in His glory, and all His 
 holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon 
 the throne of His glory ; and before Him shall 
 be gathered all nations : and He shall separate 
 them one from another, as a shepherd divideth 
 his sheep from the goats ; and He shall set the 
 sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His 
 left." And while He addresses those on the 
 right hand, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, 
 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 
 foundation of the world j" He will say to those 
 on the left, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
 everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
 angels." And who are these wretched men, 
 driven out from the presence of God to dwell 
 with wickedness and misery for ever ? What is 
 their offence ? Are they blasphemers, adulterers, 
 drunkards, or extortioners ? Listen to the voice 
 of the Judge : " For I was an hungred, and ye 
 gave me no meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me 
 no drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not 
 in : naked, and ye clothed me not : sick and in 
 prison, and ye visited me not." For " inasmuch 
 as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye
 
 Omission. 1 17 
 
 did it not unto me." Their sins were sins of 
 omission : and for sins of omission, they " went 
 away into everlasting punishment." 
 
 No more can be required to prove the serious 
 character of these sins. But a glance at our 
 Lord's life, and that of His apostles, will show 
 that a Christian's obedience is not intended to be 
 a mere freedom from sins of commission. Our 
 blessed Saviour did no sin, neither was guile 
 found in His mouth. But He was a pattern of 
 active, as well as of passive virtues. He " went 
 about doing good."* Flis " meat was to do the 
 will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His 
 work."t His ministry was one continued series 
 of acts of mercy to the bodies and souls of men; 
 or, when He withdrew Himself for a time from 
 active life, it was to spend whole nights in prayer 
 and communing with God. And His Apostles 
 walked in His steps. It was not merely nega- 
 tive obedience, which left all and followed Him; 
 which resigned ease, and home, to preach the 
 riches of the Gospel of Christ; which cheerfully 
 underwent labour, persecution, martyrdom, that 
 God might be glorified and His kingdom enlarged. 
 *'Be ye followers of me," said one of them, 
 * Acts, X., 38. t Joh^* iv-> 34.
 
 1 1 8 Sins of 
 
 " even as I also am of Christ :"* but what hke 
 ness do those bear to their Lord, or to His 
 apostles, who, content with a mere abstinence 
 from positive sins, know nothing of the active 
 duties of which their life was composed ? 
 
 Such then are sins of omission in the sight of 
 God ; condemned already by the example of our 
 Lord and His teaching, and to be the grounds 
 of condemnation at the day of judgment. Surely, 
 then, dear brethren, we should seriously and 
 carefully examine into the existence of such sins 
 in ourselves ; and the rather, as by their very 
 nature they are not obvious, but are likely with- 
 out self-examination to escape the notice of con- 
 science, while they poison the very life of our 
 souls. 
 
 The following observations can be considered 
 only as partial aids to an inquiry, the objects of 
 which are as numerous as are a Christian's duties 
 under all the various circumstances of life. Sins 
 of omission may be considered with reference 
 both to our duties towards God, and our duties 
 towards our fellow-creatures. 
 
 If we turn to our relations towards God, the 
 first duty v/e ov/e to Him involves a sin of omis- 
 * I Cor., xi., I.
 
 Omission, 119 
 
 slon scarcely less common than it is important. 
 " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," said our 
 Lord, repeating and enforcing a command of the 
 old covenant, " with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the 
 first and great commandment."* And yet how 
 many well-meaning and respectable people know 
 nothing of this love, which is the sum and sub- 
 stance of all religion ! How many, who are in 
 earnest to serve God and save their souls alive, 
 have but a weak, trembling spark of love in their 
 'hearts; and suffer the rising flame to be smothered 
 by too much carefulness about the things of this 
 life ! I will not ask you now to seek for affec- 
 tions wholly v/eaned from earth, and glov/ing 
 with heavenly ardour — a precious gift, which 
 God vouchsafes but to some few accordino; to 
 the good pleasure of His will. But do we love 
 Him so much, that we dread to do anything to 
 displease Him, that we desire to know His will 
 and do it, and delight to commune with Him in 
 prayer, in His v/ord, in His sacraments ? Have 
 we any desire " to depart and be with Christ, 
 which is far better r" f Or are we even resigned, 
 and ready to break the tics of earth at His bid- 
 * Matt., xxii., 37, 38. t Philip., i., 23.
 
 I20 Sins of 
 
 ding, and without a murmur or disobedient 
 thought to give up our spirits into the hand of 
 our Father and Friend ? Can we, looking upon 
 our daily feelings, motives, and lives, say sincerely 
 and unreservedly, that we have chosen God for 
 our portion, have laid up our treasure in heaven, 
 and that where our treasure is, there is our 
 heart also ? Such ought at least to be our love 
 and its effects : and if we have it not, we have 
 a sin of omission to confess, repent, and amend, 
 with fervent prayer for the Spirit of love and 
 grace. 
 
 To fear God, again, is another duty ; the 
 beginning, or foundation of wisdom.* In this 
 the first Christians " walked, and in the comfort 
 of the Holy Ghost j"t and we, like them, are 
 to " perfect holiness in the fear of God." J Do 
 we do so ? Are we impressed with an abiding 
 sense of His presence, a feeling that His eye is 
 ever on us, and that " in Him we live and move 
 and have our being ? "§ Are His holiness, justice, 
 and truth, habitual convictions of our minds ; 
 and do we therefore walk circumspectly before 
 Him, dreading to offend Him, and above all 
 
 * Ps. cxi., lo. t Acts, ix., 31. 
 
 X 2 Cor., vii., I. § Acts, xvii., 28.
 
 Omissiofj, 121 
 
 things seeking to approve ourselves in His sight? 
 Let us put these questions also seriously to our- 
 selves ; recollecting that the apostolic exhor- 
 tation is made to us : " Wherefore we receivino- 
 a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have 
 grace whereby we may serve God acceptably 
 with reverence and godly fear : for our God is a 
 consuming lire."* 
 
 To descend somewhat more to particulars. 
 Prayer, — have we no sins ot omission to repent 
 on this head ? The duty is so repeatedly en- 
 forced both by our Lord's precept and example, 
 that all Christians must admit it. Yet how 
 many neglect the assembling themselves together 
 for public worship ! How many, who do go to 
 the house of God, go but from habit, or chiefly 
 to hear the sermon, and think little of the 
 prayers ! How many prove this, by coming 
 late, and by irreverent postures and evident inat- 
 tention, when there ! And how distracted are 
 our prayers, how cold and spiritless ! Worldly 
 and even wicked thoughts creep in where God 
 jshould be ; and that, not altogether from human 
 linfirmity, but from want of care, serious prepa- 
 I'ation and self-control. And if we turn from 
 * Heb., xii., 27 — 29. 
 
 M
 
 12 2 Sins of 
 
 the church to the closet, must we not say 
 (strange as the words may sound), that there are 
 many Christians v/ho seldom pray at all? Others 
 use prayer as a form, and feel it as a burden : 
 they are v/earied with the length of their devo- 
 tions, apt to hurry them over, glad of an excuse 
 to omit them altogether. Few there are, who 
 have not occasion to mourn over coldness of 
 heart, wandering thoughts, and the want of a 
 devotional spirit. And fewer still who realise 
 the injunctions of God's word " to continue 
 instant in prayer ; " * and to " pray vv^ithout ceas- 
 ing :"t who pray, that is, often and earnestly, 
 and live always in a prayerful frame of mind. 
 
 Another sin of omission is the neglect of 
 God's word. In an age of reading, the Bible 
 is little read. Multitudes never search the 
 Scriptures. Many more find it a weariness, 
 and prefer to gain their knowledge even of 
 spiritual things from the works of human 
 authors. Others, again, read formally, without 
 meditation, prayer, and application of its truths 
 to themselves ; and consequently without relish 
 and without profit. My brethiren, this cannot 
 be ri2;ht. Even without a command it must 
 * Rom.3 xii., 12. | i Thess., v., 17.
 
 Omission, 1 2 j 
 
 be our duty to study reverently, carefully and 
 devoutly, the revelation of God's will which 
 He has vouchsafed us. It must be a sin to 
 neglect the treasures of heavenly wisdom, v/hich 
 His love has disclosed to us. And the sin 
 becomes more sinful, because it is disobedience 
 to Him, who has said, " Search the Scriptures ; 
 they are they which testify of me."* Let us 
 never think ourselves clear of a sin of omission 
 on this head, till we can sincerely affirm some- 
 what in David's spirit : " Thy testimonies are 
 my meditation. How sweet are Thy words 
 unto my taste ! yea, sweeter than honey to my 
 mouth ! Through Thy precepts I get under- 
 standing : therefore I hate every false way." f 
 
 Another source of sins of omission is neglect 
 of the Sacraments. Of the one, indeed, we 
 have already been made partakers ; but it is our 
 duty, on the one hand, to realise and be thankful 
 for our privileges in it ; that we have been born 
 again of water and the Spirit; that we have been 
 baptized into Christ's body ; that we have been 
 buried with Him in baptism ; that by Him we 
 have been made children of God, and conse- 
 quently, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven : 
 * John, v., 2)9' t Ps. cxix., 99, 103, 104.
 
 124 ^^^^^ ^f 
 
 and on the other, never to forget the solemn 
 promise and profession we then made, and with- 
 out performing which we despise our birthright 
 and lose the blessing ; that we are vowed soul 
 and body to God ; that we are His sworn 
 soldiers, bound to resist the world, the flesh, and' 
 the devil, pledged to believe His promises, and 
 obediently to keep His commandments unto our 
 life's end. 
 
 Of the other sacrament what shall we say : 
 On the night before He suffered for our sins, 
 our Lord made it His last command : " Do this 
 in remembrance of Me;"* and to its right 
 performance He attached many spiritual bless- 
 ings. And yet multitudes who bear His name, 
 never communicate in His Supper at all : others 
 go rarely, and, in truth, unwillingly : and others 
 neglect the due and fitting preparation of the 
 heart. All alike have disobeyed Christ, and 
 left undone what they ought to have done. 
 
 Such are some of our sins of omission in our 
 duties towards God. Our duties towards our 
 fellow-creatures would furnish us with matter 
 for much self-examination. But a few words at 
 present must suffice on this head. Of the love 
 * Luke, xxii,, 19.
 
 Omission, 125 
 
 of our neighbour, and the general failure of 
 fulfilling it, we have had several occasions of 
 speaking before. 
 
 The prevalence of sins of pride and vanity, 
 of anger, uncharitableness, and an unforgiving 
 spirit, show too plainly that we do not love our 
 neighbour as ourselves. And when such feelings 
 are wanting, how much indifference there is 
 towards the wants and welfare of others ! The 
 very sentiment of brotherly love is well-nigh 
 extinguished in many breasts by the influence of 
 selfishness and pride. 
 
 But further, we are to " love," we must re- 
 member, " not in word, neither in tongue, but 
 in deed and in truth." * Let us ask ourselves, 
 therefore, whether we do as much good to others 
 as we might ? God has purposely placed the 
 temporal and eternal interests of His creatures 
 in some degree in each other's hands, not only 
 to try their patience, faith, and perseverance, 
 but also to give us an opportunity of imitating 
 Him, by doing good both to the souls and bodies ' 
 of our brethren. There are the poor to be 
 assisted with food and clothing, the sick to be 
 visited, the ignorant to be instructed, provision 
 * I John, iii., 18. 
 
 M3
 
 1 26 Sins of 
 
 to be made for the worship of God, and the 
 preaching of His word in our own land, as well 
 as for sending His Gospel to our countrymen 
 abroad and to the heathen : duties these, worthy 
 the efforts of those who desire to follow the 
 Lord Jesus : and duties which not only will be 
 rewarded by God's free mercy for our Saviour's 
 sake, but the neglect of which will, we have 
 seen, condem.n us at the judgment-day. The 
 mode, indeed, in which they are to be performed 
 by each, and the measure, will vary with the 
 circumstances of age, place, rank, ability, health, 
 and the like : but let us candidly put the question 
 to ourselves, whether we, under all such cir- 
 cumstances, are doing as much as we can, or 
 ought ? Are we practising self-denial in doing 
 good ; and making sacrifices of our money, 
 pleasures, time and ease, to the benefit of our 
 brethren ? 
 
 But besides our alms, our influence is to be 
 employed for the benefit of others. Are we 
 careful to throw it wholly into the scale of 
 religion and virtue ? Do we endeavour to bring 
 others into the path we would tread ourselves, — 
 our relations, our servants, our friends ? What- 
 ever may be a man's station, if he is in earnest^
 
 Omission, 127 
 
 his personal influence must have weight ; and 
 we therefore omit a duty, if we do not exert this 
 influence aright. The most powerful part, how- 
 ever, of influence is example : and v/e must not 
 neglect to inquire of ourselves, whether we have 
 turned this talent to the best account. If our 
 example has been such as to lead others into sin, 
 we are guilty of a sin of commission : if it has 
 not been such as to lead and encourage them in 
 the ways of well-doing, we are guilty of a sin of 
 omission. The question must be answered by 
 our own consciences. 
 
 These remarks may serve in some degree to 
 show us, how vastly sins of omission must swell 
 the account of our offences against God. By 
 creation and by the purchase of Christ's blood 
 we are v/holly His ; and our whole service, both 
 of body and soul, is justly due to Him. If we 
 had done all that is commanded us, we should 
 be "unprofitable servants." Whenever, there- 
 fore, we do less, we must be sinful servants. 
 Let us view our bygone lives, dear brethren, in 
 this light 'y and in the numberless omissions we 
 perceive in them, let us learn to know our 
 sinfulness, and humbly and sorrowfully to de- 
 plore it before God. Let it be our sincere con-
 
 128 Sins of 
 
 fession, — the very voice of our heart, — " We 
 have left undone those things which we ought 
 to have done, and there is no health in us.'* 
 And in faith let us plead the perfect obedience 
 of Him who is alone our Righteousness, that 
 His merits may be accepted for our unworthi- 
 ness, and that we may be pardoned and restored 
 through Him. 
 
 And with this repentance, or rather as part ot 
 this repentance, let us steadfastly purpose to 
 lead henceforth a life of more active, careful 
 obedience ; endeavouring by God's grace to 
 supply the omissions which self-examination has 
 detected, " pressing toward the mark for the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
 Jesus,"* and aiming at that glorious end pro- 
 posed by Christ Himself, " Be ye perfect, even 
 as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."t 
 
 In carrying out this holy purpose it will be 
 necessary, first, to search the Scriptures, that 
 v/e may know " what is that good, and accept- 
 able, and perfect will of God. "J Sins of omis- 
 sion often arise from ignorance : but it is a wil- 
 ful ignorance, for God has revealed His will to 
 us. Let us take His word, then, as our daily 
 * Philip., ill., 14. t Matt., v., 48. % Rom., xii., 2
 
 Omission, 129 
 
 nionltor, our adviser and guide. It will instruct 
 us in our duties, which are God's ways ; and 
 amidst all the darkness with which our igno- 
 rance, our indolence, and our passions enc©m- 
 pass us, will be a " lamp unto our feet, and a 
 light unto our path."* 
 
 Secondly, we must firmly resolve, whatever 
 we find to be God's will to do it. As He is 
 holy, and we corrupt and sinful, it cannot be 
 but that His commands will often be displeasing 
 to flesh and blood. And thus much, indeed, 
 we are plainly forewarned of it. For though, in 
 the end, the ways of heavenly wisdom will be 
 found ways of pleasantness, and all her paths 
 are peace, yet to walk in them, we must take up 
 our cross and follow Jesus ; we must deny our- 
 selves ; we must unsparingly cut oiF every sin, 
 though it be to us as a right hand or a right eye. 
 And this will require not resolution merely, but 
 watchfulness. When Satan cannot persuade us 
 to wailful disobedience, he deceives us with false 
 excuses : and if we listen to him, he will find 
 abundant reasons why we should leave undone 
 each unwelcome duty, which conscience has 
 learnt from the word of God we ought to do. 
 * Ps. cxix., 104.
 
 130 Sins of 
 
 Let us, then, dear brethren, having counted the 
 cost, aim at a simple, self-denying conformity to 
 God's will, that "not being forgetful hearers'' 
 only, " but doers of the work," by Him we 
 may be "blessed in our deed."^^ 
 
 And lastly, let us pray more and more ear- 
 nestly for the grace of the Holy Spirit. This is 
 the beginning, the continuance, and the ending 
 of all repentance and amendment. With refer- 
 ence to the class of sins before us, we must pray 
 for light to discover our omissions, for grace to 
 mourn for them, for guidance and strength to 
 supply them. We must learn from David the 
 petitions which rose from a willing, but humble 
 heart, so readily to his lips : " Teach me, O 
 Lord, the way of thy statutes ; and I shall keep 
 it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I 
 shall keep Thy law : yea, I shall observe it with 
 my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of 
 Thy commandments : for therein do I delight. 
 Let my heart be sound in Thy statutes, that 
 I be not ashamed. '"'t 
 
 You will observe, my brethren, that the sins 
 which have formed the subject of our medita- 
 tions this Lent, are for the most part such as are 
 
 * Jam., i., 25. t Ps. cxix., 33—35* ^^'
 
 Omission. * 131 
 
 little regarded by the world. Sins of the temper, 
 of pride and vanity, of the thoughts, of the 
 tongue, and still less sins of omission, except in 
 their more aggravated forms, are scarcely noticed 
 by human codes of morality. We have seen, 
 that tried by the touchstone of revelation, and in 
 the eye of God, they are sins, staining the soul 
 with guilt, and written in the book of recording 
 justice to witness against us at the day of judg- 
 ment. And every sin, v/e must bear in mind, 
 is not only ruinous to the soul, but disobedience 
 to our Creator, rebellion against our King, aggra- 
 vated ingratitude to our Benefactor, Father, and 
 Redeemer, and the faithless breach of our own 
 solemn and repeated vows. 
 
 Two reflections are, therefore, forced upon us 
 by the review of the whole subject. 
 
 First, how deep, how extensive is man's sin- 
 fulness ! The world's wickedness is a proverb in 
 the world ; and few pass through life without 
 daily increasing experience of its truth. But the 
 sins we have been considering are over and above 
 all this. They are found where the world finds 
 none. They are the darkness of its sunshine, 
 the bitterness of its sweets, the rottenness of its 
 fairest fruits. They lead us into the heart j and
 
 1^2 * Sins of 
 
 show us, that besides the vices that corrupt, and 
 the crimes that disgrace the outward form of 
 society, the taint of sin extends to the very core; 
 and that it is true of each child of Adam, as it 
 was of God's people in the prophet's day, "The 
 whole head is ^ick, and the whole heart faint. 
 From the sole of the foot even unto the head 
 there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and 
 bruises, and putrefying sores."* Surely this 
 thought, dear brethren, should humble us indeed. 
 Surely it should infuse in us the bitterness of 
 self-condemnation, the earnestness of true re- 
 pentance. Surely our confession should be 
 that of the convinced and sorrowing patriarch, 
 " Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust 
 and ashes. "t 
 
 But when we turn from man to God, how 
 does the view we have taken of our sinfulness 
 magnify Flis exceeding mercy! Disobedient are 
 we, yet He pitied us ; rebellious, yet He visited 
 us ; ungrateful, yet His Son has died for us ; 
 corrupt and sin-stained, even to the hidden re- 
 cesses of the heart, yet for us, His ruined, fallen 
 creatures, the whole Godhead has interposed; 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in mysterious 
 * Isaiah, i., 5,6. t Job, xlii., 6.
 
 Omission. ijj 
 
 union, have wroug-ht out for us a miracle of sal- 
 vation. Where sin has abounded, grace still 
 more abounds. God's mercy is greater than the 
 greatness of our corruption. Our iniquities are 
 all but infinite ; but He is infinite who died for 
 them. Deep as is the stain of our guilt, yet 
 "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all 
 sin."* Who can worthily "praise the Lord 
 for His goodness, or for His wonderful works to 
 the children of m.en ?"t Not men, nor angels, 
 nor the myriad voices of the host of heaven. 
 Hereafter, dear brethren, we may raise a fitter 
 strain, if by faith and patient continuance in 
 well-doing "we hold fast the confidence and the 
 rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." J 
 Meanwhile let us remember, that the m^ost ac- 
 ceptable return we can make to our God is to 
 embrace the salvation which His love has pro- 
 vided. He willethnot the death of a sinner, but 
 that all men should be saved and come to the 
 knowledge of the truth : and in the repentance, 
 faith, and holiness of those for whom He died, 
 the Saviour "sees of the travail of His soul, and 
 is satisfied." Let. such be our oblations then, 
 my brethren, such our thanksgiving. Let our 
 * 1 John, i., 7. t Ps. cvii., 8. + Heb., iii., 6 
 
 N
 
 134 Sins of Omission, 
 
 offering be a contrite heart. Let the prayer of 
 faith rise up as incense to Plis throne. Let our 
 daily anthems be the increasing purity, charity, 
 and godlincs's of our lives ; and let us henceforth 
 present and dedicate ourselves, our souls and 
 bodies, " a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto 
 God, v/hich is our reasonable service."* 
 
 * Rom., xii., i. 
 
 THE en:d. 
 
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