THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES "^^ L. >K^ ^^^ / L gty^ 1 ^A ^4^ ^ '"^ ^,,1 LITTLE SINS. RF.V. Ar-EXANDEU CALLOCH GTtOSAUT KIRST UMTED PRKSBYTERIAN CHLIBCII, ICr.VROSS. " To live by law, Aclins; tlie law we live by "ithuut fear. And, because rijibt is riftlit, to follow risbl. Were wisilom in the scorn of conseiyicnce." " So I, perplexed, on life's tumultuous way, « here evil powers too oft my soul enslave, Aloiis thy ocean. Death, all pensive stray. And ihink of shores thy further billows Uve. And slad were I to liear the boatman's cry, Wliich to his shadowy bark iny sieps should call, To woe and weakness heave my latest sigh. And erase to combat where so oft I fall." V. ' Dearer visions show ti;e gesture of a God who deigns to hide Traits divine in homely vesture at the peasant's fireside; Kaihonis secrets wiihout asking, sees the thoughts coi.fessed 10 none; Heavenly largesse ends His masking, men discern Him when He's' gone."— "Passion Flo«ers." "Plate sin wiih gold."- "Lear," IV (J. PRINTED FOB PRIVATE CIRCULATIOiN 1863. TRIFLES. • Trickling from the mountain height, througli the beech roots etealing. See a thread of silver light sunbeams are revealing ; Drop by drop it gathers fast, never resting, never, Till it swells and (lashes forth in a glorious river. .lust a look may waken tlioughts full of proud resentment — Just a look may fill the soul with a glad contentment ; Little prayers of children fair by their mother kneeling. Touch a worn and weary heart with a childlike feeling. But a trifle seems a word all unkindly spoken, Yet the life-harp waileth low for a gold string broken ; But a trifle seems a smile on a kind face beaming, Vet a faint heart groweth strong "neath its gentle gleaming." "The lesser lights alone are those which kever suffer an i.'clipse." — Helps' " Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd." "He that is without sin among you, let liiin first cast a stone.'' — Jesl's, in SI, John viii. 7. TO THE MEJIHEKS, 'young men and young women,' rUESENT AND FORMER, OF HIS 'bible classes,' IS INSCRIBED THIS SMALL BOOK, BY THEIR PASTOR AND FRIEND. " Ami the very God of peace f anctify you wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame- les.s unto the coining of our Lord Jesus Christ."—! Thess. v. 23. A. 1!. G. 837623 PREFATORY NOTE. /m^T is my intention, "if the Lord will," [d ^ to print lialf-a-dozen or thereby of H^ small books on the subjects announced €J® at close of the present. (See fly-leaf.) ^ I do not know that I should have selected for the first in the proposed series the following, in preference to others of the many ' sermons ' preached in the ordinary course of my ministry ; but having been repeatedly asked for it, I have at last consented to give it (in common with the remainder) the intentionally limited circu- lation of a private impression. It may be stated here, though it emerges in the discourse itself, that it was an n l'KEFAT()l;Y NOIK. ' Action ' Seruum, Avhicli af^'uiu, lor the sake of Eng'li.sli liiciids A\liom it may reach, it may Le explained, is tlie sermon that immediately precedes the dispensation, in Scotland, of The SrrrEii. I chose the text, as I have done others similar upon other occasions — advisodly. I believe that in our Avish to be very orthodox, in oiu' timorousnoss of heres}', it is possible to err egi'egiously in the selection of texts for such seasons ; and, indeed, ordinarily from Sabbath to Sabbath. I have no syin- pathy with the labovicjus ingeniiity (or childishness*) which snips off a vocable and calls it God's Word, or searches out odd, out-of-the-way, fantastic "sensation" bits of Holy Scripture, not "live wm-ds long." Motley and cap-and-bells on the fool is sad enough, but a hundredfold sadder f»n the minister of Jesus Christ. Kcitlier * Perliaps our vernacular " bairnlineas " better ex- presses the tiling. For a well-put statemeiu of this, sec Notices of the late Rev. Henry Angus, by Dr. Andrew Thomson (Memoir, pp. 71, 72. 18(jl). PREFATOUY NOTE. 7 Avould I for one moment iindervalrio tlio blessed commonplaces of the Gospel, as contained in the massive doctrinal argu- ments of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, or enshrined in the pathetic story of the Evangelists. Nor -\voidd I miss the tones in His house and at His table — as of the chiming of silver bells — of the old familiar texts. " God forlid.''' Yet I apprehend that the very familiarity of oiir people (in Scotland) with these, blunts the edge of impression, insomuch that on hearing the well-known -\^'ords they are instinctively shaped into given formulas, or recal ah-eady- heard * Sermons ; ' and it is assumed — no doubt often most incorrectly — that they know all about them. Languor is inevitable thereupon. It has seemed therefore to me ad- visable to — occasionally, at any rate — select less obvious forth-setting of the same GEEAT TrviTTiis, and by the wile of imex- pectedness arrest and sustain attention. It will be foimd that it is no "hard thing," and that it demands no shallow allegorizing, 8 PKEFATOIiY ^'OTK. 710 morbid spiritualizing, to Lriiig' out of ■well-nigh anj- text (not Leiug merely liis- toric) the "great .salvation." For the Gospel surroimds, as an atmosphere, "the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms," as well as the New Testament. It may be tliat these preliminary words were unneeded ; but I was anxious to enun- ciate a (to me) important principle on which I have been wont to act, and of which tlio present ' Sermon ' is at once an example and coniii'mation. If I had not -sAished to give what was sought, I might liave interwoven with my own plain hodden-grey the "needlework" in thi-ead of gold of the elder di\dncs, Church and Pui-itan. I delight to sit, in lowhest place, at their feet, as a learner. Tliey arc my daily, almost hourly com- panions and coimsellors. If my memory has any treasures, it is tlieu' spoils. I know, too, some who have discoui'scd very plea- santly upon my text. There are Wilcocks, John Ilarmar (after Beza), and Trapp, PKEFATOJtY NOTK. V Dovo, and Guild, and John Cotton, Eo- botliam, and Thomas Ager, Durluini, and Collinges, Sandys, Jackson, Ainsworth, Hutcliins, and many others, earlier and later. As it is, I have culled some choice sentences from them, and from kindi-ed soiu'ces, as foot-notes. Except in these, the ' Sermon ' appears as nearly as possible as it was j)reachod. It had been easy to make it longer and larger. I have tried to bestow sufficient thought to make it brief, and still say what I had to say. It had been easy also to have turned it into an 'Essay,' but I have no idea of shunning the yet- aUeged "fooUsIuiess^^ of preaching. Hence I have retained the original form of a sjjoh'n discourse, wi-itten currcnte calamo in the given week — as, alas! all working clergy's pro- ductions must be. One sighs o' times for a little "learned leisure" to think out what's in one ; and yet, after all, it were perhaps to gain a loss to be able to spend precious days over the turn of sentences, rhythm of words, tricks of rhetoric. I will let quaintly-sage 10 rnEl-ATOlIY NOTE. Dr. Jolm Collinges, of Norvsicli, speak of this in a foot-note.-' It may be proper to mention that the present excellent Bishop of Lincoln (Jack- son) has written an unpretending and beau- tiful little treatise called "Little Sins." If it be rather "milk ('pap') for babes," than "strong meat for men of full ago," it has the merit of being the "sincere ('unmixed') milk " of the Word. Isaac Mauduit's ' ' Little Sins" (1710) I have not been fortunate enough to Imp upon. * " For my style it was the last of my study. My opinion always was, what Augustine calls diligens veglentia was the best diligence, as to that. While I was yet a very young man, I had learned out of him that it was no solecism in a preacher to use ossum for as ; for, saith he, an iron key is better than one made of gold, if it will better open tlie door, for that is all the u.se of the key. I had learned out of Hierom that a gaudry of phrases and words in a pulpit is but signitm insipieutia^ Tlie words of a preacher, saith he, ought pungere von piilpure, to prick the heart, not to smooth and coax. The work of an orator is too precarious for a uiinister of the Gospel. Gregory observed tliat our Saviour liath not styled us the sugar but tiie salt of the earth ; and Augus- tine observeth that though Cyprian in one epistle showed rUEFATOllY NOTK. 11 May TiiK Master be pleased to use my little Look to do a little good. I know it A\ill 1)0 read by those wlio love me, and A\ kom I love very dearly. May He give iis all His grace to ''cleanse oiu-selves from all iniquity," and so, in the words of lovaLle Sir Henry Yelverton, ^^ give us and forgive us much."-'' A. B. G. \st Manse, Kinross, December lOth, 1862. much of a florid orator, to show he coulil do it, yet lie never would do so any more, to show he would not. The study of words, the right placing of tlieni for then- better chiming, &c., I always thought a puerile and pedantic thing, fitter for a school-hoy than a minister of the (iospel. Honest souls, when they come to hear the Word, do not come to see ' reeds shaken with the wind ' of ostentation and vain-glory, nor yet to see men ' clothed with the soft raiment' of fine expression and phrases (which for the most part, like such clothes, have least etlicacy to warm a soul or keep it in any religious heat) ; they come to hear a prophet, yea, more than a prophet — a man that shall reveal the mind and will of God to them. To me the most tunable tongues in pulpits always ring most awake." — The lutcrcutirses of Divine Love. (Ho, 1683.) To the Reader. *"To the Header," prefi.xed to Philips' "Godly and Learned Sermons." (4to, 1607.) "The trecR of the forost lield a polcmu Parliament, wheiein they consulted of the innumerable wrongs which the Axe had done them. They therefore made an act that no tree hIiouUI hereafter lend the Axe an helve on pain of heing cut down. Tin" Axe travels up and down the forest, begs wood of the Ci:dar, Oak, Ash, Elm, even of the Poplar. Not one would lend him a chip. At last ho desired so much as would serve him to cut down the briars and bushes, alleging that such shrubs as they, did fuck away the juice of the ground, and hinder the growth and obscure the glory of the fair and goodly trees. Hereon they were all con- tent to allord him so much. lie pretends a thorough reformation, but behold a sad deformation. For when he had got his helve down went both Cedar, Oak, Ash, Elm, and all that did stand in his way. Such are the subtle reaches of sins and sinful men. Give but a little advantage in their fair promises to remove the troubles of the body, and they will cut down the soul also. Therefore, obsta principiis, crush the cockatrice in the egg- refuse all iniquity at the first, in what extenuation of quantity or colour of quality soever it bo olfered. For if Satan cannot get leave for his whole army of lusts, yet he will beg hard for his weak ones— his "little ones" — sins of weakness and infirmity, which, if once admitted, will soon unbolt the doors of the heart, let in all the rest of that company, and so make a surprisal of the soul and endanger it to all eternity." (whose "Works," edited with loving and scholarly carefulness by my excellent friend and coadjutor in Nichol's " Puritan Divines," the Rev. Thomas Smith, of Edinburgh, every one who would see Souih's impossibility of " aanctijled wit," as well as amazing ingenuity of illustration, combined with quaint yet searching exhibitions of " the great sal- vation," will instantly possess himself of.) LITTLE STl^S. " Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil tlie vines: for our vines have tender grapes." — Solomon's Song ii. 15. ^^N one of liis finest poems, "Gertrude of "Wyoming," Campbell commits a strange anachronmn in respect of cli- mate. Forgetting that the valley in which the darlv tragedy he celebrates is in the blealc and shaggy nplands of Pennsylvania, he introduces, if I err not, the condor wheeKng over its blood-reddened cliff — the flamingo flaming with purple wing through the reeds — the crocodile laving its mailed length in the river — the palm tossing its plume in tlie glades ; none of which by any possibiUty could be found beneath such an 14 L1TTM-: SINS. iron slcj'. Curiously enough, pxnc-tly similar slips occur in the Avritings of tlio -world's greatest minds, as Shakspearo, INIilttin, Bacon, Sir Thomas lintwne. Then' arc no such slips, even the slightest, from Loginning to end of the W this prolimiuary remark now, and in the present relation, my friends, because the words from which I am at this time to address you, present one of a thousand instances of the invariable, the infallible accuracy of fact and descrij)tion, even in little points of natural history, of the Bible — an accuracy and infallilnlit}^ the more ob- servable in tlu^ present case, as my text and parallel passages were long impugned, with much insolent boasting; and not definitely \andicated imtil recent years. Infidelity sought to raise the "loud laugh" against the AVord of God from such passages, because "the fox" and "the vine" are therein introduced into Syria, centuries Ijcfore, as was alleged, either was known there. Infidelity maintained, quoting Ho- Ml-iMO sixt;. 1;") rudotus, and for long triuiupliantly, that neitlier was tlie grape-bearing vine nor the fox known in Syria or in Egypt till many luindred years subsequent to the so-called books of Moses and of Solomon. Hence, as you perceive, it was argued that the books bearing their venerable names were forgeries and impostiu*es, and had been cleverly written long posterior to the days of their pretended authors. The objection, it must be conceded, was a painfid if not a formidable one. Good men were sometimes not a little troubled about it ; and indeed had recourse to ex- planations more ingenious than ingenuous. It is only, as I have said, within the past few years comparatively that the truth has been discovered — re-covered. The explorers of Eg3-]^)tian antiquities, in the course of their researches among the ruins of the "old, old land," and in the east gcncrall}', disinterred a midtitude of " gallei'ies " and temples, even household walls, contemporary with the earliest Pharaohs, and so admit- in LITTLE SIXS. tedly long rt^-terior, not jwst-cr'ior, to Moses and Solomon ; witli therein and tliereou, to the ntter confutation and confusion of the scorner, pictured vivid-hued representations of trellised and festooned "vines," while peering through the bough-twisted fences is seen the sharp and mobile nose of the "fox," stealthily stealing toward its favourite repast. Various of those pictured slabs are in oiu- museums; and they have been faitlifully reproduced in the great works of AVilkinson and other Egyptologists. Ever since, infuh^lity has been silent upon this anachronism ('mistake in time') of Scriptiu-e; and not Moses or SoLmion, but Herodotus, found mistaken.* It is very gratif}dng to know this, and to know, generally and absolutely, that in like * Perhaps I should say the interpreters of Hero- dotus. I would not even whisper a syllable against the guileless, dearly chatty, " Father of History ;" and the weapon fetched from him is an argument from liis silence rather than from any positive statement; than which none is more preposterous, as might be shown by scores of examples. LITTLE SINS. 17 manner one by one of the ' blunders ' paraded by the scoffer are being tlius solved — tlissolved. Nor need we fear tliat, sooner or later, other remaining 'difficulties' will find like solution (dissolution), and empha- tically attest that "rr/^ Scripture is given by inspiration of God." Few things, I must repeat, are more satisfWng to a thoughtful incpiirer than this, and few things are more impressive. For what could be more impressive and even awful in its imiqueness than the absolute infallibility, down to the slightest "jot and tittle," of the oxe book among all the books of the world; in contrast with all others, even the wisest and truest ? My present ie-^i., then, my friends, is in exact accord with Oriental scenery and usage. A 'Sineyard" was a wonted appanage of a royal palace; and "the fox" was then and there, as now, the gi-eat depredator. So that literall}^, and not as a mere figure, the command would often be issued, '■'■Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that sjwil the B 18 LITTLE SINS. vines: for our vines have tender grape&P "What therefore these words sj-mbolize and teach — and I announce this at once without vindicating the exegesis as I might were I giving an exposition of the hook — is, that as an eastern "vineyai'd" is liable to the depredations of the fox, so the Church of Christ — which is again and again called " the vineyard of the Lord " — is exposed to dangers, to "spoilers," that demand equal soHcitndo and vigilance. I take it, that is the wider lesson of the text. Then within it there lies, I apprehend, this other thing, that tlie very apparent insignificance of the depredators calls for the keener care. Or, if we take the "vineyard" of each man's solitary soul given him of God to "keep " — another familiar metaphor of Scriptiu'e — then my text guards us against what I am wishful to speak of, what are called, or miscalled, "LITTLE SINS" — those stealthy trilles that work such un- LITTLE SIXS. 19 suspected havoc in the graces of the " child of God."« • The old divines {t'.g. Colliiiges and Guild) are very full on the "enemies" of "the Church" represented by "the foxes" They all somewliat miss the individual applicaiion. In my sermon I prefer bringing out most of all the latter ; but, indeed, injure the " vineyard," you injure the individual " vine ;" and so conversely. I would wish the two tlioughts to be combined. Let each of UB lay to heart that we can't in any degree un- spiritualize ourselves as individuals, without in that measure injuring the Church or congregation to which we belong. The vineyard consists of separate "vines," and the Church of separate "new-born" souls "planted in the house of the Lord." In the wider reference. Dr. Guild says, " Here we may behold the state of God's Church, that it shall never want enemies, both subtle foxes that will creep in among the vines to 'spoil ' them, and cruel boars out of the wilderness to waste and destroy them (Psalm Ixxx- 12). And therefore she should arm herself against both, and not think it uncouth although she be infested by both; being herein conform to her Head, who had both cruel enemies, wlio cried, ' Crucify, crucify,' and a crafty bosom-Judas who did betray his Master." (12mo, ICJS.) With the same application, Ager observes, " Therefore when tlie wild boar comes with his tusk and snout, as if he did think to pull down God out of His throne, or the fox by subtlety, let every man put to his shoulder that they may be taken and destroyed." (12mo, 1680.) 152 20 LITTLE SINS. I feel that here, my dear brethren and sisters in the Lord Jesns, Ave have a more than ordinarily fitting text for our Com- munion occasion. For it is palpable that the danger of you and me, and of God's professing people generally, is not of falling into gross or glaring ■\viclvedness. That were as if Aaron, with all his robes about him, had committed open "transgression" imder the sliadow of "the cloud of the glory," liftiiig up "the vail" to show it! But rather is our danger from those lesser, sHghter, more intangible sins symbolized by "the foxes, the little foxes." Oh! I can hardly conceive your absolutely profli- gate and heart -hardened offender taking his seat at oiu- table of the Lord ; but, inter- preting your experience by my own, I be- lieve not a few may at just such seasons find themselves — despondent, crushed, bruised — crying almost audibly out, ^^ groaning ^''^ through felt remaining sin, "vain thoughts," coldness, deadncss, unrealness, unspiritu- ahty, unlovingness — all the harassments LITTLE SINS. 21 spiritually of the "little foxes" to tlie keeper of " the vineyard." I purpose then, my friends, to speak at this time about "LITTLE SIXS,"* and to do so under these six particulars, as they lie plainly before us in the text: — J. Little sins are as really sinful as larger. They are "foxes." " 2'ake us the foxes." n. liitle sins are iiisidioHS. They arc ^^ little {axes." " Take us the fo.xes, the little foxes." III. Zittle sins as being sinful, and as being insidious, do damage. They " spoil the \inos." "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that sj^oil the vines." IV. Little sins do damage to -what is most precious in the vines. They devour " the grapes, the tender grapes." "Take us the foxes, the little foses, that spoil the vines ; for our vines have tender grapes.'" V. Little sins, as thus insidiously doing damage to what is most precious, are to be destroyed. The command is " Take us the foxes," (fee, ^'I. Little sins that are to be thus dealt with are to be carried to the Lord of the vineyard. You mark * We are the better, I imagine, of contracting our view of truth sometimes, ^lany fail from the vastness of their 22 LITTLE srxs. the roj'al charge, " Take rs the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the rines : for of u vines have tender grapes."* I. Little Sl^'s ake as keally sixful as LARGEii. They are "foxes." " Tah us the foxes y tow, my dear friends, as the old divines were wont to say that it was not the amount or perfection of grace, but the horizon. Bacon here supplies a pregnant observation: «' Nevertheless 1 shall yield that he that cannot contract the sight of his mind, as well as disperse and dilate it, tvanteth a great faculty." Our living George Herbert has finely said — " Britrlit verdure fringes the small desert -fountain, But barren sand tlie sea." "llundlity," in Tlie Vision of Prophecy and other I'liaiis. By Rev. James 1). Burns, 1858. " I am aware that expositors, more especially the Puritan divines, regard the "us" and the "our" as the condescending utterance of the Lord of the Vineyard (" Jesus Christ ") to His bride (" the Church "), as sharing with her the possession. Collinges, Durham, and others have pretty things in this view. I suspect it is a mistaken one. It is a truth, but as my venerated Puofessor, Dr. John Brown, was wont to say, not the truth taught in the passage. Ginsburg has "Catch us;" Burrowes, " Take us ;" Whitington, " Come, my love, let us go and take the ibxes." LITTLE SINS. 23 truth of it, that God regarded; so, in the other direction, it is not the quantity or extent of sin, but the sin He marks. No principle underlies, interpenetrates the Word of God more hvingly, more, so to speak, omnipresently than this — that sin is sin in the slenderest rootlet and fibre of it as really as when it has towered up a giant trunk, and flung out baleful boughs, and borne acciu'sed fruit. By the necessities of the case there is admeasured estimate and admeasiu'ed penalty and j)unishment. Our Father ^'remembers we are dust.^' But nothing is plainly revealed if this be not, that our holy God is a " consimiing fire " to all sin. There is forgiveness — plenteous, abundant ; but forgiveness does not change the character of the thing. It is sin that is forgiven. That man therefore mistakes, perilously' mistakes, who for a moment imagines that sin, any sin, apart from the " shed blood," carries with it less than wrath — ciu-se — a lost eternity. It were wise and well if, my brethren, we 24 LITTLE SIXS. more realized this. I believe it is because TTO don't realize it, and so lie dovm ni<^ht after night with only our larger sins con- fessed and placed beneath the i)urple cover- ing, that God's own very children are so visited "with uneasiness, and pangs of fear, and overshadowing of hope. Let us look at this in the light of the metaphor of m}' text. With what impatient scoiTi, then, would an eastern vineyard- keeper regard any one who, while he was laying his snares to "take" the "Httle" prowlers among his vines, were to piteously exclaim, "Oh! don't harm the i^oor Uittle' fox! How soft and silken its fui'! how bright its dark -glancing, long-lashed eye ! how playful and inteUigent its face ! how timid ! how shrinking ! how gentle ! how it piuTs and whirrs ! And how ' little ' it is ! Oh, sir ! such a beautiful < little ' creature can't reallj' do — very — much — damage! Spare it, do spare it!" The kceiicr would no doubt ansAver, "All true, perhaps, but I tell you the creature is a fox, and I know LITTLK SIXS. 2o that but for tliis ' little ' cunning beast (or creature if you will), yonder range of vinos had j-ielded fiftyfold more grapes to my master." In common sense the collocxuy -n'ould so end, with, perchance, more seurrile words; and the sly, fi-isky, fair "spoiler" be led off to its doom — to grin with bleached skidl against the vineyard gate, a trophy and a terror.* Exactly so, my fi-iends, ought we and must we regard sin — "little sins" or larger. Some of these it is possible to trick oxit and adorn and disguise, and give fair names to, so as that looked at they shall be very attractive, even beautiful ; have, as I may say, the silken fur and the sparkling eye, * " Foxes are famous," says good old Trapp, "for their craftiness, even to a proverb, as 'subtle as a fox.' '■ Astutavi vap'ido servans sub pectore vulpem' (Persius). Tbey are passing cunning to deceive those that hunt them— fei ailing tlu-m.selves s'lviph when there is nothing more subtle, and looking pitifully wlien taken in a snare, but it is only that they may get out. There is no irtisting to their looks," 26 LITTLE SINS. and the playfulness and the apparent timid innocence of the "little fox." But they are stiU. SINS, and it is they -v\-hieh do deadly damage to the vines. Hence my opening remark, "Little sins are as really s«"«/m^ as larger. They are 'foxes.'" My brethren, we recognize and act upon this in other things. Sad and strange that we should fail to do so in higher, I say we recognize it in other things; for who does not see that the tiniest flaw or fracture in a diamond vitiates the whole gem, he it a very Koh-i-noor — that the smallest streak or stain sets aside the marhle block of Carrara, that is like the diiven snow — that the shghtest spot or speck dims to rejection the whole poHshed lens — that the most insignificant leak is perilous? In these cases it will not arrest the verdict to allege the fault is so very small. Actual transactions estabhsh this. Once a famous ruby was offered to this country. The report of the crown jeweller was that it was the finest that he had ever V LITTLE SrNS. 27 seen or heard of, hut that one of its facets — one of the " Kttlc " cuttings of the face — was slightly fractured. The res'xlt was, that almost imisihle flaw reduced its value by thousands of pounds, and it was rejected fi-oni the regaha of England. Again : when Canova was about to commence his great statue of the great Napoleon, his keenly- observant eye detected a tiny red line rim- ning through the upper portion of the splendid block, that at infinite cost had been fetched from Paros, and he refused to lay a chisel on it. Once more : in the story of the early struggles of the elder Herschell, while he was working out the problem of gigantic specula or telescope lenses, you will find that he made scores upon scores ere he got one to satisfy him. A scratch like the slenderest spider- line sufiiced to vitiate what had cost him long weeks of toil and anxiety. Again: in the 'leak' of a ship, the measure of the ship to resist the shock of wave or the strain of wind is not its strongest but its weakest 28 LITTLE srxs. part."' The very perfection aimed at you will observe necessitated rejection of gem, and marble bloclv, and lens, and leaking timber. Even so, my dear friends, were Christianity a less holy thing — a thing that could abide compromise — then what are called "littlo sins" (the larger and gi-osser being acknowledged) might be i)assed over, "winked at." But as it is, Christianity being the religion of an all-holy and all- * The tremendous issues contingent on the attention or non-attention to the slightest " leak," was illustrated in a recent incident in the present deplorable civil war in America. One of the Federal war-ships liad what seemed a merely superficial " leakage," and, tliough noticed, it was not thought necessary to countermand the order that she should take part in an approaching conflict. At the crisis of the encounter it was found that the sea-water had got oozing into tlie gunpowder magazine, and rendered nearly the whole useless. On that powder hung victory or defeat. The "little leak" went uncarcd for, and an in- ferior force won. . . . With the wider application to The Chukch, Durham observesof" little sins": "The direc- tion is amplified to remove an objection. Say they, all heresies and all lieretics are not equal ; some, compara- tively, arc 'little' to be regarded, and it's cruelty to rneddle with tliese that seem to profess fair. No. saith He, take them all, even the 'little foxes ;' for though they LITTLE SIXS. 29 rig-liteous God, and tlio destiny of each believer being a lieaven whither nothing — nothing — nothing — that " dotiletli ' ' can come — absolute and not relative, universal and not exceptional holiness is what the Gospel demands. All this was shadowed out under the elder economy ; and supremely under the new, in the immaculate holiness of the " Holy One," the " One Iloly." It was shadowed out under the elder economy. Thus I tiuli to the record, and find that in the Temple every " little " ornament even, of the mighty struc- ture that crowned the cliffs of Zion was "/io/^" to the Lord. Not the great courts and iimer shrines and pillared halls merely, but all. Not a carven pomegranate, not a be little, yet they are foxes, though they be not of the grossest kind. As all scandals in facts are not alike, yet none is to be dispensed with, so they are, saith He, ' foxes,' and corrupt others. For a ' little leaven will leaven the whole lump.' Often small like schisms or heresies, such as the Novatians and Donatists, &c., have been ex- ceedingly defacing to the beauty of the Church. There- fore, saith He, hunt and take them all." (4to, l(>(J'i J 30 LITTLE SlJfS. bell, silvern or golden, Lut was " holy." The table and its lamps, with flower of silver light, tent and staves, fluttering curtain and ascending incense, altar and sacrifice, breast- plate and ejihod, mitre and gem-clasped girdle, wreatheu chains and jewelled hang- ings — over all was inscribed Holy, while within, in the innermost shrine, where God manifested Himself above the mercy-seat, was TiiK Holiest. Thus the utter holiness of that God with whom they hud to do was by every detail impressed upon heart and conscience of ancient Israel. Then, again, what was thus shadowed out and prefigm-ed in the Old Testament received absolute ful- filment and substantiation in the New Testament, or imder the Gospel. S}Tribol and sliadow, type and emblem, ceremonial and "cry" of patriarch and prophet and Psalmist, pointed forward to OxE who should incarnate hoUness ; and Jesus Christ came as such antitype. Yes ! my friends, the Gospel is a Clirist-like thing — it is absolutely and awfully "h(%." It knows LITTLE SINS. 31 notliing of accommodation, nothing of lluc- tuatiou. It pronounces "little sins" to be as really sinful as larger. They are "foxes." Cover them up, disguise, name them as men will, in the sight of God they are still sins. I must dwell upon this; for it is neetKul that we realize om- danger of so disguising sin as to persuade ourselves the "wild beast" is but a "little fox," a mere furred and purring, beautiful, plaj'fid, deft and innocent muncher of grass, and perchance at a time of " tender grapes !" It is astonish- ing how the " evil heart of xinbelief," or "remaining sin" in the changed heart, throws deceiving glamour over what else were "sin, and only sin." Let us pause a few moments over this. How Hke a "wild beast" would it glare upon us were there lying on our conscience tlie "damned spot" of miu-der! It woidd not "out."* The "red cincture" icouU * " Out, damned spot ! out, I say." — Macbeth V. 1. " All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand." — Ibid. 32 LITTLE SIXS. " clasp our wrists." But let it take the form of '* evil spealdng," by -o-hich a reiiiitation is stabbed, a character miu-dered — and then it is only a "little sin," a smug, be-furred, be-combed, be-scented, be-ribboned, be- lady-loved, "little fox!" And yet, what a solemn, aye awful thing, this "little sin" that brings no sting is, in His estimate ! IIow near akin to mui'der it is ! that murder that whitens to ashen pallor. Listen to the Law of the Lord: "Thou shalt not receive a false report" (Exodus xxiii. 1). Again, "AVho shall abide in Thy holy hiUs ? He that back- biteth not ('biteth not back') Mith his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbom-, nor TAKETir rp a repi-oach against liis neigh- bour" (rsalm XV. 2, 3). Mark! "taketh up" — not originating, not devising, not " framing " it ; but " talcing up " the thing that should be let lie in its own nastiness, and giving it feet to run, wings to Hy : "taking it up," and wiping it, and giving it res2)ectability ! The man who does that LITTLE SINS. 33 '■^little sin" violates the law of God, and, unpardoned, never can dwell " in the holy hill." Oh! when will the bringer — the stealthy, whispering ••' " takcr-np " of the "evil report" — be frowned down, frowned out of Christian society, whether the genteel, lisping " Have you heard ?" or " They say," or the vulgar street gossip ?f Why should it not 1)0 so ? AVhy should anything of this sort be regarded as a "little sin" that has the express ban of Christ's Gospel ? "As the north wind driveth away rain, so an angry COUNTENANCE a backbiting tongue " (Proverbs XXV. 23). " Grieve not the Holy Spirit Let * Shakspeare evinces his profound philosophy in his "Measure for iMeasure" (VI. 1), when lie puts into the mouth of Isabella the words "whispering and most guilty." t I would emphasize this in a foot-note. I equally detest and denounce the refined up-taking of the " evil report" in the drawing-room, and the miserable "quo' I's" and "quo' she's' of the "common people." Among the many beautiful traits of Hannah .More, I know none more adn-.irable than her instant donning of bonnet and shawl, and confronting of the bringer of an "evil report " w itli the accused. Something of this were welcome now-a-days. C 34 LITTLE SINS. all ... . evil H'pcaldrKj .... bo put a^ay from you " (Eplicsinns iv. 31). " Laying- aside all guile, and liypocrisies, and envies, and evil }rS. -10 luisorablo pica " God is merciful ! Tlioy are 'Utile sins.'" "God is morcifiil." Yes! Blessed be God, lie is ; but He is merciful ouly when "the blood" is above the lintel — the " scarlet lino" in the window — pardou secured from Jesus. Oh! men and brethren, had the living God been like tlie idol-gods of heathendom, dumb ; had He, in a\\'ful reversal of the fact, loft Himself "without witness" — " All Isis hid witli tlie veil ;" had He not " revealed " His mind, and law, and Gospel, I could have understood, coidd have half-sympathized with a lorn and tre- mulous hope like that "God is merciful." Ihd here is the Book, the living revelation in the AVord, and God is no mcrcifuller than it, and is as Iioli/. Mark, therefore, the amazing folly and peril of such pleading. " You hope God will be merciful;" and you call your sins " little sins." You are not " as other men are." Ji/it I ask what yom* verdict wo\dd 1) 50 LITTLE SIXS. be of another who, when spoken to of tlio inevitable issue of a given course of conduct, and ^\anied of the penalty by the plainest declarations of tlie hnv of the land, should reply, right in the teeth of the relative statute — aye, while its words were ringing in his ears — that " he hoped the judge w^ould not deal so strictly with hina ; that really the thing was a ^^ little matter;" or, that the jury woidd be — merciful." How fla- grant, how monstrous the folly that should so speak ! Yet is it not a reflex of ourselves, when, playing fast-and-loose vn\\v conscience, and hiding under the periphrasis of "little sins" what is gnawing away the fairest and tenderest graces of the soul, we " take ease?^^ Oh ! my fellow-men, my fellow-sinners, I urge it, I press it npon you, how mad a thing it is — gratuitously and prodigally mad — to lie down a single night with a single con- scious sin unconfessed. AVould that I might this moment startle any such ruinously se- cure, well-nigh damned souls before me (if 51 such there ho) to a snnso of tlu'ir true con- dition ! Would that The MAsrEii nii,u;ht uso my poor words to sliow you, O man! woman ! that in s^o tlxinking — feeling — sj)oaking of any one sin — the smallest — «/;«ri from Christ, in cherishing the faintest gleam or glimmering of hope as against what' th; Bihle tells — you are resting in your own dark and unscriptural, anti-scriptural notiont^, and are arguing and quieting ^'ourselves fi-om them, as if they, and not the Word, Avere the standard, present and idtimate, of right and wrong; and as if the Judge of *'qiuek and dead" (converted and uncon- verted) would proceed according to them at the last day, when He has expressly declared that His judgment will be only according to what He has laid down in His WoiiD. I take two proof-texts out of many. I turn to — John xii. 48 : " He that rejecteth me, and receivcth not mi/ words, hath (JXE that judgeth him : 'jiik woku that I have spokex, the SAME shall judge hiiu in llie last day;" and, n 2 52 LITTLE srxs. Eom. ii. IG : "In the day wlion God sliall judge tlio secrets of men, by Jesus Christ, ACCORDING TO MY GoSPEL." ran any gainsay these averments? Yet in the face of such express and utterly plain declarations, there are souls that per- mit their " evil heart of unl^eliof " — the devil rocking that "evil heart" like a cradle — to hush themselves asleep ; permit ear and hf^art, in a reasonless peace, to thrust a^vay all alarms of their own doom-apprehending conscience ; and, erecting another standard than the Word of God, call their sins " little sins," or asseverate " God is merciful P^ Oh, my hearers, I tell you that let God depart from what "is ■written," and He becomes an unholy and untruthfid God. For what saith He — in nor dubious nor dark words ?^" He that covereth his sins shall not prosper ; hut whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall hare wcrci/^^ (Proverbs xxviii. 13). Out of this lioo];, tlien — llie very little Bible that we lidld in oiu'liands and have beside us — T and you art' to bo judged for eternity. Here is LITTLK .■5l>-8. 53 tho eternal statute-book — liere is llio unclial- leiig-eable standard — from which thei-e will ho no appeal. "What solemnity ! what gran- denr ! what augustness ! what weird won- drousness ! does this inexpugnahlo fact im- part to these Bibles that we buy so cheaply and handle so familiarly. Look at yoiu* Bibles, and say, " Out of this very book I am to bo judged ; this is the book I am to con- front and be confi-onted with up j-onder." Out of Christ — with no shelter in "the clefts of the Eock" — with sin imacknowledged, un- pardoned — I know no more tremendous thoiight. Be entreated, therefore, my dear friends, all of you, to take youi' \'iew of the character of God and of the natui'e of sin, not from what you yourselves imagine, or your fears concuss you to hope, or the world's elastic ethics make out, but from His Woed. " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the tvords of the prophets that prophesy unto you : they malce you vain ; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the 54 LIXXJ.E SIXS. motdh of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace ; and they say unto every one that ivalkcth after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you''^ (Jeremiah xxiii. 16, 17). "With ' imaginations ' of that sort, un- converted men, or "lukewarm" (a terrible Bible designation) professing Christians, argue against the representations brought from God's own AVord of His absolute and perfect holiness and righteousness, and hatred of axl sin. They contrive to lower Him until lie is altogether "such an one as themselves." I warn against that! I lift up my "testimony" against that! I repeat that in His holy sight little sms AiiE AS BEALLY SINFUL AS LAiiGER. They are "foxes." Having thus, brctliren, established and enforced the principle, I proceed to more briefly consider the others. I remark — LITTLE SINS. 55 II. Little ^ina iXYC insidious. They are ^^ little foxes." " lake us the foxes, the little foxes." (^^^HE nietaplior of our text brings out \w^ •with peculiar vividness tliis charao- ^^0* teristic of '^little sins." Except to those who know their habits, the eastern fox, especially the young or "little fox," never would be suspected to be such a depredator. I remember that when I was shown one, it was with the greatest difficulty I could persuade myself that the little, very little creatiu'e — not larger than a jerboa, or our ordinary kitten — plajang with deft foot-faU and kindly-intelligent eye about its cage, really was the destructive spoiler repre- sented. It so happened, however, that the keeper of the gardens where it was, on coming roimd to arrange its crib, made a discovery that satisfied me of the character, or no-character, of the very " little " deceiver before me. Lifting up the floor-straw, he 56 LITXLK SINS. discovorod a dooji-LuiTOwcd liolo tliat -went riglit boncatli tlio separating' Avail of tlio adjoinin<^ den — a tiger's; and witli a start, examining it, the keeper found that another lioiu' of secret -working Avoidd have over- thi'own the wall, and let loose the fierce Least of prey. The whole liad been done within a few hours. Those "Httle" greyish- white feet, licked pure and clean of all betraying soil ; and that "little" sharp nose, so innocent and "pitiful" looking, had done their stealtliy work ; and appalling might have been the issue. I remember well how (as the littered, concealing straw was raised) the consciously guilty "little" hj^iocrite slunk back with di-ooped brvish into the corner. "Well ! exactly so is it "wdth Avhat aro called ^Hittle sins." From their very apparent littleness, they are, like the " little f(jxes," stealtliy and insidious, and aU- unsuspocted in tlicir wor] Lord Jesus has done for him — fails to hold vei'y liA'ing- communion with ]Iim — suffers other thing's ajul thoughts to he nearer liis heart than the Saviour. I do not say siuh an one will depart altogether nnhlessed — I do not say such an one a\ ill pass out into the world unstrengthened — I do.nf)t say that there "will be no fruit of the solemn down-sitting at the TaT)le to such an one. l^ut, my friends, I do affii-m that the measui-e of such iniperfect remembrance of Christ is the measure ordinarily of the "straitening"" of (lod in His manif(\stations LITTLE SIXS. GO to US. I know that even the lji<^- phuiet, \vhik> it SA\'eeps on in its pathway of lig'ht, tluills witli a distui'hing treinor if any foi'eis. Their aim is to pierce, and gnaw, ;ind "spoil" tlie buds, and blossoms, and tender shoots of the divine life in us ; and according to the measure of their success is the fruit and quality of the fruit of oiu- Christian character "spoiled." And here I woidd ask your attention to the exquisite fitness of the word "tender" as a descrip- tion of the graces of the hehever. You all know what a fragile, delicate, "tender'" thing a hothouse tropical plant is, if it be set out in the common garden. It grows, but how it seems to pale and shiver and di-oop. Now grace in the heart of the holiest Christian is "a tender plant in a strange unkindly soil." And not only so, but being transferred from its serener, balmier, and ampler native atmosphere to a wintry sky, it cannot "well prosper and grow without much care and pains, and tliat of a skilful hand, and which hath the art of cherishing it."-'' These " ten- * LeJghton, " Practical Commentary upon 1 Peter i. 1. (1693.)" 76 LITTLE SINS. (lev" i^TUcos tlio enemies attack" and '■'■ sfmiiy Tlicir a-cul(l breath blights the IVag'ilr 1j1(»s- suius and fonuing fruit. And so, to a}i}»ly all tliis — clKUigiiig, and yet returning to and nuilliplyiiig tlie ligiu'e — tliey may not canso the "grape" to bear thistles, but they will choke it \\\} therewith : or let me say, they may not quench the silver-shining star of hope, but they overcast it with gloom ; they may not remove the pole-star above, but they tamper \\\\\i the guiding compass below; they nun- not bribe utterly con- science, but they will worsen its faitliful- ness. Oh! my dear friends, "take lieed." It may seem a snudl thing to go to the foot- stool with weakened faith, witli diminisjied love, with oversliadowed joy, witli lie.sitant hope, with fearing trust; but dt^pend upon it, when these are lowered in any way by " //^^/e sins," the "httle foxes" are at their stealthy work. I -would lift up a word of affectionate Avarning to my young brothers and sisters wlu) at tliis Communion are to approucli the table of the Lord for the first LITTLE STXS. i i i'uno. Oh ! sec to it, 1113- vory dear y()iuiut all the clutieH of tl.ve Gospel arc plain as day. There are no mysteries, nothing " hard to bo miderstood" about them. One n(>ver our calling;; as require our converse with them. I siicnk of ' voluntary choice of such as savour not good tilings.' " —(" Fountain Sealed," 1637. Pages 110, 111.) LITTLE SIXS. 7 9 returns from tliem as tlio sea-bird from the sea-precipice against wliich it lias daslied, with broken and bleeding pinion. One can hang over them. Especially does this hold of our dealing with sin. There is no casuistry about it in the Bible — no " Ductor Dubitantium" is needed to interpret its pre- cepts. Articvdate and unchanging are the ethics of Jesus. There must be no dallying, tampering, compromise with sin. Not more certainly was it the part of the vineyard keeper to deliver up for destruction the " foxes, the lltth foxes" that spoiled the vines, than it is your duty and mine to take and deliver over to destruction sin in its least manifestation within us. Herein lies the 2:rand distinction between the unconverted man's dealing with sin and the believer's. The unconverted man is shocked, distressed only with flagrant and large sins. He reckons not the " little sins," and converts larger into lesser by seK-deceiving transmutations. The believer, unless in backsliding, feels that the command is not merely plain, but specific ; 80 T-ITTLK SIXS. and ]iis aim is to oLoy his l.orirs \\ill. lie sees liis Lord lias His lioly eye upon tlic ''little sins," and that the charge is an ex- pressi(»n of his Lord concri-ning tlieni. Con- st'tpiciilK', none ai'c jiasscd hy. 1 Ic licars tlie explicit conunand, " Take us tlie foxes, the little foxes, tliat spoil the vines : for our vines have tender grapes." Lastly, I observe — YI. Little si)is that are to be thus dealt with are to be carried to the Lord of the vine- yard. You marlv the royal charge — " Take rs the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for OUR vines have lender grapes." !LL will bt; in vain unless this be done ; or, rather this is the only way in which the thing can be done.* You observe the AX'ording of my text Ijears * Sibbes furnisbes a pregnant tliougbt in confirmation : " Change of nature is peculiar to the author of nature. If we feel, therefore, our nature altered, and of unclean become holy, in some measure we may know we are llie children of God, as being begotten by the Spirit of Christ."— (" Fountain Sealed." ](i-]7. Page ](i2.) LITTLE SIKS. 81 me out. The '■'■Vdtle foxes" are only to be "taken," seized, snared by the keeper. The master of the eastern vineyard resei'ved it as his own prerogative to destroy them. There had been much imposture and fradulent get- ting of reward else — much pretended killing. It is so in oiu' country. The keeper may not only "take," but "kill," wellnigh all vermin that infest garden or field, llie fox is reserved for the master. Observe, then, my dear friends, the Lord does not say " destroy" the " foxes, the little foxes," but only ^^ta/cc'^ them. 13eing thus taken, they are to be by Him, or in His sight, destroyed. " Take us." Even so, brethren, our part in regard to sins, lesser or larger, is to "take" them /or Jesus, and to "take^' them to Jesus; telliug Him, morning after morning, in ejaculations tlirough the passing day, and night after night, even every one of them we ourselves know. Let us try in oiu' own puny strength to ' destroy ' sin, to even over-master it — try ourselves to "mortify " so much as one " lust " of the flesh, or of the spirit — ti-y in ¥ 82 LITTLE srxs. the strengtli of tho g-raof^ that is m ns to overcome our lieavt-intruding sins — and our strength will be weakness, our wisdom folh*. "We must carry all, all, all, to Jesus, and ask Him to deal with them ; ask Him to guard the " vineyard " of our soul ; ask Him to relume the silver lamp of conscience in its slirine ; ask Him to prevent or heal the " spoiling " of leaf, or blossom, or tendril, or ^'tender grape;" ask Him to keep out, or to drive out, or destroy the "foxes, tho little foxes." And when we make the sad discovery, as we are bowed in solitary prayer, or at the famil}' altar, or " seai'ching the Word," or in the house of God, or at the prayer meeting, or at the table of the Lord, that our vineyard wall has been over-leapt — the sentinel watch-tower undermined — the vines and "tender grapes" teeth-pierced — the fruits of grace damaged — we must turn, 3'ea, run, yea, flee to Him, and ask of Him that He will work our heahng, and "slay" oiu' enmity. . . . Blessed be our Divine Gardener! (for Mary was not mis- LITTLE SIXS. 83 taken — He is "The Gardeneh") — He lias His loving eye upon us.* Through the mercy of our covenant God, for these wellnigh hundred and fifty years, our Zion has been as a "vineyard of red wine;" and to-day, in the enjoyment of all our far-transmitted jn-ivileges, may Ave not hear Him saying, "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment : lest any hiu-t it, I will keep it night and day " (Isaiah xxvii. 2, ;V:. For additional practical apj^lication, my * 1 regretted exceedingly at the time that I was unable to follow up this aspect of " little sins." It is of the more moment to grasp the necessity insisted upon, in that we are apt to imagine that while our more flagrant sins must necessarily be carried to the Lord, we may overmaster ourselves in the " little " ones. This is most specious, but I believe deadly error. Just as we need the microscope to detect the animal culm, equalli/ with the telescope to gaze upon the far-removed heavenly bodies, do we need other than natural eyesight, other than mortal vision, to see our own least sin. By parity of reasoning, if we need Divine help to discover, much more must we need it to " take," and doubly more to " destroy " sin. Our sins never will be truly mortified until they have been "slain" by Him. l- 2 84 LITTLE SINS. friends, little more can be needed tlian that I recapitulate the several points that have come before lis. I would then ask all before me, and especially those of us ^\■ho propose to sit down at the table of the Lord, t<^ carry away and meditate upon what has been thrown out. 1. Realize that little sins ake as really SINFUL AS LAiiGER. They are "foxes" — " Take tis the foxes y I am very well aware that this is far from being an easy thing to do. I am very well aware that the natural heart, and oven the renewed heart, through its remaining sin, is slow to acquiesce in the absolute holiness of a holy God. All ! it is easier to be orthodox in creed than holy in living ! Still, as with ancient Israel, we do not mind to hear of the holiness of God — still we find ourselves saying with them to the servants of the Lord, " Ske not; and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things, pro- phesy deceits: got you out of tue way, LITXLK SINS. 85 luru (Oiide out of the path, cause the holy (Jnc of Israel to cease from us" (Isaiah XXX. 10, 11. Oh, beware! let us beware of this, my friends! The "little foxes " are at work if I or you have any feeling of this sort ; if wo adventure to bo a guest at His table witli sucli thoughts of any the smallest sin. Let me only add here, that, while I thus insist upon our realizing as a personal thing the sinfulness of o<avid my father, and who hath made me au house, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day. And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada ; and he fell upon him that he died'''' (verses 23 —25). I tm-n to 2 Samuel xvii. 12, 13: "Of him and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he be gotten into a fit}-, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that cit}-, and wo will draw it into the river, until there bo not one small stoke found there." How LITTLE SINS. 91 expressive! " Ndt one small stone" was to 1)6 left. No spaviiig of "^/Y;'/e sins." I turn to 1 Samuel xiv. 43, 44 : " Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou liast done. And Jcmathan told liim, and said, I did but taste a LiTTLK honey with the end of the rod that was in mine hand, and lo I must die." A ' ' little honey ! " A " little sin. " " And Saul answered, God do so, and more also : for thou shall surely die, Jonathan." I turn to Job xv. 11 : "Are the conso- lations of God SMALL with thee ? Is there any secret thing with thee?" My friends, be it ours to feel that nothing else and nothing- less than destruction is appointed for sin — our sin — oiu* " little fiins." And if we fail to realize that, let us search out the "secret thing" that hinders; for "there is no sin, be it never so little, but it will weaken oiu- affection to goodness."-^ 6. Eealize that LITTLE sins that are to be THUS dealt with, ARE TO BE CARRIED TO THE LORD OF THE VINEYARD. The royal charge is, ' Sibbes' "Privileges of the Faithful" (1638, p. 419). 92 LITTLK SINS. " Tako us the foxes, the little foxes, tliat spoil the vines : for our vines liavo tender grapes." My Lrotliers and sisters in the Lord Jesus, this is the Lord's ovra day, and this is the Lord's own house, and we are about to "remember" Him in Ilis own tenderly appointed way. Think ye, then, He is now absent or will be ? No : No : No. Therefore let us bring all our sin to Him — come oui'selves afi'esh to Him — and seek that He will destroy even everything that His piire eye detecteth of sin. I gather into a closing word the sum of A\hat has been said. It is this — that every wilful sin we commit or cherish, as it is destructive to our souls, as sui'ely as the "little foxes" to the vines, so also is it disobedience to our gi-eat Lawgiver — re- bellion against our King — aggravated in- gratitude toward our Benefactor, our Father, our lledeemer, oiu* Sanctifier. And now, my fellow-intending-comniu- nicants, let us go and apply this awful truth to the sins of this day, of this week, LITTLE SINS. 93 of tlio interval from last comniuniuii, and tlien tliro-Nv our memory l3ack over the accumulated transgressions of the past. We must not shim the self-humbling retro- spect. It is well to know ourselves, though the fii-st result of om' knowledge be as with the world's fii-st father and mother — fear and shame."" Let us gaze, if tlii-ough our tears, on our own hearts, till shame beget contrition, and contrition confession, and confession pardon, and pardon peace, and peace joy, and joy glory, and glory Christ. As in ourselves utterly unworthy, let us beseech Him to pardon "for His own name's sake," and to raise us fi-om the dust. Let us "ask in faith, nothing doubting." Let not — oh ! let not the quivering pain of felt sin tempt any of us to Peter's dolorous cry, "Depart fi-om me, Lord! for I am a sinful man." Seek rather his clinging, cleav- ing confession: "To whom can we go but unto Thee?" "Lord! be it unto us as Thou hast said." * Jackson's " Little Sins." See close of '♦ Prefatory Note." 94 LITTLE SIXS. "Wlicvo sin abounds, grace much more aljounds." Lot us all, then — all -who are "in Christ" Looking forward to gathering around His tahlc this afternoon — turn con- fidingly, humbly, the eyes of our faitli toward the memorial sjnnbols that arc again to be "given and received;" and let us be earnest as one man, before coming, in coming, when come, and in retiring, for the outpouring and in-dwelling of the Holy Si^irit, that in His holy light we may see light. And, my fellow-communicants ! as the awful fact is " remembered " of Christ having diedyi;/- 2<.s, and as it presses upon om- hearts sin's exceeding sinfulness, let the conviction not merely stir us to adoring thankfulness, but to holy resolution, and gTcater watch- fulness, and stricter self-control, more fei-vent prayer, and more and more diligent and believing use of all the means and ordinances of grace. " Let faith but climb the tree of prayer, and watch, And wait, the Lord will surely pass that way."* • Gerald Massey. " Craigcrook Castle" (pages 22, 2."}, 1856). LITTLE SIXS. 95 Above all, my fellow-believers, let our sight of sin in our holiest things — sin nesthng in the innermost shrine of our souls — teach us perpetual distrust of self, and simple, childlike reliance on the grace of the Lord Jesus. Then only are wo strong when we are weak; then only safe when we are fearful of ourselves ; then only advancing in holiness when we are deeply conscious of our own exceeding and un- utterable sinfulness.* Lord Jesus! "Take Thou the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines : for our vines have tender grapes." Take Thou the vineyard of tliis congrega- tion — the vineyard of each individual soid before Thee. Let no evil "come nigh us." Let us for Thy mercy's sake be abundantly blessed; and may our "eating and drink- ing" at Thy table, here and now, be a pre- libation of a diviner " eating and drinking " when we go iip higher, where no "little foxes" can break thi-ough, and where never, never, never, will it need to be * Jackson. 96 LfTTLE srxs. commanded, " Take r>s tlio foxes, tlie little i'oxes, that spoil the vines : foi* onr vines have tender grapes." Amen and Amen. I add one or two gems from some Worthies. Josei)li Hussey : ' If the soul goes at all, it goes with its ahomiiKitions to the Son of God, 'manifested to t.\ke AWAY our sins.' How doth a man go to the water but dirty? Whether he hath much or little dirt upon him, 'tis dirt; and to the water he goes with that defilement. So ("The Glory of Christ Unveiled." 1706, 4to, page 472.) Obadiah Sedgwick, B.D. : "Men usually hav4 been first wading in lesser sins, who are now swimming in great transgressions! Siiiuings, supposed as little or incon- siderable, have not only this happiness that they are not so much regarded, but this unhappincss that they are more often connnittcd." — ("The Anatomy of Secret Sins. IGGO, 4to.) George Swinnock, M.A. His" Sinner's Last Sentence to Eternal Punishment for Sins of Omission " will richly reward thoughtful perusal. It forms a thick l"2mo. 1675. Thomas Jacomb, D.D., in his priceless sermons on " Eighth of Romans 1 — 4" (1072, 4to), is full of what the old divines call "breeding" thoughts on our subject. He is solenm, searching, racy. Folumes (original and selected) proposed to he issued uniform with ^^ Little Sins^ 2. Christ for all the Worid, and All the Worid for Christ. 3. The Priuce of Light and the Prince of Darkness in Conflict. 4. Recollections of my Prayer Meetings in Kinross and Gairney Bridge. 5. Consolation for " The Poor in Spirit." 6. Thoroughness. Mr. Grosart intends to alternate his own with rei^rints of the following rare and very precious little Treatises by long-departed Worthies. To each a brief Memoii- will be prefixed, and throughout, a few explanatory notes : — 7. An AwAifENiNG Gail from the Eternal God to the Unconverted. By Samuel Cor- byn, M.A. 1672. 8. Advice to Sinners under Convictions, TO Prevent their Miscarrying in Con- version. By Samuel Corbyn, M.A. 1672. 9. News tuom Keavex oe a Tkeaty oe Peace; or, a Coudi.vl fok a Fainting Heakt. A\''herciu is manifested that Jesus Clirist, and all that is His, is freely ofleied to all who see a need of Him, though they be the worst of sinners, and in the greatest bondage to sin and by sin. By Samuel lliehardsou. IG43. 10. The Cuksed F^uiily; or, a Tkeatise OF Neglecting Family ruAYEU. By Thomas llisley. With Preface, by John Howe. 17 IG. 11. A Seuiotts Exhortation to .vx Holy Life ok Conversation. With a clear discovery of— 1. The Nature of it, what it is; 2. The Means of Attaining it ; 3. The Trials of it, how it may be kno^vii ; 4. The ^lotivcs or Induce- ments to it. Or, a Profitable Companion for Conversion, Confinnation, Illumination, and Consolation. By Robert Purnell. 1663. 12. The Poor Doubtln-g Christlvx Dr/VWN TO Christ. Wherein the main Lets and Hin- drances which keep j\Ien from Coming to Christ are discovered; with Special Helps to recover God's Favour. By Thomas Hooker. 1684. 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