Let us walk by the same rule as was laid down for those who have hitherto been contented in a sinful state. Never let one sin be an excuse for another. If we should through infirmity commit one fault, let us not add another to it. If we should be so unhappy as to neglect a known duty, or perform it carelessly and hastily, such as our morning prayers, let not that make us discontented, irritable, and selfish through the day, but let us make up for our neglect as soon as we can by praying at another time, and let our restlessness spend itself upon ourselves in confession and self-condemnation. Or if we should unhappily lose our temper, and become discomposed and agitated, do not let that lead us to be deliberately unkind to others, to disregard their feelings, or to speak proud unmeasured words about ourselves. Or if we should give way to sloth one part of the day, let us not therefore give way to it for the rest of the day; but rather let us try to make up for our past slothfulness, by increased diligence as soon as we are conscious of our fault. One sin will never be an excuse for another, but rather an aggravation; as when a child commits a fault, and then tells a lie to hide it, thereby bringing more than twofold guilt upon his soul. Or when a grown person, having spoken falsely, adds awful wishes against himself in confirmation of what he has affirmed. I do not for a moment suppose that a truly religious person would act in this fearful I am and yet way, sure that we are all tempted at times to forget for the moment our responsibility, and to esteem a sin under some circumstances as a matter of less moment than we should esteem it under others. Thus if we are not very careful and watchful, we shall be led on to do things at one time which at another time will fill us with remorse and fear. May God give us grace "to fear Him and serve Him in truth with all our hearts," to search out our own spirits, and watch our own ways. May He enlighten us with all wisdom, at all times, that we may never wander from Him, and never bring ourselves into perplexity and despair through our own blindness and waywardness. And now having made our resolution for a holier, more watchful, more consistent life, let us seal them in the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, confessing to Him how frequently we have added sin to sin, reckless of the consequences; beseeching of Him pardon for what is past; and by prayer and the power of His awful sacrifice seeking grace to avoid such miserable folly for the time to come. May He who carried on His work of mercy day after day, never wearying until it was accomplished, impart to us of His stedfastness in the way of holiness, that as we have in times past eagerly pressed forward to the accomplishment of sinful schemes of pleasure, we may henceforth, without wavering, "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."5 4 5 240 SERMON XX. THE WAGES OF SIN. ROMANS, vi. 23. "The wages of sin is death." It is remarkable that the same persons who assent to this assertion, fearful as it is, exemplify it in their own persons, of their own accord. "The wages of sin is death" we acknowledge, confess, believe it; and then we sin; sin in the light, sin against God, sin against ourselves. Knowing it is death to ourselves, we do it. No one can sin in us, except ourselves; no one can take from us our true life except ourselves. Ourselves alone can bring the second death upon ourselves; and we ourselves do it. We commit sin, knowing that death will follow, and death follows. We do our work, and receive our wages. He who bids us work, forces his wages upon us. There is no escape. We sin; we die. We sin, and lose the light of God. We sin, and are miserable. We sin for a moment's pleasure, and we lay up a store of long-enduring misery. We sin in one day, and lose happiness for many months, for many years, perhaps for ever. Now natural death is the end of natural life. The life has endured, perhaps, for many years; many bright summer suns have shone upon it; from many dark wintry nights it has come forth uninjured, full of joyous vigour. But one short hour of sickness mars its beauty; a few weeks' fever saps the foundations of its strength, and one brief struggle ends it. Death comes in a moment, and life is no more. In like manner, spiritual death is the end of spiritual life and as sickness prepares the way for natural death, so does sin for spiritual death. Only there is this great difference, that sin is voluntary, while sickness is usually involuntary. Let us, then, my brethren, consider some of the questions involved in the connexion between sin and death as set before us in the text: and may God teach us the truth on this awful subject. Now the words in which the punishment of death was originally assigned to sin are most peremptory; "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" or, as we read in the margin, "dying thou shalt die." Accordingly, the moment our first parents had eaten of the forbidden fruit, an awful change of spiritual state came over them. They lost at once their joy in the light of God's countenance. Whereas before they had loved Him, now they feared Him. Whereas they had ever before joyfully gone to meet Him, they now hid themselves among the trees of the garden. Selfishness too, and mutual distrust, had taken the place of love, confidence, and kindness, be M tween husband and wife. Moreover, temporal death had in that moment gained a hold upon them which he never let go. If not wholly dead the moment they had sinned, yet they were surely dying. The twofold death, death spiritual and death natural, began to work towards their respective ends as soon as ever they had sinned. Of these two, one fulfilled its course and did its work without let or hindrance; and the other must have done the same, had not One, who is stronger than death, interposed for their deliver ance. Such were some of the effects of the first great parent sin. Let us now trace the workings of the same principles in a few of the more remarkable sins recorded in Scripture. Esau, "for one morsel of meat sold his birthright," and thereby lost the blessing for ever. The sin was committed in a moment. He despised his birthright and the spiritual promises attached to it, and yielding to the pressure of hunger, sold it for the satisfying of his appetite. But "afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears;" but earned for himself for ever the dreadful title of Esau the "profane." Yet his repentance so far availed him, that he obtained another blessing from the lips of his aged father, though he had lost for ever that more glorious blessing which he had despised. Jacob, on the other hand, seems to have sinned far more deliberately in deceiving his father than Esau did in selling his birthright. But, in the first place, 1 Heb. xii. 16, 17. |