to assure such an one that he has no part nor lot in Christ's kingdom. "What concord between light and darkness? What agreement between Christ and Belial?" But perhaps many of those who would shrink with the utmost abhorrence from thus directly promoting evil, and who unhesitatingly rank themselves with the friends and advocates of virtue, are yet guilty of indirectly promoting vice, or at least of hindering the advance of goodness; they consent to encourage "at secondhand evils which they would not commit as principals." “Linked together as men are in society, it is frequently difficult to perform an unwarrantable action without some sort of co-operation from creditable men. This co-operation is not often, except in flagrant cases, refused; and thus not only is the commission of such actions facilitated, but a general relaxation is induced in the practical estimates which men form of the standard of rectitude. Since then," continues the author from whom this remark is borrowed, “so much evil attends this agency in unwarrantable conduct, it manifestly becomes a good man to look around upon the nature of his intercourse` with others, and to consider whether he is not virtually promoting evils which his judgment deprecates, or reducing the standard of morals in the world." You "would have no difficulty in perceiving that if a strenuous opponent of the slave trade should establish a manufactory of manacles and thumbscrews and iron collars for the slave merchants, he would be grossly inconsistent with himself." You "will perceive, too, that his labours in the cause of abolition would be almost nullified by the viciousness of his example, and that he would bring discredit on pretensions to philanthropy. Now apply the principles which this illustration exhibits to other and less flagrant cases. Other cases of co-operation with evil may be less flagrant than this, but they are not on that account innocent." "In all our concerns it is necessary that nothing we do may carry the appearance of approbation of the works of wickedness, make the unrighteous more at ease in unrighteousness, or occasion the injuries committed against the oppressed

to be more lightly looked over." "Undoubtedly, in the present state of society, it is no easy task to wash our hands in innocency. But if we cannot avoid all agency, direct or indirect, in evil things, we can avoid much; and it will be early enough to complain of the difficulty of complete purity, when we have dismissed from our conduct as much impurity as we can."*

But though the solemn declaration of Christ which we are considering leads us chiefly to reflect on the case of immoral agency, of instigating others to wrong, or directly or indirectly aiding others in evil, and thus promoting the reign of unrighteousness,—yet the absurdity would be vast of fancying that we may individually indulge in vice, provided we take care not to injure the morality of our fellow-men. In the first place, the supposition of a detached, isolated sinner is the supposition of an impossibility. Every man, even the most insignificant individual, exercises some influence on society. But even if it were otherwise, if the good or evil which a man did remained with him, if its effects reached no one else, still the idea is inexpressibly monstrous and horrible that any rational being should injure his own nature, should obstruct his own progress to happiness. But this is what every persistent sinner does. He opposes his own welfare. How painful the contemplation of such madness must be to a holy and benevolent mind like that of Jesus! We can but imperfectly imagine this pain, because we are, even the best of us, sharers in the malady, and our souls are dimmed and blunted, so that we see not nor feel the greatness of the evil. In all the teaching and in the whole life of Christ, we perceive clearly and strongly set forth his earnest, anxious wish that all and each should attain the happiness and glory of an entire virtue. Christianity imperatively requires of its disciples the resolute relinquishment of all sin, and the adoption and cultivation of every virtue, and holds out to our faith and hope a heaven in which

* See Dymond's Principles of Morality, Vol. I. pp. 336, 337, 348.

enjoyment will bear an exact proportion to our advance in truth, righteousness and goodness. Its teachers ever exhort us to "abstain from every sort of evil" (1 Thess. v. 22); “to stand complete in all the will of God" (Coloss. iv. 12); “to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. v. 48). The tendency of every part of the New Testament is to impress us with the sentiment that a consistent and entire virtue is that which ought to characterize the disciple of Christ.

In connection with this topic, I would direct your attention to a striking and apparently perplexing passage in St. James's Epistle, ch. ii. 10, 11. That apostle lays it down as a principle, that "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." A sentence this which, if taken in its strictest meaning, conveys the absurd notion that all offences are equal, and that he who has broken one law shall endure equal punishment as if he had violated all; but which, if taken as it was intended by the apostle, announces the important and yet much-neglected truth, that the transgression of even one commandment is not to be regarded as a trifle, because, inasmuch as each has God for its Author, the violation of any one injures His majesty and authority. In fact, the man who knowingly and wilfully disobeys one precept, shews by that very circumstance that he is not actuated by reverence for the Legislator, but, even in those actions which appear in accordance with the law, is influenced by other considerations than the fear of God. How important and yet how much slighted is this principle, that wilful disobedience even to a single moral law is full of danger and mischief! How often do we meet with the case of a person apologizing for the omission of a confessed duty, by the reflection that it is but one! "I confess," says "that I am deficient in the difficult virtue of self-control and temperance; but then I am attentive to other duties; I am just and fair in my dealings with my fellow-men; I am

one,

candid and charitable in my judgment of the world; I am not unmindful to exercise benevolence and liberality. May I not hope that one little failing will not be strictly noticed?" But this balancing of virtues against vices is utterly incompatible with Christian morality. It is, no less, thoroughly unsound and unable to stand the investigation of enlightened reason. Is it not absurd that we, not only by our very nature confined and limited in our ken, but withal biassed by self-love and blinded by passion, should set up as judges of the extent of injury likely to ensue from our own errors and wrong-doings? Is it not absurd for a man to imagine himself qualified to decide accurately on the merits of his own case? Every one is, of course, well inclined to extenuate his own faults and exalt his own virtues. On this plan, what sin is there which will not lose its ugliness? What duty, which will not be deprived of its legitimate importance? The only safe principle is, that the ascertained will of God is in all instances to be complied with. He who is absolutely impartial and infinite in knowledge can decide the different degrees of merit or demerit of this and that action, and His decision must be infallible. It is our wisdom to obey the intimations of His will, to avoid every kind and degree of vice, to pursue unremittingly every virtue, to discharge resolutely, unflinchingly, every duty.

3. In the next place, we derive from this declaration of our Lord a sure test of religious opinions and systems. Since morality is exhibited in Christianity as of paramount importance, an opinion, or system of opinions, is to be confided in or suspected, valued or slighted, loved or hated, accepted or rejected, as it appears, upon examination, to have a tendency to strengthen and cherish, or to weaken and destroy, the good and the beautiful in moral sentiment and principle. A doctrine which tends plainly to undermine men's sense of justice, truthfulness and love, must be false; and though we may chance to be unable to discern the inconclusiveness of the arguments urged in its support, yet ought we to reject it with indignation. We must have recourse for protection

to our instinctive impulses in favour of virtue. On the other hand, therefore, if a doctrine plainly honours goodness,-if its manifest tendency is to conciliate love to God and man, and to generate and nurture a noble, manly, energetic practical virtue, we ought to view it with affection, and clasp it at once to our hearts.

Referring once more to the case of immoral agency, let us reflect how many and subtle are the devices of the enemy. By pusillanimously concealing your hatred of wrong or your approbation of right; by smiling with contemptuous pity on him whose attachment to rectitude seems to you enthusiastically ardent; by joining in the laugh against disinterested sincerity and earnestness; by yielding to the mistaken, interested views of relatives, friends, or fellow-citizens, contrary to your own better judgment and feeling; by furthering, or not exerting yourself to hinder the diffusion, or to counteract the effects, of mischievous sentiment; in a word, by not throwing whatever of influence you may happen to possess into the right scale, you so far rank yourselves among the opposers of righteousness and of man's true welfare. "He who is not with me, is against me; and he who gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad."

Yes! It is not enough that we abstain from evil; we must learn to do good; we must actively promote Christ's kingdom. On all his followers is it enjoined that they hold forth the word of life, and shine as lights in the world. Every one of us is under obligation to employ his means and opportunities for instructing the ignorant, awakening the torpid, binding down the thoughtless, reclaiming the wandering, disentangling the perplexed, healing the broken-hearted, animating the dispirited and the loitering, encouraging and supporting the timid and the tempted,-in short, for aiding all his brethren in the pursuit of "the prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

In this work, arduous as it confessedly is, how powerful is the encouragement derived from the example of him who