SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 119 ment a great many things that seem to you quite innocent. No doubt they may be innocent, in reality, if properly indulged. Dinah, had she obtained permission of her father, had she been taken care of by her brothers,might very possibly have enjoyed the festival without the shadow of sin. I am sure there is nothing in the Bible to lead one to suppose she might not; but at the same time it is quite plain that there are circumstances which may make the most innocent things sinful, and of these circumstances young people are not always the best judges. Whenever these circumstances do occur, then the indulging in an act otherwise innocent becomes a sin, even to the breaking of the Seventh Commandment; and, whenever this is the case, the sin is the same, whether any evil consequences result from it or not.1 It is in this spirit that I would have you examine yourselves on the Seventh Commandment. You have not broken it in outward act,-thank GOD for that; He probably has preserved you when you were thinking little of it yourselves; but examine yourselves whether you have not heedlessly or even wilfully done things which have led others into open sin, whom you have no reason to suppose to be people of worse natural dispositions than you are yourselves? and ask yourselves fairly and honestly whether the sin is less on your part than it is on theirs, because it pleased GOD, for some reason with which you had nothing to do, to preserve you when He was not pleased to preserve them? QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION. THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. 1. Have I considered that out of the heart proceed adulteries, as well as other sins? 2. Have I been as careful of my heart-that is to say, of my thoughts-as I have of my actions? 1 See Miller's Sermons. The best Tract for distribution on this very difficult subject is one by the Rev. John Chandler, of Witley, called "Unchastity before Marriage." 120 SEVENTH COMMANDMENT. 3. If I have hitherto been kept from breaking this Commandment openly, what is it that has preserved me? 4. Was it the thought that by my Baptism my body became the temple of the HOLY GHOST, and that it was not possible that a Christian could defile the temple of his GOD? 5. Or was it simply the fear of my neighbours, and of the disgrace which the world attaches to the commission of such crimes? 6. I have often prayed to GOD not to lead me into temptations; can I remember acting against my own prayers, and leading myself into them? 7. Have I followed my pleasure without considering or caring for the dangers into which it led me? 8. Have I been circumspect in my outward conduct, paying attention to the advice and remonstrances of those who were more experienced than myself? 9. Have I given no occasion for scandal by levity, if I have not justified it by sin? 10. Has my language been modest? Has my conduct and bearing been such as would give neither excuse nor countenance for sins against this Commandment in others? 11. What instances can I remember of remissness in any of these particulars? Were these instances repented of when they occurred, or were they justified or passed lightly by? 12. Have they recurred so often as to become habitual ? If I cannot clear myself in this particular, let me remember that my preservation from disgrace as well as sin has been due, not to my watchfulness, but to God's mercy, and that though in the sight of the world I may be innocent, in the sight of GOD I may be as guilty as those whom He has punished in this world by shame and dishonour. EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. 121 LECTURE IX. THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. The judgment of the world and the judgment of God is very often precisely the same; that is to say, the world condemns and punishes the very same sin that GOD condemns and punishes. This, however, whenever it does happen, is only an accidental occurrence, as when two roads leading to different places happen to have some part of their line in common; for in truth the world's judgment and God's judgment are founded upon perfectly different principles; they may have some portion in common, because these principles are not in opposition to each other, only different in character and object, but the two lines do not lead to the same point, and therefore there is a very great danger when we are on that part which is common to both, that we fancy we are walking on the one, when, in fact, we are walking on the other. The world estimates the amount of sin by the amount of harm done, or harm that might have been done; GoD estimates the sin by the fact of whether the subject in question is obedience or disobedience; the harm that happens to be done through any sin, is no element of judgment with Him, because no sins can do any harm at all without His permission; He can, if He pleases, bring even good out of evil, and if He does not always please, it is only upon the principle on which the Psalmist calls the wicked. "A sword of God," that is to say, He is pleased to make from the consequence of one man's sin a punishment or a trial to some one else, to whom He considers a trial salutary, or a punishment due. The truth is, the world acts on a principle of selfishness, it condemns those sins only which are likely to hurt itself, and thinks little of those which are injurious only to God's majesty and honour. Murder and theft, like any other acts of wilful disobedience, are very great sins in the sight G 122 THE TWO MOTIVES of GOD, and the world also sets its face against them. Why? plainly because any man may be murdered or robbed, and therefore every man is ready to condemn that by which he may himself one day be made to suffer. It does not hurt us that we live next door to an infidel or an atheist, therefore we are very tender of such people, we can afford to be liberal towards them, and we are liberal, we think it very wrong indeed to disturb a man for his religious opinions. But it is very uncomfortable to live next door to a murderer or a thief, for there is no knowing whom that man may next take to murdering or robbing, therefore we are none of us disposed to be liberal to such as these, or to regard with toleration their peculiar ideas concerning life and property; that is to say, we are very liberal with the honour and glory of Almighty GoD, but by no means liberal about things which concern our own safety.1 It should seem, therefore, that there are two classes of sins, those which GoD condemns by His Bible and His Commandments, while the world condemns them by its laws and its opinions, and those which God condemns equally in His Bible, while the world is perfectly indifferent about the matter. Now whenever we take upon us the necessary task of judging ourselves on this description of sin, which is condemned alike by the judgment of GOD and that of the world, there is always this danger, we cannot tell the motive upon which we are acting; we keep clear upon some particular sin, and hold ourselves blameless; perhaps we are so, but we can never be quite certain whether we do this from love of God or from fear of the world, because in this particular instance the love of GoD and the fear of the world would lead us to precisely the same thing. If we do the thing which is right, it may seem of little consequence what makes us do it, and it is of little consequence, so far as this world is concerned, but, when we 1 Jurymen may easily judge themselves by this rule-whenever they acquit a self-murderer on grounds of insanity, when they are conscious that they would not acquit any other description of murderer on the same grounds, then they convict themselves of perjury under the influence of this principle of self. FOR WELL DOING. 123 come to be judged by the judgment of the next world, the motive on which we have acted, that very point on which it is so easy to deceive ourselves, may be that which makes the whole difference between eternal life and eternal damnation. Many a man judging himself on the Eighth Commandment, who is conscious of none of those sins which the world considers disgraceful, who is quite certain that he has never robbed, nor pilfered, nor cheated, nor swindled, gives himself a full acquittal, and thinks that with respect to that Commandment at all events, he is in the sight of GOD blameless, when all the time it is the fear of the world, not the fear of GOD, that has been acting upon him. Now this is a very dangerous deceit, GOD will not reward us for keeping ourselves free from sin for fear of the world, because GOD, though He recompenses us according to the cleanness of our hands, does not reward us for our work done, but for our faithfulness in doing it. It will be no recommendation to us in His sight, when on the last day He convicts us of some glaring act of disobedience and unfaithfulness towards Him, that we say, yes, but see how obedient and faithful we have been to the judgment of the world; we have not done one single act which the world has called wicked or disgraceful. Do you think it would mend the matter, that GOD, who requires our absolute obedience, should find out that we had another master, whose commands we obeyed better than we did His? and do we not convict ourselves of this when we obey God's commands, if they are backed by those of the world, and do not obey God's commands when they are not so backed? In judging ourselves upon such matters as the Eighth Commandment, the only safe plan is to take some point in which the world is neutral, or in which its opinion rather favours the sinner. Let us judge ourselves very strictly in that particular according to God's judgment, being more particular in this, and more jealous in examining the value of our excuses and palliations, than we should be in matters relating to other commandments, and if we find ourselves failing in this part of it, let us be very sure that the reason why we do not break the whole, and rob, and pilfer, and |