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 sinful! Surely it can be no light thing, no ordinary 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 our ground, and view our sins in the odious light of perjury. We have promised solemnly to God, and before the Church we have confirmed the vow, that we would 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 rendered 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 Every yielding to Satan, the world, 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 Redeemer, and perjury in the sight of Him, whose vows are upon us. And now, dear brethren, go and apply this awful truth to the sins of this day, of the last week, the last year; and then throw your memory back over the accumulated transgressions 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 first 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 selfabasement 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 save 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 has abounded, grace did much more abound." Look trustingly, then, but

1 Rom. v. 20.

26 THE EXCEEDING SINFULNESS OF SIN.

humbly, for pardon to the cross of Christ; and seek through Him the aid and guidance of the Holy Spirit. And let your conviction of sin's exceeding sinfulness work in you, not holy resolutions merely, but greater watchfulness and stricter self-control, more fervent prayer, and more diligent employment of the means of grace. Above all, let it teach you perpetual distrust of self, and simple, confiding reliance 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 in holiness, when we are deeply conscious of our own exceeding sinfulness.

27

SERMON II.

SINS OF THE TEMPER.

TITUS, iii. 2.

Gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.

A 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