SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14109, 10 July 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

small sins. ' > : ;%tM ■ '■■"■: ■' "• * ; ■~.y ,: ' BT DR. ALEXANDEB MtXASl.ss','WlJlffl I ask you to clear your minds of the nV^' l that; anything is small which offers the alternative of being done in a rwhf-'jfesii or in a wrong; and' to recognise'" this ** J fact—"Sand is weighty/' trifles are if" *''T| preme importance.-' My point is this (he accumulated pressure upon a raan I multitude of trivial faults makes up , ,■»* ' r |-f mendous aggregate that weighs upon k'' I with awful poliderousness. *, '''f^ THEIK ACCUMULATIVE POWER. ' ■ ) Let me remind you to begin with ,C t properly speaking, the words "great""-" i "small" should not be applied in referee to things about which right" and "w.'oSi-'ti .are the proper words to employ. Or toi* ■"'%! it into plainer language, it -is fisVoi ' ] to talk about the " size" of a sin, as ft •" to take the superficial area of a i)i f ''" •»§ as a test of it 3 greatness. The lnagmtnf of a transgression docs not depend' on '»{."■? II greatness of the act which transgress^' according to human standards—but"c n A \ intensity with which the sinful ei.-jr*! fi is working in it. For' acts make ni, but motives make sins. If you take.VvtlS of prussic acid, and bruise it down, overall little microscopio fragment will have tZ poisonous principle in it; and it B v „ h W irrevelant to ask, whether it is as'.bigriH a mountain or small as a grain of dusted is poison all the same. ■ So to talk about' magnitude in regard to . sins' is . ratherlgilp introduce a foreign consideration. But still &M recognising that there is a reality' in a.- I distinction that people make between jnetffH sins and small ones, though it is a 'sup».'''j| ficial distinction, let us deal with it now I I say, then, that small. sins, by reason of 1 their numerousness, have a terrible accumn. I lativo power. They are like the grc-on %, 1 on our rose-bushes, or the ■ microbes',' thsi'il our medical friends talk so much about now. adays. Like them, their power of mischief 7 a does not in the least degree depend their B magnitude, and, like them, they. have a tro- I mendous capacity of reproduction. It would I be easier to find a man that had not dona I

any sin than to find out a man that had I only done it once. And it would bo easier to j 1 find a man that had done no evil than a niaa I who had t not been obliged to make thaii second edition ;of , his sin an enlarged one. I f For this is the present Nemesis of all etitM '•■ that ; it requires ; repetition, partly to ; still 1 conscience, partly to satisfy excited tastes'a and desires; so that the second dose has to be stronger than the first in order,to pro-- I duce an equivalent effect; and so on ad :'§ infinitum. ■ t | And then remember Idiat all our evil l| doings, however insignificant they may bej'.'.f have a strange affinity with one another, so 1 that you will find that to go wrong in one" I direction almost inevitably ' leads" to a whola § series of consequential transgressions of ono I sort ■'■ or .another. You . remember the old I story about the soldier that was smuggle J into a fortress concealed in a hay-cart, and § opened the gates of a virgin citadel 1 to his; 1 allies outside. Every evil thing, great. or 1 small, that we admit into our lives, still more 1 into our hearts, is charged with, the same ■ 1 errand as. he had: "Set wide tSio door when: J you are inside, and let vis all come in after | you." "He taketh with him seven other I spirits worse than himself,' and they" dwell | there."- '.':'■ And so our little transgressions i open \ the door for great ones, and every m J makes us more accessible to the assaults!! of every other. ■ ----://:/ ; |§if i • So let me remind you how Ijerc, in these 1 little unnumbered acts of trivial trans- I gression which ■ scarcely produce any effect ;:| on conscience or on memory, but make up J so large a portion of our lives, lies one of 1 the most powerful' instruments for making Vf us what we are. olf we indulge in slight « 1 acts of transgression, bo sure of : this, that I we shall pass from" them to far greater cncs. ; ■ j For one man that leaps or falls all at a.V" : J into sin- which the world calls gross, there jjj j are a thousand that slide into it. .The stbrgS j only blows down the trees whose hearts have j been eaten out and their roots loosened, -i And when you see a man having a reptita. j tion for wisdom and honour all at once com- j ing crash down' and disclosing his baseness, .'■. j he sure that he began with small deflections f from ", the ' path /of right. The evil ; works H underground;; and if we yield to little temp-f 1 tations, when great ones come we shall faff'rf their victims. ~ \ ■ i^,. THEY WILL HAVE TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR.'.'!: Let me remind you, too, that there is j another » sense in which "sand is weighty." | f J You may as well be crushed under a sand- I hill ias ; under y a::: mountain > of v marble. It matters not which. The accumulated weight-:) of the one is as great as that of the other. | And I wish to lay upon the consciences | of my readers this thought, that an over-, , 1 whelming weight of guilt results from the . j accumulation of little sins. I do ' not desire '1 to preach a gospel of fear, but wo sliaiS - | "every one of us give account of himself j to God;" and if the account-is long enough," 1 '. it will,-,foot -/upi; '■: to /an.•.■ enormous sunt,.! though each :■ item may be • only; j halfpence. The weight of a . lifetime%l of little sins will be enough to crush a man j down with guilt and responsibility when he |>| stands before that Judge/ That is all £rue, '.";•$ and you know it, and I beseech you, take ; .1 it to your hearts; "Sand is weighty.":! Little sins will have to be accounted for, •' and may : crush. THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES. ,' ' : ■ ',! .■;'• '.I;'! BT BEV. DB. CAMPBELL MORGAN. t Under the figure of the vine Jesus explained the new union, between Himself and ■; His people, to be consummated by the com- I ing of the Spirit. The opening sentence, j "I am th& true Vine," is inclusive'and/ J exhaustive. It is the seventh "I am" rsf ■•« corded by John, and, as the Lord's own, ■ I exposition will show, it now includes all :| ■ His own. , They /- were about to enter", into- ; j such relationship with -Him that to express J the truth concerning Himself He must needs | include them. His teaching here is certain- .';■ ',' ly almost overwhelming in its revelation of Ji His grace and power. ' -It is hardly correct to say that He ma < J the vino the symbol of relationship. Where- f as that would be the truth in some senses, such a' statement would miss a deeper principle which is '* of -jgreat value. . All earthij > ; things are upon the pattern of heavenly 'a things, and tho names of earthly things are j borrowed names. Perhaps: this may.be il- "a lustrated by reference to another manifests- | tion ,of tho .--• same ; principle. / Throughout these discourses the Lord spoke much of the fi /Father and it must ever be remember* :' | that tho name "Father," in all the fulness I of its meaning, belongs only to God. "J has "not borrowed an earthly name to teach ,| a p heavenly truth. He has rather lent men. | a heavenly name to indicate to them" a"" J earthly responsibility. In this way He is the ,s :, true Vine. Every vino of earth is an ex- U pression of Himself, as are in some sense ot • , degree all created things. ' \ «-] In His use of the figure there aire certain ■) | words which arrest: the attention" v ' . i "branches," " fruit." The inter-relation bej tween these is the : : closest. Indeed, it " doubtful whether " inter-relation" is not aa ! .imperfect word in this connection, Tho sub- j lime'teaching is that of perfect unity- l a .'-i the presence of the words of Jesus, "fjfl 1 the 'Vine," there is no understanding o|\ His meaning save as wo take in the whom fact. The vine consists of root and stem ; . and! branches and leaves and fruit.' }- * branches arc part of the vino; -the fruit '' !) 1 also.part of the vine, j its ultimate issueW«g intention. How- wondrous is this teacuiis and relationship of His disciple:.- to »"»• and '"how even- more wonderful is the »" *i revealed that Christ fulfils Himself as l& ', fruit through those who are- His own branches! The vine needs the branch for «' V fruitage; the branch must be part of tfi & vine for the production of fruit. ' v . ,-• : To take the illustration in the order of .. j statement, He first described the union » .in..process. "The Father is the husrjan£; man," and His purpose is that of fruit; to- |; ward which end He takes away the brancties , u that fail/and cleanses such as are fruitful. «• - He next insisted upon the conditions ot.;■ « fruit-fulness—those of abiding in Him, a" 0 >; of His abiding in the branches. - , pA /-H Tho blessings following such abiding *|| ; | declared to be those of prevailing!'-'/" § ■ and abounding fruitfulness. ' *' ';''^ '•'•• -Finally, He revealed the pattern'of.Mß : union. He first * declared'. His Father s f* >J I for Him, and then that His love for hi*» '. was of tho same nature. Having th " B Jl', 1 vealed the eternal depths-of love/and|H» I channel of that love toward therosHl||S|g | manded them.to abide {herein. ; Not, let. | be most carefully noted, to abide in »" .-. ■ love ; for Him, but 'in His love to «**% , | . that love!. beings at: once the atmosphere their love, the impulse of their activity*. ._j |- -th©'' strength of their service. Having "- -- *- .argued that tho love of the Father was "- f j. %\ place of safety, and . so revealed a P*' I ,j'.l| lege, '; He .laid upon them trmcoj|f^^M reuponsibility, and emphasised it by an ar * || ment back to -the.Father. * / '. '^iW