ened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." So far from indulging in hard speaking Himself, no hard speeches stirred Him to retaliate. He did not strive nor cry, nor did any man hear His voice in the streets. "This fellow doth but cast out devils through Beelzebub," is the malicious speech of one: Jesus makes no other reply than such as was to show that the reproach was unreasonable. "Is not this the carpenter's son ?" exclaims another: Jesus is content with observing that “ a prophet is not without honour, save in his own country." "This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days," is the malicious language of a third; but Jesus answers nothing at all. The thief which was crucified with Him cast it in His teeth, that as He had trusted in God, God should deliver Him; but Jesus makes no retort, save to promise Paradise to his repentant companion. Such was He, with whose name we are marked in whose steps we are to tread whose Spirit we are and then whose crown we are to win.

to drink of,

When, therefore, we review the motives which are usually at work in the bosom of him or her whose tongue speaketh malicious words, and find that they are presumption, self-esteem, scorn, anger, spite, revenge, envy; may we not well understand the language of the Apostle when he says, that such a tongue is set on fire of hell for where else can such a brood of hateful passions abide? Wherefore, my friends, if we would have peace on earth, happy firesides, neighbours that shall be brethren unto us, bosoms free from the gnawing pains of vile passions within-if we would be like-minded with our Lord, and thus fitted to live with Him, and be acknowledged by Him as His friends and followers, let us set a watch upon our words, and ever remember the saying of the Apostle — "He that

will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile;" or that of another Apostle, still more touching, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you."

132

SERMON XVI.

ON THE GUILT OF MISLEADING OTHERS.

ST. MATTHEW, xviii. 10, 11.

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost."

OUR blessed Lord is here impressing His followers with the very great sin of putting a stumbling block in another's way. doing any thing which may cause a fellow-creature to offend, and damage his soul; for though the offending person will undoubtedly have to answer for his offence, seeing that every one of us shall give account of himself to God, yet the person who tempted him to offend will have to give account too, for being the cause of his backsliding. Adam pleaded in his defence, that the woman had tempted him, and that she had been the occasion of his fall-the woman, in her turn, pleaded that the serpent had tempted her, and been the occasion of her fall- and all this was true enough; yet God punished them all nevertheless, not making the serpent only, to whom the sin was traced up, answerable for it, but the woman who fell through his guile, and the man who fell through her persuasion. And though

our blessed Lord told Pilate that the man who had delivered Him unto him had the greater sin—he having put the occasion of condemning innocent blood in Pilate's way-yet, by the same expression, He conveyed to him, that he too was guilty in having yielded to the occasion, and in having pronounced sentence against Him, knowing it to be unjust. Our Lord, then, I say, tries to cut off this source of sin at the fountain head, by pronouncing woe against the misleader and at the same time endeavours to open his eyes to the greatness of his offence by several considerations.

One of these considerations is, the vast value of a fellowcreature's soul which is thus damaged, and the consequent aggravation of the offence on that account-for aggravated it would be in proportion to such value. It was the practice of ancient nations, it was the practice of our own, to levy a fine for mischief done to the person, in proportion to the excellence of the member hurt. Thus, our Saxon ancestors inflicted a fine of five times as much on him who smote his neighbour's eye out, as on him who smote off his finger only—the one member being considered so much more valuable than the other, and so the one offence of so much deeper dye than the other. So again, if one man shed another's blood, the ancient law required that his blood should be shed in turn; that being the highest penalty that can be exacted, as the other was the highest sin that can be committed. What, then, must be the fine fit for him to pay, who has damaged his neighbour's soul, by putting a stumbling-block in his wayhis soul, worth more, by countless millions of times, than his life? If justice requires punishment to be awarded to one who hurts another's person even according to the amount of the injury inflicted—what punishment will it require to be awarded to one who hurts another's immortal

spirit? Accordingly our Lord hints at the dreadful reckoning such a man will have to pay, by saying, in a passage which occurs a few verses before the text, "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me"-whoso shall do anything to prejudice his soul-"it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea." This is as horrid a punishment as can be conceived; but still, says our Lord, it is a slight punishment compared with that which the misleader of his fellow-creatures' souls must look for when he is brought up to judgment. Nay, the phrase is stronger still; for this threat is held out against the misleader of a single fellow-creature's soul. "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones," is the expression. And doubtless nothing can be a repayment in full for the sin of giving occasion, direct or indirect, for a human being to bathe in flames to all eternity. This, then, is one consideration, here suggested by our Lord, to open men's eyes to the greatness of the offence of being a misleader of others' souls-the precious thing such a one is destroying.

But this is not the only consideration. He goes on to speak of the care God takes of the soul of every creature of His. He watches over it, and sets His sentinel about it, and has tidings conveyed to Him of its condition. "Take heed," says He, "that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is heaven." As though He had said, do not suppose that Almighty God sets little store by the soul of the least of His people do not suppose that He is indifferent to the damage it may suffer at your hands, by the contagion of your evil example, or the blight of your carelessness and neglect; God prizes its welfare so much, that He has angels about Him ever ready to be mi