rment,
approaching him with eyes averted. They would have been incapable of
this fine outward expression of reverence for their father, had they
not occupied a correct attitude toward God in their hearts and
believed their father to be both priest and ruler by right divine.

159. It is a fearful example, this one of Ham. Though one of the few
saved during the flood, he forgets all piety. It is profitable to
carefully consider how he came to fall. Outward sins must first be
committed in our minds; that is, before sins are visibly committed,
the heart first departs from the Word and from the fear of God. It
neither knows God nor seeks after him, as we read in Psalms 14, 2. As
soon as the heart begins to set aside the Word, and to despise the
ministers and prophets of God, ambition and pride follow. Those who
stand in the way of our desires are overborne by hatred and slander,
until finally insolent speech ends in murder.

160. Those who are to become rulers of Church or State, should daily
pray earnestly to God that they may remain humble. It is the object of
stories of this character to set this duty before us, for it is
evident what occasioned Ham's frightful fall.

161. If, then, the saints fall into sin, let us not be offended. Much
less should we rejoice over the weakness of others, haughtily
esteeming ourselves braver, wiser, or holier than they. Let us rather
endure and cover up, and even put a good construction upon and excuse
such errors in so far as we can, remembering that perhaps tomorrow we
may suffer what happened to them today. For we all constitute a unit,
being born of the same flesh. Let us then heed the advice of Paul,
"Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor 10,
12). In this way the other two brothers looked upon their drunken
father. Their thoughts were these: Behold, our father has fallen. But
God is wonderful in his dealing with saints, whom he sometimes permits
to fall for our instruction, that we may not despair when afflicted by
kindred infirmity.

162. Let us imitate their wisdom! The sins of others give us no right
to judge them. Before their own master they stand or fall (Rom 14, 4).
Furthermore, if the downfall of others displease us (since, in truth,
many acts neither can nor ought to be excused), let us be so much the
more careful lest something like it overtake ourselves. Let us not sit
in proud and haughty judgment, for this is original sin in all its
corrup