he
consequences of sin set many a man's teeth on edge who does not feel any
compunction for the wrong that he did. My brethren, is that the position
of any that are listening to me now?

Again, men are often sorry for their conduct without thinking of it as
sin against God. Crime means the transgression of man's law, wrong means
the transgression of conscience's law, sin is the transgression of God's
law. Some of us would perhaps have to say--'I have done crime.' We are
all of us quite ready to say: 'I have done wrong many a time'; but
there are some of us who hesitate to take the other step, and say: 'I
have done sin.' Sin has, for its correlative, God. If there is no God
there is no sin. There may be faults, there may be failures, there may
be transgressions, breaches of the moral law, things done inconsistent
with man's nature and constitution, and so on; but if there be a God,
then we have personal relations to that Person and His law; and when we
break His law it is more than crime; it is more than fault; it is more
than transgression; it is more than wrong; it is sin. It is when you
lift the shutter off conscience, and let the light of God rush in upon
your hearts and consciences, that you have the wholesome sorrow that
worketh repentance and salvation and life.

Oh, dear friends, I do beseech you to lay these simple thoughts to
heart. Remember, I urge no rigid uniformity of experience or character,
but I do say that unless a man has learned to see his sin in the light
of God, and in the light of God to weep over it, he has yet to know 'the
strait gate that leadeth unto life.'

I believe that a very large amount of the superficiality and
easy-goingness of the Christianity of to-day comes just from this, that
so many who call themselves Christians have never once got a glimpse of
themselves as they really are. I remember once peering over the edge of
the crater of Vesuvius, and looking down into the pit, all swirling with
sulphurous fumes. Have you ever looked into your hearts, in that
fashion, and seen the wreathing smoke and the flashing fire there? If
you have, you will cleave to that Christ, who is your sole deliverance
from sin.

But, remember, there is no prescription about depth or amount or length
of time during which this sorrow shall be felt. If, on the one hand, it
is essential, on the other hand there are a great many people who ought
to be walking in the light and the liberty of God's Gospel who br