of our heart toward God, it will be opening it
toward sin, and the result will be darkness. Depravity will at once have
entered in, and then as every evil thought comes into the mind it will
find no obstruction to its way into the heart, where it will find a
fruitful soil in which to germinate and bring forth evil work.

Ques. Does not the word of God say that "from within, out of the heart
of men, proceed evil thoughts," etc.?

Ans. Yes, this is true; but we must consider what kind of heart Jesus is
speaking about. Let us turn to Mark 7. The Pharisees and certain scribes
found fault because they saw some of Jesus' disciples eat bread without
washing their hands; not that their hands were not clean enough to eat
with, but because they did not serve the traditional ceremony, thinking
that thus the hearts of the disciples were defiled, but Jesus explained
that nothing can defile the heart except that which enters into it. Ver.
19. "And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the
man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all
these evil things come from within, and defile the man."--Verses 20-23.

We see that this is a true picture of the unregenerated heart, which has
no good thing in it. We also see that it is not an evil thought
presented to the mind from without which defileth the man, but it is the
evil thought that comes from within a corrupted heart. There are two
sources of evil thoughts. 1. The devil himself directly. 2. A corrupt,
unregenerate heart, which is a hotbed and nursery of the devil. From
either of these outward sources evil thoughts may be presented to the
mind of a child of God, but from neither can our hearts be defiled if
they are brought into captivity and banished, as will be the case with
every obedient soul.

Ques. Is not every mistake a sin?

Ans. No; there are many mistakes which are not sinful. There is no doubt
that every sin is a serious mistake, but God's people do not make such
mistakes. The word of God teaches what sin is, and if we abide in Christ
we will not commit sin. The scriptural definition of sin will help us to
understand this. "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it
not, to him it is sin."--Jas. 4:17. "All unrighteousness is sin."--1
John 5:17. "When lust hath conceived it bri