228 OPEN AND SECRET SIN. its fascinations and allurements; that he may enjoy the companionships and intimacies of mere worldlings, and that his example may elevate them, but that their evil communications will not corrupt his own good manners. And thus the fine distinctions between right and wrong become obliterated, and unconsciously the barriers are passed. He is now sailing on a summer sea, where the next wave may bear him into the gorge of the irresistible whirlpool. He is now playing with summer flowers; but he is on the brink of a precipice, and the next moment may dash him on the pointed rocks. He is exposing himself to a furnace heated with a sevenfold heat, and the fiery breath may suck him in with absorbing and irresistible might. Does the Christian imagine that it is not possible that he should commit such sins as ought not so much as to be named among Christians? Indeed it is not thus that Christ speaks to His disciples, and St. Paul to his converts. In the New Testament the believer is warned against gross and flagrant sin; he is warned against the devices of Satan; he is exhorted to vigilance, and invited to repentance. "Let him who thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Let him bear in mind the Lord's injunction to "watch and pray." Let him seek to array himself in the Apostolic panoply,—the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And when the heart is purified by "THINK ON THESE THINGS." 229 repentance, is made humble in obedience, is kept with all diligence, then it becomes a meet temple for the Highest. He to whom the earth is but a footstool, Himself bows the heavens and comes down: "Thus saith the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite one." The Apostle has mapped out for us the province of our thoughts. Could we only faithfully adhere to his injunctions, the desire of the poet might be realised by us : "I'll make my heart a holy sepulchre, And all my land of thought a Palestine." "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." What a magnificent region is here pointed out as the domain of thought, the things of truth and honour and justice, of purity and loveliness, and of a noble fame! What high and radiant imaginations are here, what glowing hopes, what stately resolves, what lofty aspirations, what an alliance and companionship with all the greatness and goodness that hath been! If the * Phil. iv. 8. 230 THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE PURE IN HEART. mind project the hue of its own feelings on all exterior aspects, how life becomes transfigured and ennobled for him who thus lives! Being pure in heart, he partakes of angels' food; his mind finds the aliment suited for an immortal nature, and prepares him for the blessedness of the pure in heart, "who shall see God." CHAPTER IV. OUR WORDS. "OUT of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." An importance which is not always acknowledged and acted upon belongs to our words. One of the commandments of the decalogue, on which ultimately repose the relations between God and man, and man with man, relates to the speaking lightly with our lips. That is both a very wonderful and a very awful saying: "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." excess. Our words will be few, although volumes have been written, and may still be well written, on this subject. Time has been when the ascetic side of this subject has been carried to a harmful and absurd Men, however, have ceased, unless in coarse and extreme cases,—which unavoidably incur the suspicion of insincerity, to adopt an artificial twang, and make their conversation a cento of texts. Even those who are most desirous of speaking earnest and solemn words generally lead up to great subjects through avenues of pleasant talk. Neither is it very desirable that we should legislate very closely re 232 SOCIAL MISERIES OF UNBRIDLED SPEECH. garding our conversation. To fetter our conversation by an elaborate system of rules would be to destroy that cheerfulness and ease in which so much of the freedom and value of conversation consists, and its faculty as a healthful recreation. This much may be allowed; and yet, after all, we know that there is both the necessity and the duty of bridling the tongue; and we are told that he who does not this deceiveth himself, and his religion is vain (James i. 26). To this subject Bishop Butler has devoted one of his immortal sermons, and has treated the subject with his usual wonderful mixture of human and divine wisdom. The importance of the subject is shown us by the language of Holy Writ. It would almost be difficult, in the whole Bible, to find words of equal intensity with those wherewith St. James brands the unsanctified tongue: "It is a fire, a world of iniquity; it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” No one has lived long, and observed with any attention the drama of life surrounding him, without being conscious of the acute misery and heavy misfortunes that result from the wicked and unguarded use of language. Not only in lying and swearing and slandering,-in which the guilt of the tongue receives its vile consummation,-but in various other directions, infinite mischief is produced by incaution, inattention, and inaccuracy. A loose, inaccurate, unprincipled habit of mind is constantly |