en; because they live just such lives as other
men do, as far as respectability, and the fear of hurting their
custom or their character, allow them to do. They have their
prophets, their preachers who teach them; and by their fruits in
these men, the preachers may be known, by those who have eyes to
see, and hearts to understand.

Therefore beware of false prophets. There are too many of them in
the world now, as there were in our Lord's time; men who go about
with the name of God on their lips, and the Bible in their hands, in
sheep's clothing outwardly; but inwardly ravening wolves. In
sheep's clothing, truly, smooth and sanctimonious, meek, and sleek.
But wolves at heart; wolves in cunning and slyness, as you will
find, if you have to deal with them; wolves in fierceness and
cruelty, as you will find if you have to differ from them; wolves in
greediness and covetousness, and care of their own interest and
their own pockets. And wolves, too, in hardness of heart; in the
hard, dark, horrible, unjust doctrines, which they preach with a
smile upon their lips, not merely in sermons, but in books and
tracts innumerable, making out the Heavenly Father, the God whose
name is Love and Justice, to be even such a one as themselves.
Wolves, too, in their habit of hunting in packs, each keeping up his
courage by listening to the howl of his fellows. They may come in
the name of God. They may tell you that they preach the Gospel;
that no one but they preach the Gospel. But by their fruits ye
shall know them.

Will they make you better men? Is it not written, 'The disciple is
not above his master?' What will you learn from them, but to be
like them? And the more you take in their doctrines, the more like
them you will be; for is it not written, 'He that is perfect shall
be as his master.' Can they lead you to eternal life? Is it not
written, 'If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the
ditch?'

But by their fruits ye shall know them. By their fruits in the
world at large, if you have eyes to see it. By their fruits in your
own lives, if you give yourselves up to listen to their false
doctrines, for you will surely find, that, in the first place, they
will not make you honest men. They will not teach you to be just
and true in all your dealings. They will not teach you common
morality. No, my friends, it is most sad to see, how much preaching
and tract-writing there is in England now, which talks lou