striking to frighten him, lets him
play with the bait, and gorge it in peace, fancying that he is well
off, when really he is fast hooked for ever, led captive thenceforth
from bad to worse by the snare of the devil. Oh miserable
blindness, which comes over men sometimes, and keeps them asleep at
the very moment that they ought to be most wide awake!

And what throws men into that sleep? What makes them do in one
minute something which curses all their lives afterwards? Love of
pleasure? Yes: that is a common curse enough, as we all know. But
a worse snare than even that is pride and self-conceit. That was
what ruined those old Jews. That was what blinded their eyes. They
had made up their minds that they saw; therefore they were blind:
that they could not go wrong; therefore they went utterly and
horribly wrong thenceforth: that they alone of all people knew and
kept God's law; therefore they crucified the Son of God himself for
fulfilling their law. They were taken unawares, because they were
asleep in vain security.

And so with us. By conceit and carelessness, we may ruin ourselves
in a moment, once and for all. When a man has made up his mind that
he is quite worldly-wise; that no one can take him in; that he
thoroughly understands his own interest; then is that man ripe and
ready to commit some enormous folly, which may bring him to ruin.

When a man has made up his mind that he knows all doctrines, and is
fully instructed in religion, and can afford to look down on all who
differ from him; then is that man ripe and ready for doing something
plainly wrong and wicked, which will blunt his conscience from that
day forth, and teach him to call evil good, and good evil more and
more; till, in the midst of all his fine religious professions, he
knows not plain right from plain wrong--full of the form of
godliness, but denying the power of it in scandal of his every-day
life.

Yes, my friends, our only safeguard is humility. Be not high-
minded, but fear. Avoid every appearance of evil. Believe that in
every temptation heaven and hell may be at stake: and that the only
way to be safe is to do nothing wilfully wrong at all, for you never
know how far downward one wilful sin may lead you. The devil is not
simple enough to let you see the bottom of his pitfall: but it is
so deep, nevertheless, that he who falls in, may never get out
again.

And do not say in your hearts about this thing and that,