soiled his reputation, the effect of it can never be washed
away. If he shatters his body through indulgence and vice, he must
suffer until death. As Talmage says, "The grace of God gives a new
heart, but not a new body."

"John," said a father to his son, "I wish you would get me the
hammer."

"Yes, sir."

"Now a nail and a piece of pine board."

"Here they are, sir."

"Will you drive the nail into the board?"

It was done.

"Please pull it out again."

"That's easy, sir."

"Now, John," and the father's voice dropped to a lower key, "pull
out the nail hole."

Every wrong act leaves a scar. Even if the board be a living tree
the scar remains.

For our worst sins there is plenteous redemption. My sin may become
white as snow, and pass away altogether, in so far as it has power
to disturb or sadden my relation to God. Yet our least sins leave in
our lives, in our characters, in our memories, in our consciences,
sometimes in our weakness, often in our worldly position, in our
reputation, in our success, in our health, in a thousand ways leave
their traces and consequences. God will not put out His little
finger to remove these, but lets them stop.

Let no man fancy that the Gospel which proclaims forgiveness can be
vulgarized into a mere proclamation of impunity. Not so. It was to
_Christian men_ that Paul said, 'Be not deceived, God is not mocked:
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.' God loves us too
well not to punish His children when they sin, and He loves us too
well to annihilate (were it possible) the _secondary_ consequences
of our transgressions. The two sides of the truth must be
recognized--that the deeper and (as we call them) the _primary_
penalties of our evil, which are separation from God and the painful
consciousness of guilt, are swept away; and also that other results
are allowed to remain, which, being allowed, may be blessed and
salutary for the transgressors.

MacLaren says, "If you waste your youth, no repentance will send the
shadow back upon the dial, or recover the ground lost by idleness,
or restore the constitution shattered by dissipation, or give back
the resources wasted upon vice, or bring back the fleeting
opportunities. The wounds can all be healed, for the Good Physician,
blessed be His name! has lancets and bandages, and balm and anodynes
for the deadliest; but scars remain even when the gash is closed."

God forgave Moses and Aaron for their sins, but