nt
to be led. He was content to let others do the wickedness he had
not courage to carry out himself. He forgot that, as is well said,
'He who does a thing by another, does it by himself;' that if you
let others sin for you, you sin for yourself. Would to God, my
friends, that we would all remember this! How often people wink at
wrong-doing in those with whom they have dealings, in those whom
they employ, in their servants, in their children, because it is
convenient to them. They shut their eyes, and their hearts too, and
say to themselves, 'At all events, it is his doing and not mine; and
it is his concern; I am not answerable for other people's sins. I
would not do such a thing myself, certainly; but as it is done, I
may as well make the best of it. If I gain by it, I need not be so
very sharp in looking into the matter.' And so you see men who
really wish to be honest and kindly themselves, making no scruple of
profiting by other people's dishonesty and cruelty. Now the law
punishes the receiver of stolen goods almost as severely as the
thief himself: but there are many receivers of stolen goods, my
friends, whom the law cannot touch. The world, at times, seems to
me to be full of them; for every one, my friends, who hushes up a
cruel or a dishonest matter, because he himself is a gainer by it,
he is no better than the receiver of stolen goods, and he will find
in the day of the Lord, that the sin will lie at his door, as
Jezebel's sin lay at Ahab's. There was no need for Ahab to say,
'Jezebel did it, and not I.' The prophet did not even give him time
to excuse himself: 'Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also
taken possession?' By taking possession of Naboth's vineyard, and
so profiting by his murder, he made himself partaker in that murder,
and had to hear the terrible sentence, 'In the place where dogs
licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick thy blood, even thine.'

Oh, my friends, whatsoever you do, keep clean hands and a pure
heart. If you touch pitch, it will surely stick to you. Let no
gain tempt you to be partaker of others men's sins; never fancy
that, because men cannot lay the blame on the right person, God
cannot. God will surely lay the burden on the man who helped to
make the burden; God will surely require part payment from the man
who profited by the bargain; so keep yourselves clear of other men's
sins, that you may be clear also of their condemnation.

So Ahab had c