ssed so as to
hide that the warp is cotton and only the weft silk. No Christian man
who has memory and self-knowledge can for a moment claim to have reached
the height of his ideal; the best of us, at the best, are like
Nebuchadnezzar's image, whose feet were iron and clay, but we ought to
strain after it and to remember that a stain shows most on the whitest
robe. What made David's sin glaring and memorable was its contradiction
of his habitual nobler self. One spot more matters little on a robe
already covered with many. The world is fully warranted in pointing
gleefully or contemptuously at Christians' inconsistencies, and we have
no right to find fault with their most pointed sarcasms, or their
severest judgments. It is those 'that bear the vessels of the Lord'
whose burden imposes on them the duty 'be ye clean,' and makes any
uncleanness more foul in them than in any other.

The Apostle sets forth the place and function of Christians in the
world, by bringing together in the sharpest contrast the 'children of
God' and a 'crooked and perverse generation.' He is thinking of the old
description in Deuteronomy, where the ancient Israel is charged with
forgetting 'Thy Father that hath bought thee,' and as showing by their
corruption that they are a 'perverse and crooked generation.' The
ancient Israel had been the Son of God, and yet had corrupted itself;
the Christian Israel are 'sons of God' set among a world all deformed,
twisted, perverted. 'Perverse' is a stronger word than 'crooked,' which
latter may be a metaphor for moral obliquity, like our own right and
wrong, or perhaps points to personal deformity. Be that as it may, the
position which the Apostle takes is plain enough. He regards the two
classes as broadly separated in antagonism in the very roots of their
being. Because the 'sons of God' are set in the midst of that 'crooked
and perverse generation' constant watchfulness is needed lest they
should conform, constant resort to their Father lest they should lose
the sense of sonship, and constant effort that they may witness of Him.

III. The solemn reason for this aim.

That is drawn from a consideration of the office and function of
Christian men. Their position in the midst of a 'crooked and perverse
generation' devolves on them a duty in relation to that generation. They
are to 'appear as lights in the world.' The relation between them and it
is not merely one of contrast, but on their parts one of witn