indeed can be.' The root of all sin is the
despising of His Name.

And as sin has but one root, it has many branches, and as working
backwards from deed to motive, we find one common element in all the
various acts; so working outwards from motive to deed, we have to see
one common character stamped upon a tragical variety of acts. The
poison-water is exhibited in many variously coloured and tasted
draughts, but however unlike each other they may be, it is always the
same.

The great effort of God's love is to press home this consciousness of
despising His Name upon all hearts. The sorrows, losses, and
disappointments which come to us all are not meant only to make us
suffer, but through suffering to lead us to recognise how far we have
wandered from our Father, and to bring us back to His heart and our
home. The beginning of all good in us is the contrite acknowledgment of
our evil. Christ's first preaching was the continuation of John's
message, 'Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'; and His
tenderest revelation of the divine love incarnated in Himself was meant
to arouse the penitent confession, 'I am no more worthy to be called Thy
son,' and the quickening resolve, 'I will arise and go to my Father.'
There is no way to God but through the narrow gate of repentance. There
is no true reception of the gift of Christ which does not begin with a
vivid and heart-broken consciousness of my own sin. We can pass into,
and abide in, the large room of joyous acceptance and fellowship, but we
must reach it by a narrow path walled in by gloomy rocks and trodden
with bleeding feet. The penitent knowledge of oar sin is the first step
towards the triumphant knowledge of Christ's righteousness as ours. Only
they who have called out in the agony of their souls, 'Lord, save us, we
perish,' have truly learned the love of God, and truly possess the
salvation that is in Christ.

II. Man's plea of 'Not Guilty.'

That such an answer should be given to such a charge is a strange,
solemn fact, which tragically confirms the true indictment. The effect
of all sin is to make us less conscious of its presence, as persons in
an unventilated room are not aware of its closeness. It is with profound
truth that the Apostle speaks of being hardened by the 'deceitfulness'
of sin. It comes to us in a cloud and enfolds us in obscure mist. Like
white ants, it never works in the open, but makes a tunnel or burrows
under ground, and, hidde