CHAPTER IX.

SENSE OF MORAL EVIL.

1. There is an amazing complexity in man, and in all that relates to him. Pass over his physical nature, that exquisitely and wonderfully wrought structure which we term his body; and then we have that mysterious thing which we term his Soul or Spirit, endowed with various faculties.

2. We love simplicity and unity: we wish to pass from particulars to generals, and from these to some universal principle. Here the mind may display its ingenuity, its acuteness, its comprehensiveBut we leave such speculations to the sage, and we direct our attention to the moral character and circumstances of man's spirit.

ness.

3. If a man take up one idea only, he is apt to give a one-sided or an exaggerated statement of it, and also to forget other ideas. Hence we have

partial, distorted, mistaken views.

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I may meditate on good so as to forget evil; and on evil, so as to forget good.

4. This world abounds with good; but it also abounds with evil. We reflect at present on one subject only, Moral Evil, or Sin: and this may be considered in various ways; as a principle, and as an act; and then it may also be viewed with regard to its results.

5. As to Action, sin is the violation of law: and, since we live under a moral goverment, the transgression of law must be followed by punishment. The order of things is very clear: Law, obedience, righteousness, reward; or law, transgression, guilt, penalty. It may suffice at present only to mention these things.

6. Let us meditate on moral evil, or sin, as something in man: name it as you please, perversion, disorder, confusion, or any such term: our Church calls it "the fault and corruption of every man" descended from Adam; "whereby he is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own. nature inclined to evil."

7. Our question at present is, How is moral evil regarded by our Christians in general? The question demands the most serious consideration of every one. We have nothing here to do with the great problem, "The origin of Moral Evil:" we merely consider man as he is: we confine ourselves to the fact, that man is a sinful creature.

8. All sober-minded and reflecting men will admit that, man is a sinful being: the admission, that "we all are sinful creatures," is very commonly made. Further, It is readily allowed, that there is a great deal of wickedness in the world. Seeing what we see, and hearing what we hear, it is impossible not to admit that there is some moral disorder or malady in man, which leads to all the vice and misery

which we discover wherever we go, and that in countless forms.

9. Notwithstanding, however, such ready admissions as are commonly made with regard to moral evil, we would simply ask, Does there prevail among the persons who form our Christian Society a right sense, or any thing like a right sense, of moral evil? We answer the question negatively. There may be a general view and a prompt admission of moral evil where there is no effectual sense of it.

10. "Fools make a mock at sin." Sages reason about it. Philanthropists deplore it. Moralists condemn it. How few, comparatively, feel it aright? The sage speculates on the subject; but he spends his days in the pride of reason. The unlettered peasant has a notion about evil, but he proceeds in thoughtlessness or in vice. Neither of them has a just sense of this moral "infection of nature." Reasoning about sin, and declamation against it, may abound without any thing like a right apprehension and conviction of it.

11. Here we see what we may call "A great defect" in Christians in general: we mean, "The absence of a deep, personal, spiritual sense or feeling of moral evil." Sin, we apprehend, is generally viewed in a superficial manner; more in reference to action than to principle; more in reference to others than to ourselves. Where is he who says with the patriarch! "Behold, I am vile:" "I abhor myself."

12. Plant in the souls of all men, not merely notions about moral evil, but a real sense of it, and it would not be too much to say, that the character of men and the condition of the world would immediately be changed.—It is readily granted, that such a conviction is from above: it is not the fruit of moral suasion, but of divine power and operation.

13. It may be laid down as one of our primary truths, that an effectual sense of moral evil is the preliminary to all real goodness in man. We are penitents before we are believers. But we are not real penitents, unless we have within us a deep and lively sense of our corrupt nature.

14. He knows but little about religion as a spiritual matter, who is a stranger to the broken spirit and the contrite heart: and such a frame of soul implies far more than notion, speculation, and admission; for it implies a personal and experimental conviction of inherent evil.

15. He who has such a conviction of evil as that of which we are speaking, will be thoughtful, humble, serious, and earnest, with regard to spiritual matters. He will find that he exists in very serious circumstances; that he has nothing to boast of; that he has much to fear, avoid, and escape; much also to seek and obtain. The man of the world will no longer idolize the world. The once careless sinner will not proceed in his vile and vain course of life. The sage will no longer reason in a proud and theoretical manner. In other words, a right sense

of moral evil would put an end to worldliness, profligacy, and pride.

16. Let it not be thought, that we are making too much of one point. Notions amuse, or perplex, or instruct us, but feelings (as already said) govern the world. We are not what our minds are, but what our hearts are. We talk about disease, and are careless: but we feel it, and then we act as diseased persons ought: we adopt proper measures for our recovery.

17. Let it not be said, that this sense of evil would either make us miserable, or interfere with our worldly business. It is true, that a just sense of sin will be always associated with a feeling of deep humility;—the right feeling for us to cherish as long as we remain in a sinful world. But let us study what has been justly called our "tender, fervent, penitential, and affectionate Liturgy:" and there we shall find, that we may be truly penitent without being miserable.

18. As to the business of this world, Would the sovereign or the subject, the rich man and the poor man, the sage and the peasant, rule and obey, reason and work, in a worse manner because they cherished a deep consciousness of their real character? We need not answer such a question. Truth is helpful, not injurious.

19. But we may suppose the absence of a right conviction of moral evil: and what is the consequence? Men will assent to all that is said about