rule, they are as worthless as the chief priest's answer, " We cannot tell."
The plain truth is that we ought to be very slow to give credit to the unconverted man's professed reasons for not serving Christ. We may be tolerably sure that when he says " I cannot/' the real meaning of his heart is "I will not." A really honest spirit in religious matters is a mighty blessing. Once let a man be willing to live up to his light, and act up to his knowledge, and he will soon know of the doctrine of Christ, and come out from the world. (John vii. 17.) The ruin of thou- sands is simply this, that they deal dishonestly with their own souls. They allege pretended difficulties as the cause of their not serving Christ, while in reality they " love darkness rather than light," and have no
honest desire to change.
(John iii. 19.)