1 T. G. Selby, Tht Imperfect Angel, 144.
PSALM XIX. 12 351
fallen into the same condition by reason of the multitude of small ones. " He that despiseth little things shall fall by little and little " ; and whilst the deeds which the Ten Commandments rebuke are damning to a Christian character, still more perilous, because unseen, and permitted to grow without check or restraint, are these unconscious sins. " Happy is he that condemneth not him- self in that thing which he alloweth." ^
^ A large oak-tree was cut down in a grove, and near the heart of it was found a small nail surrounded by twenty-nine concentric circles of wood, the growth of as many years. And did that little nail injure the oak ? Alas ! it did, for the sap carried with it the oxide from the metal, until a space of three or four feet in length and four or five inches in diameter was completely blackened. The hidden nail in the heart proved injurious to the mighty oak. And the secret sin in your heart, my brother, will injure your manhood. Even when it does not develop into an act, it will blacken the noblest part of your nature. It will con- vert your soul into a macadamized road for the foulest of satyrs. Your moral perception will be obscured, your moral sensibility will be blunted, your moral appetite will be vitiated, your con- science will be impaired, and all the vitalities of your soul will be brought low.2
4. The influence of our hidden sins reaches out to our fellow- men. What injury unknown to ourselves we may have inflicted on others ! Like the widening circles on the surface of the water when the child throws the pebble into the pool, so the sins of our childhood and of other days have spread we know not whither. It is possible (we must remember) to lead others into sins which we have never committed ourselves. Arguments for mere love of amusement or display of skill may raise doubts in the mind of another which we have never felt and cannot answer. An ex- penditure which to us may not be worse than waste may lead another into embarrassments which will destroy the peace of years and break the hearts of those who denied themselves to provide what should have been more than enough. Our thoughtlessness may lead another to break a heart which we have never known — but it is through our fault that this heart is broken.
^ A sanitary officer noticed how a young woman who had come up to London from the country, and was living in some ^ A. Maclareu, The God of the Amen, 81. * J. Ossiaii Davies.
352 HIDDEN FAULTS
miserable court or alley, made for a time great efforts to keep that court or alley clean. But gradually, day by day, the efforts of that poor woman were less and less vigorous, until in a few weeks she became accustomed to, and contented with, the state of filth which surrounded her, and made no further efforts to remove it. The atmosphere she lived in was too strong for her.^
^ A light-hearted lad passes through a wood, and thoughtlessly strikes a young oak sapling. The scar heals over, but when that tree is cut down a thousand years afterwards, that blow is written on its heart. As heedlessly he puts the first thought of impurity into the soul of another, innocent up to that moment ; and, owing to that thought perhaps, that soul is lost. " I've seen pretty clearly," says Adam Bede in George Eliot's story, " ever since I could cast up a sum, that you can never do what is wrong without breeding sin and trouble, more than you can ever see. It's like a bit of bad workmanship ; you never see the end of the mischief it will do." 2
II.
Their Cause.
1. One hidden and mysterious source may be found in heredity. Over and above the animal nature that we all possess, and that too often possesses us, are acquired tendencies to certain forms of evil which we have inherited from our ancestors. No man knows what hereditary predispositions are flowing in his veins. Peculiar appetites and sensibilities are transmitted from generation to generation ; and here is the secret explanation of many a man's lapse into evil courses. The taint is in his blood. Many a man is a very powder magazine of violent passions stored up within him from forgotten progenitors. And when he goes where sparks are flying there is a sudden and fearful explosion, and everybody wonders !
^ You may carry in your system the germs of certain diseases for years without suspecting the fact. The germs lie dormant until conditions favourable to their vitalization and development arise, and then comes the outbreak. So there are latent in many men's blood susceptibilities to the power of drink and lust which no one suspects, and which they themselves suspect least of any.
1 E. J. Hardy. 2 jj^-^.
PSALM XIX. 12 353
But when they are thrown into certain society, or placed under certain conditions, the fever that was in their veins breaks out and runs its course, and the end is collapse and death. It is sad to reflect that the drunkard or the libertine may transmit to his children and his children's children his passions, but that he cannot transmit his remorse}