course of the holy men of old, Prophets, Apostles, and the primitive saints : or think what you will wish you had done, the very moment you open your eyes in the eternal world. Judge thus ; and you cannot hesitate to declare which is right ; the advice that urges you to "give yourselves wholly to these things," or that which teaches you to be satisfied with outward forms and partial attainments ]
Address —
1. Those who exercise no judgment at all — [You will bitterly regret this supineness at last ]
2. Those who act not in accordance with their
judgment —
[Your guilt is still more aggravated. " The man who knew his lord's will, and did it not, will be beaten with many stripes." Better would it have been for you never to have heard the Gospel at all. The condemnation of Sodom and Gomorrha will be less severe than yours ]
Luke xiii. 5. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
TWICE are these words repeated by our Lord within the space of three verses. And wherefore are they so repeated ? Our Lord intended to check that common propensity which we all have to judge others; and to lead us rather to judge ourselves, and to prepare for that awful judgment which shall ere long be passed upon ourselves. Some of his hearers, taking occasion from what he had just spoken, respecting the danger of persons delaying to seek reconciliation with God till they were hurried unprepared into his presence, told him of the Galileans, who had been slain by Pilate in the very act of offering their sacrifices, and whose blood had been thereby mingled with their sacrifices. Our Lord, seeing that they intended to insinuate that this calamity was a judgment from God on account of some enormous wickedness, rectified their error, and taught them to look to themselves instead of judging and condemning others. Such calamities as these, he observed, fell indiscriminately on the righteous and the wicked : but there was a