1 Cor. V. 6. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ?
THAT ungodly men may glory in their shame, may easily be conceived : but that persons professing godliness should ever be led to do so, can scarcely
be imagined. Yet, such is the force of habit, that it may bhnd the eyes of persons who are not otherwise destitute of discernment; and may lead them to vindicate proceedings, which, on a calmer view, they would judge deserving of utter abhorrence. The Corinthians, in their heathen state, had been prover- bially addicted to lewdness of every kind. But, be- hold, a man after having embraced Christianity, had become guilty of incest : and when the Apostle pro- tested against this, as an act of gross impiety, the elders of the Church at Corinth espoused the cause of the incestuous man, and refused to execute upon him the censure which his crime demanded. This conduct the Apostle justly reproved, both as detest- able in itself, and as likely to prove exceedingly in- jurious to the whole Church : " Your glorying is not good : know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ?"
Now in this expostulation we may see,
I. The malignant nature of sin —
The operations and effects of leaven are well known in every family : and it will serve, therefore, to illus- trate, in the clearest manner, the nature of sin. It is,
1. Corrupting —
[The purest dough that was ever made has no sooner a portion of leaven blended with it, than it ferments, and be- comes sour. And such was the effect of sin upon the soul of our first parent. Adam, when he came out of his Creator's hands, was formed in the perfect image of his God : not an evil propensity of any kind was found in him. But behold him as soon as sin entered into his soul : instantly he became so alienated from his God, that he fled from him, and strove to hide himself amongst the trees of the garden : and when inter- rogated by God respecting the act which he had committed, he cast the blame of it upon God himself. The sin which he had committed was as small as any that could be conceived ; it was not a breach of morals, properly so called ; but only a transgression of a positive precept, which rendered that sinful, which, if not particularly prohibited, would have been perfectly innocent: yet did this small leaven so leaven his whole soul, that he became altogether corrupt ; and the image of God was