THE GUILT OF THOSE WHO CAUSE OTHERS TO STUMBLE.
By John Nevins Andrews
TEXT. Matt. xviii, 6, 7: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!” Luke xvii, 1, 2: “Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come; but woe unto him through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” These words of our Lord are calculated to fill us with the strongest emotions of fear. Surely the Lord Jesus was not one of those preachers that speak words of comfort to the sinners in Zion. The thunders of Sinai itself are not more awful than this declaration of Him who is to be the Judge of quick and dead. All who read this word of warning are in danger of incurring this terrible woe; some who read it, have it already hanging over their heads. The sin which the Saviour so solemnly threatens, is one of no minor consequence. It is no less than the eternal ruin of those who otherwise might have secured an entrance into the city of God. It is the causing of others to stumble and to fall. It is the turning of men out of the path of life. It is the hindering of them in the race whereby their final failure is rendered inevitable. It is even the destruction of those for whom Christ died. Does the reader protest innocence of this awful sin? Let him not be too certain that even his hands are not stained with this terrible blood—guiltiness. Let him be more anxious to know the exact truth than to maintain his own cause, and to vindicate himself from blame. Deep anguish must follow the discovery of this sin. But we had better learn the truth before mercy is succeeded by strict justice. Possibly we can undo some of the evils which we have already well nigh accomplished. Some men deliberately undertake the ruin of Christ's disciples. They study how to overthrow them. They weave snares with which to entangle their feet. They manage to perplex, dishearten, and confound them. They place before them temptations exactly adapted to the peculiar weakness of the individuals with whom they are engaged. They flatter their vanity, they excite their fears, they pervert their judgment, and they turn their eyes from the light of Heaven to the deceptive influences of the Evil One. They sleep not unless they cause some to fall. Such was Elymas the sorcerer; such was Alexander the coppersmith; and such are the false apostles and deceitful workers who, though ministers of Satan, are transformed into apostles of Christ. Prov. iv, 14–19; Acts xiii, 6–11; 2 Cor. xi, 12–15; 2 Tim. iv, 14, 15. This class of foes is numerous and formidable. The amount of ruin which they have caused can never be estimated till the great reckoning day shall show every man how many he has been the means of saving or of destroying. It does not appear that Christ or Paul addressed words of exhortation to this class of evil doers. We may well doubt whether there can be any forgiveness, and whether this is not a sin unto death, for which we should not pray. 1 John v, 16. Would to God that this dangerous class of foes was the only one that the disciples of Christ have to fear. Would that of their own number men did not arise to do the evil work of Satan. Alas! there are plenty of persons who have themselves learned something of Christ, who suffer Satan to use them as the means of destroying the disciples of the Lord. There are men who have been called of God to preach his word who fall into the snare of Satan, and then become the occasion of the ruin of many. They commit some sin which to them seems small. Perhaps they trade horses. In doing it they take advantage of the confidence reposed in their piety, so that without uttering a single falsehood in words, they are able to change a poorer horse for a better, and perhaps get something also as boot. By and by the man who has been cheated discovers the true character of the transaction. Perhaps he was a candid, serious inquirer after Christ and the truth. When he finds that a man of high reputation for piety, and one filling the position of a minister of the religion of Jesus, is lacking in the first principles of honesty, he concludes that religion is all an imposition and a cheat. He decides to give no further heed to its solemn teachings, and to pay no more attention to eternal things. The blood of this man is upon the hands of this minister. Perhaps his trade was with a young or inexperienced disciple. When such persons find themselves deceived by ministers of the gospel, the cases are not infrequent that they are so stumbled by the unlooked for villainy, as to renounce the cause of Christ entirely. And generally those who thus stumble can never be recovered. It is also the case that the persons who are directly concerned in the loss are not the only ones who are stumbled by it. These persons have a circle of friends, all of whom have the case set before them, and among these are candid inquirers and weak disciples who perhaps stumble to their final ruin. Woe to the man who has this record to meet in the day of Judgment. Sometimes the minister of Christ falls into shameful sin. Alas! what words can express the measure of his guilt? What pen can portray the ruin that he causes. Not only the persons directly led into sin by him are involved in ruin, but, such is the publicity that scandal always secures, a multitude is poisoned by the pernicious influence of the wicked deed. Souls, for whom Christ died, and who had perhaps just set out in the way to life, or who were on the point of doing this, or who were tender upon the subject of religion, are, by this great wickedness, stumbled to their eternal ruin. They conclude that religion is all a farce, a sham, a cloak of lasciviousness. What a mercy to this man had his enemies, while he was yet innocent, been suffered to sink him with a millstone in the depths of the ocean. Oh, ruined souls! Oh, wounded cause of Christ! Oh, sin-avenging judgments of God! Other ministers cause many to stumble to their final ruin by preaching smooth things to men going on in sin, or by taking off the edge of the sharp reproofs which everywhere appear in the book of God, or when they preach the truth without perhaps smoothing its words they do it in so indifferent a manner that their hearers cannot believe that even they themselves attach any importance to it. Perhaps they are indolent and dilatory, though professedly bearing a message of life and death. Perhaps they bridle not their tongues, but give way to levity and mirth. Perhaps they are not discreet and prudent in their manners. Perhaps they are not exact in their business transactions. Perhaps they are not circumspect in their walk. For any or all of these sins let there be great searchings of heart. They do not merely prevent the preacher from doing good, but they make him the actual cause of ruin to some. The day of Judgment will discriminate exactly between the faithful servant and the unprofitable servant; and while it shall manifest how many the one has led to the gates of Paradise, and how many the other has caused to stumble to their final ruin, it shall reward each man according to his works. But ministers are not the only ones who are guilty in this great transgression. There are persons redeemed by the blood of Christ, who have tasted the34good word of God and the powers of the world to come, and who have learned the way of truth, and identified themselves with those who are the humble disciples of the Saviour, who seem afterward to live only to be a stumbling-block both to saints and to sinners. Some of these persons are ready to sell Christ, or the truth, or their conscience, or the Holy Spirit, whenever by some sharp trade a few dollars, or even a few shillings, can be made. And it is not merely a single instance when under the influence of powerful temptation that they are overcome, but it has become a habit which all the warnings and entreaties of their brethren cannot change. Then there are others who give themselves up to Satan, to walk in immorality and licentiousness. It is not merely once or twice that these persons fall into sin; they follow it as a steady habit of life. They know the stain that their course of life has brought upon the cause of Christ. They know the anguish which they have caused the people of God. They know the occasion which they have given scoffers to mock the servants of Christ. They know that their life is a stumbling-block to those who are weak in faith, and that it is the means of hindering many who otherwise would turn to the Lord. But they dare to go on in sin with all these terrible consequences plain to their view. They regard not the grief of the people of God, nor the reproach of the cause of Christ, nor the ruin of souls, nor the anger of the just Judge, nor the retribution of the great day. They regard not the anguish which they cause to those who should be dear to them. They tremble not for the ruin of the cause of Christ. The thought that certainly some, perhaps many, will, by their wicked example, be caused to stumble never to rise again, has no power to restrain their evil conduct. Some who will read these words are the examples of the very wickedness here portrayed. Sinful men, you have gone far enough. Stop in your course of presumptuous sin. You have already treasured up wrath till it is ready, even before the great day of wrath, to burst forth upon you. Retrace your steps if you can. But whether the past can be forgiven or not, let not the ruin of another soul be chargeable to your wicked example. But these outbreaking offenders are not the only sinners in Zion who need to hear the voice of warning. There is a large class of respectable backsliders who have been the absolute ruin of many. They have a name to live, and yet they are dead. The example and influence of this kind of Christians has proved fatal to many young converts who once bid fair to make their way to the city of God. The blood of souls that will not wipe off is on their garments. Their lack of devotion, their unconsecrated lives, their careless manner, their idle words, their selfish spirit, their lack of interest in the cause of Christ, their love of ease, their neglect of watchfulness, their impatient, murmuring spirit, their bad example in their families, their neglect of the prayer-meeting, their unbridled tongues, their half-hearted testimonies and prayers, these have been as fatal to the inexperienced who have come under their influence as to the travelers are the poisonous hot winds of the desert, that they must refuse to breathe if they would escape sudden death. Oh! that this class of sinners in Zion might repent. Oh! that they could be aroused before the blast of the trump of God. Oh! that these death-sleepers might awake and call on God for mercy and pardon, and for deliverance from blood-guiltiness. It is a terrible thing to be lost. No tongue can express the unutterable horror of despair that shall seize men when they find that mercy is clean gone forever. But if we could perish alone, and not by our evil example and poisonous influence drag others to perdition also, the case would be less fearful than it is. How awful are our Lord's words! The man that causes others to stumble, better have had a millstone tied to his neck and been drowned in the ocean. This is indeed an awful death, but it is no comparison to the second death. Let those who think that the wicked shall never be awakened to the retribution of the day of wrath, explain our Lord's words if they can. But let them beware how they explain them away. Woe to that man, says our Lord, that causes the ruin of others. That woe shall reach every such transgression. The fate of such men shall be more awful than that of the man sunk by a millstone in the mighty deep. Let the sinners in Zion take warning before the terrors of the day of God shall seize them. Amen.