CONFESSING THE SINS OF THE WORLD.
WHEN a man manifests a righteous indignation at the wrong-doing of others, it is not always safe to infer that he possesses a like indignation at his own wrong-doing. Indeed, it sometimes happens that the man who is loudest in condemning some particular form of evil doing, is himself the greatest sinner in some other form which is just as grossly sinful. Every one possesses in himself a share of universal human nature, and there is no evil which others do which he will not find in himself, as a possibility at least, if he looks for it. One who recognizes this truth will be more likely to be merciful in his judgment of the sins of others, and to be stern in his judgment of his own. Frederick D. Maurice recognized this truth, and acted upon it. “I ‘wish to confess,” he wrote, “the sins of the time as my own. Ah! ‘how needful do I feel it; for the sins of others produce such sin in ‘me, and stir up my unsanctified nature so terribly.” Most people would be willing to go with Maurice as far as confessing the sins of the world—that is easy enough; but few are willing to confess that the sins of the time—the sins which are chronicled in the newspapers, for instance—are their own. And yet any one who recognizes the seeds of these evils in his own heart will not be sure, outside of divine protection, that the grossest wickedness of the world will not be paralleled openly by his own evil deeds. To one thus aware of his peril every newspaper will be a chart of dangerous rocks, and every new crime a new warning of his own possibilities of evil.—S. S. Times.