Temptations of Young Men.
SOME vainly imagine themselves exempt from the common laws and infirmities of human nature, and that where others have fallen they can be safe. But true security lies not in a fancied superiority to mankind, but in the careful avoidance of temptation, and the ability to withstand when it comes. Others think lightly of the beginnings of evil, and what they call little sins. The general progress of sin is gradual; and one indulgence prepares the way for another: and he who began with little sins finally becomes a veteran in iniquity. ‘He that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much.’ Luke xvi, 10. Sin cannot be small in God's sight; it is rebellion against his authority, contempt of his wisdom, an impeachment of his goodness, and a defiance of his power. Many seem also to suppose, that sin acquires its guilt from the circumstances under which it is committed, or the consequences that follow it. The darkness of night or an obscure hiding-place may screen offences from the eye of man, but they afford no refuge from the all-searching eye of God. The excursion on the steamboat, or journey to some distant land, may free the individual from the restraints which kept him moral and upright at home, but do not change his accountability to God, who is strict to mark and strong to punish every transgressor. The guilt of sin must be estimated from the state of the heart, and the obligations which are violated, as well as from the consequences which follow the outward act. The man who matures a plan of murder, but fails in its execution, is as certainly guilty as if he were stained with blood. God regards our motives, and ‘will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.’ Eccl. xii, 14. ‘The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.’ 1 Sam. xvi, 7.