4. It must not be supposed that the Divine gift of Fortitude is one and the same thing as human _obstinacy_. Many men are obstinate in carrying out their resolutions, and in carrying them out in their own way. They have strong wills. But the Divine grace is different; it is allied to humility, and human obstinacy is tied up with self-conceit. It is therefore not difficult to distinguish the one from the other. A lowly spirit may be strong in the Lord to fulfil resolutely the Will of God, but an obstinate spirit is a self-opinionated one that follows not God's Will, but its own. We must be careful in examining our own selves, and seeing if there is strong resolution in us, if it is strong in the right way, and with the right sort of strength. [Illustration] Second Tuesday in Lent. _ON SIN._ THE NATURE OF SIN. 1. We come now to the consideration of Sin. Sin is either:-- (_a_) The revolt of the created will against the Divine Will; or (_b_) A voluntary violation of a commandment of God. 2. God is the Supreme Lord of all creation, and Author of our being. His Will should be the absolute law of all created beings. But as He made men and angels in the plenitude of freedom, He gave them wills, wills wholly free, and He set before them His law as the way of happiness, revealing to angels and men that so long as they conformed their wills to His Will they would be happy. Men and angels, though created free, were for all that dependent on God; but certain angels, with Satan at their head, revolted--they set their wills in opposition to the Will of God, from dependence they aimed at independence. The fall of Adam and Eve was different; instead of a complete revolt of the will against the Will of God, it was an inclination away from God's Will in one particular, a transgression of a commandment, not an act of rebellion. The revolt of the will against God is a deliberate resistance to the just and holy laws which He has laid down, and it attacks the immutable order He has appointed as the relation between Himself and His creatures. It is also a wilful attempt to change the destiny of the creature. Thus Satan rebelled through pride, dissatisfied with what God had ordained as to his place in the hierarchy of created intelligences. He desired to be higher or different from what he was. His rebellion was against the supremacy of God. 3. Now it is but exceptional to find man wilfully, knowing what he is about, rise up in open and deliberate rebellion against God; nevertheless, such revolt is found to be among men, though it may be hoped not always, or not often _conscious_ revolt. Those rebel against God who--