3. Sloth is hateful to God. "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence," said Christ. The violent, _i.e._, the active, take it by storm. The _unprofitable_ servant is condemned because he did not put his talent to usury. The barren fig-tree was cursed because it produced no fruit. 4. Sloth is the fruitful mother of vicious children. (_a_) _Indolence_, and loss of time, and for the use of our time we must give account. (_b_) _Cowardice_, which makes us shrink from doing what is right because we fear it will give us trouble or inconvenience. (_c_) _Inconstancy_, which is the changing about from one course to another, to avoid present discomfort, instead of acting directly in accordance with the principle. (_d_) _Deadness of heart_ to God's calls. [Illustration] Tuesday in Holy Week. _THE SACRIFICE FOR SIN._ 1. We have considered Conscience as the faculty by which we discern between Good and Evil, and then have considered Sin itself. Now we will briefly turn our attention to the Sacrifice offered by Christ in expiation for the Sins of the World. If Christ had not come to release us of the _guilt_ of sin, and to strengthen us to overcome the _weakness_ produced by sin, we could have no hope of salvation. 2. It is not a matter on which we will tarry, to ask, Why it is so, but we will accept the fact that by God's Will, _transgression of His Commandment carries with it guilt, and can only be expiated by suffering_. That it should carry with it guilt is indeed not a matter to perplex us, for guilt is the sense of transgression and the privation or stain that attends it, together with the sense of alienation from God. But that sin can only be expiated by suffering, is a law of God concerning which we will not now argue, but accept it. We see that a sense of sin has ever impressed on mankind consciousness of guilt before God, and a conviction that only through suffering could that guilt be done away. The SACRIFICES inexplicable in themselves and even absurd, find their signification in the consciousness of guilt: men felt that they were alienated from God, sinful before God, and they sought by Sacrifice, _i.e._, by suffering, to atone for their guilt. The _idea of Sacrifice_ contained in it these elements: (_a_) It must be one of _blood_. Suffering and the shedding of blood was considered expiatory. "Without shedding of blood was no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.) (_b_) It must be either a _human_ sacrifice, or it must be the sacrifice of that which was most useful, essential to man: not of a wild beast, for instance, but of a tame beast of domestic utility. (_c_) It must be _innocent_ and pure, without defect or spot. It was sometimes the first-born lamb or calf.