+I. Are offensively obtrusive.+--"Now the works of the flesh are manifest" (ver. 19). Sin, though at first committed in secret, will by-and-by work to the surface and advertise itself with shameless publicity. The rulers of the civilised world in the first century of the Christian era, such as Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Domitian, are the execration of history as monsters of vice and cruelty. Their enormities would have been impossible if the people they governed had not been equally corrupt. It is the nature of evil to develop a terrible energy the more it is indulged, and its works are apparent in every possible form of wickedness. "Every man blameth the devil for his sins; but the great devil, the house-devil of every man that eateth and lieth in every man's bosom, is that idol which killeth all--himself." +II. Furnish a revolting catalogue.+--The sins enumerated may be grouped into four classes:-- 1. _Sensual passions._--"Adultery [omitted in the oldest MSS.], fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness" (ver. 19). _Fornication_ was practically universal. Few were found, even among severe moralists, to condemn it. It is a prostitution of the physical nature which Jesus Christ wore and still wears, which He claims for the temple of His Spirit, and will raise from the dead to share His immortality. _Uncleanness_ is the general quality of licentiousness, and includes whatever is contaminating in word or look, in gesture or in dress, in thought or sentiment. _Lasciviousness_ is uncleanness open and shameless. It is the final loathsome analysis of the works of the flesh. 2. _Unlawful dealing in things spiritual._--"Idolatry, witchcraft [sorcery]," (ver. 20). _Idolatry_ and sensuality have always been closely related. Some of the most popular pagan systems were purveyors of lust and lent to it the sanctions of religion. When man loses the true conception of God he becomes degraded. _Sorcery_ is closely allied to idolatry. A low, naturalistic notion of the Divine lends itself to immoral purposes. Men try to operate upon it by material causes, and to make it a partner in evil. Magical charms are made the instruments of unholy indulgence. 3. _Violations of brotherly love._--"Hatred [enmities], variance [strife], emulations [jealousies], wrath [ragings], strife [factions], seditions [divisions], heresies [keen controversial partisanship], envyings, murders" (vers. 20, 21). A horrible progeny of evils having their source in a fruitful hotbed of unreasoning hatred, each vice preying upon and feeding the other. Settled rancour is the worst form of contentiousness. It nurses its revenge, waiting, like Shylock, for the time when it shall "feed fat its ancient grudge."