+IV. That individual responsibility is universal.+--"For every man shall bear his own burden [load]" (ver. 5). No man can rid himself of his life-load; he must carry it up to the judgment-seat of Christ, where he will get his final discharge. Daniel Webster was present one day at a dinner-party given at Astor House by some New York friends, and in order to draw him out one of the company put to him the following question, "Will you please tell us, Mr. Webster, what was the most important thought that ever occupied your mind?" Mr. Webster merely raised his head, and passing his hand slowly over his forehead, said, "Is there any one here who doesn't know me?" "No, sir," was the reply; "we all know you and are your friends." "Then," said he, looking over the table, "the most important thought that ever occupied my mind was that of my individual responsibility to God"; and he spoke on the subject for twenty minutes. The higher sense we have of our own responsibility the more considerate we are in judging others and the more we sympathise with them in their struggles and trials. Æsop says a man carries two bags over his shoulder, the one with his own sins hanging behind, that with his neighbour's sins in front. +Lessons.+--1. _Sympathy is a Christ-like grace._ 2. _Sympathy for the erring does not tolerate wrong._ 3. _Practical help is the test of genuine sympathy._ _GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._ Ver. 1. _The Sins of Others._ +I. The follies and misconduct of others are the choice subjects of conversation in every stage of society; and if we take slander out of these conversations, we rob them of their keenest fascination.+ I have felt it, that fearful joy which the discovery of others' faults produces; and then I found nothing at all extravagant in the strongest expressions by which the Scriptures depict the depth of our fall and the depravity of our heart. +II. One of your brethren has lapsed: but you who condemn him, have you never erred?+ Do you know his history? Did he know what you know yourself? The fall of a brother should call forth a painful self-examination and a sincere humiliation before God.