_3. Men Suffer Because of the Sins of Others:_ This we know, also, it is possible for men to suffer _because_ of the sins of others, and they often do it. You can scarcely conceive of a man being so far isolated, so far outside the sympathies of the world, that it can be said of him that he lives unto himself alone; that his sinning and his suffering concerns only himself. We are so knit together in a net work of sympathies--not seen, but real nevertheless--that we suffer _because_ of each other. It is easily proven. Take the case of an honorable father and mother who have led we will say--and there are such fathers and mothers--ideal lives. They have lived in honor; they have met their obligations to the world with reasonable fidelity; they have lived lives of righteousness; they have set good examples to their children; they have taught the Christian truths at the fireside; they have surrounded their family with every advantage that would prepare them for honorable stations among men. They have taken pride as they have seen their children grow from infancy to manhood, and their souls have hoped that a sort of immortality would subsist in the perpetuation of their race through their children. Then out of this family group, over which the parents have watched with such anxious solicitude, there comes forth a reprobate youth, in whom there seems to be scarcely any moral sense. He violates all the conventions of society, and of moral living; he destroys his intellect by his excesses, and he becomes a vagabond and outcast among men, a degenerate, perhaps finds his way through the sewers of sin, into the prison house, and at last, perchance, may go to the very gallows itself. And what is the condition of that righteous father and mother the while, when they look upon this sad mischance in their household? Sorrow! The one who has led the shameful life, though he may suffer somewhat for his sins, has not suffered the one-thousandth part of the shame and humiliation and disgrace that has been experienced by this father and mother. They suffer _because_ of the sins of this wayward son. They illustrate in their experience the fact that men can suffer because of each other; _the innocent are involved in the sins and crimes of the guilty._ From this confessedly extreme case all down the line of human experiences and relationships in constantly varying degrees men suffer _because_ of each other. _4. Men Suffer With Each Other on Account of Sin:_ Then men suffer _with_ each other? An outsider, looking at this scene I have presented --I mean one not a member of the grief-stricken family--witnessing the sorrow of the father, and the inconsolable grief of the mother; the mental distress and shame experienced by brother and sisters; the stranger witnessing all this, weeps with the sorrowing father and mother; he suffers _with_ them.