The World's Great Sermons, Volume 09: Cuyler to Van Dyke
Religion
The World's Great Sermons, Volume 09: Cuyler to Van Dyke
Sermons
It is, I know, a doctrine which may be abused; but I will not
scruple to preach it to those who are fallen and sighing for
deliverance. St. Augustine says that we may out of our dead sins
make stepping-stones to rise to the heights of perfection. What did
he mean by that? He meant that the memory of our falls may breed
in us such a humility, such a distrust of self, such a constant
clinging to Christ as we never could have had if we had not fallen.
Does not the Scripture itself go even further? David fell--deep as
man can fall; but what does he say in that great fifty-first Psalm,
in which he confesses his sin? Anticipating forgiveness, he says:
Then will I teach Thy ways unto
Those that transgressors be,
And those that sinners are, shall then
Be turned unto Thee.
And what did our Lord Himself say to St. Peter about his fall?
"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." A man may
derive strength to give to others from having fallen. He may have a
sympathy with the erring; he may be able to describe the steps by
which to rise, as no other can. Thus, by God's marvelous grace, out
of the eater may come forth meat, and out of the strong may come
forth sweetness.
III. The group of the extreme left or those who are tempters of
others.
These three groups on the left form three stages of a natural
descent. First, tempted; secondly, fallen; then, if we have fallen,
we tempt others to fall.
This is quite natural. If we are down ourselves, we try to get
others down beside us. There is a satisfaction in it. To a soul
that has become black a soul that is still white is an offense. It
is said of some, "They rest not except they have done mischief,
and their sleep is taken away, except they cause some to fall."
There is nothing else, I think, in human nature so diabolical as
the delight which the wicked feel in making others like themselves.
Have you never seen it? Have you never seen a group of evil-doers
deliberately set themselves to ruin a newcomer, scoffing at
his innocence and enticing him to their orgies? And, when they
succeeded, they rejoiced over his fall as if they had won a great
triumph. So low can human nature sink.
Sometimes it may be self-interest that makes man a tempter. The
sin of another may be necessary to secure some end of his own.
The dishonest merchant, for his own gain, undermines the honesty
of his apprentice; the employer, making haste to be rich, tempts
his employees to break the Sabbath; the tyranical landlord forces
his tenants to vote against their conscience. Why, there are trades
which nourish on other people's sins.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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