The spiritual Jacob sins. Saintly individuals, here and there, whose
conduct is an honour to the gospel; but comparatively limited number.
Many who in youth felt strongly have seriously declined from the
warmth of their first love. Instead of keeping themselves from the
world, they are under its influence; like imperfect swimmers, who get
within the power of a wave and find they have neither strength nor
skill to cope with it. They listen to the sentiments of the world on
matters of religion and morality. By little and little they conform.
Like Samson, when shorn of his locks, they become weak as other men.
From contentment with imperfection they become reconciled to positive
sin. Sometimes they even exceed their teachers. Christian professors
who have declined into sinful ways often become worse than those from
whom they have taken their lesson.
And does not God hate sin in them as He hates it in others? A man's
standing in Christ is nothing, if he is living in wilful sin. It
deadens his conscience, interrupts his communion with God, exposes
him to the peril of final apostasy and perdition. Read the former as
well as the latter part of 1 John i. 7. (H. E. I., 4563-4570.)