son, which may cause him to fall or stumble. Hence, by a common figure of speech, whatever may prove a snare or temptation to any one, whatever may be the occasion of drawing him into sin, is said to offend him. Thus St. Paul uses the word, when he says, "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."* Thus CHRIST also used the word, when he said to the disciples of John the Baptist, "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me ;" and again, to his own disciple Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me."+ The apostle, by urging JESUS to avoid the cross, was a snare and temptation to him. And in this sense the word is used in the text. The member is said to offend, when it proves an occasion of sin. The case supposed is this; that the hand, or the foot, or the eye, become a snare and temptation to us: that they are a continual occasion of our committing sin, and bringing guilt upon our souls. Now in this case, what is to be done? What is the duty required of us? We must part with the offending member. However painful the operation, however severe the loss may be, we must undergo + Matthew, xi. 6.-xvi. 23.

Rom. x 21. VOL. 14

D

One

Cut off the

the pain, we must submit to the loss. There is no choice left to us in the matter. We must not consult our feeling. We must "not confer with flesh and blood." thing only is to be done. hand or foot. Pluck out the eye-Such is the duty here described. But how then are we to understand this duty? Are we to suppose, that our LORD meant us to take it in its plain literal meaning? Did he intend, that we should really cut off our hand or foot, and pluck out our eye ? Doubtless he designed in this particular instance to lay down a general rule. He designed to shew us how we are required to act in every case like that which he had stated. Every thing, which may prove a stumbling-block in our way, must be treated, as the offending member is to be treated. Be it what it may, be it something as useful as a hand, as serviceable as a foot, as dear and precious as an eye; be it something, a separation from which will be as painful as a separation from a part of our body; yet if it be a snare and temptation to us: if it be an occasion of sin, it must be parted with. There is no other course to be followed. Self must be denied. The fleshly lust must be crucified. The evil habit must

be rooted out. The unlawful gain must be given up. The beloved idol must be renounced. In short, the duty here enjoined, is the Mortification of sin. Now, that this is a very painful and difficult duty cannot be denied. Our LORD himself knew that it would be so.. The way in which he describes the duty, shews us what he thought of the pain and difficulty attending it. He would not have compared it to the cutting off of a hand or foot, or to the plucking out of an eye; if he had not known that a compliance with his command would be a very severe operation. He does not however on this account withhold the command. Painful as the duty is, he still enforces the discharge of it. Let us then see,

II. The argument by which he enforces it.

His argument is shortly this; that it is better for us to do what he enjoins. And why better? Because not to do it, will certainly bring on us greater evils hereafter. And it is better to suffer a present evil, however great, than by avoiding it to incur a greater evil in the end. It is thus that men reason and act in common things. They will endure present loss in the hope of future gain. They will sow with toil now, in the prospect of reaping at some

distant time. They will often submit to much self-denial in order to amend their health. They will sometimes consent even to lose a limb, that they may save their life. Now it is thus that our SAVIOUR wishes us to reason and act in the case before us. He would lead us to mortify sin on the grounds, that though it be a very painful work, yet not to mortify it will in the end be followed with consequences far worse.' This is his argument. To feel the force of it, we must see what these consequences are. He states them to be two.

1. We shall be shut out from heaven. When our SAVIOUR says, that it is "better to enter into life maimed or halt, or having one eye;" he clearly means it to be understood, that without suffering these losses at present, we shall never enter there. In other words he declares, that the Mortification of sin, which he here enjoins, is absolutely necessary, in order to our being received into heaven. Without mortifying sin now, we can never be admitted. there. And is not this a truth, which the whole Bible confirms? There is not any one point more plainly laid down in Scripture than this, that unmortified sin will certainly shut a man out of heaven. Consider, what is the character of those, who are re

presented as going to heaven. They are "the pure in heart." They are those, who "sow to the Spirit," and "have their fruit unto holiness." They are such as "take up their cross daily;" as "crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts;" as put" off concerning their former conversation the old man. Heaven is said to be the inheritance of the Saints, "an inheritance among them which are sanctified."* It is expressly said, that" to be spiritually-minded is life;" and that "If we mortify the deeds of the body we shall live."+ Surely these texts clearly prove, that mortification of sin is a necessary part of the character of those who enter into heaven. Attend then to the following passages, which in still plainer language, speak the same truth. not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of GOD? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of GoD." "This ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of CHRIST, and of GOD."§

* Col. i. 12.

+ Rom. viii. 6. 13.

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Acts, xxvi. 18. 1 Cor. vi. 9.

Know ye

Ephes. v. 5.