The Thirteenth of March.

SIN IS A REPROACH --- Proverbs 14:34.

"Sin is a reproach to any people." --- Proverbs 14:34.

Be not deceived, therefore, with false notions of faith. Where there is true faith, no sin has dominion. Sin will be ever stirring, often raging, and sometimes prevailing; but never reigning, where true faith is.

A believer, through a strong and sudden temptation, may be captivated by sin, but he is no willing captive; he hates sin, and prays and watches against it; and, as faith increases, his power over sin increases too.

A man, having no feeling of the desperate wickedness of his heart, may imagine he has faith enough; but being once convinced of that, he soon perceives that it is the hardest thing in the world to believe; it requires the same power by which Christ was raised from the dead.

St. Paul most emphatically describes it with six remarkable words. Ephesians 1:19, 20. How then can any man think it an easy matter to believe?

Oh the dreadful blindness and security which all the world runs into! May the Lord open their eyes!

Lord, how secure my conscience was,
And felt no inward dread!
I was alive without the law,
And thought my sins were dead.

My hopes of heaven were firm and bright;
But, since the precept came
With a convincing pow'r and light,
I find how vile I am.

I'm like a helpless captive, sold
Under the power of sin;
I cannot do the good I would,
Nor keeping my conscience clean.

My God, I cry, with every breath,
For thy kind pow'r to save,
To break the yoke of sin and death,
And thus redeem the slave.