"When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall from thence."

Again, some create an occasion of ruin, by putting temptation in the way of the weak and ignorant: the first lapses into sin are not corrected, but the sinner, perhaps a youth, is led on to the commission of greater crime, and, it may be, for the gratification of revenge in his conviction. Some even have been found so base, as to entice the unwary into offences, for the sake of what they may afterwards gain by betraying the offenders. But in this matter also let the unscrupulous and hard-hearted remember our Lord's solemn denunciation : "Whoso shall offend" (or make to fall) "one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." The

1 Deut. xxii. 8.

whole passage is too long to be quoted here: But I beseech you, brethren, to read it, the eighteenth chapter of St. Matthew, in your chambers. Consider how the subjects are connected together, from the offence of little ones, (which means putting a stumbling-block in their way) to the recovery of the lost sheep, the manner of dealing with a brother who has trespassed, and finally, the unmerciful servant; and then consider how he will stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, who has not cared to save or reclaim an early offender, has enticed him into further guilt, and shewn no pity.

Again, some have gone so far, as to contrive death for the innocent and unwary, by placing them in ships they mean to wreck on distant shores, or in houses they propose suddenly to destroy. And what is this but murder? What is it but to "set another Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire from him, that he may be smitten and die?" And though thou didst it secretly,

what shall God do before all Israel, and the light of this sun?

Another offence against the sixth commandment concerns all of us especially who take part in the administration of justice. To consent to a man's being put to death, to give way to the wishes or sentiments of others against your own convictions, where the life of a fellowcreature is at stake, is to associate yourself with those who commit murder. Pilate washed his hands, and avowed that he was innocent of the blood of Jesus, yet yielded to the outcries, " Crucify him, crucify him," and delivered him up to be put to death, though he found no fault in him. And his guilt was little less than that of the Jews, blinded by animosity, who exclaimed, "His blood be on us, and on our children."

To connive at murder, and leave it unavenged, is to share its guilt. Ahab knew nothing of Naboth's execution, until the deed of death had been committed. But then, because he suffered

K

the murderers to go unpunished, the prophet charged him with the crime, "Hast thou killed, and also taken possession ?"1 And even to conceal a murder is to participate in its guilt; and the law of Moses enjoined, that, if a man was found slain, and it was not known by whom, the elders of that city should wash their hands, and protest," that they had not shed his blood, neither had their eyes seen it;" as if to intimate, that if they had seen, and concealed it, they would have been esteemed accomplices of those who committed the act.

Some, though they would not contrive the death of another, yet venture to lay violent hands upon themselves, as if God were less the lord of their lives, than their fellow-creatures. They mistrust the protection of their Heavenly Father; they are ill content to run with patience the race that he has set before them; they withdraw themselves from his con

11 Kings, xxi. 19.

trolling hand, and cut short an existence, which, for his good purposes, and in his superior wisdom, he may have seen fit to prolong. And can it be that suicide is not self-murder, or that bringing the means of improvement to so abrupt a conclusion, can differ in moral guilt from a determination not to be improved?

The man that puts an end to his own life, must be desperate indeed: desperate, not only as concerns the things of this world, but also those of the world to come. To the commission of other sins he may be tempted in the hope, that he shall live to repent, and make his peace with God but in committing this he precludes all opportunity of amendment; he dies in his sin, his very death is his offence, and those hands, which are so soon to be lifted up at the tribunal of Christ, in their last earthly act are imbrued in his own blood. May God give us grace and strength, that we may never so far sink under the sufferings of this life, as to be induced by them to brave