Thursday, May 29, 2008

The sin of hypocrisy

Shenandoah National Forest

A Christian can be no hypocrite. Hypocrisy, like all other sins, lurks in man till the very last; but a believer hates to pretend to be what he is not. A man who has once tasted that the Lord is gracious, is a true and transparent man in his profession. If any suppose him to be better than he is, he does not wish to wear feathers that are not his own; he would not be glorified by another man’s labors, nor build upon another man’s foundation; hypocrisy he utterly detesteth, and would sooner die a pauper than live a pretender. Any man among you who has tasted that the Lord is gracious, will, I am sure, without my exhortation this morning, loathe all malice, guile and hypocrisy.

From a sermon entitled "A Sermon For Men Of Taste," delivered July 6, 1862. Flickr photo by Vijay; some rights reserved.

No comments: