reproof, is the bosom-sin. Herod could not brook to have his
Just so, many who have escaped gross sins--have been wrecked upon the world's golden sands!
(9) If you would not come short of the kingdom of heaven— take heed of indulging any SIN. One millstone will drown, as well as more; one sin lived in will damn, as well as more. If any one sin reigns—it will keep you from reigning in the kingdom of heaven. Especially keep from sins of your natural constitution; your darling sin; "I kept myself from my iniquity," that sin which my heart would soonest decoy and flatter me into. Psalm 18:23. As in the hive there is one master bee--so in the heart there is one master-sin. Oh, take heed of this!
How may this darling-sin be known?
1. That sin for which a man cannot endure the arrow of a reproof, is the bosom-sin. Herod could not brook to have his incest meddled with, that was a touch me not. Men can be content to have other sins declaimed against; but if a minister puts his finger upon the sore, and touches upon that one special sin—then their eyes flash with fire, they are enraged, and spit the venom of malice!
2. That sin which a man's heart runs out most to, and he is most easily captivated by—is the Delilah in the bosom. One man is overcome with wantonness, another by worldliness. It is a sad thing for a man to be so bewitched by a beloved sin—that if it asks him to part with not only one half the kingdom—but the whole kingdom of heaven, he must part with it to gratify that lust!
3. That sin which most troubles a man and flies in his face in an hour of sickness and distress—is the sin he has allowed himself in, and is his complexion-sin. When Joseph's brethren were distressed, their sin in selling their brother came into