Leviticus 5:5 And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing: Cover sin over as much as we may, and smother it down as carefully as we can, it will break out. Many years ago the packet ship Poland was bound for Havre, with a cargo of cotton on board. By some singular accident the cotton took fire clear down in the hold. The captain, finding that he could not reach the fire, undertook to smother it; but in vain. Then he caulked down the hatchways; but the deck grew so hot that neither passengers nor crew could stand on it. At length he fired a signal gun in distress, put all his people into the boats, and left the doomed ship to her fate. He watched her as she ploughed gallantly through the waves, with all her canvas on; but ere she sunk below the horizon, the fire burst forth in a sheet of flame to the mast-head. That ill-fated packet, carrying the fatal fire in her own hold, is a vivid picture of the moral condition of thousands of men and women. They cover their sins by all manner of concealments; they batten down the hatchways with a show of respectability, and, alas! sometimes with an outward profession of religion; but the deadly thing remains underneath in the heart, and if it does not burst forth in this world, it will in the next. Probably this reveals the reason why some Church members are so constantly halting and stumbling and fall so easily into backsliding. Their "first works" of repentance and confession to God were shallow. (T. L. Cuyler.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:WEB: It shall be, when he is guilty of one of these, he shall confess that in which he has sinned: |
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