PAGE 106

to keep the moral sense uncorrupted, and pray that God would preserve the delicacy of our minds in this respect, that a holy sensibility of soul may warn and alarm us to guard against every distant appearance of evil." [Doddridge.]

PAGE 107

SECTION VII.

OFFENCE.

"WOE unto the world because of offences! but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." - "Am I my brother's keeper," was the reply of a murderer; and to a certain degree, it is the language of every unregenerate heart. What do the wicked know of the Church of God. or what do they care for offending the members of the Church? But to all who profess the Christian religion, and especially to those who are renewed in the spirit of their minds, and devoted to the service of the Redeemer, the wo pronounced by him is full of meaning, and suggests very serious reflections. An OFFENCE is the displeasure, disgust, or scandal which arise in consequence of the improper and sinful conduct of others. This, in some instances, it is acknowledged may be improperly excited, and offences taken where there is no just cause for an