9. He who sins for the first time always feels his guilt. He who repeats the same sin many times, particularly when
people all around him commit the same sins, falls into error and ceases to feel his sin.
10. Young people commencing life enter upon new and unknown paths, and find on each side unfamiliar byways— smooth, alluring, pleasant. When they swerve into these byways at first they seem so pleasant to walk upon, and it looks as though one could amble along upon them for a long distance and then return at will to the main path, but soon they learn that they cannot find their way back and they stray further and further to their ruin.
11. When a man has committed a sin, and realizes that he has sinned, there are two ways open to him: one is to acknowledge his sin and to try not to repeat it, the other to mistrust his conscience and to inquire what people think of such a sin, and if people do not condemn it, to continue in this sin, without realizing his sinfulness. ,
"They all do it, why should I not do as the rest of the people are doing?"
As soon as a man has entered upon this well beaten path, he will fail to notice how far he has strayed from the path of good life.
12. Errors and superstitions surround man on all sides. To walk amid these perils is like walking through a swamp, constantly sinking and scrambling to safety.
13. "Errors must come into the world," said Christ. I think that the meaning of this saying is that the recognition of truth is not in itself sufficient to turn men from evil and to draw them towards that which is good. In order that the majority of people apprehend the truth, they must be brought, because of errors and superstitions, to the ultimate degree of delusion and of suffering resulting from delusion.
14. Sins are of the body, errors come from the thoughts of people, and superstition from the distrust of one's reason.
15. A well shod man carefully avoids mud, but once he has made a misstep and soiled his boots, he takes less precautions, and when he sees that they have been badly soiled, he boldly walks through the mud, accumulating more and more filth with each step.
Even so a young man, while yet unstained with evil and immoral deeds, is careful and avoids all that is evil, but after making a mistake or two he begins to reason that no matter how careful he is, he is bound to fall, and then he takes up all kinds of vices. Do not follow such example. Have you defiled )^urself ? Purify yourself, and be doubly careful. Have you sinned? Repent, and avoid sin all the more.
16. The sins of the body subside with years, but errors and superstitions, on the contrary, grow stronger with years.
IV.
The Principal Task of a Man's Life is to Rid Himself of
Sins, Errors and Superstitions
1. Man rejoices when his body is released from prison. How should he not rejoice to be released from the sins, errors and superstitions which have held captive his soul ?
2. Imagine men living their animal life alone, without combating their passions, what a terrible life that would be, what hatred among people, what dissoluteness, what cruelty! Only the fact that men know their weaknesses and passions and struggle against their sins, errors and superstitions makes it possible for people to dwell together.
3. The human body confines the spirit that lives in it. But the spirit breaks through and becomes more and more free. Herein is life.
4. The life of man, whether he wills it or not, leads him further and further towards deliverance from sins. The
man who realizes this assists life in this process by his own efforts, and the life of such a man is a happy one, because it is in accord with that which is being done with him.
5. Children have not acquired the habit of sin, therefore, all sin is repulsive to them. Grown up people have already fallen into error, and they sin without it.
6. If man does not acknowledge his sins, he is like unto a tightly corked bottle; for he cannot receive that which would deliver him from sin. To humiliate himself and to repent is to uncork the vessel—^to become capable of deliverance from sin.
7. To repent is to realize your sins and to prepare to combat them, therefore, it is well to repent while you have strength.
Oil must be added to a lamp while it is yet burning.
8. Two women came to an hermit for advice. One believed herself to be a great sinner. While young, she had been unfaithful to her husband, and she never ceased to reproach herself because of it. The other had lived all her life within the law, found no sin with which to reproach herself and was satisfied with herself.
The hermit questioned both women with regard to their life. One confessed her great sin with tears. She considered that sin so great that she expected no forgiveness. The other said that she did not know any special sin that she might have been guilty of. The hermit said to the first woman:
"Go, thou, handmaid of God, behind the wall and find me a large stone, as large as you can lift, and bring it to me." "And thou," he turned to the other woman, "go thou likewise behind the wall and fetch me pebbles, all that thou canst carry."
The women obeyed the commands. One brought a
large stone, and the other a bag filled with pebbles. Thereupon the hermit said further:
"Now I will tell you what to do. Take these same stones back again and replace them where you had taken them from. And then return to me again."
And the women hurried to carry out his command. The first woman easily found the place where she had taken the heavy stone and replaced it where she had found it. But the other woman could not by any means surely remember where she had picked up the various pebbles, and unable to carry out the hermit's command, returned to him.
"It is even so with sins," said the hermit. "Thou didst return the heavy stone on the very spot from which thou hadst taken it, because thou knowest where it came from. And thou wast not able to do likewise, because thou didst not remember whence all the little stones had been taken. And even so it is with sins.
"Thou didst remember thy sin, bearing the reproaches of men and the pangs of thy conscience, thou didst humble thyself, thus delivering thyself from thy sin and its consequences.
"But thou (the hermit turned to the other woman), "sinning in a small way, didst not remember the little transgressions, didst not repent, hast grown used to the life of sin, and condemning the sins of others, didst sink even more deeply in the mire of thine own sins."
9. Man IS bom in sin. All sins come from the body, but the spirit within man struggles against the body. And the whole life of man is a struggle of the spirit against the body. Blessed is the man who finds himself in this struggle not on the side of the body (that body which is bound to be overcome), but on the side of the spirit which is bound to conquer though it be in the last mortal hour.
10. It is a great error to think that one can find deliverance from sin through faith and the forgiveness of people.
Nothing can absolve from sin. One can only realize his sin and strive not to repeat it.
11. Never be scared of sin; do not say to yourself: **I can not help sinning, I am used to it, I am weak." While life lasts, you can always fight sin, and if you don't conquer it to-day, you will to-morrow; if not to-morrow, then the next day; if not the next day, surely before death. But if you refuse to fight, you shirk the principal task of life.
12. You cannot compel yourself to love. But if you do not love, it does not mean that there is no love in you, but that there is something in you that hinders love. You may turn or shake a bottle as you will, but if it be corked, nothing can be poured from it until you remove the cork. It is the same with love. Your soul is filled with love, but this love cannot be manifested, because your sins will not let it pass. Deliver your soul from that which chokes it, and you will love everybody, even those you had considered your enemies, and whom you have hated.