When that which is false is assumed to be true, then the soul of man stands indeed in perilous places. "There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" Surely this should not be difficult to understand.
We can understand how important it is that a mariner's compass should be perfectly accurate, for let there be ever so small an undetected error in a ships compass every reckoning will be effected, and before long the ship will be far off the course. When that which is false is assumed to be true, the very accuracy with which we make our reckonings increases our error. That which is so obvious i the physical and material realm should not be unrealized in the realm of moral and spiritual things. If there is danger for the ship which is dependent upon a faulty compass, how much more serious is the plight of the man whose eternal soul depends upon the light of conscience which is darkened? We do well to realize that conscience can become darkened. It can become warped and twisted until it can no longer be depended upon,—until the wrong way appears the right, until like the Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress, the by-path seems to be going in the right direction, and only when it is too late, we find that it takes us not toward the Celestial City, but into the dungeon of Giant Despair.
Feel no Qualms It is too sadly true that there are multitudes of men and women, some of us here this morning, who can sin and feel no qualms of conscience, who are satisfied that their lives are saddled with no very deadly si and yet their feet are setting not toward Heaven, but the pit. They are travelling the road which Lot chose so many years ago. It may seem a pleasant road at first, and conscience grows more acquiescent with each selfish choice, but remember how Lot's life went out in a "midnight of despair." Yes indeed, "There is a way which seemeth right unto man, and yet the end thereof are the ways of death."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.