For it is mere cant and hypocrisy, my friends, to
tell God, in a general way, that we believe He is punishing us for
our sins, and then to avoid carefully confessing any particular sin,
and to get angry with anyone who tells us boldly WHICH sin God is
punishing us for. But so goes the world. Everyone is ready to say,
"Oh! yes, we are all great sinners, miserable sinners!" and then if
you charge them with any particular sin, they bridle up and deny THAT
sin fiercely enough, and all sins one by one, confessing themselves
great sinners, and yet saying that they don't know what sins they
have committed. No man really believes himself a sinner, no man
really confesses his sins, but the man who can honestly put his
finger on THIS sin or THAT sin which he has committed, and is not
afraid to confess to God, "THIS sin and THAT sin have I done--THIS
bad habit and THAT bad habit have I cherished within me." Therefore,
I say, it is no use for us Englishmen to dream that we can flatter
and persuade the great God of Heaven and earth into taking away the
cholera from us, unless we find out and confess openly what we have
done to bring on the cholera, and unless we repent and bring forth
fruits worthy of repentance, by amending our habits on that point,
and doing everything for the future which shall not bring on the
cholera, but keep it off.
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