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32 BYWAYS TO BLESSEDNESS

are acting out certain sinful tendencies he has but to look within to find the same tendencies in
himself, albeit, perhaps, restrained or purified; if they are manifesting certain holy and divine
qualities he finds the same pure spirit within himself, though, perhaps, in a lesser degree of power
and development.

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

The sin of one is the sin of all; the virtue of one is the virtue of all. No man can be separate from
another. There is no difference of nature but only difference of condition. If a man thinks he is
separated from another by virtue of his superior holiness he is not so separated, and his darkness
and delusion are very great. Humanity is one, and in the holy sanctuary of sympathy saint and
sinner meet and unite.
It is said of Jesus that He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world — that is, He identified
Himself with those sins, and did not regard Himself as essentially separate from sinners but as
being of a like nature with them — and his realisation of His oneness with all men was manifested
in His life as profound sympathy with those who, for their deep sins, were avoided and cast off by
others.
And who is it that is in the greatest need of sympathy? Not the saint, not the enlightened seer,
not the perfect man. It is the sinner, the unenlightened man, the imperfect one; and the greater the
sin the greater is the need. “I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” is the
statement of One who comprehended all human needs. The righteous man does not need your
sympathy, but the unrighteous; he who, by his wrong-doing, is laying up for himself long periods
of suffering and woe is in need of it.
The flagrantly unrighteous man is condemned, despised, and avoided by those who are living
in a similar condition to himself, though for the time being, they may not be subject to his
particular form of sin, for that withholding of sympathy and that mutual condemnation which are
so rife is the commonest manifestation of that lack of understanding in which all sin takes its rise.
While a man is involved in sin he will condemn others who are likewise involved, and the deeper
and greater his sin the more severe will be his condemnation of others. It is only when a man
begins to sorrow for his sin, and so to rise above it into the clearer light of purity and

understanding, that he ceases from condemning others and learns to sympathise with them. But
this ceaseless condemnation of each other by those who are involved in the fierce play of the
passions must needs, be, for it one of the modes of operation of the Great Law which universally
and eternally obtains, and the unrighteous one who falls under the condemnation of his fellows
will the more rapidly reach a higher and nobler condition of heart and life if he humbly accepts the
censure of others as the effect of his own sin, and resolves henceforward to refrain from all
condemnation of others.
The truly good and wise man condemns none, having put away all blind passion and
selfishness he lives in the calm regions of love and peace, and understands all modes of sin, with
their consequent sufferings and sorrows. Enlightened and awakened, freed from all selfish bias,
and seeing men as they are, his heart responds in holy sympathy with all. Should any condemn,
abuse, or slander him he throws around them the kindly protection of his sympathy, seeing the