1 Corinthiens 15:33

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Self-deception

Of all species of deception, self-deception is the most detrimental; it is like having a traitor in the fortress who betrays his country to an enemy. Be not deceived--

I. By a corrupt heart. An eminent man said once, “Paris is France”; it is more correct to say, “The heart is the man”; “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The seed contains the future flower, the small acorn the majestic oak, the egg the poisonous viper; so also the heart contains the germ of the future glorified saint or doomed spirit (Matthieu 15:19). Every healthy man can easily see that consumptives are gradually approaching the great change; but they tell you they are improving in health, and persist in deceiving themselves to the last. We have people that are morally consumptive, “whose end is destruction.” They do not believe it. “The heart is deceitful above all things,” etc. These obstinately refuse the aid of the Great Physician, until their moral nature falls into the second death. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” etc.

II. By a polluted imagination. Imagination--

1. Is like a merchant’s ship, she bringeth her food from afar. The poet mounts upon the wings of this imperial faculty, and brings back rich treasures from fairy land, and presents them to us in the form of poems and dramas. In ancient mythology spring is pictured as a young maiden whose lap is full of flowers, and all the paths she walks are strewn with them.

2. Is a beautiful maiden, whose voice is enchanting as the song of the nightingale. But, alas! she is not always chaste. When celebrating the inhumanities of the hero, her skirts drop human blood. When she ministers to the lusts and passions of men her crown is tarnished: she becomes a wanton coquette at the bidding of Horace, Ovid, and Byron; but at the bidding of Job, Isaiah, and Milton she becomes “a woman clothed with the sun,” etc. The reason why imagination sometimes wanders to forbidden paths is because she is the slave of the heart. The influence of the moon upon the tide is not more regular and absolute than that of the heart over the imagination.

III. By the habits of society. The phrase “good manners” is not used now in the sense in which it is used here. We mean etiquette; but Paul meant virtue--all that is noble and heroic. Be not deceived. One may have the beauty of Venus and the charms of Cleopatra; and another the figure of Adonis and the polish of Chesterfield, and still be void of “good” manners, What are the genteel habits without religion? Apples of Sodom, having a charming outside, but an inside of dust; a dead body dressed in a white winding sheet and decked with flowers which only hide a mass of putrefaction. So refinement, polish, and accomplishments are often only the adornments of one “dead in trespasses and sins” (1 Samuel 16:7). (W. A. Griffiths.)

Evil communications

I. Good manners are supposed as the result of--

1. Early training.

2. Religious influence.

II. May be corrupted.

1. The tendency of the heart is evil.

2. The world is wicked.

3. The influence of its example pernicious.

4. There needs decision and watchfulness.

III. Will certainly be corrupted by evil communications.

1. The choice of bad company shows the inclination to evil.

2. Such company is insinuating.

3. Insensibly lowers the tone of morality.

4. Destroys shame.

5. Hardens the heart. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Evil communications

Let me--

I. Explain this doctrine.

1. Good manners, although applied by St. Paul to those Christian principles from which his converts were in danger of being seduced, may be understood as including both right sentiments and holy practice.

2. The term “evil communications,” means the associating with evil men.

3. Such evil communications corrupt the mind, sap the principles, and taint the conduct. In the case of the upright Christian, whose duty leads him to intercourse with the world, this tendency may, indeed, be counteracted by watchfulness and prayer, and by the preventing grace of God. But if, without this defence, a man will freely associate with the ungodly, the effect will soon be visible in his character.

4. The injurious effect of evil communications is not described as taking place in any sudden or striking manner. Corruption is a gradual change. Silently, but surely, evil communications corrupt good manners.

II. Confirm it, by an appeal to--

1. The Word of God (Proverbes 4:14, etc., 9:6, 13:6; 2 Pierre 2:1.).

2. Maxims of wise men. St. Paul’s words are borrowed from a heathen writer. This shows that Reason without the aid of Inspiration has led men to the very same conclusion with the apostle. To this I will add the modern saying of “a man is known by the company he keeps.”

3. Take the cases of Lot, Solomon, etc.

4. Personal experience. Look back through your past lives, and recollect in how many instances your views and conduct have been influenced by the example of those among whom you lived.

III. Apply it. Be not deceived.

1. As to the reality of your danger from ungodly society. We soon perceive the perilous situation of a son, a daughter, or a friend; but we are apt to be very blind when the case becomes our own. There is no safety in the society of those who have not the fear of God before their eyes. If they be openly immoral or unprincipled, all connection with them is perilous in the extreme. But their society is scarcely less dangerous to a true Christian, if, while destitute of religion, their outward behaviour is plausible and decorous.

2. As to your ability for resisting the influence of evil communications. A man may say, “I know that there is danger, but my principles are fixed: and, as I do not go into such company, out of any love for their bad conduct, I shall easily avoid what I know to be wrong.” The man who talks thus is ignorant both of the power of temptation and of the weakness of his own heart, and he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And should the tempter suggest, as he did to Jesus, that God will give His angels charge over you to keep you, recollect that there is no promise of such protection to those who quit the path in which the Lord requires them to walk.

3. As to the possibility of separating yourself from ungodly connections.

4. As to the final tendency of that corruption, which arises from evil communications. (J. Jowett, M.A)

Evil communications

I. The import of the phrase.

1. Bad books.

2. Company.

3. Associations.

II. Their evil tendency.

1. They corrupt the heart.

2. Deprave the character.

3. Destroy reputation.

4. Spoil happiness.

5. Ruin the soul.

III. The means of escaping them

1. Avoid them.

2. Cultivate the company of the good.

3. Study the Bible.

4. Watch unto prayer. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Evil communication

The text is a quotation from the Greek comic playwright Menander, which illustrates 1 Corinthiens 9:22. In this sceptical age all teachers should go to the forges of the Philistines to sharpen their intellectual tools, so as to be able to meet their enemies on their own ground.

I. What are these evil communications? They are those of--

1. The tongue.

(1) Lying. The Bible shows, by precept and example, that God hates the liar (Proverbes 12:22).

(2) Foolish and profane talk. Certainly we do not condemn mirth and wit; but great care must be taken lest the comic should predominate in us. “A hearty laugh maketh glad the heart, but the laughter of the fool is as the crackling of thorns under a pot.” Moreover there is a kind of talk which blunts the moral feelings and lowers the dignity of man. The slandering gossip of the drawing-room and the coarse humour of the tap-room are equally condemned (Éphésiens 4:29).

(3) Swearing. This mean habit is too prevalent amongst all grades of society.

2. The pen. In former times the evils of the pen were comparatively small, because only few could read what fewer still could write. But in this age of cheap literature the evil of the pen rivals the evil of the tongue in its magnitude. There is--

(1) The novel. Every young man and woman should read the masterpieces of imaginative literature as recreation; yet the greatest admirers of fiction admit that for every good novel there is a dozen bad ones. Truth after all is stranger than fiction; get good books, read and study them.

(2) The theatre, which has been all along one of the principal enemies of the Church: one is the nursery of rectitude, honesty, and charity: the other is the school of infidelity and genteel licentiousness.

3. The pencil. Nothing contributes more towards the education of the heart and the refinement of the feelings than familiarity with high art; but on the other hand, nothing is more infectious than familiarity with lewd pictures.

II. How to eradicate these evil communications.

1. Form a close and frequent intercourse with the people of God. The help afforded to Christians by mutual interchange of thought, feeling, and experience will be found to be wonderfully effective; as will also the biographies of good men.

2. Form a close and frequent intercourse with Christ. Enter into a covenant with Him, and He will keep thee in all thy ways. (W. A. Griffiths.)

Nature and danger of evil communications

This maxim of the heathen poet Menander accords with universal experience, and was worthy, therefore, of being adopted as a portion of the sacred record. The connection is not that in which we should have expected such a maxim; but the occasion of it was this: by a mixture of the corrupt communications of false teachers the Corinthians had been led off from the fundamental doctrine of the gospel. Hence we may learn the necessity of being on our guard in this respect.

I. What are evil communications? We cannot, of course, entirely avoid intercourse with bad men; this would be “to go out of the world” (1 Corinthiens 5:10). The intercourse of society must be maintained, without respect to the characters of men, to such an extent as the business of life requires. An unsocial spirit that would lead us, like the Essenes of old, into the solitudes of the wilderness, would be inconsistent with the genius of Christianity and the example of our Lord. But still, we must not, under pretence of yielding to the necessary calls of business, cultivate and cherish that “evil communication” which “corrupts good manners.” Those communications may be justly regarded evil--

1. Which have a tendency to taint the purity of the mind by associations of a lascivious and sensual nature.

2. In which religion is not adverted to, or has no hold upon the mind, where the fear of God is evidently dismissed, and there is no scriptural rule of action.

3. Which abounds with objections to Christianity, and is calculated to produce a doubt, either of its Divine origin, or of the certainty of its most important truths.

4. Which is avowedly and aggressively infidel (2 Jean 1:9).

5. Which proceed from those whose moral principles are loose, with respect to the great obligations of justice and equity, and who indulge in dishonourable practices.

II. The way in which evil communication operates in corrupting good manners. It is one of the fundamental laws of nature, that our minds should be subject to perpetual modification from the minds of others. We may determine what society we will keep, but not what influence that society shall have upon us. One of the first feelings of every person who goes into company is to please and be pleased. Hence we plainly perceive that there is a preparation in the very nature of society for an assimilation of our minds to the principles and dispositions of those with whom we converse.

1. Let us suppose, then, that the society into which we enter is not positively vicious, in any other sense than as it is distinguished by a total absence of religion; it is not too much to say that this society will possess a very pernicious influence over any mind. It is dangerous to be accustomed to the absence of religion. Next to the infusion of positive impiety, the most evil element in which the mind can be placed, is that out of which religion is expelled.

2. Suppose the society into which we enter be impure, such communications must corrupt good manners. Must not the primary effect be, at least, gradually to enure the mind to the contemplation of vicious objects, without horror and disgust?

3. Suppose that the society into which we enter be distinguished by a rejection of Christianity, or of its great doctrines. To hear the cause of Christ attacked without being in a situation, in a becoming manner, to undertake its defence, must bare an injurious tendency. Conversation, if we intend to please and be pleased, should never be a scene of continual dispute; we must either relinquish such society or hold our peace.

III. The caution is strongly implied in the words, “be not deceived.” Be not deceived--

1. By the adduction of false precedents. Our Lord mingled indiscriminately with all descriptions of persons; but do not imagine that it would be safe for you to do so. Recollect the infinite disparity of His situation and character, and yours.

2. By your past experience. You have been frequently exposed to vicious society, and perceived none of these evils. “Be not deceived”; you are very ill judges, it may be, of the state of your own minds; you may imagine that you have received no injury, but what has been the effect of such society on your private devotions? Has it endeared to you the Scriptures, or estranged you from them?

3. By any complacent reference to the time of life at which you have arrived, or the progress in religion which you have already made. At whatever period of life you have arrived, “evil communications” will “corrupt good manners.” Solomon, in his youth, feared God, but when old age came upon him, through the contagious example of his idolatrous wives, he forsook the God of his fathers.

4. By any supposed strength of resolution with which you may enter into such society. When confederacies are formed it requires a powerful effort to break them. It is far less difficult to keep out of society than to resist its current.

Conclusion: Let me suggest one or two cautions of prudence.

1. Let those who have a serious sense of religion bind themselves with the vows of God, and enter on a solemn profession of them at an early period of life. Let all young persons unite themselves to those whom God has touched by His Spirit, and is guiding, under the convoy of the Captain of salvation, to eternal glory. The Church will willingly receive all such as are desirous of uniting themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant.

2. Let it be remembered, that with those with whom you voluntarily associate here, you shall be associated hereafter by the disposer of all things, for ever. With whom would you have your everlasting portion? (R. Hall, M.A.)

The influence of association

When we find the heathen and Christian giving utterance to the same sentiment we ought the more to heed its importance. We are so constituted and circumstanced that none of us can live to himself, and none of us can die to himself. Each necessarily exerts a great influence on many others, and is acted on in turn by those with whom he is associated. If “evil commumications corrupt good manners,” it is to be inferred that good communications work for good upon the character. Of course in each case it must be supposed that the association is both intimate and voluntary. It does not always come to pass that the child of religious parents is religious himself; neither is every one who lives with the ungodly a partaker in their ungodliness.

I. There is in all of us considerable desire of being esteemed or approved. This desire is morally allied to that dislike of being singular which has so mighty an operation upon men. With those with whom we are in constant intercourse, we wish, if possible, to stand well, and we feel that this cannot be, so long as there is distinct opposition in their principles and motives to our own; and it is almost a necessary consequence that we shall gradually assimilate ourselves to their tastes and tendencies, and thus seek to escape the unpleasantness of being singular, and therefore of being tacitly disapproved, by acquiring resemblance, or softening down points of difference. For instance, suppose a man, not of vicious habits himself, thrown continually into association with the dissolute. He will feel that there is no affinity between himself and his companions, and it will be very galling to feel himself thus an object of dislike, whilst his desire is to be esteemed. But what is galling he will endeavour to escape from. Then the question is as to the mode of escape. If he be possessed of great moral courage, he may break loose from the pernicious associations; but if not he will cease to be singular by becoming like. He may not form any distinct resolution of this, but the almost certainty is that his virtuous principles will be undermined, and he will gradually get rid of what was unpleasant in his situation by getting rid of what was offensive in his character.

II. Over and above this desire of approval, consider the force of example. Our nature is prone to imitation, and practically seeing a thing done is more likely to move us to the doing of the same than any precept we can enforce. Undoubtedly men do feel encouraged to do evil by seeing others do it, just as though less danger were incurred by breaking God’s laws in company than in breaking them alone. A man whose conscience has been active, remonstrating against a particular sin while he has not mixed with those who are in the habit of that sin--place him with such persons, and you know very well that he will be led through the mere force of example to its habitual commission. Conclusion: We think we have said enough to warrant us in urging, especially upon the young, the vast importance of taking heed with whom they make their association. We might almost dare to say on the strength of the foregoing statements, that in choosing your companions for time you choose your companions for eternity. Never, therefore, let it be thought that it can be a trivial or unimportant thing with whom you contract intimacies. Rather be assured, that such is necessarily the influence of man upon man, that to make friends with the righteous is to gain a vast assistance towards saving the soul, and to make friends with the wicked is to advance a long stage towards everlasting ruin. (H. Melvill, B.D.)

The evils of bad company

I. It is dangerous to our characters. To have the same attachments and dislikes, the same pursuits and aversions, has always been esteemed the foundation of friendship; similarity of disposition, of sentiments, of manners, is the usual bond which unites companions together. The world forms its judgments by general rules; when it sees a man a frequent spectator of the excesses of the vicious, it takes for granted that he is a partaker also, and an approver of them.

II. It will have a proportionable pernicious influence on our fortunes. Reputation has been always looked on as the surest step to wealth and preferment. Whoever wishes to advance himself esteems a good character as useful, if not essential, to that end, and is as anxious to preserve it as the miser to preserve his gold. Let the ambitious, the covetous, those who aspire after dignity or wealth, think of this, and if they have no better motive for declining the society of the vicious, let them decline it as they have regard to the gratification of their favourite passion; let them be restrained by their interest, if they have lost their virtue. Bad company may likewise hurt our advancement in life another way, as it usually involves us in idleness and extravagance, and leads as to dissipate, or, at least, to neglect to improve, the provision bequeathed us by our ancestors.

III. It is dangerous to our quiet. As he who takes a viper frequently to his bosom, though he may awhile escape with impunity, will one time or other certainly repent of his rashness; so let, that man beware who has made choice of a confirmed vicious character for his intimate, for however strong in appearance his attachment be, if appetite or interest invite, he will certainly sting him to the heart. Can any reliance be placed on him who lives in a continued state of disobedience and ingratitude to his Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer, that he will not, when any imaginary pleasure or profit may accrue to him by it, betray or even ruin his fellow-creatures? But if, added to this state of rebellion towards God, he has been known in his general commerce with his brethren to be false and treacherous, is it not the height of folly in any individual to expose his family and affairs to his machinations, under the vain hope that he should belie his general conduct to be true to him alone?

IV. It is prejudicial to our morals, and of consequence dangerous to our eternal salvation. Man is by nature prone to imitation; this is observed by every wise parent, and turned as much as possible to their children’s advantage by every good one. What we are taught, however wise, virtuous, and prudent, will have little effect on us if it be contradicted by what we see. If a young person perceives that vice is no exclusion from the countenance and familiarity of those whom he has been accustomed to honour, it cannot but greatly diminish the abhorrence in which he has been taught to hold it. It is the property of vice to endeavour to draw over to its party all who come within its influence--the libertine, the drunkard, and all the other votaries of profligacy, have ever taken delight to render others as wicked as themselves; to compass this point they spare no arguments, no solicitations--the sons of virtue, I fear, are not half so anxious to make converts as the children of darkness to make apostates. (G. Haggitt, M.A.)

On the progress of vice

I. The contagion which is diffused by bad examples, and heightened by particular connections with persons of loose principles or dissolute morals. This, in a licentious state of society, is the most common source of those vices and disorders which so much abound in great cities. It is indeed disagreeable to contemplate human nature in this downward course of its progress. But it is always profitable to know our own infirmities and dangers. There are few but who set out at first in the world with good dispositions. The warmth which belongs to youth naturally exerts itself in generous feelings and sentiments of honour; in strong attachments to friends, and the other emotions of a kind and tender heart. At that period they repudiate whatever is mean or base. It is pleasing to them to think of commanding the esteem of those among whom they live, and of acquiring a name among men. But, alas! how soon does this flattering prospect begin to be overcast. How many pass away some of the most valuable years of their life tossed in a whirlpool of what cannot be called pleasure so much as mere giddiness and folly. There are certain degrees of vice which are chiefly stamped with the character of the ridiculous and the contemptible; and there are also certain limits beyond which if it pass it becomes odious and execrable. If to the other corruptions which the heart has already received be added the infusion of sceptical principles, that worst of all the evil communications of sinners, the whole of morals is then on the point of being overthrown. For every crime can then be palliated to conscience, every check and restraint which had hitherto remained is taken away. Miserable and deluded man! to what art thou come at the last? Dost thou pretend to follow nature, when thou art contemning the laws of the God of nature? when thou art stifling His voice within thee, which remonstrates against thy crimes? when thou art violating the best part of thy nature by counteracting the dictates of justice and humanity?

II. This brings me to the next head of discourse; to suggest some means that may be used for stopping in time the progress of such mischiefs; to point out some remedies against the fatal infection of evil communications.

1. The first and most obvious is, to withdraw from all associations with bad men, with persons either of licentious principles or of disorderly conduct. The circumstances which chiefly attract the liking and the friendship of youth are vivacity, good humour, engaging manners, and a cheerful or easy temper; qualities, I confess, amiable in themselves, and useful and valuable in their place. But I entreat you to remember that these are not all the qualities requisite to form an intimate companion or friend. Something more is still to be looked for; a sound understanding, a steady mind, a firm attachment to principle, to virtue, and honour. As only solid bodies polish well, it is only on the substantial ground of these manly endowments that the other amiable qualities can receive their proper lustre. Destitute of these essential requisites they shine with no more than a tinsel brilliancy. Allow me to warn you that the most gay and pleasing are sometimes the most insidious and dangerous companions.

2. In order to prevent the influence of evil communications it is farther needful that you fix to yourselves certain principles of conduct, and to be resolved and determined on no occasion to swerve from them. Setting the consideration of religion and virtue aside, and attending merely to interest and reputation, it will be found that he who enters on active life without having ascertained some regular plan, according to which he is to guide himself, will be unprosperous in the whole of his subsequent progress. But when conduct is viewed in a moral and religious light, the effect of having fixed no principles of action, of having formed no laudable standard of character, becomes more obviously fatal. From hence it is that the young and thoughtless imbibe so readily the poison of evil communications, and fall a prey to every seducer. They have no internal guide whom they are accustomed to follow and obey; nothing within themselves that can give firmness to their conduct. They are, of course, the victims of momentary inclination or caprice.

3. As a farther corrective of evil communications, and as a foundation to those principles which you lay down for conduct, let me advise you sometimes to think seriously of what constitutes real enjoyment and happiness. Your days cannot be entirely spent in company and pleasure. Seize that sober hour of retirement and silence. Indulge the meditations which then begin to rise. Cast your eye backwards on what is past of your life; look forward to what is probably to come. Think of the part you are now acting, and of what remains to be, acted, perhaps to be suffered, before you die. If your hearts secretly reproach you for the wrong choice you have made, bethink yourselves that the evil is not irreparable. Still there is time for repentance and retreat; and a return to wisdom is always honourable. Were such meditations often indulged, the evil communications of sinners would die away before them; the force of their poison would evaporate; the world would begin to assume in your eyes a new form and shape.

4. Let me once more advise you to look forward sometimes beyond old age; to look to a future world. Amidst evil communications let your belief and your character as Christians arise to your view. Think of the sacred name in which you were baptized. Think of the God whom your fathers honoured and worshipped; of the religion in which they trained you up; of the venerable rites in which they brought you to partake. (H. Blair, D.D.)

On evil communication

I. In almost every case the young begin well. They come out of the hand of nature pure and uncorrupted.

II. It is wise in them, in the second place, to reflect for what it is that they were born, and in what consists the real happiness of mortal life.

III. It is wise in them, in the last place, to look beyond the world, and to consider the final destiny of their being. And to us, my elder brethren, it is a reflection of no common interest--that our folly and imprudence may thus poison the minds of the pure, and introduce guilt and woe into the innocent family of God.

1. There is, in the first place, an “evil communication” to the young, which proceeds from the abuse of rank and affluence. These are the high and the valued situations of life, to which all others naturally look up--and it is their manners which necessarily give the tone and fashion to their age. Of what fatal consequence it is to every generation when rank and fashion are only the leaders of folly, and when riches are employed in vice and sordid dissipation; and, what is even worse, when the manners of the higher ranks of mankind are assimilated to all that is base or degrading in the lower. How many, alas! of the young are the victims of these abuses of prosperity?

2. There is, in the second place, an evil communication to the young which arises from the abuse of learning and talents. Of all the employments of human wisdom, the noblest certainly, and the most genuine is that of the instruction of the ignorance, and the support of the innocence of youth. Yet the world shows us that there are men who have deserted this sublimest duty--who please themselves in spreading doubt and unbelief, and who delight to employ their powers with withdrawing all the most sacred principles of religion and morality.

3. There is, in the last place, an evil communication to the young from the society of the aged in vice itself. (A. Allison.)

Fatal tendency of evil associations

While seeking for a rainbow in the Handeck Falls another lesson was learned. A beautiful butterfly was sporting in the sunshine, and either through carelessness, or the fascination of the pearly drops which shot from the fall in profusion, went too near, was caught in the falling shower, and hurled to destruction in the awful gulf two hundred feet below. Who does not see in this an every-day occurrence? Young people, in the thoughtlessness which the pursuit of pleasure engenders, go to places in winch they “see no harm,” and, alas! are soon hurled into the gulf of disgrace here, and of everlasting despair hereafter. (Gavin Kirkham.)

Depraved by evil associations

Sir Thomas Lawrence, the eminent painter and president of the Royal Academy, commended the pictures of a young artist, and then said to him: “You have round your room two or three rough, clever, but coarse Flemish sketches. If I were you I would not allow my eye to become familiarised with any but the highest forms of art. If you cannot afford to buy good oil-paintings, buy good engravings of great pictures, or have nothing at all upon your walls. You allow, in intercourse with your fellows, that ‘Evil communications corrupt good manners.’ So is it with pictures. If you allow your eye to become familiar with what is vulgar in conception, however free and dashing the handling, and however excellent the feeling for colour, your taste will insensibly become depraved. Whereas, if you habituate your eye to look only on what is pure and grand, or refined and lovely, your taste will insensibly become elevated.” Sir Thomas’s advice, which is as applicable to books as to pictures, was enforced by an anecdote. The artist of reputation, who had never seen any of the works of the greatest painters, went with Sir Thomas to see one of the best collections on the Continent. It was arranged according to the different schools--beginning with the German, proceeding to the Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, Bolognese, the Venetian, and ending with the Umbrian. The artist was so fascinated with the vigour, the colour, the invention, and the drawing of Rubens’s pictures that Sir Thomas had difficulty in dragging him away from them. After visiting the several schools they came to the Italian collection, with its Guidos, Titians, and Raphaels, before which they lingered until the hour for closing the gallery. The contemplation of these beautiful, chastened works of the Italian masters so educated the visitor’s taste that, on repassing the Rubens pictures, which a few hours before had delighted him, he shuddered at their grossness.

Environment

That environment is an immense and controlling natural law for the sustenance of life has come to be a fact as conceded and confessed as that Biogenesis, or life only proceeding from life, is the inexorable natural law for the beginning of life. Environment, as the natural law for the sustenance of life, is energetic, with two main influences upon life. The first influence is that of variation. The life itself varies as the environment gets changed. Hunter put a sea-gull into such environment that it could only get grain to eat. The result was that the stomach of a bird, normally adapted to a fish diet, came in time to resemble in structure the gizzard of a grain feeder like the pigeon. Holmgren fed pigeons for a lengthened period on meat diet, and their gizzards became carnivorous stomachs. How constant and controlling this varying power upon life is, is seen in the adjustment of animals to their habitat--the flounder, burying himself in the mud and sand at the bottom of its sea or river, takes on its hue; the fur of the polar bear is white as are the arctic snows amid which it lives; the alternating narrow stripes of shadow and sunshine inter-braided amid the tangled Indian jungles are photographed and stereotyped upon the Bengal tiger which seeks its prey among them. But is not this varying force of environment upon life a natural law for life as thoroughly energetic in the spiritual world as in what we call the natural? What man’s spiritual life does not get shape and take on colour from his environment? The books he reads, the social atmosphere in which he is immersed, the daily business to which he sets his hand, the companionships he chooses--how do their varieties, their purities or impurities, their nobleness or lowness, react into variations within himself. The law of environment which, in the natural world, bleaches the brown coat of the hare into the white coat of it in the arctic regions, is only the same law plying its changes upon man in the spiritual world.