Then, and not before, sin is actually felt and acknowledged, and, if
unaccompanied by repentance, grows a thousand-fold more virulent by its
self-consciousness. Be it considered, also, that men often overestimate
their capacity for evil. At a distance, while its attendant
circumstances do not press upon their notice, and its results are dimly
seen, they can bear to contemplate it. They may take the steps which
lead to crime, impelled by the same sort of mental action as in working
out a mathematical problem, yet be powerless with compunction, at the
final moment. They knew not what deed it was that they deemed themselves
resolved to do. In truth, there is no such thing in man's nature as a
settled and full resolve, either for good or evil, except at the very
moment of execution. Let us hope, therefore, that all the dreadful
consequences of sin will not be incurred, unless the act have set its
seal upon the thought.

Yet, with the slight fancy-work which we have framed, some sad and awful
truths are interwoven. Man must not disclaim his brotherhood, even with
the guiltiest, since, though his hand be clean, his heart has surely been
polluted by the flitting phantoms of iniquity. He must feel, that, when
he shall knock at the gate of heaven, no semblance of an unspotted life
can entitle him to entrance there. Penitence must kneel, and Mercy come
from the footstool of the throne, or that golden gate will never open!