There was a time when it was usual to draw a sharp line between religious and worldly things. That time has happily gone by. We all acknowledge more or less that all life is one.

All the honest, unselfish work of the world is God’s work. 

So wash Thou me, without, within, 
Or purge by fire, if that must be, 
No matter how, if only sin
Die out in me.

No longer law, but love, no longer the mere keeping from a certain list of forbidden things, but active forward-looking service.

For that is the only real question – not just where are you – but, which way are you facing and living?

…the consequence is that they are often facing towards sin all the time, and there being no such actual line, they find themselves in sin, unmistakably, almost before they know it.

That is the real question about life:  which way are you facing;  in which direction are you really looking and living?   Righteousness, not a position, but a direction…..

It is just when a man goes wrong that he most wants his brethren’s support.

…..on the people that stand by is impressed the awful truth, that sinners are not fit to judge of sin.

Thou call’st us Brethren: sweet repose
Is in that word – the Lord who dwells on high 
Knows all, yet loves us better than He knows.