Like priest, like people. By Charles Spurgeon.

Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into the ditch? Luke 6, verse 39. I know of no surer way of people's perishing than by being led by one who does not speak out straight and honestly denounce sin. If the minister halts between two opinions, do you wonder that the congregation is undecided? If the preacher trims and twists to please all parties, can you expect his people to be honest?

like priest, like people. A cowardly preacher suits hardened sinners. Those who are afraid to rebuke sin, or to probe the conscience, will have much to answer for. May God save you from being led into the ditch by a blind guide.

And yet is not a mingle mangle of Christ and Belial the common religion of the day? is not worldly piety, or pious worldliness, the current religion in England? The people seek out a trimming preacher, who is not too precise and plain-spoken, and they settle down comfortably to a mongrel faith, half-truth and half-error, and a mongrel worship, half-dead formalism and half-orthodoxy.

God will not have a compound of world and grace. Come out from among them, says he. Be separate. Touch not the unclean thing. How much longer will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. But if Baal is God, then follow him. There can be no alliance between the two. Jehovah and Baal can never be friends.

No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Luke 16, verse 13. All attempts at compromise in matters of truth and purity are founded on falsehood, and falsehood is all that can come of them. May God save us from such hateful double-mindedness!