II.  Now,  though  we  see  not  among  ourselves  any  who  are
afflicted  with  this  leprosy  of  the  body,  yet  there  are  not  a
few  among  the  sons  of  men  whose  souls  are  covered  with
the  leprosy  of  sin.  Their  spiritual  being  presents  to  the  eyes
of  God  and  of  His  Angels  a  spectacle  as  revolting  and  as
hideous  as  the  running  sores  and  gaping  wounds  of  these
leprous  outcasts  presented  to  the  eyes  of  their  contempo
raries.  Therefore,  beware  of  sin  ;  but  especially  beware  of
that  sin  which  is  branded  with  the  epithet  '  unclean,'  or  you
will  speedily  become  loathsome  and  abominable  to  God.  I
say,  beware !  For  do  not  imagine  that  you  are  safe  from
the  infection  of  its  virulent  poison,  because  you  are  fenced
in  from  contagion  by  the  walls  of  the  College.  The  devil
found  his  way  into  Paradise,  and  it  is  vain  to  hope  or  to

3


34  LECTURES  FOR  BOYS

expect  that  any  amount  of  vigilance  can  bar  him  out  from
institutions,  the  chief  aim  of  which  is  to  train  up  men  to
defeat  and  trample  him  under  foot.
He  will  steal  in  like  a  thief  in  the  night,  and  if  he  can  but
infect  one  soul  with  his  poison,  he  will  be  content.  For  the
chances  are  that  the  evil  will  spread.  Like  leprosy,  it  will
show  itself  at  first  as  a  little  spot,  in  the  guise  of  an  indelicate
word.  Flee  away,  then,  with  as  much  terror  as  if  you  heard
the  leper's  cry :  '  Avaunt  !  I  am  unclean.'  If  you  suffer
that  word  to  rest  in  your  imagination,  it  may  take  possession
of  your  heart,- and  infect  it  so  deeply,  that  all  the  foul  follow
ing  of  the  unclean  devil  will  rush  in  and  dwell  there.
