Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-04-20

beautiful Delilah, and while the sinner
sleeps his lips are parted in a smile as
he dreams the happiest OF dreams.
How Temptation Comes
"Sin Is a sweet poison" once wrote
Anthony Burgess. 1T tickleth while IL
stabbeth. The first thing IL does is to
bewitch, then to put out the eyes, then
to take away the sense of feeling" 1t
is when the temptation Is concealed
and hidden among attractive surround
ings that ii has its greatest danger. The
mighty furred bruin OF the Rocky
mountains is not caught by the steel
trap lying unconcealed in the opened
pathway. He shambles along, shifts 1t,
pushes IL aside with his paw. moves
round 1t or leaps over it, but when that
trap is concealed under the green grass
a short distance from the tempting
meat then the mountain bear has need
for fear. No sooner is the great paw
placed upon that harmless looking COW
ering than the steel teeth Of that trap
spring shut. The massive limb Is held
in a wise, and the great beast is as help
less as the murderer about to be exc
cuted In the prison yard. The wild
turkey will not stoop down of his own
accord and enter the small aperture of
the fatal trap. but after the hunter has
scattered along the forest path the
many grains Of corn this wild fowl will
lower his head and eat and eat until
he is confined within the wire screens
from which he will be taken out to his
death. My brother and sister, are you
among those whom King Solomon des-
ignates as fools2 Do you mock at sin
merely because 1t comes around In
harmless way? The mere fact that the
highwayman crouches behind the rock
makes his sudden attack the more dan
gerous; the mere fact that the quick
sands look to the Impractical eye as
strong as the rock under your feet
makes their invitations to step upon
them the more fatal
Evil temptations should not be de-
rided. They assail a man at his weak
est points Of character. They do not
! try to assault his impregnable citadel
or attack him at those points Of his ma
ture that are protected by massive
walls, so high and thick that the heav-
lest Of battering rams can only make
the slightest indentatiOns, but they
try to destroy their victims by strategy,
| by throwing them off their guard;
wounding Achilles not through the
breastplate, but in the heel; conquering
| Alexander the Great not with the
sword. but with the wine cup; destroy
ing Charles Stewart Parnell not with q
mans gruff voice, but with a woman's
gentle arm; making Thomas Cranmer
sign his recantation not by the power
Of argument. but by the power of fear
1t only needs comparatively light
blow between the eyes to stun the most
powerful animal which was ever driv-
ell into the Chicago slaughter houses
1t only needs one small sinful tempta
ton to appeal to US in the right way
TO destroy any man unless he is upheld
by divine panoply.
Sin Strikes the Weakest Point.
Evil temptations always assail theil
victims at their weakest points. II
there any man foolish enough to thinl
that his character is so perfectly form
ed that there is no weak point in hi!
moral armor? A constructor wht
would not try to strengthen his sag
ging girder is a criminal. Awful wa
the catastrophe when a few years ag'
q great bridge across the river Sein
broke under the feet of the multitude
merely because one of the iron link
snapped Poor is the general VIII
would not be vigilant about the weak
est part of his Notifications. 1t wa
after the famous mine was eXplod
ed under the earthwOrks of Peters
burg that the Federal troops were abb
to drive back Robert E. Lees force
into Richmond. And can it be tina
with all your brain and force and pas
experience you do not realize there
some helplessneSS. some weakness, l
your nature? Have you never bee
tempted in the past and Overthrown
Can you not realize that you may b
tempted again in the future and owe
thrown in the same way?
BY being aware of and trying
strengthen our weaknesses we are abb
to supplement our strength. A we
known and thrilling story is told thu
the engineer of the Holland bikes Wa
one night invited to a party. That af
ernoon an awful storm arose. AS IL
hour drew near for the festival IL
engineer wavered, but at last he saiC
NO; will go to the bikes, where N
duty calls. My services may be nee
ed there" When he arrived upon Il
, dikes, he found that under the ceas
less bombardment of the seas some
; the stones in one place had becon
loosened and little water was begi
> ming to trickle through. That lit
! stream was gradually growing large
Over the walls the engineer went. T
, tried 10 stop that hole first with stone
Then he took off his coat and jamm'
t, II into the loosened rocks. mo
clothesr' he shouted. "More clothes
. And he made his men take off the