Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1905-01-14
FENCE AND SERPENT.
from the Book of Eccle-
siastes.

The writer of the book which we
call Ecclesiastes, said in his own pithy
and sententious way long ago, that
'Whcso breaketh a hedge, a serpent
shall bite him." but the word in the
original appears to refer to a stone
wall rather than a planted boundary,
as our revisers signify by new rem
dering. What is in the mind of the
mcralist is that the man who secretly
breaks down or removes the land
mark between himself and his neigh
Dor is likely to find that this same
stone-pile has become the refuge of
some creature with avenging fangs
and swift-darting venom, so that in
Atss very act CO bic q isssysressign the
evil-doer is struck by deserved chas-
tisement. says the Chicago Interior.
The fact which was observed by the
inspired writer is one often overlooked
by the modern moralist, nevertheless
1t is true that il costs man effort to
do wrong. Not only does the saint
have to fight against his better ma
ture and his active conscience. When
some one asked Charles Lamb how he
came to be such a slave to tobacco,
he frankly replied that he "toiled after
1T as some men after virtue" Instead
of being an unluclIy "misstep," the
first step in a criminal course is very
likely to be a painful climb The boy
is not always frightened into his first
lie; he deliberately shapes and fash
ions it and presents it with "mal-
fee pretense" to his parents. He does
not fall of a stone wall; he breaks
through il.
But while there is a fence around
every sin, one can throw it down. 1t
is not a Sierra. 1t is not an Ehren-
breitstein laughing at guns of every
caliber with an equal contempt. The
boy who will drink must fight down
his scruples, but he can overcome them.
The young employee who is tempted
20 take a flyer" in the stock market
or the wheat pit will know more than
one wakeful hour and fitful dream over
his beginnings of speculation, but steal
he can If he will.
Only out OF his experience will shoot
forth his own punishment. Each sin
brings forth its own peculiar penalty,
like serpent shooting out unexpect-
edly from broken wall. Lying does
not beget headache but more lying
Drink creates thirst and Furnishes it.
self with drinking. Licentiousness de-
files the body and rots it. Everyone
of Gods fences hides within itself its
silent but sure avenger People who
are looking for evidences of a moral
ruler of the universe might we'll pause
and study such facts as were obvious
to the wise man of 5000 years ago.
and which are not less obvious to one
with eyes to see in our own day.
GO on in your deliberately chosen
path" says the Preacher of the Old
Testament, "but remember that for all
these things God will bring you into
judgment" The young men who have
been brought up in these Christian
homes about us do not slip into sin:
they break into wrong-doing. 1t is not
natural, 1t is not easy for them to cast
on the restraints of piety and faith,
nor is it safe. The penalty is not re-
mote but near, not arbitrary but i'm
perative, not falling out OF a clear sky
but darting from the very center and
shadow of the sin itself This is a
study in psychology which we com
mend to those who would deal with
facts which have a real reference to
practical life.