Morning, July 25
Go To Evening Reading
“He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”
Genesis 39:12
In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but
by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose
eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the
mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be
safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant
must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation,
for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows
in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper’s prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires
to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew
how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk
of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the
quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without
springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the
midst of a safe channel.
This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent’s wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be
of more use to me today than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may
be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave
my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be
rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship,
no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule
must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am
to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve
thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions.
May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never
overcome us!