I Could Do It, but She Might Fall
In the Life of Faith (London) we find an illustration which most beautifully sets forth the true idea of denying oneself for the good of others. The incident is thus given: “Two little lads out in the country were going through the woods with their little sister. They came to a tree which had been placed across a little brook of running water. The boys were attracted by this offer of an adventure. One urged the other to walk across the stream on the tree. ‘Come on, it’s quite easy,’ he called. But the other, holding his little sister by the hand tightly, said, ‘I could do it all right, but she might fall.’ Sometimes we are tempted to do things which would not bring us to a downfall, but are nevertheless risky for others to indulge in. Can we not abstain from the alluring thing in the spirit of this lad, saying, ‘I could do it all right, but he—some young disciple—might fall?’”