p. 5 | A Cat’s Paw by R.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 8, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 35.

A Cat’s Paw

By R.

A SAILOR once told me a story of an ape which they had on board the ship to which he belonged. One day the ape happened into the galley. Some potatoes were boiling in the kettle. The ape was a little hungry, and wanted some of them; but how to get them out of the kettle of boiling water was the question. He noticed the old cat purring under the stove, and a happy idea struck him. By coaxing the cat he got it near enough so that he could catch it. Then, taking the cat by the paw, he thrust the poor cat’s paw down into the boiling water and scooped up some of the potatoes for its own satisfaction. The cat went off with a cooked paw; the ape had attained his object at the expense of the cat.

Thus Satan entices us with some flattering prospect, and gets us to engage in sin; we do his work and become thus a veritable cat’s paw. But the sinner must suffer infinitely more than the cat. Sin yields a heavy percentage of misery in this life; as the word says, “The way of the transgressor is hard.” Hard, very hard, that way is, for after this life is the awful loss of eternal bliss. Let the truth sink down deep into the soul that every one of us has a hell to shun, as truly as a heaven to win. Don’t be a devil’s cat’s paw. R.