THE BITTER END OF THE BROAD WAY.
THOSE who enter into the ways of sin seldom think of the end. They do not look ahead. They are content to know that the present is according to their desire. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” is a law never considered by the wicked. They do not believe it. They hope to do evil and reap good. They flatter themselves that they can wrong others and benefit themselves. Had the prodigal known when he left his father’s house that the way he had chosen would end in a far country where he would be forsaken by his companions and surrounded by swine and tormented by hunger, would he have yielded to the temptation? If the young man taking his first glass of strong drink believed that the path in which he is planting his erring feet will surely end in the wreck of his body, mind, and life, would he not dash the sparkling beverage from his lips and say to the tempter, “Get thee behind me”? “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” “I die like a fool,” said a great statesman who lay dying of a wound received in a duel. The broad way always ends in shame. It may not be the end of the drunkard or the duelist, but it is bitter, nevertheless. There is no peace, no hope, no joy, no comfort in the end of this way. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”—Examiner.