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RESISTING TEMPTATION

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 15, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 49.

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RESISTING TEMPTATION.

WHEN Edward Wilkins was leaving home in a quiet country village, his father thus addressed a few farewell words to him:—
"My boy, beware of the theater and the public house; keep the Sabbath holy by attending a place of worship in which you can do good and get good; read your Bible and pray over it, that God by his Holy Spirit's influence may so bless its instructions that they shall become a source of power within you in times of temptation; write home every week to your mother and myself, and let us know every difficulty and every joy you experience. Now go, and may the Lord have you in his holy keeping in the great city to which you are going."
The youth had not long been in his situation when he saw how wise had been that counsel, for there was every inducement from without to fall into every one of the temptations of which he had been warned. There were about three hundred young men in the house, nearly half of whom were fond of the exciting pleasures they could pick up in an hour or two at the close of the day's labor.
Several of those who lodged out of the house made no secret of their nightly adventures in theaters and taverns. They boasted of their Sunday excursions by boat and rail, and used to speak pityingly of those who were compelled to "make" their Sunday in the warehouse. Amongst the latter, too, were several who spent their leisure hours in reading any book but the Bible, and who were never known to pray.
It is an unhealthful atmosphere for a Christian youth to draw breath in; but Edward Wilkins kept up his heart with all diligence, and he was rewarded by a conscience void of offense, and finding in the simple pleasure of devotion a joy unknown to those who wasted time, and money, and health in riotous living. He kept up a constant communication with home, and thus maintained a tender home feeling in his heart amid the exciting scenes of city life.
He had been about a year in his situation when an incident occurred which taught him how weak and deceptive the human heart is when not constantly supported by divine grace. He had given such satisfaction to his employers that they determined to raise his salary, and one evening this fact was communicated in very pleasant terms by one of the managers.
He was paid his quarter's salary, and told that, as he had been rather overworked, he might take a holiday on the following day. The youth was overjoyed as much at the prospect of a holiday as at the increase in his salary, so overjoyed that his devotions were less earnest than usual on the night before and the morning of the day.He spent a pleasant day in a favorite country haunt of his, and returned to town in the dusk of evening. On his way home he stopped to look at a gaily lighted building, on which the word "Theater" was blazing in large letters formed by jets of gas. He had never been in a theater in his life, and had felt no desire to enter one; but now, as he saw crowds of gaily dressed people pouring in, the thought occurred to him, "Will there be any harm if I just look in; I will not stay, of course; but will there be any harm in my seeing what it is like?"
The longer he stood watching and arguing with himself the stronger became his desire to enter. At last the wish became irresistible, and he entered the vestibule. Then, in a moment, his father's parting counsel flashed into his mind, and, literally, with fear and trembling he ran home as fast as he could.
He passed a night of sighs and tears, and for several days was the most miserable of young men. Conscience inflicted on him the most bitter smarts. It was true he had not fallen, but what if he had? What if he had allowed the tempter to gain the victory over him in this instance? Might it not certainly have been a vantage ground for the tempter to lead him on into excesses into which other young men had been led, the very thought of which made him tremble?
Years afterwards, when narrating the story, he said he could never pass a theater without feeling something of the thrill of terror with which he ran away from a temptation that was becoming too mighty for him.
How dangerous it is to dally with temptation! Every moment it will become stronger; every moment the tempted one will become less able to resist. But the smallest wedge, if promptly used, will prevent the breaking out of a reservoir which, if left to make the crevice by which the water is leaking larger and larger, will flood an entire village.
One brief, earnest prayer when temptation assails us will awaken in the heart thoughts and feelings, and bring help from above, that will effectually withstand the most artful of the tempter's wiles.—Selected.