Proverbs 1:10-19 My son, if sinners entice you, consent you not.… In America there were some eight young men who went out one Sabbath morning along the hanks of the Potomac, and they were breaking the Sabbath and acting in a most outrageous way, when the bell of the village church rang out, and one of the young men stopped short and said, "I must go to church." The others said, "What d'ye mean? You're surely not going to church?" "Yes, I am going." "Oh, George is getting pious, and so he ought to be baptized, and here we are by the Potomac River, and we will baptize him by immersion." And so they were about to plunge him in the river, when he said, "Stop one minute, boys, and then I'm in your hands; but before you plunge me into the river, I want to tell you one thing. My mother was an invalid, and I never saw her out of bed, and when I was about to leave home and choose an occupation, she said to me, 'Now, George, after you are all ready to go, I want to see you in my room, and to give you my dying blessing, for I am certain I shall never see you again. Your father has not money enough to bring you home at the holidays, and I am very certain before you return I shall have left you for ever, so be sure and come.' I went into my mother's room after I was ready, and she asked me if I would kneel down by the bedside, and I knelt down. I remember just how her hand looked. I remember the blue vein on the thin wasted hand as she put it out over me. Then she dropped it upon my head and said, 'This is my benediction. I will never see you again, and I want you to remember this: you will be out in the world, and there will be a great many temptations over you; but remember when sinners entice thee consent thou not.' Now," said he, "I am going to church." "Well," they said, "you mustn't go to church." He started; they followed, half in derision, half in earnestness. They came to the church door. They went in. That day the gospel was mighty in the heart of that young man. Then and there he yielded himself to God. Before many months had passed along, some from one kind of influence, some from another, but all those young men, had entered the kingdom of Christ. Six of them are in heaven, two of them are occupying high positions in the Church, and all because that young man dared to do his duty. (T. De Witt Talmage.) Parallel Verses KJV: My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. |
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