There is no exaggeration in this language.  To realise the danger, all we need assume is the law of habit; for, according to that law, we know that any act of the will, good or bad, has a tendency to repeat itself with increasing ease and decreasing consciousness, until it becomes a “second nature.”  Hence the first resistance of evil is much less difficult than any subsequent attempt; and he who in one moment of life could by a manly effort become a conqueror, and enter on a life of principle and peace, may, by yielding, very soon sink down into a degraded slave, who is held fast by the iron chain of habit, each link of which he has himself forged by his own self-will.

What a moment was that in the life of Herod when he permitted evil desire for Herodias to enter his soul.  That desire conceived sin, and sin when finished brought forth death.  Acts passed into habits, and habits into a life of abandoned passion.  Then came the festive birthday, and the dancing before him of the daughter of his paramour; and then the foul murder, with the spectacle of the bloody head, closed eyes, and sealed lips of the greatest and noblest man of his time; and then followed the hour when Jesus Himself was brought before the murderer, when the Lord spoke not one word of warning, rebuke, or mercy to him, but smote the wretch with the terrible wrath and righteous judgment of silence!

What a moment in life was that, too, when Judas welcomed covetousness into his heart as a most profitable guest.  Then one day Covetousness offered him thirty pieces of silver if he would betray his Lord; and Judas agreed to the proposal.  A whole eternity of misery was involved in that moment of his life:  for the night soon arrived when the bargain was to be kept.  A few moments more, and the history will end here to begin elsewhere.  Yet there is not a sign on earth or heaven to indicate the importance of that brief hour to Judas!  He forms one among the most distinguished company that ever sat at the same table since the earth began; and never did mortal ears listen to such words uttered by human lips, nor did mortal eyes ever contemplate such a scene of peace and love as was witnessed in that upper room in Jerusalem.  But the hour has struck, and Judas rises to depart.  The deed of darkness must now be done.  It is late, and he has made a most important appointment; unless he keeps it, he may lose his money; and what a loss to the poor follower of a man who had nowhere to lay His head!  Judas leaves that company; and what was there in things visible to make him suspect even that an awful moment of life—­his last—­had come?  All was calm within that upper room,—­all was peace in the world without.  The naked heavens shone in the calm brilliancy of an Eastern night The streets of Jerusalem, along which the traitor passed on his dreadful errand, echoed his footsteps in their silence.  Yet Judas, “the son of perdition,” was at that moment on his way “to his own place!”