One of the kings in olden times, the legend says, consented that the devil might kiss him on both shoulders, but no sooner were the kisses imprinted upon the shoulders than serpents grew forth and began to devour him, and as the king tried to tear off the serpents he found he was tearing his own life out.  And there are men who are all enfolded in adders of evil appetite and passion that no human power can ever crush; and unless the grace of God seizes hold of them, these adders will become “the worm that never dies.”  Alas for those who, once having broken away from the mastery of evil appetites and passion, go back to the sins that they once renounced, and, with Laban in Rachel’s tent, go to hunt for the lost images!

There are a great many also sacrificed by indolence.  In the hour of their conversion they looked off upon the world, and said:  “Oh how much work to be done, how many harvests to be gathered, how many battles to be fought, how many tears to be wiped away, and how many wounds to be bound up!” and they looked with positive surprise upon those who could sit idle in the kingdom of God while there was so much work to do.  After a while they found their efforts were unappreciated, that some of their best work in behalf of Christ was caricatured and they were laughed at, and they began to relax their effort, and the question was no more, “What can I do for Christ?” but “How can I take my ease? where can I find my rest?” Are there not some of you who in the hour of your consecration started out nobly, bravely and enthusiastically for the Saviour’s kingdom who have fallen back into ease of body and ease of soul, less anxious about the salvation of men than you once were, and are actually this moment in Rachel’s tent hunting up the lost images?

Oh, why go down hunting for our old idols?  We have found out they are insufficient for the soul.  Eyes have they, but they see not; ears have they, but, they hear not; and hands have they, but they handle not.  There is only one God to worship, and He sits in the heavens.

How do I know that there is only one God?  I know it just as the boy knew it when his teacher asked him how many Gods there are.  He said, “There is but one.”

“How do you know that?” inquired the teacher.

The boy replied, “There is only room for one, for He fills the heavens and the earth.”

Come into the worship of that God.  He is a wise God.  He can plan out all the affairs of your life.  He can mark out all the steps that you ought to take.  He will put the sorrows in the right place, and the victories in the right place, and the defeats in the right place; and coming to the end of your life, if you have served Him faithfully, you will be compelled to say, “Just and true are thy ways; thou art, O Lord, always right.”