"--"The harm, my dear son (as you call it)," said his mother, "was
not in sailing the boat,--this is an innocent pleasure in itself; but it
was doing it after it had been forbidden by your parents, that made it
wrong.
8. "The temptation to disobedience came in the form of a little ship.
You were drawn by it to the pond, the forbidden spot. You saw it sail
gayly off, and stood on the bank delighted."
9. "But, mother," interrupted Frank, "I shouldn't have got into the
water and muddied my clothes, if the little ship hadn't got tangled in
the weeds; and the boys all shouted, Clear her! Clear her! and I
couldn't help stepping in, I was so near; and my foot slipped, and I
fell in."
10. "Yes," said his mother, "and but for assistance of your
play-fellows, you might have been drowned. But God, whose eye was upon
you all the while, saw fit to spare you; and how thankful you ought to
be that he did not take you away in your disobedience!
11. "You now see how you were tempted, first to go with William Brown to
the pond, and then to step into the water; which shows how one
temptation leads to another.
Pages:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149