lesson without
paying his tuition-fee over again.

It is perfectly safe for a man to take it as a fact that fire burns,
without putting his hand into the flame. He does not need to try
perilous experiments with his own soul in order to make sure that lust
defiles, that avarice hardens, that frivolity empties, that selfishness
cankers the heart. He may understand the end of the way of sensuality by
looking at any old pleasure-seeker,

"Gray, and gap-toothed, and lean as death,"

mumbling the dainties that he can no longer enjoy, and glowering with
bleared eyes at the indulgences which now mock him even while they tempt
him. The goal of the path of covetousness may be discerned in the face
of any old money-worshipper; keeping guard over his piles of wealth,
like a surly watch-dog; or, if perchance he has failed, haunting the
places where fortune has deceived him, like an unquiet ghost.

Inquire and learn; consider and discern. There need be no doubt about
the direction of life's various ways.

Which are the nations that have been most peaceful and noble and truly
prosperous? Those that have followed pride and luxury and idolatry? Or
those that have cherished sobriety and justice, and acknowledged the
Divine law of righteousness?

Which are the families that have been most serene and pure and truly
fortunate? Those in which there has been no discipline, no restraint, no
common faith, no mutual love? Or those in which sincere religion has
swayed life to its stern and gracious laws, those in which parents and
children have walked together to the House of God, and knelt together at
His altar, and rejoiced together in His service?

I tell you, my brother-men, it has become too much the fashion in these
latter days to sneer and jeer at the old-fashioned ways of the
old-fashioned American household. Something too much of iron there may
have been in the Puritan's temper; something too little of sunlight may
have come in through the narrow windows of his house. But that house had
foundations, and the virile virtues lived in it. There were plenty of
red corpuscles in his blood, and his heart beat in time with the eternal
laws of right, even though its pulsations sometimes seemed a little slow
and heavy. It would be well for us if we could get back into the old
way, which proved itself to be the good way, and maintain, as our
fathers did, the sanctity of the family, the sacredness of the
marriage-vow, the solemnity of the