h the law of the land forbids, and they do
not understand at first why they are forbidden any more than Adam and Eve
understood why they were not to eat of the forbidden fruit.

Then the devil (who is always trying to slander God to us) whispers to
them, as he did to Eve, "How unreasonable! how hard on you. People say
that this is wrong, and you must not do it, and yet how pleasant it must
be! How much money you might get by it--how much wiser, and cleverer,
and more able to help yourself you would become, if you went your own
way, and did what you like. Surely God is hard on you, and grudges you
pleasure. Never mind--don't be afraid. Surely you can judge best what
is good for you. Surely you know your own business best. Use your own
common sense and do what you like, and what you think will profit you.
Are you to be a slave to old rules which your parents or the clergyman
taught you?"

So says the devil to every young man as he goes out in life. And to
many, alas!--to many, the devil's words sound reasonable enough; they
flatter our fallen nature, they flatter our pride and our self-will, and
make us fancy we are going up hill, and becoming very fine and manly, and
independent and knowing. "_Knowing_"! How many a young man have I seen
run into sin just that he might be _knowing_; and say, "Why should I not
see life for myself? Why should I not know the world, and try what is
good, and how I like that, and what is bad too, and how I like that--and
then choose for myself like a man, instead of being kept in like a baby?"

So he says exactly what Adam and Eve said in their hearts--"I will eat of
the tree of knowledge of good and evil." He says in his heart, too, just
what Solomon the wise said, when he, too, determined to eat of the fruit
of the tree of knowledge.

Ay, young people, who love to see the world, and to choose for
yourselves, read that Book of Ecclesiastes, the saddest book on earth,
and get a golden lesson in every verse of it. See how Solomon determined
to see life, from the top to the bottom of it. How he "gave his heart to
know, seek, and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done
under heaven. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and
behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit," (Eccles. i. 13).

And then, how he turned round and gave his heart to know mirth, and
madness, and folly, and see whether _that_ was good for him, and, "I said
of laughter, it i