rifle--barely taste of it. Then, again and again they nibble at the
hook, until finally they undertake to get a large bite, when they
discover that they have swallowed the hook. Then it matters not how much
they flounder about, and struggle to get away, it is too late, it is
impossible for them to escape. They are pulled into the boat or upon the
bank, and a few hours later they are on the stove, being cooked for some
hungry fisherman. Just so Satan comes to those whom he wishes to catch.
He comes with money, and with pleasure, and with the thought of having
a good time. He tempts people by presenting to their thought something
which they desire. He leads them on step by step, and when they see
others all about them who are being destroyed in the effort to obtain
the same pleasure which they are seeking, Satan makes them think that in
their own case the result will be very different.

[Illustration: Fish Doing a Dangerous Thing.]

You will notice that this mouse trap has four different places where
mice can be caught, and is it not strange that when one mouse enters on
this side, and is caught, and is lying there dead, that another live
mouse should come along, and see the same trap and desire the same
thing, and walk right in to the same danger, and the same sure death?
You would think that when he saw the other mouse had been caught, and
had lost his life, that he would turn away. But instead of that, he
smells the cheese, walks right into the trap, and is caught, and in a
few moments is as dead as his neighbor. So boys see others who have been
ruined by smoking cigarettes, who have paved the way for their
destruction by smoking cigars, by keeping bad company, by drinking beer,
and by going on step by step. They see drunkards all about them who have
squandered all their money and lost all their friends, and been forsaken
by their own parents, their wives, and their children; who have become
outcasts, and for whom no one longer has any respect. Men see these
things daily, and yet they go on in the same way, beginning with beer
and going, step by step, from social drinking, until they themselves
become drunkards and outcasts, and go down to fill a drunkard's grave.
The Bible says that no drunkard can inherit the kingdom of heaven.

I trust that none of you who listen to me to-day will be so foolish as
to permit Satan to deceive you. Look about you and see the results of
worthless story-papers, of card-playing, of theat