SHUT THE EYES TIGHT.



LITTLE Harry had been quite sick, and his mother was obliged to be very careful of his diet. One of the orders was that he was to eat nothing but what she gave him.

One day little Jennie came in, eating a piece of cake. Oh, how nice it looked to the little hungry boy, who felt, as you do when you are getting better, that he wished to eat all the time. He knew that if he just asked his dear, obliging little sister, she would gladly give him "the biggest half." But he didn't. He only said, "O Jennie! You must run right out with that cake, and I'll keep my eyes shut tight, so I shan't want any."

Now that was a great triumph for a boy only seven years old. Some great boys of seventeen could not have done as well. 

They are far from shutting their eyes tight when temptation to taste wrong things is before them. They rather suffer their eyes to lead them straight into the mischief.

"Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity," is an excellent prayer for us all. 

"Look not upon the wine when it is red," and you will never be likely to fill a drunkard's grave.

So many boys think, "What's the harm in looking?" but it is just here they are made prisoners by Satan. The "eye-gate" is one of the most important points he attacks. If he can pin your eye very intently on some charming but forbidden object, he gets a serpent's power over you. 

You have heard how those dreadful snakes charm dear little birds and rabbits with their glittering eyes, until at last they drop down powerless into their terrible coils.

Do not stop even to look at temptation, but turn your face like a flint the other way. Shut the mind's eye tight as well, and God will help those who so bravely try to flee from temptation.



 

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