Article July 19, 1900 Issue

Stand and Watch

BY MARY ADAMS LEMBECK

When error comes to us in the form of a roaring lion, we are not slow to move out of its way, but are quick to defend ourselves against it; but when it comes in the guise of an angel of light, are we as quick to detect it? Are we not more apt to be off guard? Lost in the dream of mortal mind, the fair seeming of error pleases our senses, and we hug it to our bosom, only to be awakened from our lethargy by the sharp sting of the serpent we have so unmindfully taken unto ourselves; and then what days of anguish, and "nights devoid of ease" we suffer, before we can entirely deliver ourselves. "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."

When we see the tall, noxious weed making its appearance in our lawn we straightway pull it up, but are we as carefully on the lookout for that low, insidious little ivy, which has such a fair appearance, and is apt to go unnoticed, unless we are keenly alive to it? It clings so humbly near to earth, that the mower does not reach it. It looks so fresh and green that we are deceived by it. And it is only with a sudden shock some morning, that we wake up to the fact that our lawn is half overrun with this ivy-weed, and our beautiful grass is fast disappearing. Then we diligently go down on our knees to uproot it; but alas! what a task we have before us, for we discover that this innocent-looking little vine is far-reaching in its effects. From the one starting-point it has branched out in many directions, running up and over the grass, throwing down roots every few inches, and forming such a screen above that the grass is choked.

Thus is it with our motives and good desires. When we let a subtle error into our thought, it darkens and beclouds us so that the very sunlight of God's love seems shut away from us. And what prayerful, earnest work it takes to follow each little branch of error, detaching the clinging tendrils, and digging down for the roots which have struck deep in the dark.

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