Good Diet in Unhealthy Places

“When the air is infectioiis ivc a7’e the more careful of our diet” In sickly times and places men endeavour to keep up the strength of their bodies by nourishing food, and they strive to avoid sickness by wholesome meat. In this they act wisely, and according to the rules of prudence. An equal care should be exercised over our souls. When the very air seems to be laden with error and vice, believers should set a double watch as to what they hear, and where they go. Sin is as subtle and as deadly as the foul gas which bears within it the seeds of plague, and therefore the utmost caution must be used that we keep as far from its occasions and temptations as we possibly can. We must also live nearer to God than ever, and feed more upon Christ, and seek more of his Spirit than at any former time, that we may be fortified against the unusual dangers of the age. So shall we be error-proof and vice-proof, and, though a thousand fall at our side, the spiritual death shall not come nigh unto us. Errors, like diseases, prey upon the feebler sort, and though they bring no good even to the strong, yet these are able to cast off their deleterious influences, even as a man in armour shakes off the arrows which else would wound him grievously. To be strong in the Lord is the best preservative against the ills of our age, and the perils of our surroundings.

O Lord, we would dwell in thy secret place, that abiding under thy shadow we may live unharmed even where Satan’s seat is, should thy providence there pitch our tent.