a distance to
cast out others.

CHAPTER TWO.

BEN'S FATHER AND HIS MOTTO.

It would be well if all, of high or low degree, landsmen and sailors,
gentle and simple, kept to old John Hadden's rule. How much misery and
suffering would be saved! how much remorse of conscience! how much grief
and shame! How much better would Satan, that great foe of man, be kept
at a distance! That is just the reason he whispers, whenever he can get
an opening, "Do wrong that good may come of it," or, "Do a little wrong,
just a little, and no harm will come of it;" or again, "Commit a small
sin; God will not see it, or if He does, God will not care for it."
That is just what Satan has been saying over and over again since he
first tempted and deceived Eve in the garden of Paradise. He spoke then
from envy, to drive our first parents out of an earthly paradise; he in
like manner lies now to us, to hinder us from getting into the heavenly
paradise, prepared for those who love and obey God. John Hadden knew
this full well, and so he would allow no departure from that rule; he
would have it stuck to closely. He was for ever saying to his sons, "Do
right at all times, my lads; it is not your business to think of what
will happen afterwards. God will take care of that; He will guide you
better than you can guide yourselves. If you act as I say, no real evil
will befall you. You may fancy that what happens is an evil just for
the time; but, depend on it, what seems an evil will turn out for your
good in the end."

A stranger, visiting in the neighbourhood, once walked over to
Sandhills. He had a talk with John Hadden, who happened to be on shore.
He soon found that John was a Bible-reading man, and that he obeyed the
law of the gospel.

"And so you have followed this plan of yours for some time, and have
found it answer?" said the stranger.

"Yes, sir," said John, "I have followed it since I was a young man, and
now I am an old one. I never have fished on a Sunday, and I hope that I
never shall. Look at me, sir. Am I more feeble, am I thinner, am I
more sickly than my neighbours? am I less able to work?"

"No, indeed you are not," answered the stranger; "you are the stoutest
and one of the most able-bodied men I have seen in the place."

"Am I poorer? is my cottage less comfortable? are my children worse
educated? are they inferior in health, strength, or activity to the
children of others in the hamlet?" asked John, war