both suffered the
penalty. Neither one was permitted to enter the promised land. Jacob
became a "prince of God" at the ford of Jabbok, but to the end of
his days he carried in his body the mark of the struggle. Paul's
thorn in the flesh was not removed, even after most earnest and
repeated prayer. It lost its sting, however, and became a means of
grace.

Perhaps that is one reason why God does not remove these penalties
of sin. He may intend them to be used as tokens of His chastening.
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." And if the temporal
consequences were completely removed we would be liable to fall back
again into sin. The penalty is a continual reminder of our weakness,
and of the need of caution and dependence upon God.

One night in Chicago at the close of a meeting in the Y. M. C. A.
rooms, a young man sprang to his feet and said: "Mr. Moody, would
you let me speak a few words?"

I said, "Certainly."

Then for about five minutes he pleaded with those men to break from
sin. He said:

"If you have anyone who takes any interest in your spiritual
welfare, treat them kindly, for they are the best friends you have.
I was an only child, and my mother and father took great interest in
me. Every morning at the family altar father used to pray for me,
and every night he would commend me to God. I was wild and reckless
and didn't like the restraint of home. When my father died my mother
took up the family worship. Many a time she came to me and said, Oh,
my boy, if you would stay to family worship I should be the happiest
mother on earth; but when I pray, you don't even stay in the house.
Sometimes I would go in at midnight from a night of dissipation and
hear my mother praying for me. Sometimes in the small hours of
morning I heard her voice pleading for me. At last I felt that I
must either become a Christian or leave home, and one day I gathered
a few things together and stole away from home without letting my
mother know.

"Some time after I heard indirectly that my mother was ill. Ah, I
thought, it is my conduct that is making her ill! My first impulse
was to go home and cheer her last days; but the thought came that if
I did I should have to become a Christian. My proud heart revolted
and I said: 'No, I will not become a Christian.'"

Months rolled by, and at last he heard again that his mother was
worse. Then he thought:

"If my mother should not live I would never forgive myself."

That thought to