and so he becomes untrue to his principles, and gives
them up.

I want to say here to young men, that when a young man makes a wrong
start, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is ruin to him. The
first game of chance; the first betting transaction; the first false
entry in the books; the first quarter-dollar taken from the cash-box
or the till; the first night spent in evil company--either of these
may prove the turning-point; either of these may represent a wrong
start.

Napoleon and the Conscript

There is a well-known story told of Napoleon the First's time. In one
of the conscriptions, during one of his many wars, a man was balloted
as a conscript who did not want to go, but he had a friend who offered
to go in his place. His friend joined the regiment in his name, and
was sent off to the war. By and by a battle came on, in which he was
killed, and they buried him on the battle-field. Some time after, the
Emperor wanted more men, and by some mistake the first man was
balloted a second time. They went to take him, but he remonstrated.

"You cannot take me."

"Why not?"

"I am dead," was the reply.

"You are not dead; you are alive and well."

"But I _am_ dead," he said.

"Why, man, you must be mad. Where did you die?"

"At such a battle, and you left me buried on such a battle-field."

"You talk like a madman," they cried; but the man stuck to his point
that he had been dead and buried some months.

"Look up your books," he said, "and see if it is not so."

They looked, and found that he was right. They found the man's name
entered as drafted, sent to the war, and marked off as killed.

"Look here," they said, "you didn't die; you must have got some one to
go for you; it must have been your _substitute_."

"I know that," he said; "he died in my stead. You cannot touch me; I
died in that man, and I go free. The law has no claim against me."

They would not recognize the doctrine of substitution, and the case
was carried to the Emperor. He said that the man was right, that he
was dead and buried in the eyes of the law, and that France had no
claim against him.

This story may or may not be true, but one thing I know is true: Jesus
Christ suffered death for the sinner, and those who accept Him are
free from the Law.

Green Fields or Desert?

When I was out in California, the first time I went down from the
Sierra Nevada Mountains and dropped into the Valley of the Sacramento,
I was sur