ence between the fate of Judith and that of Jacob's daughter, Dina. Judith for a noble end braved the dangers of the Assyrian camp and the horrid orgies of Holofernes's court, studying the while to make herself incomparably lovely for the accomplishment of her design, yet God so kept her going forth and abiding there that she returned to Bethulia victorious and unstained. But Dina, when her father pitched his tent in a new land, Dina would fain steal forth to see the women of that country — how they looked, what finery they wore, and presently that innocent dove falls into the clutches of a rapacious hawk and returns to her father robbed of her virginity — irreparably dishonored. God will protect us amid dangers that seek us, but when we seek the dangers God leaves us to ourselves. Consider David, that man fashioned after God's own heart. He permits himself to gaze from his window on the beauty of Bethsabee, and immediately, abandoned by God, he plunges into adultery and homicide. If one clasp a reptile to his breast he must not, if bitten, expect sympathy from God or man, for: "Who," says Scripture, "who will pity an enchanter struck by a serpent?" It is a remarkable fact that whenever God forbids a thing He also forbids its near occasions. Thus our first parents were forbidden not only to eat the fruit, but even to touch it. The Israelites were forbidden not only to adore idols, but even to possess them, the Nazarites were forbidden not only to drink wine but to eat the grape. Christ, too, when reaffirming the commandments, forbade
