"For offences must come," says our Saviour. In this wicked, bad, and sinful world it cannot be otherwise. By word and behaviour, by speech and example, there are abundant, yes, thousandfold temptations and enticements to wickedness. You surely know this, my dear Christian. Aren't you surrounded by false teachers of all description, by apostles of unbelief and by scoffers, coarse as well as refined, by sects and fanatics of every hue and colour, by followers of Antichrist, by men and women who lead a life of vice and shame, who drink iniquity like water? Isn't it therefore a certainty that offences will come? For sure! All the world is full of offences, of temptation and enticement to evil. And you are brought face to face with these things. But do not take and receive such offence! Even as you must not give offence, so also you must not allow others to offend, that is to say, to seduce you, to lead you into sin. Arm yourself in faith with the Word and Spirit of God! Fight the good fight of faith, otherwise you will be lost! Call upon the Lord; He will give you power to conquer all your spiritual assailants. You must also remember that offences given you are caused by your own heart, by the members of your own body, and by things most near and dear to you. Pluck them out, cut them off, and cast them from you! With might and main you must renounce everything that would make you wicked. It is better for you to enter into life poor and afflicted than, enjoying all temporal goods to the full, to be cast into eternal hellfire. (Matt. I8:8,9)