October 2: As the fruit to the tree and the water to the spring

As the fruit to the tree and the water to the spring, so is action to thought. The sudden falling, when greatly tempted, into some grievous sin, by one who was believed, and who believed themselves, to stand firm, is seen to be neither sudden nor causeless when the hidden processes of thought that led up to it are revealed.

The falling was merely the end, the outworking, the finished result of what began in the mind probably years before. That person had allowed a wrong thought to enter their mind; and a second and a third time they had welcomed it, and allowed it to nestle in their heart.

Gradually they became accustomed to it, and cherished and fondled and tended it; and so it grew, until at last it attained such strength and force that it attracted to itself the opportunity that enabled it to burst forth and ripen into act. All sin and temptation are the natural outcome of the thoughts of the individual.