Luke 17:1-4 Then said he to the disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe to him, through whom they come!… A father tells us how he once started alone to climb a steep and perilous hill, purposely choosing a time when his children were at play, and when he thought that they would not notice his absence. He was climbing a precipitous path when he was startled by hearing a little voice shout, "Father, take the safest path, for I am following you." On looking down, he saw that his little boy had followed him, and was already in danger; and he trembled lest the child's feet should slip before he could get to him, and grasp his warm little hand. "Years have passed since then," he writes, "but though the danger has passed, the little fellow's cry has never left me. It taught me a lesson, the full force of which I had never known before. It showed me the power of our unconscious influence, and I saw the terrible possibility of our leading those around us to ruin, without intending or knowing it; and the lesson I learned that morning I am anxious to impress upon all to whom my words may come." (Archdeacon Farrar.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! |
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