"Let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" Hebrews 12:1Around us are a thousand entangling things! I see all around me a crowd of alluring, fascinating, pleasurable, and dazzling things. Pleasure calls to me; I hear her siren song. Philosophy and learning charm me; gladly would I yield my heart to them. This world is very much like the pools we have heard of in India, in which grows a long grass of so clinging a character that, if a man once falls into the water, it is almost certain to be his death, for only with the utmost difficulty could he be rescued from the meshes of the deadly, weedy net, which immediately wraps itself around him. In the same way, this world is entangling. All the efforts of grace are needed to preserve men from being ensnared with the deceitfulness of riches, and the cares of this life . . . the ledger demands you, the shop requires you, the warehouse bell rings for you; the theater invites you, the ballroom calls you. You must live, you say, and you must have a little enjoyment--and consequently, you give your heart to the world.These things, I say, are very entangling; but we must be disentangled from them, for we cannot afford to lose our souls. "What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" If a ship is going down, and a passenger has his gold in a bag, see how he acts. With regret he flings his bag of treasure down upon the deck, for his life is dearer than gold. If he may but save his life, he is willing to lose all else besides. Oh, sirs! For the one thing needful--the salv