"What can it mean, my dear Frances, but parallel with those, 'If thy
right eye offend thee, pluck it out if thy right hand offend thee,
cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed,
than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting
fire,' Matt. xvvi. 29, 30. ii. 8, 9. It means that spirit which will
sacrifice the lust of the heart, and deny itself, though it should be
a present mortification. The _throat_ of an inordinate or
diseased appetite is to be cut, and its carnal desires crucified."

"Was it not something of this kind that Isaac fell into when he sent
Esau to hunt venison, and make him savory meat, such as his soul
loved? Gen. xxvii. 4."

"Yes, William, and this very thing he desired presented the
temptation by which he was deceived. And you might have mentioned,
too, how Esau himself yielded to his appetite, and sold his
birthright for a mess of pottage, Gen. xxv. 29. When we yield to
these propensities of the flesh, we lay a snare for our own souls,
and expose our weakness to an adversary, ever ready to take advantage
of our infirmity. It is a common fault in children to desire with
greedy appetite such food as is pernicious, and to wish for more than
even a mouth opened wide requires--till at length they learn to lust
after _forbidden_ things. And what does it lead to? Frances, you
began to pick and steal, and your own iniquity chastised you:--you
were sick and ill."

Frances hid her face in her frock.

"Ah mamma," said Anne, "I shall be afraid of wanting anything, as I