"
"Most gladly. First, I must tell you a secret. The grapes from which the
best Wine of Prayer is made come from the Valley of Sore Temptation.
That is not a pleasant place, by any means. Several bad giants
rendezvous there. Old Giants Lust, Pride, Persecution, Worldliness,
Covetousness, and others make it a sort of headquarters. They never
bother the grape-vines; it is only the pilgrims that they annoy. The
soil is rocky and hard to subdue and cultivate. I wanted the very best
fruits the land had; so I, too, was obliged to take a plot of ground in
the Valley of Sore Temptation and make a beginning.
"No sooner had I marked off my little plot than the giants haunted me.
They buffeted me about rather rudely. Old Giant Pride tried to make me
think I was one of the greatest men who ever came into Canaan. Old Giant
Covetousness told me all about a silver-mine which Balaam opened and
Demas worked in. I could easily get rich, he said, if I would abandon
the cultivation of grapes and follow him to the mine. He certainly told
a plausible story, and tried hard to influence me to go. Giant Lust
pointed out ways and means to capture silly souls, and tried hard to
attract my attention toward a valley that leads down into Egypt; I had
had enough of Egypt, and resisted him with all my might.
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