"AND LEAD [BRING] US NOT INTO TEMPTATION"
Salvation is deliverance from sin; and therefore includes
both pardon of its guilt and release from its power. A gospel would be
unworthy of God which, encouraging the transgressor to ask forgiveness,
promised no aid against sin itself. We come from the mercy-seat happy in the
hope of absolution, but at once encounter temptations by yielding to which
we needed that mercy. Must we again fall and come for repeated pardons? Is
prayer merely a hospital for the wounded? No, it is also an arsenal to equip
the soldier for the fight. He who, grieving for and hating sin, implores
forgiveness, desires strength to resist temptation and is here encouraged to
ask it. The confession of sin is an acknowledgment of frailty, and therefore
of our need of Divine help. The more truly we pray, "Forgive us our
trespasses," the more earnestly we shall pray, "Lead us not into
temptation."
The liberated slave who has tasted the bitterness of
bondage, all the more strives to avoid recapture. "A burnt child dreads the
fire." He who has been bitten by a serpent will ask not to be led where
serpents abound, and will himself avoid sitting on the bank where he felt
the poisoned fang. On a winter morning when the ground was covered with
snow, a robin, urged by hunger, entered an open window of the writer's
house, to eat the crumbs spread for it inside. This visit he frequently
repeated, flying away unmolested. But one day the servant closed the window,
and the bird found its way of escape cut off. As there was no intention to
imprison the trustful visitor, the window was soon reopened. But the robin
never returned. For a brief moment it had been captured, and it would not
again venture within the possible prison. "In vain is the net spread in the
sight of any bird."
The more we have been forgiven, the more gratitude we
feel. The prodigal son welcomed home, desires not again to grieve his
father. The more hearty that forgiveness, the more earnest that desire. The
greater the pardon, the greater the guilt if we repeat the offense. The
pardon therefore is a deterrent from the sin. The fuller our assurance of
such pardon, the stronger will be our endeavor not to lose such assurance.
We shall fear to defile the white clothing which has been given us; to
obscure the writing on the roll of our acceptance with God. The sunshine
will be so pleasant, that in proportion as we walk in it, we shall avoid the
dark shadow into which renewed sin would bring us. The grace received in
forgiveness will do more than the threat of punishment to guard us from
yielding to temptation. "There is forgiveness with You that You may be
feared." He who is blessed in the non-imputation of iniquity is the man "in
whose spirit there is no deceit." The prayer, "Hide Your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities," is immediately followed by, "Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." The Divine promise,
"I will forgive their iniquity," is linked with this other, "I will put my
law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." Our Lord's
absolution, "Neither do I condemn you," was followed by the command, "Go and
sin no more." The gospel assurance, "There is no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus," is applicable to those alone "who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit." The penitent sinner hoping pardon because "if
any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous," is reminded that this is not to encourage but destroy
sinfulness—"These things write I to you, that you sin not." It is in
accordance with all Scripture teaching, that those who pray to be forgiven,
pray also to be saved from sin.
I—WHAT IS MEANT BY TEMPTATION
The fundamental idea is test, or trial for
discovery. The strength of a ship is tested by the fierceness of the
storm it encounters; and the virtue of a youth who has never been away from
home is tested by the companionship, seductions and trials of the world into
which he enters. Temptation includes whatever presents an opportunity of
choice between good and evil. In this sense it would seem that temptation is
unavoidable in the case of all beings capable of moral goodness; inasmuch as
such goodness is not the result of physical necessity, but implies free
choice, and therefore the power of choosing or rejecting the evil as well as
the good. If so, unfallen angels are perfect not because they are outside
the sphere of possible temptation, but because they always choose what is
right.
It would also seem that temptation in this sense is not
only involved in moral responsibility, but is essential to the full maturity
of moral excellence. Every faculty is strengthened by exercise. Acts of
right choice repeated, form habits of goodness which may become so strong as
to constitute a moral necessity of acting in accordance with them; so that
temptation, though still presented to the mind, loses all power of harm. We
can only become strongly good by freely choosing good. As the limbs need to
be developed by exertion and the mind by education, so also the moral nature
by encountering and overcoming temptation. There must be a gymnasium for the
soul if we are to become spiritual athletes. The most valuable soldiers are
not those who have merely marched on parade or fought imaginary foes at a
review, but those who have been in real battles. Adam, before he sinned, was
capable of being tempted to sin. A persevering course of victory would have
raised him to a far higher condition than that of his first creation. The
second Adam, partaking of human nature in all but its moral degeneracy, was
tempted in the wilderness as was Adam in the garden; but He overcame, and so
not only opened the way for us to the heavenly Paradise, but for His work as
Mediator, was, like ourselves, perfected through temptation (Heb. 2:10, 17).
A test may be applied with various motives, for opposite ends—by a friend or
by a foe; to benefit or to injure to save or to destroy. This consideration
will easily reconcile texts seemingly at variance.
1. Inducement to sin. This is the most familiar
use of the word. The very nature of God forbids the thought that He ever
tempts thus. "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God—for God
cannot be tempted with evil, and He himself tempts no man—but each man is
tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed." The essential
nature of God, His eternal and unchangeable holiness—the purity of all His
laws, forbidding the evil and enjoining the good—His promises to those alone
who are righteous, His threatenings to all the wicked above all, His gift of
Christ to redeem us from all iniquity, and the infinite cost by which our
restoration was effected—all this renders it absolutely certain that we are
never tempted in the sense of allurement to sin by Him who said, "As I live,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from
his way and live." We are tempted when "drawn away by our own lusts." We
have various instincts and capacities not in themselves sinful, but, as
given by God, useful and holy. When employed according to His will, they
glorify Him. Pleasure, beneficently connected with the exercise of them, may
become an allurement to use them wrongfully, and so degrade them into sinful
lusts. When uncurbed by conscience, they become tempters to sin of which the
devil avails himself.
2. Afflictions or trials are temptations in the
sense of being tests of faith, and are either sent or permitted by God.
Their object is to benefit, not injure—to cultivate our submission, not to
induce us to rebel. So the gale may test the tree, which thereby gains more
than it loses; dead branches are broken off, enfeebling parasites torn away,
while "Firmer he roots him the ruder it blows." It is possible that by our
own fault the trial may become an occasion of sin—yet this is not its
purpose—and the experience of the children of God concurs to testify that
"Happy is the man whom God corrects." Samson's riddle has frequent
illustration—"Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came
forth sweetness." David said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now
have I kept Your word." "Blessed is the man whom You discipline." Paul could
"rejoice in tribulations; knowing that tribulation works patience; and
patience, approval; and approval, hope." He tells us that lest he should "be
exalted above measure," there was given to him a "thorn in the flesh," the
result of which was that he was able to "glory in his infirmities" by reason
of "the power of Christ" resting upon him. The Apostle James says, "Count it
all joy when you fall into manifold temptations (trials); knowing that the
proof of your faith works patience." This is the Divine purpose. "Blessed is
the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved he shall
receive the crown of life." The writer to the Hebrews echoes back the
ancient truth—"You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as
with sons; My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint
when you are reproved of Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and
scourges every son whom He receives." It is not as an enemy, but as our
Father, that in this sense God tempts His children. So the fire purifies the
precious metal by revealing and destroying its dross. Thus Peter comforts
those who are "put to grief in manifold temptations" by the Divine purpose,
"that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perishes
though it is proved by fire, might be found unto praise and glory and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Satan's tests are intended as allurements to sin.
Providential tests are to sanctify by sorrow. Thus "God tempted (proved)
Abraham." The command to offer Isaac was a severe test of resignation to the
Divine will, absolute self-surrender, and faith that in spite of a seeming
impossibility God's promise would yet be fulfilled. Testing may be of use in
making known a fact, but do no good to the thing tested. A rope is not
strengthened by the weight that tries its tenacity, nor a boiler by the
pressure of steam that proves its resisting power. But, the skill of a
sailor who steers his ship safely in a gale through a difficult channel, or
the capacity of a general who fights a battle against great odds, is not
only tested but improved. So Abraham's faith was not only shown to be
strong, but was made stronger by exercise. So with the Israelites. "You
shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you to prove you, to
know what was in your heart." Leighton says—"Trials stir the water that was
possibly clear at the top, to see whether it be not muddy at the bottom."
Many a domestic cistern has held concealed in its depths corrupting
deposits, from which poisonous exhalations have carried fever through the
household. How beneficent the stirring up, by however rough an implement, if
it reveals the unsuspected foe! The temptations which were permitted to
assail Job revealed, beneath very much that was godly, much of a
self-righteous spirit which he was led to renounce and "repent in dust and
ashes." He verified his own prediction, "When God has tried me, I shall come
forth as gold." Prior to his denial of his Lord, Peter did not know his need
of watchfulness. The "sifting as wheat" which he survived, enabled him ever
after to "comfort his brethren."
II—WHAT IS MEANT BY ASKING GOD NOT
TO LEAD US INTO TEMPTATION
The RV. renders the prayer—"Bring us not." It has
been suggested that "to bring" implies more danger than the word "to
lead." God always does lead us in His Providence along paths
which are perilous by reason of temptation. This is the unavoidable result
of man's moral nature and the circumstances of the present life. Temptation
as a necessary discipline constitutes the difference between the man and the
child. An infant is lovely in its innocence, and may well be dedicated to
God in faith and prayer, and welcomed as one of the lambs of the flock; an
emblem of purity itself. It has never committed one evil action nor
cherished one sinful thought, but it has not been tried, and cannot be
compared with the mature Christian, whose faith has been tested in many a
furnace, whose valor has borne him victorious in many a fight. Yet the
latter has often yielded to temptation, fallen into the mire, been wounded
by the foe. He has not the child's innocence, but neither has the child his
experience, matured knowledge, disciplined piety and fitness for high
service. Such men as Joseph, after the temptation of Potiphar's house and
the trials of prison; Daniel from his open window and the lion's den; and
even David; were far nobler characters than any babe, however stainless,
uneducated and untried. "Every one who partakes of milk is without
experience of the word of righteousness—for he is a babe. But solid food is
for full-grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern good and evil." But none can attain this maturity
without that "exercise" which involves temptation.
The faculties of body and mind make temptation possible,
and the unavoidable conditions of life make it actual. Over all these
circumstances God presides. He, not the devil, is the supreme Arbiter of our
life. We are not mere material on which stern law operates. We are ever in
our Father's care. He is our Guide in a journey from which temptation cannot
be excluded. God knows this, yet leads us on. He feeds us amid famine, opens
fountains in the desert, and guards us from foes; but the famine and the
desert and the foes await us in the path. "You prepare a table before me in
the presence of my enemies." God has a bountiful table for His children, but
spreads it within sight of the foe. He purposes that we should meet with
difficulties. He does not tempt to sin, but He guides us where temptation
is. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil." The devil tempted Him, but God led Him. So God leads all His
children, but with a great difference of purpose. Christ was led to
encounter the full force of the foe in order to conquer as our Champion and
teach as our Example we are led where temptations assail that we may
experience just so much conflict, and no more, as may make us good soldiers
of Jesus Christ. But in both cases it is true that though the devil tempts,
our Father leads us. A guide on the mountains leads the Alpine climber where
dangers exist. The summit cannot otherwise be reached. In avoiding or
conquering the danger, the traveler's skill, courage and endurance are both
tested and improved. His health and manhood, as well as his enjoyment, are
secured by his being thus led where dangers abound. But the leader knows
what path is practicable, what perils should be shunned, and is ever ready
to lend a helping hand.
We are passing through a region partially occupied by the
foe. In places least suspected his skirmishers are lurking. We must pass
through this Samaria to reach Jerusalem. We must through much tribulation
enter the kingdom. Any step off our way may bring us within range of the
enemy's guns, within reach of the dagger of some ambushed assassin. Our
confidence is this, that our Father leads us amid this peril; and it is for
Him and not for our foe to choose where and when and how we are to be
exposed to it. Exposed to it, in some way, we must be; this is our Father's
Will, for His children's good. It is vain to suppose that certain conditions
of life are exempt from temptation, and to pray that our condition may be so
altered that we may escape it. Our safety is not in some temptation-proof
cell, but in having God for our shield while following His guidance where
fiery darts may abound. Poverty may tempt us to murmur, deceive, envy, or
steal; but could we escape these temptations by becoming rich, we might be
tempted to be proud, self-indulgent, forgetful of God and of the heavenly
inheritance. The vigorous and healthy may glory in their strength rather
than in its Giver; while a sick-bed may tempt to petulance, distrust, and
selfish murmuring. Society has its snares, substituting fashionable opinion
for Divine truth, and the pleasing of men for the service of God—but the
solitude to which we fly for safety may be found equally perilous in the
nurture of a morbid imagination, and the companionship of evil desires. If
in honor—we may be boastful, despise our inferiors, and fancy ourselves free
from restraint; if in obscurity—we may sin because unobserved, and make up
for lack of fame by reviling the famous. Many talents may tempt us to use
them vainly or selfishly; few talents, to hide them as not worth
cultivation. Religious privileges may tempt to a ceremonial reliance on
them; deprivation may suggest excuses for indifference. Full assurance of
hope may beguile to unwatchfulness; while depression of mind may tempt us to
halt in the plain path of practical duties while peering into the misty
gloom of our doubts and fears.
"How easy it is for monks to bring evidence that marriage
makes the soul less free; how utterly they fail when they would praise the
safety of celibacy! Sometimes men escape from turmoil for security to the
religious world, and find that there they are in the midst of more fierce
and implacable contentions. Into whatever perils we have come, let us be
sure it was not the Evil Spirit but God Himself who ordered the whole frame
and condition of our lives, and that this is the best possible for us,
though—yes because—it is one of tremendous temptation. Let us be
equally sure that He is not our tempter; that He never tempted any man to
evil; that we fall into it only when we think He is not with us to deliver
us from it" (Maurice). Yet we should pray that God would so guide us that we
may not be tempted beyond our strength. However surely we may rely on Divine
help in peril, inasmuch as to become the victim of that peril is sin, every
true child of God will shrink from it. Each has his special perils from
inward temperament or outward circumstances, and we reasonably pray to be
protected in our most vulnerable part. "It would be a great misfortune to a
man with weak lungs to call him to live in a cold, bleak air. So would it be
to a man with weak eyes, to fix him in a situation which required much study
by candle-light. Now it is to the full as dangerous for the soul of the
ambitious man to be put into the road which leads to high stations, or for a
man like Balaam to have much to do with money-bags" (Hare). If, careful of
our bodily health, we desire not to be lodged where the climate would try
our constitution to the utmost; so, anxious for our spiritual health, we ask
God to guide us in such a way that outward circumstances may not so accord
with inward tendencies, that the resulting temptation might overpower us.
The meaning of the prayer is clear in the light of Divine
precepts and promises. We pray not to be so brought into temptation as to be
overcome by it; not to be carried into it so as to be left in it. "God is
faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but
will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that you may be able
to endure it." God does permit us to be tempted, but we pray that no
temptation may be beyond our strength; we pray, not that we may escape being
tempted at all, but that our escape may be in the way of endurance and
victory. "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation." He has
two methods; sometimes by leading us out of its reach, sometimes by leading
us through it and giving special strength to conquer it. The apostle was
severely tempted when, being brought before Nero, his friends "all forsook
him," but "the Lord stood with him and strengthened him;" he prayed "God
that it might not be laid to their charge;" and he was "delivered out of the
mouth of the lion." He exulted in the confidence of faith, saying, "And the
Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to His
heavenly kingdom." Through "the valley of the shadow of death," abounding
with perils, our Shepherd often leads His flock; and it is our privilege to
follow fearless, singing "For You are with me, Your rod and Your staff they
comfort me."
"After God has forgiven us, there is nothing that we have
so earnestly to pray for as that we fall not again into the same filth.
Since therefore, as David says, there are in the great sea of this world
'things creeping innumerable,' we have need to pray from the inmost heart,
'O Father, lead us not into temptation. We are surrounded with temptations,
but be our help, that we consent not to them, and thus be taken and overcome
by them.' To a certain younger brother who desired to be free from his evil
imaginations, one of the elders replied, 'You cannot prevent the birds from
flying over your head, but yet you can prevent them from building their
nests in your hair.' And again, the blessed Augustine says, 'We cannot avoid
temptations, but we can, by calling upon God for aid, take heed that they do
not overcome us'" (Luther).
This prayer is the natural heart-utterance of every
believer. We say—Our Father! we mourn because of past sin committed against
You; O keep us from fresh grief in grieving You! We lament that we have
often failed to hallow Your Name and to do Your Will; help us in the future!
We hate the sins that dishonor You and wound our own soul; enable us to
conquer them! We distrust ourselves, for we have proved 'how inconstant are
our best resolves, how weak our own strongest efforts, how numerous our evil
inclinations, how slippery are the paths on which we walk, how many are the
snares laid for our feet; uphold us! We lean on You! We follow You! but O
bring us not where temptation might be too strong for us! Old Testament
prayers express the same desire—"Hold You me up, and I shall be safe. O let
me not wander from Your commandments. Order my steps in Your word, and let
not any iniquity prevail against me. Remove from me the way of lying. Make
me to go in the path of Your commandments. Lead me in Your truth and teach
me, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me." We pray with
Jehoshaphat, who appealed to God, saying, "We have no power against this
great company that is coming against us; neither do we know what to do; but
our eyes are upon You."
This prayer, like the rest, is unselfish. It embraces our
brethren who are exposed to the same temptations; as on board a ship in
danger we cannot pray for our own preservation without including all the
crew. For the whole Church we pray—for struggling, tempted souls altogether
unknown to us in distant lands, of other tongues. We realize the "communion
of the saints," the brotherhood of all who are on their pilgrimage of trial.
"O strange and mysterious privilege, that some bed-ridden woman in a lonely
garret, who feels tempted to distrust the love and mercy of God, should
wrestle with that doubt, saying the Lord's Prayer; and that she should be
thus asking help for those who are dwelling in palaces, yet in their own way
are in peril as great as hers; for the student haunted with questions which
would seem to her monstrous and incredible, but which to him are agonizing;
for the minister in his terrible assaults from cowardice, despondency,
vanity, from the sense of his own heartlessness, from the shame of past
neglect, from the appalling discovery of evils in himself which he has
denounced in others, from vulgar temptations into which he had proudly
fancied that he could not fall. Of all this the sufferer knows nothing, and
yet for these she prays—and for the statesman…for her country…for all other
countries in their throes of anguish…for one and all she cries, 'Lead us not
into temptation.' Their temptations and hers, different in form, are the
same in substance. They, like her, are tempted to doubt that God is, and
that He is the Author of good and not of evil; and that He is mightier than
the evil; and that He can and will overthrow it, and deliver the universe
out of it" (Maurice).
III—CONSOLATION FOR THE TEMPTED
1. Temptation is not sin—It only becomes sin when
we invite, tamper with and encourage it; but when we resist and pray against
it, faith and fortitude are increased. Sincere prayer against it is evidence
of a desire not to yield. We shall never be overcome through the weakness
that causes us to lay hold on the arm of Omnipotence. "When I am weak, then
am I strong." God does not condemn us for obstacles in climbing the heights
of holiness, but commends us for our efforts to overcome them. He does not
judge us by the side-eddies and counter-currents and tiny whirlpools which
here and there make the river seem to flow backward, nor by the rocks in the
channel which retard the crested tide; but by the onward flood, which,
despite such resisting rocks and returning currents, rolls steadily to the
ocean of Infinite Love. If we can say with the Psalmist, "I hate vain
thoughts," those thoughts are no evidence that we are wanderers from God;
but the hating of them does prove that we are His children.
2. Temptation is not peculiar to the individual—We
are not alone in having to suffer it. "Lead us not into temptation." All who
call on "Our Father" need such help. "There has no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man." Incident to humanity, it is no disparagement to
the individual; no sign that we are specially weak or wicked, that the devil
is allowed some special power over us, or that our Heavenly Father is
displeased with or has forgotten us. Because we are human we are tempted,
and because we are Christian we feel temptation the more keenly.
3. Christ Himself was tempted—He "was made like
His brethren." All bodily and mental faculties, however abused by us, are in
themselves pure and holy, because given by a holy God. These the faultless
Christ shared, and through these was tempted. His hunger was real, and His
desire to satisfy it was intense, but to satisfy it in opposition to the
will of His Father would have been sin. Though to this desire he did not
yield, He felt it as we do. "He was in all points tempted like we are;"
otherwise He could not have been an example of conflict and victory. He knew
how possibilities of sin attend the exercise of the purest affections, even
as shadows are cast from the loveliest flowers. He knew the loneliness the
soul may feel when in some wilderness which the devil haunts. He knew the
pangs of unsatisfied desire, the yearnings of natural instincts, the
depression of mind caused by weakness of the flesh, and the strength which
may thus by special circumstances belong to temptations which would be
powerless at other times. He who, exhausted by the struggle, needed sympathy
and aid, so that "angels came and ministered to Him," will Himself be
present to help us in our temptations.
4. The prayer is presented to "Our Father"—He
loves the children He has redeemed. It is not His will that any of His
little ones should perish. If a sparrow falls not to the ground without His
notice, how surely His eye of love watches, His arm of power is outstretched
to help those who, fearing to grieve Him by sin, ask Him to save them from
temptation! He first puts this prayer into our hearts, and "He cannot deny
Himself." He is "our Father in Heaven," and therefore able to control all
the circumstances of our lives, and must be mightier for our weal than all
who seek our woe. They who utter this cry to their Father may be sure that
"He pitifully beholds the sorrows of their hearts."
IV—PRACTICAL LESSONS
1. We should not go into temptation—If we
sincerely pray God not to bring us into temptation, we cannot willingly
bring ourselves into it; for, if we do, our prayer does not express our true
desire, and is but an empty form. The Author of the prayer said, "Watch and
pray, that you enter not into temptation." Guard against the first approach
of danger, go not near it of your own choice, "avoid it, pass not by it,
turn from it and pass away." If you ask God not to take you there, never
take yourselves there. This lesson is applicable to companionships, books,
amusements, which are felt to be, if not sinful, yet paths leading
sin-wards. If the precipice is dreaded, beware of the slope leading to it.
If, subject to dizziness, we ask our guide not to lead us too close to the
edge, let us not venture there to pluck a flower, or look down into the
abyss. "The way of sin is down hill. A man cannot stop where he would; and
he that will be tampering with dangerous occasions in confidence of his
resolution, shall find himself often carried beyond his purpose" (Leighton).
"Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
Some enter into temptation presumptuously, to show their
power of resistance; some curiously, to see what the danger is, and taste
the allurement; some carelessly, giving no heed to their steps; some
imitatively; following where others go; and some pharisaically; boasting
their piety and pretending to glorify God by showing what His grace can do.
Many, like Eve, begin by looking, until looking leads to longing; longing,
to approaching; approaching, to smelling and handling; then to plucking and
eating. Often has the case of Achan been repeated—"When I saw among the
spoils a Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge
of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them."
Deliberate looking leads to the sin. Many, like David, loiter on the roof to
gaze at beauty that fascinates, beguiles, ensnares, destroys. Look not off
from the path of present duty to gaze upon pleasant but perilous byways;
"Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look right before you."
"Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity." To preserve the streams from
pollution, guard the fountain. "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out
of it are the issues of life." If we would not have our house burnt down,
let us extinguish the stray spark, the smoldering flame. "Can a man take
fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals
and his feet not be burned?" Those who carry powder must not stand among
flying sparks. If we dread the jaws of the lion, we must not loiter at the
mouth of his den. We should beware how we enter the dungeon-door which shuts
of itself with a spring-lock, but cannot be opened without a key. "There is
no necessary connection between going into temptation and coming out."
Habits gradually and easily formed may become
chains requiring more than human strength to break. The noxious seed may be
easily uprooted, but the tree may defy your strength. An infant temptation
may be slain, which, full grown, will slay you.
"Fashion it thus—that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities;
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg,
Which, hatched, would, as his kind, grow mischievous;
And kill him in the shell." —Julius Caesar
The gentle current may float us into the raging rapids or
the cruel whirlpool and over the deadly fall. The writer was once persuaded
by a friend to accompany him and his family in a tiny steam-craft from
Buffalo down the Niagara river. At first the broad smooth stream gave no
sign of its never-ceasing downward flow. But presently the noise of the
plunging prow grows less. Now it ceases. We are no longer forcing our way
through the water, but are being hurried along by it. The silence, the
smoothness, in other circumstances soothing, are awful to those who now see
in the distance a horizontal line suddenly terminating the view. Over it is
a white column of mist; between us and it a line of surf. We are rapidly
approaching the tremendous fall, when we suddenly shoot into a small creek.
An accident to the machinery, or insufficient power to counteract the
current, would be fatal. Many a boat with its cargo of precious life has
thus been carried over. Inexperience, lack of due precaution, foolhardiness,
have been death to many who fancied they could at any moment stem the tide,
and safely return to where the stream was gentle and the landing-place easy
to reach.
The whirlpool was afterwards visited. Here the great
cataract, surging from its enormous plunge, has worn away a vast
crater-shaped basin at the side of the main stream, round which the heaving,
foaming waters perpetually revolve. I watched a great tree which had been
carried into this whirlpool. Sometimes it gyrated on its own axis; sometimes
it rose suddenly in the air, pointing upwards as if some huge giant lifted
his arm in distress; then it plunged downwards and disappeared; then as
suddenly it shot up again perpendicularly in some other place, and fell back
helpless on the whirling tide, ever borne round and round its prison. I
looked until I fancied it was a sentient creature struggling to escape into
the main stream, and so reach the quiet refuge of the lake below. Again and
again it neared the mouth of the great basin, and I thought the main current
might mercifully embrace and rescue it. But no! after a brief struggle it
was swept back to repeat the same course of agonizing disappointment. I
could bear it no longer and turned away, for I seemed to look upon
multitudes of my fellow-creatures, the victims of evil habit. They have
ventured on the placid stream of temptation to indulgence that seemed
harmless and easy to be resisted when it might threaten injury; they have
been lulled by soothing pleasure, and the perilous silence of conscience;
they have become self-secure in the purpose of rousing themselves when in
danger of going too far; but they have been swept into the deadly whirlpool
of sinful habit which is now alternately their chamber of insensibility and
torture; they sometimes awake to a sense of their peril, they lift up their
arms in despair, they resolve to escape, again and again they think
deliverance near, but again and again the power of habit asserts itself, and
they are still carried round and round in "the hell of waters" they have
made for themselves.
"Habits are soon assumed; but when we strive
To strip them off, 'tis being flayed alive.
Called to the temple of impure delight,
He who abstains, and he alone, does right.
If a wish wander that way, call it home;
He cannot long be safe whose wishes roam.
But if you pass the threshold, you are caught;
Die then, if power Almighty save you not." —Cowper
Alas! how many a human moth flutters round the alluring
flame until, with singed wings, it falls and dies; how many a fly willfully
gets entangled in a web that seems so flimsy, yet is so strong, until the
watchful foe enfolds and devours it! The youth who would not become the
victim of her whose "feet go down to death, and whose steps take hold on
hell," must "remove his ways far from her, and come not near the door of her
house." He who would avoid gluttonous excess should "be not among
wine-bibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh; for the drunkard and the
glutton shall come to poverty." To avoid their ruin, "be not among them." He
who is in danger of "woe, contentions, babbling, wounds without cause, and
redness of eyes" by "tarrying long at the wine," is bidden to "look not on
the wine when it is red, when it gives its color in the cup, when it moves
itself aright." If he would not experience that "at the last it bites like a
serpent and stings like an adder," he should "look not upon it."
A good general is cautious as well as brave, else bravery
is foolhardiness. He respects his foe for strength and vigilance if for
nothing else, and gives him no opportunity to "steal a march" or assail an
unguarded post. He does not go out of his way to "demonstrate," and provoke
an unnecessary fight which may involve failure. "Our safest course is always
to be ready prepared to the battle, but not to provoke the enemy to fight."
(Farindon).
"When fierce temptation, seconded within
By traitor Appetite, and armed with darts
Tempered in Hell, invades the throbbing bosom,
To combat may be glorious, and success
Perhaps may crown us; but to fly is safe." —Cowper
At the battle of Waterloo, a wealthy merchant of Brussels
who had been allowed access to headquarters, asked Wellington whether he was
not exposing his person to great danger, as shot and shell were falling
around. The general replied, "You have no business here, but I am
performing my duty." So let us never go into spiritual danger from idle
curiosity, but only when duty calls—then, and then alone, may we expect to
be safe. In a matter of life or death let us not run dangerous risks,
relying on what is "deceitful above all things." "He who trusts his own
heart is a fool." Let there be no sleeping on the Philistine's lap, if we
would not have our locks shorn. Piety enfeebled by trifling with pleasant
danger is no match for the enemy when with strong cords he bursts in to bind
and enslave. A recent shipwreck was caused by the captain venturing near a
rocky coast, in too great reliance on his own skill, the depth of water and
the changeful wind. Alas! how many have "made shipwreck of faith and of a
good conscience" not by purposely heading upon the visible rocks of sin, but
by venturing into the shallow waters of temptation where shoals and reefs
are hidden! Let us give a wide berth not only to those headlands, but to
these shallows too.
Burglars have been known to send into a house they
intended to rob, a child who has secreted himself until night and has then
opened the door to the spoilers. If we fear the burglars, let us beware of
the child. "Admit but some inordinate desire into your heart that you
consider a small matter, and it is a hundred to one but it shall prove a
little thief got in to open the door to a number of greater." One temptation
fondled instead of strangled, may open the door to a host of devils to rob
us of our choicest wealth. Let us not allow the wedge to enter if we would
not have our roof-tree split. However thin its edge, if once inside the
crack, gentle pressure may be followed by sturdy blows, until the strongest
resolutions and longest formed habits give way.
"It is the little rift within the lute,
That by and by will make the music mute." —Tennyson
Temptation is like a quicksand, which, when the tide has
left it, is firm to the tread, but as soon as the water returns, proves
treacherous to the unwary loiterer. The sea has its regular ebb and flow,
and the hours may be calculated within which the sand may be visited; but
temptation has no such limits. A wave of passion may suddenly rise and
convert that pleasure-ground into a deadly swamp, into the mouth of hell.
They cannot be innocent who venture there, nor safe because they mean to
leave it when they see danger near.
"An hour, or more, not meaning any harm?
It is hypocrisy against the devil;
Those who mean virtuously, and yet do so,
The devil their virtue tempts, and they tempt Heaven."—Othello
"The common excuse is, 'We wish to see life.'
Life! my brother. Depravity is disease, evil is corruption; to call such
life, is only the gloss of an artful delusion. You can only see life
when you see truth, purity, goodness. If we wish to see physical life, we
seek it where the pure airs of heaven hue the cheek with health, and the
exercises of honest industry sinew the limbs with symmetry and strength; not
where life lies marred and crippled with the loathsome disfigurements of
self-entailed disease. Let the physician go—and God protect him!—on his
benevolent mission into the infected region where the deadly epidemic is
doing its ghastly work upon the sad and weary sufferers; but idle curiosity
may not venture there. And remember that evil has its contagion, and sin
circulates the subtlest infection" (Loraine).
The writer saw at Chicago notices placed on several
houses with the warning, "Small-pox is here;" "Fever is here." Only those
having necessary business or bound on errands of affection and philanthropy
would enter such a house. But may not the mark of moral pestilence be seen
on the forehead of many a boon companion, and over the entrance of many a
saloon of pleasure? Is it not inscribed on every fascinating temptation to
sin? Should we be less cautious regarding the health of the soul than of the
body? Young men specially boast of freedom. But over how many a door through
which they enter to seek it, they might read "Slavery is here"! Who
is a more abject slave than he who yields to sinful passions, and is tied
and bound by habits of evil-doing? How often the youth thus voluntarily
enslaved has been all his life afterwards the fag of others or the drudge of
adverse circumstances, so that his early boast of liberty has ended in a
lifelong slavery, and futile complaints of injustice and tyranny! To many
such the grand words of Milton are applicable—"Instead of laying the blame
on any but yourselves, know that to be free is the same thing as to be wise,
to be temperate and just, frugal and abstinent, and lastly, to be
magnanimous and brave. So to be the opposite of all these is the same as to
be a slave; and it usually happens that those who cannot govern themselves
and moderate their passions, but crouch under the slavery of their lusts,
should be delivered to the sway of those whom they abhor, and made to submit
to an involuntary servitude."
An excuse often made for young men's sins is that they
must "sow their wild oats." It is forgotten that whatever a man sows, that
shall he also reap."Would any one expect to improve his garden by sowing
weeds in it rather than by rooting them out? Will injury to a tool make it
more suitable for future use? Is a man the stronger because he was sickly
when a child? Is that soldier the braver who, when a youth, yielded like a
coward to the foe? It is monstrous to suppose that indulgence in fleshly
lusts can be needed as a discipline for the practice of spiritual virtues.
In reply to those who "assert that youthful vice is preparative for manhood,
a kind of mud-has in which the youth is necessitated to steep," Carlyle
says—"We hope they are mistaken; for sin and remorse so easily beset us in
all stages of life, and are always such indifferent company, that it seems
hard we should at any stage be fated not only to meet but to yield to them.
Clear we are it cannot be the training one receives in the devil's service,
but only our determining to desist from it, that fits us for true manly
action. Surely such lessons are best learned from the lips of a devout
mother, in the looks and actions of a devout father, while the heart is yet
soft and pliant, rather than in collision with the sharp adamant of fate,
attracting us to shipwreck us when the heart is grown hard, and may be
broken before it will become contrite."
Little drops of water may hurl down mountain masses.
Slowly and gently the tiny rills percolate the soil and undermine the rocky
strata, until suddenly the land-slip carries away the forest and overwhelms
the village. Thus many a catastrophe of sin has been caused by the
accumulated force of unregarded temptation. The spiritual nature has been
softened and saturated by allurements to evil, until it has suddenly and
forever given way beneath the pressure. Looking into a long railway tunnel,
you see a tiny spark. It seems stationary, but it is approaching constantly,
irresistibly, rapidly. Do not loiter on those rails, else the express train
will be upon you. A jeweled cup is presented, filled with fragrant poison,
and you hesitate to believe that what looks so radiant and smells so sweet
can do you harm. Handle not that glittering toy; inhale not that stupefying
odor; cast away the goblet if you would not drink the poison. Wisdom says,
not, "Look at it, but do not drink it; or if you drink, drink not much;"
but—
"Taste not at all the sweet Circean cup;
He who sips often, at last drinks it up."
The gospel says not, "Go as near to the edge of the
precipice as you can without falling over;" but, "Keep as far from danger as
you can without sacrifice of duty." It says not, "Venture into the rapids
without plunging into the howling abyss;" but, "Turn from it and pass away."
It does not advise us to mingle with sinners and handle without being
defiled by their toys, but, "Come out from among them, and be separate, says
the Lord; and touch no unclean thing—and I will receive you, and will be to
you a Father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty."
The danger of trifling with what is falsely called a
"little sin," but, which encouraged, may overpower a multitude of moral
restraints, as a small leak may cause a great embankment to give way before
the increasing pressure of the reservoir behind it, is truly pictured by
that saintly poet George Herbert—
"Lord, with what care have You begirt us round!
Parents first season us; then Schoolmasters
Deliver us to laws; they send us bound
To Rules of Reason, holy Messengers;
Pulpits and Sundays; Sorrow, dogging Sin;
Afflictions sorted; Anguish of all sizes;
Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in;
Bibles laid open; millions of Surprises;
Blessings beforehand; ties of Gratefulness;
The sound of glory ringing in our ears;
Without, our Shame; within, our Consciences;
Angels and Grace; eternal Hopes and Fears.
Yet all these fences, and their whole array,
One cunning bosom-sin blows quite away."
2. We must resist temptation in the way Christ Himself
has appointed—not therefore boasting of our own resolution, nor relying
on a sense of propriety and on well-matured habits, but in a spirit of
humble dependence, as taught in this prayer. We must not forge weapons of
our own, but seek "the whole armor of God." We must take "the shield of
faith, with which to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one." We must see
"Him who is invisible," if we would overcome the allurements of sense. We
must behold the Lamb of God offered for sin, if we would so hate it as to
conquer it. We must take "the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God,"
if we would imitate the Captain of our salvation, who thus parried every
hostile thrust, and by Holy Scripture refuted satanic sophisms. In the light
of that Word let us look beneath the specious garb temptation wears; let us
ask, Will the pleasure promised bear reflection in sickness and death,
judgment and eternity? Is it worth the cost of conscience, God, heaven? Thus
we shall detect the serpent lurking among the flowers. As on the moors or
the mountains boggy places may be safely traversed by planting the foot only
where tufts of heather grow, so let us tread only where some Divine promises
can take root. Above all, we must obey the injunction of Him who encourages
us to offer this petition. Our importunity in urging it is one of God's
methods of fulfilling it. We must "watch and pray" if we would not enter
into temptation—"praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance."
3. We should specially guard weak places in our
defense—Past temptations indicate the joints in the armor by which the
arrow most easily enters; the place in the roof which the rain soonest
penetrates; the window or door most favorable for the burglar's admission;
the part of the fence through which the cattle may pass to trample down our
tender plants; the angle of our sea-bound estate, against which the high
tides most threateningly dash. Let us then strengthen with special care the
places most exposed. We should fortify with extra toil and watch with
constant vigilance the weak part of our position, where the foe is most
likely to deliver his assault. But while specially guarding weak places, we
must not neglect the strong. A fortress has sometimes been captured by
scaling the precipice which seemed to render it on that side impregnable. So
the father of the faithful yielded to distrust, and Moses, the meekest of
men, to irritation and disobedience.
Various temperaments are exposed to corresponding
temptations, and those who are comparatively safe from one sin may be
specially liable to another. Righteous Lot, grieved at the profanity of the
wicked, may be ensnared by the intoxicating cup, and sink into shameful
vice. Wise Solomon may become a fool, ensnared by women's wiles. Strong
Samson may yield to seductive weakness. Heroic David may basely bend beneath
the yoke of tyrant passions. An inspired prophet may be lured by lucre and
preach to please. When we fancy ourselves specially secure through removal
from worldly scenes by affliction, we may be exposed to special peril. Foes
often lurk in dark shadows. Years of freedom from fierce assault may
generate self-security, so that we remit our vigilance and unclasp our
armor. Many victors have been vanquished by carelessness after conflict, and
many professing Christians have fallen away in old age by ceasing to watch
against temptation often conquered.
4. Turn stumbling-blocks into stepping-stones—The
opportunity of sinning may be made an opportunity of glorifying God. Blame
not the flesh because Satan often employs it as a ground of temptation, but
make that flesh a battlefield for winning trophies from the foe. The various
faculties of the body and mind which may become occasions of sin may also,
when curbed and controlled, become occasions for special glory to God.
Chrysostom says, "We do not read, Let not the flesh act or live, but let not
sin reign—for Christ came not to subvert human nature, but to
rectify the will." We cannot eradicate our natural instincts and
faculties, nor should we desire to do so, but rather to regulate and use
them in the service of God. Not the faculties are to be blamed, but our
misuse. The same weapon which might serve the murderer may also be wielded
by the loyal soldier; the moral quality residing not in it but in him. To
preserve our faculties from serving the devil, let them be yielded wholly to
God. Let those members which temptation would desecrate for vice become
consecrated vessels for the temple. "Neither present your members to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God." This full surrender will be
the best preservative against any particular member being employed in
opposition to Him. Our body as well as our soul belongs to God; sin, the
usurper, claims it as his domain; let us deny the claim, resist the
usurpation, denounce the invader. Feudal lords held their estates as vassals
of the king, and were bound to aid him in his wars in proportion to their
holding. The ruler of a kingdom receives its tribute. If we recognize sin as
ruler, we shall yield our faculties to its service; but if we give our
entire selves to God, there will be no single faculty left with which to
serve sin.
Let the hand, when tempted to dishonest grasp or angry
blow, be urged in Love's own service to benefit others by honest toil and
gentle aid. Let the foot, when bidden by the devil to go his errands, be the
more promptly moved forward in the path of God's commands. Let not the
wondrous faculty of vision open the door for a rabble of unclean
imaginations to enter and pollute the soul, or for sending forth looks of
lust or malice; but when thus tempted, let it the more ponder the lively
oracles of truth, and be the inlet of images of purity and love. Let the
voice, when prompted to utter angry, deceitful, or profane words, the more
bear witness for God, plead before His throne, and blend with the anthems of
angels in His praise. As all we have we hold from Him, let hands, feet, eye,
tongue, imagination, memory, will, bearing the mark of His ownership, be
devoted to His service. Let us take the harp which temptation may be
preparing for the music of sin, and make its strings vibrate with the
harmonies of heaven. Circumstances which threaten peril may become helps
instead of hindrances. Are we inclined to be made angry by some fierce
provocation? Let it become an occasion of cultivating patience. Does some
sensuous pleasure allure? Let it be a summons to crucify the flesh. Does
some accession of fortune tempt us to "the love of money which is a root of
all kinds of evil"? Let us seize the opportunity of doing good, and instead
of allowing wealth to impoverish the soul, let us therewith "lay up a good
foundation for the world to come." By a godly chemistry, let fragrant
essences be distilled from filthy refuse. By a holy husbandry, let deposits
which might breed pestilence enrich and fertilize the soil. If, in the
course of Divine Providence, we find ourselves in the company of the
ungodly, instead of merely resisting their assaults, let us be ourselves
assailants. Would they allure us to sin? Let us persuade them to godliness.
Instead of simply refusing to be led into the world, let us lead them into
the church. Not content with escaping danger, let us save those who would
entice us there. To avoid temptations to evil, let us dwell among
incitements to good. If we would escape an epidemic, let us not only avoid
infection, but be well supplied with its preventive. To be secure against
evil example, let us cultivate close fellowship with the righteous. Let
their sentiments, aims and actions so impregnate and possess our minds that
we may be proof against adverse influences. To counteract the chilling frost
of the world, let us keep up the temperature of our inner life by devout
reading of the Scriptures; by prayerful attendance on gospel preaching; by
"showing forth the Lord's death" at the feast of loving memory He has
ordained; by self-examination; by interaction with the godly; and, above
all, by habitual and earnest prayer. As we are exposed without ceasing to
temptation, we must "pray without ceasing," if we would overcome it.
Thus feeding the furnace of the moral machinery within,
let us wisely economize the force created, nor let the steam blow off in
mere sentiment and religious enthusiasm. Let us beware of indulging
ourselves in lazy religious melancholy, which is often our foe's busy
opportunity. Let us be at some work for Christ, so temptation will not find
us at leisure to listen. "When a man has nothing to do, Satan will bring
christ to the mill, and find him work enough." Let not failure discourage
effort, but prompt to new resolve. It may be well to open our hearts to some
Christian friend for advice and sympathy. Above all, let us "go and tell
Jesus," our great High Priest, who always is at hand to aid and save. Thus
we may be sure of victory. The hostile current only carries away those that
love to float with the stream. How many a brave wrestler with temptation may
seem as if his efforts would be vain; but let him persevere in the strength
of God, and he will surely stem the tide and reach the shore. "They shall
never perish."
"I saw him beat the surges under him,
And ride upon their backs—he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
The surge most swoln that met him—his bold head '
Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared
Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke
To the shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bowed,
As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt,
He came alive to land."—The Tempest
5. We should not bring others into temptation—As
our Lord taught that if we truly ask forgiveness we must also practice
it, so also if we pray that God will not bring us into temptation, we surely
must not willingly bring others into it. If we need help from our Father, we
must render it to our brethren. If what we do, though safe to ourselves,
encourages others in what is perilous to them, how far are we acting
consistently with this prayer? There are two roads to a village among the
mountains. One is, solid, wide and safe; the other is narrow, slippery,
precipitous. By strength, practice, well-nailed boots, I can, without
danger, traverse the mauvais pas. But suppose by my example others
are encouraged to follow who fall and perish. I may assert my liberty and
censure their folly; but would it not be more Christ-like if for their sake
I took the safer path? I am bathing where the river is deep and rapid. I
make no secret of my enjoyment, and practically recommend others to bathe in
the same place. But of those who attempt it, some, by lack of strength and
skill, are drowned. Would it not be merciful in me to mark the place as
"Dangerous," and bathe elsewhere?
All along our dangerous coasts lighthouses warn sailors
against rocks, and guide them into port. But, alas for humanity! false
lights have sometimes been exhibited to allure vessels to destruction, that
the wreckers might seize the spoil. Spirits of darkness do this for the ruin
of the soul. But, without such fell purpose, it has often happened that the
dubious example of Christian professors has misled the unwary to make
shipwreck of faith. The more we are trusted as safe guides, the more
dangerous is any misleading signal. Let us be quite sure that what we
ourselves allow, prove not a snare to others. As true beacons we are to
"shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." At the
Greenwich Observatory a signal is given every day at the exact moment of
noon. By this the captains of outward-bound vessels adjust the chronometers
by which they calculate their longitude during many weeks, and ascertain
their exact position though on the trackless ocean, hundreds of miles from
land. An error at the Observatory would disarrange all the calculations of
the navigator, and might cause the wreck of many a ship and the loss of many
a crew. The reputation of the Observatory for accuracy increases the
confidence reposed in it, and also the injury which might result from any
inaccurate signal. Christians should specially be careful to give the true
time, regulated by the Sun of righteousness, otherwise some who think they
may safely follow such example may suffer shipwreck.
Paul considered meat offered to idols as differing
nothing from other meat. But to some persons eating this meat seemed to be
idol-worship, and the example of the apostle might encourage them in an act
which would be for them a sinful surrender of the faith. So he said, "If
meat makes my brother stumble, I will eat no flesh forevermore, that I make
not my brother to stumble." This principle may be applied to a variety of
indulgences, not in themselves wicked but dangerous to many, such as the
theater, the racecourse, the ballroom, games of hazard, intoxicating drinks,
etc. Many Christians abstain from them because, however harmless to
themselves, such pleasures might prove perilous to others, especially the
young. Their personal sanction would be pleaded by those to whom the
indulgence would act as the slope towards the precipice, and as the swift
current hurrying to the cataract. The higher the character for wisdom,
experience and piety, the more potent the example for good or evil. Those
therefore who have achieved a reputation for conquering temptation should
take special heed lest they lead others into it. "It is good neither to eat
flesh nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby your brother stumbles, or is
offended, or is made weak."
Vigilant ourselves, we should show compassion towards
those who stumble. Perhaps their temptations were stronger than ours, their
advantages less. Perhaps they had not our knowledge, privileges, and help
from friends. Exposed to the same assaults, we might ourselves have yielded.
Perhaps they resisted long though overcome at last. Our own experience of
the force of temptation should make us gentle in our judgments, earnest in
our prayers, tender in our treatment respecting the fallen. The world,
except where its own standard has been transgressed and the sin is vulgar,
is apt to excuse the fault, or "make a mock at sin," and even dress it up as
virtue and give it titles of honor. Pharisaism, on the other band, proudly
gathers up its robes, and sweeps past the transgressor in heartless scorn.
We are taught both to abhor the sin and to pity the sinner. There have been
times when the stream of adverse influence that has swept him down was too
strong for ourselves, and it is only by Divine mercy that we are now
struggling against it. We remember conflicts with the same foe when we also
have suffered defeat, and victories which long trembled in the balance and
were at last only just won. We have weathered the gale and hope soon to be
in port, but we cannot forget how narrowly we escaped shipwreck.
"Safe home, safe home in port!
Rent cordage, shattered deck,
Torn sails, provisions short,
And only not a wreck.
The prize, the prize secure!
The wrestler nearly fell;
Bare all he could endure,
And bare not always well.
No more the foe can harm,
No more of leaguered camp,
And cry of night-alarm,
And need of ready lamp
And yet how nearly he had failed;
How nearly had the foe prevailed!" —Neale
Let us then deal gently with the fallen; cheer them lest
they despair, by telling of pardoning mercy and assisting grace; and be
ourselves hopeful of their recovery. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a
fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness;
considering yourself, lest you also be tempted."
Pity the fallen—O! the bitter strife,
The shame, the fear, the anguish of their life.
Assist the fallen—you may need a hand,
For you may fall, who firmly now do stand.
Seek out the fallen—love them, help lend,
And thus resemble Christ, the sinner's Friend.
Restore the fallen—you have been reclaimed,
For Jesus sought you, raised you, cheered, though blamed.
O save the fallen—bliss indeed 'twill be,
With souls thus won, to spend eternity. —Newman Hall