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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. 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. "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee to prove thee, to know what was in thine 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 hath 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 R.V. 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 valour 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 that partaketh

of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But solid food is for fullgrown 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, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine 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. 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

He does not

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 traveller'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 needs 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 amidst 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 temptationproof 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, selfindulgent, 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 honour-we may be vainglorious, 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

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