TEMPTATION.

Getting Rid of Temptation.

Temptation vanishes before a sight of the dying Redeemer. Then inbred lust roars against us, and we overcome it through the blood of the Lamb, for the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Sometimes a raging corruption or a strong habit wars upon us, and then we conquer by the might of the sanctifying Spirit of God, who is with us and shall be in us evermore. Or else it is the world which tempts, and our feet have almost gone; but we overcome the world through the victory of faith. If Satan raises against us the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, all at once, we are still delivered, for the Lord is a wall of fire round about us The inward life bravely resists all sin, and God's help is given to believers to preserve them from all evil in the moment of urgent need; even as he helped His martyrs and confessors to speak the right word when called unprepared to confront their adversaries. Care not, therefore, O thou truster in the Lord Jesus, how fierce thine enemy may be this day! As young David slew the lion and the bear and smote the Philistines, even so shalt thou go from victory to victory. -SPURGEON.

God Fighting for Us.

If that roaring lion that goes about continually seek. ing whom he may devour finds us alone among the vineyards of the Philistines, where is our hope? Not in our

heels, for he is swifter than we; not in our weapons, for we are naturally unarmed; not in our hands, which are weak and languishing; but in the Spirit of God, by whom we can do all things. If God fights in us, who can resist us? There is a stronger lion in us than that against us.-SPURGEON.

"It Is Written."

A temptation to gambling springs upon you, and it seems to be "a safe thing," and there is no risk in it, and it will multiply that little amount by twice, or four times, or five times, or ten times, and you could do very much good with such a windfall, and so on, till it appears very plausible. A temptation like that, met in the old and only way it is written, it is written, IT IS WRITTEN: "Thou shalt not steal !" "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!" Asking Him to preserve thee, when deliberately thou dost put thy hand in the fire! Asking Him to keep your hands clean, while deliberately you fill them with pitch! Asking Him to keep you from poison, when you lay the serpent in your bosom ! Thou shalt

not tempt the Lord thy God," it is written, it is written, it is written. A temptation like that, met and mastered by the name of Christ, the blood of the Lamb, and the spirit of prayer-what a strength it becomes afterward! Not giving pride to you, but giving glory to your Redeemer as you go on, just as Samson went on. Nearly lost, but altogether saved; unscratched, unscathed, unharmed, and a glad song singing in your heart.-McNEILL.

Warned in Time.

Well, Samson was not thinking of any danger. He was passing through a vineyard--and vineyards then were open, as they still are, in Eastern lands-tasting its fruits, possibly, and humming some snatch of a lovesong, maybe, when suddenly this crisis came upon him. A young lion roared against him. Thank God for that roar! For there are some sins that destroy a fellow without roaring. The woman was a greater danger than the roaring lion. There was no roaring there. There was tremendous danger. He escaped the one, and more than once failed to escape the other. The springing temptation—the gleaming of the teeth, and the lashing of the tail, and the roaring-gave him time and chance. It was the roar that was the saving thing. When the roar is heard by a manly fellow, there is something inside him that roars, too-the love of life roars against death; deep calls to deep.

And just because the brute roared, it gave the man warning, and roused him: He flung himself upon the lion, and rent him as he would have done a sucking kid. -MCNEILL.

What to Do with Temptations.

Take them as they are, in all their ugliness and all their ferocity, and do not be afraid, but by faith and prayer imbrue your hands in their blood. Grip them, bring them out, face them, and slay them before the Lord. And do it quickly; make sure work of it--no half

work of these lusts, like springing lions, that war against the soul. The lust for drink, the lust of another kind— the lust of the flesh-the lust of the eye; and the pride of life-which perhaps is one of the greatest destroyers of the young soul-the swelling pride of life! Bring it out and put the sword in it up to the haft; and do it even as the conspirator did when he met his foe long ago in Scottish history. He dirked him. He put the knife into him with one stroke, and then rushed out to his fellowconspirators, and said: "I think I have slain the Comyn." Another conspirator said: "Thou thinkest; but I will mak siccar!" And he rushed in and stabbed him repeatedly. "Mak siccar"-make sure that sure-that you have faced eye to eye, hand to hand, and foot to foot this particular form of sin; and by the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and that mighty weapon that Bunyan talks about "All Prayer "-thou hast overcome. -MCNEILL.

Our Defense.

I repeat it: The most defenseless man, the most defenseless creature in London, seems to be the healthy, bright, generous young fellow who, in the midst of this giddy whirl, with its gilded and ungilded sin, wants to hold the fear and faith of Christ, to crucify the flesh and live for God and for eternity. Wonder of wonders! He is not defenseless. Marvel of marvels, miracle of miracles, joy of Heaven, disappointment of Hell! He is not overcome! There are men and women in London today living a kind of salamander life; living in the flame, with

the roar of the lion, the hiss of the serpent and the rattle of the snake for ever in their ears; noted, marked, signed for death-and they are not dead yet, and they never shall be. Yet they have "nothing in their hands.” They seem to be feckless. How, then, do they live when others are pinned to the earth by the lion? The Christian is not a stronger man than his neighbors. Then why does he stand where his neighbors fall? Ah, this is the explanation: The Spirit of the Lord is with him. He is a wall of fire round about him, and the glory in the midst. Do I speak to any backslider who has not been. careful, and the enemy has sprung upon you, or the slimy serpent has dropped itself down from the branch of a tree and wound itself around you ere you were aware? Despair not; do not give in. Remember Him who is the Strength of Israel!-McNeill.

The Sweetness of Victory.

When you are able to feel in your own soul that you have overcome a strong temptation, the fiercer it was and the more terrible it was, the louder has been your song and the more joyful your thanksgiving. To go back to Mr. Bunyan again: When Christian had passed through the Valley of the Shadow of Death during the night, and when he had come entirely out of it and the sun rose, you remember he looked back. He was long in taking that look, I warrant you. What thoughts he had while looking back! He could just discern that narrow track with the quagmire on one side and the deep ditch on the other; and he could see the shades out of which the hob