“Carried in Him and for Him, can they harm
Or press thee sore, or prove a weary weight?
Nay, nay; into thy life his blessed calm
Shall drop, and thou no more be desolate.
“No more with downcast eyes go faltering on,
Alone and sick at heart, and closely pressed.
Thy chains shall break, thy heavy heart be gone,
For He who calls thee, he will ‘give thee rest.’”
FORGIVENESS of sins does not take us into heaven. We must stay yet longer in this world, because our work here is not finished. We must be tempted again. But we should seek, while we walk through earth’s dusty ways, to keep the cleansed garments clean and white. Very fitting, then, is this prayer after we have found forgiveness, “Bring us not into temptation.”
Yet the form of the petition is surprising. It is a prayer to our Father, and we plead, “Bring us not unto temptation.” Surely God would not bring his children into temptation. He is good and loving, and his will for us is never our endangering or our harming, but always the keeping of our life unspotted from the world. We are sure that God never inclines us to do evil. St. James says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man.”
Yet it is St. James who says also, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life.” Again the same apostle says, “Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; knowing that the proof of your faith worketh patience.” It is clear, therefore, that good may come out of temptation. It is not said that it is blessed to be tempted — the beatitude is for him who endureth temptation. We are not told to count it joy merely when we fall into manifold temptations, but when we have gathered the fruit of the proving in new patience.
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