Temptation, thus regarded, is to us, as are all the trials and difficulties which come to us in life, part of a loving discipline sent to fit us for our true home, and every temptation met in God's strength will be to us a stepping-stone to higher things, and an assurance to us that we are partakers of Christ's victory, and that God is for us, and that none can be against us so as really to harm us: so that we may learn to say, "Now know I that the Lord helpeth His anointed, and will hear him from His holy heaven, even with the wholesome strength of His right hand;" while all such efforts should impress upon us more deeply the lesson that there can be no life without growth.

We know that all

It is so in the world of nature. living things grow-that if a plant does not bud and sprout, if a tree does not put forth its leaves, it is dead; and so in the spiritual life, there must be growth the Christian life is a life of growth, a life of progress. There is no conception of the life of God's children in Holy Scripture excepting as a life of growth, as a continual going forward in God's strength. "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."1 "Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee, in whose heart are Thy ways; they will go from strength to strength." 2

Our Lord declared, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." He spoke of Himself as the Vine, and His disciples as the branches; of their abiding in Him as 2 Psalm lxxxiv. 5-7. 3 St. John x. 10.

1 Prov. iv. 18.

the condition of life, and of the bringing forth fruit, as the necessary consequence of that life.

There must be a continual increase of vitality if the life of the branch is to be maintained; and St. Paul carries on this thought when he speaks of the perfecting of the saints, of the work of the ministry, of the edifying of the body of Christ "till we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

Now this is the lesson set before us. "Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."

Besides that self-examination to which we are invited at this season as to the nature and reality of our repentance-besides seeking earnestly to lay bare our hearts before God, and to discover by the help of His Holy Spirit what are the particular acts of sin of which we need to repent, and what are the sinful habits which must be rooted out, we are led to inquire what progress are we making in the Christian life? whether, having been taught how we ought to walk and to please God, we are abounding more and more in earnestness and steadfastness, in consistency of purpose and depth of spiritual life?

Remember that it is not a high view of the Christian life that it is to be wholly made up of falls and repenFalls there will be in the life of all, of different kinds and different degrees, undoubtedly to the end of

tance.

1 Eph. iv. 13.

life, but they should become less frequent and less in degree. Humbled we must be to the end of life when we contrast what we are with what we should be, and the more we advance, the farther off shall we seem to be at times from the goal; for every growth in grace must bring with it clearer views of Christ and His Perfection, and as a higher standard is set before us, we see more clearly our own imperfection; and so the race of life goes on, not following a phantom shadow, but endeavouring to grasp a living reality, and learning, as we see it more clearly, how far we ourselves fall below it.

And as all religious acts and all religious ordinances are to us very much what we make them, so is it with the whole of life.

With some it is one long sad struggle: always tempted, always falling, even though, it may be, kept by God's grace from wholly falling away, yet never rising higher than the thought of escaping from the wrath to come.

With others it is walking in the light of our Father's love: doing all to His glory-seeking to do His will— to forward His kingdom-to bear witness to His truth.

:

With the one there may be, as with the other, the working out our own salvation, but it is all fear and trembling with the other there is perfect love, which casteth out fear; and though there may be but few who have really attained to this higher state, is it not the aim set before us? "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."1 "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 2

1 St. Matt. v. 48.

2 St. Luke xii. 32.

And are there yet others who know neither the joys nor the fears of the spiritual life-who have perhaps a form of godliness, but by their lives deny its power-who treat nothing seriously, and care for nothing-whose only thought is to please themselves— who excuse their wasted lives by saying that there is nothing to do, which is a sure sign that the tempter has found them employment? What can be said of such but that they have not begun to live: that what they call their life is but a living death, from which we pray that the voice of God may speedily awaken them?

And how may we hope to rise to the higher state? for we may be sure of this, that the end of our being is not merely to escape condemnation, but to live to the glory of God; to be as clearly on His side as He is on ours; to devote every power of soul and body to His service.

And if you ask, how can you do this? the answer will be but to remind you of what you have heard a thousand times before.

It is the use of opportunities: the striving to act from the love of God from the time we wake to the time we lie down to sleep: the effort to keep God in our thoughts throughout the day, even in the midst of the tiresome interruptions we meet with, or the cares and anxieties we have, or, which is perhaps the hardest of all, in the dulness of invalid life, varied only by some change of pain, or in the listlessness induced by too much leisure.

Still the effort may be made, and when made with an earnest prayer for God's help, it will never be made wholly in vain.

And then there are the opportunities of prayer, of diligent, earnest prayer: of the devout study of God's Word of diligent and careful preparation for the Holy Communion, and our reverent and frequent reception of that Holy Sacrament.

And as we shall certainly never regret any effort made for a nearer approach to God, so we may all make one simple rule for Lent:-That we should watch for the opportunities which He gives us, and strive to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ; and as we have received how we ought to walk and to please God, so, if we use these opportunities rightly, we shall abound more and

more.