But, "No," you reply; "I know better,-I see through the cheat; and I am not to be led in chase of a bubble that bursts in the hand when I clutch it. I will not be induced to spend my money for that which is not bread, and my labour for that which satisfieth not." Well, then, will you turn to Philosophy-so-called? "But, what will Philosophy do for me? Perhaps there is a God, perhaps there is not. No one knows. Perhaps there is such a thing as a soul, perhaps what we call the soul is only the result of a peculiar combination of particles. Perhaps there is a hereafter beyond the grave, perhaps there is not. Who can tell? Such are the utterances of Philosophy and do you suppose I am going to build upon so rotten a foundation as this? Not I: I am not foolish enough. Let those who like follow the flickering will-o'-the-wisp, and plunge into the quaking bog. I prefer the solid ground."

:

What will

you gain by

So it comes to this, my young friends, that although there are difficulties in religion, you will not be induced to turn your back upon Christ, or even to waver in your Christ? allegiance to Him. You will not better

turning your

back upon

yourself by going away. He has the words of eternal life, no one else has, and for this reason, if for this only, you will stick to Him and follow Him to the last.

You

It would be possible, I think, to bring forward other arguments, if we wished to strengthen our position. This, for instance, that in the Book which God has written,just as in the world which God has made,there must be mystery. Look at yourself! Why, you are a walking mystery! cannot even tell me how your will acts upon your muscles, so that you can lift your arm to your head. There is mystery in the little flower you tread on; in the very stone you kick out of your path. You believe, in ten thousand instances, in the fact, without being able to explain the manner how. Is it likely that there should be no difficulty, nothing hard to make out, and to reconcile, in that Book which is a revelation to us of the nature and will of God? And then, for another argument, we might ask, "If everything in God's dealings and God's commands were as plain as that two and two make four, what becomes of the state of probation and of the discipline of life?" But I think that

An infinite

St. Peter's reasoning will be sufficient for us. We should gain nothing, except an unspeakable and indeed infinite loss, - by leaving Jesus Christ.

loss.

IX.

TEMPTATION.

Our life like OUR life may be compared to a journey a perilous journey. through a perilous country. There is only

one safe path, and that always narrow, and always uphill, and sometimes rough and rugged; and leading off from this one road, are many little by-paths, much more inviting to the eye than that by which we ought to travel. Many of these by-paths run for some distance by the side of the main road, and only branch off from it by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, so that it is occasionally difficult for us to know what we ought to do what turn we ought to take. To make matters worse,-voices, sweet and flattering, voices, proceeding from we know not where, continually float about in the air, and make themselves heard by us. The

unknown and unseen speaker urges us to think of the hardships of the right road, and promises all sort of happiness and delight, if only we will be persuaded to enter upon one of the by-paths.

Now, if you and I cared nothing for ease, and pleasure, and self-gratification, these voices would whisper in vain; they would produce no effect at all upon us. But as it is, they have terrible power; and they frequently lure us aside from the right path, and frequently, too, I am sorry to say, bring us, almost before we know where we are, into the very pit of destruction itself.

with temp

Let us consider, then, how we are to How to deal escape from this danger,-the danger arising tation. from TEMPTATION.

You will agree with me in thinking that we should avoid, as far as we can, all places, all circumstances, all occupations in which we are likely to be tempted to do wrong. Our Lord Jesus Christ went into the wilderness to encounter temptation. Unlike us, He was pure and spotless, and free from every evil inclination, and might have been thought able to stand in His own strength. But even He did not go into temptation of His own

G

First, avoid possible.

it as far as