Sermons on the Lord's Prayer/Sermon 7

by Oliver Prescott Hiller

SERMON VII.

"And bring^[1] us not into temptation."—Matthew vi. 13.

The subject of temptations is, to the spiritual man, a most interesting one: it is one in which he feels a strong personal concern. For every spiritually minded man experiences temptations, and it is necessary that he should experience them, in order that he may be regenerated. "Whosoever," says the Lord, "doth not take his cross, and follow after me, is not worthy of me."^[2] To take the cross and follow after the Lord, is to endure temptations, as the Lord himself endured them.

The uses which temptations effect, are set forth with great clearness in the Doctrines of the New Church. Their origin and nature, also, are there very plainly shown. A consideration of this subject cannot fail to be highly instructive and useful.

It is said in the text, "Bring us not into temptation." But though it is so expressed in the literal sense, the Lord, in truth, brings no one into temptation: it is man's own evil through which he is tempted. Says the Apostle James, "Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man."^[3] "In the sense of the letter," says the Doctrine of the New Church, "temptations and other such things are attributed to God; whereas it is according to the internal sense that God tempts no one, but continually delivers from temptations, so far as is possible, or so far as deliverance does not cause evil,—and that he continually regards good, into which he leads those who are in temptations. It is the evil with man which causes temptation, and which also leads into temptation."^[4]

Let us now consider the origin and nature of temptations, and then the uses which they effect. But first, in order to get a clear view of the subject, it is necessary to define what is meant by "temptations."

Temptations may be divided into two classes, external and internal; or, as they might be termed, active and passive temptations. By external or active temptations, I mean inducements to sin presented from without. We all know what these are, for this is the ordinary sense in which the term, "temptation," is used. A temptation, in this sense, is anything which, seen or heard or felt, rouses man's lusts or passions, thus inviting and urging him to go astray; Such objects are all around us in the world: such invitations to sin present themselves on every side. In the present disordered state of mankind, the path of life, as we all know, is beset with dangers: inducements to sin are everywhere presented. There are temptations offered to the bodily lusts and appetites; there are temptations that call up the angry passions; there are temptations to deceive and defraud in business; there are temptations to prefer one's self to others, to advance ourselves at the expense of others; there are temptations to love the world more than the Lord and heaven. Such temptations press upon us from every side: no one can entirely escape them: what we have to do, is to fortify ourselves against them. And it is one of the chief duties of parents, by careful and pious instructions, to arm their children against these temptations of the world. Some parents have endeavored, by watchfulness and seclusion, to protect their children from all temptation: but it is in vain: rather arm them well, and let them go out to the fight. They must "fight the good fight of faith;" every one must do so, who becomes regenerate; the kingdom of heaven is taken by violence.^[5] It is necessary that man's hereditary evils be in some degree and measure called up by temptation, in order that he may see and resist them, and thus be purified from them. Not, indeed, that any one is to throw himself needlessly into temptation, and thus put himself in harm's way: this is wrong and dangerous: by such a course he may be tempted beyond his strength. It is our duty to guard ourselves from temptation, as far as we can without leaving the path of duty: there are temptations enough that come up in the usual and orderly course of life; and Divine Providence will, if we yield ourselves to his guidance, bring us into such courses and circumstances as will present to us just the needful temptations and no more. Beyond this, it is dangerous to go. No parent is warranted in exposing his child—no man has a right to expose himself—to unnecessary temptations, under the idea of his becoming thus hardened against the trials of life: you may thereby fall, or cause your child to fall, into the very evils you sought to guard against. The prayer is, "Bring us not into temptation;" which means, "Permit us not, O Lord, to be brought into temptation beyond our strength to bear."

But when, in the regular course of our duty, temptations are presented to us, inviting us to sin,—"Now," we should say to ourselves, "now is the opportunity for self-conquest,—now is the opportunity for moral and spiritual advancement,—now can we, by an effort, take a leap towards the kingdom of heaven." For, by a battle and a conquest in temptation, one makes a far more rapid advance in regeneration, than merely by the slow course of ordinary quiet improvement. The enemy assembles his forces: you meet and conquer him in a great battle, and the whole kingdom of heaven then lies open before you, and you have lasting peace; whereas, when you move on in only the ordinary course of duties, and are not brought face to face with any strong temptations, you are yet continually harassed by petty evils hanging about your path, and you make but little spiritual progress. This, now, is the case with the merely natural man: he is not strong enough to bear much temptation, and hence he makes but little spiritual advancement: while the spiritnal man, strong in the Lord's strength, goes on "conquering and to conquer," and so makes rapid advances towards the kingdom of heaven. Hence says the Apostle James,^[6] "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." It was by a long series of temptations, endured throughout his whole life, that the Lord perfected and glorified his humanity: he was "made perfect through sufferings." And we, also, by enduring temptations in our degree and measure, are to "follow him in the regeneration;" and, doubtless, he who endures the most and greatest temptations,—provided he conquer in them,—will be the most thoroughly regenerated.

It is, however, the subject of external or active temptations, to which I must confine myself just now. And I wish to give a few directions in regard to meeting and conquering them. When temptations to sin present themselves from without, what we have to do, is, first to look up to the Lord with a momentary ejaculation for help; and then, as it were, clenching our hands and shutting our eyes against the tempter, hold on, struggle on, resist the evil thought, crying out, like the Lord, "Get thee behind me, Satan,"—till at length, the storm has blown over,—till the blast from the infernal caverns within, called up by the evil object presented from without, has passed by, and we come forth weakened and humbled by the effort, yet purified and inwardly strengthened, and brought nearer to the kingdom of heaven. And then, as after the Lord's temptation in the wilderness, "angels come and minister unto us;" an interior, heavenly peace is breathed into the heart,—a sweet calm comes over the spirit, like the dawn of morning after a night of storm,—and we feel ourselves more nearly conjoined to the Lord. Such is the reward of victory in temptation.

"He who is in the combats of temptation and conquers," says the New Church Doctrine, "acquires to himself more and more power over evil spirits, or over the diabolical crew, till at length they dare not assault him; but, on every victory obtained, the Lord reduces to order the goods and truths from which the combat was supported, when, consequently, these are purified; and in proportion as they are purified, the celestial things of love are insinuated into the exterior man, and a correspondence is effected."^[7] Again, "When any one revolves evil in his mind, and intends it, he should say to himself, 'I think of this, and I intend it; but because it is a sin, I will not do it' By this, the temptation injected from hell, is broken, and its further entrance prevented."^[8] And again: "A man explores the intentions of his will, while he explores his thoughts, for the intentions manifest themselves in the thoughts. While, for instance, he thinks, wills, and intends, revenge, or adultery, or theft, or false witness, and has a desire for such things,—if he applies his mind, and considers whether he would do those things if the fear of the law and of reputation did not prevent, and then, after such scrutiny, resolves that he will not do them because they are sins,—he then performs true and interior repentance; and still more so, when he is in the delight of those evils, and is at the same time in the liberty of doing them, and yet resists and abstains. He who repeatedly practises this, finds the delight of evils, when they return, become at length undelightful, and he condemns them."^[9]

Such is the effect of conquest in temptations: by every such conquest man becomes spiritually stronger, finds it more easy to resist, and at length evils have no more power over him; and then they are no longer temptations.

Having thus spoken of the first class of temptations, which I have termed external or active temptations, being such as are presented from without, and act palpably and violently on man's evil propensities,—I come now to speak of the second great class of temptations. These I have termed internal and passive, first because they come, in general, unattended with any outward allurement, and spring from no apparent or visible cause; and also because the man is in a manner a passive sufferer under them: what he has then to do, is, not so much to fight, as to bear,—to endure. These are what are properly called spiritual temptations; for only the spiritual-minded are subject to them; whereas to the other class of temptations, all men, the bad as well as the good, natural men as well as spiritual, are exposed; the wicked, however, fall under them, while the good generally conquer.

Concerning spiritual temptations, the Doctrine of the New Church thus speaks:—"Scarcely any one in the Christian world at this day knows whence temptations are. He who undergoes them, believes no otherwise than that they are torments arising from the evils which are inwardly in man, and which first render him unquiet, next anxious, and finally torment him. He is altogether ignorant that they are produced by the evil spirits that are with him: that he is ignorant of this, is because he does not believe that he is in consociation with spirits while he lives in the world, and hardly supposes that there is any spirit with him at all; when yet man, as to the interiors, is continually in the society of spirits and angels. Temptations take place when man is in the process of regeneration, for no one can be regenerated without undergoing temptations. And they exist, as before said, from evil spirits who are about him; for man is let at such times into the state of evil which constitutes his proprium (or selfhood); and when he comes into this state, evil or infernal spirits encompass him; and when they perceive that he is interiorly protected by angels, the evil spirits excite the falses which he had thought, and the evils which he had done, while the angels from the interior defend him. It is this combat which is perceived by man as temptation, but so obscurely that he scarcely knows otherwise than that it is a kind of anxiety. Nevertheless, man and his eternal salvation are then at stake; and the determination of the stake is from man, for the combat is carried on from and concerning those things that are with man."^[10]

The nature of these temptations is thus further described:—"Evil spirits never make assault upon anything but what man loves, and their assault is violent in proportion to the intensity of the love. As soon as they observe even the smallest thing which man loves,—or perceive by the scent, as it were, what is delightful and dear to him, they assault and endeavor to destroy it; consequently, they assault and endeavor to destroy the whole man, since his life consists in such loves. Nothing is more pleasant to them than thus to destroy man, nor would they ever desist from their attempts, even to eternity, unless they were repelled by the Lord. Such of them as are particularly malignant and cunning, insinuate themselves into man's very loves by soothing and flattering them; thus they introduce themselves into the man; and presently when they have thus introduced themselves, they endeavor to destroy his loves, and by so doing to kill the man; and this, in a thousand ways and modes altogether incomprehensible. Nor do they carry on their assaults merely by reasonings against goods and truths, but they pervert goods and truths, and enkindle a sort of fire of lust and persuasion, so that the man does not know but that he is actually in such lust and persuasion, and at the same time they inflame these with a delight which they steal from man's other delights. Thus with the utmost cunning they infect and infest the man, and this so artfully by leading on from one thing to another, that unless the Lord came to man's help, he would never know but that he was really such as their suggestions make him feel himself to be. In like manner, they assault the affections of truth, which form man's conscience. As soon as they perceive anything of conscience whatever, they form to themselves an affection out of the falses and infirmities that are with man, and by means of this they overshadow the light of truth, and so pervert it as to produce anxiety, and thus cause torment. Moreover, they have the art of keeping the thought fixed intently on one object, and so fill it with phantasies, and at the same time secretly infuse lusts into those phantasies. Not to mention innumerable other artifices, which it is impossible to describe so as to give any just conception of them."^[11]

From this vivid description of the nature of spiritual temptations, we may begin to realize the truth of the Apostle's words, "Be sober, be vigilant; for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour;"^[12] and of the Lord's words, in the parable of the sower, "Then cometh the evil one, and catcheth away that which was sown in the heart."^[13] We may understand now the source of many of the mental torments and anxieties which spiritually-minded men undergo,—having no relation whatever to worldly affairs, or to anything outside of them, but altogether connected with states of conscience and of the soul. How often are the perceptions of truth darkened in the mind, and the man walks about, even at noon-day, as in a mental night, his spirit wrapped as in a shroud, and bound hand and foot! God and heaven seem to be blotted out, and the whole universe appears a blank. And then, in the darkness, lurid fires of lusts are kindled in the heart, and the man is invited to seek relief in sensuality and sin, and sometimes even in self-murder. All this the man fancies to be a course of operations going on in his own mind; he supposes it all to be of his own doing,—mere natural changes of state within his proper self. He does not see the fiends that are blowing the fires; he does not discern the active infernals that are spreading the dark pall over his soul: but they are there; and could he but see them, he would cry out in terror,—"Lord Jesus, save me, lest I perish."

And now, in conclusion, we are to consider the uses of such temptations—why they are permitted, and what spiritual ends they accomplish. On this point, the Doctrine of the New Church thus speaks:—"What good is effected by temptations or the combats of temptations, scarcely any one knows. They are the means by which evils and falses are loosened and dispersed in man, and by which horror is excited for them, and by which moreover the conscience is formed and strengthened, and thus man is regenerated. This is the reason why those who become regenerated, are let into combats, and undergo temptations; which, if not done in the life of the body, takes place in the other life with such as can be regenerated. Wherefore the Lord's Church is called the church militant."^[14]

These uses are still more fully explained in the following passage:—"Good cannot be conjoined with truth in the natural man without combats, or, what is the same thing, without temptations. That it may be known how the case is, in this respect, with man, it shall be briefly told. Man is nothing else than an organ or vessel which receives life from the Lord, for man does not live from himself. The life, which flows in with man from the Lord, is from his Divine love: this love, or the life thence derived, flows in and applies itself to the vessels, which are in man's rational principle and also to those which are in his natural principle. These vessels, with man, are in a situation contrary to that of the in-flowing life, in consequence of the hereditary evil into which man is born, and in consequence, also, of the actual evil which he forms in himself. But as far as the influent life is able to dispose the vessels to receive it, so far it does dispose them. But when the vessels are in a contrary position and direction in respect to the life, it is evident that they must be reduced to a position in agreement with it. This can by no means be effected, so long as man is in the state into which he was born, and to which, also, he has brought himself; for the vessels are not compliant, but obstinately repugnant, and opposing with all their might the heavenly order according to which the life acts. Before they can be rendered compliant, and be made fit to receive anything of the Lord's love, they must be softened; which softening is effected by no other means than by temptations: for temptations remove the things pertaining to self-love and to contempt of others in comparison with self, consequently things which are connected with self-glorying, and also with hatred and revenge thence derived. When thus the vessels are somewhat tempered and subdued by temptations, then they begin to become yielding to, and compliant with, the life of the Lord's love, which continually flows in. Thus it is, that man is regenerated, that is, made new, by temptations, or, what is the same, by spiritual combats; and that he is afterwards gifted with another disposition, being made mild, humble, simple, and contrite in heart."^[15]

Here, then, we see the grand use of spiritual temptations, namely, to soften the heart to receive the influx of the Lord's love and life. And we thus see clearly why all who reach the kingdom of heaven must pass through tribulation and trial: no otherwise can man's proud and stubborn will be broken, and self-love be changed into that love of others which is the essence of the heavenly state. We must thus expect and be prepared to endure temptations. When, then, we utter the petition, "Bring us not into temptation," we do not mean to pray that we may undergo no temptations at all—for, as just shown, these are necessary,—but we pray not to be brought or let into temptations beyond our strength to bear, and we pray, also, to be sustained in such temptations as it is necessary for us to undergo. This must be considered to be the true meaning of the petition. And we have this thought for our consolation,—that in all our temptations we have an Almighty protector, the Divine Redeemer, who conquered all the Powers of hell on the battle-ground of his own humanity, and who now, if we look to him, can conquer them also in our bosoms: "for," as says the Apostle, "in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor also those that are tempted."^[16]

1. The common translation, "lead us," is less correct.
2. Matthew x. 38.
3. i. 13.
4. Arcana Cœlestia, n. 2768.
5. Matthew xi. 12.
6. i.2.
7. Arcana Cœlestia, n. 1717.
8. True Christian Religion, n. 535.
9. T. C. R., n. 532.
10. A.C., 5,036.
11. Arcana Cœlestia, n. 8120.
12. 1 Peter v. 8.
13. Matthew xiii. 19.
14. A. C., 1692.
15. A.C., 3318.
16. Hebrews ii. 18.