is perfect human will is so bound up with ours
that it is not possible for us to be overcome except in so far as we
fall away from this union with Him. And His love is our love, going
out to God and to our fellow-man.

(3) The enemy is Satan, the prince of this world and of the hosts of
hell; whose purpose in the warfare is the dishonour of God, and who
fights against us just because we are the children of God.

(4) His chief mode of attack is what is commonly called Temptation, the
alluring of the soul to some thought, word, or deed that is contrary to
the will of God.

{9}

(5) The successful resistance of temptation is a victory for our souls
to the honour of our King. The battle is His; and the victory is won
when we so yield ourselves to Him that He can employ us as instruments
of His warfare.

(6) The entrance of any sin is defeat for our souls to our King's
dishonour, and no sin can enter save in so far as we become partakers
of the Satanic purpose and will.

(7) The entrance of serious wilful sin is a yielding of ourselves as
Satan's captives.

(8) Such captivity means not an idle, passive confinement in some
spiritual prison, but an active enlistment in the armies of hell to
fight against our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us keep these considerations before us; let us ask the Holy Spirit
to give us a right understanding of these truths; and our study of the
Christian warfare will not be in vain.

IV. _The Nature of Temptation_

We have said above that Satan's chief weapon in his war against the
soul is what is commonly called Temptation, whereby he allures the soul
to consent to some thought, word, or deed that is contrary to the
divine will.

Temptation is always a testing of the soul. {10} This testing may be
applied by God Himself, by Satan, or one of his fallen angels, or by
one of our fellow-men.

God may be said to tempt man in the sense of applying tests to prove or
instruct him, as when it is said that "God did tempt Abraham"[17] in
commanding him to offer up Isaac. In every such case, however, God
beforehand gives the soul He is testing sufficient grace to bear the
trial. This is taught us by St. Paul in the text that we shall come
back to over and over again: "God is faithful who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able."[18] Should failure and sin
result, it would be because there had been wilful neglect to use the
strength given. God cannot tempt man in the sense