of inducing him to
sin. Such a suggestion would be blasphemous. "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."[19] Trials may also come through man,
acting consciously or unconsciously, under the direction of God, who
might use such a one to try His servant. We do not mean to treat in
these pages, however, this aspect of temptation. We are to deal with
the word in its popular use, as meaning some inducement to commit sin.

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Before going further, therefore, it will be well for us to define
temptation in the sense in which we are using it.

_Temptation is any solicitation, from whatever source, directed towards
an intelligent, moral creature, who is in a state of probation, to
violate the known will of God._

(1) All such temptation comes primarily from Satan as its source. He
is originally responsible for every solicitation to sin, although he
does not always act directly and immediately. He does perhaps most of
his work through agents, men or devils. One very active agent of Satan
is ourselves, though we often fail to realize it. By entering into
occasions of sin we assist the tempter, and by repeated acts we so
train our hearts to delight in some particular sin that no outside
solicitation is necessary. We sin, and go on sinning, not because he
is busy persuading us to it, but because, like rebellious Israel of
old, we "love to have it so."[20]

(2) In order to constitute temptation, the solicitation must be
directed to an intelligent, moral creature. An idiot or an insane
person cannot be tempted, because he has neither the intellect to
understand what is going on, nor any moral responsibility.

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(3) To be tempted one must be in a state of probation. Neither the
Saints nor the angels in heaven, nor the souls of the faithful
departed, can be tempted; they are beyond the sphere in which it is
possible for temptation to operate. Nor yet can the devils, nor the
souls of the lost, suffer from temptation, for the nature of temptation
indicates a choice, and they have made their eternal choice, which at
their Judgment received the divine ratification; for this, in its
essence, is what the Judgment is,--the divine ratification of the
choice the soul made when it was free to choose.

(4) Nothing can constitute temptation save what is a solicitation to
violate the known will of God. He does not hold the soul responsib