(3) Again, experience has taught us to be especially watchful when any special effort has been made, or any victory won by the power of God in us, when we have felt
i A. L. Moore. " P. S. Moxom. » 0. R. Koss.
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God's nearness, and been for the moment lifted up above the ordinary life of conflict. Our greatest sins often follow closely on our highest resolutions, simply because new efforts against the enemy always stir up the enemy to new efforts against us. The very making of a resolution, and offering it to God, is an appeal against the strong one to Him who is " stronger than the strong." Even in our Blessed Lord's case, there seems to have been a mysterious connection between His fasting and His temptation. For fasting, self-restraint, self-discipline, is a preparing the soul for fight, a strengthening it against the moment of trial, and the devil fears it — feels that each act of self-restraint gives strength to what he would overcome, and his only hope is in immediate attack. The soul that fights may be overcome; the soul that prays, never. The sinner who loves his sin is safe in the bondage of evil, — the sinner who resolves in God's strength to fight, has already struck a blow for liberty.
IT It is strangely full of warning to me that the three men who here could not watch for one hour were the same three who had been, more closely than any, associated with the Master many times before : who, alone of the band, had been with Him on the holy Mount, and had seen His glory there ; who alone had been witnesses of His power in raising the daughter of Jairus to life ; one of them, too, the man who had made loudest profession of willingness to die for Him ; another, the man who most profoundly loved Him, and at the supper leaned upon His breast.^
n.
Watchfulness.
There is no commandment of Jesus which seems to be more frequently on His lips than this : Watch. If the reader will be at the pains to read the following passages in succession Luke xxi. 34-36 ; Mark xiii. 33-37; Luke xii. 35-40, xxi. 8 Matt. xxvi. 40, 41; Mark xiv. 37, 38; Matt. xxiv. 42 Matt. XXV. 1—1 3 ; he will be sufficiently impressed with the insistence which the Master lays upon this difficult duty. On
^ a. H. Knight.
444 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
this occasion the command took the form : " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." In the other instances it applies to that Parousia which He foretold as a certain, though indefinite, fact.
Let us see (1) What watching demands of us ; and (2) How we may watch most successfully.
i. What is it to Watch ?
1. It is to learn. One of a man's first duties is to get acquainted with himself, to find out his tendencies and his peculiar weaknesses, and thus, his chief danger. Learn your temptabilities. Many fall because they do not know the peculiar infirmities of their own natures. Not all are tempted by the same enticements to evil or in the same degree. What tempts one may but slightly or not at all tempt another. Much of our misjudgment of men and of our lack of sympathy with them arises from our failure to recognise clearly differences of tempera- ment and circumstances. Some men are specially vulnerable on the fleshly side. They may have generous natures, full of kindly impulses and much love of the beautiful and the good, but they are strongly sensuous and passionate. In that direction lies their chief danger. They are never tempted to be deceitful or cruel, but they are constantly tempted to be lustful. Other men are comparatively free from sensual tendencies, but they have an instinctive greed for money, and money-getting is, for them, a perilous business. They are tempted by avarice. Unconsciously they are yielding, day by day, to impulses that at last will make their hearts as hard as flint. Others are susceptible on the side of jealousy and envy, and the victories over them of their peculiar temptation are making them cruel and bitter, and driving out of their natures all love and sweetness. Here is a man who has a fiery temper. This is his vulnerable side. He lacks self-control. He is like a tinder-box, ready at a touch to burst into flame. He never premeditates evil to his fellow-men, but temptation comes, and instantly he utters the stinging word, or gives the swift blow that wounds a fellow-creature sometimes past healing. There is a woman who is weak in the instinct of truthfulness. She exaggerates easily. She does not mean to lie, but she is
ST. MARK 445
tempted, and almost invdluntarily her tongue weaves falsehood. The wisdom born of experience says : Learn your peculiar weak- ness and guard that. He is not watchful who does not watch himself. Do nothing simply because others do it. Many have sunk into moral ruin because they failed to keep the solid ground of individual safety.
2. To watch is to avoid. We cannot avoid all temptations ; nor, probably, would it be best for us if we could. St. James says : " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." This is heroic doctrine, but, evidently, by "temptations" the apostle means not merely enticements to evil, but also other forms of trial ; for he goes on to show that trials develop patience, or patient endurance (virofiovi]), and patience, when it is perfect, produces a fully matured character. There is a powerful ministry of good in trial. It is to character what fire is to oil, what drill and discipline are to an army. But the trials that develop character will come without our seeking. We may let Providence take care of that. The part of wisdom for us is to avoid temptations — to utter the prayer and to live in the line of its suggestion : " Lead us not into temptation." Many temptations we can avoid ; and, when we are bidden to " watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation," we are bidden to shape our course, to choose our business, to elect our companions, to control our pleasures, our reading, and our thoughts, with a view to our peculiar tendencies or susceptibilities, so that we shall not encounter unnecessary and probably disastrous entice- ments to sin.