TEMPTATION.

LEAD us rot into temptation. MATTHEW, vi, 13.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: for the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. MATTHEW, XXvi, 41.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. I. CORIN THIANS, X, 13.

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. GALATIANS, vi, 1.

PERHAPS thou dost but try me yet take heed!
There's naught so monstrous but the mind of man,
In some condition, may be brought to approve :
Theft, sacrilege, treason, and parricide,

When flattering opportunity enticed,

And desperation drove, have been committed

By those who once would start to hear them named.

No mortal footing treads so firm in virtue

As always to abide the slippery path,
Nor deviate with the bias.

LILLO.

HENRY BROOKE.

VIRTUE's no virtue whiles it lives secure;
When difficulty waits on 't, then 't is pure.

JOHN QUARLES.

THEY that fear the adder's sting will not come

Near her hissing.

GEORGE CHAPMAN.

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds,
Makes ill deeds done!

SHAKSPEARE.

Ar me! how many perils do enfold

The righteous man, to make him daily fall!
Were not that heavenly grace doth him uphold,
And stedfast truth acquit him out of all.

SPENSER.

THUS the fond heart, by some dear passion swayed,
Frail and corrupt, is soon to sin betrayed;
Vice by degrees a firm possession gains,
And o'er the willing soul despotic reigns;
Dreadful no more the withered hag appears,
Pursued by doubts, and harrowed up by fears:
Tricked out in lavish ornaments, she smiles,
A dangerous Circe fraught with chainful wiles.
JAMES SCOTT.

O, TREMBLING, learn

That Peter, too, was chosen by his Lord,
Admonished, and forewarned, and resolute,
And sworn to persevere in righteousness;
Yet in the hour of trial, Peter fell.
Into temptation lead us not, O God!
But with Thy hand deliver us from ill!

A SLIGHT, a single glance,

COCKBURN.

And shot at random, often has brought home
A sudden fever to the throbbing heart

Of envy, rancour, or impure desire.

We see, we hear with peril; safety dwells
Remote from multitude.

OFTENTIMES, to win us to our harm,

The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence.

YOUNG.

SHAKSPEARE.

BETWEEN the acting of a fearful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
The genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council; and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.

HIS unexhausted mine the sordid vice
Avarice shows, and virtue is his price.
Here various motives his ambition raise

SHAKSPEARE.

Power, pomp, and splendour, and the thirst of praise.
There beauty woos him with expanded arms;
E'en Bacchanalian madness has its charms.
Nor these alone, whose pleasures less refined
Might well alarm the most unguarded mind,
Seek to supplant his inexperienced youth,
Or lead him devious from the path of truth;
Hourly allurements on his passions press,
Safe in themselves, but dangerous in excess.

COWPER.

THANKFULNESS-GRATITUDE.

LIGHT is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. PSALM xcvii, 11.

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. PROVERBS, XV, 13.

By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. HEBREWS, xiii, 15.

Giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. EPHESIANS, V, 20.

LOVE rules the universal heart of man

Through all its range of age, rank, place, and mood;
But thou, since first in Heaven her reign began,
Her holiest offspring art, O Gratitude!

Man's hard, stern heart grows soft, with thee imbued,
And sweeter swells the fount of woman's love:-
O, let thy forms in dwellings wide and rude,
Nor doubt, nor scorn, in polished bosoms move :
Since, wheresoe'er thou be, thou comest from above!
GEO. H. COLTON.

AND, as the grateful peasant cried,
To whom earth's goods thou hadst denied,
Blessing his God, through every ill,
The light of day was left him still;
So I give thanks, whate'er befall,
Thou still hast left what gladdens all.

THOMAS WARD.

NOT thankful when it pleaseth me;
As if Thy blessings had spare days:
But such a heart whose pulse may be
Thy praise.

GEORGE HERBERT.

THE cherub Gratitude

-behold her eyes!

With love and gladness weepingly they shed
Ecstatic smiles; the incense that her hands
Uprear, is sweeter than the breath of May,
Caught from the nectarine's blossom, and her voice
Is more than voice can tell; to Him she sings,
To Him who feeds, who clothes, and who adorns,
Who made, and who preserves, whatever dwells
In air, in steadfast earth, or fickle sea.

He whose days in wilful woe are worn,

The grace of his Creator doth despise,

SMART.

That will not use His gifts, for thankless niggardise.

SPENSER.

A BLESSING given to those will not disburse
Some thanks, is little better than a curse.
Great Giver of all blessings, Thou that art
The Lord of gifts, give me a grateful heart;
O, give me that, or keep Thy favours from me!
I wish no blessings with a vengeance to me.
FRANCIS QUARLES.

WHILE this immortal spark of heavenly flame
Distends my breast, and animates my frame,
To Thee my ardent praises shall be borne

On the first breeze that wakes the blushing morn;
The latest star shall hear the pleasing sound,
And nature in full choir shall join around.
When full of Thee, my soul excursive flies
Through earth, air, ocean, or Thy regal skies;
From world to world new wonders still I find,

And all the Godhead flashes on my mind.

When, winged with whirlwinds, vice shall take its flight To the deep bosom of eternal night,

To Thee my soul shall endless praises pay:

Join, men and angels! join the exalted lay.

BLACKLOCK