Remember first, then, that we have all a lower side.
There is in us what I may call a lurking, crouching, slumbering devil,
which needs constant watching and holding down with the strong hand of
self-mastery and prayer. "Praying always with all prayer, and watching
thereunto," says the apostle. In every one of us there is the
possibility of falling, however high we stand and however near God we
walk. Bunyan says, in his immortal story, "Then I saw in my dream that
by the very gate of heaven there was a way that led down to hell." No
man, however ripe in goodness, however firmly rooted and grounded in
faith, love, and Christian qualities, ever gets beyond the need of
vigilant sentinel work--watching himself. He must always be buffeting
himself, and keeping under his body, as Paul did, lest he himself
should be a castaway. Let him grow careless, presumptuous, neglectful
of prayer, and all the old tempers and passions slowly steal in, and
bit by bit obtain the mastery, and the Christian disgraces his
profession, and the saint becomes a sinner again. Every Christian
knows this. He knows the evil powers that are in him.
It is the man who has never fought with his temptation, never prayed,
who especially needs to be reminded of it; young men and women who have
been well brought up, who have kept themselves moderately straight so
far, and who are full of good resolutions. I hear them say, "Oh I am
strong enough. I am not such a fool as to throw myself away in the
stupid game of the prodigal, in drunkenness, and gambling, and unclean
living. I can hold myself in. I can go just as far as I please. I
can indulge to a certain extent, and pull myself up just at the moment
I please; and as for prayer and seeking God's help, thank my stars I
can clear a safe course without all that. I shall not overstep the
line you may depend upon it." "_Is thy servant a dog, that he should
do this_?"
And I answer, yes--there is quite enough of the dog in you, or of the
devil, if you like the word better, to do this and to do worse
things--if you play with the dog and let it loose, and let it have a
free run now and then. In my time I have heard scores of young men
talk in this way. I have heard them laugh scornfully when danger was
mentioned to them, and I have seen a few of them fortunate enough to
grow up to manhood with a fairly unspotted character; a few, but not
many--the greater part have gone wrong, and some deplorably wrong.
There is hardly one of us can keep that dog fastened up and chained
down always, unless we rely upon a stronger power than our own. It
gets loose at times with the best of us--it runs wild and plays
dreadful havoc with those who are not the best; there is always in you
the baser self--always the dry torches of evil passions which a spark
may kindle--always the moral weaknesses and lusts, half-sleeping, which
some stronger blast of temptation may awaken and bring out; and if you
wish to escape the evil and hold fast to the good, you will commit your
way unto the Lord, and put on the Christian armour, and strengthen
yourselves by prayer. Do not presume too much--better men than you
have fallen every day. God only can save you from yourselves.