Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/113

 self-satisfied: it is simply a proof that he has not good enough to see his own evil by.

Yet, at times, every man, who has any degree of spirituality whatever, or even any knowledge of religious truth, by the light of which he may be able to distinguish evil from good—feels that he is evil, that he has terrible evils within himself. Those times are, when his passions have been aroused in an unwonted manner by some outward provocation; when circumstances have occurred, which have called forth words and deeds of violence and rage, which he had not supposed himself capable of; when he has perceived feelings stirred within his bosom, which he did not imagine had an existence there. Then, if he possesses any degree of spiritual good at all, he is ashamed and alarmed at himself, feels indeed humbled in the Lord's sight, and in his sense of self-degradation is ready to exclaim, "Lord, deliver me from evil." And it is for the purpose of thus calling out man's hidden evils, that the Lord, in his providence, permits various temptations to assail us, various trials to harass us. It is the good Physician probing the wound, in order to heal it. The Lord permits various occurrences to take place in life, various circumstances to act upon us, in order that our real characters may be called forth—that we may see ourselves, and know of what nature we are; and that, feeling thus our own weaknesses and disorders of spirit, we may be conscious of our utter dependence on Him for any degree of good, and may truly and from the heart pray to be "delivered from evil."

Understanding, then, by the light of Divine