for the confirmation of our faith; that past sin is turned into an instrument for checking sin in present and future times. As healing medicines are drawn from poisonous plants and herbs, so does God in the spiritual world draw good from evil, turn the falls and faults of His saints into friendly beacons for the voyager's guidance across the perilous waters, and makes the errors of some men the means of health and safety and life to others.

Nor was St. Thomas the only one of "the glorious company of Apostles" who turned from Jesus and was weak in faith. He is not the only one of those great saints who has left behind him the trace and record of denial of his Lord, of wavering or of broken allegiance. Even putting out of sight the traitor Judas, the son of perdition, once entrusted by Christ with an Apostle's office and the ministry of the word of life, do we not see the whole band at some time or other and in some way falling short in faith and love? The very best and bravest of the soldiery of Christ, the very first-fruits of the Spirit, the greater lights of the Church, appear before us with some dim clouded parts, with some scars upon their souls, with some limbs bruised and maimed. Those most practised in the spiritual

war have not escaped without a wound. In the highest forms of saintliness, in the persons of the most pure and heavenly-minded, where the love of Christ glowed with more than common warmth, who have shone as men belonging to the world beyond, we have seen at times the power of sin. The very company of the Apostles at times were overcome by the worldly mind. St. Peter denied our Lord even with an oath; St. James and St. John burnt with ambitious desires for height of place; St. Paul was puffed up with spiritual pride; St. Thomas doubted our Lord's resurrection; and in the hour of need "they all forsook Him and fled;" when the Shepherd was smitten the whole flock was scattered, not one heart was firm; the Lord was indeed left to tread the winepress alone, and alone to bear the storm.

In all these sad instances of failing love, of weakness and want of faith, we have proof enough that they were men of like passions with ourselves, and, however purified by Christ's presence, not altogether free from the power of the world or of a carnal will. It is true that after the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost fell on them, they gave signs of reaching a higher elevation of faith; but we have witness even then that

the noblest of the sons of God do not lose all marks of the old Adam, and do not get quite beyond the reach of Satan's darts. We see St. Peter playing a double and unworthy part in the matter of eating with the Gentiles when St. Paul withstood him to the face; we see St. Paul, not a disciple at the day of Pentecost, but after his síns had been washed away in Baptism, and great gifts of the Spirit had been bestowed, having a sharp contention with Barnabas, and parting in anger from his friend.

Now though there is something sad and disappointing in looking at the dark side of the character of such saints as these, the saltest portion of the salt, we may find much comfort; and we may believe that for the good and comfort's sake of the members of Christ, God has suffered, nay more, has caused the darker parts of His most beloved followers' lives to be preserved, and those things which are to their shame to be told and re-told among us. We see, for instance, at once, that the revelation of their faults may have great power in comforting those who in their day of warfare are apt sometimes to despair, to grow faint-hearted, to waver in their following of Christ, because they cannot always keep their ground.

Satan, we may be sure, is not slow, when he

has once made the foot of any of us slip, to suggest feelings of despair, to put us out of heart, to lower the pulse of Christian hope, to persuade us that as we have slipped so far already, a close walk with God, real devotion of heart and life, is something beyond us, which might as well be given up. The great deceiver, ever ready to take advantage of our natural feelings after a fall, and to turn them to his own purpose, tries to carry these feelings to excess, to take hope from sorrow, to put discouraging imaginations into our head, to exaggerate the difficulties of the religious life. Pointing to our failure as something that settles the point, he reminds us of warm resolutions so lately formed, in order to make us feel either the uselessness of resolutions, or the hopelessness of God's pardon after such a fall. In short his endeavour is to make us plunge into the world again, and to become hopeless or reckless as to our spiritual state.

Who is there that has not been tempted to speak thus with himself, when after some earnest endeavours to serve Christ he has fallen into sin: "I see it is no use for me to strive; I thought at one time that I was getting on, that I was growing in grace and in the love of God, that I was becoming somewhat grounded and

rooted in good ways; I have been anxious about my soul; I have striven much with the world and with myself; and lo, now the tide has swept me back almost to the starting-point; my strength has been spent in vain; I have only struggled and toiled up the hill to slip down again; it is all over with me now; others may succeed, but I cannot; God seems to have forsaken me; I must be one of those whom God has left to themselves. Of what use is it for me to strive any more ?"

In this manner, I feel sure, many a heart has addressed itself after sin has exercised some power and when such thoughts have risen, Satan has been busy in strengthening and prolonging them that he might get us really to throw down the cross in despair, and to give up the race as lost.

Now first of all, let us bear in mind that all such thoughts are temptations, temptations against which we must strive and pray; and if being thus tempted some passages of Scripture at the same time rush into our mind, as may be the case, which appear to warrant our despair, let us be sure that Satan is tempting us to interpret them amiss. It is true that desponding persons have made Scripture, wrongly interpreted,