Luke 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation… To make which more plausible it is ever his cunning practice to attire them in that dress and livery which best suits each man's humour and complexion. To the fantasy of the melancholy he whispers nothing but horror, plying him with all objects that may bring him to madness or despair. To the sanguine complexion he presents those wanton delights whereunto naturally it leans. The phlegmatic, like marshes which every tide overflows, he seeks to lay quite under water by the habit of that moist vice, which like a deluge covers the greater part of the earth — drunkenness. Lastly, the furious and choleric he prompts to quarrels, cherishing that unruly flame so long till he has made them believe that murder is the triumph of reputation; so causing them to purchase the opinion of an unhappy valour by bloodshed. At which luckless period he leaves them to the torture of a guilty conscience in this life and the fearful expectation of vengeance in the next. Thus doth the devil, like a politic engineer, besiege us in our own works, turning our passions, like daggers, upon our own breasts. (Archdeacon King.)But though the devil be the chief instigator of sin, the flesh is the instrument. Nay, saith , "Etiam si, Diabolus non esset, heroines haberent appetitum ciborum et Venereorum" — Were there no other devil, we have one at home, an invisible devil that lodgeth in the blood, the seditious appetite which urges us to perpetual mutiny against the good motions of God's Spirit. (Archdeacon King.) Parallel Verses KJV: And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. |
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