Some years ago, the manager of a business firm was about to engage an office boy. There was little time to find out particulars as to the lad's character and habits, so the following plan was decided upon. A sixpence was to be placed, as though accidentally dropped, upon the floor of the office the night immediately preceding the morning on which the lad was to commence his duties. If he brought the coin to his employer, all well and good; if not, he was to be classified as a dishonest boy and promptly dismissed.

When that poor lad rose in the morning, he probably asked God to give him his daily bread, to forgive him his sins, and not to lead him into temptation; not to lead him or place him within range of any traps and snares that might be lying in wait for him during that day, which was fraught with so many hopes and fears and upon which, as we know, hung the issues of his immediate future, whether for failure or success. Oh, strange incongruity, that God, who is Love, should be feared and pleaded with as the tempter! Now, we, who have the key which unlocks all these treasures for our freedom, we know that God leads us, not into temptation, but delivers us from all evil, and that just in the proportion that we lean upon His untiring and unerring arm for guidance and support, shall we move, without fear of a false step. Knowing that God is leading, we simultaneously know that "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man," as the apostle James tells us; that God is good, the strength and substance of all that is pure and just and holy, neither actively nor passively connected with evil in any degree or form; that HE is leading, and leading necessarily to good only.

The actual facts which followed the incident cited above, were not precisely known to the writer, though at the time the conclusion was reached and freely voiced that, owing to the cruel temptation put in his way by his employer, the lad had fallen an easy prey and his early business career was blighted. Public sympathy, however, ran very high in favor of the boy, and his employer was looked upon by most people as the one who had sinned. Now, with the spiritual interpretation of that clause in the Lord's Prayer under consideration to help us, we are rendered less liable to such defeats. "And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death" (Science and Health, p. 17). We learn that God leads us into the path of deliverance from temptation; and in the proportion that our prayer is one of assured affirmation in contradistinction to that of supplication, do we find our strength and support in all such difficulties.

One can picture the boy walking to his work on that eventful morning, perhaps running, fearful of being a little late; trembling as he neared his destination, as one who ventures timidly into the darkness of uncertainty; or perhaps full of youthful enterprise and resolve. Then thought goes to the boy of today, the boy with a Christian Science training. He walks along with head erect and countenance as fearless as the daylight; there is a certain fortitude dominating him which carries him fearlessly through every such experience, and at every attempt of evil (error) to assert itself in the shape of doubt or fear, he mentally denies the reality of any power save the divine, knowing and asserting continually that divine Love is leading, that Love alone has power to guide him, and that the path to be traversed is that which leads to good.

Is much comfort ever derived from asking God not to lead us into temptation while we believe in the power of evil? If there is, is not the comfort tenfold greater when we know for a single moment that God could not, does not, ever lead us into evil? Are we not thrice blesses who know that God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot place us in the direct line of fire? And do not we who are basking in the sunshine of this assurance, who are drinking from the clear fountains of Truth, and refreshing ourselves with the harvest gathered and stored for us in Christian Science,—should not we offer up a prayer of gratitude for this great blessing, for the realization of what has been so beautifully transposed for us from a disconcerting intimation to a supreme comfort? God leadeth us! Whatever be the seeming difficulty to be overcome, "the government shall be upon his shoulder;" and however dark and obscure the path before us, God leadeth; however luring the temptations to go to the right or the left, ah, brightest thought of all, the temptations are not of God!

Mortal mind may indeed set traps and snares for the unwatchful, it may whisper in subtle seductiveness, it may even robe itself in the garb of Truth; but mortal mind can have no power. "Get thee behind me, Satan," said Jesus, when tempted in the wilderness, and "Get thee behind me" must be the judgment pronounced by each one of us when similarly tempted. So, when the clouds of sense gather and the winds of argument blow softly around us, let us not be overcome, but be ever on the watch, vigilant and prayerful. When the tide is tugging violently and our moorings creak and groan with the strain of it, let us remember that God leadeth. Then, as we pronounce sentence on all the murmurings of sense, all the vanity of intellect, all the desires of mortal mind, and humbly assert the divine guidance, the desire which is prayer, "the habitual struggle to be always good" (Ibid., p. 4) will go up to our Father and return to us augmented by the power of divine Love. And lo! Christ, Truth, is seen walking on the water, and his "Peace, be still," restores the calm.

He alone who has known the torture of temptation can recognize fully the blessedness of scientific denial; he alone who has had the cup to his parched lips knows the seeming bitterness of rejection and the actual and unbounded joy and gratitude when both thirst and cup have disappeared. He who has borne the violence of the storm, best sees the full beauty of the calm. Then peace settles down upon us and becomes such part of our existence that we are apt to forget, or at least not fully to realize, how abundantly we are partaking of it and how untiring and patient has been that Love divine on which we are leaning. Let us cast all our care upon Him, in the supreme confidence that He careth for us; and let us guard well our thought, lest we be tempted to believe for a single moment that we are or can be separated from our divine protector. Whether it be in a moment of sin, sorrow, sickness, fear, idolatry, or self-righteousness that the tempter comes to our side, it matters not. At whatever door the watchman is sleeping, there will the thief seek an entrance; but, if every door be fast locked, the effort will be vain.

Three times, St. Matthew tells us, the devil attempted to find a flaw in Jesus' armor, and three times he failed. The only hunger Jesus evinced was for the bread of life, the word of God. The only power he knew or desired was that of the Father. He knew that his safety and protection were the Father's, and he dismissed the evil one with the words, "It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." As each temptation is put behind us, we are left purer and stronger; angels come and minister to us,—those "upward-soaring beings" which, as Mrs. Eddy tells us (Ibid., p. 299), "never lead toward self, sin, or materiality, but guide to the divine Principle of all good,"—and thither God leadeth.