conscious that his riches have ever been any great temptation to him—if he can remember no struggle and contest, in which Satan strove to beguile him by means of them—if he does not distinctly know and feel what the danger of riches is; as one who has recovered from some dreadful malady can realize the true nature and misery of sickness;—he has but too much reason to conclude, that "a deceived heart hath turned him aside," that "the deceitfulness of riches" has beguiled him, that he knows not the contest because he is an unresisting captive. For if the danger be so great, the temptation so overpowering, how shall a man flatter himself that he has encountered and overcome it without being aware that he has done so? "When a strong man armed keepeth his house his goods are at peace;" such is the peace of him who has never felt the power of this world's riches, because he never resisted it.
If we examine the nature of that special temptation which accompanies wealth, we shall less wonder at its insinuating and treacherous power. Agur prays, "give me not riches, lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord?" This open impiety is but the full developement of the mental habit of "trusting in riches;" and it is a temptation under the power of which hundreds have fallen who continue to call Christ their Master and Lord. A man trusts in riches, when they are more or less the
