weapon. Thus did David slay Goliath with his own sword; thus was Haman hanged on his own gallows; thus did Christ triumph at the last over Satan by a tree, wherewith Satan had ruined man.
IV. We tempt the Lord our God, whenever—
1. Presumptuously we require Him to alter the course of nature on our behalf.
2. We rush needlessly into danger.
3. We thoughtlessly cast ourselves into prayer, without having prepared our minds as to what we shall ask. (Eccles. xviii. 23.)
4. We persevere in sin that grace may abound, postponing repentance, stopping our ears to the calls of God.
5. We tie God down to means, as the princes of Bethulia tempted God, when they said that they would give up the city in five days. (Judith viii. 11.)
6. We attempt to excogitate the meaning of Scripture, with regard to doctrine, for ourselves, without following the direction of our divinely-constituted and infallible guide, the Church.
7. We stifle the promptings of conscience.
8. We neglect the appointed means of grace for those of our own choosing.
Again the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and St. Luke adds, in a moment of time.
