temptation, betrayed by some weakness, have fallen into sin. Do not say, brethren, that this petition is a prayer for the weak! Do not say it is a prayer for the timid and the cowardly! It is a prayer for us all. Peter very likely thought that there was no need for him to pray this prayer. Perhaps in his heart he longed for an opportunity to be given him of showing how strong and brave he was. Deny his Lord? No! not though all the world forsook Him! No! not though it meant death to be faithful! Well, the night did not pass without bringing an opportunity of putting his boasted strength to the test. But how badly Peter came out of the trial! Would you recognise the proud boaster of a few hours before in the swearing, blaspheming denier at cock-crow? And we have many an example in the old Book, beside that of Peter, to warn us against over-confidence. Abraham, whose faith is commended in Scripture, lost all his faith in Egypt. Moses, the man who was renowned for his meekness, lost his temper when the children of Israel murmured. David, the sweet singer of Israel, the man after God’s own heart, was swept by his lust into an act of foulest wickedness. And these examples are enshrined in the pages of this old Book, to bid us beware of over-confidence, and not to boast ourselves in our strength. Pride ever cometh before a fall. There is weakness in all of us. To the strongest of you here this morning, to you who perhaps think yourselves beyond the reach of temptation, let me repeat the old Bible warning, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” It is the knowledge of our own weakness that makes temptation terrible. We distrust ourselves. We look back over past years and see the number of times we have fallen, the number of times we have yielded to the fascination of the world’s syren song. We remember, too, that when we did escape it was so as by fire; it was through pain and agony. We remember how hard the struggle was, and how near we were to yielding. And the remembrance both of our falls and our escapes makes us afraid. We feel that our safety lies in never hearing those fatal strains again. So, conscious of our own weakness, and yet desiring not to offend our heavenly Father again by our sin, we make this our prayer, “Bring us not into temptation.”