Nor will prayer alone suffice. There must be a "watching thereunto with all perseverance"; not relaxing our vigilance, but maintaining it to the end. Neither is the soul to grow faint in its watch, nor imagine, in regard to any point, that careful guard is no longer necessary. {77} The word "thereunto" calls for comment. Does the vigilance enjoined apply only to the work of prayer which has just been mentioned, or does it reach back to the whole category of duties included in putting on the armour of God? At first glance it might seem inadequate to make it refer only to the all-embracing duty of prayer, but if we comprehend fully all that prayer means, we shall see that it is not necessary that we should directly connect the injunction to vigilance with anything else.[6] If we are keenly vigilant to pray as we ought in the power of the Spirit concerning truth and righteousness, faith and salvation, and all else that the Apostle has been describing, nothing will be wanting to us as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. How truly did à Kempis catch the thought which the Holy Spirit had given the great Apostle when he paraphrased our Lord's command in the words, "Be watchful in prayer." Let us consider, then, this twofold weapon with which God will arm us, for we note that they are not two separate weapons. Our Lord said, "Watch ye and pray," and the blessed à Kempis gives us, as we have just seen, the true commentary on the command in the paraphrase, "Watch in prayer." {78} Vigilance without prayer would be to learn of the danger, and yet fail to guard against it. To pray without vigilance would be to expect God to work some miracle for us, to protect us when we ourselves had done nothing to employ the means He places in our hands for forestalling and defeating Satan. In short, it would be a sin of presumption. So one cannot avail without the other. With this understanding clear in our minds, let us proceed to examine the relation of vigilance and prayer to temptation. II. _The Spirit of Vigilance_ "_Watch._" This implies much more than a mere guarding ourselves in a general way. It means that a systematic and regular guard is to be kept over our _whole life_, over _all_ our senses and faculties, over _all_ circumstances and conditions so far as we can by any means direct them.