TEMPTATION. 319 



up, or a reputation to gain. Of course those who 

 crave not for notoriety, and do not strive to soar 

 above their fellow-men, will think this very wrong, 

 and inwardly believe nought could induce them to 

 do the same ; but then they have never had induce- 

 ments to make them think otherwise. Let not the 

 man boast of honesty, that ne'er has tempted been. 

 That great poet and deep judge of human nature, 

 Burns, wisely said that many do not fall because 

 they are never tempted ; and that, when we are 

 ready to condemn others for backslidings, we should 

 first try to learn how much more temptation the 

 backslider may have resisted. At least this is my 

 prosaic paraphrase of Burns' exquisite Doric lines to 

 this effect, which embody the very essence of Christian 

 charity. 



