In this abridgement of John Owen’s classic work Of Temptation, the famous Puritan theologian opens up Matthew 26:41, carefully explaining what temptation is and what it means to enter into it. Owen then shows how Christ teaches two means for Christians to use in order to guard against this danger, namely watching and praying:

“These two”, Owen says, “comprise the whole endeavour of faith for the souls preservation from temptation”, and he insists that it is the duty of every believer to follow diligently Christ’s instructions to avoid falling into temptation. Owen helpfully applies his teaching, explaining how we can know whether we have entered into temptation, what practical steps we should take to preserve our souls from entering into it, how to identify those particular times when people tend to enter into temptation, and showing us the best ways of watching the heart itself.