and serene about us, when our body is free from pain, and our mind from care; then should we fear the enemy, when he thinks himself secure of us by leaving us alone in prosperity, the greatest of his temptations: hence the necessity to us who are prosperous, constantly exercising ourselves in the virtues proper to our station; if we see others led to virtue through hardships and poverty, we can only attain to this through charity and humility: if God has called others to defend their virtue against the assaults of vice, we, who enjoy a free and unmolested virtue, must take care that prosperity be not our ruin if others are obliged constantly to be on their guard, and have work enough to secure an unblemished innocence, we who are in the securest recesses of our Lord's vineyard, having no dan gers to molest our peace, must zealously labor to till and improve the soil, that we may give a good account of the talent committed to us. Secondly, from our Lord's temptation it appears that trials and temptations may be great and severe, where the gifts of the Spirit are administered in the largest proportion; and since those who are tempted may fall, (for otherwise temptations would be no trials,) it appears that grace may be sufficient; yet men may fall through the want of care and diligence on their own part. Our natural infirmities therefore, and a want of God's grace, is a false comfort and no excuse; for God suffers none to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear. The instruction to be learnt from these things, if we are so unhappy as to offend, is not to try to palliate our offences, or to charge God foolishly, but to labor, through a timely repentance, to correct what is done amiss, and thus return to our duty: God causes us to be tempted as a proof and trial of our virtue; and if we offend, the only remedy is repentance through faith in Christ Jesus; which coming from a sincere heart will never be rejected.

DISCOURSE XXI.

LUKE, CHAP. IV.-VERSES 1, 2.

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil.

AFTER Our Saviour had washed his disciples' feet, and wiped them with a towel, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?' None answering this question, he explained to them himself the meaning of what he had done: 'Ye call me,' says he, Master, and Lord; and ye say well: for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent, greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.' Should you ask the like question concerning the history in the text, our Saviour's temptation in the wilderness, and say, what is this that has been done unto him? how came the Son of God to be thus insulted by the powers of darkness? whence arose the tempter's confidence and power? or why were consummate virtue and innocence submitted to this proof and trial? you might be answered in like manner also, He hath given us an example, that we should do as he hath done.' Were you to hear the complaints, which even good men often make, that they are forced to struggle with many and with great temptations; that the paths of virtue are slippery and insecure, beset with many dangers; and that their prayers to be delivered from their trials come empty back, and bring no blessing with them; you might in our Saviour's name and in his words expostulate the case with them: Ye call me Lord and Master: and ye say well;

for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master,' have been perfected through trials, and in all things tempted even like unto you, whence come your complaints? whence is it said that you expect to be exempted from that condition to which I willingly submitted? 'The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.' I have led the way, and shown you how to conquer: and if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.'

Since these things therefore are written for our instruction and admonition, the properest use we can make of them is to consider them in that view, and to keep at a distance from such nice questions as no man enters into with discretion, or gets out of with advantage. There is room in all the parts of the gospel dispensation to admire and adore the wisdom and the goodness of God, if that will content us, without prying into the secret methods of his providence. In this case now before us we want not matter of this kind: when the tempter allured our first parents to disobedience with the flattering hopes that they should be as gods, little did the blind prophet think that the day should ever come when the Son of God would appear in the likeness of man, to take vengeance of his bold attempt, to destroy his works, and to redeem the captives into the glorious liberty even of the sons of God: little did he imagine that man, who fell by aspiring to be like God, should ever indeed be so like him, as to be superior to all his arts and temptations, and be able to drive him from the dominion he had usurped over the creation. And yet behold the wisdom and the goodness of God! By man came death, and by man came the plenteousness of redemption: the first fruits of which we see in this victory over the tempter.

Thus with respect to God does this temptation afford an ample subject of praise and glory: but considered with respect to ourselves, it will yield us the greatest comfort and consolation to support us in our spiritual warfare, and the best instruction how to behave ourselves in it. There is no doubt to be made but that all the tempter's art was displayed against our Saviour: here then we may learn the worst we have to fear, and see the dangers we have to pass, in our way to happiness, and secure ourselves against the surprises which are often fatal

to heedless unguarded innocence: here too we may learn from the best example, how to make the best defence against the different temptations we stand exposed to; how manfully to maintain the combat, and to resist the fiery darts of the devil.

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These lessons of Christian prudence and fortitude are to be learnt from our Saviour's conduct and behavior under the different trials the tempter made of him but I propose at this time to consider the circumstances which attended this temptation, and are recorded by the Evangelist in my text: 'And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil.' Now this temptation, we see, succeeded immediately to his baptism, in which the Spirit visibly descended on him; and God declared him, in a voice from heaven, to be his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased. And accordingly the text expressly tells us that he was led to be tempted, being full of the Holy Ghost.'

You see the power of baptism, and the blessings that are annexed to it, to which all are entitled who partake in the baptism of Christ: for himself he was neither born nor baptized, but for our sakes, that the blessings of both might descend on us, who through faith are heirs together with him of the promises of God.

By baptism the gates of heaven are set open to us, and the way paved for our return to our native country: by baptism we are declared to be such sons of God in whom he will delight, and whom he will appoint to be heirs of his kingdom: by baptism we receive the promise of the Spirit, by which we cry, Abba, Father.

Are not these great privileges? And is not here room for mighty expectations? And yet how unsuitable to these claims do the circumstances of a Christian's life often appear! He is on the road to heaven, you say, and the gates stand open to receive him; but how does he stumble and fall like other men, and sometimes lose his way, and wander long, bewildered in night and darkness! or if he keeps the road, how lazily does he travel, as if he were unwilling to come to his journey's end, and afraid to see the country which he is going to possess ! The Christian only of all men pretends to supernatural power

and strength, and an intimate acquaintance with the Spirit of God and yet how hardly does he escape the pollutions of the world, and how often look back with languishing eyes on the pleasures, riches, and honors of this life! And though he boasts of more than human strength, yet how does he sometimes sink below the character and dignity even of a man! Ye sons of God, for such ye say ye are, how do you die like the children of men, and how like is your end to theirs! And what must we say of these things? Is the promise of God become of none effect? Is baptism sunk into mere outward ceremony, and can no longer reach to the purifying the heart and mind? The fact must not be disputed: it is too evident, at least in these our days, that the lives of Christians do not answer to the manifold gifts and graces bestowed on them and it is as true that this has given great occasion to the enemies of the gospel to blaspheme, to ridicule the grace of God, which seems to them to be no real, no useful gift or power. But then it is certain, on the other side, that these prejudices have arisen from the mistaken notions which men have entertained concerning the grace of God: their expectations have been groundless and unwarrantable: they have promised themselves more than ever God promised them; and then finding that grace is not what they expected and hoped it was, they rashly conclude that it is nothing; and argue against the truth of God's promises merely from the vanity and delusion of their own. If you expect that the grace of God should ward off all temptations from you, or rescue you from the power and influence of them, notwithstanding your own remissness and want of care; as well may you expect that swords and pistols should fight your battles, subdue your enemies, and conquer countries for you, whilst your soldiers lie dissolved in ease and luxury, and forget to use their arms. The graces of the Spirit are the arms of a Christian, with which he is to enter the lists against the powers of darkness; and are a certain indication to us that God intends to call us to the proof and exercise of our virtue: why else does he give us this additional strength? We had strength enough of our own to sit still and do nothing: had it been his intention to remove us out of the way of temptation, and to place us out of danger, our weakness and our security