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DISCOURSE VII.

MATTHEW, Vi. 12.

Lead us not into temptation.

THE subject on which we are now entering is, confessedly, of high importance. But the majority of the human race are, indeed, lamentably indifferent to it; they enter on the stage of life, and engage in their respective avocations, without any serious inquiry into the nature of the evils by which they may be assailed. Fixing their eye on some favourite object, and anticipating fresh pleasures at every step, they are unmindful of the snares which are spread around them, and become, at length, the victims of delusion, folly, and

shame. With the Christian, however, who earnestly desires to enjoy the Divine approbation, it is far otherwise. He longs to know what dangers may infest his path,-how he shall escape them, and in what manner he shall conduct himself in the important struggle which he is bound to maintain against his spiritual foes, until the end of life. If any man suppose the heavenly path-way to be covered with flowers, he will be deceived: if he imagine that he shall escape dangers without endeavouring to avoid them, or that he shall obtain the prize of eternal life without contending for it, he will evince a deplorable ignorance both of his own heart, and of the Holy Scriptures. All the commands, prohibitions, and exhortations, of the inspired word, suppose our liableness to evil, and are given to us with the merciful design of awakening us to vigilance and prayer. The Apostle Paul, in reference to this subject, recommends the Ephesians to put on the whole armour of God; and concludes his advice in these words;

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Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance." This direction accords exactly with the petition which we propose to examine in the ensuing discourse;-a petition, which, if sincerely and constantly offered to

our heavenly Father, will manifest vital piety, and secure, together with a complete victory over our spiritual adversaries, the commendations of Him who hath said, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

In discussing this subject, I shall endeavour,

I. To give a correct view of temptation. II. To show what it is to be led into it; and, III. To reflect on the import of the prayer respecting it.

I. I propose to make some remarks on temptation.

Temptation, in the most extensive sense of the word, signifies any kind of trial by which our virtue may be brought to the test. With this latitude it is used by the sacred writers, who leave us to judge of its exact meaning by the general strain of their discourses. The sense in which it occurs first in Scripture, is, simply, "to put to trial." "It came to pass, says the sacred historian, "that God did tempt Abraham, that is, he called the patriarch to

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perform a difficult task, for the purpose of trying his faith, love, and obedience. Our Lord furnishes us with a similar idea, when he reminds his disciples of their having been with him in his temptations: and when he promises to keep the church of Philadelphia from the hour of temptation which was to come upon all the world. In the former of these instances, there is an allusion to the afflictions of the Redeemer during his ministry; in the latter, to the terrible persecutions which befell the christian church in the days of pagan Rome. This idea the Apostle Paul seems to have attached to the word, when, in recounting the sufferings of the Hebrew Christians, he says, "they were tempted." The expressions by which he describes their persecutions immediately after, may be considered as explanatory of this word.*

The inspired penmen sometimes employ it to describe the perverseness and rebellion of ungodly men: thus the disobedient Israelites are said to have "tempted the Holy One of Israel." Men are guilty of this sin, when they require stronger evidence of the Divine perfections, and of the authenticity of revealed religion, than can be reasonably expected; or,

* Hebrews, xi. 36-38.

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