we see and feel in ourselves constantly. But to have the hand of GOD pointed out to us in these things is very affecting, and enough to make the stoutest heart to tremble.

To hear that GOD will send upon them a strong delusion, so that they cannot but believe a lie,-a judicial blindness, an infatuation which God will lay upon them, to go before destruction! —that the gracious FATHER of all love and mercy, the Author of all good, should HIMSELF lead into temptation:-this reflection is infinitely awful, if any thing in this world can be; and to those who will consider it, very moving. These expressions, like the imprecations in the Psalms, point, as it were, with an iron hand, to the great and inconceivable consummation-chains under darkness, and sentences of eternal condemnation, pronounced (Oh, the terrible mystery !) even by the LAMB that was slain.

But though this Scriptural mode of speech may appear strange, it is not without its own holy encouragement and consolation. It is so far from being unworthy of GoD, that nothing can be more calculated to promote in us a loving dependance and confidence in HIM, as showing us that God must be all in all to us; how in HIM altogether we have our spiritual being, and without HIM we die.

He often represents HIMSELF to us as a sheltering wing, as a place of refuge, as a shield: it is in such attributes He delights. "Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward"." "Thou art a place to hide me in 1o ”

Our LORD has commanded us to watch and pray that we enter not into temptation; but in this brief Prayer He has taught us more than this-that in watching and praying against temptation, we cast all our care upon GOD, as knowing that it is in HIM whether we stand or fall. It teaches us not to fear the great enemy, who is ever hovering over us as a bird of prey, or a lion, seeking whom he may devour; but to fear only lest we lose the protection of our Good GOD, lest we be found from under His wing when the enemy comes. It takes off the thoughts from all other considerations, and fixes them on GoD only. It sets before us the spiritual man at his best estate but as a tottering infant, that cannot walk without the support of its parent's

9 Gen. xv. 1.

10 Ps. xxxii. 8.

hand. Or it is as if a child were walking in the dark, and full of alarm, and clung to his parent's side, afraid of nothing else but that he should be deserted by his parent and left to himself. The world is, indeed, full of temptations; our very "life upon the earth is a temptation:" and perhaps in some sense, the better men are, and the nearer they are brought to God, the more temptations they have to undergo. It was immediately after the Voice from Heaven, that said, "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased," that CHRIST was tempted of the devil; it was after they were delivered from Egypt that Israel was tried in the wilderness; and the wise man hath said, "My son, if thou come to serve the LORD, prepare thy soul for temptation'." But of such temptations we have the full assurance that GOD is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape'." In such temptations we may be sure of God's strength and protection. It is CHRIST HIMSELF that sits in His Temple, as a refiner and purifier of silver 3." And St. Peter speaks of such "manifold temptations" of the righteous, as those by which "the trial of" their " faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and glory at the appearing of JESUS CHRIST." In such trials the whole of our strength will depend upon humility; on that humility which presumes not, but “feareth always," and prays not to be led into temptation.

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But the life of most men is made up of other temptations of a far different kind; temptations which do not purify, strengthen, and perfect them, but which corrupt, harden, and lower their minds; not temptations such as they would humbly shrink from, and undergo with patience, coming forth out of them as gold purified seven times in the fire; but such as they presumptuously seek after-snares in which they willingly entangle themselves, and to which God gives them up in His anger.

Now it is supposed all along that we make these Prayers in sincerity that we do, indeed, heartily seek and desire what we pray for, so that our very Prayers are the rule of our duty: but

1 Ecclus. ii. 1.

3 Matt. iii.

21 Cor. x. 13.

4 1 Pet. i. 7.

how can this be the case if our whole life is a seeking after temptation? They that will be rich," says St. Paul, "fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction "." Now do not they, whose whole thoughts and lives are about making and saving money, very seriously provoke God to give them up unto such temptation? Do not their very lives seem like a calling upon GOD to rain down snares upon them, and to fix by His own awful judgment their own choices? If they seek earnestly and constantly the toils of the devil, is God always to interfere against their wills to deliver them? Are they to be always praying that GOD will not lead them into temptation, and yet at the same time to be always seeking it? Or what will be the end of two things so inconsistent with each other?

Again, there are some who live in the very borders of sin, and whose only safety consists in avoiding temptation: as, for instance, when a man is recovering from a habit of drunkenness, or is struggling with it, how very necessary it is for him to be careful, lest he provoke God to give him up to temptation. So with other mortal sins, the evil spirit in some degree cast out, is waiting and watching for an opportunity to return. What a very fearful sight must such be to those unseen beings, who can behold these things in some degree with the eyes with which GOD sees them! How insignificant and trifling are all the most momentous things of this world-when the condition of nations hangs in the balance on some great battle-compared with the history of a human soul while it is on the verge of sin, and

watched by the great enemy. How terrible when GOD HIMSELF gives it up to the tempter, and the evil one has it safe in his toils.

How many young persons, again, live in the midst of temptations of their own seeking and of their own making, without ever considering that they are temptations, until the good Spirit leaves them to a hardened heart and ears that cannot hear; or, may be, to be awakened to their condition by some terrible sin overtaking them, and planting a sting in their souls to be felt till their dying day :-young women taken up with dress and

5 1 Tim. vi. 10.

ways of vanity, and thinking there is no harm in it :-young men in idle talking and profane words. All this is as if our first parents were admiring the colours and motions of the serpent before they felt his power.

It is quite impossible that persons should be able to trifle in these things, and yet at the same time have on their hearts a right sense of the world to come: they are invitations to their great enemy; he will shape his approaches, and disguise his temptations accordingly.

They do not like an evil conscience, and they do not like a good conscience, but something between the two-the twilight between light and darkness but God is not mocked; while they are thus presuming on His forbearance, "HE causes darkness," as the Prophet speaks, "to come upon them; their feet stumble on the dark mountains; while they look for light, HE turns it into the darkness of death";" and they are overtaken unawares with that outer darkness which has no morning.

6 Jer. xiii. 16.

SERMON X.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

1 JOHN v. 18.

"He that is begotten of GOD keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth

him not."

"But

THE seventh and last petition in the LORD's Prayer, deliver us from evil," might, in some sense, be taken as connected with the preceding, "Lead us not into temptation." Thus, when our LORD exhorted His Disciples to pray against temptation, He had told them just before that Satan had desired to have them; that "the prince of this world cometh 1." And when Job was in his trials, the evil one was seeking his life. Tertullian 2, and some others, would thus consider it as explanatory of the former clause. But yet we cannot altogether understand it thus, for there are some evils which are not temptations; and there are some temptations which are not evil 3.

The expression in the original Greek language appears to mean, not "deliver us from evil," but "from the evil one." And, therefore, the writers of the Greek Church so consider it. Thus St. Chrysostom, who was one of them, says, "HE here calls the devil the wicked one." But the Fathers of the Latin Church, such as St. Cyprian, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustin, explain the words in both senses, either " I deliver us from the evil one," or "from evil" generally. And so, indeed, do the Divines of our own Church; as for instance, Bp. Ken, the author

1 Luke xxii. 31. John xiv. 30.

3 Bp. Andrewes.

2 De Orat. ix. 8.