semblance between their unbelief and disobedience, and ours. The holy apostle, however, thought his Corinthian converts to be in danger of similar judgments, because he saw them guilty of similar crimes. He, therefore, warned them of their danger; and in warning them, he hath warned us also. Happy will it be for us, if we pay attention to his warning, and govern ourselves by his admonition. Consider, therefore, the similarity of their situation, and ours; and act accordingly. But remember, we are not travelling to an earthly, but to a heavenly Canaan; and if we fail of entering into it, terrible indeed will be the failure. What St. Paul hath said in the context, did not arise from a transient view of the subject, but from deliberate judgment. He produceth the same argument in his Epistle to the Hebrews. Citing from the ninety-fifth Psalm, "Wherefore the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness,”* &c.; he asks, "With whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he, that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So, we see, that they could not enter in because of unbelief." In the next chapter, he continues his exhortation in the most earnest manner; "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest"-the heavenly Canaan-" any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel"-the good tidings of a rest for the people of God-" preached, as well as unto them. But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Let us labour, therefore, to enter into "that rest, lest any man fall from it, after the same example of unbelief.”† "Let him," therefore, that thinketh he standeth, "take heed lest he fall." Does a man think, that because God. hath adopted us for his children, and made to us the promise of future rest in the kingdom of heaven, that he cannot fail of obtaining that rest? let him know, that the promise of God is made to the faithful and obedient; and that unbelief and disobedience will render it vain with regard to him. Does he think, that (let him live as he will) because Christ hath made atonement for sin, and reconciled God to us, that therefore he cannot fail to obtain the promise of that eternal life which Christ hath purchased? let him know, that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" and that though the promise of God is certain, it is made only to those who believe and obey God. DISCOURSE IV. NO TEMPTATIONS UNSURMOUNTABLE BY CHRISTIANS. 1 COR. x. 13. There hath no temptation taken you, bat such as is common to man: But 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, that ye may be able to bear it. THERE are two errors into which Christians, who are not well grounded in the principles of their religion, are apt to run. The one is presumption on the promises of God, which they suppose to be so absolute that they cannot fail to obtain them, be their conduct whatever it may. Against this error St. Paul sufficiently cautions us, when he said, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall"-Let him who thinketh he standeth secure in the favour of God, take heed that he forfeit it not by unbelief and disobedience. The other error is dejection of spirits, and despondence at the prospect of the temptations and difficulties that lie in the way of a holy and Christian life. Sensible of the weakness of nature, many people suffer the imagination to dwell on the difficulties that are before them; till they persuade themselves, that these difficulties are so inevitable, that they cannot avoid them, and so strong that they cannot resist them. This conclusion, had they nothing but their own wisdom and strength to depend on, would be perfectly just, and they would have every reason to dread all the evils they so anxiously forebode. Blind indeed is human wisdom in the things of God; and, to resist temptations, the greatest strength of nature is perfect weakness. But to the wisdom and weakness of nature God hath not left us. His power, his grace, his Holy Spirit, are our defence and security in our Christian warfare. And the holy Apostle appeals to the experience of his Corinthian converts, that no insupportable temptation had yet come upon them-none "but such as is common to man," and therefore such as all men must expect; and, of course, such as all men may, by God's grace, endure. The same appeal, I trust, may be made to us; and every one of us must acknowledge the justice of it. If, then, God hath hitherto preserved us from insupportable trials, why should we doubt that he will con→ tinue to preserve us, if we do our duty; place our trust in him, and exercise that portion of reason and grace which he hath given us, and make use of those means of religion and holy living, which he hath put in our power? Besides, "God," saith the Apostle," 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, that ye may be able to bear it." We, therefore, are not left to the general notions we have of the goodness and power of God for the ground of our faith in him, that he will preserve us from, or succour us under severe temptations; nor to the bare testimony of our own experience, that he hath, as yet, ever done so: But we have his express promise, that as he "redeemeth the soul of his servants," so "none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.'* "But the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: He shall deliver them from the wicked"-not only the wicked of this world, but from the wicked or evil one“and save them because they trust in him." In these, and in many other places of Holy Scripture, we have the express promise of God to confirm what is asserted in the text; and he is faithful," and will faithfully make good what he hath engaged-that we shall be protected against all temptations insupportable by human nature, so that they shall never come upon us; or, we shall receive supernatural strength to enable us to bear them; or, a way shall be provided for us to escape from them. What the Apostle hath said in the text, stands on the † Psalm xxxvii. 40.. Psalm xxxiv. 22. certainty of our being exposed to a variety of temptations in our Christian course. To lessen the apprehension of this certainty, or of the strength of those temptations which we must endure, can answer no good purpose: It would only make us more careless of ourselves and of our duty, and less watchful against the trials of our faith and patience which must come upon us; and, consequently, more liable to sink under them. We will, therefore, consider, 1. The different kinds of temptations to which we are exposed. 2. The sources from which they rise. 3. The power we have to resist and overcome them. From all which it will appear, that however numerous and strong the temptations may be which we have to encounter, God hath amply provided for our security under them; and that we have no good reason for dejection or despondency of spirits, at the prospect of them. 1. We are to consider the various kinds of temptations to which we are exposed. c The word temptation, though now generally used to signify excitement or solicitation to evil, means trial, or experiment; and in Scripture, persecution on account of religion is sometimes expressed by it; because such persecution brings our religion to the trial, and makes an experiment of our faith and sincerity in it. In this sense it is used by St. Luke,* "These have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away." In the parallel place of St. Matthewt it is, " when tribulation or persecution ariseth on account of the word, by and by he is offended." This, probably, is the more precise meaning of the word temptation in the text; by which the apostle warns his Corinthian converts of those persecutions on account of their religion, which were then common in the world, and which they were to expect both from Jewish and Gentile unbelievers; exhorts them to behave with patience and confidence in God, should they come on † xii. 21. VOL. II. vii. 13, H |