them; and assures them, if they did so, God would support and deliver them. Sometimes temptation signifies the troubles and afflictions of this life. With these the servants of God are frequently tried: Not because God is ignorant of the state of their hearts, but to make them sensible of the weakness of their nature, and well acquainted with their own. spiritual condition; to exercise and strengthen their faith and patience; to set them for examples to others; to correct whatever may be amiss in them; to show the pleasure he takes in those who remain faithful to him, by fitting them for a brighter crown of glory in his heavenly kingdom. In this sense the word is used by St. James, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers tempta tions; knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience," which is the proper fruit of affliction that is borne with Christian temper. Again, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life."*· Sometimes temptation signifies the arts and excitements of the evil one, the Devil, to draw us into sin. This seems to be the more particular sense of the word in the Lord's Prayer," Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"-Suffer us not to fall into the snares of the devil, but Jeliver us from sin. To temptations of all these kinds we are liable, and must expect to be encountered by them all, in a greater or less degree. The state of the world in which we live is such, that persecution on account of our religion must be endured, especially by those who "will live godly in Christ Jesus." The malice of wicked men will exert itself either openly or secretly; if not to the injury of the body by direct violence, yet to the vexation of the mind by scoffs and revilings, and to the prejudice of the reputation by false reports and wicked calumnies. Nor can we reasonably hope to pass through life, without suffering some of the troubles and afflictions to which it is liable. The constant experience of the world hath * James i. 2, 12. fully established the truth of the observation made by holy Job, that "man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." Disappointment of our expectations, damage of our substance, loss of friends, sickness of body, vexations of mind, are among the evils to which we are exposed, and some of which ve must feel. And who is secure against the assaults of that Adversary who, armed with subtilty and inflamed by malice, "goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour?" While we are subject to the cravings of appetite, and to the influence of the passions, we must be exposed to his attempts: And the attempts of one who knows so well how to let in excitements to sin upon us by every avenue, to gild them over with cunning, and to urge them with art, are always to be dreaded. By him also the passions of evil men are inflamed, and their malice excited, till it vents itself in persecuting the Church and servants of God: And he renders the troubles and afflictions of life more bitter, by the impatience and despondency which he excites in the soul. 2. Let us next attend to the sources from which these temptations spring. It hath already been noted, that one kind of temptation proceeds from the devil, the great adversary of God and man. By this word is meant, not only the prince, but the whole host of angels who kept not their fir estate, but "being lifted up with pride," lost their heavenly nature, and were filled with malice and all evil. A desire to become independent of God, and to stand in their own strength and power, seems to have been the cause of their fall. With this bait they beguiled and caught the unhappy parents of mankind; and have ever since been the constant and successful tempters of their posterity. To repair the fall of human nature which they introduced, and to make man again capable of heavenly happiness, was the object the Son of God had in view when he came into the world; and of all his doctrines, and miracles, and sufferings. It must, therefore, be necessary for us to renounce the temptations and inspirations of the devil, be cause they are contrary to the nature of God, who is the source of all happiness; they tend only to that which is evil; and to live according to them, will make us incapable of happiness in heaven. In a larger sense, all sin and wickedness of every kind and degree are the works of the devil, because he is their original author and fountain. In a more particular sense, the malevolent passions of the mind, and the actions which proceed from them, anger, envy, hatred, malice, revenge, murder, are his works. The crafty, subtle, serpentine dispositions and actions of men, fraud, cheating, hypocrisy, lying, deceiving with an intention to injure, are also ascribed to him. Aversion from God, hatred of him, the refusal to give him the reverence and worship that are due to him, idolatry, or the worship of any thing besides God, are particularly attributed to the devil. When we are tempted to any of these things, the temptation is properly said to come from the devil; and our duty requires that we resist and renounce every inclination to such tempers and actions. If we do so, we really “resist the devil; and if we do so, earnestly and faithfully, "he will flee from us." Nor, let us suppose, that any thing singular happens to us, when we are thus tempted by him; but remember that the "same afflictions and temptations" with which we are tried, "are accomplished in our brethren that "are in the world"-in all the members of the Christian Church. The world in which we live is another source of temptations. Its vain pomp, the covetous desire of its riches, and the lust after its magnificence and grandeur, often draw us from our duty, and consequently from the true road to happiness with God. Many people, indeed, make the world and its enjoyments the great business of their lives, the object of their most passionate desires. Difficult will it be to persuade them that the world can be their enemy, or that there is any harm in gratifying to the utmost the tempers which spring from it. Well, however, would it be for them, if they would pay some regard to the observation of their Saviour, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon ;" and would remember, that one apostle hath said, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him ;" and another," the friendship of the world is enmity against God."+ It is also suggested to them, that covetousness, which is a temper purely worldly, is called Idolatry and that God is said particularly to abhor the covetous. On account of the wickedness of the world, and its enmity against God, he hath called us out of it, that we might not be defiled by it, and live in that state of enmity against our Creator in which it lieth: And he hath brought us into his Church, which is not of the world, but of him who hath created and redeemed us; that in his own family we might be trained up in holiness, and made fit to be partakers of his heavenly kingdom. Our duty, therefore, requires us to deny and keep under the thirst for grandeur and magnificence which vanity and ambition inspire; that greedy desire of riches, and confident dependence on them, which draw the heart from God, and prompt it to look to the world for happiness; that care for this world, which prevents our caring for the next; and that love for temporal things, which makes us forget the things that are eternal. Then may we assure ourselves, that we shall get the victory over the world, and shall stand superior to all its hopes and fears.-God will not suffer us to be tempted by it, above that we are able to bear. The lusts of the flesh involve us in another scene of temptation. By the lusts of the flesh are meant the appetites which belong to the body. These, though not directly sinful in themselves, lead men into all the sins of impurity and sensuality. The love of pleasure is so strong in us, that, spurning the restraints of reason and religion, we seek it where it is not to be found-in extravagance and excess. Under the restraint of reason and religion, the appetites of the body are not only innocent in themselves, but necessary to our well-being. Excess, therefore, in the indulgence of bodily appetites, is what we are particular* 1 John i 15. † James iv. 4. + Colos. iii. 5. § Psalm x. 3. ly to guard against. Every instance and degree of sensual indulgence which reason disallows, or which the law of God prohibits, must be forborne, because "fleshly lusts war against the soul;"* because, also, "they who do the works of the flesh, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”† Thus are we every way exposed to temptations, not only from our enemies who are without, but from enemies also who are among them of our own household." With the power of the evil one, him who in the Scripture and by the Church is emphatically called the enemy, are combined the force and impetuosity of our passions and appetites; and powerful indeed must be the temptations of the adversary, when our own hearts are by nature, possibly too by habit, disposed to favour his solicitations. Let us then consider, 3. The power we have to resist and repel them. Against a confederacy so strong, and under the direction of an artful manager, instigated too by malice and envy, our own ability can do but tle, for our strength is only weakness. But the goodness of our God hath provided strength for us fully sufficient for our necessities, even the power of his own most Holy Spirit, whom he hath given to his church, the mystical body of his Son; and through the church, to every member of it. This Spirit, Christ promised to his apostles under the character of the Comforter, who was to abide with them, and consequently with his church to the end of the world; to lead them into all truth; to support them under adversity; to secure them against the wiles of the devil; and to renew and sanctify their hearts. This promise was most graciously fulfilled, when, on the day of Pentecost, he descended in a bodily shape, like to cloven tongues of fire, on the heads of the Apostles, and of the other Christians who were assembled with them. To this Holy Spirit, St. John had reference, when he said, "Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." To the power of this Divine Being, St. Paul had regard, when he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." § Philip. iv. 13. * 1 Peter ii. 11. † Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. 1 John iv. 4. |