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are what his Creator has implanted in him, and made an essential part of his nature; the latter, what the same power, by not suppressing them, may be said to permit. But this is neither a justification of our own weakness, when we yield to their influence, nor an impeachment of the justice or goodness of God. On the contrary, St. James exhorts us to " count it all joy, when we enter into temptations; knowing this; that the trial of our faith worketh patience." And-" blessed," says he, is the man that endureth temptation: for, when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life."2 If we are conscious of weakness-(and which of us can boast of his strength?) we are not ignorant where to apply for succour. We have the assurance of our blessed Lord himself, that our

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heavenly Father will give the holy Spirit to them that ask him :" 3 and we know that he is faithful who promised. For this aid, it is his will-we may say, his wish, that we should ask for, whereas the evil Spirit maliciously subjects us to such fiery trials, that, as he hopes, we must inevitably sink

1 James i. 2, 3. 2 James i. 12. 3 Luke xi. 13

under them, and, like himself, be for ever lost; the all-good Being, on the contrary, in mercy and kindness, permits us to be tried, with a gracious desire that we may endure to the end, and obtain our reward.

Never, indeed, can we be too deeply conscious, how entirely the success of our best efforts depends upon support from above. To heaven must we daily and hourly address our aspirations, for the power either to form our resolutions and arrange our measures against the day of temptation, or to adhere to them, when it arrives. It was, no doubt, in great measure, with a view to maintain and renew in our minds an humble sense of our own infirmity, and an habitual reliance upon divine grace, that this petition against temptation was introduced into a prayer, so evidently designed for daily use.

Let us now advert to the class of duties, of which this petition more particularly reminds us. The first and most obvious of these is merely negative; namely that, whilst we are imploring that benign Spirit, who is the fountain of grace, either to guard us from temptation, or so empower us to

resist it, we do not seduce or tempt ourselves. Many persons actually court or seek temptation. We might almost say, that they make this the business of their lives; for they take infinite pains to stimulate and inflame those appetites and passions, which are most adverse to their duty: they frequent those places, associate with those persons, read those writings, and-in short-in every form, apply all those incentives, which, they well know, will betray them into sin; and-what is the worst feature of their case-they run into such dangers, not through inadvertence, but because they well know, how they are likely to terminate. Such men, indeed, are not much given to pray : and, if ever they do, the use of this petition, on their part, must be either gross hypocrisy, or empty sound. With what assurance-with what hope, can any man pray for deliverance from evils, to which he wantonly, nay even industriously exposes himself?

A second duty, easily inferred from this petition, is that of vigilance: for, if it appears plainly absurd, to pray against temptation, and to court it, at the same time; so is it no slight

or questionable inconsistency, to neglect the natural and probable means of avoiding it. And this is precisely the direction of our Lord himself: "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." Let us, then, first use our own best endeavours to escape the danger of sin; and we may then reasonably hope, that our Almighty Protector, if we faithfully ask it of him, will stretch out his arm to help and defend us.

A third duty, not less implied in this prayer, is that of temperance; by which alone the flesh can be kept in subjection to the spirit, and the Tempter deprived of those auxiliary appetites and passions, on which he chiefly relies for success: and a fourth, is that of prudence, in the choice of such companions, and such modes of employing our time, as may afford the least hazard of allurement to sin, and the best prospect of retaining our innocence.

When we honestly and vigorously resist the seductions of our spiritual adversary, and of our own evil desires; when we are earnestly upon the watch against their suggestions, and restrict our

'Matt. xxvi. 41.

selves to such a life of regularity and temperance, as may conduce to calm and moderate our affections; when we resolutely renounce the society of the profligate, and shun every place and every object, by which our eyes or our ears are likely to be corrupted; then may we apply to our heavenly Father, for the aid of his holy Spirit to bless and prosper our endeavours, with an entire confidence that our prayer will be heard.

I should now presume both the object of this petition, and the instruction deducible from it, to have been sufficiently indicated, did it not seem adviseable to bestow some further consideration upon the nature of the evil, from which we pray to be delivered. Even were this term understood to include, generally, all evil, temporal as well as spiritual, that is incident to man, such a request might well serve as a close to our supplications; since, as the foregoing petitions have acknowledged the Almighty as the sole giver of all good, the present naturally appeals to the same power, as our only protector from all harm. But the connexion of this with the preceding clause has already sufficiently shown, what kinds of evil were more

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