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SERMON XIX.

TEMPTATION.

MATTHEW vi. 13.

Lead us not into temptation.

WHEN our blessed Lord had directed his disciples to implore the forgiveness of their trespasses, he taught them in the next place to pray for deliverance from temptation. Having sought pardon for our past sins, we must earnestly entreat to be preserved from the repetition of them. The mercy of God should increase our fear of offending him; and gratitude for the remission of guilt, should inflame the soul with a hatred of every transgression. None indeed can have a scriptural sense of justification, unless they diligently seek after sanctifying grace; of which one chief work has led us to shun the occasions and temptations to evil. Nor, indeed, can a more important subject than that of temptation be proposed to our attention generally, Our state on earth is probationary. Every thing around us and within us may be the means of ensnaring our minds. Let us then consider,

I. What is the nature of temptation.

II. What is the force of the petition of our text with regard to it.

I. WHAT IS THE NATURE OF TEMPTATION.

TEMPTATION is any thing by which we may be drawn or incited to evil. It differs from a mere trial, as it includes in it, not only something which proves us whether we will keep God's commandments or not, but also something which moves or induces to moral evil. The word Temptation is, indeed, frequently employed in the former sense, as when God is said to have tempted, that is, to have tried, Abraham; but in our text, as well as in the more ordinary acceptation of the word, it means some direct persuasion or enticement to transgression against God.

The sources of temptation are either inward or outward. THE INWARD SOURCE OF IT is the corruption of our fallen nature, that sin which dwelleth in us, that fleshly mind, that law of sin in our members, which wars against the law of grace, and which, unless it be resisted, will bring us into captivity. Every man is tempted, when he is drawn aside of his own lust and enticed. This inward spring of evil acts in the unregenerate with its full force. They fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind. They make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. Even in the true Christian there remains a tendency to evil, which requires constant vigilance. His new and heavenly nature and dispositions are far from being complete. He is enabled indeed by the grace of the Holy Spirit habitually to serve God in sincerity, and to mortify the deeds of the body; yet temptation still has a powerful influence on him: it defiles his mind, and impedes his progress in the path of duty. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

THE OUTWARD SOURCES OF TEMPTATIONS ARE SATAN AND THE WORLD. Satan is called by way of dis

tinction the tempter-then cometh THE TEMPTER, as if there were no other. It was he who kept not his first estate, but fell from his original glory. It was he who deceived our first parents, and brought sin and destruction into the perfect creation of God. It was he who appeared among the sons of God with Job. It was he who stirred up David to number Israel: who induced Judas to betray Christ; and who desired to have Peter that he might sift him as wheat. He has his own peculiar devices, arts and methods of assailing the heart of man. Our Lord speaks of the depths of Satan-an expression conveying the idea of that subtlety with which his plans are conceived and executed. This dexterous enemy seduces men, blinds their understandings, fills their minds with evil suggestions: and disposes every thing within his reach to awaken their evil propensities, stupify their consciences, and inflame their passions.

His chief access is probably to the imagination, which he excites by presenting suitable objects to the senses. These allure the fancy, pervert the conscience, and obscure the judgment. The affections being enticed and taken captive, sinful acts follow. Thus Eve was first attracted by the appearance of the forbidden fruit, and Achan by the Babylonish garment. A vagrant curiosity, an unguarded and unsubdued imagination, thoughts only evil continually, wandering and fickle desires, aided by a heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked-these are the strongholds of our spiritual adversary. His methods are adapted to the age, education, disposition, pursuits, knowledge, habits, duties and trials of men under every possible variety of circumstances. Sometimes he is represented as the roaring lion, at other times as the old serpent. In the first character he seeks to devour his prey; in the second to allure it into his toils.

It is to be observed, however, that Satan has No POWER TO FORCE US TO THE COMMISSION OF SIN. He may solicit and persuade; he may propose objects calculated to deceive our vigilance; he may by these ways seduce and inflame our passions: but he cannot compel us to yield. He has no dominion over the will. We are still rational and moral agents. He cannot eventually hurt us, except by our own fault. This is a most important consideration on the present subject.

To Satan must be added THE WORLD, as an outward occasion of temptation. The world is the main instrument by which he assails the soul. He is called, with an emphasis sufficient to alarm the slothful conscience, the god of this world. Wicked men are his instruments; and assist in the temptation and ruin of others. Wicked customs, maxims, pleasures, pursuits, are the baits which he displays to us; nor is there any creature of God, however good in itself, but he labours to enlist in his service. And the world is well adapted to his purpose. It is exactly suited to the taste of the natural man. By the fall we have lost our knowledge, and love of spiritual pursuits; we have become absorbed in sensible and earthly objects; and give them the supreme place in our affections. Every thing therefore of worldly business, gain, power, praise, grandeur, pleasure, becomes the appropriate instrument of Satan's temptations. Even things lawful in themselves are still, in the excess, inducements to sin. All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

The OBJECT aimed at in all temptations is to draw us into sin and destroy our souls. In the ungodly man Satan reigns. As a strong man armed, he keeps his palace, and his goods are in peace. object is to secure and retain his subjects, to impede

His

the progress of truth, to misrepresent and pervert the Gospel, to harden the conscience, and to carry men on in the broad road which leadeth to destruction. He adapts his temptations, accordingly, to this purpose. The open way of profaneness and the by-path of hypocrisy are equally suited to his design. Whatever may check a true repentance, and a genuine submission to the Gospel, he takes care to present before the unwary sinner, and to present under the most imposing aspect.

In the case of true Christians, the object of temptation is to DRAW THEM BACK UNTO PERDITION. To this end, the devil labours so to dispose his snares, that they may be led to grieve the Holy Spirit, may be separated from Christ, may be thrown off their guard, may relax in secret devotion and watchfulness over their hearts, may disgrace the Gospel, may be disquieted in their minds, may murmur against the divine dealings, and be harassed and perplexed in their way to heaven. Nothing escapes the malice of this enemy. If he cannot ruin, he will annoy; if he cannot tempt to great sins, he will seduce into small ones; if he cannot absolutely destroy Christian exertion, he will attempt to lessen it; if he cannot keep the servant of God from doing good, he will cause, if possible, his good to be evil spoken of; if he cannot prevent his final salvation, he will sap his comfort, and impede his activity and usefulness.

THE CONSEQUENCES of temptations are often dreadful. Why should I display to you the garden of Eden, and all the endless woe which temptation there produced? Why should I remind you of Noah, Lot, and Samson? Why of Abraham or of Moses? Why of David or of Solomon? Why of Hezekiah or of Peter? Where can we look around us without seeing the wrecks and fragments of the storm on the surface of the waves? What has not

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