would secure his favour; and Christ would be found"the minister of sin," if he had taught, that the single good disposition of forgiveness would be sufficient, let a person have ever so many bad ones. But it is plain, that throughout the whole Sermon on the Mount, in which this prayer is delivered, he makes the performance of every part of our duty the condition of our acceptance. In the very beginning of it, he hath promised heaven to several other virtues, as well as here to this; and the meaning is, not that persons may get thither by any one that they will; for nobody, sure, is so bad as to have none at all; but that each of them shall have its proper share, in fitting us for that mercy and reward, which, however, with less than all of them we shall never obtain. Our imperfections in all will, indeed, be pardoned; but not our continuance in a wilful neglect of any. Still, though a spirit of forgiveness to our brother is, by no means, the whole that God requires in order to forgive us yet, it is a quality, often so difficult, always so important, and so peculiarly needful to be exercised by us, when we are entreating our Maker to exercise it towards us; that our Saviour hath great reason to place it in the strong light which he hath done; and even to place it single; since his design could not easily be understood to be any other, than to engage our particular attention to what deserves it so much. For if we will not, for the love of God, and in obedience to his command, pardon our fellow-creatures the few and small injuries which they are able to do us, (when, perhaps, we may have done many things to provoke them, and comparatively can have done little to oblige or serve them) how should we ever expect that he will forgive us the numerous and heinous offences which we have (9) Gal. ii. 17. committed against him; from whom we have received all that we have, on whom we depend for all that we can hope for, to whom, therefore, we owe the most unreserved duty, and the most affectionate gratitude? Let us remember, then, that since we pray to be forgiven, only as we forgive, so often as we use these words, we pray, in effect, for God's vengeance upon ourselves, instead of his mercy, if we forgive not. And, therefore, let us apply to him continually for grace to do in earnest, what we profess to do in this petition; let us carefully examine our hearts and our conduct, that we may not cheat ourselves, for we cannot cheat God, with false pretences of observing this duty, while, indeed, we transgress it; let us utterly "put away from us, all bitter"ness, and wrath, and clamour, and evil speaking, "with all malice; and be kind one to another, "tender-hearted, forgiving one to another; even as (we hope that) God, for Christ's sake, will "forgive us."1 (1) Eph. iv. 31, 32. LECTURE XXXIII. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. WE should be very unfit to ask for the pardon of our past sins; and could neither hope to obtain it, nor, indeed, continue long the better for it, if we did not earnestly desire, at the same time, to avoid sin for the future. And, therefore, after the petition, "Forgive us our trespasses," most properly follows, "and lead us not into temptation." The word temptation very often signifies no more than trial; any opposition, or difficulty, that may call forth our virtues into vigorous practice, and, by so doing, both strengthen and make them known; not, indeed, to God, who always knows our hearts; but to ourselves and others; to those around us at present; to all mankind, and the holy angels hereafter. Now, in this general sense, our whole life on earth is, and was intended to be, a state of temptation; in which, as the Scripture expresses it, God himself tempts men;" that is, proves and exercises them. And, accordingly, St. James directs us to "count in all joy, when "we fall into divers temptations;" adding a very good reason for it; "Blessed is the man that "endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he "shall receive the crown of life; which the Lord "hath promised to those that love him." The more love to God we thus show, the more we exert our inward good principles and habits, and, by exerting, improve them; the greater reward (1) Gen. xxii. 1. Deut. iv. 34. 1 Chron. xxxii. 31. 66 we shall obtain. When, therefore, we say, "Lead us not into temptation," we do not pray that we may not be tried at all; for we know that we must, even for our own good. But the word here stands for dangerous trials, provocations and enticements to sin: under which we are likely to sink, instead of overcoming them. Now there is, indeed, scarce any thing in life that may not be a temptation to us, in this bad sense. Our tempers, our ages, our stations and employments in this world, be they ever so different, may, each in their different ways, risk our innocence. They that are poor are grievously tempted; either to repine against God, or to take unlawful me. thods of relieving themselves. And "they that "will be rich," experience, as well as the Apostle, may teach us, "fall into temptation and a snare, "and into many foolish and hurtful lusts."3 Both adversity and prosperity, business and leisure, company and solitude, have their respective hazards. And sometimes these hazards are so dreadfully heightened by particular circumstances; and, at others, trying incidents, totally unforeseen, happen so unseasonably; that, though they may only rouse and animate our virtue, yet they may also, more probably, overbear and destroy it. And therefore we must know very little of our natural frailty, the strength of our passions, and "the deceitfulness of sin;" 4 if we do not think it the more prudent, as well as modester part, to decline, than venture the conflict, if it be God's will: and do not accordingly beg of him, that he would "not lead us into such temptation." 5 God, indeed, "tempts no man," in the sense of alluring and inviting him to sin; as the Devil, and wicked people, and our own bad hearts, do. And therefore to pray, in this sense, that he would (3) 1 Tim. vi. 9. (4) Heb. iii. 13. (5) James i. 13. "not lead us into temptation," would be great irreverence, instead of piety: for it is inconsistent with the holiness of his nature, that he should. But as nothing comes to pass, but with his knowledge and sufferance; and every thing is subject to his direction and superintendency; the Scripture speaks, as if every thing was done by him, when the meaning, as appears by other passages of it, is only to acknowledge, that nothing is done without him; and, agreeably to the manner of speaking in the eastern countries, things are ascribed to him, which he only permits, and afterwards turns to the furtherance of his own good purposes. Now God may very justly permit us to be led into the severest temptations, if we do not pray to him against it; because a great part of the danger proceeds from that weakness, which we have wilfully, or carelessly brought upon ourselves; and prayer is one of the means that he hath appointed for our preservation and relief; which means, if we use as we ought, he "will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are "able; but will, with the temptation, also make "a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it." 66 But if, through pride or negligence, we will not ask for his help, we must not expect it. And though we do for form's sake ask it, if we have little faith in it, or dependance on it, St. James hath foretold the event; "Let not that man think "that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." 7 Yet, on the other hand, if we carry our dependance so far, as presumptuously to run into these dangers, out of which we beg him to keep us; or, at least, will do little or nothing to keep ourselves out of them, instead of doing every thing that we can; or if, in the dangers, in which he (6) 1 Cor. x. 13. (7) James i. 7. |