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done sincerely, and not partially and formally only; for God, who searcheth the heart, however we may succeed in deceiving one another by a fair outside show, will certainly find us out, if we trifle in the measure of it. We may deceive men, and answer some selfish purpose, by pretending a reconciliation, where it does not really exist; but as we cannot deceive God, neither will this kind of forgiveness answer any good end in forwarding our own salvation. As we value our soul's welfare, we must pray constantly and devoutly for this grace; for, so apt is this truly diabolical spirit to rankle and increase, for want of early and resolutely resisting it, that nothing but the all-powerful grace or aid of the Holy Spirit can soften and eradicate it from the carnal mind. there are, but must have experienced some ungrateful, cruel, and injurious treatment:-happy and glorious, if from the heart they wish a reconciliation, and can honestly present the hand of undisguised friendship to their enemies. And if this is so expedient and indispensable from us towards those who have seriously offended us by transgressing against the positive laws of Christian deportment, how much more incumbent is it to return to a meek, peaceable, and loving frame of mind, where no actual malevolence has ever existed on the part of those against whom we have long cherished an inveterate dislike, and where the ani

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mosity may possibly have originated in false conceptions, and faulty dispositions of our own; trifles wrought into realities by the subtle operation of the great enemy upon the weakest and most vulnerable part of our degenerated composition. Dreadful, therefore, must their case be, who still continue in such gall of bitterness as daily to harden themselves against conviction of the innocence of those by whom they fancy they are, or have been, really aggrieved; since all who offer up their Saviour's holy form of words, and still continue in any degree of apparent variance with their neighbour, when they might give proof of actual reconciliation (showing the forgiveness of the heart by the open and generous conduct of their lives)-such do not pray for pardon, but for vengeance. They call down the wrath of God on their unrelenting heads; they publicly and pri vately pronounce their own eternal condemnation; they actually pray, as to the spirit of their petition, after this most shocking manner: Thou, O God, hast commanded me to forgive my brother his trespasses-thou hast declared, that, unless I do so, thou wilt not forgive me my sins: well! let what will come, I am resolved to stand the hazard of it; I will not forgive, or be reconciled to my neighbour; do thou as thou pleasest with me!-Is not this saying, we cannot have offended God, in the same degree our neighbour has offended us? which is an

ingratitude, a blasphemy, and a perverseness, that must make a Christian shudder. From such a spirit the Lord defend all present, and every one professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grant, holy God! that when we daily offer up the words of thy dear Son's Prayer unto thee, we may particularly dwell on the final sentence that will await us, according to the acceptance of this condition; that we may take heed to ourselves, in keeping a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man; that in what we have done wrong to others, we may use every possible method of reparation; and wherein we ourselves have been injured in thought, word, or deed by others, we may fully forgive, even as we hope to be forgiven. In this pure sense may we ever pray-forgive us our trespasses, As* we forgive those who trespass against us; even for Christ's sake, and thy own promise sake, and through the blessed influence of thy Holy Spirit of love and peace; to whom, three Persons and one God, be ascribed, as is most due, all honour, praise, and power, for ever and ever. Amen.

The word as clearly imports, that we only desire to be forgiven in the same degree, or to the same extent, that we forgive others; and, therefore, in proportion as we fall short of being governed by the true spirit of the petition, we implicate ourselves, as deserving punishment instead of mercy, by this very word, which intimates a gracious promise, or warrants our condemnation.

LECTURE XLII.

THE LORD'S PRAYER.-SIXTH PETITION. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us "from evil.”

JAMES, I. 13, 14.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

THE five petitions of this Prayer, the full signification of which I have endeavoured to explain to you, are conveyed in language which admits of no manner of doubt as to their general meaning. But as the former part of this sixth petition in our Lord's Prayer seems at first sight to contain a matter of some little difficulty, from the literal sense of the expression-LEAD us not into temptation, I have, therefore, made choice of this passage of St. James's Epistle for my text, as it holds forth to

us a religious truth of the greatest importance to be believed; and also that the due consideration of it will help to remove all possible doubt as to the true meaning of the first part of the petition before us.

I can take no method so effectual for the informing your understanding upon this subject,

as,

First, To give you a short and plain explanation of the two principal words in this part of the petition; and,

Secondly, In discoursing more fully upon the general design of it, to convince you that God cannot be tempted with evil, nor can he lead us into temptation, or suffer us to be tempted, but with the purest intention of forwarding our growth in virtue, in order to prepare us for eternal happiness.

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Thirdly, To add to the confirmation of the truth of this doctrine, I shall consider the import of the concluding part of the petition, "but deliver us from evil," which is free from all possible mistake respecting the truth and purity of the whole petition, taken together,

To begin with the first word: to lead, may admit of two very opposite significations. It is used sometimes in a favourable sense, to guide or conduct; as in Psalm xxxi. 4, where the Psalmist calls God his guide, and implores him to LEAD him for his name's sake. It is also em

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