gators? But how does our Saviour prepare the apostles against these cruel proofs of their persuasion ? He will not so much as allow them even to think of their defence before their judges. "But when they shall deliver you up, be not thoughtful how or what to speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak."* He will not that they should concert among themselves a plan for their answers: he fears not that they should be bewildered, that they should contradict themselves in their depositions, or that they should be overawed at the sight of their rulers; "For," says he, "it is not you that speak, but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you."+ And to whom is this promise made? To men without education, without any one of those qualities which elevate the soul, and render it superior to the impressions of fear. What other all-sufficient, all-persuading power, could have inspired the apostles with that confidence so necessary to support a doctrine not merely human, and, in a stronger sense, an enterprize which was founded on unutterable truth?

At first sight it must strike the mind of the most callous unbeliever, that the undertaking of Christ and his disciples must have been the extreme of all possible folly and delirium, unless they had for their support the consolation of an Almighty interference. What heart is not open to the conviction that the apostles, in founding their new religion, must have been open to the detection of any who had not been witnesses to their acts?-that their enterprizes were so daring as to cause them to publish them openly on the spot itself, where they had only pretended they were performed, and at a time when the memory

of man was so recent, that even they had presumed to assert their supernatural powers to that extreme as to challenge the witness of a whole city, which could not be otherwise impressed than with a complete sense of fraud or imposition, unless they had a power far above human for their support? What history, what record exists among men so descriptive of an enterprize of this daring extravagance?-of an enterprize deprived of the common assistance of man, with no worldly interest in view, at the evident risk of bodily comfort and repose? How reconcile the idea to the common acceptation of life, that the apostles should conceive the scheme of holding up a mere man, and crucified by the Jews, as an object of universal adoration?

But supposing this to be a mere invention, wherefore did they not promulgate the fable of their leader into those distant regions, where the truth could not penetrate? But, instead of this, wherefore expose themselves to contradiction, and the hazard of unbelief, which their fellow-citizens might with one voice oppose to them? It should seem to be the last paroxysm of human phrenzy, to think of imposing on an immense populous city such facts, as to admit of general concurrence must have openly transpired within the compass of its walls. Could the apostles also conceive that the priests and magistrates would be inactive on the report of such innovation on the report of such a concerted plan of sedition, invasive of the religious repose of such a well-governed state? Let us rather incline to this more natural belief, that, without any effort whatever, the imposture detected, must, by its public notoriety, instantly fall of itself, and the whole plan be consigned to the contempt and derision of the whole Jewish nation.

My brethren, I have delivered candid and fair arguments, without making any appeal to your passions; arguments which are pointed only to your judgment, and which, by their strong connexion, the most obdurate mind must confess to be perfectly scriptural, and free from any unfair or sophisticated interpretation; adapted to the plainest capacity, which can be comprehended by the most illiterate of human beings. If, therefore, from having acquired in this instance a more solid ground-work of Christian faith, I trust that my hearers will not fail of applying the very essential of this faith to the great rule of their lives here, that they may obtain eternal happiness hereafter. Amen.

SERMON XV.

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.

On the Worth of the Soul.

Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to him, All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan, for it is written, The Lord thy God thou shalt adore, and him only shalt thou serve. Matt. iv. 8, 9, 10.

In these words we have a great example set before us for our imitation; a great and urgent temptation on the one hand, and an extraor dinary sense of holiness and firmnesss of mind to resist it on the other. The temptation is des cribed in the eighth verse of my text; our Saviour's constancy in resisting it is expressed in the tenth. In discoursing hereupon, I shall consider the advantages here proposed on the one hand, and the disadvantages on the other, whereby the wisdom of rejecting this offer will appear, and also the great folly of most men in suffering themselves to be overcome by this temptation,

even when it is offered to them in a far inferior degree, than it is that of laying before them all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. But I shall consider the absurdity of this choice in its utmost extent, and allow unto men all that is here proposed.

And thou, O eternal God, awaken in the hearts of my hearers a true sense of their condition, and arm them with resolution to resist the temptations of the devil, the world, and the flesh, their unwearied enemies. Suffer not any earthly joy to enchant their souls, or sooth them into perdition. Thou knowest the inmost thoughts of thy creatures, and all the anxious wishes of their hearts are open to thy view. To thee, O Lord, may they fly for succour: keep them in a state of constant watchfulness and humility, that meekness and hope may reign triumphant in their hearts, and secure their constancy in thy service. This we shall beseech in humble and fervent prayer.

The advantage proposed in the words of my text is this: All the accommodations this world can afford-" All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me." All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, do signify all the advantages of happiness which this whole earth can furnish; the most universal empire, the most absolute command of riches and pleasures, whatever the world can give, whatever human nature can enjoy. And this representation puts the matter most to the advantage of the worldly and sensual: for no man can ever obtain more in recompense for his eternal happiness, than all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them and if this be losing a bargain, then the saving of a short, miserable, uncertain life, some faint images of honour, some

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