have it, if his infinite wisdom sees it good for thee; and if he does not see it good, his love will give thee something better. Thy faith must wait God's time. Strong faith can wait long. Having such a promise as this to depend upon-" They shall not be ashamed, who wait for me;" Isa. xlix. 23.—thou mayest with confidence wait, and be a follower of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises; who by faith regarded the promises, by patience waited for the fulfilling of them; and although they waited long, yet they succeeded at last, and did inherit every grace and blessing, for which, with faith and patience, they had been waiting. Go, and do thou likewise.

Upon the failing of these temptations, the enemy has another ready. Since he cannot get thee off thy guard by bringing thee into doubting and unbelief, he will attack thy faith in another way. He will come like an angel of light, and seem to be Christ's friend and thine. He will allow thee to be a child of God, and to be strong in faith. The more clearly thou art satisfied of thy union

with Christ, the more will he improve, if thou art not aware, this thy certainty to his own wicked purposes. He will try to keep thine eye upon thy great graces and high gifts; he will flatter thee exceedingly upon them, and will tempt thee to view them with a secret delight, every now and then insinuating, what a great Christian thou art-how few there are like thee to what an exalted state thou hast attained-what temptations thou hast overcome-what victories thou hast gained over satan-and how safe thou art now, fast upon the rock! And if he finds this pleasing bait is not instantly rejected with a Get thee behind me, satan; then he will begin to work upon thy self-love, and to give thee many plausible reasons for self-admiration; so that thou shalt first look pleasingly at, then fondly love, and at last sacri legiously dote upon thy wondrous attainments! Thus he will lift thee up with pride, and will try to draw thee into his own crime, and into his own condemnation. What a dangerous temptation is this! How many have I known who fell into it! If thou say

est, by what means shall I escape it? Mind the first approach: for it is coming upon thee, as soon as thou beginnest to think of thyself more highly than thou oughtest to think. Thou art in thyself a poor, miserable, helpless sinner; and, to this very moment, without Christ, thou canst do nothing. Thou canst not do one good thing, nor overcome the weakest enemy, nor take one step in the way to heaven, without Christ: nay, thou canst not think one good thought without him. What hast thou then to be proud of, and to stir up thy self-admiration? Nothing but sin. The humble abiding sense of this tends to thy safety: for while this is ever present with thee-" In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing;" it will lead thee to live by faith upon Christ, for all good things. And being all his, and received every moment from him as his free gift, thou wilt be glorifying and exalting him in all and for all, knowing that he resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. The Lord keep thee humble, and then thou wilt

have grace to escape this cunning wile of the devil.

If thou shalt say, alas! I am fallen into it; how shall I recover myself? Remember his case who, in his prosperity, said he never should be moved, the favour of the Lord had made his mountain to stand so strong, Ps. xxx. 6, 7. He was too confident in himself, and was moved. How did he recover his standing? "I cried unto the. Lord, and unto the Lord I made my supplication. Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; Lord, be thou my helper." His prayer was heard, he found mercy to par

don his offence, and help to

raise him up,.

and his mourning, he says, was turned into joy and gladness. Look up as he did to: the Lord Christ. Plead thy pardon through his promised mercy, and beg of him to enable thee to walk more humbly -with thy God. Then shall the Psalmist's experience be thine, and thou shalt escape the snare, which was laid for thy precious life.

These young men having thus overcome the devices, which satan had contrived to

By

weaken their faith, must expect a fresh attack from him. He will tempt them concerning the ground of faith. He sees they are strong, because the word of God abideth in them; therefore he will use all his cunning and power to weaken their trust in the word and promises of God. the incorruptible seed of the word, faith is begotten; and by the same word it is nourished up, and strengthened; growing exceedingly from faith to faith. The word, which is the sole ground of faith, reveals the covenant made by the eternal Trinity for the salvation of sinners, and makes many free promises of every covenant blessing to him that believeth. These pro

mises may most steadfastly be relied upon : because of the unchangeable nature of God, who makes them. All his perfections are engaged for the fulfilling of his word; so that what he has spoken has an actual being and existence. He says, and it is donesaying and doing are the same with him. Let there be ever so great a distance of time between the word spoken and the