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WILSON, DR. DANIEL, bishop of Calcutta; b. in Iondon,

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1.-WRITERS OF THE FOURTEENTH, FIFTEENTH, AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES.

BENEFITS OF TEMPTATION.

WHEN thou art tempted or troubled, think upon the remedy that our Saviour saith in his gospel, "Watch ye and pray ye, that ye enter not into temptation." He saith not, Pray ye that ye be not tempted; for it is good and profitable to good men to be tempted and troubled, as is shown by what the prophet saith. To him that is tempted and troubled, God saith, "I am with him in tribulation; I shall deliver him, and shall glorify him." Let no man think himself to be holy because he is not tempted, for the holiest and highest in life have the most temptations. How much the higher a hill is, so much is the wind there greater; so, how much higher the life is, so much stronger is the temptation of the enemy. God playeth with his child when he suffereth him to be tempted,

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as a mother rises from her much beloved child, and hides herself, and leaves him alone, and suffers him to cry, Mother, mother, so that he looks about, cries and weeps for a time, and at last when the child is ready to be overset with troubles and weeping, she comes again, clasps him in her arms, and kisses him, and wipes away the tears. So our Lord suffereth his loved child to be tempted and troubled for a time, and withdraweth some of his solace and full protection, to see what his child will do; and when he is about to be overcome by temptations, then he defendeth him, and comforteth him with his grace. And therefore, when we are tempted, let us cry for the help of our Father, as a child cries after the comfort of its mother. For whoso prayeth devoutly shall have help oft to pray; and it shall profit much to establish the heart in God, and suffer it not to bow about, now into this, and now into that. The fiend is overcome by busy and devout prayer, and becomes feeble and without strength to them that are strong and persevering in devout prayer. Devout prayer of a holy soul is ast sweet incense which driveth away all evil savours, and enters up by odour of sweetness into the presence of God.- Wickliff.

CHRIST OUR ADVOCATE.

Our sins cannot hinder us, nor withdraw us from prayer: for they are gone, they are no sins, they cannot be hurtful unto us. Christ dying for us, as all the Scripture, both of the New and Old Testament, witnesseth; "He hath taken Like as when I owe away our sorrows. unto a man a hundred pounds; the day is expired, he will have his money; I have it not, and for lack of it I am laid in prison. In such distress comes a good friend, and saith, Sir, be of good cheer, I will pay thy debts; and forthwith payeth the whole sum, and setteth me at liberty. Such a friend is our Saviour; he has paid our debts, and set us at liberty; else we should have been damned world without end, in everlasting prison and darkness. Therefore, though our sins condemn us, yet when we allege Christ and believe in him, our sins shall not hurt us. For St. John saith, "We have an Advocate with God the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Mark, that he saith an Advocate, not advocates: he speaketh in the singular, not in the plural.

We have one Advocate, not many; neither saints, nor any body else, but only Him, and no other, neither by the way of mediation, nor by

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