and to be there confined for days, weeks, monthsperhaps for years; this is a trial which, at a distance, wears a most tremendous aspect; and would cause the heart of the stoutest man to sink, who, in the midst of health and vigour, should receive undoubted intelligence that it was soon to be his portion. But let not any person alarm and terrify himself with thoughts of this kind; for, besides that it is folly to anticipate evil, and suffer before the time; He who sends trials, sends strength to support his servants under them. It is wonderful to see how soon the temper is altered and conforms itself to its situation; how the mighty are bowed down, and the haughty are humbled; with what meekness and patience a long series of weakness and pain is borne, till the sufferer "comes forth as gold," a vessel purified and polished, and every way fitted "for the master's use," with this inscription upon it, “It is good for "me that I have been afflicted."

Another temptation is that from melancholy, or dejection of spirits, as we commonly style it; when the spirit, which sustains a man's other infirmities, is broken, and needeth itself to be sustained; when favourite studies and pursuits please no longer; when the whole creation seems changed, and appears-we know not why-dull and dreary; when the mind is ready to give up every thing, and sink into listlessness and despondency. He who finds himself in this situation, has no time to lose. When a skilful physician has been consulted, that it may be known how far the body is concerned, the mind is to be roused and goaded into action. Constant em

ployment must be found for it, lest its powers be turned inward, to fret, and wear, and prey upon itself. In the use of these means, let prayer be continually offered to Him who can bring light out of darkness, and make the sorrowful heart to sing for joy; with patience and resignation let the sufferer trust in the Lord, and stay himself upon his God.

The time would fail me to enumerate all the different temptations which arise in our minds. They are as many, and as various, as our different passions and propensities, each of which will, at times, strive for the mastery, and all of which are to be kept, with a strong and steady hand, in due subordination and obedience.

The subject shall be left upon your minds with the following admonition of a pious French writer

Include yourself within the compass of your own heart. If it be not large, it is deep; and you will there find exercise enough. You will never be able to sound it; it cannot be known but by him who tries the thoughts and the reins. But dive into the subject as deep as you can. Examine yourself; and the knowledge of that which passes there will be of more use to you than the knowledge of all that passes in the world. Concern not yourself with the wars and quarrels of public or private persons. Take cognizance of those contests which are between the flesh and the spirit; betwixt the law of the members and that of the understanding. Appease those differences. Teach the flesh to be in subjection. Replace reason on her throne, and give her piety for her counsellor. Tame your passions, and bring them under bondage. Put

your little state in good order; govern wisely and holily that numerous people contained in your small dominions; that multitude of thoughts, opinions, and affections, which are in your heart, till all rebellion be subdued, and the kingdom of heaven established within you.

b Jurieu's Method of Christian Devotion, Part III. chap. iii.

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DISCOURSE XXI.

THE HOLY GHOST A COMFORTER.

JOHN, XIV. 16.

I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.

THE words present to us in a little compass, what it is the design of the Scripture to describe at large; namely, the sacred Three united in the work of man's redemption. Here is the Son interceding, the Father granting, and the Spirit coming, as upon this day, to form the church, and ever after to preserve and sanctify it: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."

It is impossible to cast the subject into a better method, than that offered by the words themselves, as they stand in the text. They direct us to consider,

I. The prayer of Christ: "I will pray the Father." When we read of the Son praying, we may be induced to think that the person praying must necessarily be inferior to the person to whom the prayer is made. We shall reason, as the apostle elsewhere does, "Without all doubt the greater is entreated "by the less." It is God who is entreated; it is a

man who entreats; "there is one God, and one me"diator between God and man," who is a man.

He

is so; but it is "the man Christ Jesus;" it is a man very differently circumstanced from all men that ever were born, and far above them all: it is a man to whom God was pleased to be united; God was in Christ; in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; God manifest in the flesh, the divine WORD made flesh, and dwelling among us; as, to prefigure this great event in old time, Jehovah came down from heaven, and filled the holy temple built for his reception. "Destroy this temple," says Christ, speaking of his body, "and I" (as God-for God only could do so) "will raise it again in three days."

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The truth is, they who differ from us and oppose us upon this great point, affirm Christ to be man, which we never deny; but they cannot, while allowing the Scripture, disprove his being likewise God, which is what we affirm. "God and man are one "Christ," as our church teaches us rightly to

confess.

While therefore it is a man who mediates, intercedes, and prays, it is this circumstance of his being a man in whom God dwells, and to whom God is in an especial manner united, which gives to his mediation, his intercession, his prayer, that virtue and effect, that force and power, which otherwise they could not have; for what, I beseech you, is the prayer of a man, a mere man, however upright and pure, that it should prevail for the pardon of all other men being sinners, and obtain for them from the Father the gift of the Holy Spirit?-And for this reason it is, that