and protected: In one Cafe, preferved from the Violence of the Wicked; in the other, from the Contagion of their Punishment. In a Word, Offences against Men must be corrected and difcouraged by prefent Punishment, or else this World will be a Scene of great Woe and Mifery to the best Men: Violence will prevail, and the Meek, far from inheriting the Earth, will be rooted out of it. Offences against God, though of a deeper Dye, yet have not in them the fame Call for immediate Vengeance: For God fuffers not from the Wickedness of Men; the Ends of Juftice are best served by the Delay, and his Goodness is at present displayed in his Forbearance; and his Honour will foon be vindicated in a more public Theatre than that of this prefent World, in the Sight of all the Dead, as well as of all the Living.

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DISCOURSE IX.

MATTHEW Xxvi. 41.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into Temptation: The Spirit indeed is willing, but the Flesh is weak.

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you

OR the better understanding of thefe Words, I must defire to reflect a little upon what Occafion they were spoken, and in what Circumftances our Saviour was, when he made this Exhortation to his Difciples. The Time of his Crucifixion was now near at hand, and he had foretold his Difciples that they fhould all be offended because of him; upon which St. Peter made a very forward Profeffion of Conftancy, as did likewife all the Difciples. But it does not appear that they clearly understood our

Saviour,

Saviour, or were apprehenfive that they should so soon lose their Master; if they had, they could not have been fo fupinely negligent and unconcerned for his Welfare, as immediately to fall asleep, as we read they did. But our Saviour, as he had a different Senfe of what he was to undergo, fo was he differently affected: He began to be forrowful, and very heavy; and expreffed himself to his Disciples, that his Soul was exceeding forrowful, even unto Death. He began to feel the Weakness and Infirmities of human Nature upon the Approach of Death, and the Terror and Apprehenfion of it increased so fast, as to draw that Petition from him, O my Father, if it be poffible, let this Cup pafs from me. In which Prayer he was fo earnest, and his Agony fo great, that the Sweat fell from him like Drops of Blood.

No one was ever more willing to fulfil the Will of God than he was: He came into the World to do the Will of his Father, and was ready to finish the Work set before him. But yet, in this last and fharp Trial, he found how great the Weakness of the Flesh was, and how powerful Impreffions it had upon him: 'From whence probably arose the Reflection mentioned in the Text, The Spirit

indeed is willing, but the Flesh is weak; which he makes the Ground of his Exhortation to his Difciples, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into Temptation. When he returned from Prayer to them, he found them asleep, and, after expoftulating with them for the Unconcernedness it betrayed towards him in his Distress and Affliction, he exhorts them rather to employ their Time in watching and praying; for, though they had made a very forward and bold Refolution rather to die with him than deny him, yet he knew that a Refolution and Willingness to obey were not a fufficient Support against the Weakness of human Nature, but that they stood in need of all the Advantages that might be reaped from Watchfulness and Prayer. If he himself found Difficulties from the Weakness of the Flesh, he might well conclude how unable his Disciples would be, when their Time of Trial fhould come. So that the Words of the Text, The Spirit indeed is willing, but the Flesh is weak, seem rather founded on what our Saviour experienced in his late Agony, than from any thing that was criminal in his Difciples. They were afleep indeed, which was an unkind Part, when they faw in how great Distress their

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