future. "There is but one paradise for men,” said Mahomet, (turning away his eyes from the tempting prospect of Damascus) "there "is but one paradise for men, and, for my

66

part, I will not take mine in this world*.” If this sensual impostor could, in this instance at least, sacrifice present gratification even to his false notions of future happiness, well may we be content to endure a little temporary self-denial for the sake of a recompence hereafter, perfect in its nature, and endless in its duration. It is true, indeed, that taking all things into the account, the yoke of our divine Master is easy, and his burthen is light. Yet still there is a yoke, there is a burthen to bear. We are to take up our cross, and on that cross we are to crucify our affections and lusts. In the successive stages of our existence here, successive adversaries rise up to oppose our progress to Heaven, and bring us into captivity to sin and misery. Pleasure, interest, business, power, honour, fame, all the follies and all the corruptions of this world, each in their turn, assail our feeble nature, and through these we must manfully fight our way to the great

* Maundrell, p. 121.

great end we have in view. But the difficulty and the pain of this contest will be infinitely lessened, by a resolute and vigorous exertion of our powers, and our resources, at our first setting out in life. If we strenuously resist those enemies of our salvation that present themselves to us in our earliest youth, all the rest that follow in our mature age will be an easy conquest. On him, who in the beginning of life has kept himself unspotted from the world, all its subsequent attractions and allurements, all its magnificence, wealth, and splendour, will make little or no impression. A mind that has been long habituated to discipline, restraint, and self-command, amidst far more powerful temptations, will have nothing to apprehend from such assailants as these. But our great and principal security is assistance from above, which will never be denied to those who fervently apply for it. And with the omnipotence of divine grace to support us, and an eternity of happiness to reward us, what is there that can shake our constancy, or corrupt our fidelity?

Set yourselves then, without delay, to acquire an early habit of strict self-government,

ye,

and an early intercourse with your Almighty Protector. Let it be your first care to establish the sovereignty of reason, and the empire of grace, over your souls, and it will soon be no pain to you; but, on the contrary, a real pleasure" to be temperate in all things." Watch stand fast in the faith, quit yourselves like men, be strong, be resolute, be patient. Look frequently up to the prize that is set before you, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Consider, that every pang you feel on account of your duty here, will be placed to your credit, and increase your happiness, hereafter. The conflict with your passions will grow less irksome every day, a few years will put an entire end to it, and you will then, to your unspeakable comfort, be enabled to cry out with St. Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Hence"forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous "Judge, shall give me at that day."

66

SERMON XIV.

MATTHEW xxvii. 54.

TRULY THIS WAS THE SON OF GOD.

WE

E have here a testimony of the divine character of our blessed Lord, which must be considered as in the highest degree impartial and incorrupt. It is the testimony not of friends, but of enemies; not of those who were prepossessed in favour of Christ and his Religion, but of those who, by habit and education, were prejudiced, and strongly prejudiced against them. It is, in short, the voice of nature and of truth; the honest unpremeditated confession of the heathen centurion, and the soldiers under him, whom the Roman governor had appointed as a guard over the crucifixion of our Lord. So forcibly struck were these persons with the behaviour

of Jesus, and the astonishing circumstances attending his death, that they broke out involuntarily into the exclamation of the text, Truly this was the Son of God."

66

Different opinions, it is well known, have been entertained by learned men concerning the precise sense in which the centurion understood Christ to be the Son of God. But without entering here into any critical niceties (which do not in the least affect the main object of this discourse) I shall only observe in general, that even after making every abatement which either grammatical accuracy, or parallel passages, may seem to require, the very lowest meaning we can affix to the text, in any degree consistent with the natural force of the language, and the magnitude of the occasion, is this: that the centurion, comparing together every thing he had seen, and rising in his expressions of admiration, as our Lord's increasing magnanimity grew more and more upon his observation, concluded him to be not only a person of most extraordinary virtue, and most transcendent righteousness, but of a nature more than human, and bearing evident marks of a divine original.

That