unless his faith failed; that our Lord had taken care that his faith should not fail, and, by consequence, that the devil should no way hurt him; as he afterwards found by experience: and, therefore, the same apostle directs all Christians to take the same course whensoever they are tempted; for, having acquainted them that the devil goes about "seeking whom he may devour," he adds, "Whom resist stedfast in the faith "." Implying that, so long as they continued stedfast in the faith of Christ, all the power of hell could never prevail against them and that is the reason why St. Paul calls it "the shield of faith," because by it we are "able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked"."

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Now that faith, which is thus prevalent against the devil, is not only a belief that the gospel is true in general, but a firm trust and confidence in our blessed Saviour to save and defend us from our ghostly enemies;' which he will certainly do, if we thus believe in him, and apply ourselves to him to do it for us: as we see in that remarkable instance of St. Paul, who, when he was buffeted by a messenger of Satan, "For this thing," saith he, "I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Where we may observe how ready our Lord was to assist him: and that he did it most effectually, appears from the following words, where the apostle saith, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." He was so far from sinking under the sense of his infirmities, that he gloried in them, as being the occasion of his receiving more power from Christ than he could ever have had from himself in his best estate.

And none of you but may find the same by your own experience, if you will but take the same course. Whensoever you are assaulted with any sort of temptations whatsoever, be not disheartened at them; let

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5 1 Pet. v. 9.

Eph. vi. 16.

2 Cor. xii. 8, 9.

not your hearts be troubled, but believe in Christ; act your trust and confidence on him, and he will soon either make the tempter to flee from you, or else put such power into you, whereby you shall be able not only to withstand his temptations, but receive extraordinary benefit and comfort for them, so as to turn them into matter of glory and triumph. But, by reason of the infirmity of your nature, the relics of sin within you, and the manifold temptations you meet with in the world, you find, by sad experience, that notwithstanding the assistance you receive from God's grace and Holy Spirit, yet you cannot exactly observe every punctilio of the moral law, nor so much as do any one good work so perfectly as that law requires; but, do what you can, there is so much imperfection, so many defects in the best work you do, that it cannot in itself be termed good, nor, by consequence, acceptable unto God, as not corresponding in every point with his commands. And this is that which troubles you more than all the rest,—that, when you have done what you can, you still come short of what you ought to do; and God may justly be displeased with you for the best, as well as for the worst actions of your whole life.

It is very true; yet, howsoever, "let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Jesus Christ," who hath taken care of this, as well as of any thing else that concerns your salvation by him; for he having performed not only perfect, but divine obedience to the whole law in our nature, God is pleased to overlook the defects of our obedience, and for his sake to accept of it, if it be but sincere, as well as if it was absolutely perfect. This we learn, as from the whole design and tenor of the gospel, so particularly from that remarkable passage of St. Peter, where, speaking to all Christians, he saith, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ"." From whence it is plain that, al

8 1 Pet. ii. 5.

though our sacrifices, or good works, be lame and imperfect, yet, if they be but spiritual and sincere, they are acceptable to God, not in themselves, but by Jesus Christ; by which means God "makes us perfect in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ "." And, therefore, whether you pray, or praise God, or hear his holy word, or receive his blessed Sacrament, or give an alms to the poor, or whatsoever you do in obedience to God's commands, do but sincerely endeavour to do it as well as you can, and trust on Christ for God's acceptance of it; and then you may be confident that he will accept of it, and be as well pleased with it, as if it was every way as perfect as it ought to be; which is certainly a matter of as great joy to a sincere Christian as any one thing besides in the whole gospel.

Now, from these things, thus put together, ye may easily see both the certainty and universality of the means which our Saviour here prescribes for the keeping our hearts from being troubled, which, therefore, we ought to use upon all occasions: but lest any of you should neglect or not use it aright, give me leave to apply it to you all. You have all, I dare say, your troubles of one sort or other. Now, of what kind soever they are, apprehend our blessed Saviour as present with you, as he really is, and that you hear him repeating these words to you, as he really doth by the mouth of his unworthy servant, saying, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." Do ye meet with many crosses and disappointments in the world? Are your bodies sick or weak; your fortunes low; and your hopes of ever mending them little, or none at all; are your children undutiful, your relations unkind, and your enemies powerful and malicious? "Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me,” and I will so order it that all these things shall work together for your good.

9 Heb. xiii. 21.

Are you apprehensive of any public calamities that may befal the Church or kingdom in which you live, or of any private adversity that may happen to yourselves or families? Are you in danger of losing your estates, your liberty, your life, or that which is dearer to you,--your good name and reputation in the world? "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me;" and I will take care, as of my Church in general, so of every true member of it, that none of them who trust on me may be confounded. Are ye sensible of the greatness of your sins, the weakness of your graces, the strength of the devil's temptations, or the imperfection of your own duties and good works? It is well ye are so: howsoever, "let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself," &c. "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen."

SERMON XV.

THE NEW CREATION.

EPH. ii. 10.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

THE apostle in this chapter gives us a plain description of the state of nature, and the state of grace: what sort of people we are, as we proceed from the first Adam; and what we are made, when we are engrafted into the second. He first puts the Ephesians in mind how they had been dead in trespasses and sins, and that not only they, but we also, we the disciples of Christ, we are all "by nature the children of wrath, even as others." The children of wrath, because the children of disobedience, walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, and so directly contrary to the laws of God; who is, therefore, justly displeased with us, and hath passed the sentence of death, even of eternal death, upon all; and will most certainly execute it upon every one that goes out of this world no better than he came into it.

But, then, on the other side, the apostle saith, that "when we were dead in sins, God hath quickened us