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and the victory over his stratagems was no less illustrious, than it was important and decisive.

Having thus considered the necessity, and the. circumstances of this wonderful temptation of Christ, it remains only that we contemplate the interest which we all have in the victory of Christ over Satan.

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Solemn and infinite is the interest which we all have in the system of the redemption of the world. Life or death, heaven or hell, depend upon our receiving with the heart the religion of the Gospel of God. Surely and rapidly are we all travelling to the invisible state, and if we had not the revelation of the Redeemer of man, we had been, of all the creatures of God, most miserable-we had known nothing we had hoped nothing. God would have been regarded as our severe and inflexible Judge, punishing the guilty, and shewing mercy to none. But now has Christ overpowered the dominion of evil, that He might raise us, together with Himself, to the happiness for which we were created; and this is effected by His still retaining in the kingdom of His glory the two natures, the divine and the human. In the divine nature He is God to save us. In the human nature, now exalted into heaven, He is man to sympathise with our sorrows, and to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities "; and thus He is the one Christ

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11 Heb. iv. 15.

-the one divine Redeemer-in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, and that even in the bodily form. Our interest in the conquests of Christ are established upon this doctrine. He is God to save, He is man to sympathise. In whatever light, therefore, we view Him-with whatever feelings we would approach to God, we now have an earnest, that every prayer shall be answered, and the object of our creation be accomplished. Do we desire pardon, and forgiveness of sin? God hath highly exalted the Jesus who endured temptation-and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow 12,-He is exalted-to be a Prince and a Saviour 13-for this purpose, that He might give redemption, and pardon for sin. Do you imagine that God is so high, that you dare not approach Him? Go to Him who is man as well as GodGod in the nature of man. Do you fear that your sinfulness will banish you from God? Believe only in Him who has accomplished the law of Godand imputes his own righteousness to all who follow Him. We are accepted with the Almighty for the sake of the righteousness of our Saviour, if we believe in His divine message. Do you fear the punishment of sin? Christ has trodden the winepress alone 1, and borne our sins in His own body

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12 Phil. ii. 9, 10.
14 Isaiah lxiii. 3.

13 Acts V. 31.

on the tree 15. Nothing is required of us but faith which purifies the heart, and which so worketh by love 16, that our gratitude to the Saviour of man shall induce us to forsake wickedness, and to desire to please God. No Christian who receives the system of redemption in this manner shall ever perish. None shall die eternally who thus believes in this blessed Saviour. In His religion alone we have peace of mind, forgiveness of evil, union with the Almighty, consolation in sorrow, happiness in life, and the certainty of immortality hereafter. These are the promises of the Scriptures of truth; and they are secured to us by the conquest of our Redeemer over the temptations of the enemy of man.

Seeing, therefore, brethren, that these things are so-seeing that our Lord is able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God, by Himseeing that the tempted, and conquering Jesus— the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person-when He had by Himself purged our sins, sate down at the right hand of the Majesty on high1, as the Saviour of man, and the equal with God-Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may find grace to help us in our time of need 18, in the hour of sorrow, and in the day of temptation to sin. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth most easily beset us 1, the

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17 Heb. i. 3.

sin to which we are most tempted by circumstances, and most inclined by disposition;-and let us run with patience the remainder of the race which is set before us, looking to the same Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith 20.

20 Heb. xii. 2.

SERMON XVI.

THE DEMONIACS, NATURE AND ORIGIN OF DEMONIACAL POSSESSION.

MATT. XV. 22.

And, behold, a woman of Cannan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

THE earnest and affecting supplication addressed to our Lord by the Canaanitish mother, in behalf of her afflicted child, implies, according to the plain and literal meaning of the words, that an evil spirit, from an invisible state, so governed, and controlled, the body, and the mind of her daughter, that she was no longer mistress of her own conduct. She imputes the actions which her child committed, to the agency of an evil spirit. You will observe that no surprise was expressed, at the nature of the petition, either by Christ, or by His disciples, or by the surrounding spectators :

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