we shall not be tempted above our ability to withstand, or with- out a way for us to escape k. We are told of women, who, under the most grievous sufferings for conscience sake, would not accept deliverance, when it was offered as an inducement to recede from their principles1. We need not fear therefore but that " our strength also shall be according to our daym." God will " strengthen us by his Spirit in our inward man, unto all patience and long-suffering with joy fulness :" and " his strength shall be perfected in our weakness." In the weakest amongst us shall that promise be exemplified, " They that do know their God, shall be strong, and do exploits"."]
k 1 Cor. x. 13. ! Heb. xi. 35.
m Deut. xxxiii. 25. n Dan. xi. 32.
Jer. ix. 23, 24. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the ivise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches : but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoioeth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth.*
TO know the Creator is the supreme excellence and chief good of man. The Jews enjoyed greater opportunities of obtaining this knowledge than any people upon earth : yet they neglected to improve their advantages ; and, like the nations around them, sought their happiness in the creature, and confided in it for their security ; having forsaken him who was their Rock of Defence. They treated Jeremiah's predictions of their captivity in Babylon with contempt. This the prophet saw and bitterly lamented : and hoping still if possible to reclaim them and thereby to prevent their calamity, and to secure to them a perma- nent enjoyment of their privileges, he exhorted them in the name of God himself to renounce all dependence on their own wisdom, might, or riches ; and to glory rather in the knowledge of their God, and an ac- quaintance with him as their Protector and Deliverer. To us who have a much clearer revelation of God's
a The Author's first Sermon before the University, preached in 1785, now above forty-six years ago, and never before published.