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friend, the assurance of their Christian sympathy under this sudden and most afflicting bereavement, devoutly imploring on her behalf the unfailing consolations and support of God her Saviour.

5. That taking into consideration that the Rev. G. Collison was one of the founders of the seminary, and that he has been the Resident Tutor forty-three years, this Committee feel it due to his memory and to the Institution that the expenses of his funeral be defrayed by this society."

The funeral of Mr. Collison took place at Walthamstow, on Friday, the 12th of February, and was attended by the Treasurer, Secretary, seventeen members of the Committee, the Students, the relatives and personal friends of the deceased, and a Deputation from the London Missionary Society. The Rev. S. Ransom read the Scriptures, and prayed; an impressive address was delivered by the Rev. A. Tidman; and the solemn service was closed with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Cox. The Directors of the London Missionary Society passed the following resolution:

Resolved, That this Board has received, with feelings of deep and solemn interest, the intelligence of the sudden decease of their beloved friend, and faithful coadjutor, the Rev. George Collison, the Resident Tutor of the Theological Seminary, Hackney. The Directors call to grateful remembrance the long course of years, during which he has been spared to promote the cause of the Saviour, by the ministry of the word, the efficient discharge of his duties as a tutor, and in numerous other branches of Christian enterprise; but especially do the members of this Board record their deep sense of the value of the long and ardent attachment of their departed brother to this Institution, by a diligent co-operation with its Board and its Committee for nearly forty-four years, and by having success fully trained many valuable missionaries, now engaged in actual service under the auspices of this Society.

"The Board hereby expresses its affectionate condolence with the members of Mr. Collison's family, and the body of

students under his tuition, in the loss which they have sustained: yet rejoices that their venerable friend was favoured with so large an amount of health and vigour, to the close of his active life, and was then admitted to the joy of his Lord,' with scarcely any visitation of physical suffering."

The following Resolution also was passed by the Committee of the Religious Tract Society :-" Resolved unanimously, That the Committee feel it their duty to record on their minutes the decease of the Rev. George Collison, one of the Founders of the Society, who was elected on its first committee on the 9th of May, 1799. His numerous engagements prevented, for many years, his continuance on the committee, but after the lapse of thirty-six years, he was, in 1836, again elected, and manifested much interest in the prosperity of the Institution. He was present on the 10th of September, 1844, when the Society's new building was opened for the business of the Institution, and took part in the interesting proceedings of the morning. He has rested from lengthened labour, and has doubtless entered into the joy of his Lord. The Committee sympathise with the family and extensive connexions of their departed friend, on this solemn, but to him happy, dispensation; and trust his removal will lead the members of the Society to feel more deeply the importance of active, devoted efforts, while it is called to-day."

From the length of this biographical sketch, a very small space is left for a review of the character of this exemplary servant of Christ. He was eminent for personal holiness: his integrity was undoubted; his reputation was untarnished; and no one charged him with any indiscretion! While he professed to be saved by Sovereign grace; to rely on the influence of the Holy Spirit; and to live by faith on the Son of God, as his only and all-sufficient Redeemer.

Mr. Collison was a respectable, if not a profound scholar: he was a sound divine; perfectly familiar with the Greek

Testament, in which he delighted to exercise his students; and he was not only their tutor, but their friend-and indeed their father.

In person, Mr. Collison was of a full size; having a countenance beaming with intelligence and kindness. His manners were those of a complete gentleman-dignified, courteous, and affable. Wherever he was known he was respected and loved. He married Miss Marshall, of Bridlington, and was an affectionate husband. Mrs. Collison died several years ago. His only surviving children are a son and a daughter; and Miss Collison enjoys the consolation of having largely contributed to the happiness of her father since the decease of her mother.

As a Protestant Dissenter, a Congregationalist, and a Pædobaptist, his convic

tions were decided and his conduct consistent: but his spirit was unsectarian ; and he enjoyed the friendship of many of the evangelical clergy of England and Scotland, as well as of the Baptists, and of both divisions of the Methodists. He was as humble and candid as he was wise; and greatly beloved by his ministerial brethren, who delighted to render him due honour.

In politics, Mr. Collison was a liberal, but not a party man. He zealously cooperated, in 1811, in the defeat of Lord Sidmouth's Bill; and rejoiced in the progress of free trade, especially in corn and the food of mankind. He hailed the advancement of civil and religious liberty in the British empire, as he was assured that this would contribute to hasten the glorious kingdom of the Lord our Saviour!

OUR LORD'S TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS. THE singular event, the record of which is contained Matt. iv. 1-11, occurred immediately after the baptism of the Saviour, and before the commencement of his public ministry. Few occurrences in his life are more remarkable, and full of instruction; and few, consequently, demand from us more careful attention. It is my design to explain, in the first place, the account given us by the evangelist of the event itself; and, in the second place, to state some of the practical lessons which it was intended to convey.

"into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil."

I. Let us seek to obtain a correct conception of the event recorded by the evangelist. The passage referred to contains an account, speaking generally, of a temptation which the devil, with equal presumption and folly, addressed to our Lord himself. My wish is to be as little controversial, and as practical, as possible; I therefore throw the substance of what I have to say into the form of remarks.

The first remark relates to the scene of the temptation: "Then was Jesus," says the historian, "led up by the Spirit,"that is, by an impulse of the Spirit

Why was he led up into the wilderness? May it not be replied, that retirement and solitude were peculiarly adapted to the circumstances in which the Saviour was then placed? Previous to the commencement of any very important enterprise, we all feel the necessity for much and undisturbed reflection. We withdraw, accordingly, to a place where we are likely to be secure against intrusion, -feeling that the presence even of our most intimate friends would be unwelcome at a moment like this. At the precise time, to which the history in Matthew refers, our Lord was about to enter upon his public ministry. He had previously resided with his parents, and obtained support by the labour of his own hands; so that sufficient time and opportunity had not been enjoyed for that calm and deli berate reflection upon the manner in which he should commence and prosecute his mission which its infinite importance demanded. The solitude of a wilderness was obviously better adapted to this purpose than the bustle of a city,

the confusion of a shop, or even the comparative retirement of his chamber. He was, therefore, led up into the wilderness. It is to be observed, further, that Divine wisdom was displayed in so arranging events, as to cause the temptation, to which we are about to refer, to assail our Lord in, a wilderness. There can be no doubt that, when the tempter finds us alone-unsupported by the counsel, and encouragement, and warnings of our Christian friends, we are most likely to become the prey of his devices. Certain individuals have sung-and sweetly sung, it may be added, the praise of solitude, but they have totally mistaken the matter. In regard to security, as well as on other accounts, two are better than one. When, in a time of peril, a number of Christians are found together, the understanding, and faith, and firmness, and spirituality of the whole become defensive armour for each; and the weaker believer, who might have stumbled and fallen had he been travelling alone, has found support in the friendly arm of his brother.

Our Lord, however, enjoyed no such support. The tempter found him in a wilderness; and the scene of his conflict renders his victory more signal and splendid.

The second remark relates to the subject of the temptation: "Then was JESUS led up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." How could Christ, it has been said, who was the Son of God, be accessible to temptation?

his true and proper humanity. Unitarians mistake the proper object of attack when they refer to this fact as at variance with our opinions. They ought to bring it to bear with all its force against those ancient heretics who maintained that the Saviour did not possess a real body, but the appearance of one merely. In a contest with the Docete the fact to which we refer might be of service to them; against us it is a pointless dart.

Since our blessed Lord possessed the entire human nature, he was manifestly as accessible to temptation as to the attacks of disease, or to the stroke of death. The wonderful constitution of his person,

comprising, as it did, both the Divine and human natures,—may be expected to throw some degree of obscurity over the subject; but I apprehend that, while we contemplate him as enduring temptation, we are to think of his human nature, and his human nature exclusively. It was as man that he was accessible to temptation; as man that he actually endured temptation; and as man that he triumphantly overcame it. Doubtless the hypostatical union, as theologians have called it, rendered it impossible for the human nature of our Lord to be vanquished in the hour of temptation; but his actual triumph is to be ascribed, not to the indwelling Deity, but to the anointing of the Holy Spirit, of which he had so recently become the subject.

The third remark relates to the reasons which may be supposed to have led to the permission of the temptation.

Here we can be at no loss, since the question is answered by the word of inspiration :-" It behoved him," says the apostle, "to be made like unto his brethren; that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people: for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted."

This is an old objection of the Unitarians. Since Christ was capable of being thus assailed by Satan, he must, therefore, be man, they allege, and not God. There is a mixture of truth and error in this objection; for the fact that our Lord was accessible to temptation does certainly prove that he had really the nature of man,—since "God cannot be tempted with evil;" but it fails to prove that he had no higher nature than that of man. The fact, recorded in this chapter by We shall cease to imagine any mystery Matthew, does not militate against in this, if we admit that it was as a man those who maintain the supreme Deity that our Lord endured temptation; and of Christ, but against those who deny | that, consequently, the results of tempta

tion, in reference to his human nature, must have been what they uniformly are. Now we know from experience, that nothing prompts us so powerfully to sympathise with others as the endurance of suffering in our own persons. And it may be observed, in general, that we feel most keenly for an individual whose afflictions most nearly resemble those that we have ourselves sustained. We enter more easily and entirely into their feelings, and more completely make their case our own. Constituted as man is, sufferings of some kind, in our own persons, seems almost essential to the existence of compassion. Even with natural tenderness of heart, an individual who had felt no pain himself would experience little pity even for those who are suffering under its fiercest assaults. The fountain might be full; but without the personal experience of pain, it would remain closed up. Our Lord "suffered, being tempted, that he might be a merci ful, as well as a faithful, high priest." The trials he endured had the same tendency and influence upon the human nature of the Redeemer, though in personal union with the Divine, as they would have had upon that nature existing apart from the Divine. "He knows, from experience, the hearts of tempted sufferers; he knows what aid is necessary to preserve them from the power of the adversary; and suffering has rendered him, as man, prone to afford that aid.”

Besides, let us not forget the additional confidence which the recollection of his temptations gives us, that his aid, in our time of trial, will not be withheld. This appears to be hinted at in the conclusion of the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews: "We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

It is difficult, or rather impossible, to divest ourselves of the feelings of our nature; and, therefore, under the pres

sure of heavy affliction, we unburden our sorrows, with greater confidence of securing sympathy, to one who has undergone similar trials, than to a friend who has experienced nothing like them. And, in our supplications to the throne of grace, who has not felt the relief which is afforded by the thought that our great Intercessor was once the man of sorrows? and when to this is added the recollection that this man of sorrows is the mighty God, we are ready to exclaim, with the psalmist, "Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."-"The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge!"

Finally; this temptation was permitted to befal our Lord, that his triumph over it might afford encouragement to his people, that they, also, when exposed to similar attacks, shall obtain the victory. On this part of the subject it is of special importance to remember the statement already made, that the actual triumph of our Lord is not to be ascribed to the union of the Divine with the human nature in his person. In that case his triumph would afford no such encouragement to us. The Saviour, let us not forget, triumphed as a man, by the anointing of that Spirit which he had received without measure. Now, since God has engaged to pour down the same Spirit upon us, in a measure adapted to our exigencies, we may rejoice in the confidence that in every encounter with the foe we shall be brought off victorious.

The fourth remark relates to the particular form or manner in which the devil made this attack upon our Lord.

This is a point of considerable difficulty-the full amount of which does not perhaps, at first sight, appear. It is a point, also, in reference to which different opinions have been formed by men distinguished by judgment and piety. It is, therefore, needless to add, that it becomes us to maintain our own with deference and modesty.

One preliminary remark may help to

guide to a right judgment in reference to this point, viz., that the passage, in Matthew, to which we now refer, is the narrative of a real templation sustained by the Saviour. If this remark be well founded-and I see not how its truth can be denied it must prove fatal, as it appears to me, to one mode of explaining the statements of the evangelist, though it has the sanction of great names for its support. The mode of explanation to which I allude is the following, viz., that the sacred writer records not an actual event, but describes a scene which was presented to the fancy of our Lord, during the hours of sleep, or vision. And, among those who hold this general sentiment, there exists a minor difference of opinion -some supposing that the whole is to be ascribed to the agency of Satan, and others to that of the Spirit of God. The latter imagine, of course, that the design of this illusory representation, seen in sleep or vision, was to exhibit Satan to our Lord as his most powerful opponent, and "to prefigure the difficulties by which this arch-apostate would aim to embarrass him in the execution of his mediatorial office." It was, in fact, a Divine prophetic vision of the temptations by which he was to be assailed in the accomplishment of the work of human redemption.

Now, according to this view, it is not easy to see how Christ can be said, with any propriety, to have been tempted at all. If the representation, or vision, were from God-as the latter hypothesis supposes, its object must have been to instruct and caution, not to tempt him, for "God tempteth no man." And, if the representation, or vision, were from Satan, I am at a loss to conceive of anything which might render it proper to designate a mere illusory scene, called up to the mind of our Lord, in sleep, or in a vision -though it should be by diabolical agency-a temptation. Nothing can, I apprehend, be a temptation-in the sense in which the word is here used, but a direct inducement to sin, presented to a person in full possession of his ordinary

control over all his powers both of body and mind.

And, if the words we are now considering are to be regarded as an inspired record of a real temptation, there are only two opinions which can be formed in reference to the event of which they speak. The first is,—that the devil presented himself personally and visibly to our Lord; and that the events spoken of in these verses literally happened just as they are described. The second is, that there was no personal and visible appearance of the devil to our Lord; that the whole description, which certainly appears to imply this, is to be regarded as a highly figurative mode of representing the suggestion by the tempter of a particular mode of conduct, (a mode of commencing his mission,) which he earnestly desired the Saviour to adopt, that the purposes of his mission might be defeated -a suggestion brought to the mind of our Lord in the same manner precisely in which his suggestions are conveyed to the minds of Christians generally; so that it may be truly, and with emphasis, said of our Divine example, as well as Redeemer, that he was in "all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

A writer of some celebrity among us seems to regard the first of these hypotheses as scarcely worthy of notice. I have been constrained, by what appears to me overpowering evidence, to adopt it. The writer, to whom I have alluded, allows that in the way of suggestion the devil might urge the Saviour to turn stones into bread; but thinks that the subsequent narrative cannot be thus explained. I submit, however, that the entire narrative must either be taken literally, or figuratively;-that we cannot, with any appearance of consistency even, explain the temptation to turn stones into bread, and to cast himself from a pinnacle of the temple, in two such radically different

ways.

The opinion, thus briefly exhibited, will be more fully unfolded hereafter. In the meantime it may be expedient to consider the formidable objections that lie in

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