I shall choose the sermon for the First Sunday in Lent, curtailing it in only a few points, where the conclusions drawn seem unwarranted, or where the doctrine enforced is distinctively Roman. These omissions I have made from no wish to misrepresent the preacher, but simply to reduce the bare skeleton of the sermon to moderate limits, the entire discourse filling forty-seven pages of quarto, close print, double columns, and occupying about 5000 lines. I tremble to think of the time it must have taken to deliver, if it ever were delivered. First Sunday in Lent. Lessons from the Gospel. Matt. iv. _And Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness._ He was _led_. Here note— 1. That God is our leader into all good works. 2. That He leads, but does not constrain. _By the Spirit._ Here note— 1. That in our Lent fast, we should follow the Spirit’s leading. Now the Spirit leads and guides— α. By the voice of the Church. β. By the voice of conscience. 2. That our works are alone acceptable to God, if done through the grace and impulsion of the Spirit. _Into the wilderness._ Here note— 1. That Christ went into the wilderness to make expiation in His body for our excesses; to endure poverty for our luxury, want for our abundance. 2. That Christ went into the wilderness immediately after baptism, to teach us that, by baptism, we are called to renounce the world, and to lead a life of mortification. 3. That Christ sets us an example of retirement from the world and its turmoil, at seasons. 4. That Christ, by His example, has sanctioned and sanctified the life of the eremite. _To be tempted of the devil._ Here note— 1. That, in order to be able to resist the devil, we must be furnished with the Holy Spirit. 2. That God suffers us to be tempted for wise purposes— α. To bring out our hidden virtues; thus He brought out the virtue of faith in Abraham by tempting him to slay his son, and the virtue of patience in Job by suffering him to be afflicted with loss of substance, health, and friends. β. To keep us vigilant. (1 Pet. v. 8.) γ. To reward us finally for our merit in resisting temptation. (James i. 12.) 3. A. The word ‘to tempt’ has three significations in Holy Scripture. It signifies— α. To bring out hidden graces; and thus is used of God tempting us. (Gen. xxii. 1.) β. To lead into sin; and thus is used of the devil tempting us. (1 Cor. vii. 5.) γ. To provoke to anger; and thus is used of our tempting God. (Ps. xcv. 9. Acts v. 9. Heb. i. 12.) B. God tempts us in Lent, drawing out of us a proof—