Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	adam_n	law_n	transgression_n	5,599	5	10.5016	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62632	Several discourses viz. Of the great duties of natural religion. Instituted religion not intended to undermine natural. Christianity not destructive; but perfective of the law of Moses. The nature and necessity of regeneration. The danger of all known sin. Knowledge and practice necessary in religion. The sins of men not chargeable on God. By the most reverend Dr. John Tillotson, late lord arch-bishop of Canterbury. Being the fourth volume; published from the originals, by Ralph Barker, D.D. chaplain to his Grace.	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.; Barker, Ralph, 1648-1708.; White, Robert, 1600-1690, engraver.	1697 (1697)	Wing T1261A; ESTC R221745	169,748	495

Fact is committed our Conscience is strangely disquieted at the thoughts of it When a Man does but design to do a bad thing he is guilty to himself as if he had committed it Of this we have a considerable instance in the first violence that was offered to Nature Gen. 4. 6. The Lord said unto Cain why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen The very thought of that Wickedness which he did but then design did disorder his Mind and make a change in his very Countenance Guilt is the natural Concomitant of heinous Crimes which so soon as ever a Man commits his Spirit receives a secret wound which causeth a great deal of smart and anguish For guilt is restless an● puts the Mind of Man into an unnatural working and fermentation never to be settled again but by Repentance The Wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest which plainly shews that the Mind of Man hath a kind of Natural sense of Good and Evil because when ever we offend against Nature our Consciences are touched to the quick and we receive a sting into our Soul which shoots and pains us when ever we reflect upon what we have done I appeal to that witness which every Man carries in his breast whether this be not true 2. Men are naturally full of hopes and fears according as they follow or go against these natural Dictates A good Conscience is apt to fill Men with confidence and good hopes It does not only give ease but security to the Mind of Man against the dread of Invisible Powers and the fearful apprehensions of a future Judgment Whereas guilt fills Men with dismal apprehensions of danger and continual misgivings concerning their own safety Thus it was with Cain after he had slain his Brother It shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall s●ay me Nay when a Man hath done a secret fault which none can accuse him of yet then is he haunted with the terrors of his own Mind and cannot be secure in his own apprehensions which plainly shews that Men are conscious to themselves when they do well and when they do amiss and that the same Natural Instinct which prompts Men to their Duty fills them with good hopes when they have done it and with secret fears and apprehensions of danger when they have done contrary to it Secondly God shews Men what is good by Natural Reason and that two ways By the convenience of things to our Nature and by their tendency to our Happiness and Interest First Reason shews us the convenience of things to our Nature and whatever is agreeable to the Primitive design and intention of Nature that we call good whatever is contrary thereto we call evil For Example to honour and love God It is natural to honour great power and perfection and to love goodness wherever it is So likewise gratitude is natural to acknowledge benefits received and to be ready to requite them and the contrary is monstrous and universally abhorred and there is no greater sign that any thing is contrary to Nature than if it be detested by the whole kind It is agreeable also to Nature to be just and to do to others as we would have them do to us for this is to make our own natural inclinations and desires the rule of our dealing with others and to be merciful for no Man that hath not devested himself of humanity can be cruel and hard-hearted to others without feeling a pain in himself Secondly Reason shews us the Tendency of these Things to our Happiness and Interest And indeed the notion of good and evil does commonly refer to the Consequences of things and we call that good which will bring some Benefit and Advantage to us and that evil which is likely to produce some Mischief and Inconvenience and by this rule Reason discovers to us that these Duties are good To begin with Piety towards God Nothing can more evidently tend to our Interest than to make him our Friend upon whose Favour our Happiness depends So likewise for Gratitude it is a Virtue to which if Nature did not prompt us our Interest would direct us for every Man is ready to place Benefits there where he may hope for a thankful Return Temperance does apparently conduce to our Health which next to a good Conscience is the most pleasant and valuable thing in the World whereas the intemperate Man is an open Enemy to himself and continually making Assaults upon his own Life Mercy and Pity are not more welcome to others than they are delightful and beneficial to our selves for we do not only gratifie our own Nature and Bowels by relieving those who are in misery but we provoke Mankind by our Example to the like Tenderness and do prudently bespeak the Commiseration of others towards us when it shall be our Turn to stand in need of it And if we be wise enough our Reason will likewise direct us to be just as the surest Art of thriving in this World It gives a Man a Reputation which is a powerful Advantage in all the Affairs of this World It is the shortest and easiest way of dispatching Business the plainest and least entangled and though it be not so sudden a way of growing rich as Fraud and Oppression yet it is much surer and more lasting and not liable to those terrible Back-blows and after-reckonings to which Estates got by Injustice are And natural Reason does not only shew us that these things are good but that the Lord requires them of us that is that they have the Force and Obligation of Laws For there needs nothing more to make any thing a Law than a sufficient declaration that it is the Will of God and this God hath sufficiently signified to Mankind by the very Frame of our Natures and of those principles and faculties which he hath endued us withall so that whenever we act contrary to these we plainly disobey the Will of him that made us and violate those Laws which he hath Enacted in our Natures and written upon our Hearts And this is all the Law that the greatest part of Mankind were under before the Revelation of the Gospel From Adam to Moses the World was almost solely governed by the Natural Law which seems to be the meaning of that hard Text Rom. 5. 13. For until the Law Sin was in the World that is before the Law of Moses was given Men were capable of offending against some other Law for otherwise Sin could not have been imputed to them for Sin is not imputed wh●re there is no Law And then it follows Nevertheless Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's Transgression that is during that space from Adam to Moses Men sinned against the natural Law and were liable to Death upon that account though they had not offended against an express Revelation from God as Adam had

any thing wanting on God's part but on theirs as those known Texts wherein our Saviour laments the Case of Jerusalem because they obstinately brought destruction upon themselves Luke 19. 42. If thou hadst known in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace intimating that they might have known them so as to have prevented that desolation which was coming upon them and was a forerunner of their Eternal Ruine but now they are hid from thine eyes intimating that then God gave them up to their own blindness and obstinacy but the time was when they might have known the things of their peace which cannot be upon the supposition of the necessity of an irresistible act of God's Grace to their Conversion and Repentance because then without that they could not have Repented and if that had been afforded to them they had infallibly Repented So likewise in that other Text Matth. 23. 37. Oh! Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee even as an Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings and you would not And in John 5. 40. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life He would have gathered them and they would not he would have given them Life but they would not come to him Are these serious and compassionate expostulations and declarations of our Saviour's gracious intention towards them any ways consistent with an impossibility of their Repentance which yet must be said if irresistible grace be necessary thereto for then Repentance is impossible without it and that it was not afforded to them is plain because they did not Repent The same may be said of that solemn declaration of God Ezek. 33. 11. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and ●ive Can it be said that God hath no pleasure in the death of Sinners and yet be true that he denys to the greatest part of them that grace which is necessary to their Repentance Upon this Supposition how can it be true that if the mighty works that were done in Chorazin and Bethsaida had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have Repented Matth. 11. 21. since irresistible grace did not accompany those Miracles For if it had Chorazin and Bethsaida had Repented and without it Tyre and Sidon could not Repent The same difficulty is in those Texts wherein God is represented as expecting the Repentance and Conversion of Sinners and our Saviour wondering at their unbelief and hardness of heart and upbraiding them with it Isa 5. 4. What could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wild grapes Mark 6. 6. 't is said our Saviour marvell'd at the unbelief of the Jews And Chap. 16. 14. that he upbraided his Disciples with their unbelief and hardness of heart But why should the Repentance of Sinners be expected or their unbelief marvell'd at or indeed be upbraided to them by him who knew it impossible to them without an irresistible power and grace which he knew likewise was not afforded to them Neither God nor Men have reason to wonder ●hat any Man does not do that which at the same time they certainly know he cannot do The bottom of all that is said to avoid this pressing difficulty is this that this impotency and disability of Sinners is their Sin and therefore cannot be pleaded in their excuse for their impenitency but God may still justly require that of them which they had once a natural power to do but wilfully forfeited and lost it they had this power in Adam and forfeited it by his disobedience To shew how slight this evasion is I need not run into that Argument how far we are guilty of the Sin of our first Parents That by that first transgression and disobedience all Mankind suffers and our Natures are extreamly corrupted and depraved cannot be denied but the corruption of our Natures is a thing very different from Personal guilt strictly and properly so call'd I will take the business much shorter and granting that Mankind had in Adam a Natural power to have continued obedient to the Laws of God yet since by one Man Sin enter'd into the World and all are now Sinners here is an obligation to Repentance as well as to Obedience and Men shall be Condemned for their Impenitency I ask now whether in Adam we had a power to Repent 'T is certain Adam had not this power and therefore I cannot see how we could lose it and forfeit it in him Adam indeed had a Natural Power not to have sinned and so not to have needed Repentance but no power to Repent in the state of Innocency because in that state Repentance was impossible because there could be no occasion for it he had it not after his fall because by that he forfeited all his power to that which is spiritually good 'T is said indeed he had it in Innocency but forfeited it by his Fall so that he had it when there was no occasion or possibility of the exercise of it and lost it when there was occasion for it or if he did not lose it by his Fall we have it still and then there is no need of any supernatural much less irresistible grace to Repentance so that our impotency as to the particular Duty of Repentance cannot be charg'd upon us as our fault not so much as upon the account of Original Sin But the want of this Power is the consequent and just punishment of our first Transgression Be it so but if this impotency still remain in all those to whom God doth not afford his irresistible grace how comes th grace offer'd in the Gospel to aggravate the impenitency of Men and encrease their Condemnation For if it be no Remedy against this impotency how comes it to inflame the guilt of Impenitency Or how is it Grace to offer Mercy to those upon their Repentance who are out of a possibility of Repenting and yet to punish them more severely for their impenitency after this offer made to them which they cannot accept without that grace which God is resolved not to afford them If this be the Case the greatest favour had been to have had no such offer made to them and it had been happier for Mankind that the grace of God had not appear'd to all Men but only to those who shall irresistibly be made partakers of the benefit of it Secondly Another Doctrine grounded upon this Metaphor of a new Creation is that we are meerly passive in the work of Conversion and Regeneration and contribute nothing to it that God does all and we do nothing at all and this follows from the former especially if we allow the Metaphor as far as it will carry us For as the first Creation of things was by an irresistible act of Divine Power so the things that

the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins I should now have proceeded to the Third Particular namely that the Christian Religion hath supplied all the defects and weakness and imperfection of the Jewish dispensation but that I shall not now enter upon but make one plain inference from the substance of what I have already discoursed upon this Argument If our Saviour came not to dissolve and loosen the obligation of Moral Duties but to confirm and establish it and to enforce and bind the practice of these Duties more strongly upon us then they do widely and wilfully mistake the design of Christianity who teach that it dischargeth Men from the obligation of the Moral Law which is the Fundamental and avowed Principle of the Antinomian Doctrine but directly contrary to this Declaration of our Saviour in the Text that he came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to perfect and fulfill them for to take away the obligation of a Law is plainly to destroy and make it void and contrary to the Apostle's solemn resolution of this matter Rom. 3. 31. Do we then make void the Law through Faith That is does the Gospel destroy and take away the obligation of the Law God forbid yea we establish the Law the Christian Religion is so far from designing or doing any such thing that it gives new strength and force to it But surely they that teach this Doctrine did never duly consider that terrible threatning of our Saviour after the Text which seems to be so directly level'd at them whosoever shall break one of these least Commandments and shall teach Men so he shall be call'd the least in the Kingdom of Heaven for how can Men more effectually teach the violation not only of the least but of the greatest of Gods Commandments than by declaring that the Gospel hath set Men free from the obligation of the Moral Law which is in effect to say that Christians may act contrary to all the Duties of Morality that is do the most impious things in the World without any offence against God and notwithstanding this continue to be his Children and highly in the favour of God And all the security they have against this impious Consequence is that weak and slender pretence that gratitude and love to God will preserve them from making this ill use of the grace of the Gospel and oblige them to abstain from Sin and to endeavour to please God as much as any Law could do But then they do not consider the nonsense of this for there can be no such thing as Sin if the obligation of the Law be taken away for where there is no Law there can be no Transgression as the Apostle and common Reason likewise tells us so that the Law being removed and taken away all Actions become indifferent and one thing is not more a sin or offence against God than another And what then is it they mean that gratitude will oblige Men to or preserve them from When there can be no such thing as sin or duty as pleasing or offending God if there be no Law to oblige us to the one or restrain us from the other And what is if this be not to turn the grace of God into wantonness and to make Christian Liberty a Cloke for all sorts of Sins A Man cannot do a greater despite to the Christian Religion nor take a more effectual course to bring it into contempt and to make it to be hiss'd out of the World than to represent it as a lewd and licentious Doctrine which gives Men a perfect discharge from all the Duties of Morality and obligeth them only to believe confidently that Christ hath purchased for them a liberty to do what they will and that upon these terms and no other they are secure of the favour of God in this World and Eternal Salvation in the other This is the sum and the plain result of the Antinomian Doctrine the most pernicious Heresie and most directly destructive of the great End and Design of Christianity that ever yet was broached in the World But ye have not so learned Christ if so be ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off concerning your former conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful Lusts and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness SERMON IV. Christianity doth not destroy but perfect the Law of Moses MATTHEW V. 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil I Have consider'd this Saying of our Saviour's with respect to the Moral Law and those Precepts which are of Natural and Perpetual force and that our Saviour did not come either to dissolve or loosen the obligation of them for the illustration of which I propounded to clear these three Points First That the main and ultimate design of the Law and the Prophets was to engage Men to the practice of Moral Duties that is of real and substantial goodness Secondly That the Law of Moses or the dispensation of the Jewish Religion was comparatively very weak and insufficient to make Men truly good and ineffectual to promote inward and real Righteousness These two points I have spoken to I shall now proceed to the Third Namely that the Christian Religion doth supply all the defects and weaknesses and imperfections of the Jewish dispensation The Jewish Religion had very considerable advantages above the meer light of Nature which was all that the Heathen World had to conduct them towards Eternal Happiness the Jews had the knowledge of the one true God and very signal and particular Testimonies of the Divine Providence which did naturally tend to beget in them good hopes of a future Life and the rewards of another World they had the Natural Law revealed and the main Precepts of it written with God's own hand and by Moses delivered to them by which means they had a more certain and distinct knowledge of their duty they had Prophets frequently sent to them to admonish them of their Duty and to exhort them to Repentance and to warn them of approaching judgments They had good encouragement given to hope for the pardon of Sin by God's appointment of several ways of expiation which how unlikely soever they were to be available to the effectual expiation of Sin yet they did signifie that the Divine Nature was placable and did seem to figure some more effectual way designed by God for that purpose that should be exhibited in due time And finally they had most express promises and threatnings of Temporal Blessings and judgements to encourage them in their obedience and to deter them from the transgression of God's Laws These Advantages the Jews plainly had above the rest of the World God did not deal

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us that is whereas the Law left Sinners as to those Sins which stood most in need of pardon under a Curse having provided no expiation for them Christ hath redeemed them from that Curse by making a general expiation for Sin and in this sense it is that the Author to the Hebrews says Ch. 9. 15. that Christ died for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Covenant that is for those Sins for which the Covenant of the Law had provided no way of forgiveness and therefore St. John says emphatically 1 Joh. 1. 7. that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Thirdly The Law did not afford sufficiently plain and certain Rules and Directions for a good Life As the corruption and degeneracy of Mankind grew worse so the light of Nature waxed dimmer and dimmer and the Rule of Good and Evil was more doubtful and uncertain and that in very considerable instances of our Duty The Law of Moses was peculiar to the Jews and even to them who only had the benefit and advantage of it it did not give clear and perfect light and direction as to Moral Duties and those things which are of an Eternal and Immutable Reason and Goodness And therefore our Saviour in this Sermon explains it to a greater perfection than it was understood to have among the Jews or the letter of it seemed to intend and hath not only forbidden several things permitted by that Law as Divorce and Retaliation of Injuries but hath heightned our Duty in several instances of it requiring us to love our Enemies and to forgive the greatest injuries and provocations tho' never so often repeated and not only not to revenge them but to requite them with good turns which were not understood by Mankind to be Laws before but yet when duly consider'd are very agreeable to right Reason and the sense of the wisest and b●st Men. So that the Christian Religion ●ath not only fixt and determined our Duty and brought it to a greater certainty but hath raised it to a greater perfection and rendered it every way fit to bring the Minds of Men to a more Divine temper and a more reasonable and perfect way of serving God than ever the World was instructed in before Fourthly The Promises and Threatnings of the Law were only of temporal good and evil things which are in comparison of the endless Rewards and Punishments of another World but very languid and faint Motives to obedience Not but that the Jews under the Law had such apprehensions of their own Immortality and of a future state of Happiness and Misery after this Life as Natural Light suggested to them which was in most but a wavering and uncertain perswasion and consequently of small efficacy to engage Men to their Duty but the Law of Moses added little or nothing to the clearness of those Natural Notions concerning a future state and the strengthning of this perswasion in the Minds of Men it did rather suppose it than give any new force and life to it And for this Reason more particularly the Apostle tells us that the Law was but weak to make Men good because it did not work strongly enough upon the hopes and fears of Men by the weight of its Promises and the terrour of its Threatnings and that for this weakness and imperfection of it it was removed and a more powerful and awakening dispensation brought in in the place of it Heb. 7. 18 19. For there is verily a disannulling of the Commandment that was before that is of the Jewish Law for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof for the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did that is the Covenant of the Gospel which promiseth Eternal Life And Ch. 8. 6. for this Reason more especially the Apostle says that Christ had obtained a more excellent Ministry being the Mediator of a better Covenant which was establish'd upon better Promises And Rom. 1. 16 18. St. Paul tell us that for this Reason the Gospel is the power of God unto Salvation because therein the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men. The clear Revelation of a Future Judgment was that which made the Gospel so proper and so powerful an Instrument for the Salvation of Men. The great impiety of Mankind and their impenitency in it was not so much to be wondred at before while the World was in a great measure ignorant of the infinite danger of a wicked Life and therefore God is said in some sort to overlook it but now he commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 30 31. The clear discovery and perfect assurance of a future Judgment calls loudly upon all Men to leave their Sins and turn to God Fifthly The Covenant of the Law had no spiritual Promises contained in it of the grace and assistance of God's Holy Spirit for the mortifying of Sin and enabling Men to their Duty and supporting them under Sufferings but the Gospel is full of clear and express Promises to this purpose Our Saviour hath assured us that God will give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. and this the Apostle tells us is actually confer'd upon all true Christians those who do sincerely embrace and believe the Gospel Rom. 8. 9. If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Hence the Gospel is call'd by the same Apostle the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus v. 2d of that Chap. The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death and in the next words he tells us that herein manifestly appeared the weakness of the Law that it left Men destitute of this mighty help and advantage at least as to any special promise of it What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and by making him a Sacrifice for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is that that Righteousness which the Law aimed at and signified but was too weak to effect might be really accomplisht in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit that is who are acted and assisted by a higher and better Principle than Men either have in Nature or the carnal dispesnation of the Law did endow Men withall And because of this great defect the Law is said to be a state of Bondage and Servitude and on the contrary

God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed In which words these two things are plainly contained First That God doth not tempt any Man to Sin Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man Secondly That every Man's fault lies at his own door and he is his own greatest tempter But every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed I. That God doth not tempt any Man to Sin Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man In which words there are three things to be considered First The Proposition which the Apostle here rejects and that is That God tempts Men. Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God Secondly The manner in which he rejects it Let no Man say so By which manner of speaking the Apostle insinuates these two Things 1. That Men are apt to lay their faults upon God For when he says L●t no Man say so he intimates that Men are apt to say so and it is very probable that some did say so and 2 dly That it is not only a fault but an impious assertion to say that God tempts Men. He speaks of it as a thing to be rejected with detestation Let no Man say that is far be it from us to affirm a thing so impious and dishonourable to God Thirdly The Reason and Argument that he brings against it For God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man First the Proposition which the Apostle here rejects and that is That God tempts Men Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God Now that we may the more distinctly understand the meaning of the Proposition which the Apostle here rejects it will be very requisite to consider what Temptation is and the several sorts and kinds of it To Tempt a Man is in general nothing else but to make trial of him in any kind what he will do In Scripture Temptation is commonly confin'd to the trial of a Man's good or bad of his virtuous or vicious inclinations But then it is such a trial as endangers a Man's virtue and if he be not well resolved is likely to overcome it and to make him fall into Sin So that temptation does always imply something of danger the worst way And Men are thus tempted either from themselves or by others by others chiefly these two ways First By direct and down-right perswasions to Sin Secondly By being brought into such Circumstances as will greatly endanger their falling into it tho' none solicit and perswade them to it First By direct and down-right perswasions to Sin Thus the Devil tempted our First Parents by representing things so to them as might on the one hand incite them to Sin and on the other hand weaken and loosen that which was the great curb and restraint from it On the one hand he represents to them the advantages they should have by breaking God's Command God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil On the other hand he represents the danger of offending not to be so great and certain as they imagined The Serpent said unto the Woman ye shall not surely dye And the Devil had so good success in this way of tempting the first Adam as to encourage him to set upon the second our Blessed Saviour in the same manner for he would have perswaded him to fall down and worship him by offering him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them And thus bad Men many times tempt others and endeavour to draw them into the same wicked Courses with themselves Solomon represents to us the manner and the danger of it Prov. 1. 10 11 13 14. My Son if Sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil Cast in thy lot amongst us let us all have one purse This is the first way of temptation And to be sure God tempts no Man this way He offers no Arguments to Man to perswade him to Sin he no where proposeth either Reward or Impunity to Sinners but on the contrary gives all imaginable encouragement to Obedience and threatens the transgression of his Law with most dreadful Punishments Secondly Men are likewise tempted by being brought into such Circumstances as will greatly endanger their falling into Sin tho' none perswade them to it and this happens two ways when Men are remarkably beset with the allurements of the World or assaulted with the Evils and Calamities of it for either of these Conditions are great temptations to Men and make powerful assaults upon them especially when they fall upon those who are ill disposed before or are but of a weak Virtue and Resolution The allurements of the World are strong temptations Riches and Honours and Pleasures they are the Occasions and Incentives to many Lusts Honour and Greatness Power and Authority over other● especially when Men are suddenly lifted up and from a low Condition are apt to transport Men to Pride and Insolency towards others Power is a strong Liquor which does easily intoxicate weak Minds and make them apt to say and do undecent things Man that is in Honour and understands not is like the Beasts that perish Intimating that Men who are exalted to an high Condition are very apt to forget themselves and to play the Fools and Beasts It requires great Consideration and a well-poised Mind not to be lifted up with one's Condition Weak heads are apt to turn and grow dizzy when they look down from a great height And so likewise Ease and Prosperity are a very slippery Condition to most Men and without great care do endanger the falling into great Sins So Solomon observes Prov. 1. 32. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them For this Reason Agur maketh his Prayer to God that he would give him neither Poverty nor Riches but keep him in a mean Condition because of the danger of both extreams Prov. 30. 8 9. Give me not Riches lest I be full and deny thee Both the eager desire and the possession and enjoyment of Riches do frequently prove fatal to Men. So our Saviour tells us elsewhere very Emphatically Mat. 19. 23 24. Verily I say unto you that a Rich Man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And again I say unto you it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a Rich Man to enter into the

nothing in him to work upon or to give him any advantage over him And thus he daily tempts Men by laying all sorts of baits and snares before them going about continually seeking whom he may seduce and destroy and as far as God permits him and his Power reacheth he suits his temptations as near as he can to the humours and appetites and inclinations of Men contriving them into such circumstances as that he may ply his temptations upon them to the greatest advantage propounding such Objects to them as may most probably draw forth the corruptions of Men and kindle their irregular desires and inflame their lusts and tempt their evil inclinations that way which they are most strongly bent He tempts the Covetous Man with Gain the Ambitious Man with Preferment the Voluptuous Man with Carnal and Sensual Pleasures and where none of these baits will take he stirs up his Instruments to persecute those who are stedfast and confirmed in Resolutions of Piety and Virtue to try if he can work upon their Fear and shake their Constancy and Fidelity to God and Goodness that way and all this he doth with a direct design and earnest desire to seduce Men from their Duty and to betray them to Sin But thus God tempts no Man and in this sense it is that the Apostle means that no Man when he is tempted is tempted of God God hath no design to seduce any Man to Sin He often proves the obedience of Men and suffers them to fall into divers temptations for the trial of their faith and exercise of their obedience and other Virtues and he permits bad Men to be assaulted with great temptations and as a punishment of their former obstinacy and impiety withdraws the aids and assistances of his grace from them and leaves them to their own weakness and folly but not so as to take away all restraint of his grace even from bad Men unless it be upon very high provocation and a long and obstinate continuance in Sin But God never tempts any Man with any intention to seduce him to Sin and with a desire he should do wickedly This is the proper work of the Devil and his Instruments in this sense it is far from God to tempt any Man and whenever in the ordinary course and by the common permission of his Providence Men fall into temptation the utmost that God does is to leave them to themselves and he does not do this neither but to those who have highly provoked him to depart from them that is to those who have justly deserved to be so dealt withal And thus I have consider'd the Proposition which the Apostle here rejects namely that God tempts Men and have shewn as clearly as I can how it is to be limited and understood I now proceed to the second thing which I propounded to consider viz. The manner in which the Apostle rejects this Proposition Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God By which manner of speaking he insinuates two Things First That Men are apt to lay their faults upon God For when he says let no Man say so he intimates that Men were apt to say thus and 't is probable some did say so to excuse themselves for their deserting their Religion upon the temptation of Persecution and Suffering 'T is not unlikely that Men might lay the fault upon God's Providence which exposed them to these difficult trials and thereby tempted them to forsake their Religion But however this be we find it very natural to Men to transfer their faults upon others Men are naturally sensible when they offend and do contrary to their Duty and the guilt of Sin is an heavy burthen of which Men would be glad to ease themselves as much as they can and they think it is a mitigation and excuse of their faults if they did not proceed only from themselves but from the violence and compulsion the temptation and instigation of others But especially Men are very glad to lay their faults upon God because he is a full and sufficient excuse nothing being to be blamed that comes from him Thus Adam did upon the commission of the very first Sin that Mankind was guilty of When God charged him for breaking of his Law by eating of the fruit of the forbidden Tree he endeavours to excuse himself by laying the fault obliquely upon God The Woman whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat The Woman whom thou gavest to be with me he does what he can to derive the fault upon God And tho' this be very unreasonable yet it seems it is very natural Men would fain have the pleasure of committing Sin but then they would be glad to remove as much of the trouble and guilt of it from themselves as they can Secondly This manner of Speech which the Apostle here useth doth insinuate further to us that it is not only a false but an impious assertion to say that God tempts Men to Sin He speaks of it not only as a thing unfit to be said but fit to be rejected with the greatest indignation let no Man say that is far be it from us to affirm any thing so impious and so dishonourable to God For nothing can be more contrary to the holy and righteous nature of God and to those plain declarations which he hath made of himself than to seduce Men to wickedness and therefo●e no Man that hath any regard to the honour of God can entertain the least suspicion of his having any hand in the Sins of Men or give heed to any Principles or Doctrines from whence so odious and abominable a Consequence may be drawn I proceed to the Third Thing I propounded to consider viz. The Reason or Argument which the Apostle brings against this impious suggestion That God cannot be tempted with evil and therefore no Man can imagine that he should tempt any Man to it Let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man And in speaking to this I shall First Consider the strength and force of this Argument And Secondly The Nature and Kind of it First The strength and force of this Argument God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is untemptable by evil he cannot be drawn to any thing that is bad himself and therefore it cannot be imagined he should have any inclination or design to seduce others And this will appear to be a strong and forcible Argument if we consider First The Proposition upon which it is grounded that God cannot be tempted by evil Secondly The Consequence that clearly follows from it and that is that because God cannot be tempted by evil therefore he cannot tempt any Man to it First We will consider the Proposition upon which this Argument is built and that is that God cannot be tempted