is likely enough he thought him to be some extraordinary person He knew by the Ancient Prophecies that the Messias was to appear and knew from the Prophet Daniel that the time for his coming was accomplished nay it is probable he knew all the circumstances of his Birth and heard that â—…imony God gave him at his Bapâ—… This is my beloved Son but he saw he was a Man though an extraordinary Man and might not know that he was any thing more and having formerly foiled our first Parents in Paradise in the state of innocence hoped for the like success again Now if Christ himself was tempted by the Devil none of us must hope to escape tempted we shall be and therefore must take care to stand upon our guard and to fortify our Minds against all temptations And this encouragement we have from the Example of our Saviour that to be tempted is no Sin unless we yield to a temptation for He was tempted as we are yet without sin and we cannot imagine had it been a sin to be tempted that God would have permitted the Devil to have tempted our Saviour which may ease the fears of some Melancholly Christians who are afflicted with evil and tempting thoughts which their Souls abhor for whatever the cause of such thoughts be whether a frighted and disturbed imagination or the suggestion of wicked Spirits they can no more defile the Soul which abhors and rejects them with grief and indignation than they can the Paper on which they are writ Nay hence we learn that God many times exercises those with the greatest and most difficult Tryals and Temptations who are most dear to him He had no sooner proclaimed Christ his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased but he leads him by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil This Life is a State of Tryal and Probation and Temptations though they create some trouble and difficulty to good men yet do them no hurt If good men Conquer Temptations do but exercise encrease and confirm their Graces and make them great and illustrious examples to the World glorify the Divine Power in the Victories and Triumphs of his Servants over the World the Flesh and the Devil give them a secure hope in God and a transporting sense of his Love and prepare great rewards for them in the next Life And if they happen in any particular encounter to be overcome as St. Peter himself was when he denied his Master yet they rise again with glory and the sense of their sin and the shame of a defeat fills them with sorrow indignation self-revenge gives them new spirit vigour activity resolution makes them more patient of hardships and sufferings more unwearied in doing good more humble and modest and more perfectly resigned to the Will of God to dispose of them and their Services to his own Glory as he pleases God does not train up those whom he Loves and whom he prepares for Glory in ease and softness Whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth And the more difficult Temptations he exposes us to the greater honour he does us the more glorious will our Triumphs the richer and brighter will our Crowns be Let us then behold our Saviour in the Wilderness separated from humane conversation and all the comforts of Life in the midst of wild Beasts and tempting Spirits and not think that God uses us hardly if at any time he lets loose the Tempter upon us and gives him power over all we have as he did in the Case of Iob to afflict us in our Relations our Bodies our Estates good Names or whatever gives us the sharpest and keenest sense of suffering and is the most difficult exercise of our Faith 2. Let us consider the time when our Saviour was tempted viz. immediately after his Baptism being full of the Holy Ghost 4. Luke 1. 1. As soon as our Saviour was baptized he was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness For Then in my Text relates to the time of his Baptism and St. Luke tells us this was done in his return from Iordan where he was baptized by Iohn By this Religious Rite our Saviour had devoted himself to the immediate service of God in the Salvation of Mankind and was inaugurated into his Prophetick Office by that Testimony which was given to him by a Voice from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and this was the Critical time both for the Devil to tempt and for our Saviour to baffle all his temptations and to triumph over him Could the Devil have conquered our Saviour in this first assault there had been an end of this Glorious design of mans Salvation when he had enslaved and captivated the Saviour himself and therefore he began as early with â—…he second Adam as he did with the first though not with the like success Had our first parents resisted the first â—…emptation we had been happy for â—…ver but they yielded and brought â—…eath upon themselves and their Posteâ—…ity but the seed of the Woman whom God had promised should â—…reak the Serpents Head who was made manifest to destroy the works the Kingdom and the Power of the Devil by God's order and appointment first encounters him in his own person resists his most furious assaults makes him reâ—…reat with shame and despair as foreseeâ—…ng his own destiny and the final destruction of his Kingdom As the old Serpent seduced our first Parents in Paradice and brought sin and misery and death into the world so it was very fitting that the Saviour of Mankind should give the first proof of his Divine power in conquering the Tempter This gives us great encouragement to fight under Christ's Banners against the World the Flesh and the Devil for the Captain of our Salvation has already conquered and if we are not wanting to our selves we shall be more than Conquerors through Christ who strengthens us He knows what the power of temptations is and what measures of Grace are necessary to resist them and if we do not forsake him he will not forsake us He has conquered himself and knows how to conquer and if we faithfully adhere to him we shall conquer too Nay in case we should some time be conquered this has made him a merciful and compassionate High Priest being in all things tempted like as we are He knows the weakness of humane nature and the power and subtilty of the Tempter and prays for us as he did for St. Peter That our faith fail not that if we fall we may rise again by Repentance And this is a mighty Consolation That if any man sin 〈◊〉 have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous who is not only a Propitiation for our Sins but was tempted also as we are 2ly St. Luke observes that our Saviour was full of the Holy Ghost which he received without measure at his Baptism when the Holy Ghost descended like a Dove and rested on him before he was led by the Spirit into
conceive no Substance but Matter and Body and therefore reject the Notion of a Spirit as Nonsense and Contradiction They will allow nothing to be wisely made which they understand not the reason and uses of and therefore they fancy a great many botches and blunders in Nature which cannot be the designs and contrivance of Wisdom but the effects of Chance and then the consequence is plain That the World was made by Chance not by a Wise Author Now I confess if this way of Reasoning be allowed it will be impossible to defend either Sense or Reason or Revelation against the Cavils of Atheists and Infidels for there are unconceivable and incomprehensible Secrets and Mysteries in them all and if to conceive and comprehend the Natures of things must be made the measure and standard of true and false we must deny our Senses and Reason as well as our Faith and if we do and must believe our Sense and Reason beyond our Comprehension why must we believe nothing that is Revealed any farther than we can conceive and comprehend the Nature and Reasons of it The Sum is this Humane Knowledge whatever the means of knowing be whether Sense or Reason or Revelation does not reach to the Philosophical Causes and Natures of things but only to their Being and Natural Vertues and Powers and as a Wise man who knows the Measure of his understanding expects no more from Sense and Reason than to know what things there are in the World and what they are as far as they fall under the notice of Sense and Natural Reason so we must expect no more from Revelation than the knowledge of such things as Sense and Natural Reason cannot discover But we must no more expect the Philosophy of Supernatural Truths from Revelation than we do the Mysteries of Nature from Sense and Reason Now since Humane Knowledge is not a knowledge of the Mysterious Natures of things but only to know what things there are and what they are there can be no contradiction between Sense and Reason and Revelation unless one denies what the other affirms not that one teaches more than the other teaches or that one cannot comprehend what the other teaches Reason teaches more than Sense teaches or can comprehend and Revelation teaches more than either Sense or Natural Reason teaches or can comprehend but this is no contradiction but only a subordination between these different kinds and degrees of Knowledge but as for Unconceivableness and Incomprehensibility that is no argument against any thing for Sense and Natural Reason can no more comprehend their own Objects than they do what is revealed And it is manifest perverseness to make that an objection against Revelation which we will not allow to be an objection against Sense and Reason This is sufficient as to the reason of the thing but as far as it is possible to remove mens Prejudices also against believing Mysteries I shall briefly answer two very popular Objections 1. It is thought very unnatural that when God has made us reasonable Creatures and therefore made Natural Reason to us the measure of Truth and Falshood he should require us to believe without Reason as we must do if he reveals such things to us as we know not and cannot possibly know the reasons of If we must believe with our Understanding how can we believe things which we cannot understand This were a reasonable Objection were it true for we cannot believe what we have no knowledge nor understanding of for Faith is Knowledge though not Natural Knowledge But do we not understand what it is we believe Do we not know what we mean when we say we believe in Father Son and Holy Ghost Nay do not our Adversaries understand what we mean by it How then come they to charge us with believing Contradictions and Impossibilities For if they know not what we believe they cannot know whether we believe Contradictions or not And if we do understand what it is we believe then we do not believe without understanding which is absolutely impossible if we know what it is we believe And we know also why we believe Our Faith is founded in Sense and Reason and resolved into the Authority of God which is the highest and most infallible Reason The Miracles which Christ and his Apostles wrought were evident to Sense and owned by Reason to be the effects of a Divine Power and the Answer the Blind man gave to the Pharisees when Christ had opened his eyes speaks the true Sense of Nature Herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is and yet he hath opened mine Eyes Now we know that God heareth not Sinners but if any man be a Worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth Since the World began was it not heard that any man opened the Eyes of one that was born blind If this man were not of God he could do nothing 9 John 30 31 32 33. And all Mankind own that the most absolute Faith is due to God and to those who speake from God and this as I take it is to believe with Reason But still we believe such things whose Natures we do not understand and cannot account for by Natural Reason and this is to believe without Reason We believe that God the Father hath an Eternal Son and an Eternal Spirit and that Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one Eternal God but this is what Natural Reason cannot comprehend nor give us any notion or conception of how God can have an Eternal Son and an Eternal Spirit really distinct from himself and yet with himself One Eternal and Infinite God Reason can give no account of the Eternal Generation of the Son nor of the Eternal Procession of the Holy Spirit and is not this to believe without Reason which a reasonable Creature ought not to do and which we ought not to think that God who made us reasonable Creatures expects from us And this I grant would be a material Objection were Reason the Judge of the Nature and Philosophy of things and did Reason require us to believe nothing but what we understand and comprehend But then we must no more believe Sense and Reason than Revelation for we do not comprehend the Nature of any one thing in the World how evident soever it is to Sense and Reason that there are such things Nature is as great a Mystery as Revelation and it is no greater affront to our Understandings no more against Reason for God to reveal such things to us as our Reason cannot comprehend than 〈◊〉 is to make a whole World which â—…eason cannot comprehend When we make it an Objection against â—…ny thing that it is without Reason or â—…s we apprehend against Reason and contrary to Reason we must first conâ—…ider whether it be the proper object of Reason otherwise it is no Objection as it is no Objection against Sounds that we cannot see them nor against Colours
the thing and the only Dispute is about Matter of Fact whether God have revealed his Will to Mankind whether there ever were such inspired Men sent by God to instruct the World whether there ever were any true Miracles wrought or any certain Predictions of things to come and when Men are satisfied that such things may be as they certainly may be if there be a God it will dispose them to a more modest and impartial Examination of such Matters and not suffer them to despise Revealed Religion at all adventures For in Matters especially of such vast moment no wise Man will reject and scorn what may be true till he can prove it to be false 2. Since then we must confess that it is possible that God should reveal his Will to Mankind let us consider which is most probable which is most agreeable to those Notions we have of God that he should or should not make such a Revelation of his Will Now if we may judge of this by the general Sense of Mankind there was not a Man in the World in former Ages who believed a God but did believe also some kind of Commerce and Communication between God and Men. This was the Foundation of all their Religious Rites and Ceremonies which every Nation pretended to receive from their Gods This gave Birth to all their Superstious Arts of Divination that they believed their Gods had a perpetual Intercourse with Men and by various Means gave them notice of things to come â—…nd the Stoick in Tully thought That â—…e Acknowledgment of a God did as â—…ecessarily infer Divination as Divinaâ—…on did prove the Being of a God Ego â—…im sic existimo si sint ea genera diviâ—…andi vera de quibus accepimus quoeque coâ—…imus esse Deos vicissimque si Dii sint esse â—…ui divinent Is it possible as I observed before to â—…magine that God should make reasoâ—…able Creatures who are made to know â—…im and to be happy in the Knowledge and Love and Admiration of him and withdraw himself from them without giving them any visible Tokens of his Presence or any other View of his Glory then in the weak and glimmering Reflections of his Works Had Man preserved the Innocence and Purity of his Nature for whether we believe the History of Moses or not if we believe that God made Man we must believe that he made him Holy he had been fit for the Presence and Conversation of God as Angels and Holy and Pure Spirits are and in this State there can be no doubt but God would have shewn himself and his Glory to Man in some Measure and Proportion as he does to the Angels in Heaven as the History of Moses assures us that God did to Adam in Paradise So that Man was made if I may so speak with Reverence for the Conversation of God which pious and devout Souls recover in some measure on Earth and which we all hope perfectly to enjoy in Heaven Sin indeed as necessarily it must has made a greater distance between God and Man but if we must live in the other World and be happy or miserable there as the Deist professes to believe if God still exercises any Care and Providence over Mankind it seems absolutely necessary that he should give some sensible Tokens of his own Being and Presence and instruct them more perfectly in his own Nature and Will then the Light of Nature teaches For how much soever Men may magnifie the Light of Nature it is certain the State of the World was very ignorant and corrupt and Mankind knew little of God beyond a general Perswasion that there was such a Being and therefore worshipped a Multiplicity of Gods and any thing for God and that with such ridiculous and barbarous Rites as were a Reproach to the Naâ—…e both of God and Man And can â—…y Man who believes a Divine Proviâ—…nce think that God takes no care of â—…s own Glory and Worship nor of the â—…uls of Men And it is certain he has â—…ken none if he have not revealed â—…mself and his Will to the World Especially when we consider that in â—…ose dark Times of Paganism the Deâ—…l and Evil Spirits had every where â—…eir Temples and Altars and Priests â—…d Sacrifices frequently appeared to â—…eir Votaries in visible Shapes and inâ—…ituted their own Rites of Worship and â—…ave forth their Oracles and Responses â—…nd by their various Arts of Divinatiâ—…n gave them notice of many Events â—…or though these were Cheats and Imâ—…ostures they were not all the Cheats â—…f Priests but of Evil Spirits who imâ—…osed both upon Priests and People and â—…y these Arts begot in them a great Oâ—…inion of their own Divinity as we must confess unless we will deny the Credit of all Histories And when this by the secret and hidden Counsels of God was the miserable and degenerate State of Mankind can we think that God should leave himself without any other Witness than the Light of Nature should give no Demonstrations of a Power superior to all these vulgar Deities nor give Men any certain Notices of his Will no Rules of Conversation or Worship It is certain in Matter of Fact that all the Reformation which has been made in Mens Faith and Worship and Manners is owing to the Jewish and Christian Religion This put a stop to their absurd Idolatries and restored the Worship of the One Supreme God in the World which is so wonderful a Change as could not have been wrought without some visible and irresistible Proofs of Divinity This is sufficient to shew how unreasonable it is in those Men who believe a God to deny all Revelation For it is certain that God can reveal Himself and his Will to Mankind if he pleases and that the Nature and Providence of God and the State of the World makes it highly reasonable to think he has done it The Design of all which is no more but this to remove Mens Prejudices against the very Notion of a Revealed Religion For were this effectually done they would soon discover the most unquestionable Characters of Divinity in the Gospel of our Saviour I am sure if we do believe a God and another World nothing can be so desirable as a more explicite and perfect Account of â—…he Will of God and the Way to Heaven than meer Nature can give us What Impression this may make upon profess'd Deists I cannot tell they â—…ave so used themselves to laugh at eveâ—…y thing that is serious and to confute â—…he wisest Arguments with bold and profane Jests that little Good can be expected from them But I hope this may caution those who are not yet â—…nfected and make the Name of a Deist â—…n a Christian Nation as contemptible â—…s the Name of an Atheist they are both â—…wing to the same Cause they live much alike they are equal Enemies to Christianity and equally dangerous to any Government where they themselves are not â—…ppermost It is a
one Place neither to the Temple of Ierusalem nor Samaria but it should be free all the World over to erect Houses of Prayer and Worship where God would be as present with them as in the Temple of Ierusalem for there should be an end now put to that Typical State and Typical Worship which was confined to the Temple and the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth and this Spiritual Worship is confined to no one Place but will find God present all the World over which is so far from abrogating all peculiar Places of Worship such as the Temple at Ierusalem and Samaria were that it makes every Church whatever part of the World it be in in a truer Sense the House of God than ever the Temple at Ierusalem was And there is one thing more of great consequence which we learn from this that we now want no new Appearance of God to consecrate a Place for his Worship as it was in the Days of the Patriarchs nor any new Command to appoint us where to build a House for God as it was under the Law Our Saviour has consecrated every part of the World where Christians live to be such Holy Ground as is fit to receive a Temple and House of God and his Promise to be in the midst of the Assemblies of Christians gives us as great an Assurance of a Divine Presence in such Places as if like the Tabernacle and Temple we saw them again filled with a Cloud and a visible Glory Having thus shewn you that God who fills all Places is yet peculiarly present in some Places and what this peculiar Presence is that God is present as the Object of our Worship to hear our Prayers and to receive our Praises and Thanksgivings our Alms and Oblations let us now consider the Exhortation of my Text which is the natural Improvement of this O worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness 1st And here first I observe that the very External Beauty and Ornament of God's House is one Part of Homage which we owe to him The Riches and visible Glory of Solomon's Temple was one of the Wonders of the World a Divine Art and Nature conspired to build a House as fit as Art and Nature could make it to signifie the incommunicable Majesty and Glory of that God who dwelt there And this Nature taught all Mankind the Magnificence of their Temples did not only shew their Devotion but what their Art and what their Riches were And the Primitive Christians when they enjoyed Peace and Plenty under Christian Emperors were so far from thinking this a Piece of Pagan or Iewish Superstition that their first Care was to erect Beautiful and Stately Churches to rival and out-do all the External Glory of Pagan Temples and it was always accounted a great Instance of the Piety of Princes to encourage and promote such Works But you 'll say what is all this to God Can we think that he who has made the World with such unimitable Art and Beauty can be pleas'd with any House we can build for him whatever Art or Riches we bestow on it But this very Objection answers it self For God has made this Beautiful World for his Temple and has chose the most Glorious Part of it for his Throne which shews that though he be an infinite pure Spirit he does not despise an External Glory for thus he must represent his invisible Greatness and Majesty to his Creatures And therefore when he thinks fit to vouchsafe his Presence with us on Earth we must provide the most honourable Reception for him that we can and when we have done all that Art and Nature can do we have so far express'd our Devotion and Reverence for the Divine Presence This Objection lay against the Temple at Ierusalem as well as against Christian Churches and yet David thought it very undecent and a want of a just Reverence for God that he himself should dwell in a House of Cedar and the Ark of God dwell within Curtains 2 Sam. 7. 2. which should be considered by those Men who think all that is bestowed upon Beautifying and Adorning God's House a vain and superfluous Expence when they think no Cost too great to adorn their own 2dly The House of God too must be used as God's House that is must be separated from common Uses and appropriated to the Worship of God It must not be a Place of Trade and Commerce and ordinary Conversation as we learn from our Saviour's Zeal in driving those who sold Oxen and Sheep and Doves and the Changers of Money out of the Temple which he did at two several times the first immediately upon his entrance on his Ministry Ioh 2. 13 14 15 16. the second immediately before his Crucifixion Matth. 21. 12 13. Some learned Men observe that the Place of this Merchandise in the Temple was the Court of the Gentiles and from hence conclude that our Saviour's Zeal was not confined to the Iewish Temple but concerned all Christian Churches to which the Court of the Gentiles bore a greater Analogy but whatever Force there may be in this I think the Reasons our Saviour gives do much better explain his meaning Make not my Father's House a House of Merchandise John 2. 16. and it is written My House shall be called a House of Prayer but ye have made it a Den of Thieves Matth. 21. 13. Which Reasons have no relation to the typical State of the Iewish Temple but equally concern all Places which are the House of God and the House of Prayer that is where God vouchsafes his peculiar Presence to hear our Prayers And indeed when Christ expressed so much Zeal for the House of God when the typical Glory of the Iewish Temple was at an end having received its Accomplishment in his own Person it is a very good Reason to believe that he intended this as a standing Rule for the Religious Use of all Christian Churches and Oratories I am sure the Reason is universal and unanswerable that the House of God which is a House of Prayer ought not to be prophaned by any common Uses 3dly Let us worship in the Beauty of Holiness that is let us resort to the House of God to the House of Prayer there to offer up our Prayers and Thanksgivings to him For if God have a House where he has promised his peculiar Presence to hear our Prayers that is the proper and peculiar Place of Worship The Scripture makes it a very material Circumstance of Worship to approach God's House to enter into his Courts to come into his Presence to own our selves his Servants and Worshippers and without disparaging private Prayers or Closet and Family Devotions there is no reason to think God will own those for his Worshippers who deny him this publick Homage There is no doubt but God knows our Prayers where-ever we make them for he knows our very Thoughts but to hear Prayers
the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil For Human Nature and it was the Human Nature of Christ on which the Holy Ghost descended cannot resist such powerful Assaults without Divine Assistances And the Example of our Saviour assures us that God will not expose us to any Temptations without giving us proportionable measures of Grace to resist them That if we are at any time conquered it is not for want of power but for want of will to conquer that is the fault is wholly our own and we cannot blame God for it I doubt there are few men in the world â—…ut the Devil had he the full power of â—…empting could find out some Temptaâ—…ions too big for them but the Divine Goodness is seen as well in restraining â—…he power of the Devil that we shall â—…ot be tempted above what we are able â—…o bear as by the strengthning our â—…inds by the internal Assistances of his Grace and therefore our Saviour has â—…aught us to pray Lead us not into â—…emptation but deliver us from evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the wicked One which â—…oes not signify that we may never be tempted which is impossible while we live in Bodies of Flesh and Blood and are incompassed with all the Flattering Objects of Flesh and Sense but that God would not give us up into the power of the Devil to be tempted above what we are able Some of the Ancients observe from this Story That when we devote and consecrate our selves to God we must expect to be tempted as our Saviour was As for bad men who are the Slaves and Vassals of the Devil he cannot so properly be said to tempt as to govern them for he is the Spiriâ—… that worketh in the Children of disobedience but when men desert his service he is very busie to recover his Slaves again but then our comfort and security too is That when we give up our selves to the Service of God he takes us into his protection the Wicked One cannot touch us without his leave and he always proportions our Trials to our Strength 3dly Consider the Place of our Saviour's Temtation He was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness where there were no tempting Objects but yet there the tempting Spirit found him Some men think that the surest way 〈◊〉 get rid of Temptations is to get â—…t of the World to withdraw themâ—…ves from Human Conversation or 〈◊〉 make a shew of doing it without â—…ing it as if the Devil could not â—…llow them into a Desert or a Cell â—…hile we live in Bodies of Flesh and â—…ood we may be tempted where-ever â—…e are If we mortify our Sensual Apâ—…tites and our love to this World â—…e may live very innocently in the â—…orld if we do not we can never â—…t rid of the World but where-ever â—…e go we carry it in our hearts Do these men imagine they can neâ—…r be tempted to lust unless they daily â—…e and converse with beautiful Women 〈◊〉 that they cannot love the World â—…ithout living in a Court and enjoyâ—…g all the ease and luxury of a Plentiful â—…rtune or that it is not possible to â—…spise the World with as much haughtiâ—…ss and vanity of mind as any â—…an has who most admires it That a â—…onk can't be as proud as an Emperor â—…d glory as much in a sullen Retireâ—…ent in Voluntary Austerities in an â—…ffected Poverty in a Vain Opinion â—…f extraordinary Sanctity as any Man can do in Wealth and Power Whence came all those Superstitions which have corrupted both the Faith and Worship of Christianity and done more mischief to the Church and Religion than all the looseness of a Secular Life but from Desarts and the Cells of Monks and Hermites Which proves that the Devil has his Temptations for thâ—… Wilderness as well as for the Court for the most Religious Devotees anâ—… Melancholly Enthusiasts as well as fâ—… the Men of this World and those tâ—… most dangerous Temptations too whicâ—… as experience tells us open a bacâ—… door for Pride and Ambition and Secular Power and a general corruptioâ—… of Manners to enter into the Church and into the Lives of Christians Anâ—… therefore we must guard our selveâ—… against the Tempter as well in oâ—… greatest solitudes and retirements froâ—… the World as in a croud of busineâ—… We must have a care of the temptatioâ—… of Devotion and Mortification 〈◊〉 Fastings and Penances of a sullen dâ—… content at this World as well as 〈◊〉 the temptations of a busie Life and 〈◊〉 an easie and prosperous Fortune 4thly I observe That Christ was led â—…y the Spirit into the Wilderness to be â—…empted of the Devil that is It was God's appointment not his own voâ—…untary choice And this Teaches us â—…anfully to resist Temptations when â—…he Providence of God and the unâ—…voidable circumstances of our Conâ—…ition bring us into Temptations but â—…ot presumptuously to thrust our selves â—…nto them There is always danger in Temptaâ—…ions especially when we rashly venâ—…ure upon them Let not him that putteth on his Armour boast as he that putteth it off is true in our Spiritual Warfare We have seen great Men conquered even St. Peter himself and therefore Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall and not unnecessarily venture too near a Precipice where he may be in danger of falling Our Saviour has taught us to pray that God would not lead us into Temptation as I observed before much less then ought we to lead our selves into Temptation We may easily presume too far upon the strength of our Faith our Courage our Resolution as St. Peter did who had he been more diffident of himself had kept out of the High-Priest's Hall and escaped the Temptation which he could not resist We daily see that Men who presume upon the Strength of their Constitution and use their Bodies ill destroy their Health and shorten their Lives while Men who feel their own weak and crazy Temper live on with Care to a good Old Age and thus it is with respect to the Mind as well as to the Body Presumption will destroy those whom Fear and Caution will secure and therefore let us not be high-minded but fear There are a great many ways whereby Men expose themselves to Temptation and tempt even the Tempter some of which are very obvious As to keep Ill Company whose Conversation is a daily Temptation Sloth and Idleness which betrays Men to any Wickedness which offers its self For it is an uneasie thing to have nothing to do and that it self is a Temptation and the Devil never wants Business to employ such Men in and I know nothing worse than this but when Men choose such Business as is nothing else but Idleness and Vanity or can only minister to their own or to other Mens Lusts. But there are other ways whereby Men thrust themselves into Temptations without