doth not therefore follow, that I am ca- SERM. pable of doing it, whofe Infirmity perIV. haps may be greater than Other Mens, in This Particular.

Because such Pretences may, I fay, be made, I fhall therefore proceed (farther) to Confirm the Truth laid down, by some General Reasonings, drawn from the Nature, either of Temptation itself, or of that Gospel Grace, which is to support us under it; or of Man, the Subject of that Grace; or of God, the Beftower of it.

They who say, any Temptation is not to be conquered, did they confider what they said, would find, that they spake abfurdly, and inconfiftently. For a Temptation is only another Word for an Experiment, or Tryal; a Tryal, whether we will do, or forbear fuch a thing; whether we will comply with, or rejec such a Proposal: And therefore it fupposes it to be in our Power to do, or forbear; to yield, or not to yield; else it were no Temptation, no Tryal of us. We are not faid to Try, which way a

SERM. thing will act, that is neceffarily deterIV. mined to act One way beforehand :- To

say therefore, as Sensualists do, that Some Temptations are not refiftible, is, when that Expreffion is examined, really to fay, That fome Temptations are not Temptations; for if they are, their very being fuch implies, that it is poffible to withstand them.

What is Grace, but an Extraordinary Supply of Ability and Strength to resist Temptations, given us on purpose to make up the Deficiency of our Natural Strength to do it? And therefore, if our Natural Strength, together with this Divine Supply, be not now Equal to every Temptation, the Grace of God may thus far be said to have been given us in Vain; inafmuch as it doth not, and cannot reach the End for which it is bestowed.

Is not Man, by Nature, a Free Agent? Hath he not Liberty and Will? The great Difference between him and Brutes, doth it not lie in this, That they are unavoidably constrained to act One way,

12.

while He hath always the Power of de- SERM. termining himself on this Side, or on IV. that, of Choofing or Refufing? But now, if there be any fuch things as Inducements to Sin, that are altogether infuperable, there is an End of his boasted Freedom; for in those Instances, he acts as neceffarily, as mechanically, as the Pfal. xlix. Beafts that perish. The great End of1 Man is, to Glorify God, by Living according to the perfect Rule of right Reafon and Vertue; and yet impoffible it is, that he should ever attain this End, while he converses with Temptations, which he cannot Surmount. Now all Other Beings (Animate, or Inanimate) have Powers, that enable them to fulfil the Defign of their Creation: Is Man alone utterly deftitute of these Powers? Is the Nobleft Creature on Earth framed to No End? or (which is all one) under an utter Incapacity of reaching that End? Is He only incapable of arriving at any Degree of Perfection in his way, for whose Use and Service all those other Creatures were made, which are confes

SERM. fedly perfect in Theirs? If This be fo, he IV. is fo far from being the Pride and Glory of the Visible Creation, that he is the Meanest, most Imperfect, and Contemptible of Beings.

Once more. ture and Perfections of God. He is, and must be Holy, Juft, and True: And yet He neither is, nor can be Holy, Juft, or True, if He places us under Irrefiftible Temptations.

Let us confider the Na

How can He be Holy, who is the Author of Sin? And how can He but be the Author of Sin, who (according to the Libertines Scheme) hath fo adapted the Frame of our Mind within, to the Impreffion of Evil Objects from with out, that it is utterly impoffible for us to withstand the Force of them? Is not this to have a direct Influence and Efficiency in producing Sin, fo to order and dispose Second Causes, as that they cannot mifs producing it. Now an Holinefs that permits Sin to be in the World, and hates all the while what it permits, we are able to conceive: But an Holi

nefs,

nefs, which directly occafions Sin, is SERM. utterly inconceivable. IV.

Nor is the Justice of God lefs blemished by this Pretence, than his Holinefs. For how can He be faid to be Juft, who (as these Men tell us) places us under Irrefiftible Temptations; and yet (as He himself affures us) will punish us for not refifting them; that is, makes us unavoidably obnoxious to Sin first, and then animadverts upon us for the Commiffion of it afterwards? Let any Man fay worse than this, of Injustice and Cruelty, if he can.

The Laft Divine Perfection, concerned in this Difpute, is his Truth: Which cannot be maintained, if the Libertines Plea in this Case be true. The Promises of God made to us in Scripture are most Express and Full; That he will perfect his Strength in our Weakness; that his Grace shall be fufficient for us; xii. 9. that he will make us more than Conque- viii. 37. rors in all Temptations; and, here Text, that he will not fuffer us tempted, above what we are able.

in the

to be

And

be

2 Cor.

Rom.