'ornhe Lorcfr Prayer. ·ly whenfoeverGod fuffersusto be tempted, it is that by our Conqueft he might bring Honour to himfelf, and Credit to ~iety and Religion : For this m•_keNt ap· pear that we fee fo much Excellency m the Ways of God, that nbrhtng '" the World whether Croffcs or Crowns, Thorns or Thrones, Pains or PlciafOres, ·Lofs or Profit, can in the leaft perfwade us to baulk or forfa~e them ; and . in fu:ch an He· roick Cbampion as this God himfdfG!oriesand Triumphs. . And thus I bave finilhed tha former Part of this Prrition, Lead tu not into ~r emptation the next follows, But deliver usfrom Evil. .\' Now here, before I come to fpeak of the Words themfelves, let us obferve ttheir Connexion-witb, and DePe'ndancc upon, th~foreg_?ing Words; for whereas our Saviour bath .taught us to pray with this Adverfative Particle, .A.r.dlead us nor into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil, this may inftruEt us, that lhe befi Security againfi Sin is to be fecured againft Temptatiom unto Sin ; for though it be no Excufe that we are violently tempted to Sin, when we yield to the Commifiion of ir, yet withal re too often happens, that tbofe whom God leads into Temptation, and engage-rh amidft the prefs of their Enemies, it too often happens that they come off Bleeding and Wounded. Yet, FirO:, lt is no Excufe for finning, becaufe no Temptation is a Compuljion ; .rbe De· vi/canonlyperfwade, hecannotconftrain, us' toSin; God may let him intorheFanty, and fuffer him to Paint upon that the moO: Alluring Images. that Vice can be reprefented in_, but l._'Vhen he bath dc;>ne all this. ic is.!till our own Ch~ice that makes us like what hts Pencil bath drawn there ; and tn rhts Iyes a great D1ffi:rence between God'sOperations apoil us·~by his Grace, and Satan's upon his Suggefiions; in that God bath ao immediate iAccefs to the very elicite Ad• of our Wills and Underfiandings ; aod can, and doth, by his Spirit aauate them by ao immediate ~nergy, and call forth, not ooly by,'but to, their 9bjeas; but , now thefe are fucb Sacred Apartments of the Soul that the Devil bath no Key to them : And therefore his Method isro bribe the Attendants on tbefe ~hiefPowers of the Soul, the Fancy and the Pojfom, to wbicbbehathAdmiffion through the near Dependance they have upon material Organs, and by thefe to fend in Meifages) and offer Propofals to ir, whicb yet, if it be nor bafely Falfe and Treacherous.to irs God, il may ·rejeft and difdain. If the Devil could force Men, bewould likewife juftifie them, for rharcan be no Sin where there is no Liberty: Thefame Temptation which compels to any Atlion, would likewife make rbat ACl:ion to be no Tranfgrcffion, becaufe Laws are norgiven but up. on Suppofi£ionof Freedom; and therefore whofoever fins upon a Temptation, fins not· me<rly becaufe he was trmpwl, but becaufe be would fin; and though the Sin had not been commhted without the TemptatiOfl,. yetthe ·Vevil can, be no t3rrber chargable with it than only bec,aufe his Malice prompts him to perfwadeus: Our own Wills are the moftdangerous D'tl!ils, freely embracing the Prefers of Satan, and confenting to our own DeA:ruEtion, and whilll we confent to that upon which God. bath rhrearned and entailed it: And therefore when thou finneft, think norto lay the Faulr upon Satan, or his Evil Inflruments, whom he makes ufe of in rempting; for though h be their Fault and Guilt to tempt, yet it is not only thine to yield ; and God will not condemn thee for being tempted, which thoq couldft nor help, but for yielding and confeming, which is thine own free AEt, and thine own Sin alfo; thou, who art drawn away by thy lewd Companions to ab~fe thy felf,and difhonourrby Body by Riot and Luxury, or to break God's Laws and Man's by Theft, or any other condemned Crimes, though thou haft a great .deal of reafon to bare them, yet haft thou infinitely more reafon to hare and abhor thy felf; they can but perfwade, they cannot compel thee; yea, ifthey !hould threaten thee with Death itfelf, unlefs thouconfenrefl,yet thou !yell under no Force, but finneft freely, and upon very weak Morfvesdoft de!lroy and damn thy own Soul, fince all Motives inducing to Sin muft be accounted weak wbea God hatb over-balanced them with the Promife of evetlafting Life, and the Tbreatning of everlafting Death : And therefore we find God as ju!lly as frequently in Scripture charging Mens Perdition upon themfelves, ·and laying the Blood of their Souls upon the flubborn Refolvedne!S of their own Wills, Hofea lJ, 9· 0 lfrael, tbou bafl dejlroyed tby felf John 5· 4e. Ye will not come unto me that you "'"l bavc Life. Manh. z;. 37· 0 Jerufalem, Jerufalem, bow often would I have gatbrredyoflo, as a Hm_gatberttb her Chickens_ under her Wingr, and you would not ? And lherefO'I'e let your fempt atiom be what they will, yet tbeSin and Guilt is ftill your own, if as y0u are led into Temp:arions, fo TemptatJons lead you into Sin. Secondly,
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