rf PreJumptuott5 Sins. obliged eo keep back Men from rbe Commiffion of Sin, when it is in our power rodo ic; ~ut no fuch Obligation lies UJ?On GodJI rho' he ca~1 e:tfily keep all wicked Men m the \Vodd from ever finnmg more; ye~, rho they are fo tied up_, chat they arc not able eo fin without his Permiffion .and Concurrence, yer he permit~ wifely, concurs holily, and yernorwithftandmgat laft p~nifhes jufily. In bnef, God doth whatever Man doth; for as the Pt·ophet fatth, he works all our works in us and for t.ff; and in him we live, mO'Ve; and have our bei1sgs; and yet in one and the fame ACl:ion Man fins, and God is holy ; becaufe Man atl:s contrary eo that Law which ~od bath fer him, but God himfeJf is fubjctt to no Law befidcs his own Soveraign Will; and where ther1 is r.o law, there is no tranfgreffion, as eh~ Apoftle fpeaks in Rom. 4· l). God is not b?und to hinder the Commifiion of Sin <IS we are; and therefore, when he permtts, nay, when Pro- 'tlidmce accomplifhcth it, ilill is he holy, juft, and good; fiill is he rij!,hteous in all his ,vays, audholy in all his works; tho' he works that together with Men, that makes them unrighteous and unholy: This I thought fi.tto premife,thar fo when you hea.r how many ways God is able to hinder the Commiffion of Sin by his PrO'Vidence, you fhould nor fuffer any undue Thoughts ro rife up in youl." Hearts again£\: his Ho\incfs; when he chufeth fometimcs rather eo permit and concur to the Sins of Men, than to hinder and forbid them; who when he permits Sin, permits it righreoufiy ; and when he hinders Sin, hinders it almighti ly. Now there are four remarkable Ways, whereby the AU~wifo Providence ofGoJ hinders the Corumiflion of a Sin, even then when Men are moft bent and eager upon it. Firft, Sometimes 'vhere his Grace doth not fanflijie the Htttrt, his ProvidenceJhortens Prwiduul tbe Life ofthe Sinner; where he doth not cleanfe the Fountain, yet there he re- prevents moves the Foundation of a Sin; that is,he takes away the veryLife and Being of Sin, ~ the Sinner; many times when wicked Men have imagined tOme prefumptuousfh,:;';~gJif Sin, and go big with it, God fuddenlycurs them off fro~ the Land of the Liv- ;hes/,1~e~ .. jng, and gives them no Space to bring it forth, unlefs it be in Hell among thofe Devils that infpired it; Pfal. 64. 6, 7. fays the Pfalm;ft there, TheJ {emb Out iniquity, they accomrtijh a diligem fearch: But what follows? God p,alf {hoot at them with an arrow, juddenfJ jiJa!ltbey be wounded, while they are thinking and contriving \\' ickcdnefs in rheir Hearrs, in that very Day they perifh, and their Thoughts with them : Thus proud Pharaoh refolves, in fpighr of God and his Miracles, ro bring back the. Chi-ldren of Ifrael to their old Bondage; but before he could bring his PurpofC into Execution, God brings him eo Execution :And fo Senacberib intends the Defirud:ion of Jemfalem; bu~ before he could compafs it, God flays his Army, and his own Children alfo. Herod, he intends a bloody Perfecur~on againft rhe Church, but God fmites him, Lice devour him, and eat a Way into that very Heart chat conceived fo wicked a Purpofe : le were endlefsto cite Infiances in chis Particular. Hiftories and FUll are full of thofe whom God's PO'Vidmce harh cut off before rhcy could fulfil their ungodly Defigns ; upon whom rhac Threatning in Ecclefuzftes 8. II. haeh been fignally verified, It {hall not be 'veil 2vith the wicked, neither j11all be prolong his dayr, becaufe be ftaretb not before God. Now chis Providence God dorh ufually, if not only1 exercife upon wicked Men, fnarching them away. from their Sins, and yet in their Sins aHO: Yea, and herein he deals with rhem alfo in fomc kind of Mercy, in that he abri_dges the Time of his Patience to them, whom he forefces will only abufc it, and trea{ure up to themfelves Wrath againft the day of7Vrath; for hereby their Account is leifened, and their Torments made more tolerable : It had been better for Sinners, that they had drape immediately from the Womb to the Tomb, better chat they had been fwadled in their Winding-fheers . yea, £hall I f<~y it had been better for them, that they had been doomed t~ everlafiing Torments as foon as they faw the Light, than that God fhould fuffer them to live Twenty, Forty, or Sixty Years, adding Iniquity ro Iniquity without Repentance, and God accordingly adding Torments to Torments to punifh them, never to be repented of~ 0 the Jefperate C011ditiom that Sinners are in ! Unltfl God give them Repentance ; the fooner thq are in Hell, tbe hetter it will be for them; and it is a Mercy if God will damn them betimeJ ; thofe whom God doth noc endear to his Grace by changing their Natures, yec he indebts to his Prwidence~ l;>y ihorming their Lives; and yet are rhere none of Llll us,
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