Of TEMPTATION,&c. St üYaV=have -a place'ùnd bear a part in judicary obduration : ) grace and corruption lie deep in the heart. men oftentimesdeceive them felvesin the fearch after theone, or thedefier"of them When we give vent to the foul,- to try what grace is there, corruptlieft came; out: and when we fearch-ht corruption, grace appears; fo is the foul kept in uncertainty-: we fail in our trials. God comes with a-gage, that goes tb the bottarn.. :Ire fends his' inftnlmeets' of trial into the bowels, and the nvnoftparói of the jfiul, and lets Irian fee what is in him, of what metal he is to{ti,dreila. Thos:.he:te'nipted. Abraham, to Thewhim his faith. Abraham knew not ohs: tf h he hafd ('t :bean What power and vigour was in his faith ) until God drdt it ont-6ÿ Ylhat, grèat trial "urd temptation-j- ; when God fïys he knew it, he made Abrah.a»s know4't. So hat e red Hexekiab, to difcoverhis pride : God left hint that ihe mightdo What was in his hoary; z Chan. :case. 3r. he knewnot that lie had filch a proudhlart, fo apt to be filled !up, as he appeared to have, until God tried him, and fo let out his filth, and poured it before his face. The hones of loch difèoveries to the faints in thsnkfulnefs, humiliation, and treafuring up of experiences¡ F'fhall not treat ( z. ) Grid Both it to thew himfelf untoman, and that; E r.'] 1tì a way of preventing grace, a man Iliad fee that it is God alone who Keeps; Slain ill fin. Until we are tempted, the thinkwe live onour ownftrength. Though all men do this or that, we will not. When the trial comes, we quickly fee, sohotsce is our peefervation by' Handing, or falling' Só was it in the cafe of Alime!.rt, Gen xxiii. 6. I reirhbeld thee. >.. In 'a tray of renewing grace. He-wou'd have the temptation' continue vt.. -al, that he might reveal himfelf to him in the'fefficieucy of his renety- a Co, xii. 9. We know' not the power and ftrength, that God puts behal f,'nor what is the f ffrciency of his grace, until comparing the 4emptat di our own weakne s, it appears untous. The efficacy òf an anti- d'ors is . when peyfon hath been taken, and the pre cicuffiefs of medicines is made kn ._ di :cafes. We lisait Wessel- know what f{tëngth there is in grace, if we lo! _ .t hat filength thereisin temptation. We Inuit be tried, that we may be r nl to of beingpreferred. Andmany other good and gracious ends he h' wh.rte he accomplifheth towafds ]xis faints by his trials and temptations, not tts ... ....fitted on. 2. For'the ways wherebyGod accoinpli(heth this his fearch, trial, or tempts. Lion, theie are Time of them CT. ) i-le puts men ongreat duties, f ch as they cannot apprehend that they have any fttength for, nor indeed have. So he tempted Abraham, by calling him to thatduty of 'facrifieing his fon ; a thing abfirrdto reafon,' bitter tonature, and grievous to him on all accounts whatever. Many men know not what is in them, br rather what is ready for them, until they are put upon what feems utterly above their ftrength ; indeed upon what is really above theirftrength. Theduties that Clod in an ordinatyway requires atour hands, are not proportioned to what ftrength we have in our felves, but to what help and relief is laid up in Chrift; Gild we are to addrefs óürfelves to the greateft performances, with a fettled perfua- lion that we have not ability for the leali. This is the law of grace ; yet when any duty is required, that is extraordinary, that is a ferret not oftendifcovered in the yokeof Chrift it is a trial, a temptation. (a ) By putting them upon great fuiferinga. How many have unexpefledly foundfirength to dieat a flake, toendure tortures for Chrift ! yet their'call'to it was a trial. This Freer tells us is one tray whereby we are brought into trying temptations, a Pet. i.6,7. our temptations, arife from the fiery trial, and yet the end is hait a trial of our faith. ( 3. ) By his providential difpofingof things fo, as that occafions unto finwih be admii»Rred unto men, which is the cafe mentioned, Dear xis. j3. and innumer. able other inflames may be adjoined. Now theyare not properly the temptationsof God, as comingfrom him, witlr Ins end upon them that are here intended : and therefore I Thall fet thefe apaéf flora our prefent coofideration ; that is then temptation in its-fpecial nature,' as it fi Gen. nail, ;2. B denotes
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