that not one, nor ten, nor a hundred sins, shall be able, so irreparably to cast us out of God's favour, but that he will be willing, upon our repentance, especially calling to mind his old mercies, to restore us again to our lost happiness.

61. Neither are we utterly excluded from all assurance; for there is a πληροθορία τῆς ἐλπίδος, “ Α full assurance of hope," saith St. Paul: (Heb. vi. 11.) " "This hope we have as a sure anchor of the soul," fastened on a rock, ibid. 19. The rock cannot fail us, the anchor will not; all the danger is in the cable or chain of spiritual graces, whereby we are fastened to this rock: if this chain but hold, no tempest, no winds, no floods can endanger us. And part of our hope respects this chain; for God has promised his willingness and readiness to strengthen it every day more and more, till our state shall be so changed, that there shall be no such things as tempests known, no tossings of waves, no tumults of winds, nor fear of leaking or decay in the vessel, but all calmness and security. And, for the attaining to this happy, unchangeable estate, where is it that we place our hope? truly our hope is even in thee, O God, who, if thou shalt think it convenient or necessary for us, will enlarge this our hope into confidence, and add unto that assurance, and swallow up all in possession: and that not for any merits of ours, but only for thy free undeserved mercies in our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, in whom alone thou art well pleased to whom, with thee, O Father, and the blessed Spirit, be ascribed by us, and thy whole church, the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON IX.

"God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able."-1 Cor. x. 13.

WHATEVER punishments befel the disobedient Israelites, who murmured, and tempted God in the wilderness, "They all happened unto them (saith St. Paul) for ensamples unto us, and are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." This privilege we may have beyond our forefathers, that we may present before our eyes a larger series and history of God's providence, even since the foundation of the world; we may take a view and prospect of his constant, unaltered course of revenging himself upon sin, in whatsoever persons he finds it; and we ought from thence to collect, that whatsoever immunities and privileges we may conceive to ourselves, whatsoever comfortable errors we may take up upon trust, yet that God will not (for our sakes) begin a new frame of polity in the administration of the world; but that we also, unless we break off our sins by repentance and conversion unto God, we, I say, after the example of these murmuring Israelites; as those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloe fell; as those Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices; that we also, unless we repent, "shall all likewise perish." Nay, certainly we (upon whom the ends of the world are come)

* 1 Cor. x. 6. 11.

shall be much more culpable, our punishment and stripes shall be more in number, and weightier, if we (notwithstanding that larger experience which we may have of God's impartial dealing with sinners) shall yet promise to ourselves impunity; if we shall say, "we shall have peace, though we walk in the imaginations of our hearts.”

2. The same collection we may proportionably make, to our own benefit and advantage, from God's gracious dealing and behaviour to any of his beloved faithful servants; we may appropriate to ourselves all those blessings and promises, which have been afforded unto them, if our consciences can assure us, that we do obey God's commandments in the truth and sincerity of our hearts. Now, for warrant to this kind of collection, instead of several examples in Holy Scripture, I will only make use of one taken out of (I think) this our apostle, where he saith, "Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have; for God hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Which words by him quoted, as the margins of our Bibles will direct us, are to be found Josh. i. 5; and, though they be a particular promise, which God immediately made to Joshua, thereby to encourage him after the death of Moses, to take upon him the conducting of the Jews into the land of promise, assuring unto him a continuation of his extraordinary assistance in the enterprise; yet, notwithstanding, St. Paul, we see (as if God had proclaimed this promise to the whole world) applies these words to all the faithful

*Heb. xiii. 5.

among the Hebrews, and by the same proportion to all Christians likewise.

3. Upon which grounds I may as reasonably direct the words of this verse, out of which my text is taken, to you that now hear me, as the apostle does to the Corinthians, and say, "there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man:" for certainly we will not imagine, that the church or city of Corinth had any such extraordinary immunity or charter granted them, whereby they should be exempted from the danger of temptations above all the Christian world besides. Therefore let your memories recollect and examine the time past of your lives, and tell me, Did there ever any temptation take hold of you, or assault you, so powerful and irresistible, that there was no way left for you but to be overcome by it? Take temptation now in what sense you please, either for a misfortune and affliction, or else for a suggestion to sin: was there ever any calamity, any loss, any pain, any sickness, so violent and impetuous, but that still you might perceive yourselves notwithstanding (though perhaps in your outward man unequally matched by it) yet in your spirits and minds strong enough to conquer the malice thereof, and to convert it into wholesome physic? Again, was there ever any sinful temptation so strongly urged upon you, but that you might, by the assistance of that grace, which God had already given you, or at the least, for the asking, would have superadded, you might easily have dulled and diverted the force thereof? Did not your consciences, even after you were overcome by such a temptation, tell you, that it was mere voluntary cowardice in you,

to suffer yourselves to be overcome by it? that you willingly surrendered, and betrayed those forces, which already God hath given you?

4. Now, though I am persuaded this to be so evidently true, that there is scarce any one here, but his conscience will assure him as much; yet, for all this, we must not begin hereupon to fancy in our minds any extraordinary worth or dignity in ourselves, as though by our own power or holiness we could work such wonders. No, alas! nothing less for take away the assistance and guard of our auxiliary forces, God's free and undeserved graces within us, and his Divine assistances, together with the guard of his blessed angels without us, and there is no temptation so weak and despicable, which we should not suddenly yield unto; nay, we should need no outward tempters to help us to sin, our own wicked hearts would save the devil that labour; for nothing is there so vile and abominable, whereunto, without God's restraining grace, we should not readily and impetuously hasten.

5. Therefore, let us neither defraud God nor ourselves of their dues; but as we have spoken of the time past, so likewise of that which follows: if hereafter we shall overcome any temptation (as certainly, by God's help, if we have but a mind to it, we may) let us bless Almighty God for assisting us so far, let us give the glory and trophies of the conquest to him: but, on the contrary side, if we shall neglect to make use and advantage of those many helps against sin, which Almighty God is ready to supply unto us; if, notwithstanding those many promises of assistance so frequently set down in Holy Scripture;