such gross acts, and all such habits of vice, at least, as will in the end prove absolutely fatal. It is in our power, not to contract any evil habits at all. And though when they are contracted, and are become inveterate and of long standing, it is with great difficulty that they are relinquished; yet may even this be done, at least in ordinary cases, by the grace of God, and a willing mind. But suppose the worst, that it is possible for men to destroy their natural liberty, and by a long custom of sinning render themselves incapable of amendment: still it is to be remembered, that they were not born with this incapacity, but purchased it at the expense of great industry in the trade of vice; in opposition to the repeated admonitions of their own consciences, and of the Spirit of grace. This fatal subjection to sin is the fruit and effect of a long and voluntary service. This case, therefore, supposing it a real one, is nothing to the purpose; and being set aside, I say men have sufficient power to avoid all such courses, as will bring upon them these eternal punishments. No temptations befall them, but such (due care presupposed on their part) as the providence of God will preserve them under, or make a way for them to escape from. If they fall, they may rise again; if they be overtaken in a fault, they may recover; repentance is a remedy, allowed and provided by the very terms of the Christian covenant; which does not require perfection from man, which he is not capable of here, but sincerity and honesty of heart, which he is. One would think there should be no need to observe such obvious things as these. And yet the writers on the other side seem wholly inattentive to them, when they represent the case, as if men were to be damned

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for weaknesses inherent in their nature, or temptations foreign to it; that is, in both cases, for something which they cannot help. Hear how piteously Mr. W. laments the condition of poor mankind, upon the supposition that "much the greatest part of them "must inevitably be damned for endless ages of ages, "for all the infinite ages of eternity; and all this for "the sins of this short life; fallen into generally by "the secret snares of the Devil, and other violent temptations; which they commonly could not wholly either prevent or avoid." P. 18, 19. I am concerned at present only with the latter part of this sentence, which seems to proceed entirely upon mistake. No man was ever damned, nor ever will be, upon account of the snares of the Devil, (the guilt of those be upon his own head,) nor for any temptations whatever, which he could not avoid; but solely for his own wilful wickedness, and that too unrepented of. Besides, if there be any temptations which men cannot either wholly prevent or avoid; still, may they not resist them? Or if they cannot resist the temptation, (which however to suppose is not very consistent with any religion, nor ever supposed, that I know of, in scripture, but much to the contrary,) cannot they repent of the sin, into which the temptation led them, and avoid that for the future? If they can do none of these things, they seem not to be the proper subjects either of reward or punishment; and so are not at all concerned in the argument before us. But the truth is, temptations hurt no man, any them his own act and deed. tempted in moral account, or so as it shall be imputed to him for sin, when he is drawn away of his

further than he makes And he is then only

own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death, James i. 14, 15. And therefore the temptations of the Devil are never urged in scripture, as Mr. W. urges them here, in excuse or alleviation of men's wickedness; but in aggravation of it. So the Devil entered into Judas, when his own wicked and corrupt heart was become a fit habitation for him, and the man was ready to execute every thing that the fiend could suggest. So in the case of Ananias and his wife, Acts v. St. Peter says, Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? The intent of which question is not to excuse Ananias, by throwing the blame upon the Devil that tempted him; but it is a severe rebuke to Ananias himself, whose wicked and corrupt heart had rendered him capable of being influenced in such a manner, and to such an action. In a word, men are to answer for the talents which they had, and not for the talents which they had not. Where ignorance of a law, or incapacity to obey it, can be truly pleaded, and not pretended only, no doubt but the plea will be admitted; this is but reason

Men may materially transgress their duty, through want of knowledge or power to do better: but this perhaps is not often the case, especially with regard to the great duties of life. "Nam "fere etiam ii, qui peccant, etsi non perfecte, tamen quid sit bo"num et malum sentiunt; et quoties aliquid improbe faciunt,

peccare se sciunt, et ideo celare nituntur. Sed cum eos boni et "mali natura non fallat, cupiditate mala vincuntur, ut peccant; "quia deest illis virtus, id est, cupiditas recte et honesta faci"endi." Lactant. ed. Oxon. p. 514.

-"Recte voluntas prava, et vitiosus animus, quem excusare "ignoratio non potest, punietur." Ibid.

and equity. So that the point at last will come evidently to this, that men shall be punished only for the sins which they might have avoided: which again ends in this, that they had it in their power to avoid the punishment. Nay, (besides what was before observed, that the punishments are so particularly declared and denounced, on purpose that they may be avoided; besides the many motives and inducements to virtue from the beauty and worth of it, from temporal conveniences, health, reputation, happiness, at least, within, &c. besides all this,) men are allured and invited to avoid these punishments, by the promises of eternal life and glory: for,

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As eternal punishment is threatened on the one hand, so eternal life and happiness is promised on the other. This consideration is of some weight, as the case is rendered thereby much fairer and more equal, than if men were liable to an eternal state of punishment, while the rewards set before them were only temporal. "It cannot be denied," says archbishop Dawes, "that the eternity of the 'joys of heaven makes the belief of the eternity of "the torments of hell sit much easier upon our "minds, than it would otherwise have done. Had "the eternity been only on the punishing side, this "would have looked hard, and not altogether agree"able to our notions of the divine goodness: but being on the rewarding side likewise, we have "here infinite goodness and infinite justice set one against the other; and what reason can any man "possibly have to complain of this? Nay, the very eternity of the joys of heaven is an intimation, "and kind of presumptive proof of the eternity of "the torments of hell: inasmuch as we are sure

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"that God is every whit as much an enemy to vice, "as he is a friend to virtue, and have therefore all "the reason that can be to expect that he will "exert himself every whit as much in the punishing of the one, as in the rewarding of the other." See more to this purpose in his fifth Sermon, p. 159, &c.

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But I the more readily take notice of this observation, because Mr. Whiston has attacked the foundation of it". He has denied the common faith of Christians in a point which, I conceive, enters into the very essence of the Christian covenant, the life everlasting. Here therefore, if any where, I must exchange a few words with him (and a few, one would think, should be sufficient) upon this subject. In John iii. 14, &c. our Lord says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Here we must understand the word perish, (άmóλntai,) either in the sense of ceasing to exist, or in the sense of being condemned. If we take it in the former sense, and render Cwm alávov, (as Mr. W. always renders it,) lasting life, we make our Lord's discourse wholly inconclusive:-He shall not perish, or be annihilated, but have lasting life. But every one sees here is no just opposition, no sense in this; for he may have this lasting life, and perish too; (as he must do when this lasting life is at an