THE CHIEF HEADS OF THE SERMONS. VOL. III. For chief heads of Sermon I. see p. xviii. vol. i. SERMONS II. III. IV. DELIVERANCE FROM TEMPTATION THE PRIVILEGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation. MAN'S condition, with reference to temptation, is so desperate, that without the assistance of a superior good spirit he cannot be an equal match for the evil one, 16. And the text sets forth to us the signal mercy of God to the godly or truly pious persons, 18, in delivering them from all temptations or trials, chiefly such as are designed to corrupt them, 20. 1. All the ways of deliverance from temptation may be reduced to these, 22. 1. Of being kept from it, 22. 2. Of being supported under it, 25. 3. Of being brought out of it, 28, when the temptation has in some measure prevailed; for there are several degrees, ib., viz. seduction, 29, enticement, ib., consent of the will, ib., commission of sin, 30, and the habitual reigning of sin, ib. Into which last state those scarcely fall who are actually in a state of grace, 31. From the foregoing particulars we may learn, 1. The great goodness and wisdom of God, in the severest precepts of religion, 32. 2. The most effectual method of dealing with a temptation, viz. prevention, 33. II. The impulsive causes inducing God thus to deliver the godly, 35, are, 1. The free mercy of God, 35. 2. The prevailing intercession of Christ, 37. With some objections answered, 40, and a case resolved concerning the fallibility of regenerate persons, 41, and the several assurances of regeneration, ib., and the expectations men may have of being delivered, 42, in relation to the ways of entering into temptation, 45, illustrated by instances of different success, 46, with a confutation of some pretences alleged by some bold men, who unwarrantably put themselves upon trial, 47. III. Deliverance out of temptation is a transcendent privilege, 52. Which will appear from those intolerable evils consequent upon a prevailing temp tation, 53, viz. 1. The soul's utter loss and damnation, 53. 2. Loss of a man's peace with God and his own conscience, 55. 3. Temporal judgments of God in some signal and severe affliction, 57. 4. The disgrace and reproach which it casts upon our Christian profession, 60. With some useful inferences, 63, and directions for a man not to be peremptory with God in his prayers for any particular enjoyment or state of life, 64, but to acquiesce in the state allotted him by Providence, 65. SERMON V. THE HAPPINESS OF BEING KEPT FROM THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION. REVELATION III. 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, therefore will I keep thee from the hour of temptation, which is coming upon all the world, to try the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing more sets off the greatness of God's mercy in delivering his people out of temptation, than the critical time of his vouchsafing it, 66. For I. There is a certain proper season and hour, which gives a peculiar force and efficacy to temptation, 67. II. A temptation attains its proper season and hour by these means, 69: 1. By the original, universal corruption of man's nature, 69. 2. By every man's particular corruption, 69. 3. By the continual offer of alluring objects agreeable to it, 70. 4. By the unspeakable malice and activity, the incredible skill and boldness of the tempter, 71. 5. By God's just judgment, in commissioning this evil spirit to tempt at a rate more than ordinary, 71. 6. By a previous growing familiarity of the mind with the sin, which a man is tempted to, 72. 7. By a long train of gradual, imperceivable encroaches of the flesh upon the spirit, 73. III. A temptation's proper season may be discerned by some signs, 74. As, 1. By an unusual concurrence of all circumstances and opportunities for the commission of any sin, 74. 2. By a strange averseness to, if not a total neglect of, spiritual exercises, prayer, reading, and meditation, 75. 3. By a temptation's unusual restlessness and importunity, 76. IV. Useful inferences may be drawn from this discourse, 77. Such as these ; 1. Every time wherein a man is tempted, is not properly the hour of temptation, 77. 2. Every man shall assuredly meet with such an hour, 78. 3. The most successful way to be carried safe through this hour, is to keep the word of Christ's patience, 79. SERMONS VI. VII. HOW AND BY WHAT WAYS GOD DELIVERS US FROM TEMPTATION. 1 COR. X. 13. God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. True faith is bottomed upon God's infinite wisdom and power; who alone is able to give a full and absolute deliverance out of temptation, 82. Some of the principal temptations, which threaten most the souls of men, are, 1. A public declared impunity to sin, 94. 2. The vicious examples of persons in place and power, 95. 3. The cruel oppressions of men in their persons, liberties, and estate, 95. In opposition to which, we must consider, 1. That the strongest temptations to sin are no warrants to sin: and 2. That God delivers only those who do their lawful utmost to deliver themselves, 96. The deliverances out of temptation are of two sorts, 1st. Those whereby God delivers immediately by himself and his own act, 98. As, 1. By putting an issue to the temptation, 83. 2. By supplying the soul with mighty inward strength to withstand it, 86. 3. By a providential change of a man's whole course of life and circumstances of condition, 90. 4. By the overpowering operation of his holy Spirit, gradually weakening, and at length totally subduing the temptation, 92. From these considerations, that God alone can deliver out of temptation, and that the ways by which he does it are above man's power, and for the most part beyond his knowledge, 99, we may deduce these useful practical consequences: 1. That the estimate of an escape from temptation is to be taken from the final issue and result of it; that a temptation may continue very long, and give a man many foils before he escapes out of it: which affords an antidote against presumption on the one hand, and despair on the other, 99. 2. No way out of any calamity, if brought about by a man's own sin, ought to be accounted a way allowed by God for his escape out of that calamity or temptation, 101. Nor, 3. To choose a lesser sin to avoid a greater, 103. 4. When a temptation is founded in suffering, none ought to be so solicitous how to get out of it, as how to behave himself under it, 106. 5. There can be no suffering whatsoever, but may be endured without sin, 107. Since to be delivered out of temptation is of an infinite concern, and since the tempter has so many advantages over us; we should be so much the more careful to use such means as our Saviour himself has prescribed to us, viz. watchfulness and prayer, 109. SERMON VIII. WATCHFULNESS AND PRAYER A SECURITY FROM TEMPTATION. MATTHEW XXVI. 11. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. In the Christian man's warfare, the two great defensatives against temptation are watching and prayer, 111. 1. Watching imports, 1. A sense of the greatness of the evil we contend against, 112. 2. A diligent survey of the wit and strength of our enemy, compared with the weakness and treachery of our own hearts, 113. 3. A consideration of the ways by which temptation has at any time prevailed upon ourselves or others, 115. 4. A continual intention of mind upon the danger, in opposition to idleness and remissness, 118. 5. A constant and severe temperance, 120. II. Prayer, 123, is rendered effectual by, 1. Fervency or importunity, 125. 2. Constancy or perseverance, 125. Lastly, watching and prayer must always be joined together; the first with out the last being but presumption, and the last without the first, mockery, 127. Which is shown by two instances, in which men may pray against temptation without any success, 128. SERMON IX. THE FOLLY OF TRUSTING IN OUR OWN HEARTS. PROVERBS XXVIII. 26. He who trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Of all the cheats put upon a man by trusting, none is more pernicious than that of trusting his own heart, 130, and resigning up the entire conduct of himself to the directions of it, as of an able and a faithful guide, 131. folly of which will appear by considering, 1. The value of the things we commit to that trust, 131, viz. The (1.) The honour of God, who is our Creator, our Lord, and our Father, 132. (2) Our hoppin of in this world, with relation both to our temporal and spiritual concerns, 133. (3.) Our eternal happiness hereafter, 135. 2. The undue qualifications of that heart to whose trust we commit these things, 137, which (1.) Cannot make good the trust, because of its weakness, in point both of apprehension and of election, 137. (2.) Will not make it good, because of its deceitfulness, 138. Which shows itself in several delusions, that relate either to the commission of sin, 139, or to the performance of duty, 143, or to a man's conversion, 145. Since therefore the heart is so deceitful, and to trust it is inexcusable folly, we ought to trust only in the conduct of God's Holy Spirit, who will lead us into all truth, 147. SERMON X. THE HOPE OF FUTURE GLORY AN EXCITEMENT TO PURITY OF LIFE. 1 JOHN III. 3. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. A Christian, though he has great privileges and hopes, yet ought not to presume, but prepare himself for future glory by the purity of his life, 148. Having considered, how a man may be said to purify himself, and to such a degree, 149, even as Christ is pure," we shall in these words observe, I. What is implied in a man's purifying of himself, 150, viz., to rid himself, 1. Of the power of sin; which consists in bewailing all his past sinful acts, 150; in a vigilant prevention of future ones, 151. And this will be effected by opposing every first sinful motion, 153; by frequently performing severe mortifying duties, 154; by often using fervent prayer, 155. Whence we may perceive the error of those who pursue the reformation of some particular sins only, 157, and of others, who only complain of the evil of their nature, without endeavouring to amend it, 158. 2. Of the guilt of sin, 158, which can be expiated by no duty within man's power, ib., but only by applying the virtue of Christ's blood to the soul through faith, 160. II. How the hope of heaven does purify a man, 161, viz. 1. Upon a natural account, as it is a special grace, in its nature contrary to sin, 161. 2. Upon a moral account, by suggesting to the soul arguments for purification, 162; such as these; that purity is the necessary means to the acquisition |