God has annexed to fin, being in a great measure taken from it by fashion, 19 to 23. 2. When a man can purfue his vice fecretly and indifcernibly: as, firft, when he entertains it in his thoughts, affections, and defires; fecondly, when, tho' it paffes from defire into practice, yet it is acted with fuch circumftances of external concealment, that it is out of the notice and arbitration of all observers, 25, 26. If then honour be the strongest motive nature has to enforce virtue by, and this is found infufficient for fo great a purpose, it is in vain to attempt fuch a fuperftructure upon any weaker foundation, 26, 27. IV. Even thofe actions, that a principle of honour does produce, are of no value in the fight of God, and that upon the account of a double defect: 1. In respect of the caufe, from which they flow, inasmuch as they proceed only upon the apprehenfion of a prefent intereft, which when it ceafes, the fountain of fuch actions is dried up, 28, 29. 2. In refpect of the end, to which they are directed; which end is Self, not the glory of God, 29, 30. In both thefe refpects, the moft fublime moral performances of the Heathens were defective, and therefore have been always arraigned and condemned by Chriftian divinity, 30. Two things inferred, by way of corollary and conclufion: 1. The worth, and abfolute neceffity, of religion in the world, even as to the advantage of civil fociety; and the mischievous tendency of atheistical principles, 30, 31. A 2 2. 2. The inexcufeableness of those perfons, who, SERMON II. 2 CORINTH. i. 24. the latter part. For by faith ye ftand. Faith more usually discoursed of by divines, than explained, 34. Three forts of faith mentioned in Scripture. 1. A faith of fimple credence, or bare affent. 2. A temporary faith, and a faith of conviction. 3. A faving effectual faith (which Two things confiderable in the words. I. Something fuppofed, viz. that believers will be encountered and affaulted in their fpiritual course, 37. In every fpiritual combat are to be 1. The perfons engaged in it, 38. which are believers on the one fide, and the devil on the 2. The thing contended for by it, 39. This affault of the devil intended to caft believers down from their purity and fanctity of life, 39, 40. and from their intereft in the divine favour, 41, 42. 3. The means by which it is carried on, 42. The devil's own immediate fuggeftions, 42, 43. The devil affaults a man, by the infidelity of his own heart, 43, 44. by the alluring vanities of the world, 45 to 47. and by the help of man's own lufts and corruptions, 47, 48. them victorious, 50. For making out which, is 1. How deplorably weak and infufficient man is, while confidered in his natural estate, and void of the grace of faith, 50 to 53. 2. The advantages and helps faith gives be- lievers for the conqueft of their fpiritual enemy, 53. It gives them a real union with Chrift, 53 to 55. It engages the affiftance of the Spirit on their be- half, 55 to 57. And lastly, gives them both a title to, and a power effectually to apply, God's promises through Chrift, who is the rock of ages, the only fure ftation for poor finners, and able to PSALM CXLV. 9. The Lord is good to all, and bis tender mercies are over all his works. Mercy, as it is afcribed to God, may be con- II. For the effects and actions flowing from that principle, which, in the fenfe of the text, are fuch as are general and diffusive to all, 63, 64. The words are profecuted by fetting forth God's general mercy and goodness to the creature in a furvey of the state and condition, 1. Of the inanimate part of the creation, 64, 65. 2. Of plants and vegetables, 65 to 68. 5. Of Angels: in refpect of their nature, 73, of their place of habitation, 74. and of their em- A deduction from the precedent difcourfe, to fettle in the mind right thoughts of God's natural goodness to men, 76, 77. with arguments against the hard thoughts men ufually have of God, drawn from two qualities that do always attend JAMESI. 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own luft, and enticed. The explication of thefe two terms being pre- 1. What the Apostle means here by being 2. What is intended by luft, 88. The profecution of the words lies in these par- I. To fhow the falfe caufes upon which men are apt to charge their fins. And that, 1. The decree of God concerning things to come to pafs, is not a proper caufe for any man to charge his fins upon, 88. Objection to this ftated, and answered, 89, 90, 91. 2. The influences of the heavens, and of the ftars, imprint nothing upon men that can impel or engage them to do evil, 92, 93. 3. Neither can any man charge his upon the 4. No man can juftly charge his fins upon the devil, as the cause of them, 96, 97. Though these be not the proper causes of fin, they are observed to be very often great promoters of it, where they meet with a corrupt heart, 98,99. II. To fhow, that the proper cause of fin, is the depraved will of man; which being fuppofed fufficiently clear from Scripture, is farther evinced by arguments and reafons. 1. From the office of the will, 100. 2. From every man's experience of himself and his own actions, 101. 3. From the fame man's making a different choice of the fame object at one time, from what he does at another, 101. 4. From this, that even the fouls in hell continue to fin, 102. III. To fhow the way, by which a corrupt will, here expreffed, is the cause of fin. And, 1. It draws a man afide from the ways of duty, 103, 104. 2. Entices him, by reprefenting the pleasure of fin, ftript of all the troubles and inconveniencies of fin, 105, 106. and by representing that pleafure that is in fin greater than indeed it is, 107. But The exceeding vanity of every finful pleasure, is made to appear by confidering, 1. The latitude or measure of its extent. 2. The duration or continuance of it. |