TWO SERMONS: One against ADULTERY; The Other, of the NATURE, ART, and ISSUE Of the Christian Warfare. WITH A DISCOURSE, Showing the CONSISTENCY of God's Infinite Goodness With his Foreknowledge of the FALL of MAN.  
By NATHANAEL WHALEY, A. M. Rector of Broughton in Northamptonshire.  
LONDON, Printed by J.H. for Brab. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill. 1698.   

A SERMON AGAINST ADULTERY.  Gen. XXXIX. 9 
— How then can I do this great Wickedness, and sin against God?  
IN the seven and thirtieth Chapter of this most Ancient and Authentic History, Moses, the undoubted Author of it, is very exact in relating the various and wonderful turns of Providence, which brought Joseph into Potiphar's House; and here he leaves him, till he has given an account of some Miscarriages in the life of Judah, 
Ch. 38.  which he draws with its Shades and Blemishes amongst the brighter and fairer Passages of it. After this, 
Ch. 39  he resumes the Story of Joseph, and acquaints us with his courteous Entertainment in Potiphar's house, with the great Trust his Master reposed in him, the mighty Reputation he gained by his prudent and faithful Management, the strange Success which attended all his Undertake, his grateful Remembrance of the signal Honours and Favours his munificent Patron had conferred upon him: And to complete his Character, the Divine Historian tells you of his eminent virtue in defeating the perfidious and lewd Desires of his amorous and importunate Mistress, whose wicked and shameless Courtships he dashed with this short and pious Answer, How then can I do this great Wickedness, and sin against God?  
In the words the most obvious and material things are these two:  
I. Joseph's Sentiment of Adultery, or the Violation of the Conjugal Union; viz. that it is a great Wickedness and Offence against God.  
II. The excellent use he made of it, which was to repel the rude Insults of his salacious Mistress, and free himself from the danger of sinning with her. How then can I do this great Wickedness? etc. As if he had said, I can never consent to so false and vile an action as you tempt me to; a thing never to be answered to God or Man: the God, whom from my Infancy I was taught to fear, by whose Providence I was conducted under your hospitable Roof: Or the good Man that has nobly cherished my Ambition, and rewarded my poor endeavours to serve him. Joseph, you see, had a present and lively sense of the Horror of the Crime he was tempted to: and this was apparently owing to his religious Education, by which his mind was strongly impregnated with the Fear of God: and having these advantages, he easily overcame the surprising Temptation, and so doing, has happily left us these three Instructions.  
I. That the strongest Temptations to the most flattering and deceitful Vices are not invincible.  
II. That a good Education is a mighty advantage towards the leading a virtuous and unspotted Life, and overcoming the greatest Temptations to Vice and Wickedness.  
III. That the Fear of God quickened with a present and lively Apprehension of the great evil of Sin, is a sovereign and effectual Preservative against the most charming and powerful Allurements to it.  
To each of these Particulars I shall speak in their order: and first of  
I. Joseph's Sentiment of Adultery, or the Violation of the Conjugal Union, which he deservedly calls a great Wickedness and Offence against God. And this, I doubt not, will appear from Principles generally allowed for the most exact and authentic Measures of good and evil: such as the Light of Nature, the declared sense of Mankind concerning the intrinsic Goodness and Turpitude of Actions, the Authority of Divine Revelation, and the natural Tendency of things (verified by continual Experience) to produce good or bad effects in the World. If men will dispute such Principles as these, I have nothing at present to say to them, but that they may do well no longer to dissemble their Sentiments, but play upon the Square, and fairly tell the World, they know no difference in the Nature of Actions, but what is made by the present Sense or Remembrance of Pain or Pleasure: That Mankind is degenerated by aspiring to better Manners than the Brutes: and that they are not at all ambitious to retain to that order of Being's, that must needs distinguish themselves from their Fellow-Creatures by a lofty Pretence to Reason and Religion.  
My Business, at present, is with men of a better rank, I mean such as are sensible of the true Worth and Dignity of humane Nature, and that the worst part of it (the Body) is much too good to be enslaved to obscene and unworthy Lusts, and dragged through all the Filth and Dishonour of a madly voluptuous Life; who when they are tempted to a Debauch, or overset by a violent Appetite to unlawful Pleasures, do smartly feel a controlling Principle within them; or if they have been overtaken in a Fault, do yet retain a blushing Sense of Virtue and Religion, are willing to understand their Errors, to be reminded of the danger of them, and to be armed against the worst that may befall them for the future. And such Persons will, I hope, in kindness to themselves, have the Patience and Ingenuity to consider,  
1. That the Character in the Text is agreeable to the general Sense of Mankind, especially of the most refined and civilised Nations. For that this was no distinguishing Notion of the Family or Religion of Abraham, is evident by Pharoah's Discourse with Abraham; 
Gen. 12.18, 19 Gen. 20.9, 10. Gen. 39.20.  and Abimelech's on the like occasion; and by Joseph's Imprisonment, to hid the Naughtiness of his Mistress, who with an Impudence peculiar to her character, vehemently accused him of attempting her Chastity. By these Testimonies, it is plain that Adultery was esteemed a great Sin in the Courts of Egypt and Palestine, and these are some of the most ancient Nations we read of in authentic Histories. And indeed in all Countries, from the first Dawn of Learning and Civility among them (not excepting those that pretend to greater Antiquity) it has ever had an ill Name, 
China, Tartary, Peru.  and is generally looked upon as one of the rankest Debaucheries and Corruptions of humane Nature. As such, it was condemned long before the Distinction of Heathens, Jews, and Christians: and ever since by the wisest Nations, that had nothing but the weak Taper of Nature to guide them. And therefore it must be evil in itself; for the Light of Nature discovers nothing to be evil, but what is evil in its own Nature: and what is so must be evil in all Ages, Persons, and Circumstances. Nor does the practice of this Vice, without control, in some wild and barbarous Nations, overthrew the force of this Argument, any more than the Toleration of other Immoralities in some dark Ages and Countries, or the open Profession of gross and palpable Errors, proves the Rectitude of such Actions and Errors, or will excuse their Contrariety to right Reason and Religion. 'Tis enough to justify the Censure in the Text, that it agrees with the best and general Reason of Mankind.  
And this, methinks, should satisfy those Men, who laying aside all Revelation, depend upon natural Reason as the only Guide and Director of their Thoughts and Actions; there being nothing plainer in the Eye of natural Reason, than that the actions which are contrary to it are evil, and will be so, as long as there is a rational Nature. That is, God has framed the Nature of Man so agreeably to his own Perfections, as to show him what is essentially good and evil by the Light of his own Reason, and to stamp the Dictates of it as a Law upon his Mind; and therefore Sins commited against this Law must be great Offences against God, because he is both the Maker of the Law, and of the Nature he designed to govern by it.  
2. Adultery violates the Divine Institution of Marriage, which laid the Foundation of all humane Society, was designed to perpetuate the Race of Mankind, and unite Men by the most natural Ties and Endearments in all friendly Offices, and in the solemn Worship and Adorations of God. The Union of Man and Woman in the Conjugal State was ordained for these excellent ends; which, considering the present Constitution of humane Nature, are no less necessary to our Happiness in this World, than the Blessed Society of glorious Saints and Angels is to the Happiness of the next. And accordingly this was one of the transcendent Blessings of Paradise, without which the Garden of Eden, with its rich and delicious Variety of all other Comforts and Conveniencies of Life, had been more like a Desert, than a Paradise, to any single Possessor of it. For if we look into the Frame of our Nature, and consider how essential Amity and Friendship are to the Felicity of a reasonable Creature, or that Greatness of Soul Man (the designed Emperor of this lower World) was liberally endowed withal, when first he came out of his Maker's hand, it was plainly impossible for Man to be alone and be happy. For to be happy is not to have more good in view than we can grasp or enjoy; This may make us miserable, but can never make us happy. To be happy, is to have all things suitable to our just Desires: and what can we imagine more desirable to Man in his solitary state of Innocence, than to have something in his own Shape and Likeness, capable of conversing with him, and, by dividing, of increasing his Joys? and than if God had denied him this convenient help, after he had made him meet for Society, and exchanges of Love and Kindness, he would certainly have been apt to languish, and (like a disappointed Lover in the Absence of his peculiar Delight) to complain to the Winds and Fountains, or the mated Birds and Beasts, of his unket and lonesome State, and to grow melancholy upon the Walks of Paradise, while he had all the Treasures, and all the silent Beauties of Nature about him, and wanted nothing but another self to relish and complete his Happiness.  
And this shows the state of Marriage to be Honourable, 
Heb. 13.4.  and consistent with the highest degrees of Purity and Innocence in our present Circumstances: And that it was appointed for a general good, and for one of the choicest Comforts and Entertainments of Life. The Time, Place, and Author of this Institution are undeniable Arguments of its Purity and Wisdom; and the Reason it was founded upon, viz. because it was not good for man to be alone, recommends the Conjugal State as good and convenient in all Ages, 
Gen. 2.18.  and to Persons of all Ranks and Qualities that are sensible of the want of this Friendly Society.  
'Tis farther observable, as an indelible mark of the Sanctity of this Institution, that it was immediately declared by God himself; 
Gen. 2.24.  and at the same time was signally honoured (as is thought by very learned Interpreters) with the glorious Appearance of the Divine Majesty, attended with the Heavenly Host, at the happy Espousals of our First Parents. And, we know, when any occasion was offered to our Saviour of speaking to this Argument, 
Matth. 19.3, 4, 5.  that he constantly affirmed the Sacredness of the Marriage-Union, as grounded upon the original Institution; and that he chose to grace the Wedding in Cana of Galilee with his first Miracle. 
Joh. 2.1. etc.   
Now to violate this dear and sacred Union by Adulterous Mixtures, is a perfect Contradiction to the Ordinance of God, and the kind Provision he has made for the Harmony of the World; it is an insolent Contempt of his Sovereignty over his Creatures, of his right to fix them in their several Stations, and appoint them their bounds which they shall not pass, to limit their Desires to their proper Objects, and restrain them from invading the Rights, and ravishing the reserved and incommunicable Treasures of each other. For what greater insolence can there be, than to dispute the Government of the World with the Maker of it? To remove the Bounds of Intercourse and Society, which the Wisdom of God hath established from the Beginning, and prostitute his Holy Institutions to the Gratification of a lawless and brutish Appetite? Was ever any Law given to Men more plainly worded, more solemnly published, edged and enforced with sharper Threaten, or more frequently inculcated by the Prophets and Messengers of God, than this, Thou shalt not commit Adultery? The Violation therefore of this Law must be highly dishonourable and offensive to him.  
3. It is an act of shameful Turpitude and Impurity in itself. It stains the Image of God upon the Soul, and defiles the Body; both which being consecrated to God's peculiar Service in our Baptism, are properly styled his Temple in Scripture; 
1 Cor. 6.19.  Know ye not (saith the Apostle) that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you? 
1 Cor. 3.17.  And if any man defile the Temple of God, him will God destroy: for the Temple of God is holy, which Temple ye are. And then Fornication and Adultery are no common Pollutions in a Christian, but high degrees of Profanation and Impiety: Tell it not to the Heathen World; they are certainly, next to Idolatry, the most sacrilegious Abuses of the best things devoted to God's peculiar Service and Honour. For Christians are not only the Temple of the living God (as St. Paul calls them) but they are his living and most holy Temple; 
2 Cor. 6.16.  His Spiritual House, in St. Peter's Phrase, 
1 Pet. 2.5, 9  nay his Holy and Royal Priesthood, ordained to offer up Spiritual Sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So that for a Christian to defile himself with fleshly Lusts, is to add Profaneness to Impurity. It is to defile at once God's Temple, Priest, and Altar, and to make his best Sacrifices loathsome and Abominable to him; to obstruct all kind and amicable Intercourse between God and him, and to grieve and discharge his holy and ever Blessed Spirit, that Divine Guest whom he hath sent to abide with us for ever, and to sanctify, and seal us to the Day of Redemption.  
4. Adultery is a Crime of the greatest Baseness and Treachery towards our honest and innocent Neighbour. There is such a Complication of Evils, so much palpable Injustice, Infamy and Falsehood in every act of this Sin, that it is commonly reckoned by the unhappy Relations of the offending Parties, that have any Sparks of Honour or Virtue in them, one of the sharpest Trials of Patience, one of the heaviest Crosses and Afflictions that are incident to them in this World. By this means the good Man is not only deprived (contrary to all Law and Equity) of his certain and apparent Rights; but he is shamefully betrayed and supplanted in his choicest and most valuable Interests; things of that extremely nice, tender, and peculiar Nature, that it is hardly possible to compute the vast Injuries he suffers by the Invader of them; such are,  
1. The Virtue and Fidelity of his Wife; to be wronged in whom, and bereft of that singular Delight and Complacency which flows from the Society of a chaste and faithful Consort, is to lose the Flower of his Happiness in this World. And be sure the more kind and virtuous the good Man is, the sharper is his Pain and Anguish to behold the delight of his Eyes ravished from his own into the circle of a Strangers arms, there by wicked Arts and Enchantments beguiled of her Innocence, and transformed into a loathsome and perfidious Creature. For what person can be more vile and nauseous (how fair soever in her Looks and Pretences) or more wretchedly false and treacherous than she, that in Contempt of her Altar-Vows, her most solemn and religious Promises, before God and the World, of untainted Loyalty and Affection to her Husband, consents to the lewdest Practices, and commits the foulest Treasons against him! That with her veil of Modesty casts off all regard to the Honour of her Religion, her Birth, and Family, prostitutes herself to a mean and ignoble Passion, and forsakes the Crystal Stream of Conjugal and  Enjoyments, to wallow in the Mire and Puddle of dishonest and brutal Pleasure! 
1 Tim. 5.6.  She that lives in Pleasure (saith the Apostle) is dead while she lives. And certainly 'tis the worst kind of Death ante mortem perire (as Seneca speaks) to perish alive, 
Ep. 93.  and meet Corruption on this side the Grave, as many of the wild Lovers of Pleasure choose to do, rather than lead (as they esteem it) a dull, virtuous life; the mean while they are dead to all the good purposes of living, and not only so, but live in a state of Death and Putrefaction; they feel themselves rotting and perishing before their time, till their Life grows a Burden to themselves, and a Nuisance to all that are about them; As if they only came into the world to annoy it, and had contrived to do the Work and Business of the Grave, before they descend into it.  
Such is the Tendency of this pernicious Course, the very entrance into which, as it often proves, is more than half the way to the Depths of Hell: and then it must needs grieve the heart of any Generous and goodnatured Man, to see the Wife of his Bosom, whom he loved as his own Soul, and cherished as his own Flesh, so far engaged and so miserably lost in the Paths of Vice and Ruin, and to lose one half of his Life and Happiness by her vile Apostasy. To give the true Accent to such a sorrow as this, when it first throbs and beats against the Breast that is deluged with it, is not in the power of Eloquence: Nature only can do it by inimitable Sighs and Pangs, whilst the greatest degrees of Grace are little enough to bear up the Spirit of Man, under so pressing and unwieldy a Calamity.  
2. His own Reputation and Honour suffer greatly by this foul and treacherous Act. For tho' the good Man never exposed himself to the Censure of the world; tho' it may be he has all the true Principles of Honour, Prudence, and Integrity in him, and the worst that can be said of him is; the poor Man was unhappy in his Choice: yet such is the ill-Nature of the World, and the Levity of vain people (who must be ever talking of the Crimes, and entertaining themselves with the Misfortunes of their Neighbours) that he is sure to be upbraided with his Calamity, and to have his good Name bandied in Sport and Scurrility: and perhaps a great deal more than if he had blackened it himself with Vice, or had not provoked a perverse and adulterous Generation by daring to be chaste and virtuous in it. 'Tis very unnatural, I am sure, to jeer and raily upon men's Misfortunes, i.e. to abuse my Neighbour merely for being unhappy, and leave him nothing but his Innocence to support and comfort him: to revive his sorrows, and keep his mind upon the rack, when he needs the very kindest and tenderest Usage I can possibly give him. And this, as light a matter as it seems, we cannot but observe, is very hard upon the sufferer in the present Case; nay, is often reputed one of the most grievous Circumstances in his sorrowful and uneasy Condition.  
3. He is continually liable to be teaz'd and tortured with the Spirit of Jealousy. And surely there is not a greater Torment to any Candid and ingenuous Person: But when it seizes a Man of high and violent Passions, what strange Combustion does it make in his Spirit! He is instantly all in a Flame, his Breast glows, his Heart burns with Revenge, his Eyes flash with Indignation, not to be quenched with his own or the Tears of his compassionate Friends; now he appears like a perfect Fury, fierce and inexorable; Curses his Bridal Day, nay the Day in which he was born; Then thinks of a thousand Revenges, but knows not which to pursue, till some unlucky Accident determines his choice; and then, if he either falls short of his Design, or over-acts it with Rage and Cruelty, he presently turns pale like a Ghost, slarts and trembles at every shadow, as if every thing that approached him now, came to upbraid him with his Folly or Misery.  
I don't say this is the constant or the only effect of Jealousy, it being true of this as of all other Distempers of the Mind, that it varies according to the different Complexion of the Patient, and the good or bad Habits his Mind is furnished or infested with. And hence Jealousy (as St. Chrysostom observes) has too very contrary effects, which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Cap. 52.  the first is such a Dulness and Heaviness of Mind, as makes a man perfectly stupid and insensible of all things but his proper grief: The other is insatiate Rage and Fury, always prompting and provoking him to hasten and signalise his Revenge; not to be discouraged with difficulties, nor softened with Entreaties; not to be pacified with the deepest Submissions; not to be satisfied with the largest Overtures; not so much as to wait the Leisure of public Justice, but follow his own Methods, pursue his Adversary with the utmost Severity, and inflict the speediest and sharpest Vengeance upon him. And this Solomon long since observed, Prov. 6.34, 35. Jealousy is the rage of a Man: therefore he will not spare in the day of Vengeance. He will not regard any Ransom, neither will he rest content, tho' thou givest many gifts.  
4. The good man is greatly wronged in the Honour and Interests of his Family, his innocent Children suffering with their abused Father, and inheriting the vast Infelicities, their lewd Mother hath liberally entailed upon them. 'Tis their unhappiness to descend from a naughty and perfidious Woman, to want the Influence of a Mother's Care and Piety in their tender Years, and it may be to derive a sickly and ill-addicted Nature from her, a tainted Constitution of Mind and Body, instead of the true Principles of a virtuous and happy Life. 'Tis their continual Grief to observe the Jars and Dissensions of their divided Parents, especially when they come to learn the dismal occasion of them, and behold their Estate and Patrimony melting away between the unnatural Heats of Contention, and the prodigal Flames of Lust. 'Tis their wrong to have the Brood of the Adulterer cherished and brought up with them, who through the Subtlety of her that bore him is often made the Darling of the Family, and too often goes away with a fairer Portion than any of the Legitimate Children of it.  
These are the genuine and most ordinary Effects of this rampant and furious Lust. These are the kindnesses of the false Adulterer to his harmless unthinking Neighbour, while he carries on his amorous Plots against him with the fairest Pretences, and the highest Protestations of Love and Friendship to him and his Family; a Love more fatal than Death, and cruel than the Grave; especially to its dearest Object, against which it levels its fieryest Darts, and for which it reserves the deepest and sorest Ruin. It's very first Wound is deadly and desperately cruel; the Chastity of a Wife being deservedly esteemed at a much higher Value than the brightest and most charming Beauty, the finest and pleasantest Wit, the richest Dowry, or even the sweetest and most agreeable Mien and Temper. And the Reason why men generally set a greater price upon this than other good Properties is, because of all others it is most essential to Conjugal Love and Union; insomuch that the Violation of this one, breaks the whole Chain of amicable and social Virtues, without which no Society, though founded upon Divine Institution, can possibly hold and be happy. And this doubtless was the reason why our Saviour, who was infinitely tender of the Rights of Mankind, 
Matth, 19.9.  gave the Jews a liberty of Divorce in the desperate Case of Adultery. The want of some Accomplishments in a Loyal Consort may be made up by a Plenitude of other Graces and Advantages: but the Loss of Chastity can never be repaired in kind or value; No equivalent can be given for it, the stolen Treasure can never be restored; the Flower that is blasted, can never recover its verdant Beauty.  
5. I might add to this heavy Charge, that Adultery is highly injurious to the common good and welfare of Men. The Contention it kindles in a private Family is seldom extinguished there, but frequently breaks out, alarms and inflames the Neighbourhood into Riots and Factions, to the Disturbance of the public Peace, the levying of war, and the Subversion (sometimes) of Kingdoms and Governments; to the grief of all good men, and the Encouragement of the boldest and most impudent Vices. It were endless to reckon up the Judgements and Calamities which this Sin alone has brought upon the World. Who can count the Treasure it has wasted, or tell how much Virtue it has betrayed, how many Duels it has fought, how many Lives it has cost, how many Innocents' it has massacred, how many strong men have been slain by it; 
Prov. 7.26.  what Havoc it has made in ancient and illustrious Families, and what Confusion in the Race of Mankind?  
6. The last Argument I shall name of the greatness of this Sin, is the Punishment which God, whose Judgements are always righteous, and never exceed the measure of our Iniquities, hath allotted for it. And this makes another very dreadful Scene. There is Infamy, Hatred, Pain, and Poverty coming on like an armed Man; 
Prov. 6.24, etc.  then a dismal Train of cruel, noisome, and fierce Diseases, followed close by the ghastly King of Terrors in a sorrowful and untimely hour; All gathering about the Criminal, till the latter having pierced his Liver with a poisoned Dart, seizes and carries him off to God's high Tribunal; 
Prov. 7.23.  the mean while the Heavens show their Displeasure in terrible Flashes of Divine Wrath upon the Conscience of the Sinner, who had been often told from thence (but perhaps till his dying Day, and his uneasy Pillow forced the unwelcome thought upon him, never laid it to his heart) that no Whoremonger, 
Eph. 5.5.  nor unclean Person hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ, and of God. The Air of that holy place is infinitely too pure for him, the Conversation too refined and spiritual, the Company too noble and excellent to admit so sordid and corrupt a Member into their Blessed Society. And because such men are every way apt to turn the Grace of God into wantonness, and to argue from it, that for short Pleasures he will not exclude them from eternal Joys, and much less inflict eternal Torments upon them; he has given them fair warning to expect that he will be true to his Threaten. Be not deceived (saith the Apostle) neither Fornicators, nor Adulterers, nor Effeminate, shall inherit the Kingdom of God, 1 Cor. 6.9, 10. But still there is a much sadder Doom behind, the Terror of which is beyond all Conception, Rev. 21.8. where Whoremongers (with other very bad Company) are sentenced to the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone, the fiercest Emblem of Divine Indignation, for ever and ever; and who can dwell with everlasting Burn!  
Thus I have proved, that the Violation of the Conjugal Union is a great Wickedness, which was Joseph's Sentiment of it: And the Result of what hath been spoken is, that whosoever indulgeth himself in so vile a Practice, renounceth the Principles of natural, as well as revealed Religion, and is an utter Apostate from Virtue and Honour. For, in good earnest, what is he, who to gratify the Passion of a Goat, deflowers the Image, and despises the Institutions of his Maker? Defiles his Temple, and cares not what Infamy and Mischief he brings upon his honest and inoffensive Neighbour? who is guilty of the foulest Treachery towards him, tempting his Wife out of his Bosom to commit Lewdness and Perjury, 
Prov. 2.17.  to break her most sacred Vows, to forsake the Guide of her Youth, and renounce the Covenant of her God? To be the Plague and Ruin of her Family, to endure the utmost Hatred and Scorn of Men, and for a few Moment's of false Pleasure to be eternally damned? who is a common Enemy to Mankind, who defies the impartial Justice of Heaven, and breaks through all the Fences of Modesty, Religion, and the Fear of Hell, to steal a forbidden Pleasure, and to ravish an infamous and impure Enjoyment? If this be a Man of Virtue and Honour, 'tis time to cashier the Distinctions of good and evil; After this let all Contradictions be reconciled; let Light be clothed with Sables, and Darkness put on the Brightness and Serenity of the Day; let there be no more dispute about the Nature or Merit of Actions, but let all things be just, as every man's Fancy or Humour paints them. 
Eccles. 11.9.  Rejoice, O young Man in thy Youth, and let thy Heart cheer thee in the days of thy Youth, and walk in the ways of thy Heart, and in the sight of thine Eyes. But pause a little, and know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into Judgement.  
I proceed now to the second General.  
II. The use which Joseph made of this Thought upon the rude Assault of his Master's Wife. By the Impulse of it he immediately dashed the Temptation, and rescued his Innocence with this pious Answer, How can I do this great Wickedness? etc. which came very naturally from one that had been blest with a virtuous Education, that was brought up in the Fear of God, and descended (as Joseph was) from the best-ordered and the most religious Family upon Earth; whose great Ancestor was dignified with the character of the Friend of God, and of one that would command his Children and his household after him, 
Gen. 18.19.  that they should keep the way of the Lord, to do Justice and Judgement. Jacob also had frequent Intercourse with God, 
Gen. 37.3.  and Joseph being his Father's Darling, there is no doubt but he took particular care to adorn and enrich his M●nd with good Principles, as he had done to  him with costly and invidious Raiment. And this was it that preserved his Innocence, upheld his Integrity, and laid the Foundation of all his Greatness in Egypt: It was the Fear of God timely and gradually instilled into him by his religious Parent, which made him inflexible to all Temptations, even in his boiling Youth, and amidst the most inflaming and importuning Circumstances. And from hence we gain the following Instructions.  
1. That the strongest Temptations to the most flattering and deceitful Vices are not invincible. There is no Age of the Life of Man so eager of forbidden Pleasures, or so little acquainted with the Fallacies of them, as Youth. And if frail Youth, when so highly tempted can refuse to sin, and is able to withstand the Charms and Allurements of Female Courtship; if a Hebrew Servant can despise the Flames of an Egyptian Lady, was not caught by her treacherous Wiles, nor bended by her Commands, neither by her smiling nor imperious Looks; was not vanquished by her repeated Importunities, nor awed by the Fears of her Revenge, nor inveigled by the hopes of Secrecy, nor softened by the Liberties of Egypt, nor betrayed by the Frailties of Flesh and Blood; then surely are all the Forces of Vice resistible, and there is no Danger of any Compulsion to be wicked. If Joseph refused the most flattering Pleasures, and Moses the Royal Honours and Delights of the Court of Egypt, choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the people of God, 
Heb. 11.25.  than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; No man in the like circumstances can have any reason to complain that he lies under a necessity of sinning. For let the man that would fain discharge his sins upon the Fatality of humane Actions consider with himself, whether he has not the same Faculties which other men have; the same power of choosing and refusing what is fit and unfit to be done, of weighing the Arguments on both sides, and determining on that which best recommends itself to his Reason and Judgement: And what it is that hinders him from being as staunch and resolute against a wicked Custom or Action, as those whom the same Arguments which lie before him have prevailed upon, and the excellent Men of all Ages have ever been. If he thinks that all Mankind are determined by a rigid and irresistible Fate, to do all the evil that has been done in the world, let in reconcile his opinion, if he can, to the general Sense and Experience of Mankind, who are conscious of nothing more than a Freedom of Choice and Action, and find it natural to chide and accuse themselves for acting contrary to the Dictates of their own reason, and the holy Oracles of God; insomuch, that if they had the highest Freedom imaginable, they could not have greater Assurance of it, than they now have of that degree of Liberty which is commonly ascribed to them, and every penitent Sinner is an undeniable Witness and Confessor of. And here I would ask the Fatalist a fair question or two.  
As first, what greater Evidence can there be of a free Agent in any criminal Case, than his pleading guilty to the Indictments of his own Conscience? Secondly, What better Argument than this, can he or any other Fatalist bring to prove the contrary? And then Thirdly, I would only ask him, How he knows himself to be a necessary Agent, since no other Agents of this kind have any Knowledge of the Principles they are acted by? And 'tis certain, they have no use of any such knowledge, being wholly moved and determined by external Causes and Objects, or some secret instinct, whose Powers they never dispute, or fail of their obedience to; and yet as truly serve the end of their Being's, as if they had all the Perfections of an Angel to dispose them to it.  
And the like answer may be given to the Plea of humane Frailty, as it is frequently urged to lessen the Grace of God, and to magnify the power of Temptations above the stated Measures and Attainments of it; viz. that it contradicts the experience of all the great Examples of Virtue and Piety, and the Confessions of penitent and self-convicted Sinners, who when they are most sensible of the Frailties of humane Nature, and are themselves some of the saddest Instances of them, do hearty bewail their easy Compliances, and score their Miscarriages upon their own Folly and Wickedness. 'Tis indeed a common (and in some men's esteem a very plausible) excuse to say, It was ill done; but what Flesh could withstand such Temptations? The greatest Virtue must have submitted to them: But how do they know this, that have so little Virtue as to libel the Grace of God, and the Integrity of all good Men, who have stood their ground, and maintained their Innocence against the most violent Gusts of Temptation, and the fiercest Assaults of Hell? The World is not ignorant, that there have been Persons of eminent Goodness and Integrity in all Ages of it; Men that have filled the Mouth of Fame with their generous and noble Actions, that have had the hardness to resist the softest charms and the grimmest Terrors of Sense, and have encountered all kinds of Temptation with good Success, while they stood upon the same level, and were subject to like Passions and Infirmities with ourselves. And since we have the same Assurances of Divine Grace and Assistence which they had, 'tis impious and infinitely vain to think of easing our guilty Minds, by throwing off the blame of our Impurities and Sins upon Fate, or Nature, or the Temptations which are common to Men, when nothing can make us Sinners but ourselves. Infinite power itself cannot compel us to a Fault; I mean, not only because it is inseparable from infinite Goodness; but because it is irresistible, and there can be no fault in yielding to a Force which there can be no possibility of resisting. And this will justify the Deal of God with the Despisers of his Grace and Gospel to all Eternity, that they have chosen their own ruin, and left him no way to prevent it, but to put up their intolerable Contempt of his Laws and Sanctions, or break their specific Frame, and destroy the Freedom of their Wills, which is essential to all true Virtue and Happiness.  
II. That it is a mighty advantage towards the leading a virtuous and unspotted Life, and avoiding the great Gulfs of Vice and Wickedness, to be brought up in the Fear of God, and to have our Minds (while they are green and tender) seasoned by a good and pious Education. The Tenor of our Lives generally depends upon the first Principles that are planted in us, and the Customs we begin in our Youth and Childhood; If they be good, there is nothing so sure and powerful to oppose the Decoys and Flatteries of Sin and Vice. And where such Principles are not timely sown and cherished, so as to grow into some Strength and Consistence, and be of some use and service to us in our Youth (while Temptations to Pleasure and Vanity look fresh and gay, and the Snake hides itself under the Flower) vicious Inclinations will certainly grow up in their room, and being more taking and natural to the depraved Soil, will mightily obstruct the Culture and Improvement of it. And hence you may observe, as much as the fashion is to Dispute over all the Principles of revealed Religion, no man questions the Currency of such Maxims as these, That the greatest Errors both in Faith and Practice are the unhappy Fruits of a careless or vicious Education; That Youth let lose from the Reins of Discipline runs the wildest of any thing in the World; That good Instruction and Education are necessary to govern youthful Passions, to manage wanton and unruly Nature, and keep it in the way it should go; and that the effects of them are commonly very happy and durable; as the wise Observator tells us, 
Prov. 22.6.  Train up a Child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not departed from it. Having drank in the Principles of divine Wisdom, his Eyes are suddenly enlightened; and being gradually exercised in discerning between good and evil, he quickly sees through the Disguises of Vice and Folly, and so easily evades the Delusions of them.  
And this was Joseph's Happiness, and a singular Advantage it was to him, when he came to live in a Family, and to make a figure in a Court, where he had so much occasion for it. Alas! what would the young man have done, had he been bred up in the Mode and Fashion of our Age, to dress, and comb, and dance the round of Luxury and Vanity? To court the Daughters of Canaan; and Revenge the Rape of Dinah upon the Sisters of Sichem, under the sparkish Pretences of Love and Honour? Had he learned his Lesson from the Stage, or the Schools of Scepticism and Profaneness, been taught to shrug and smile at the grave Precepts of Morality, and call every thing silly that is serious, to defy the Threats of Religion, to bury his Fears in Wine, and then make a mock at sin, and a Jest at being damned? Had Joseph been thus initiated in the Mysteries of Iniquity he had certainly flown into the Tempter's Arms, 
Prov. 7.23.  like a Bird (as Solomon speaks in his case) that hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. He would surely never have disparaged his Breeding so much as to stagger at the greatest of the Crime, or allow himself a moment to think of the fatal consequence; but without Fear or Foresight have followed his Leader to the Chambers of Death, 
Prov. 7.27.  in the Paths that go down to Hell.  
'Tis true, that the choice of our Education lies very little (if at all) in our own Power: but therefore it infinitely concerns those into whose Arms (by the Providence of God) we are cast in our Infancy, and on whom we are forced to lean all the time of our Weakness and Childhood, to principle our Minds with an early Sense of God and Religion, to supervise our Actions, and rectify our Errors, and as it were lead us by the hand through the first Stages of Virtue and Piety, till we are passed the mighty Dangers of Youth, and in some measure able to grapple with the Temptations of Sense, and secure ourselves against the Fallacies and Seductions of the Devil. This, we all know, is the immediate and indispensable Duty of Parents and Guardians, the neglect of which hath ruined prodigious Numbers of ignorant Souls, yea thousands of the bravest of our Youth, who might have proved the Strength and Ornaments of our Church and State, had they begun at the beginning of Wisdom, 
Prov. 9.10.  been timely trained up in the Fear of God, and carefully taught to approve the things that are excellent. If therefore you desire to see your Children happy, live virtuously, and escape the Pollutions which are in the world through Lust; If you would not leave an accursed Brood behind you, to waste your Estates with riotous living, and curse you when you are gone, and to your Faces, when they meet you at God's Tribunal; let your care of them appear, by teaching them betimes whom they should fear, that when they are attacked by any Temptation, they may be able (as Joseph did) to reason themselves into a Victory over it; which leads to the third and last Instruction:  
III. That the Fear of God quickened with a present and lively Apprehension of the great evil of Sin, is a sovereign and effectual Preservative against the most charming and powerful Allurements to it. 'Tis the Nature of Fear to lay a Restraint upon the Mind, while it views the Danger that lies before it: and since the greatest Danger lies in provoking infinite Justice armed with infinite Power, the Fear of God who is invested with both, and has threatened the Sinner with everlasting Destruction, must, while he is under the lively Impressions of it, deaden all the force of Temptations, and infallibly restrain him from closing with them. And for this reason it is, that God, who is infinitely tender of our immortal Souls, 
Rom 1.18  hath revealed his Wrath from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men, and kindly threatened Destruction on purpose to preserve us from it; it being greatly to be feared, that the Promise of Heaven and everlasting Life would very hardly have made the best Men good, if they had not been also quickened with the Fears of everlasting Perdition. For 'tis certain, that in this guilty and degenerate State we are generally much more afraid of being miserable, than ambitious to be truly happy. Of which I think there needs no plainer Demonstration than this, viz. that the Generality of Men, even when they are grown weary of this World, would be well contented to stay here in a tolerable condition to Eternity, or when they die to vanish into nothing, only to be eased of the danger of being everlastingly miserable. Nay, I doubt not but some good men of the lower Size in Religion, that have but a moderate share of the Sorrows and Calamities of this Life, would be (were it left to their choice) almost willing to resign their weak Hopes of Heaven, for such infallible Securities against the dreadful and eternal Torments of Hell. And since the fear of endless Misery has taken so deep a root in humane Nature, were our Minds duly Impregnated and kept awake with the Fear of God, who is both able to save and destroy, it is morally impossible, but that it must prevail over all Temptations to incur his Displeasure, and effectually curb our wildest and most unruly Inclinations to any Lust or Vanity. And hence is that excellent saying of the Wife-man, Prov. 28.14. 
Psal. 36.1.  Happy is the Man that feareth elways, i.e. that hath the Fear of God continually before his Eyes, as a faithful Watch or Sentinel to discover all Approaches of Danger, and call in the Powers of Reason and Religion to his Defence against them.  
No Motive indeed, tho' never so powerful in itself, has any force upon us any longer than we apprehend our Concernment in it; for which Reason an actual Apprehension of the evil of the Crime to which we are tempted, is absolutely necessary to restrain us from it, by awakening the Fear of God in our Minds. And therefore when any Temptation is presented to us, if we look only on the glossie side of it, and think of nothing but the delicious Pleasure or Profit the Sin is varnished or gilded with, and are not ware the mean while, that God has revealed his Wrath against it, 'tis evident that what ever we are at other times, we are not now afraid of offending him; and then his Fear can have no present effect upon us, and so it is all one in the Issue, as if we never had any true Reverence for him.  
And this was it that made the great Difference between Joseph and David in the matter we have been treating of. David had an habitual Fear of God, and surely in as high a Degree as Joseph had: But then there was this Disparity in his Case, the Fear of God was not before his Eyes when he bathed them in the naked Beauty of unguarded Bathsheba; he did not, like Joseph, awaken himself into a vigorous Consideration of the great Wickedness of defiling Vriahs Bed. He never argued thus to himself, How can I harbour so impure a Thought, and slain my Royal Purple with so foul and Action, a Sin of a far deeper Dye? Shall I thus offend? Thus requite the good and mighty God, who changed my homely Crook into a glorious Sceptre, and advanced me (the youngest of Jesse's House) over all the Sons of rejected Saul, to the highest step of Imperial Honour, next to himself in Power and Dignity, and from those few sheep I kept in the Wilderness, has made me Ruler over his beloved Israel? Shall I thus provoke the Lord to Anger? Am I stronger than he? Had David thus awakened himself into an holy Awe of God and his Goodness, he had surely beat off the Temptation that so easily foiled him, been innocent of both his presumptuous Sins, and perfectly clear in the whole matter of Vriah.  
And now, having given you the true Character of Adultery, and the Instructions left you by the young and pious Example in the Text, I shall close all with a brief Application to two sorts of Persons.  
1. To such as are burdened with the guilt of this heinous Crime: who are to be admonished, that a Sin of so vast Malignity requires a very solemn piercing and unfeigned Repentance; and that the conscious Eye and Impartial Justice of God are not to be deceived by any Forms or Flashes of a transient and impenitent Sorrow. Consider then, yours is a crying Sin; To Heaven it cries for Vengeance, and to you it calls aloud for the deepest Humiliation in Dust and Ashes, the greatest Contrition of Mind and Spirit, the utmost Satisfaction in your power to the injured Parties, the freest and most abasing Confessions to Almighty God, the sincerest Vows and Resolutions of a new and unspotted Life, the strictest Covenant with your Eyes, the strongest Guard upon all the Avenues of Lust and Wantonness, and the nicest Care to avoid the very least Pollutions of the Flesh or Spirit, together with a most passionate endeavour to rescue the poor Captives that are tied and bound with the Chain of your Sins, and were by you betrayed into the Snare of the Devil. What Rivers of Tears can wash away so deep a Stain? What Piercing of Heart and Soul? What Self-Condemnation and Abhorrence? What lively Applications to the Merits of your Redeemer ought to accompany your fervent and constant Prayers for the Forgiveness of so great a Wickedness? A Wickedness so great, that the greatest Purity of Life is little enough to take off the Blemish of one single Act of it, 
Psal. 51.12.  and restore the Joys of that blessed Hope of being meet at last for the glorious Inheritance of the Saints in Light. And then, into what a wretched Condition hath that man brought himself, that has a long course of Fornications and Adulteries to answer for, and is still to begin the whole Christian Race? He had need, I am sure to live the reverse of his Life apace; I mean, to spend the remainder in continual Acts of Mortification, Devotion, and Preparation for his dying hour; in unravelling (as far as he is able) all the evil he has done, and doing all the good, which the Mercy and Patience of God, his short time, and unhappy Circumstances may have left him opportunity for. 'Tis certain that God has pardoned some very great and infamous Sinners; but then they were great Penitents too. And surely there is nothing more becoming such as have been very bad themselves, than to attempt some generous and eminent thing towards the Reformation of a degenerate and adulterous Age; something that may heal the Honour of Virtue, that may help to appease the Anger of Heaven, and to banish the Vices which they, their Families, and Country have dearly smarted for; that the World may be once the better for them before they leave it, and their good Actions may help to bury the Memory and I fection of their bad.  
2. Such as have not defiled themselves with carnal Lusts, and particularly those that are young and tender of the Honour they own their Bodies, or are curious in their Washeses and Dresses, and love to appear orient and gay, without the least Spot of Soil or Impurity, aught to be extremely cautious of all Approaches to this notoriously shameful and odious Vice. 
1 Cor. 6.18.  Other Sins comparatively (as the Apostle speaks) are without the Body; but he that committeth Fornication, sinneth against his own Body, i.e. he deflowers the Purity of his excellent Nature, he commits a Rape upon himself, and so defiles his holy Profession, 
1 Thess. 4.4.  which is to preserve his Body (as a sacred Vessel) in Sanctification and Honour, and to keep himself unspotted from the World. And then what foolish and fulsome Hypocrisy were it, to pretend to the minutest Decencies, and profess the highest Degrees of Nuptial Sanctity, and after all contract the indelible Stain, and perfidiously embrace such a Dunghill Lust? Take heed therefore of every impure and guilty Thought, of all unchaste Desires and Complacences, lascivious Glances and Dalliances, of all Immodesty in Word or Gesture, with all other Incentives to gratify the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts. These, besides their proper Gild and Defilement, are the common Anteludes by which the sly Tempter seeks to play you into the dreadful Crime: and then by shunning the Occasions of them you keep out of the road (at least) of vulgar Danger, in the pure Aethereal way, whither the unclean Spirit never or rarely presumes to come. But suppose you were surprised by a rude and violent Temptation (as Joseph or sad Lucretia was) Lusts fiery Darts will not enter into a chaste and undefiled Breast, where there is nothing gross enough to catch or feed the Flame. 
Prov. 4.23.  Keep therefore thy Heart with all Diligence; and if thine Eye chance to be struck with strange erratic Beauty, call in the mighty powers of Faith and Reason, arm yourself with a Reverence of God's allseeing eye, 
Ps. 139.3.  which pierceth into all your Paths, and is ever about your Bed; call to mind your infinite Obligations to him, and look on every Instigation of lustful Appetite, as a dangerous Approach to the flaming borders of Hell and Ruin, where the Worm of Conscience dieth not, and the Fire of Divine Wrath is not quenched. Say now to thyself, How can I do so false, so foul an Action, that have plighted my Faith, and espoused myself by most solemn and religious Vows, as a chaste Virgin unto Christ, as a Lover of the purest and holiest Jesus? How can I hope to appear before him amongst those bright and spotless Souls, 
Matth. 25.33.  that have escaped the Pollutions that are in the World through Lust? May he not justly set me with the Goats on his left hand, in the great discriminating Day, if here I should live like them in turpid and lawless Pleasures? Should I stoop to this lewd Desire, Whither, oh whither shall I cause my shame to go? How shall I behold the Face of God or Angels? Is this to purify myself as they are pure? Shall I then for a moment's Pleasure forfeit an immortal Crown, and incur the eternal Anger of him whom at last I must obey, when he bids me departed into everlasting Fire? Shall I show less reason in my Conduct, be more brutish than any Man, and run directly upon the Rock by whose fatal side I have lately seen the Ruins of so many tall and gallant Vessels, so many brave and goodly Persons, fearless and undaunted Men, with desperate Numbers of the smaller Craft, miserably lost and cast away for ever? And for those few Adventurers that have hardly escaped with Life and Limb, how have I seen them stalking about the Streets like Ghosts, with Death and strange Remorse in their Faces? Only more changed from what they were, than Death usually altars a man from his living Form?  
I will say but one thing more; you have Life and Death before you; consider the various Issues of a wise and foolish Choice, declared by the everlasting Gospel, which forbids you no innocent Pleasure. 
Rom 8.13.  If you live after the Flesh, you shall die: but if through the Spirit you mortify the Deeds of the Body, you shall live, in ravishing and endless Joys, in eternal Acts of unspotted and Seraphic Love, in the Arms of him that loved you to the Death, in the Beatific Vision and Fruition of God, and the dearest Embraces of Virgin Spirits made perfect in Heaven. To which God of his infinite Mercy guide us through the Snares and Fallacies of this evil World, for the Merits of his Blessed Son Jesus Christ our Lord.   

A SERMON ON THE Christian Warfare.  S. James IU. 7. 
— Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.  
'TIs a peculiar Thought of a late conceited Philosopher, who loved to quarrel with the best sense of Mankind, that War is founded in Nature; or a Right (as he calls it) in every man, according to his power, to seize on every Man's Possessions, till he gives it away by Compact. The plain and naked Meaning of which Assertion is, That Power and Right are but one and the same thing in Nature; That all the difference between them arises from positive Laws and Covenants; That till such Laws and Covenants were made, no man was bound to his good Behaviour to his Neighbour; that to oppress, ravish, and murder, were once fair and innocent Actions, the harmless Effects of Power, pursuant to that original Right, which fond Nature gave the stronger to all the Delights and Possessions of the weaker. But not to follow the Chase of this wild and impious Hypothesis, we need go no farther than the Text to discover the great Incendiary of War and Contention, and the first Cause and Author of all Disorder and Confusion in the World; that is, the Devil, the common and inveterate Enemy of God, and every Creature that bears his Image. Him therefore S. James exhorts us to resist; and lest we should be daunted at the Fame of his mighty Conquests, and the vast Destructions he hath every where wrought in the Earth, to support us under this Discouragement, the Divine Herald assures us, that the Issue of our Conflicts with him will be safe and honourable; that Victory shall always attend our Arms, and the Flight of our Enemy adorn our Triumph. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.  
These Words deserve a very serious Consultation with ourselves about them; especially when we first enter into the Christian Warfare, or  we are alarmed by any violent Temptation, or are likely to be engaged in any sharp encounter with our Spiritual Adversary. No wise Man gins a War without considering who, and how powerful his Enemy is; what play he is like to have from him, and what Force he is able to advance against him; at least, if it be a War (as the Christian is) that will surely hold him in breath till he has breathed his very last in this world. And this Wisdom our Saviour teaches his Followers, as a common instance of military Prudence, Luke 14.31. For what King going to make war against another King, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? where we see, the necessary points to be resolved before we enter into the Field of Action are, What Forces our Enemy is provided with, and what power we have to make good our Defence against him. And since it is evident by our Saviour's Argument, that the success of our Spiritual Warfare depends upon the right and timely Resolution of these weighty Questions, and a competent Understanding of them is apparently necessary to such a Resolution, to make this Discourse the more clear and practical, I shall distinctly consider these three Particulars.  
I. The Strength of our Enemy, and wherein his great Power to hurt us lies.  
II. What Power we have to resist him, or by what means we may effectually guard and secure ourselves against him.  
III. What Assurance we have, that the Devil will yield to our Resistance, and flee from us.  
I. The Strength of our Enemy, and wherein his great Power to hurt us lies. The Fall of the Apostate Angels from Heaven, has (by Divine Permission) filled this lower World with innumerable envious and malicious Spirits, under one Sovereign Prince or Leader, whom the Scripture commonly calls the Devil or Satan. This is that malignant Spirit, who first (of his own wicked Motion) raised Rebellion in the calm and peaceful Regions of Heaven and Paradise, and has ever since made it his business to seduce and destroy the Worshippers of God, to draw the World to his own Altars and Oracles, and to put all the Foundations of the Earth out of Course. It is not at all improbable, that he beguiled our First Parents by appearing in the shape of a Seraph or flaming Serpent, 
Numb. 21.6  in which they had seen the Heavenly Seraphim attending the Divine Majesty, when God was pleased to shade himself with visible Glory, and condescended to converse with Man. And tho' we know not the Devil's particular Station before his Fall, yet an Angel of some superior Order in the celestial Hierarchy we may certainly conclude he had been, from his ancient Supremacy over the Spirits of his own Kingdom, and the great and eminent Titles by which he is frequently distinguistt in Scripture from them; 
Matth 9.34.  such as the Prince of the Devils, 
Joh. 12.31.2 Cor. 4.4. Ephes. 2.2.  the Prince and the God of this World, and the Prince of the Power of the Air; the latter of which denotes also the place of his Habitation, or the Camp where his great Armies meet, and receive his Orders to deceive the Nations, and enlarge his Kingdom over this inferior Orb. But whatever his place, or whatever his Crime in Heaven was, no sooner was he driven thence into the Regions of the Air, but like the Firstborn of the Children of Pride and Malice, he prepares to revenge his Fall upon the Favourite of the new Creation. And observing Man, the Offspring of Dust and Clay, curiously wrought into a Creature of surprising Form, dignified with the Image of God, and a Majestic Awe and Authority over all below him, he presently began to envy and molest his Happiness, and (which is all the happiness he hath reserved to himself) to conspire and procure his Ruin.  
To carry on this design the Devil has vast Legions of desperate Spirits continually at his Beck and Pleasure; All delighting in the same Employment, all of them fired with the same Revenge, and involved in the same irreversible Doom; all immortal and unbodied Spirits, and therefore superior to our frail humane Nature, which is but Spirit mingled and allayed with Flesh and Blood; and by the weak Contexture of its unequal Principles, and the affinity of our Bodies to the Elements of this World, is liable to the Fallacies and Distractions of sensual Objects, and so the easier to be imposed upon by the greater Craft and Sagacity of our ghostly Adversaries. For we must yield them the Pre-eminece in all the powers of Understanding and acting suitably to their Dispositions and Purposes. And as our Saviour tells us, that the Children of this World are in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light; 
Luk. 16.8.  so the Spirits they are acted by, have doubtless a sharper Insight into the Nature of things than either of them, a stronger Judgement in the fitness and choice of Means, greater Quickness and Dexterity in their Applications to them, together with unwearied Vigour and Diligence, animated by a perfect and incurable Hatred of God and Goodness: Besides the vast Improvements they have made by long and successful Practice in all the Arts of Ruin and Seduction.  
But besides this veterane Army (in which not one of all the Tribes is missing since the War began) this mighty Warrior has innumerable other Forces and Auxiliaries to assault us with. The ill Men and Examples of the World, which make the far greatest Figure and Party in every Age, are all entire on his side. Yea, all that is called the Wealth and Glory of this World, the blazing Honours and Riches of it, its stately Pomp and Pageantry, attended with all the Charms of Wit, Beauty, Parentage, and Power (the splendid Furniture of Pride and Luxury) do readily contribute their Service to him, and assist his Instigations to idolise and worship them. Out of these he weaves his silken Snares, and forges his golden Chains; with those to entangle the careless and effeminate, and with these to lead the Worldling Captive at his Will. He also attempts to beat us off from the Paths of Piety and Virtue, with the Frowns of this angry and supercilious World: and when he finds us stiff and resolute in our Course, he commonly sends whole Volleys of Curses and Reproaches after us, belched from the Mouths of his impious Children, on purpose to lame and obstruct our Progress. Nay, what is sadder than all this, he opposes our Salvation with the choicest Blessings and Assistances we receive from Heaven, 
2 Cor. 12.7.  its immediate Inspirations and divinest Gifts; and has a strange Art in turning the best Means and Overtures of Grace to his own malicious and destructive Purposes; in making the word of Life a savour of Death, 
2 Cor. 2.16. 2 Cor. 4.4.  and blinding the Minds of them that believe not, lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. And when with all his Powers of Darkness he cannot extinguish this glorious Light, he sets up new Lights and apish Revelations against it, to dazzle the minds of ignorant and unstable Persons, while he winds them into his Interests, and through a Mist of obscure, and a Maze of wild and intricate Doctrines, leads them into damnable Errors, 
2 Pet. 2.1.  by which (as St. Peter speaks) they bring upon themselves swift Destruction.  
I might add, that this subtle Enemy of ours frequently plays upon us from our own Castles in the Air; our vain Imaginations and foolish Fancies, our high Conceits of our own Gifts, and Attainments, our Ambitious and towering Hopes of earthly Grandeur and Felicity, with all the enchanting Delights and Gaieties of an Utopian Paradise; our vexatious Fears of merely contingent or improbable Accidents, our groundless Confidence and Security in all the Flatteries of a sinful course, and (be that never so long or sinful) our fallacious reckoning on a Deathbed Repentance after it.  
The Truth is, the main Strength and Interest of Satan lies in ourselves; in our weak and shallow Judgement of Things, and disorderly Wills and Affections towards them. Our Understandings are easily misled with the Glare of sensible Objects; and the Lusts which war in our Members, 
Jam. 4.1.  against the Dictates of our Reason and Conscience, are a strong Party on the Enemy's side, ready on every Instigation of his to challenge their lawless Liberties, and to betray our Souls into his merciless hands. And this has been a growing Accession to the power of Satan ever since the Defection of our first Parents; he has gained all the ground that we lost by our fall, and has so many Confederate Lusts in all the weak parts of our Nature, that wherever almost he chooses to assault us, he is sure to find a well-affected Party within ourselves, to promote his baneful and malicious Designs upon us. To this end he is very exact in observing our Complexions, Educations, and Customs, out of which he easily spells our Inclinations, and then applies his Temptations to our particular Like and Aversions; and so follows Nature in the way she is most disposed to wander and prevaricate in. This is a signal Instance of the fatal Craft and Sagacity of our Enemy, to which I will only add two or three remarkable Advantages the Devil has to ripen his dark Designs, and accomplish his wicked and destructive Projects. The first is,  
1. The silence of his Attacks, which he usually gins and carries on without the least Noise or Signal of War, when he is minded to do us the greatest Mischief. For tho' his Motions are sometimes rapid and furious, as when he raises a Storm of Persecution in the Church; yet generally speaking, they are so very soft and insensible, that without a strict and mighty Care, 'tis hardly possible to discern them from the Motions of our own, 
Luk. 9.55.  or (in all cases) from the placid and gentle Breathe of the Divine Spirit. So that commonly the War is begun before ever we are ware of our Enemy; and the Devil is busy with us while he is farthest from our Thoughts, and we think of nothing less than of serving his Designs and Interests; nay it may be, while we think the contrary, and are verily persuaded we are doing God Service. 
Acts 26.9. Joh. 16.2.  And thus he at once conceals his Enmity to us, flatters our Infirmities, and pleases our Fancies, prevents our Vigilance, animates his own Party within us, sets the Battle in array, and many times steals the Victory, before we have any Mistrust or Intimation of his tampering with us, or the least warning from him to put ourselves into a Posture of Defence against him.  
2. His restless and indefatigable Diligence in laying his Snares, contriving new Plots and Devices, and improving all Accidents and Advantages to compass his pernicious Purposes. He is continually going to and fro in the Earth, and walking up and down in it: 
Job 1.7.  Traversing all the ways that go down to Hell, or lead up to Heaven, and beating out untrodden and nearer Paths to ruin, than Man himself (left to his own happier Ignorance) could possibly have devised to his own Destruction. He is never weary of ill-doing, he is always moving and coasting about, intruding into all Places and Companies, listening to every Word, and prying into every Corner, to spy out opportunities of hatching Mischief. This is his manner of Life: and in this Posture St. Peter describes him, 1 Pet. 5.8. Your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. No Place, not Paradise itself; no Person, not the purer Son of God, could escape him. The Sanctuary is no privileged Place; the Society of our Blessed Saviour on Earth, 
Mar. 8.33.  no certain Defence to his domestic and best-beloved Disciples; the miraculous Gift of the Holy Ghost, which cast the Devil out of his miserable Vassals, 
2 Cor. 12.7. 1 Cor. 10.13.  could not secure the Enjoyer from his Assaults and Treacheries. His Temptations are common to Men, even the devoutest Votaries at the Throne of Grace; nor does the special Presence of God in the place where his Honour dwelleth, 
Job 1.6.  always protect us, from this insolent Intruder into his holy Assemblies. 
Rev. 12.10.  In short he is so impudent as to accuse the Children of God before him, and renew his Encounters after the most shameful Baffles; yea, so maliciously bend upon our Destruction, that he tugs at it Night and Day, sullies our Dreams, and defiles our Recreations, perplexes our Business, and distracts our Devotions; a thousand Snares he lays about our Tables and our Beds; neither allowing himself nor us any rest, till he either despairs of Success, or glories in our ruin.  
3. His great Artifice in deceiving us with false Appearances, and raising our Expectations of delicious Pleasures and Profits from extremely bitter and losing Practices. He has a wonderful Art in laying beautiful Colours on the most deformed and pernicious Actions, and hiding the Sting while we taste the Sweet of his disguised Dainties. This is indeed his sovereign and most successful Policy, to amuse our Minds with Images of things which are not, and entertain our Fancies with gay and winning Objects all the way he is leading us to ruin. By this Decoy he draws off our Attention from the Truth and Reality of things, and so leaves us to embrace the Shadows, and rue the consequence of our Folly and Rashness. I will not undertake to determine how far the Devil is chargeable with the Crimes which he tempts us to; but this I doubt not may be truly said, That whenever we are strongly tempted to any Action which in cool thoughts we know to be vile and hateful, and (perhaps) would not do to purchase the greatest Temporal Good, the Devil by mysterious Craft, and sly Impressions on our Animal Spirits, raiseth such fair and charming Ideas of it, as insensibly alter our opinion of the dreadful Act, gradually subdue out Aversions to it, and at last (if not prevented by severer Reflections) assuredly gain our Consent to the Commission of it.  
Thus you have seen your Enemy at the head of his mighty Armies, with his wonderful Train of Artillery about him, posted on the higher ground, superior to you both in power and policy, tall and terrible as the Anakims, flushed with Victory, and possessed of many strong Holds and enchanted Castles: full of Treachery and Malice, close and secret in his Motions, while he bushes on his Designs with a restless and fatal Diligence, and in a most perfidious and cruel manner seeks to play you into ruin, to make you the Instruments, and to please you in the methods of your own Destruction.  
After all, our comfort is, that this great and formidable power of the evil Spirit is ever under the check of a superior and infinite Power, so that it cannot exert itself farther than God is pleased to permit it; the Bounds of whose Permissions are discoverable only by his Word and Promises, of which there may be a fit occasion to speak hereafter.  
And now having viewed the strength, and detected the Dispositions and Motions of this potent and terrible Enemy, let us turn the Perspective, and consider,  
II. What Power we have to resist the Devil, and by what means we may effectually secure ourselves against him. That the Devil is no irresistible Enemy, is as clear as that we are both commanded and encouraged to resist him. For to what purpose were it to encounter with invincible Power? Or what hope of an Enemy's flying from us, that hath Victory itself at his Command and Pleasure? If we must sink under his Power, serve only to glorify his Triumphs, to furnish him with malicious Joy, and be dragged at his Chariot Wheels, as the wretched Captives of his Wiles and Fallacies, why should we struggle any longer, or think to break the Adamantine Chains of our Fate and Misery? In vain are all good and pious Endeavours towards the recovery of our degenerate Nature into a state of Virtue and Perfection, if the Enemy of all that is good and virtuous hath an absolute and  Power to interrupt and stifle them. And so all the Motives of the Gospel would be mere Flame and Mockery without the Promise of an Assistance equal to the Difficulties of our Spiritual Combats; And had God denied us that Assistance, and for ever abandoned us to the Malice and Tyranny of evil Spirits, there could have been no room for a Covenant of Grace; nothing but a fearful looking for of Judgement, and fiery Indignation to devour us. Again, why are we baptised in the Name of Jesus, if there be none to save us? No escape from the everlasting Chains prepared for the Devil and his Angels? And how is it possible to love that Being with all my Heart, and adore him with all my Soul (be his Power and Majesty never so immense) that should let Hell and Destruction lose upon me, when I have no more power to resist them, than when I lay in my Swadling-Bands, helpless and innocent of all actual Crimes? To bring both Extremes of a Contradiction together, or do that which in the nature of it can never be done, is more than Infinite Power itself can do; and therefore Infinite Wisdom and Goodness cannot require it of frail and finite Creatures, especially under an Infinite Penalty. And since it is plainly impossible to withstand irresistible Power, it can be no less than an Infinite Absurdity to suppose the Enemy of our Salvation to be irresistible.  
'Tis true, there are considerable odds between the powers of the Angelical and Humane Nature, especially since we are so much shattered by our Fall, and have lost so much of the Vigour and Bravery of our Primitive Faculties; but this only proves, that we are no equal Match to our Adversary in single Combat, and that we stand in need of better Powers than our own to fight our way through the many Dangers and Difficulties of our Christian Warfare; and this I easily grant. But than it is certain, that the Christian is, in the Nature of it, a Confederate War; that Heaven itself espouses our Cause, and that we still retain those noble and excellent Faculties, which being animated and supported by Divine Assistance, and duly exercised according to the Christian Discipline, are at least sufficient to defend us against the utmost Efforts and Attempts of Hell. This is the true state of the W●r betwixt us and our invisible Adversary; for the clearer Understanding of which, I shall show these three things.  
I. That to resist the Devil is only to withstand his Temptations.  
II. That we are not destitute of sufficient Powers and Assistances (if we are not wanting to ourselves) to withstand the Assaults and Temptations of the Devil.  
III. By what means we may effectually resist them.  
I. For the First, To resist the Devil is only to withstand his Temptations, and oppose his crafty and malicious Endeavours to betray us into Sin and Misery. He has indeed no other way to assault and hurt our Souls, than by tempting them to evil; I mean, all long as we are in a state of Trial, and are not judicially delivered up to his Rage and Fury. And therefore our only way to resist him, is to foil his Temptations, and take effectual Care that he does not fasten any of his Fallacies or Delusions upon us. For 'tis evident, while we are under the Influence and Conduct of Divine Grace, that the Devil neither does nor can act immediately upon our Wills, or force us to do his pleasure by any physical determining Power, whatever he may do with those miserable Wretches whom God hath forsaken, and turned over to this dire Executioner of his Wrath and Vengeance. He has leave indeed to bring us to our Trial, and the Decision of the grand Controversy, whether we will choose to be subject to God or him; but then our very Trial supposes, that we are not liable to any compulsive or determining Power, during the whole Process of it, but are left to our Liberty to choose whom we will serve, 
Josh 24.15.  and which of the two contrary Masters we will love and cleave unto. For it would be a strange Trial to put men upon Difficulties, that cannot stir the least Finger to remove them; and when I throw up a Stone into the Air, I might as well and wisely charge it to lodge itself in the Clouds, and not obey the Laws of Gravity, or return (as Nature bids it) to the Bosom of its beloved Centre, as suppose God hath obliged me to encounter an Enemy, whose Power I am forced to obey, who drags and determines my Will which way soever he pleases, and leads me about in Triumph, without the least Ability to resist him, or dispute his Pleasure.  
But more than this, the Temptations of the Devil are as great a Demonstration as we can desire, that he himself is conscious of his Impotency to force and constrain our Wills, and that he has no direct and infallible way to deceive and ruin us. For if he has, why does he use so much Art and Insinuation with us, which often fail of the end they are used for? Would so malignant an Adversary go about, as he does, to charm us with tempting Objects, and court us with a thousand Gauds and Flatteries to a wicked Action, while he has Power enough in his hand to compel us to it, and knows a much surer and shorter way to execute his pernicious Designs upon us? If his power was not inferior to his Malice, an Enemy so utterly devested of all Goodness, would certainly make us feel the dismal Effects of it without Mercy or Delay, and not put it to our Choice, or leave it to a Trial of Ingenuity, to comply with him or not. Can he twine and bent our Wills as he pleases, and elicit what kind of Acts he is most delighted and gratified with, he would surely never suffer us to refuse the evil, or to choose the good. However, 'tis in vain for us to resist the power that can determine our Wills: and because it is so, and we are expressly commanded to resist the Devil, we may be sure he has no such power, and then it can be no part of our Duty to resist it.  
The meaning therefore of our Resistance must be, that we resolutely oppose the Temptations of the Devil: whether they come immediately from himself, or from any of his inspired Agents or Instruments, whether by way of external Representation, vocal Suggestion, 
Matth. 4.1, 2, etc.  or Argument (with all which he at once accosted our Saviour) or by secret Strokes and internal Impressions upon our Imaginations and Fancies, whereby he assists the natural Rhetoric of outward Objects, and supplies their Absence by their Ideas and Pictures. And here he commonly shows the fineness of his Art, by retaining the Likeness, while he improves the Graces and Deformities of Things, according to his Design to inflame our Affections, or to raise our Aversions to them. 'Tis beyond our Conception what variety of Methods and Occasions he takes to beguile and supplant our Souls; and particularly what Advantage he makes of our Animal Spirits for the framing of those little Cupids and Images, which seem to play without Design in our Fancies, but are often managed and prepared by him on purpose to entertain our Minds with vain and idle Speculations, to solicit our corrupt Affections, to distract our purer Thoughts, and obstruct our most serious and important Endeavours. But tho' we cannot pry into all the curious Arts and Mysteries of this invisible Tempter, or tell exactly how he mixes and lays his Colours upon the Tablet of our Fancies, yet a careful Observer of the Impressions they make upon his Thoughts and Passions, may plainly discern the Artist by certain inimitable Strokes and Lineaments, which distinguish almost all his Pieces, and which no other Genius than himself can reach: 
2 Sam. 14.19.  As David discovered the hand of Joab in the sly and crafty Carriage of his Familiar of Tekoah.  
For instance, whenever we find our Inclinations or Passions rushing against the Convictions of our Duty, and clashing with the best Principles of our Reason and Conscience: when we feel something within us prompting us to break a Divine Commandment, in view of the glittering Vengeance that hangs directly over the Transgressor's of it: when the Bias of our Minds, after it was rightly set, suddenly turns the quite contrary way: or our Thoughts are roving in the midst of our Devotions after secular and impertinent Objects, or bewildered in a Maze of vain and distracting Imaginations: When we hate to think, or have the Confidence to resist the clearest Evidence of Truth, and are angry with the Light for detecting our Follies; in these and many other Instances we may certainly know that we are tempted of the Devil; that now the evil Spirit is busy with us, and he that betrayeth us is at hand. Of this, I say, we may be very certain, because such Impulses and Disorders in our Spirits do apparently promote the Designs of Satan, and can serve no other Interests than his; because they are every way like him, and carry his very Mark and Image in their Foreheads, exactly answering the Mein and Character by which the holy Oracles of God have described him to us. And now is our time and duty to resist him, to break his Measures, and defeat his Temptations and Charms: to stand upon the Freedom and Dignity of our Nature, and the Honour of our Christian Profession, and not yield to any of his Instigations or Flatteries; 
Ephes. 4.27.  i.e. not give place to the Devil by complying with them, as St. Paul interprets St. James' meaning by resisting him.  
II. We are not destitute of sufficient Powers and Assistances (if we are not wanting to ourselves) to withstand the Assaults and Temptations of the Devil. For  
1. We have all the Natural Faculties that are requisite to resist Temptations. We neither want a Power of discerning between good and evil, or of knowing what we ought to avoid, and what to choose and practise; neither can we pretend that we have no power to make a right Choice or Refusal; for that were to say we are no reasonable Creatures, the proper use of Reason being only to direct our Choice, and to govern our Actions aright in relation to it. And therefore a wise and good Creator could never make us reasonable, without making us free Agents; and if we were not so, there would be no occasion for resisting Temptations, since none but a free Agent is capable of being assaulted by them. All Temptations are leveled against the right use of our Freedom; and the only use the Tempter makes of them, is to betray our Wills, and abuse our Liberty by them; which shows that he cannot fasten any guilt upon us against our Wills, and that the utmost he can do, is to solicit, excite, and cheat us (if we will be cheated by tinsel and faithless Promises) into a fatal Compliance with his Methods of Ruin and Destruction. I say, if we will be cheated, for there is no Necessity that we should; our Freedom is our own by a natural Right, and the exercise of it is so essential to our present state of Trial and Probation, that there is no Fear, if we believe a Providence over us, that our Enemy (were it in his Power) should be permitted to wrest it from us. All the Fear is of our selves, lest we should unhappily use our Freedom, and by an awkard and unnatural Abuse of it enslave our imperial Faculties to sensual and Diabolical Lusts, and so for ever make ourselves miserable by it. We are safe in the hottest Battles and Encounters of our Spiritual Adversaries, so long as we are true and faithful to the Rights and Interests of our rational Nature, i.e. so long as we judge nothing but what is right, and choose nothing but what is virtuous and good.  
Neither can we complain that we have no power to correct the Levity of our Thoughts and Fancies, or to order and regulate our outward Actions. There is nothing so free as Thought, or more evident than that the Mind of Man has power within itself to shift the Scene of its Contemplations, and divert from one Imagination to another, as often as it pleases. A man may think of Hell when he is tempted, and of the allseeing Eye before he ventures upon unchaste Embraces. And so the Organs of Sense and Motion, the immediate Causes of outward Actions, are very much in our Power: and by guarding these Inlets of Lust and Vanity, we certainly avoid the strongest and most dangerous Temptations to Sin and Folly, help to starve our inbred Coruptions, and cut of all Communication with the Enemy, that is so much concerned to relieve and cherish them. And these are all the Natural Faculties which are requisite to defend and secure us against Temptations.  
2. We may be sure of all the supernatural Aids and Assistances, which are necessary to enable us to make a vigorous and effectual Resistance. For since we are so much weakened by our Fall, and by indulging our carnal and corrupt Affections have extremely spoiled the natural Tone and Rectitude of our Faculties, 'tis apparent that we are never likely of ourselves (i.e. merely by our own Strength and Constancy) to stand the mighty Shock of Temptations, which at every turn of our Lives and Fortunes are ready to assault us: and that the Grace of God is as necessary to animate and enforce our Endeavours, as our Resistance is to baffle and overcome the Temptations we are assaulted with. Now, as in Reason we may hope, that God will not refuse to assist us against the impious Power and Tyranny of Satan, in Vindication of his undoubted Right and Title to our Service: so to raise our Confidence in him he has expressly declared, that his Grace is sufficient for us, yea, to make us more than Conquerors: 
2 Cor. 12: 9  that he will give his holy Spirit to them that ask it, 
Rom. 8.37. Luk. 11.13. 1 Joh. 3.8.  and hath sent his own Son from Heaven on purpose to destroy the Works of the Devil. To this end the Captain of our Salvation sent forth his Heralds into the World, set up his Standard, and displayed his Banners to the Nations, appointing all that came to him, or that should believe in his Name, to be listed into one Army, or Church Militant on Earth, under the Conduct of such Generals and Officers as should receive a Commission from him, Under the Broad Seal of Heaven [As my Father hath sent me, so send I you, John 20.21.] Then, to animate his Followers, he entered the Lists with the Prince of Darkness, by dying vanquished all-conquering Death, and having spoiled Principalities and Powers, 
Col. 2.15.  he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by his glorious Resurrection.  
Now these are the highest Assurances we can have, that God hath taken us into his holy Protection, and that he will not suffer us to be tempted above our ability: 
1 Cor. 10.13.  but will (according to his Promise) when we are beset with any Temptation, make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it. Which implies, that his Providence watches over the Motions of our Enemies, that they are disposed to tempt us above our Strength, and that he hath set them their Bounds which they cannot pass, viz. that Measure of Strength which he is always ready to supply us with; and than it must be our own fault if we don't make a happy End of this sharp and tedious War, and follow our glorious Leader into endless Triumphs. 'Tis true, that all the Promises of victorious Grace depend upon our earnest Prayers and Endeavours to acquit ourselves like Good Soldiers of Jesus Christ: But surely, if we may have Grace for Ask, and Victory for Fight for it, we cannot desire either upon easier Terms: For now all we Want falls within the verge of our Power, and if we lose the Victory we know who to thank for it. The Spirit that is in us is greater (saith St. John) than he that is in the World: 
1 Joh. 4.4.  And while we keep him on our side we may Justly Glory in this Happy Confederacy, by virtue of which we can do all things, that Omnipotency itself, guided by Infinite Wisdom, can do for us. I come now to show,  
3. By what means we may effectually resist the Assaults and Temptations of the Devil. It was an Infinite Condescension in God to offer us an Alliance by the Mediation of his Son, when our Impotency was the mere effect of our Folly and Enmity to him. And as in this respect we have all imaginable Reason to adore the Divine Goodness towards us, so it is our apparent Interest and Policy to embrace the Terms, and observe the Orders our great Patron and Ally hath prescribed to us. And the rather because there is a Mighty Noise and Combustion in the World, which Serves the Devil under the specious pretence of Resisting him. There are those that inveigh hearty against him (whose Ill Word he does not much value) and with Armed Zeal and Orthodoxy lay about them at a wonderful rate, as if they would drive all the Powers of Darkness before them, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Herod. Hist. lib 1. p. 71, 72.  and carry their Conquests to the very Gates of Destruction: Like that foolish People in Caria, of whom the Historian reports, that to drive away their strange Gods, they Armed themselves, and went up in Battle array to the Bordering Mountains, beat and stabbed the Air with their Doughty Weapons, and to Crown so brave an Act of Defiance proclaimed the Banishment of those Intruding Deities. 
Eph 6.12.  Spiritual Wickednesses are not to be quelled with Martial Force, or with Giddy and Popular Tumults: They laugh (like the Leviathan in Job) at the shaking of the Spear, 
Job 41. ●9.  and are never better pleased than to see Men Tilting with Luciferian Pride and Fierceness at one onothers' ●ollies and Opinions, quarrelling with every thing they Dislike in Others, and mistaking the true seat of War, which certainly is in every man's Breast, and will find him work enough while there is a Devil to tempt him, or but one Treacherous and Unmortified Lust within him. And no less Absurd and Ridiculous is it, to encounter the Devil with senseless and hideous Forms of Words, Spells, and other Magical Rites: Or to Accost him with such Wooden Artillery as the Romish Exorcists use, and ascribe a Divine Efficacy to, I mean their Relics. Incense, Consecrated Salt, Holy Water, Breathe and Cross, and what they call the Chrism of Salvation. The true Weapons and Methods of our Spiritual Conflicts are extremely different from these, and all Modern Inventions of Superstitious and Fanciful Men: and indeed deserve a much larger Discourse than the remaining Minutes will allow, which will therefore oblige me to speak the more briefly of them. The first is  
1. A true and lively Faith in all the great Articles of the Christian Doctrine. Faith is the Principle of all Spiritual Life and Operations, and therefore the Power of all other Graces is virtually contained in it; the Consequence of which is, that the Christians Power to resist the Temptations of the Devil is exactly equal to the Measure and Energy of his Faith. 
1 Tim. 6.12.  And hence S. Paul expressly calls the Christian Life the Good Fight of Faith; and gives the Preeminence to this Grace above all the Weapons of our Spiritual Warfare, Ephes. 6.16. Above all take the shield of Faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Wicked. 
1 Joh. 5.4.  And This (saith St. John) is the victory that overcometh the World, even our Faith. And a noble Victory it is, beyond any the World itself ever saw, since it reaches even Him who is called the God of this World: For the World is the Great Magazine of Temptations, out of which the Devil has all along furnished himself with the choicest Materials for his Wicked War. Besides, to Overcome the World, is to Subdue and Mortify our Inordinate Affections to it; and when they are Dead, the Glories and Vanities of this World will affect us no more than the Flowers that are strewed upon our Graves, or the sad Pomp and Solemnities that attend us thither. We shall then have no Lusts to gratify, being Dead to this World, and living upon the Faith and expectation of a Better: and then it will be no longer in the Tempter's Power to Gull us with his Gilded Toys and next-to-nothings: with his Fairy Money, and Fantastic Braveries, with his Crackling and Blazing Honours, or the Guilty and Griping Pleasures with which he liberally Rewards his Fools and Properties. 
Heb. 11.1.  The Evidence of things not seen, which is the Life and Essence of our Faith, will give us such a Prospect of Celestial Glory and Happiness, as will raise our Spirits to the Noblest Heights, and darken all the Splendour and Gaiety of this Tempting Life: It will also inspire us with Invincible Fortitude in the sharpest Fight of Afflictions, 
Heb. 10.32. Heb. 12.2.  while we look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith, and learn of him, for the Joy that is set before us, to endure the Crosses, and despise the Shame and Reproaches of this Angry and Virulent World. So that by Overcoming the World, i.e. Mortifying our Affections to it by a lively Faith in God and our Redeemer, we spoil the Tempter's Designs, drive the Enemy out of his Head Quarters, nail up his Murdering Cannon, and render all his Great Engines of War utterly useless and unserviceable against us.  
2. Frequent Application to God by Devout and Fervent Prayers to preserve us from the Danger, and assist us in the hour of Temptation. To this Relief we are directed by our Saviour, who taught his Disciples to Pray, that they might not be led, 
Luk. 11.4.22.40.  and that they might not enter into Temptation: The meaning of which could not be, that we should beg the Favour of God to be wholly exempted from all Spiritual Trials, or desire a clear and absolute Discharge from the Christian War: For that were to Pray against some of the best Means for Implanting, Exercising and Improving Grace, and against all Occasions of Victory and Triumph, and to prescribe a new Method and Dispensation to God for the Training us up to Eternal Life and Glory, contrary to that which his other Children have been always accustomed to. Our Saviour's meaning therefore must be, that whereas in our present Circumstances we are surrounded with innumerable and sore Temptations, we should pray to our Heavenly Father to Relieve us, and not suffer us to be Over power d or to enter too far into the Danger of being worsted by them. And this is so much our Interest, that were there no shadow of Duty or Piety in it, one would think a Sensible Man should not need any other Incentive to it. For is it not an Inestimable Privilege, that my Safety lies in one that commands all the Powers of Nature, and the Angels of Light and Darkness, and has promised that nothing shall tempt me above my Power? As it is impossible any thing should, if I will make his Power mine, which by humble and fervent Prayer I am sure to do; and since my Prayer can reach him every moment, shall I wave his Defence, vainly rely on my own Strength (at which my Enemy laughs) and venture alone into the Battle amidst all the mighty Darts and Fire of Hell, and thereby lose an Immortal Soul, and with it a Victory so easy to be gained, over which there hangs an Eternal Crown? Such Presumption as this is the highest Provocation to Almighty God to forsake us in our greatest Extremities, while we carry it as if we would Steal a Victory without him, or tamely give place to the Devil, rather than be obliged to Him for it.  
3. Good Principles of Life and Practice are an admirable Fence and Preservative against Temptations. These, like the Ballast in the Ship, will keep the Soul Tied and Steady while the Man is Floating on the Waves, driven by the Angry Winds, and tossed by the Changes and Accidents of the Fickle and Tempestuous World. Thus, we see, in all the Whirlings and Revolutions of State, as well as those of a private Fortune, 'tis the Man of Principles still, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (as Aristotle calls him) the solid square Man, who has a basis of Integrity on every side, that bravely Outrides the Storm, and smiles at the Dangers which loudly Threaten him. And for those becalming Temptations which lie in Pleasure and Sensuality, a Man that has settled his course of Life the contrary way, that steers by Wise and Virtuous Principles, is in very little danger of coming within the reach of their Allurements and charms. Having found the Pleasantness of Religion, and tasted the Delights of the World to come, he is prepared against the Temptations of this: He knows better things than to act against his Best Judgement, Experience and Interest, than to forego his Innocence, to Ruffle his peaceful Mind, and forfeit the Love and Favour of God, only to enjoy the short Pleasures of Sense, which the Meanest Soul in the World could never find any competent Satisfaction in. And hence it is Remarkable, that Good Men are no less the Wonders of the World, when through Surprise or Inadvertency they fall into the Snare of the Devil, than when they nobly withstand the greatest Temptations, and maintain their Integrity without any visible support besides it.  
4. A Right Understanding of the Wiles and Stratagems of Satan. 'Tis no unusual thing with him, since Life and Immortality are brought to Light by the Gospel, 
2 Cor. 2.11.  to transform himself into an Angel of Li ht, and play the Devil under the Prophet's Mantle; to delude poor Ignorant Souls with Counterfeit Miracles and Prophecies, Corrupt Glosses and Interpretations of Scripture, and wondrous shows of Sanctity and Self-denial, beyond the line of Mortality, and the utmost stretch and possibility of Humane Frailty. Too often he betrays Men of Rare and Lively Fancies into Novel and Fond Conceits, to the apparent and mighty Prejudice of Truth and Piety, and the ensnaring of some of the most Passionate Lovers of the Beauties of Holiness. By varnishing Old exploded Errors with New Phrases and Fallacies, he recommends them for New and Choice Discoveries of Gospel Truths: And when he is most intent on disturbing the Peace and Harmony of the Church, he commonly adds some Immunities and Favours of his Own to the Royal Charter of Christian Liberty; for the Currency of which he Inspires his Ministers with Invincible Assurance, and with Unfortunate Arts of Insinuation and Eloquence.  
With these and other specious Devices does the Devil play upon the Ignorance of many that warmly profess the Gospel, and under colour of Resisting him and his Doctrines engage them against the Life and Power of Godliness. It concerns us therefore to be acquainted with his Methods, and to Match his Policies, by furnishing ourselves with the Wisdom which is from above, of which the Holy Scriptures are a most Rich and Invaluable Treasury. By the Light of this Sacred Lamp we may both discover the Tremendous Depths of Satan, and the certain way to Countermine and Defeat them. Here we have a safe and ample Prospect of all the chief Battles that were fought for several thousand years, between the Greatest Worthies and Champions of former Ages, and this All-defying Enemy of theirs, together with the Good and III Conduct, and the various Successes and Occurrences on either side. Here we read of the famous Trial of Skill in the Land of Us; 
Job 1.11, 12. Numb. 26.65.  of the Prodigious Slaughter of a Falsehearted Army in the Wilderness, without a visible Enemy; of many Noble and Heroic Actions of Patriarches, Prophets and Apostles, and other Excellent Men, not without some deplorable Mixtures of sinful Failings, purposely written for our Admonition. Interwoven with these Relations we every where meet with the Wiles and Stratagems, the Wind and Fallacies of the old Serpent: the diligent Observation of which, added to the skill we have purchased by dear Experience, or at easy Rates may be gained by the Follies and Misadventures of others, will be so much Spiritual Armour, and ward off many deadly and surprising Strokes from our everwaking and intriguing Enemy. For what is easier, when we see the Train, than to avoid the Blow? In vain (saith Solomon) is the Net spread in the sight of any Bird. 
Prov. 1.17.   
5. Vigilance and Sobriety are also necessary to defeat the Policies and Delusions of Satan. If we have not a Presence of Mind to discern an approaching Danger, if we sleep over our opportunities of resisting, 
1 Sam. 26.12, 15.  like King Saul and his careless General, in useless Armour while their Bolsters were decked and guarded with glittering Weapons, 'tis no wonder if our watchful Adversary invade us when we least expect him; deride our Sloth and Folly, and steal away the Arms that should defend us from him. The Devil is as subtle and circumspect as he is malicious, and doubtless gets a great deal more by surprising us, than by all his fair Battles and formal Encounters with us. He cares not much to assault us when he sees we are prepared for him: and were it not to keep his hand in, or that he hopes to tyre us out with watching and observing his Motions, with sending so often to Heaven, and waiting so long (as becomes us) for Relief against him, he would surely never trouble us with so many frivolous and forlorn Temptations, as he frequently does. It concerns us therefore (as we are often warned) to be very cautious of our wakeful Enemy, to watch lest we enter into Temptation, 
Matth. 26.41. 1 Pet. 5.8. Luck 21.34.  and to be sober that we may be vigilant; to take heed lest our Hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so the evil day, and the evil Spirit, come upon us unawares. For, alas! what Resistance are we like to make, while we stagger with Wine? While our our Spirits are dissolved in Luxury and Pleasure, our Hands bound with Multiplicity of Business, and our Hearts disquieted and broken with the vexatious Pursuits and Distractions of this present evil World?  
6. Lastly, Industry and Faithfulness in our Callings are great Securities against the Baits and Temptations of the Devil. The wise and good Providence of God hath so happily ordered our Affairs in this World, that there is really more satisfaction and pleasantness in an active and virtuous course than was ever found in all the envied State of the most splendidly idle and unprofitable Life. And methinks this Argument alone should be enough to convince an observing Atheist, that Infinite Wisdom sits at the Stern of the World; since he cannot but perceive that the least honourable and most toilsome Employments (which are most necessary to the welfare of Mankind) are delicious Sport and Recreation to the patiented Labourer, in comparison of the Fatigue of having nothing to do, and the tiresome Vanity of wasting time for want of skill or business to employ it. And hence it is, that Men that are diligent and faithful in their Callings do generally meet with fewer Temptations, and find more Strength and Spirit to resist them, than those that are foftened with Ease and Idleness, and have so much time upon their hands that they are willing to afford it at the cheapest rate, and take even the Wages of Sin, rather than work out their own Salvation. 
Phil. 2.12.  A Man that lives upon his honest Labour and Industry has something else to do than to sport and drink away his time, or to fool it away in dressing, gaming, and other lurching and prodigal Expenses; and therefore when the Devil comes to tempt him to these and the like sharping and extravagant Courses, he easily detects his Fallacies and resists his Charms. He finds his Diligence brings him Riches and Honours, and that his faithful Dealing keeps his Mind always serene and cheerful; he feels himself satisfied in his virtuous and conscientious way, and knows that Vice and the Devil are Cheats, but that God and Goodness will plentifully reward all them that diligently seek them. It remains, in the third and last place, to show  
III. What Assurance we have that the Devil will yield to our Resistance, and flee from us. By his flying is surely meant his withdrawing his great Temptations, and leaving us to enjoy the Victories we have fairly won by our vigorous and undaunted Resistance of him. Every Repulse we give him drives him to a greater distance from us, and makes him more wary for the future how he repeats his Error, and meddles any more with those that are clad in Armour of Light, and to his peril he has found too strong and well-appointed for him. So that if every way we guard ourselves against him, if we mortify our Bosom-Lusts, clear our Hearts of the Love of this World, and fortify every weak Grace and good Inclination in us, we shall soon be eased of our Adversary, and by degrees advance to that secure and impregnable State St. John speaks of, as the peculiar Privilege and Happiness of eminent and victorious Christians (whom he describes by their high and divine Extraction) 1 Joh. 5.18. Whosoever is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. And, 〈…〉   

A DISCOURSE Showing the CONSISTENCY OF God's Infinite Goodness With His FOREKNOWLEDGE Of the FALL of MAN.  
By NATHANAEL WHALEY, A.M. Rector of Broughton in Northamptonshire.  
LONDON, Printed by J. H. for Brab. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill. 1698.   

TO THE READER.  
THE Minutes of this Discourse were formerly sent to a Person of good Quality, who was pleased to desire my Thoughts upon the Question, How the Infinite Goodness of God was consistent with his Foreknowledge of the Fall of Man? I was well assured this Desire did not proceed from an ill Tincture of Mind, from a Sceptical Levity, or any other Principle but what became a very serious and prudent Inquirer; accordingly I applied myself to one of that Character; and am now encouraged by the Success of that Essay, to publish this little Tract; which, I hearty wish, may be useful also to another sort of Inquirers, I mean those who in their own Defence are forced to question every thing in Religion, be it never so clear, if it does not shine upon their ill-chosen and fallacious Interests.  
N. W.   

Q. How is the Infinite Goodness of God consistent with his Foreknowledge of the Fall of Man?  
THere are two things evidently Implied in this Case:  
1. The Infinite Goodness of God: which duly considered will effectually scatter all our Melancholy Thoughts, and Misgiving Apprehensions of his Arbitrary Deal with us. For if God is Infinitely Good in himself, he must be naturally disposed to be Kind and Beneficent to his Creatures: and therefore he could not make them with a Design to make them Miserable, either in respect of their Original Frame, or for want of due Conduct towards the Good and Happy ends for which by his Sovereign Pleasure they were at first Created.  
2. His Foreknowledge of the Thoughts and Free Actions of Men, which is the Highest and most Perfect Degree of Knowledge. It is a far less Perfection to Know what is Past, or Present, or Dependent upon Necessary Causes, than merely by the Force of Thought to Foresee the Motions of Voluntary Agents, and Infallibly Discover which way they will Determine themselves. This is the wonderful Prerogative of the Divine Understanding, which being Infinite (as the Psalmist styles it) must be extended to all the Objects of Knowledge, 
Ps. 147.5.  and therefore to the Free and Future Actions of Men: For, that they are within the sphere of Omniscience, the Actual Completion of many Eminent Prophecies in Scripture is a plain Demonstration, and such as the Eagle-eyed Socinian could never bear the Dazzling Evidence of, but Flutters and is forced to show his Dizziness and Blindness, as often as it is Objected to him. And surely nothing can derogate more from the Wisdom of our Creator, than to say of him, that he knew not what he was doing when he made Man (the Masterpiece of the visible Creation:) Or that he did not see the End of his Work, when he Inspired him with Reason and Freedom; as certainly he did not, if he did not foresee his Fall, and Discover what Use he would make of his Faculties, till his Creature disclosed it to him.  
But it is not my present Business to clear the Doctrine of Prescience, but supposing God's Foreknowledge of the Fall of Man, to show the Consistency of it with his Infinite Goodness, which I shall endeavour to do by the Evidence of the Following Propositions.  
Prop. 1. That the most Perfect and Comprehensive Thought or Notion we can have of God, is that he is a Being Infinite in all Kind's of Perfection, such as Existence, Power, Knowledge, Wisdom, Goodness, Holiness, Justice, etc. each of which, to the utmost Possibility of Perfection, is no less Essential to the Divine Nature, than the Faculty of Reasoning is to the Humane: So that whenever we speak of God, we are supposed to speak of that Glorious Being that has all Transcendent Excellencies in himself. And hence it follows,  
1. That the Attributes or Perfections of God are very agreeable and consistent one with another: or that there is a mutual Consent and Harmony between them, without the least Jar or Contrariety to obstruct their happy Union in the same individual and ever blessed Nature.  
2. Since all Perfections are united in the divine Nature, and essential to it, they must be also inseparable one from another: so that God must be infinitely good and just at the same time that he is infinitely wise, powerful, and holy, i.e. all his Perfections must be co-existent, seeing they all Centre in one and the same unchangeable Nature. And hence we may be sure that God never devests himself of one Attribute, when ever he chooses to glorify another, how inconsistent soever they may seem to our weak and inadequate Apprehensions of them. And therefore  
3. We must expect no act of Goodness from God, but what is consistent with infinite Knowledge, Wisdom, Justice, and Holiness: nor need we fear any Severity or Punishment from him, but what a good, a holy and righteous God can inflict upon us.  
4. Hence it follows, that no seeming Contrariety between the Perfections of God, or any of his Actions and Deal with his Creatures, is any real Argument against the Consistency of them. For instance, it may seem to some very serious Persons to reflect upon the Goodness of God, at the same time to foresee the Sin of Man, and to put him into a condition in which he might sin and be miserable, which (they will say) might have been prevented by staying his creating hand. But how hard soever it may be for a finite Understanding to account for it; this not reasonable Objection against the Goodness of our Maker; it being no less certain that God is good, than that Man is created and fallen, or that there is such a glorious Being as God in the World; for, if such an one there is, he is infinitely perfect, and then he must be infinitely good, and was so when he made the World, and will be so to eternal Ages, being the same yesterday, to day, and for ever. This is as bright a Truth as any is within the whole Circle of Science. There is no foundation of Certainty, if there is no God; and there can be none that is not perfectly good.  
Let us therefore hold to this Principle, that God is Infinite in Goodness, and Knowledge, and all other Perfections, and the consequence will be, that his creating Man after he had foreseen his Fall, is no reasonable Objection against his Goodness, or any of his glorious Attributes; because it is impossible for a Being that has all possible Perfection in himself, to act beneath the Dignity of his Nature, or to injure his Creatures by doing any thing which they might justly to Eternity accuse him of.  
This, I confess, does not ease us of the difficulty of apprehending, how it consists with the Goodness of God to make a Creature, who (he knew) would sin and be miseralbe: But then the greater that Difficulty is, the more clearly it shows the Weakness and Incompetency of our Understandings to censure and sit in Judgement upon the Actions of God; and that it becomes us to content ourselves with what we certainly do or may know and believe concerning him and his Attributes. Who art thou, 
Rom. 9.20, 21.  O man, that repliest against God? Shall the thing form say to him that form it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the Potter power over the Clay? 
Rom. 11.33.  Oh the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God How unsearchable are his Judgements, and his Ways past finding out!  
Prop. II. Tho' God is infinitely good in himself, we must not expect that he should make his Creatures perfectly good and happy. For, as absolute Perfection is essential to the Notion of God, so is Dependence and Imperfection to the Notion of a Creature: which proves that there are Degrees of Perfection which are not communicable to Creatures; and for those which are, all we can expect from a good Creator is, that he should communicate such competent Degrees of Goodness to every Creature, as are agreeable to their several Natures and Capacities, and conducive to wise and excellent ends, i.e. that every thing should be made good in its Kind, and in Proportion to the good end of its Creation. And this Rule (as Moses tells us) was exactly observed to the least Mite or Insect. Gen. 1.31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good: Which could not have been said of every Creature, if there was any Defect in the Creation of Men or Angels, who are the Top and Glory of the Creation. And if they were made very good in the unerring Judgement of God, though we may fancy still that they might have been made better, we cannot accuse the Goodness of God for making them as they were made, both because he judges infinitely better than we do, and because to be made very good implies no less, than that God advanced them at first to a very happy Condition, and gave them all that was needful to secure and improve their Happiness; and more than this we have Reason to think was not suitable to his infinite Wisdom; and since God is as wise as he is good, all we can promise ourselves is, that he will do all the good that can be wisely done, but no more.  
The Sum of this is, that absolute and perfect Goodness being essential to God, we must not look for it in the Creatures, whose Natures are uncapable of it: and that relative or creating Goodness, is and must be commensurate to the Nature of Creatures, and the good ends for which they were created. And then, if God gave Man an excellent Nature, and endued him with all the Perfections of Mind and Body that were requisite to his temporal and eternal Happiness, it is evident that he has done all that became a good and bountiful Creator to do for him.  
Now let us put the matter upon this Issue: all that was requisite to the present or future Happiness of Man was provided to his hand, when God made him a reasonable, innocent and immortal Being, and gave him power to secure and enlarge his Happiness by acting according to the Dictates of his Reason, and persevering in his Innocence and Obedience to his Maker. Was not this an Act of adoreable Goodness? And did it not deserve the highest Returns of Duty and Gratitude to the Author of it? But where was then the Error in Man's Creation? Was it that it brought him into a State of Subjection to his Maker? But this is essential to every Creature; and by this Argument there ought to have been no Creation at all. Or was it, that Man being made a free and reasonable Being, might possibly abuse the Goodness of his Maker, transgress his Commandments, and so make himself miserable, when nothing but himself could do it. 'Tis true, this was the primitive State both of Angels and Men: but the question is, where is the fault of it, when both the one and the other were made faultless and happy, and might have continued so (had they pleased) for ever? If there was no fault in the Creature, there could be none in the Creator: and then it will be hard to find one any where else.  
But still some Men cannot bring their Minds to apprehend, but that it must needs argue a Defect in creating Goodness, to make a Creature of the most curious Form, and the noblest Endowments of Mind and Spirit, that can act below the Dignity of its excellent Nature, and by sinning make itself miserable. But I would fain know what rational Ground these Men have for so transcendent a Conceit as this. Would they be more than Angels, or any Creature they can possibly frame an Idea of? And because God is unchangeably good and happy, will they charge his Goodness for not making them equal to him? They don't use to question the Goodness of God for making so vast a difference as he has done between the several Orders of Creatures, for not giving every Plant the Fragrancy of a Rose, or every Flower the Beauty of a Tulip, or every Beast the Courage and Majesty of a Lion; or for making the Earth and all the Furniture of this inferior World for the Service of Men. And far less Reason they have to tax him for creating Man for his own reasonable and peculiar Service, which is the highest Freedom and Glory of a Creature; or for not setting him above the Angels of Heaven, as he must have done, if he had created him in a fixed and unchangeable State of Happiness. And why should they imagine that God cannot, without reproaching his Goodness, make a reasonable Creature subject to Change and Vanity, to Sin and Misery, when they see a World of such Creatures before them? Do they really think that God created the World only to disparage his Goodness, and expose the best of his Creatures to Misery? Does every free and reasonable Being reproach the creating Goodness of God? If it does not, there could be no Fault in creating it, though it might sin and be miserable; if it does, then in Honour and Equity God ought not to have made one reasonable Creature or free Agent: and then he could not have made one happy Creature, since none but reasonable Creatures are capable of true and proper Happiness. And what is the consequence of all this, but that God ought to have made no World at all? For if Honour and Equity would not suffer him to furnish a World with reasonable Creatures, who might abuse their Reason and be miserable: Honour, Wisdom, and Goodness would not suffer him to make a World without them, since such a World would not be worthy of its Creator, having no Creature in it that could relish his Goodness, celebrate his Praise, partake of any of his Moral Perfections, or receive any true Happiness from him; and better none, than such a dull, useless, and insignicant World as this.  
Prop. III. That nothing could better become the Goodness and all other Perfections of God, than to make a Creature after his own Image, because this is the highest Manifestation of creating Goodness. The Image of God is the most absolute Pattern of Being and Excellency; and therefore to make a Creature after his Image, is to make the most absolute and excellent Creature: and to do this is most agreeable to the Divine Perfections; and then nothing can be more unreasonable than to suppose any Discord amongst them in the Accomplishment of it. When God therefore said, Let us make Man in our Image, 
Gen. 1.26.  after our Likeness, 'tis plain that this was done with the Approbation of all his Attributes; and that there was nothing tostruct his making Man a reasonable and free Agent, and endowing him with divine and virtuous Principles, because this was to make him after the Image of his Maker. Now a reasonable Creature having Freedom of Choice, may choose well or ill; for though he cannot choose Evil for its own sake, because there is nothing in the Nature of Evil to recommend it to him: yet when it is varnished with a show of Pleasure or Advantage, that is, when it puts on a Vizzor or Appearance of good (which all evil may do, except apparent and immediate Destruction) it may be unhappily mistaken, and so chosen for it. 'Tis certain there was no natural Propensity to evil in the original Constitution of Men or Angels: but still where there is a Liberty of choice, there is and must be a Possibility of choosing Wrong; for he only is free that chooses the good or evil which he had power not to have chosen: if he could not refuse either, he cannot be said to act upon Choice, but Necessity. And indeed the very Notion of Moral Evil implies a choosing or voluntary Agent, there being no other way for sin to enter into the World, but by being chosen, i.e. by the Act of some voluntary Agent which might choose amiss; and so a voluntary Agent implies a Possibility of sinning. Man therefore might sin, tho' he was made very good, or, as it became his Creator to make him, a free and reasonable Being, after his own Image and Likeness.  
But here the Question may be asked; Might not God have given Man a reasonable Soul without a Liberty of Choice? and so prevented the Entrance of Sin into the World? I answer, 'tis hard to say what God cannot do merely with respect to his infinite Power, since by that he can do all things that do not imply a Contradiction in the Nature of them. But than it is utterly unaccountable, that a wise, a good, and a just God should make a Creature only to understand what is fit and right to be done, and not give him a power to choose what is good and right. For what use is there of Reason, but to teach us what we should choose? And what advantage is it to know this, if we can make no use of our Knowledge, as certainly we cannot, if we have no Faculty to choose what we discern to be good and excellent? What were we the better for knowing there is a God and a Heaven, if we could not love and choose them for our Happiness? 'Tis not the Knowledge of any Excellency that can make us happy, without a Disposition to enjoy it; and what we are disposed to enjoy we love, desire, and choose to have a Propriety in; and then a Creature that cannot choose at all, cannot be happy: and then, I am sure, he cannot be made after the Image of God.  
Are not Moral Goodness and Virtue absolutely necessary to make a reasonable Creature happy? And does not Morality in the Nature of it imply a free as well as a reasonable Agent? Do not the greatest Pleasures in the World, in the Judgement of the wisest and best Men, flow from this Reflection, that they have chosen the better part, and preferred the pleasing of God, the Honour of their Nature, and the Peace of their Consciences, before the Charms and Gratifications of Sense, when they might have chosen and enjoyed them? Now, if the great use of Reason be to guide our Choice, and if Liberty of Choice be necessary to the Happiness of a reasonable Being, it is a plain Contradiction to the Wisdom and Goodness of God, (how feasible soever it may be to his Power) to suppose him to make a reasonable Creature without a Liberty of Choice.  
Again, A Being that has no Freedom to dispose of its own Actions, cannot deserve well or ill, or be accountable to God for any thing it does, or does not do. and then were the World made up of such Creatures, there could be no such thing as Religion in it, no room for Virtue or Vice, for Rewards or Punishments, or any occasion for a just or governing Providence; Man would be no better than an intellectual Machine, or a curious Piece of Clockwork, which, how true soever its Motions are, makes not Returns of Praise or Gratitude to the Author of it. And what a wild supposition is this, that to introduce a reasonable Creature in the room of Angels and Men, excludes almost all the glorious Attributes of God, from having any thing to do in the Creation and Government of the rational World? But to come to the greatest difficulty in the case before us.  
Prop. IU. God's Foreknowledge of the Fall of Man cannot blemish his Goodness in creating him. It has been already proved, that God who is infinitely good might make a reasonable Creature and a free Agent: and that it highly became him to do this, because this was to make a Creature after his own Image, and that is the highest Instance of creating Goodness; and one would think, this was enough to clear at once the Goodness and every other Perfection of God, from the least Defect or Error in the Creation of Man. But still some Persons are troubled to think that God should intrust Man with a Liberty of Choice, when he was infallibly certain beforehand that he would abuse it; and this they apprehend to be inconsistent with perfect Goodness. But what Reason have they to think so? And what is their meaning by this Objection? Is it to blemish the History of Man's Creation, or to clear the Goodness of God by denying his Prescience? Do they mean to prove, that God did not create Men or Angels, and then leave them to their own Choice, to stand or fall, to be happy or miserable? This they may be sure he did not, if it was inconsistent with his Goodness: and if it was not, why are they troubled to think that he did do it? Or would they prove that God did not foresee the consequence of creating a free Agent? Let them first answer all the Arguments, Affirmations, and Predictions in Scripture, which plainly prove that the free Thoughts and Actions of Men lie open and naked to the Prescience of God; and then let them consider what they gain by excluding his Prescience. Does it at all mend the matter to say, that God made innumerable Creatures that would sin and be miserable, but knew it not till it was too late to prevent it? or can they seriously allow themselves to think, that he laid the Foundations of the Earth, and created Man upon it before ever he was master of his Design, or was sure whether it would turn to account or not? How could he make a Covenant with Abraham and his Seed for ever, 
Gen. 18.18, 19  and distinguish them from all the Families of the Earth, if he did not foresee that his Children would keep the way of the Lord; or that there would always be a Generation of Men in the World of the same Stamp and Integrity, that would prefer the Worship and Service of the true God before the Pleasures of Sense, and signalise their Faith (as Abraham did) by the Freedom and Ingenuity of their Obedience to him? Let them. I say, impartially weigh the Consequences on both sides, and they will clearly see that they bear as hard upon the Wisdom of God, by denying his Prescience, as they fear they should do upon his Goodness, by asserting it.  
Now to ease them of this Fear; that God's Foreknowledge of the Fall of Man was no blemish to his creating Goodness, will, I doubt not, sufficiently appear, if they candidly consider these three things.  
1. That his Prescience had not the least Influence upon their Fall or Disobedience to him. Our first Parents might have lived and been eternally happy upon the Stock of their original Virtues and Endowments, and the Divine Favour reflected upon them, had they used them as they ought; and if they had done so, God had never foreseen their Sin or Misery. Neither did they sin because he foresaw they would, but merely because they would sin: and therefore they would have sinned, whether he had foreseen what they would do or not; and so their Fall could not in any respect be imputed to his Knowledge of it, no more than the Death of those eighteen Persons upon whom the Tower in Siloam fell, 
Luk. 13.4.  was imputable to the Eye that beheld the Falling of that fatal Tower. Now if the Prescience of God had no Influence upon the Apostasy of his Creatures, his Goodness in creating them in a happy State could be never the less for his Knowing that they would abuse it.  
2. That his Foreknowledge of their Fall did not hinder him from using the most proper and likely means to prevent it. When God made Man upright, he gave him power to stand and and persevere in his Innocence, and to secure, improve, and immortalize his Glory and Happiness; and when he had done this, he gave him a loud and timely warning of the great danger of Failing in his Obedience to him, telling him that in the day of his Transgression he should surely die. 
Gen. 2.17.  And is not this a fair Representation of the Goodness of God in the utmost degree that became a wise, a holy, and a faithful Creator? Does not this plainly demonstrate, that the making Man a free Agent was no Contrivance of his Creators to draw him into Sin or Misery? And that his Prescience was so far from serving any such end, that it took the most natural and proper course to prevent it; admonished him of his imminent Danger, and foretold his dying day to be the same with that of his eating the forbidden Fruit? Which certainly God had never done, after he had put him into a way to live for ever, if either he had not foreseen his Danger, or was willing to connive at his Death and Misery. But more than this,  
3. God's Foreknowledge of Man's Abuse of his Goodness was no real Disparagement to it, because it was in his power to turn that Abuse to an excellent end, and to take occasion by our Fall to manifest the Glory of his Attributes in a far higher degree than was possible merely by his act of Creation. 'Tis the glorious Prerogative of God to bring good out of evil, which must have been concealed for ever, if he had never suffered evil to have entered into the World. The Glories of the Divine Wisdom, Love, and Goodness in the Redemption of Mankind; the Glories of God's Patience, Mercy, and Justice towards the different Ranks and Degrees of Sinners, do all depend upon his Permission of the Sins and Follies of Men, and applying suitable Remedies to them, and had never appeared upon the Theatre of this World, if it had not been for the tragical Miscarriages of our first Parents. The fall of Man was indeed a vast Unhappiness in itself: but than it opened wonderful Scenes of happy and surprising Providences, 
1 Pet. 1.12  which the Angels of Heaven desire to look into, and will be the Delight and Admiration of all good Men to Eternity. Above all, the Incarnation of the Son of God (for which there would have been no occasion in a State of Innocence) was a prodigious Demonstration of his unparallelled Love and Favour to the lapsed Race of Mankind, a strangely proper and most powerful means to reconcile the World unto himself, to promote Holiness in several Instances, and Virtue in several Kind's, which could never have grown in Paradise, and to advance the humane Nature far above the State and Dignity from which the first Adam fell. For the Union of the humane Nature with the Divine is not only an Argument of the sincerest Love and good Will to Men, but a most efficacious and transcendent Principle of the highest Perfection and Happiness that the Nature of Man is capable of. It is certain, the Recovery of Mankind required another kind of Dispensation than what was suitable to a State of Innocence; and surely God would never have manifested himself in the Flesh, or discovered such infinite Treasures of Grace and Wisdom in the Gospel of his Son, but to exalt the Nature he took upon him to a more eminent Height, to enlarge our Capacities, and to make us Partakers of the Divine Nature, in a new and extraordinary Measure, that (as the Apostle speaks) we might be filled with all the Fullness of God. 
Eph. 3.19.   
Now, if the Fall of Man was an occasion of greater Manifestations of the Glory of God, and his Love to Mankind, than were possible in a State of Innocence, it certainly can be no Reproach to his Goodness, when he had foreseen, that he did not prevent his Fall. For what Reason is there, that the foreseen Unhappiness of a Creature, which is purely owing to himself, should confine the infinite Goodness and Wisdom of his Maker, who can as easily bring good out of evil, as a Creature out of nothing? Was the immense Bounty of God exhausted by his act of Creation? or can his infinite Wisdom find no other ways of expressing his Goodness? Cannot he that made us after his own Image, create us anew after the Image of his Son, without breaking and dissolving our Frame? Or can we think that when God foresaw our Fall, he was not ware of the opportunities it gave him of magnifying his Grace and Goodness, his Wisdom, Patience, Holiness, Veracity, and Justice, in contriving and carrying on the stupendous Work of our Redemption? Nay who doubts but the Saints in Heaven are advanced to more eminent Degrees of Glory by the Merits of their Redeemer, than they could have been by the Merits of their own Righteousness, in case our first Parents had never fallen? In a word, God can serve his own wise and gracious ends by the Sins of Men, without contributing to them; and since he can, and has taken care to raise us by our Fall to higher Capacities and Attainments in Virtue and Happiness, than we enjoyed or could have reached in our former Station; it is I think a very plain and evident Truth, that God's Foreknowledge of our Fall was no blemish to his creating Goodness: or that his Goodness was consistent with his Prescience, as well as with all his other Perfections.  
And now, I hope, I have said enough to satisfy any candid inquisitive Person,  
1. That there was no Defect or Blemish in the Creation of Man, or in his being made a reasonable and free Agent, since he was created in a State of Innocence and Pleasure, and wanted nothing to crown and complete his Happiness, but what depended on himself, the right use of his own Reason and Freedom, without which it was impossible for him, or any other Being to be happy. Thus it became God to make him, and thus through his good Pleasure he was created: so that, after all the Ruins of Humane Nature, Man's original Frame still stands as a glorious Monument of his Creator's Goodness, and will do so to Eternity.  
2. That the Fall of our first Parents from this good Estate was not owing to God's Foreknowledge of it, or any Act or Influence of his, or to any want of Power or Warning they might justly have expected from him. And since their Fall can in no Respect be imputed to him, we may be fully assured that his Goodness is not in the least degree disparaged by his Prescience or Permission of it. For is not he infinitely good to me, who puts it into my power to be happy, if I please, for ever? And lest I should neglect my own Happiness, kindly warns me of the Danger and dismal Consequence of it; tho' after he has done all that became him to prevent it, he should not think fit to control my Will, when he sees me bend upon my own Destruction?  
3. That we have abundant Reason to praise and adore the Goodness of God, who at first created us after his own Image, in all the happy and delicious Circumstances, we could desire for ourselves; and when we had wasted our original Stock of Happiness, was pleased to open the mighty Treasures of his Grace, and to give us new and surprising Demonstrations of his Infinite Love and Favour; by which we are infallibly sure, that his Permission of our Fall was grounded upon great and admirable Reasons; and that God did not envy or neglect our Happiness, or want any Kindness for us that became the Creator and Preserver of Men.  
And here I should conclude, were it not for one Objection which is apt to stick with some Persons, whose Satisfaction is chief designed in this Paper: and that is this;  
Seeing God is essentially good, might it not be expected that he should have overruled the Will of Man, when he saw him warping from his Obedience to him, and so prevented all the Sin and Misery, in which he has involved himself and his unhappy Posterity?  
This Objection I might fairly wave, having already said enough to furnish an Answer to it, and the rather because it does not lie against the Goodness of the Creation (the Vindication of which is my proper Task) but against the Goodness of Providence, and indeed against the whole oeconomy of it. For if God ought to have prevented the first Commission of Sin, because he is essentially good, for the same Reason he ought not to suffer Sin to continue in the World, having ever had the same power to hinder the Progress, which he had at first to prevent the Entrance of Sin into the World. On the other hand, if God, who is essentially good, was not obliged to hinder the first Transgression, as I have formerly proved, neither is he obliged (farther than may serve the ends of his Providence) to put a stop to the Progress of Sin and Wickedness.  
But to speak more directly to the Objection itself; there is no doubt but the Will of Man is subject to the sovereign Will of God; otherwise God must have made a Creature that he was not able to govern, which is utterly inconsistent with the natural Notions of an infinitely wise Creator and Governnour. But therefore the proper question is, whether it becomes so wise a Creator and Governor to overrule the Will of his Creatures, after he has put them upon an easy Trial of Obedience to him, at least in the same act on which the grand Issue of the Trial depends? or, since God had given our first Parents a Liberty of Choice, whether it was suitable to his infinite Wisdom to hinder them by his irresistible Power from choosing and eating the forbidden Fruit? Now the Resolution of this question is not hard, if we consider,  
1. That God being infinitely wise, could not possibly lose an opportunity to do that, which was most agreeable to his infinite Wisdom and Goodness: and therefore since he did not hinder our Fall, when he did not want power to do it, the Event undeniably proves that he did not esteem it fit or prudential to interpose his irresistible power, and by it to save us from the Gild and Misery which he saw us drawing upon ourselves. There is nothing surer than that God, who looks through all the Natures, and comprehends all the Reasons of Things, has always some wise and unanswerable Reasons for every thing he does, or does not do, or permits the doing of by others in the World; and then I am sure nothing can be more reasonable than for us to acquiesce in all his Permissions, as well as in all the Disposals of his Providence, and not think ourselves wise enough to mend the Wisdom and Rectitude of them. A wise and good Man wants no Argument to convince him that any thing is wise or just, so far as infinite Wisdom is concerned in the Doing or Permission of it.  
2. That the great Beauty and Wisdom of Providence, and the most natural and equitable Rule of Government consists in governing the several Orders of Being's, according to their respective Natures; and then to rule a free Agent by mere Force and Compulsion, to give Man a Liberty of Choice, and not permit the exercise of it, must needs derogate from the Wisdom and Beauty of his Providence: because this is to govern his Creature contrary to the Nature he himself had given him, i.e. contrary to the natural and most equitable Rule of Government. For why were we made free, if our Creator did not intent to leave us to our Choice? Is any Man the better for being forced to do a good Action, or violently restrained from a bad? A forced Obedience can never deserve a Reward, or improve the least habit of Virtue or Goodness in us; both which depend upon the free and ingenuous Motions of the Will, exerting its own Liberty, and following the Light of Reason and Revelation, which is the true and only Perfection of it. Now, if a forced Obedience could be no real Advantage to us, than it could not be expected from the Goodness of God that he should have overruled the Will, and suppressed the noblest Principle he had planted in the Mind of Man, only to extort a thankless Obedience from him. But you will say, might not this have prevented his Fall? I answer, Man had certainly sinned, if he had not freely performed that easy and reasonable Obedience his Maker required of him: and if he had, there would have been no occasion of God's overruling his Will; and therefore there can be no Reason to object against his not doing of it. But suppose at last, that God had done this, and that Man had been under a Necessity of being innocent, (or rather of not sinning) there could then have been no such thing as true Virtue and Obedience in the best Estate that ever the World was in; which is such a character of the Paradisiacal State, and the Wisdom of the Divine Government, as can never be reconciled to the essential Properties of either.  
3. Lastly, It is a palpable Contradiction to the Divine Perfections to suppose, that the Goodness of God should oblige him to act contrary to the Rules of his Wisdom; or that God should abridge our first Parents of the Liberty of tasting the forbidden Fruit, upon the Penalty of Death, on purpose to prove their Obedience to him, and while they stood upon their Trial, render it utterly useless by his own Act, i.e. by determining their Wills contrary to the Freedom and Inclination of them.  

To Conclude.  
There is one Meditation which methinks should be sufficient of its self to revive the Spirits, and dispel the Doubts and Fears of all disconsolate Christians, concerning the Creation of Men and Angels, and the Carriage of the Divine Providence towards them; viz. that there is an innumerable Company of blessed Angels and Saints in Heaven continually adoring the glorious Constellation of Divine Attributes, admiring and celebrating, in joyful Hymns and Anthems, the indissoluble Union and harmonious Consistency of them; while we  Mortals, dwelling in a dark and pensive Vale, under the Clouds of Melancholy and Ignorance, are apt to fancy an unnatural War and Incongruity between them, and vainly disquiet and perplex ourselves about them. In Heaven we know there is and must be a right and perfect Understanding between all the blessed Inhabitants of that holy Place; and that there (as one that had been there tells us) we shall know as we are known; 
1 Cor. 13.12.  and the mean while we may comfort ourselves with this, that the excellent Spirits above do all find their Happiness in God's infinite Goodness to them, and are able to answer all Objections that we, or any of his Creatures, are able to frame against it.  
FINIS.    

Some Books printed for B. Aylmer.  
THirty Nine Sermons upon the Fifth Chapter of St. Matthew; being part of Christ's Sermon on the Mount. By Anthony Horneck, D. D. late Preacher at the Savoy. To which is prefixed his Life, writ by the Bishop of Bath and Wells: In two Vol. in 8vo.  
The Council of Trent no Free Assembly: more fully discovered by a Collection of Letters and Papers of the learned Dr. Vargas, and other great Ministers, who assisted at the said Synod in considerable Posts. Published from the Original Manuscripts in Spanish, which were procured by the Right Honourable Sir William Trumballs Grandfather, Envoy at Brussels in the Reign of King James the First. With an Introductory Discourse concerning Councils, showing how they were brought under Bondage to the Pope. By Michael Geddes, L. L. D. and Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of Sarum. In 8vo.  
A brief State of the Socinian Controversy, concerning a Trinity in Unity. By Jsaac Barrow, D. D. late Master of Trinity College in Cambridge. In 24 ' s. Price two Pence stitched.