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SERMON XIV.

JAMES i. 13.

Let no Man fay, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with Evil, neither tempteth he any Man.

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HAT which I defign to treat upon from this Text is this; How far God is concerned in the Temptations to Sin which happen to Mankind. To which I fhall, without any further Preface, apply myself, and have four Things to offer, or four Propofitions to lay down about this Point, which will take in all that is needful for the explaining the Doctrine of St. James in my Text, of God's tempting no Man, and reconciling it with other Scriptures, where it is faid that God doth tempt Men; and alfo afford us ufeful Matter for practical Application.

I. The first Propofition I lay down about God tempting Men, is this:

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If we take Temptation for the making of a Trial of Mens inward Qualities and Difpofitions, (as the Word is fometimes taken in that Latitude) then it is tain that God doth tempt Men. For he often so dispenseth his Providence towards them, and puts them into those Circumftances, rather than others, on purpose to prove the Frame and Temper of their Minds, how they ftand to him. What I now say is perfectly the Language of Scripture, as to this Matter. There we meet with two Sorts of Temptations, wherewith God is faid to tempt his Servants; the one by Words, the other by Deeds. Of the former Kind we have but one Inftance, but it is a remarkable one; and that is God's tempting of Abraham, by laying a Command upon him to offer up his only Son in Sacrifice to him. Thus Gen. xxii. 1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, faying, Take now thy Son, thine only Son Ifaac, and get thee into the Land of Moriah, and offer him there for a Burnt-offering upon one of the Mountains that I fhall fhew thee. Now what End this Temptation was for (or at least one of the Ends) appears by the 12th Verse, where, after Abraham had put all things in Readi

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nefs towards the fulfilling of God's Command, he tells him, Now I know, fays he, that thou fearest God, fince thou hast not with-held thy Son, thine only Son from me. Here was a strange Trial of Abraham's Obedience; he is commanded by God to do that which God himself had no Mind fhould be done, as the Event fhewed. But this was an Inftance of God's Temptation, which ftands alone by itfelf, and there is nothing like it in the whole Scripture. And it may be queftioned, whether any Man in the World, befides Abraham, was ever thus tempted.

And as for the other Way of tempting Men, viz. by his Dealings with them, or by the Difpenfations of his Providence towards them, there are abundance of Instances to be given of it in Scripture. Thus Deut. S. 2. Mofes tells the Children of Ifrael, that all his Dealings with them in the Wilderness for forty Years, was for the tempting of them, to know what was in their Hearts, and whether they would keep his Commandments or no. And in Exodus, when the People were in a great Confternation at the Thundring and Lightnings, and other Manifeftations of God's Prefence, which they had heard and feen in the Mount, Mofes faith Exod. 20. unto them, Fear not, for God is come to tempt you, and that his Fear may be before your Face, that ye fin not. And lastly, to

20.

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name no more Texts, when Mofes had told the People of the arifing of false Prophets among them, that would endeavour to feduce them to Idolatry, by the Means of the great Signs and Wonders that they would work for the Confirmation of their wicked Doctrines; yet for all that, faith he, Thou shalt not hearken unto the Words Deut.13.3 of thofe Prophets, for the Lord your God doth hereby tempt you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and with all your

Soul.

In fome of these Texts our English Tranf lation reads proving inftead of tempting. But the Original Word is the fame in all; and it is the Word which, when it is referr'd to other Perfons befides God, is always render'd tempting. It is certain then, that God in his Providence doth frequently tempt Men; that is to fay, puts them into this or the other Condition, or fuffers this or the other Event to fall upon them, for the trying of their Virtue, for the proving their Fidelity, and Patience, and Courage, and Conftancy, and the like.

And this it is fit we should all seriously reflect upon, and apply to ourselves, especially when any unusual extraordinary Event of Divine Providence, whether good or bad, is difpenfed to us. For even the happy, profperous Circumftances of our Lives (as we account them) may be many times ordered in the way of Temptation to

us,

us, that is, for the Trial of our Virtue and Adherence to God. But the bad are certainly Temptations, and accordingly have that Name, in the Scriptures. Thus in the 2d Verfe of that very Chapter where my Text is, Count it all Joy, fays the Apostle, when ye fall into divers Temptations, viz. Afflictions, knowing that the Trial of your Faith worketh Patience. And again, 1 Pet. vi. 7. Te are now in Heaviness through manifold Temptations, that the Trial of your Faith may be found to Praife, and Honour, and Glory, in the Day when Jefus Chrift fball be revealed.

This is the Scripture Account of these Matters. But here a Queftion may arife. You fay that God, in these Difpenfations of his Providence, makes Trial or Experiment whether Men be good or bad. But to what Purpose is this? God knows that beforehand. He knows certainly not only what every Man can do, but what every Man will do, when he is placed in fuch and fuch Circumftances. And therefore to talk of trying or proving Mens Virtue, by thefe Methods, feems a needlefs Thing.

To this I anfwer, that it is true God knows fo well what is in Man, that he needs not make any Experiment upon him for the fatisfying himself about his Behaviour in any Contingency. And therefore it is certain, that thefe Trials, Proofs, or Experiments (as the Scripture calls them)

are