fometimes, for wife ends and reafons, fee it fit to leave good men to their own frailty, and to faint and fall fhamefully under fufferings, fo as to renounce and deny the truth; fometimes to punish their vain confidence in themselves, as in the cafe of Peter, who declared more refolution, and bore it out with a greater confidence than any of the difciples, when he faid to our Saviour, though all men forfake thee, yet will not I; and yet after this he fell more fhamefully than any of the reft, fo as to deny his master with horrid oaths and imprecations, and this, though our Saviour had prayed particularly for him, that his faith might not fail. From which inftance we may learn, that God doth not engage himself absolutely to fecure good men from falling, in cafe of a great temptation and trial; but if they be fincere, he will not permit them to fall finally, though he may fuffer them to mifcarry grievously for a time, to convince them of the vanity of their confidence in them-felves and their own ftrength.

Sometimes God may fuffer good men to fall, in order to their more glorious recovery, and the greater demonstration and triumph of their faith and conftancy afterwards, which was the cafe of that happy inftrument of our reformation here in England, Archbishop Cranmer, who after he had been fo great a champion of the reformation, was fo overcome with fear, upon the apprehenfion of his approaching fufferings, as to fubfcribe thofe errors of the church of Rome, which he had fo ftoutly oppofed a great part of his life But he did not long continue in this ftate, but by the grace of God, which had not forfaken him, was brought to repentance; and when he came to fuffer, gave fuch a teftimony of it, and of his faith, and conftancy, as was more glorious, and more to the confirmation of the faith of others, than a fimple martyrdom could have been, if he had, not fallen; for when he was brought to the take, he put his right hand (with which he had figned the recantation) into the fire, and with an undaunted conftancy held it there, till it was quite burnt, for a teftimony of his true repentance for that foul mifcar

riage; and when he had done, gave the rest of his body to be burnt, which he endured with great courage and chearfulness to the laft. So that he made all the amends poffible for fo great a fault, and the goodnefs of God, and the power of his grace was more glorified in his repentance and recovery than if he had never fallen.

But what fhall we fay, when, notwithstanding these promises of extraordinary comfort and fupport, in cafe of extraordinary fufferings, fo great numbers are feen to faint in the day of trial, and to fall off from their ftedfaftnefs; of which there were many fad inftances among the primitive Chriftians, and have likewife been of late in our own times, and in places nearer to us? This I confefs is a very melancholy confideration, but yet, I think, is capable of a fufficient answer.

And first of all, let this be established for a firm and undoubted principle, that God is faithful to his promife; and therefore we ought much rather to fuppofe in all thefe cafes, that there is fome default on our part, than any failure and unfaithfulness on God's part. Thus St. Paul determines in a like cafe, when the promife of God feemed not to be made good to the Jews, he lays the blame of it on their unbelief, but acquits God of any unfaithfulness in his promile, Rom. iii. 3. 4. For what if some did not believe, hall their unbelief make the faith (or fidelity) of God without effect? God forbid: Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar. This I confefs does not anfwer the difficulty; but yet it ought to incline and difpofe us to interpret what can fairly be offered for the removal of it, with all the favour that may be on God's fide. I fay then,

Secondly, That when good men fall in cafe of extraordinary temptation, and recover again by repentance, and give greater demonftration afterwards of their conftancy and refolution, in the cause of God and his truth, the faithfulness of God in his promifes is fufficiently vindicated, as in the cafes I mentioned; because the promife of God is not abfolute, that good men fhall be preferved from falling; but that

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the temptation fhall have a happy iffue, and that they fhall not finally miscarry. For promifes of this nature are to be interpreted by us, and understood as we do our Saviour's prayer for Peter before his fall, that his faith fhould not fail finally; but though he fell through too much confidence in himfelf, he fhould through the grace of God affifting him be enabled to recover by repentance.

Thirdly, The fincerity or infincerity of men in the profeffion of the true religion, is a thing which we cannot certainly know, becaufe we do not fee into mens hearts; but he who knows the heart, and tries the Spirits of men in a balance, cannot be deceived in this matter; and where men are not fincere, the promife of God is not concerned to hinder them from difcovering themselves; and the fall of fuch perfons is no reflexion upon the faithfulness of God. And it is reafonable enough to prefume, that this may be the cafe of not a few, and that (like Simon Magus) after they have made a very folemn profeffion of Chriftianity, their hearts may not be right in the fight of God.

Fourthly, If we put the cafe at the hardeft, that fome that were very fincere, after they had held out a great while, under the extremity of torments, have at last fainted under them, and yielded to the malice and cruelty of their perfecutors, and in this amazement and distraction have not long after expired, without any teftimony of their repentance: In this cafe, both reafon and charity ought to reftrain us from paffing any very pofitive and fevere fentence upon the ftate of fuch perfons. For what do we know but God, whofe goodnefs will certainly make all the allowanceto human frailty that reafon can require; (for he knows whereof we are made, and remembers that we are but duft; he mercifully confiders every man's cafe, and weighs all the circumftances of in an exact balance;) I fay, who can tell, but that in fuch a cafe as I have mentioned, God may graciously be pleafed to accept fuch a degree of conftant fuffering of great torments for fo long a time, for a true mar tyrdom, and not expect a more than human patience

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and refolution, where he is not pleased to afford more than human ftrength and fupport; and whether he may not look upon their failing and mifcarriage at laft, in the fame rank with the indeliberate actions of men in a frenzy, and besides themselves? And thus God may be faid with the temptation to make a way to escape, or to give a happy iffue to it; fince they were enabled to bear it, till being distracted by their torments, their understandings were thrown off the hinges, and incapable of exercifing any deliberate acts of reafon. And without fome fuch equitable confideration of the cafe of fuch perfons, it will be very hard to reconcile fome appearances of things with the goodness of God, and the faithfulnefs of his promife.

However, it will become us to abstain from all uncharitablenefs and peremptory cenfure of the final estate of such perfons, especially till we ourselves have given greater and better teftimony of our conftancy; and in the mean time, to leave them to the righteous and merciful fentence of their mafter and ours, to whofe judgment we must all stand or fall.

I am fure, it will very ill become thofe, who by the providence of God have efcaped thofe fufferings, and are at prefent out of danger themselves, to fit in judgment upon those who are left to endure this terrible conflict, and have perhaps held out as long, or longer, than they themselves would have done in the like circumftances. Let us rather earnestly beg of the God of all grace and patience, that he would endue us with a greater measure of patience and conftancy, if he fee fit to call us to the exercise of it, and (which we lawfully may, after the example of our bleffed Saviour) that if it be his will, he would let this cup pafs from us, and not try us with the like fufferings, left we also be weary and faint in our minds. I come now to the

III. And laft enquiry which I proposed; What ground and reafon there is, for good men to expect the more peculiar and efpecial care of God's providence in cafe of fuch fufferings.

The providence of God extends to all his creatures,

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according to that of the Pfalmift, the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. But he exercifeth a more particular providence-towards mankind; and more peculiar yet towards thofe who ftudy to please him, by obeying his laws and doing his will. He that is affured of his own heart, that he loves God, and would do or fuffer any thing for him, can have no cause to doubt but that God loves him, and is concerned for his happiness. No man was ever afraid of God, that was not confcious to himself that he had offended him, and by the will ful breach of his laws had put himself out of the careof his providence. But on the contrary, if our hearts give us this teftimony, that we have made it our fincere endeavour to please him, we are naturally apt to have good affurance and confidence of his favour and good-will towards us. This comfort the mind of every good man is apt to give him, from his own reason, and the natural notions which he hath of God.

But to free us from all doubt in this matter, God himself hath told us fo, and given us plentiful affurance of it in his word, Pfal. xi. 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, his countenance doth behold the upright; that is, he will be favourable unto them. Pfal. xxxiii. 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him; upon them that hope in his mercy. The eye of God fignifies his watchful care and providence over good men. So that befides the fure and well-grounded reafonings, from the essential perfections of the divine nature, the mercy and goodness of God; we have a more fure word of promife, in the exprefs declarations of God's word, and more particularly in the cafe of great temptations and fufferings. For can we think, that the fcripture saith in vain, Wait on the Lord, and be of good courage, and he shall ftrengthen thine heart? Many are the affictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of all? The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his ways; though he fall, he shall not utterly be caft down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand? The falvation of the righteous cometh of the Lord, he is their help in time

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