will shorten its duration^ If he do not see fit in any of
these ways to lighten the temptation, he will proportion their strength to their trials, so that, if there be not a way to escape, they at least " may be able to bear them." This he effects sometimes by communicating more abundant grace^, and sometimes by filling them with the consolations ^ of his Spirit, and giving them near prospects of the glory that awaits them''. Thus will he " keep them by his 'power unto everlasting sal- vation."]
2. His faithfulness —
[No man, however eminent, could stand, if left to him- self: Satan would sift us as wheat, and scatter us as chaff' ; but God has promised that " he will keep the feet of his saints ;" that " sin shall not have dominion over them ; " that " none shall pluck them out of his hands ;" that " the gates of hell shall not prevail against them." " Nor shall one jot or tittle of his word ever fail :" " He is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent." He has ex- hausted all the powers of language in labouring to persuade us of this truth, that he will never forsake his people'^; and they may safely rest on him " with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."]
Address —
1. Those who are conflicting with temptation —
[What a blessed promise is that before us! What can God himself say more for your encouragement? Dry up your tears : know that " as your day is, so shall also your strength be :" " there are more for you than against you :" trust there- fore in Him who " knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation," and " is able both to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy^" But do not say, " God will keep me, and therefore I will rush into temptation :" such an abuse of his mercy as this would surely bring with it the most tremendous evils. We are to trust God when in trouble ; but not to tempt God by exposing ourselves to danger without a cause.]
2. Those who are yielding to temptation —
[The generality complain, " That they cannot resist temptation," and yet they venture continually into those very
' Ps. cxxv. 3. and Isai. Ivii. IG. •" 2 Cor. xii. 9.
« 2 Cor. i. 4, ;'). '' 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17. Rom. viii. 18.
' Luke xxii. 31.
'' Ht'b. xiii. 5. Here are no less than five negatives in the Greek. 1 2 Pet. ii. 9. and Jude, ver. 21.