A second volume of discourses or sermons on several scriptures

and therefore, when he permits, nay, when Providence accomplisheth it, still is he holy, just, and good, still is he righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, though he works that together with Men, that makes them unrighteous and unholy; this I thought fit to premise, that so when you hear how many ways God is able to hinder the commission of sin by his Providence, you should not suffer any undue thoughts to rise up in your hearts against his Holiness; when he chooseth sometimes rather to permit and concur to the sins of Men, than to hinder and forbid them, who when he permits sin permits it righteously, and when he hinders sin, hinders it almightily: Now there are four remarkable ways, whereby the All-wise Providence of God hinders the commission of a sin, even then, when Men are most bent and eager upon it.

and therefore, when he permits, nay, when Providence accomplisheth it, still is he holy, just, and good, still is he righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works, though he works that together with Men, that makes them unrighteous and unholy; this I thought fit to premise, that so when you hear how many ways God is able to hinder the commission of sin by his Providence, you should not suffer any undue thoughts to rise up in your hearts against his Holiness; when he chuseth sometimes rather to permit and concur to the sins of Men, than to hinder and forbid them, who when he permits sin permits it righteously, and when he hinders sin, hinders it almightily: Now there are four remarkable ways, whereby the All-wise Providence of God hinders the commission of a sin, even then, when Men are most bent and eager upon it.

¹First, Sometimes where his Grace doth not sanctify the heart, his Providence shortens the life of the Sinner; where he doth not cleanse the Fountain, yet there he removes the Foundation of a Sin, ⟨p. 267⟩that is, he takes away the very life and being of the Sinner; many times when wicked Men have imagined some presumptuous sin, and go big with it, God suddenly cuts them off from the Land of the Living, and gives them no space to bring it forth, unless it be in Hell among these Devils that inspired it;