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A77614	Precious remedies against Satans devices or, salve for believers and unbelievers sores. Being a companion for those that are in Christ, or out of Christ; that are high, or low, learned, or illiterate, staggering, or wandering; that slight, or neglect ordinances, under a pretence of living above them; that are growing (in spiritualls) or decaying; that are tempted, or deserted, afflicted, or opposed; that have assurance, or that want assurance; that are self-seekers, or the common-wealths caterpillars; that are in love sweetly united, or that yet have their spirits too much imbittered, &c. By Thomas Brookes, a willing servant unto God, and the faith of his people, in the glorious gospel of Christ, at Margarets fish-street hill.	Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.	1658 (1658)	Wing B4954; Thomason E1426_1	231,671	413

those that are drawn from the consideration of the great and glorious things that Christ hath done for you and if such arguments will not take yee and win upon yee I do● think the throwing of hell fire in your faces will never do it The third Remedie against this device 3. Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that those precious souls which Jesus Christ The Saints Motto in all ages hath been Laboremus let 's be doing hath done and suffered as much for as he hath for you have been exceeding active and lively in all religious services and heavenly performances he did as much and suffered as much for David God loves curristas not quaristas the runner not the questioner or disputer saith Luther a● for you and yet who more in praying and praysing God then David seven times a day will I praise the Lord who more in the studying and meditating on the word then David Thy law is my meditation day and night The same truth you may run and read in Jacob Moses Job Daniel and in the rest of the holy Prophets and Apostles for whom Christ hath done as much for as for you ah how have all those Worthies abounded in works of righteousnesse and holinesse to the praise of free grace Certainly Satan hath got the upper hand of those souls that do argue thus The day is at hand when God will require of men non quid legerint sed quid egerint nec quid dixerint sed quomodo vixerin● He that talks of heaven but doth not the will of God is like him that gazed upon the Moon but fell into the pit Christ hath done such and such glorious things for us therefore wee need not make any care or conscience of d●ing such and such religious services as men say the word calls for if this Logick be not from Hell what is ah were the holy Prophets and Apostles alive to heare such Logick come out of the mouths of such as professe themselves to be interested in the great and glorious things that Jesus Christ hath done for his chosen ones how would they blush to look upon such souls and how would their hearts grieve and break within them to heare the language and to observe the actings of such soules The fourth Remedy against this device 4. Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider this that those that doe not walk in ways of righteousnesse and holines that do not wait upon God in the several duties and services that are commanded by him cannot have that evidence to their own soules of their righteousnesse before God of their fellowship and communion Certainly 't is one thing to judg by our graces another thing to rest or put our trust in them There is a great deal of difference betwixt declaring and deserving on with God of their blessednesse here and their happinesse hereafter as those soules have that love and delight in the wayes of the Lord that are always best when they are most in the works and service of the Lord. Little children saith the Apostle let no man deceive you he that doth righteousnesse is righteous even as he is righteous In this saith the same Apostle the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devill whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God neither hee As Davids daughters were known by their garments of divers colours so are Gods children by their piety and sanctity that loveth not his brother If ye know that he is righteous saith the same Apostle ye know that every one that doth righteousnes● is born of him He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandements is a lyer and the truth is not in him But who soever keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him He that saith he abideth in him ought himselfe also to walke even as he A Christians embleme should be an house walking towards Heaven High words surely make a man neither holy nor just but a vertuous life a circumspect walking makes him deare to God A tree that is not fruitful is for the fire Christianity is not a talking but a walking with God who will not be put off with words if he misse of fruit he will take up his axe and then the soul is cut off for ever walked If wee say that we have fellowship with him and walk i● darknesse we lie and doe not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light wee have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin saith the same Apostle So James in his second chapter What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have no workes can faith save him i. e. it cannot for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead To looke after holy and heavenly works is the best way to preserve the soule from being deceived and deluded by Satans delusions and by sudden flashes of joy and comfort holy works being a more sensible and constant pledge of the precious spirit begetting and maintaining in the soule more solid pure clear strong and lasting joy Ah souls as you would have in your selves a constant and blessed evidence of your fellowship with the Father and the Sonne and of the truth of grace and of your future happinesse look that you cleave close to holy services and that you turne not your backs upon religious duties The fifth Remedy against this device 5 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that 'T is a precious truth never to be forgotten Quod non actibus sed finibus pensantur officia that duties are esteemed not by their acts but by their ends there are other choice and glorious ends for the Saints performance of religious duties then for the justifying of their persons before God or for their satisfying of the Law or justice of God or for the purchasing of the pardon of sin c. viz. to testifie their justification a good tree cannot but bring forth good fruit to testifie their love to God and their sincere obedience to th● commands of God to testifie their deliverance from spirituall bondage to evidence the indwellings Finis move● ad agendum the end moves to doing of the spirit to stop the mouths of the worst of men and to glad those righteous souls that God would not have sadded These and abundance of other choise ends there be why those that have an interest in the glorious doings of Christ should notwithstanding that keep close to the holy duties and religious services that are commanded Tene mensuram respice sinem keep thy selfe within compasse and have an eye always to the end of thy life and actions was Maximimilians the Emperours Motto by Christ And if these considerations will not prevail with you to wait upon God in

and companions with thee hast thou not often purposed promised vowed and resolved to enter upon the Repentanceis a work that must be timely done or men are utterly undone for ever Aut poenitendum aut pereundum practice of repentance but to this day couldest never attain it Surely 't is in vain to strive against the streame where it is so impossible to overcome thou art lost and cast for ever to hell thou must to hell thou shalt ah souls he that now tempts you to sin by suggesting to you the easinesse of repentance will at last to work you to despaire present repentance as the hardest work in all the world and a work as far above man as Heaven is above Hell as light is above darknesse Oh! that you were wise to break off your sins by timely repentance Now the seventh Device that Satan 7 Device hath to draw the soul to sin is by making the soul bold to venture upon the occasions of sin Saith Satan you may walk by the Harlots door though you won't goe into the Harlots bed you may sit and sip with the drunkard tho you won't be drunk with the drunkard you may look upon Jezabels beauty and you may play and toy with Daliloh though you doe not commit wickednesse with the one or the other you may with Achan handle the golden wedge though you doe not steale the golden wedge c. Now the Remedies against this Device are these that follow THe first Remedy is solemnly to 1 Remedy dwell upon those Scriptures that doe expressly command us to avoid the occasions of sin and the least appearance of evill 1 Thess 5. 22. Abstaine from all Epiphanius saith that in the old Law when any dead body was carried by any house they were injoyn'd to shut their doors and windows appearance of evill whatsoever is heterodox unsound and unsavory shun it as you would doe a Serpent in your way or poyson in your meats Theodosius tare the Arrians Arguments presented to him in writing because he found them repugnant to the Scriptures and Augustine retracted even Ironies onely because they had the appearance of lying When God had commanded the Jewes to abstain from Swines flesh they would not so much as name it but in their common talk would call a Sow another thing To abstain from all appearance of evill is to doe nothing wherein sin appears or which hath a shadow of sin Bernard glosseth finely Quicquid est male celoratū Whatever is of an ill shew or of ill report that he may neither wound conscience nor credit we must shun and be shie of the very shew and shadow of sinne if either we tender our credit abroad or our comfort at home It was good counsell that Livia gave her Husband Socrates speaketh of two young men that flung away their belts when being in an Idols Temple the lustrating water fell upon them detesting saith the Historian the garment sported by the flesh Augustus it behoveth thee not onely not to doe wrong but not to seeeme to doe so c. So Jude 23. v. And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh 'T is a phrase taken from legall uncleanesse which was contracted by touching the houses the vessells the garments of uncleane persons Under the Law men might not touch a menstrous cloath nor God would not accept of a spotted peace-offering So we must not onely hate and avoid grosse sins but every thing that may carry a savor or susprition of sin we must abhor the very signes and tokens of sin so in Proverbs 5. ver 8. Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the doore of her house He that would not be burnt must dread the fire Hee that would not heare the bell must not meddle with the rope To venture upon the occasion of sin and then to pray lead us not into One said as oft as I have been among vaine men I returned home lesse a man then I was before temptation is all one as to thrust thy finger into the fire and then to pray that it might not be burnt So in the 4. Prov. 14. 15. you have another command Enter not in the path of the wicked and goe not in the way of evell men avoid it and passe not by it turne from it and passe away This triple gradation of Solomon sheweth with a great Emphasie how necessary it is for men to flee from all appearance of sin as the Sea-man shuns sands and shelves and as men shun those that have the plague-sores running upon them as weeds doe endanger the corne as bad humor● doe endanger the bloud or as an infected house doth indanger the neighbourhood so doth the company of the bad endanger those that are good intirenesse with wicked conforts is one of the strongest chaines of hell and bindes us to a participation both of sin and punishment The second Remedie against this device 2 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that ordinarily there is no conquest over sin without the soule turnes from the occasion of sin 't is impossible for that man to get the conquest of sin that playes and sports with the occasions of sin God will not remove the tentation except The Fable saith that the Butterflie asked the Owle how he should deale with the fire which had singed her wings who counsel'd her not to behold so much as its smoak we turne from the occasion It is a just and righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit that will adventure to dance upon the brink of the pit and that he should be a slave to sin that will not flee from the occasions of sin As long as there is fuell in our hearts for a temptation we cannot be secure he that hath gun-powder about him had need keep far enough off from sparkles to rush upon the occasions of sin is both to tempt our selves and to tempt Satan to tempt our souls 't is very rare that any soule playes with occasions of sin but that soul is insnar'd by sin 't is seldome that God keeps that soul from the acts of sin that will not keep off from the occasions of sin he that adventures upon the occasions of sin is as he that would quench the fire with Oyle which is a fuell to maintaine it and increase it Ah souls often remember how frequently you have been overcome by sin when you have boldly gon upon the occasions of sin look back souls to the days of your vanity wherein you have been as easily conquered as tempted vanquished as assaulted when you have played with the occasions of sin and therefore as you would for the future be kept from the acting of sin and be made victorious over sin oh flee from the occasions of sin The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider

that he might be cast down would be set higher then others when 't is but in order to his being brought downe lower then others There is not a wicked man in the world that is set up with Lucifer as high as Heaven but shall with Lucifer be brought down as low as Hell Canst thou think seriously of this oh soul and not say O Lord I humbly crave that thou wilt let me be little in this world that I may be great in another world and low here that I may be high for ever hereafter Let me be low and feed low and live low so I may live with thee for ever let me now be cloathed with rags so thou wilt cloath me at last with thy Robes let me now be set upon a dunghill so I may at last be advanc'd to sit with the● upon thy Throne Lord make me rather gracious then great inwardly holy then outwardly happy and rather turn me into my first nothing yea make me worse then nothing rather then set me up for a time that thou mayest bring me low for ever The seventh Remedy against this Device 7 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that God doth often most plague and punish those whom others think he doth most spare and love that is God do's plague and punish them most with spirituall judgements which are the greatest the sorest and the heaviest whom he least punishes with temporall punishments there are no men on earth Psal 81. 12. Psal 78. 26 27 28 29 30 31. Psal 106. 15. He gave them their request but sent leannesse into their soule 'T is a heavy plague to have a fat body and a lean soul a house full of gold and a heart full of sin so internally plagued as those that meet with least externall plagues Oh! the blindnesse of mind the hardnesse of heart the searednesse of Conscience that those souls are given up to who in the eye of the world are reputed the most happy men because they are not outwardly afflicted and plagued as other men Ah souls 't were better that all the temporall plagues that ever befell the children of men since the fall of Adam should at once meet upon your souls then that you should be given up to the least spirituall plague to the least measure of spirituall blindnesse or spirituall hardnesse of heart c. nothing will better that man nor move that man that is given up to spirituall judgements let God smile or frowne stroke or strike cut or kill he minds it 'T is better to have a sore then a seared conscience 'T is better to have no heart then a hard heart no mind then a blind mind not he regards it not let life or death heaven or hell be set before him it stirs him not he is made up on his sin and God is fully set to doe Justice upon his soule this mans preservation is but a reservation unto a greater condemnation This man can set no bounds to himselfe he is become a brat of fathomlesse perdition He hath guilt in his bosome and vengeance at his back where-ever he goes neither ministry nor misery neither miracle nor mercy can mollifie his heart and if this soul be not in hell on this side hell who is who is 8 Remedy The eigth Remedy against this Device of Satan is to dwell more upon that strict account that vain men must make for all that good that they doe injoy In this day men shall give an account De bonis commissis de bonis dimissis de malis commissis de malis permissis of good things committed unto them of good things neglected by them of evils committed by them and of evills suffered by them then upon the outward good they doe injoy Ah! did men dwell more upon that account that they must ere long give for all the mercies that they have injoyed and for all the favours that they have abused and for all the sins they have committed would make their hearts to tremble and their lips to quiver rottennesse to enter into their bones it would cause their soules to cry out and say oh that our mercies had been fewer and lesser that our account might have been easier and our torment and misery for our abuse of so great mercy not greater then we are able to bear O cursed be the day wherein the Crown of honour was set upon our heads and the treasures of this world were cast into our laps O cursed be the day wherein the sun of prosperity shin'd so strong upon us and this flattering world smil'd so much upon us as to occasion us to forget God to slight Jesus Christ to neglect our souls and to put far from us the day of our account Philip the third of Spaine whose life was free from grosse evills professed that he would rather loose all his Kingdome then offend God willingly yet being in the Agony of death and considering more throughly of his In die judicii plus valebit conscientia pura quam marsupia plena Bernard Then shall a good conscience be more worth then all the worlds good account he was to give to God feare struck into him and these words brake from him Oh! would to God I had never reigned oh that those years I have spent in my Kingdome I had lived a life in the wildernesse oh that I had lived a solitary life with God! how much more securely should I now have dyed how much more confidently should I have gone to the Throne of God What doth all my glory profit me but that I have so much the more torment in my death God keeps an exact account of every penny that 's laid out upon him and his and that is laid out against him and his and this in the day of account men shall know and feel though now they wink and Hierome still thought that that voyce was in his ears Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Arise you dead and come to judgement As oft as I think on that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart within me tremble will not understand The sleeping of vengeance causeth the overflowing of sin and the overflow of sin causeth the awaking of vengeance abused mercy will certainly turn into fury Gods forbearance is no quittance the day is at hand when he will pay wicked men for the abuse of new and old mercies if he seem to be slow yet he is sure he hath leaden heels but iron hands the farther he fetcheth his blow or draweth his arrow the deeper he will wound in the day of vengeance Mens actions are all in print in heaven and God will in the day of account read them aloud in the ears of all the world that they may all say amen to that righteous sentence that he shall passe upon all the despisers and abusers of mercy The ninth Device that Satan hath to 9 Device draw the soule to sin

doth with her beautifull colours so astonish and amaze them that they have no power to passe away till she have stung them Ah! how many thousands are there now on earth that have found this true by experience that have spun a faire thread to strangle themselves both temporally and eternally by being bewitch't by the beautie and braverie of this enticeing world The fift Remedy against this Device of 5. Remedie Satan is to consider that all the felicity of this world is mixt our light is mixt with darknesse our joy with sorrow our pleasures with paine our honour with dishonour our riches with wants If our fight be spirituall cleare and quick we may see in the felicity of this world our wine mixt with water our honey with gall our sugar with wormewood and our roses with prickles Sorrow attends worldy joy Harke scholar said the Harlot to Apuleius 't is but a bitter sweet that you are so fond off Surely all the things of this world are but bitter sweets danger attends worldly safety losse attends worldly labours teares attend worldly purposes As to these things mens hopes are vaine their sorrow certaine and joy fained The Apostle calleth this world a sea of glasse a sea for the troubles of it and glasse for the brittlenesse and bitternesse of it The honors profits pleasures and delights of this world are true gardens of Adonis where we can gather nothing but triviall flowers surrounded with many bryers The sixt Remedy against this Device 6. Remedy of Satan is to get better acquaintance and better assurance of more blessed and glorious things That Let Heaven be a mans object and earth will soone be his abject which raised up their spirits in the t●nth and 11th of the Hebrews to tr●mple upon all the beautie bravery and glory of the world was their acquaintance with and assurance of better and more durable things They tooke joyfully the spoyling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in Heaven a better and a more durable substance They Luther being at one time in some wants it happened that a good sum of money was unexpectedly sent him by a Noble man of Germany at which being something amazed he said I seare that God will give me my reward here but I protest I will not be so satisfied look't for a house that had foundations whose builder and maker was God And they look't for another Country even an heavenly They saw him that was invisible and had an eye to the recompence of reward And this made them count all the glory and bravery of this world to be poore and contemptible for them to set their hearts upon The maine reason why men dote upon the world and damne their soules to get the world is because they are not acquainted with a greater glory Men ate Acorns till they were acquainted with the use of wheat Ah! were men more acquainted with what union and communion with God means what 't is to have a new name and a new stone that none knowes but he that hath it did they but taste more of Heaven and live more in Heaven and had more glorious hopes of going to Heaven ah how easily would they have the Moone under their feet It was an excellent saying of Lewis of Bavyer Emperour of Germany * Hujusmodi comparandae sunt opes quae cum naufragio simul enatent such goods are worth getting and owning as will not sinke or wash away if a shipwrack happen but will wade and swim out with us It is recorded of Lazarus that after his resurrection from the dead he was never seen to laugh his thoughts and affections were so fixt in Heaven though his bodie was on earth and therefore he could not but slight temporall things There is saith Augustine bona Throni goods of the throne and there are bona Scabelli goods of the foote-stool his heart being so bent and set upon eternalls There are goods of the throne of grace as God Christ the Spirit Adoption Justification remission of sin peace with God and peace with Conscience and there are goods of the foot-stoole as honours riches the favour of creatures and other comforts and accommodations of this life Now he that hath acquaintance with and assurance of the goods of the Throne will easily trample upon the goods of the foot-stoole Ah! that you would make it your businesse your worke to mind more and make sure more to your owne soules the great When Basil was tempted with money and preferment saith he give me money that may last for ever and glory that may eternally flourish for the fashion of this world passeth away as the waters of a river that runs by a City things of eternity that will yeeld you joy in life and peace in death and a Crown of Righteousnesse in the day of Christs appearing And that will lifte up your soules above all the beauty and bravery of this bewitching world that will raise your feet above other mens heads When a man comes to be assured of a Crown a Scepter the Royall Robes c. he then begins to have low mean and contemptible thoughts of those things that before he highly prized so will assurance of more great and glorious things breed in the soule a holy scorn and contempt of all these poore meane things which the soule before did value above God Christ and Heaven c. The seventh Remedie against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider 7 Remedie that true hahpinesse and satisfaction is not to be had in the injoyment of any worldly good true happinesse is too big and too glorious a thing to be True happinesse lies only in our injoyment of a suitable good a pure good a totall good an eternall good and God is onely such a good and such a good can only satisfie the soul of man found in any thing below that God who is a Christians summum bonum chiefest good The blessed Angells those glistering Courtiers have all felicities and blessednesses and yet they have neither gold nor silver nor jewels nor none of the beauty and bravery of this world certainly if happinesse was to be found in these things the Lord Jesus who is the right and Royall Heir of all things would have exchanged his cradle for a Crown his Birthcham-ber a stable for a Royall Palace his poverty for plenty his despised followers for shining Courtiers and his meane provisions for the choisest delicates c. Certainly happiness lies not in those things that a man Philosophers could say that hee was never a happy man that might afterwards become miserable may injoy and yet be miserable for ever now a man may be great gracelesse with Pharaoh honourable and damnable with Saul rich and miserable with Dives c. therefore happiness lies not in these things Certainly happinesse lies not in those things that cannot comfort a man upon a dying

thousand worlds Ah! if the vailes be thus sweet and glorious before pay-day comes what will be that glory that Christ will crown his Saints with for cleaving to his service in the face of all difficulties When he shall say to his father Loe here am I and the children which thou hast given me if there be so much to be had in a wildernesse what then shall be had in Paradise c. The fourth Device that Satan 4 Device hath to keep soules off from holy exercises from religious services is BY working them to make false inferences from those blessed and glorious things that Christ hath done As that Jesus Christ hath done all for us therefore there is nothing for us to doe but to joy and rejoyce he hath perfectly justified us and fulfilled the Law and satisfied divine Justice and pacified his Fathers wrath and is gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us and in the mean time to intercede for us and therefore away with praying and mourning and hearing c. Ah! what a world of Professors hath Satan drawn in these dayes from religious services by working them to make such sad wilde and strange inferences from the sweet and excellent things that the Lord Jesus hath done for his beloved ones Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this device 1. Remedie of Satan is to dwell as much on those Scriptures that shew you the duties and services that Christ requires of you as upon those Scriptures that declare Tertullian hath this expression of the fulnesse of the Scriptures Adoro plenitudinem Scripturarum I adore the fulnesse of the Scripture Gregory calls the Scripture cor animam Dei the heart soule of God and who will not then dwell on it to you the precious and glorious things that Christ hath done for you 'T is a sad and a dangerous thing to have two eyes to behold our dignity and priviledges and not one eye to see our duties and services I should look with one eye upon the choise and excellent things that Christ hath done for me to raise up my heart to love Christ with the purest love and to joy in Christ with the strongest joy and to lift up Christ above all who hath made himself to be my all And I should look with the other eye upon those services and duties that the Scriptures require of those for whom Christ hath done such blessed things as upon that of the Apostle What know yee not that your body 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your owne For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods And that 1 Cor. 15. 58. therefore my beloved brethren be yee stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord knowing that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. And that And let us not be weary in well doing for in due Gal. 6. 9. 2. season we shall reape if we faint not And that of the Apostle rejoyce alwayes and pray without ceasing and that in the Philippians Worke out your salvation with Phil. 2 12 13 1 Cor. 11. 26. Heb 10. 24 25. feare and trembling and that This doe till I come and that Let us consider one another to provoke one another to love and to good workes not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the mannor of some The Jews were much in turning over the leaves of the Scripture but they did not weigh the matter of them John 5. 39. You search the Scripture Gr. there seemeth to be indicative rather then imperative is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching Now a soule that would not be drawn away by this device of Satan hee must not look with a squint eye upon these blessed Scriptures and abundance more of like import but he must dwell upon them he must make these Scriptures to be his chiefest and his choisest companions and this will be a happy meanes to keep him close to Christ and his service in these times wherein many turn their backs upon Christ under pretence of being highly interested in the great and glorious things that have been acted by Christ c. The second Remedie against this Device 2. Remedie of Satan is to consider that the great and glorious things that Jesus Christ hath done and is a doing for us should be so far from taking us off from religious services and pious performances that they should be the greatest motives and encouragements to the performance of them that may be as the Scriptures do abundantly evidence I 1 Pet. 2. 9. Luke 1. 74 75. This I am sure of that all mans happines here is his holinesse and his holinesse shall hereafter be his happiness Christ hath therefore broke the Devils yoke from off our necks that his Father might have better service from our hearts 2 Cor. 6. 6. 17 18. ch 7. 1. compared will only instance in some as that That we being delivered out of the hands of our Enemies might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our lives Christ hath freed you from all your Enemies from the curse of the Law the predominant damnatory power of sin the wrath of God the sting of death and the torments of hell but what is the end and design of Christ in doing these great and marvellous things for his people 't is not that they should throw off duties of righteousnesse and holinesse but that their hearts may be the more free and sweet in all holy duties and heavenly services So the Apostle I will be their God and they shall be my people And I will be a Father unto you and yee shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty mark what follows Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of the Lord. And againe The grace of God that Yit 2. 11 12 13 14. bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men Teaching us that denying all ungodlinsse and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious Tace lingua loquere vita talk not of a good life but let thy life speak Your actions in passi●g pass not away for every good work is a grain of seed for eternall life appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave him selfe for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes Ah soules I know no such arguments to worke you to a lively and constant performance of all heavenly services like

are seemingly for God anon they are openly against God now you shall have them crying Hosanna in the highest and anon crucicifie him crucifie him now you shall have them build with the Saints and anon you shall have them plotting the overthrow of the Saints as those selfe-seekers did in Ezra and Nehemiah's time Self-seekers are the basest of all persons there is no service so base so poor so low but they will bow to it They cannot look neither above nor beyond their owne lusts and the enjoyment Rom. 1. 25. of the creature these are the prime and ultimate objects of their intendments 'T is said of Tiberius that whilst Augustus rul'd he was no wayes tainted in his reputation and that whilst Drusus and Germanicus were alive hee feigned those vertues which hee had not to maintain a good opinion of himselfe in the hearts of the people but after hee had got himself out of the reach of contradiction and controulment there was no fact in which he was not faulty no crime to which he was not accessary My prayer shall be that Tiberius his spirit may not be found in any of our Rulers left it prove their ruine as it did his and that where ever it is it may be detected loathed and ejected that so neither the State nor soules may be ruin'd by it c. The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to dwell upon those dreadfull curses and woes that are from heaven denounced against selfe-seekers Woe unto them that joyne Isa 5. 8. house to house that lay field to field till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth So Habakkuk Hab. 6. 9 10 11 12. Crassus a very rich Roman and a great self-seeker for greedy desire of Gold he managed war against the Parthians by whom both he 30000. Romans were slain and because the Barbarians conjectured that he made this assault upon them for their gold therfore they melted gold poured it into his dead body saying satura de auro satisfie thy selfe with gold Isa 15. 1 2. Wo to him that increaseth that which is not his and to him that ladeth himselfe with thick clay Woe to him that coveteth an evill covetousnesse to his house that hee may set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of evill Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people and hast sinned against thy soule For the stone shall cry out of the wall and the beame out of the timber shall answer it Woe to him that buildeth a Towne with blood and stablisheth a City by iniquity The materialls of the house built up by oppression shall come as joynt-witnesses The stones of the wall shall cry Lord we were built up by blood and violence and the beam shall answer True Lord even so it is The stones shall cry vengeance Lord upon these self-seekers and the beame shall answer wo to him because he built his house with blood So Isaiah Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousnesse which they have prescribed To turne aside the needy from judgement and to take away the right from the poore of my people that widdowes may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherlesse So Amos Wo Amos 6. 1. 7. unto them that are at ease in Zion and trust in the mountaine of Samaria which are named chiefe of the Nations to whom the house of Israel came That put far away the evill day and cause the seate of violence to come neer That lie upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches and eate the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the stall That drinke wine in bowles and annoint themselves with the chiefe oyntments but they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph So Micah woe to them that devise iniquity Mica 2. 1 2. Tacitus the Roman Emperours word was fibi bonus aliis malus he that is too much for himselfe failes to be good to others and worke evill upon their beds when the morning is light they practise it because it is in the power of their hand And they covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away so they oppresse a man and his house even a man and his heritage By these Scriptures you see that selfe-seekers labour like a woman in travell but their birth proves their death their pleasure their paine their comfort their torment their glory their shame their exaltation their desolation Losse disgrace trouble and shame vexation and confusion will be the certaine portion of selfe-seekers When the Tartarians had taken in battell the Duke of Muscovia they made a cup of his skull with this inscription All covet all loose The fourth Remedie against this device 4 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that self-seekers are selfe-loosers and Adam seeks himselfe and looses himself Paradise and that blessed Image that God had ●amp't upon him Lot seeks himself Gen. 13. 10 ●● and looses himself and ●is goods c. Peter seeks to save himselfe and miserably loose himself Hezekiah in the businesse of the Ambassadours seeks himself and looses himself and his life too had not God saved him by a Miracle self-destroyers Absolom and Judas seek themselves and hang themselves Saul seeks himself and kills himself Ahab seeks himself and looses himselfe his Crown and Kingdome Pharaoh seeks himself and overthrows himselfe and his mighty Army in the red sea Cain sought himselfe and slew two at once his brother and his own soul Gehazi sought change of rayment but God changed his rayment into a leprous skin Haman sought himself and lost himselfe The Princes and the Presidents sought themselves in the ruine of Daniel but ruin'd themselves their wives and children That which selfe-seekers think should be a staffe to support them becomes by the hand of Justice an iron rod to break them that which they would have as springs to refresh them becomes a gulf utterly to consume them the crosses of selfe-seekers shall alwayes exceed their mercies their paine their pleasure their torments their comforts every selfe-seeker is a selfe-tormenter a selfe-destroyer he carries a hell an executioner in his own bosome c. The fifth Remedy against this Device 5 Remedy of Satan is to dwell much upon the famous examples of those worthy Saints that have denyed themselves and prefer'd the publick good before their owne particular advantage As Moses And the Lord said unto Moses let me alone that I may destroye them and blot out their name from under Heaven and I will make of thee a Nation mig●●ter and greater then they oh but this offer would not 'T is good to be of his opinion mind who was rather willing to beautifie Italy then his own house take with Moses he being a man of a