irregular Presumption He retorts Christs Argument back again upon him thus If God is to be relyed upon by a certain trust for Food by the like trust he is to be relyed upon for Preservation if the belief of supply of Bread can consist with a neglect or refusal of ordinary means for the procurement thereof then may the belief of Preservation in casting thy self from the Pinacle of the Temple consist also with a neglect of the ordinary Means Thus like a cunning Sophister he endeavours to conclude Sin from Duty from a seeming parity betwixt them though indeed the cases were vastly different For though it be duty to depend upon Providence when God in the pursuit of Service and Duty brings us out of the sight and hopes of outward means yet it can be no less than sinful Presumption for us to make such Experiments of Providences when we need not and when ordinary means are at hand After the same manner doth he endeavour to put Fallacies upon us and to cheat us into Presumptuous undertakings by arguing from a necessary trust in some cases a necessity of presuming in others upon a seeming likeness and proportion Secondly It was no small piece of Satan's craft to take this advantage while the Impression of Trust in the want of outward means was warm upon the Heart of Christ he hoped thereby the more easily to draw him to an excess For he knows that a Zealous earnestness to avoid a Sin and to keep to a Duty doth often too much incline us to an extream and he well hoped that when Christ had declared himself so positively to depend upon God he might have prevailed to have stretched that dependance beyond its due bounds taking the opportunity of his sway that way which as a Ship before Wind and Tide might soon be overdriven And this was the design of his Haste in this second Temptation because he would strike while the Iron was hot and closely pursue his advantage while the strength and forwardness of these resolves were upon him Thirdly He endeavours to animate him to this Presumption by popular Applause and to tickle him into an humour of affecting the Glory and Admiration which by such a strange undertaking might be raised in the minds of the Spectators and therefore did he bring him to the most conspicuous place of a great and populous City not thinking the matter so feasible if he had tempted him to it in a solitary Desert Fourthly He propounds to him a plausible End and a seeming advantage viz. the clear and undoubted discovery of his Divine Nature and near Interest in God urging this as a necessary Duty for his own satisfaction and the manifestation of his Son-ship to others Fifthly To drive out of his Mind those fears of miscarrying in his attempt which otherwise might have been a Block in his way he is officious in strengthning his confidence by propounding treacherous helps and preservatives suggesting a safety to him from the Priviledg of the place where this was to be acted an Holy City and Temple producing more of a Divine Presence for his safety than other places Sixthly To make all sure he backs all this with a Promise of Preservation that nothing might be wanting to his Security By this Method applyed to other things and Cases he endeavours to bring us to Presumption The consideration of this should put us upon a special care and watchfulness against Presumption It is more designed and hath a greater prevalency than Men are aware off Two things I shall only at present propound for our Preservation out of Psal 19. 12 13. First He that would be kept from Presumptuous Sins must make Conscience of Secret Sins to search for them to mortify them to beg pardon for them With what Face or Hope can we expect from God help against these when we provoke him to leave us to our selves by indulging our selves in the other Secondly He that would avoid them must be under the awe and fear of being overcome by them he that slights and contemns such visible hazards shall not long be innocent David here first shews his Conscience to be concerned with Secret Sins and then begs to be kept from Presumptuous Sins and by such earnest begging he next shews how much he dreaded such miscarriages CHAP. XV. Self-Murther another of his Designs in this Temptation How he tempts to Self-murther directly and upon what advantage he urgeth it How he tempts to it indirectly and the ways thereof Of necessary Preservatives against this Temptation WE have seen and considered the main End of Satan in this Temptation Let us further consider whether this was the sole End that he propounded to himself we have little reason to think that he would confine himself to one when the thing it self doth so clearly suggest another which might possibly have followed In most cases the Ends of the Devil are manyfold we may therefore easily suppose and several have noted it that the Devil that great Murtherer had herein a secret design against the Life of Christ and that he tempted him here indirectly to Self-Murther And indeed supposing that Christ had attempted to fly in the Air and had failed in the Interprise what else could have followed but Death and Ruine Hence let us Note That Satan seeks the ruine of our Bodies as well as of our Souls and tempts Men often to Self-Murther That the Devil goes about seeking how he may destroy Men by putting them upon attempts against their own Lives is evident not only from the Experience and Confessions of such as have suffered under Satan's suggestions to that End and it is a Temptation more common than we think off because most Men are unwilling to lay open themselves to others in this matter but also from those many sad Instances of Men over whom Satan so far prevails that they execute upon themselves this design by destroying themselves Yet by the way we may note That such thoughts are often in the minds of Men where Satan is not industriously designing their destruction for he often casts in such thoughts not only to try how Men take with them but to affright and disquiet them and 't is usually with Men of sad and Melancholly tempers to mistake their own fears of such a Temptation for Satan's endeavours against them when indeed their fear and trouble lest they should be so tempted makes them think they are tempted indeed Satan drives on the Design of Self-Murther two ways First directly when in plain terms he urgeth Men to destroy themselves This because 't is directly repugnant to the Law of Nature which vehemently urgeth them to Self-Preservation he cannot effect but by the help of some advantages yet some ways and methods by experience he hath found to be so available to such an unnatural resolve that he frequently puts them in practice As first He works upon the Discontents of Men and improves the disquiet of their
dashed out his Brains and yet this Man was moved to attempt his destruction upon the same general Principles by which Cato destroyed himself Fourthly 'T is also sufficiently known that Satan by the force of Custome in several Countries doth as it were necessitate Men to cut off their own Lives in some barbarous Places at the death of the Husband the Wife in a brutal Affection of the praise of Love and Loyalty casts her self to be devoured by the same Flame in which the dead Body of her Husband is consumed And there are found in other places customs of self-destruction for the avoiding the tedious inconveniencies of old age where 't is usual for old Persons with Joy to prepare their own Funeral Pile and to make a quick dispatch of their Lives and rather to die at once than by peece-meal as Seneca expresseth it Calanus an Indian Philosopher being Dysenterical obtained leave of Alexander to burn himself for more quick dispatch Fifthly There is yet another way by which Men are tempted sometime though rarely to hasten themselves out of the World and that is by a pretence of an earnest and impatient desire of Happiness to come That longings for such enjoyments do become the best of Saints and is indeed their Excellency cannot be denyed but to make such a preposterous haste must be a cheat of Satan That there is a possibility of this may appear in the Story of Cleombrotus mentioned also by Augustine who reading Plato's Phaedo of the Immortality of the Soul that he might hasten thither threw himself Head-long from a Wall and dyed Now though it be hard to find such an Instance among Christians yet we have reason to believe that where Satan perceives such a Temptation may take place he will not be wanting in the prosecution And if me may conjecture Augustines thoughts by that question which he propounds viz. Whether it be lawful for a Man to kill himself for the avoiding of Sin which he solidly confutes We may conclude that such thoughts were the usual Temptations of good Men in his time and the rather because in the close of that Chapter he applyes that discourse particularly to the Servants of Christ that they should not think their Lives a Burthen Secondly Satan promotes the design of Self-Murther not only Directly as we have heard but also by some Indirect ways he undermines the Life of Man That is when he doth not formally say to them destroy your selves but tempts them to such things as he knows will let in Death upon them This way of subtil Malice I shall explain under these heads First Upon highest pretexts of Zeal for God's Glory he sometimes lays a Snare for our Lives I cannot believe but Satan had a Hand in that forwardness of Ancient Christians who by an open Profession of their Faith before persecuting Judicatures did as it were Court a Martyrdom And I have the same perswasion of the painful earnestness of many Holy Preachers who lavish out their Strength in a Prodigality of Pains for the Good of Souls which like a Theif in the Candle wasts them immediately whereas a better husbanded Strength might be truely more advantagious as continuing the Light the longer and yet so sincere are their ends so pleasant is their work that they seldom observe as they ought that Satan when he can do no better is glad of the opportunity to destroy them with their own Weapon and therefore in this case they may expect he will do all he can to heighten and forward their Zeal not only by adding all the Fewel he can to their inward propensity of laboriousness but also by outward encouragement of the declared Acceptations and Expectations of their Hearers Secondly Upon baser pretences of the full enjoyment of sensual Pleasures and carnal Delights he doth unawares push Men forward to Death and Dangers Thus the Voluptuous the Glutton the Drunkard dig their own Graves and invite Death to cut them off before they have lived out half their time While Satan tempts Men to such excesses of Riot he labours not only the destruction of the Soul but also of the Body not only that they be miserable but that they may be so with all Expedition Thirdly Besides all these he hath other subtile ways of contriving the death of Men by putting them upon ways and actions that are attended with hazard Thus he sought the death of Christ not directly but indirectly by urging him to an action which he thought would unavoidably bring him to Death for a Fall from so great a Praecipice would easily have bereaved any Man of Life And sometimes when Men are besotted with Enthusiastical Delusions he can more easily beguile them with such Stratagems That Instance of Stuker is famous who cut off his Brothers Head upon a foolish perswasion that God would magnify his great Power in giving him Life again If Satan can befool such bewitched Slaves into such absurd and unreasonable apprehensions in regard of others what hinders but that he may so far impose upon them that they may be willing to practise upon themselves I remember something to this purpose of one whom the Devil had well-nigh prevailed with to make a hole in his Breast which of necessity must have let out his Life upon a pretended Promise of giving him Eternal Life and was accordingly forced to take up a Knife and to carry it to his Throat In Anno 1647. in York-shire a Company of People were seduced to sacrifice certain Creatures to God among the rest they Sacrificed their aged Mother perswading her she should rise the third day and for this they were Executed at York This may awaken all to be aware of this Temptation some are sadly concerned in it many are the complaints which some of us have met withal about it in private and the apprehensions of such hazards are sadly disquieting Through such fears thousands of God's dear Children have passed and many too many have been overcome by this Weapon those of us that have not yet known Temptations of this nature do not know how soon we may be assaulted in this kind 't is necessary for all to stand upon their Guard and for that end it behoves us to have at hand these defences against it First 'T is useful to consider that this is one of Satan's great Plots and when we meet with it cloathed with never so many pretexts enforced with never so many seeming necessities yet must we look upon it as the Counsel of an Enemy who certainly intends us no kindness let him pretend what he will and therefore may we be sure it will be our sad inconvenience and disadvantage Secondly It must be fixed in our minds that the thing in it self is an high Iniquity a most grievous Provocation no Instance of Self-Murther properly such can be met withal in Scripture as practised by any Holy Person the Command is directly against it Thou shalt
scandalous Iniquities Much of external Sanctity and Saint-like behaviour ariseth from hence the faces and presence of some Men have such a shining splendor that Iniquity blusheth and hideth its head before them Sin dare not do what it would so great a reverence and esteem of such persons is kept up in the consciences of some and so great an awe and fear is thence derived to others that they will not or dare not give way to an insolency in evil The Israelites were generally a wicked People yet such an awe they had of Joshua and the Elders that outlived Joshua who had seen all the great works of the Lord that Satan seemed to be cast out all their days Who could have thought Joash had been so much under Satan's power that had observed his ways all the time of Je oiada the Priest Then he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord Satan was content to let him alone because Jehoiada's life and authority did overawe him but after his death Satan returned to his Possession and the King hearkened to the Princes of Judah and served Groves and Idols The like is observed of Vzziah the reverence that he had for Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God discouraged the Tempter from soliciting him to those evils which afterward he engaged him in Satan is willing when he perceives the awe and authority of good Men stands in his way rather to suspend the prosecution of his design than by forcing it against so strong a current to hazard the Shipwrack of it Fifthly He also makes as if he were cast out when he perceives the consciences of Men are scared by threatned or felt judgments he forbears to urge them against the pricks when God draws his Sword and brings forth the glittering Spear Balaam's Ass would not run against the Angel that appeared terribly against him in his way The Devil knows the power of an awakened Conscience and sees it in vain to strive against such a stream and when it will be no better he withdraws As great a power as the Devil had in Ahab when he was affrighted and humbled he gave way and for that season drave him not on to his wonted practice of wickedness He also carried thus to the Ninevites when they were awaked by the preaching of Jonah then we see them a reforming People the Devil surceased to carry them into their former provocations How frequently is this seen among Professors where the Word hath a searching power and force upon them Sin is so curbed and kept under that 't is like a root of bitterness in Winter lying hid under ground Satan forbearing to act upon it or to improve it till the storms and noise of Judgments cease and then usually it will spring up and trouble them If Satan hath really lost his hold he ceaseth not to molest and vex even awakened consciences with urgent solicitations to Sin but if he perceive that his Interest in the hearts of Men remains sure to him and unshaken then in case of afrightment and fear of wrath 't is his policy to conceal himself and to dissemble a departure Sixthly Satan is also forced to this by the prevailing power of Knowledg and principles of Light where the Gospel in profession and preaching displays abroad his bright beams then whatever shift Men make to be wicked in secret yet the light is as the shadow of death to them and 't is even a shame to speak of these things in publick Here Satan cannot rage so freely but is put to his shifts and is forced to be silent whilst the power of the Gospel cuts off half his garments Men begin to reform some are clean escaped from errour 2 Pet. 2. 18. others abandon their filthy lusts and scandalous sins and so escape the pollutions of the World through the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ver 20. Yet under all these great alterations and appearances of amendment the Devil is but seemingly ejected for in the place mentioned when the Light declines those that were escaped from Errour and those that had fled from sinful Pollutions were both entangled again and carried to the same pitch and a great deal further of that Sin and Errour in which they had been formerly engaged These are the Six Cases in which Satan ceaseth the Prosecution of his Design which was his first Policy in feigning himself to be cast out but he further dissembles a flight when he thinks it not fit to cease wholly By abating his Pursuit by slacking his Course and this he doth First When he Tempts still but yet less than formerly so great is his cunning and patience that when he cannot get what he would have he contents himself with what he can get rather than lose all He desires that Men would give up themselves fully and freely to his service but if they like not this he is willing to take them as one speaks as retainers and to suffer them to take a liberty to come and go at pleasure He hath two main ends in tempting Men to Sin one is to avenge himself upon God in open defiance and dishonour of his Name the other is the ruine and perdition of Souls if he could he would have these two ends meet in every Temptation yet he pleaseth himself with the latter when he cannot help it and in that too he satisfies himself sometimes with as small an Interest as may be so that his Possession and Interest be but preserved He knows that one Sin loved and embraced brings Death for its Wages A leak unstopped and neglected may sink the Ship as well as a great Storm and therefore when he perceives the Consciences of Men shie and nice he is willing they come to him as Nicodemus came to Christ by night in private and that by stealth they do him service Secondly He sometimes offers Men a Composition and so keeps his hold privately by giving them an Indulgence and Tolleration to comply with Religious duties and observations Pharaoh condescended that Israel should go and serve the Lord in the Wilderness upon condition that their Wives Children and Substance were left behind so Satan saith to some Go and serve the Lord only let your heart be with me leave your Affections behind upon the World That serious warning of Christ Ye cannot serve two Masters ye cannot serve God and Mammon evidently shews that the Devil useth to conceal his Interest in the hearts of Sinners by offering such terms and that Men are so apt to think that Satan is gone out when they have shared the heart betwixt God and him that they stand in need of a full discovery of that Cheat and earnest caution against it the Devil was forced to yield that Herod should do many things at the Preaching of John yet he maintained his possession of his heart by fixing him in his resolved Lust in the matter of
delivered from their fears 5. They are also apt after ease of their troubles to have frequent returns What disposition all these things being considered can be more exactly shaped to serve Satans turn If he would have Men to believe the worst of themselves he hath such imaginations to work upon as are already misshapen into a deformity of evil surmising Would he terrifie by Fears or distress by Sadness he hath that already and 't is but altering the Object which oftentimes needs not for naturally the serious Melancholick imploys all his Griefs upon his supposed miserable estate of Soul and then he hath Spiritual distress Would he continue them long under their sorrows or take them upon all occasions at his pleasure or act them to a greater height than ordinary Still the Melancholick temper suits him This is sufficient for caution that we take special care of our Bodies for the preventing or abating of that Humour by all lawful means if we would not have the Devil to abuse us at his will 6. Sickness or Death-Bed is another solemn occasion which the Devil seldom misseth with his will Death is a serious thing it represents the Soul and Eternity to the Life While they are at a distance Men look slightly upon these but when they approach near to them Men usually have such a sight of them as they never had before We may truly call Sickness and Death-Bed an hour of Temptation which Satan will make use of with the more mischievous industry because he hath but a short time for it That 's the last Conflict and if he miss that we are beyond his reach for ever So that in this case Satan incourageth himself to the Battel with a now or never And hence we find that it is usual for the dying Servants of God to undergo most sharp Encounters then to tell them when the Soul is about to loose from the Body that they are yet in their Blood without God and Hope is enough to affright them into the extreamest Agonies for they see no time before them answerable to so great a work if it be yet to do And withal they are under vast discouragments from the weariness and pains of Sickness their understandings and faculties being also dull and stupified so that if at this last plunge God should not extraordinarily appear to rebuke Satan and to pluck them out of these great Waters as he often doth by the fuller interposition of the Light of his Face and the larger Testimony of his Spirit after their long and comfortable profession of their Faith and holy Walking their Light would be put out in Darkness and they would lie down in Sorrow Yet this I must note That as desirous as Satan is to improve this occasion he is often remarkably disappointed and that wherein he it may be and we would least expect I mean in regard of those who through a timerous Disposition or Melancholy or upon other Accounts are as I may so say all their life-time subject to Bondage those Men who are usually exercised with frequent fits of Spiritual Trouble when they come to Sickness Death-Bed and some other singular occasions of trouble though we might suspect their fears would then be working if ever Yet God out of gracious Indulgence to them considering their Mould and Fashion or because he would prevent their extream fainting c. doth meet them with larger Testimonies of his Favour higher Joys more confident satisfactions in his Love than ever they received at any time before and this to their wonder their high admiration making the times which they were wont to fear most to be times of greatest Consolation This Observation I have grounded not upon one or two Instances but could produce a cloud of Witnesses for it Enough it is to check our forward fears of a future evil day and to heal us of a sighing Distemper while we afflict our selves with such thoughts as these If I have so many fears in Health how shall I be able to go through the valley of the shadow of Death 4. I have one thing more to add for these discovery of these Spiritual Troubles and that is to shew you the Engines by which Satan works them and they are these two Sophistry and Fears 1. As to his Sophistry by which he argues the Children of God into a wrong apprehension of themselves it is very great He hath a wonderful dexterity in framing Arguments against their Peace he hath variety of shrewd Objections and subtile Answers to the usual Replies by which they seek to beat him off There is not a Fallacy by which a cunning Sophister would seek to entangle his Adversary in Disputation but Satan would make use of it as I might particularly shew you if it were proper for a common Auditory Though he hath so much impudence as not to blush at the most silly contemptible Reason that can be offered notwithstanding he hath also so much wit as to urge though never true yet always probable Arguments How much he can prevail upon the beliefs of Men in cases relating to their Souls may be conjectured by the success he hath upon the understandings of Men when he argues them into Errour and makes them believe a lye We usually say and that truly that Satan cannot in any case force us properly to consent yet considering the advantages which he takes and the ways he hath to prepare the Hearts of Men for his impressions and then his very great subtilty in disputing we may say that he can so order the matter that he will seldom miss of his aim It would be an endless work to gather up all the Arguments that Satan hath made use of to prove the Condition or State of God's Children to be bad But that I may not altogether disappoint your expectations in that thing I shall present to your view Satan's usual Topicks the Common-places or Heads unto which all his Arguments may be reduced And they are 1. Scripture abused and perverted His way is not only to suggest that they are Unregenerate or under an evil frame of Heart but to offer proof that these Accusations are true And because he haâ—h to do with them that profess a belief of Scriptures as the Oracles of God he will fetch his proofs from thence telling them that he will evidence what he saith from Scripture Thus sometimes he assaults the weaker unskilful sort of Christians Thou art not a Child of God for they that are so are Enlightned translated from Darkness they are the Children of the Light but thou art a poor ignorant dark blind Creature and therefore no Child of God Sometimes he labours to conclude the like from the Infirmities of God's Children abusing to this purpose that of 1 John 3. 9. He that is born of God doth not commit sin And He cannot sin because he is born of God Thus he urgeth it Can any thing be more plainly and fully asserted Is not this
temper and disposition of our heart As First When unusual Temptations intrude upon us with an high Impetuosity and Violence while our Thoughts are otherwise concerned and taken up Temptations more agreeable to our Inclination though suddenly arising from Objects and occasions presented and gradually proceeding after the manner of the working of natural Passions may throng in amidst other Thoughts or Actions that have no tendency that way and yet we cannot so clearly accuse Satan for them but when things that have not the encouragement of our Affections are by a sudden violence enforced upon us while we are otherwise concerned we may justly suspect Satan's hand to be in them Secondly While such things are born in upon us against the actual loathing strenuous reluctancy and high complainings of the Soul when the Mind is filled with horrour and the Body with trembling at the presence of such Thoughts Sins that owe their first original to our selves may indeed be resisted upon their first rising up in our Mind and though a Sanctified Heart doth truly loath them yet are they not without some lower degree of tickling delight upon the Affections for the Flesh in those cases presently riseth up with its lustings for the sinful Motion but when such unnatural Temptations are from Satan their first appearance to the mind is an horror without any sensible working of Inclination towards them and the greatness of the Soul 's disquiet doth shew that it hath met with that which the Affections look not on with any amicable compliance Thirdly Our Hearts may bring forth that which is unnatural in it self and may give rise to a Temptation that would be horrid to the thoughts of other men but that it should of its own accord without a Tempter on a sudden bring forth that which is directly contrary to its present Light Reason or Inclination As for a man to be haunted with thoughts of Atheism while he is under firm perswasions that there is a God or of Blasphemy while he is under designs of honouring him is as unimaginable as that our thoughts should of themselves contrive our Death while we are most Solicitous for our Life or that our thoughts should soberly tell us it is Night when we see the Sun shine Temptations that are contrary to the present state posture light and disposition of the Soul are Satans They are so unnatural as to its present frame that the production of them must be from some other agent Fourthly Much more evident is it that such proceed from Satan when they are of long continuance and constant Trouble when they so incessantly beat upon the Mind that it hath no rest from them and yet is under greivous perplexities and anxieties of mind about them The Consideration of this is of great use to those that suffer under the violent hurries of strange Temptations First In that sometime they can justly complain of the Affliction of such Temptation when they have no reason to charge it upon themselves as their Sin 'T is one thing to be tempted and another to Consent or Comply to be tempted and not to be brought into Temptation is not Evil. Satan only Barks when he Suggests but he then Bites and Wounds when he draws us to consent Secondly That not only the Sin but the Degree also by just Consequence is to be measured by the Consent of the Heart if we consent not the Sin is not ours and the less degree of consent we give the less is in the Sin MATTH 4. 2. And when he had Fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards an hungred CHAP. V. Of Christs Fast with the Design thereof Of Satans tempting in an Invisible way Of his incessant Importunities and how he flyes when resisted Of inward Temptations with outward Afflictions Several advantages Satan hath by tempting in Affliction I Am next to explain the Fast of Christ the End and Design whereof because 't is not expresly mentioned is variously conjectured Not to insist in this Discourse which is designed for Practice on the Controversy about the Quadragesimal Fast that which I shall first consider is the Opinion of Musculus who upon this ground that his Fast was not the Principal thing for which the Spirit led him into the Wilderness for he was led not to Fast but to be tempted thereupon concludes that his was only a consequent of his Solitary condition in the Wilderness and no other thing than what befel Moses and Elias who being engaged by God to attend him in such a Service where the ordinary means of the Support of life were wanting were therefore kept alive by him in an Extraordinary way without them thus he thinks the Fasting was not at least principally designed but that he being to undergo a Temptation in a desolate Wilderness where he had no Meat to Eat there God restrained his hunger so that he neither desired nor needed any If we acquiesce in this it will afford this Doctrine That when God leads forth his Children to such Services as shall unavoidably deprive them of the ordinary means of help or supply There God is engaged to give extraordinary Support and his People may expect it accordingly This is a great Truth in it self and a great and necessary Encouragement to all the Children of God that are called out to Straits But I shall not insist on this as the Genuine product of this Fast If we look further amongst Protestant Divines we shall observe it taken for granted that Christ fasted upon Design and this is generally reduced to those two heads First either for Instruction as to shew that he was God by Fasting so long and that under the trouble of molesting and disquieting Temptations whereas the Fasts of like date in Moses or Elias were accompanied with the quiet repose of their thoughts Or to shew that he was Man in that he really felt the natural infirmities of the humane nature in being hungry Or to teach us the usefulness of Fasting in the general when fit occasions invite us thereto Or Secondly For Confirmation of his Doctrine to put an Honour and Dignity upon his Employment as Elias Fasted at the restoring of Prophesy and at the reformation as Moses Fasted at the Writing of the Law So Christ began the Gospel of the Kingdom with fasting However that these things cannot be spoken against being Conclusions warrantably deduceable from this Act of Christs yet these seem not in my apprehension to come fully up to the proper end of this undertaking of his which seems not obscurely to be laid before us in that Passage of Luke 4. 2. being forty days tempted of the Devil and in those days he did eat nothing where we see that his being tempted forty days was the principal thing and that his Fasting had a plain reference and respect to his Temptation Thus far I suppose we may be secure that we have the design in the general that
did it will argue much for his Power if we can imagine as some do that they turned their Rods into real Serpents the Power is evident and there is this that favours that Opinion it is said They could not make Lice which seems to imply they really did the other things and it had been as easy to delude the Senses in the matter of Lice as in the Rods if it had been no more than a Delusion neither are some a-wanting to give a reason of such a Power viz. Serpents Lice c. being the Off-spring of Putrefaction by his dextrous application of the seminal Principles of things he might quickly produce them If we go lower and take up with the Opinion of those that think that they were neither meer Delusions nor yet true Serpents but real Bodies like Serpents though without life this will argue a very great Power Or if we suppose as some do that Satan took away the Rods and secretly conveyed Serpents in their stead or which is the lowest apprehension we can have that Pharaoh's sight was deceived The matter is still far from being contemptible for as much as we see the Spectators were not able to discern the Cheat. Thirdly The next Instance produceable for evidencing his Power is that of Apparitions It cannot be denyed but that the Fancy of melancholick or timerous Persons is fruitful enough to create a thousand Bugbears And also that the villany of some Persons hath been designedly imployed to deceive People with Mock-Apparitions of which abundance of Instances might be given from the knavery of the Papists discovered to the World beyond contradiction but all this will not conclude that there are no real Appearances of Spirit or Devils Such sad effects in all Ages there have been of these things that most Men will take it for an undenyable Truth Instead of others let the Apparition at Endor to Saul come to examination Some indeed will have us believe that all that was but a subtil Cheat managed by that Old Woman and that neither Samuel nor the Devil did appear but that the Woman in another Room by her self or with a Confederate gave the answer to Saul But whosoever shall read that Story and shall consider Saul's Bowing and Discourse and the Answers given must acknowledg that Saul thought at least he saw and spake with Samuel and indeed the whole Transaction is such that such a Cheat cannot be supposed Satisfying our selves then that there was an Apparition we must next enquire whether it was true Samuel or Satan it cannot be denyed but that many judg it was true Samuel but their Reasons are weak 1. That Proof from Ecclesiasticus 46. 23. is not Canonical with us 2. That he was called Samuel is of no force Scripture often gives names of things according to their appearances 3. That things future were foretold was but from conjecture in which Satan yet all things considered had good ground for his guessing 4. That the Name Jehovah is oft repeated signifies nothing the Devil is not so scarce of words Jesus I know saith that Spirit in the Acts. 5. That he reproved Sin in Saul is no more than what the Devil doth daily to afflicted Consciences in order to despair I must go then with those that believe this was Satan in Samuel's likeness 1. Because God refused to answer Saul by Prophets or Vrim And 't is too harsh to think he would send Samuel from the Dead and so answer him in an extraordinary way 2. This if it had been Samuel would have given too much countenance to Witchcraft contrary to that check to Ahaziah 2 King 1. 3. Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub 3. The prediction of Sauls Death though true for substance yet failed as to the exactness of time for the Battel was not fought the next day 4. The acknowledgment of the Witches Power Why hast thou disquieted me shews it could not be true Samuel the Power of Witchcraft not being able to reach Souls at rest with God 5. That Expression of Gods ascending out of the Earth is evidently suspicious The reality of Apparitions being thus established Satan's Power will be easily evinced from it To say nothing of the Bodies in which Spirits appear the haunting of Places and Persons and the other Effects done by such Appearances speak abundantly for it Fourthly The last Instance is of Possessions the reality of which can no way be questioned because the New Testament affords so much for it I shall only note some things as concerning this Head As First The multitudes of Men possessed scarce was there any thing in which Christ had more opportunities to shew his Authority than in casting out of Satan such Objects of Compassion he met with in every place Secondly The multitudes of Spirits in one Person is a consideration not to be passed by Thirdly These Persons were often strongly acted sometime with fierceness and rage Matth. 8. 28. some living without Cloaths and without House Luke 8. 27. some by an incredible strength breaking Chains and Fetters Mark 5. 3. Fourthly Some time the Possessed were sadly vexed and afflicted cast into the Fire and Water c. Fifthly Some were strengely influenced we read of one Acts 16. 16. that had a Spirit of Divination and told many things to come which we may suppose frequently came to pass else she could have brought no gain to her Master by South-saying Another we hear of whose Possession was with a Lunacy and had fits at certain times and seasons The Possessed Person with whom Mr. Rothwell discoursed within the memory of some living could play the Critick in the Hebrew Language Sixthly In some the Possession was so strong and so firmly seated that ordinary means and ways could not dispossess them This kind comes not out but by Prayer and Fasting Mat. 27. 21. which shews that all Possession was not of one kind and manner nor alike lyable to ejection To all these may be added Obsessions where the Devil afflicts the Bodies of Men disquiets them haunts them or strikes in with their melancholy temper and so annoys by hideous and black representations Thus was Saul vexed by an evil Spirit from the Lord which as most conceive was the Devil working in his melancholy Humor That the Devil should take possession of the Bodies of Men and thus act drive trouble and distress them so distort distend and rack their Members so seat himself in their Tongues and Minds that a Man cannot command his own Faculties and Powers but seems to be rather changed into the nature of a Devil than to retain any thing of a Man this shews a Power in him to be trembled at Satan's Power being thus explained and proved I shall next speak something of his Cruelty CHAP. VI. Of Satan's Cruelty Instances thereof in his dealing with wounded Spirits in ordinary Temptations of the
every petty occasion nay thou canst not so much as pray for Pardon Is not this not only a Heart that doth not but that cannot Repent Besides saith he thou knowest the secret thoughts that thy Heart is privy to do they not boyl up in thy Breast against God Art thou not ready to tax him for dealing thus with thee What is this untowardness but desperate obdurateness And if with all these there be blaspemous Injections then he tells him it is a clear case that he is judicially hardned in that he acts the part of the damned in Hell already By all or some of these Deceits the Devil doth often prevail so far with Men that they conclude their Heart to be so obstinate so stupid that 't is impossible that it should be ever mollified or brought into a penitential frame and consequently that there is no hope of their Salvation 3. There is but one thing more besides the occasions which he takes and the Arguments which he makes use of relating to Satan's method for the procurement of Spiritual Distresses and that is his endeavour to strengthen these Arguments by the increase of fears in their Hearts What Satan can do in raising up misgiving tormenting Fears hath been said and how serviceable this is to his design I shall shew in a few Particulars having only first noted this in the General That as his design in these Distresses is raised to express his utmost height of Malice against Men in pushing them forward to the greatest mischief by excluding them totally from the lowest degree of the hope of Happiness and by perswading them of the inevitable certainty of their eternal Misery So he doth endeavour by the strongest impressions of Fear to terrifie them to the utmost degree of affrightful Amazement and consequently the effects of that Fear are most powerful For 1. By this means the Spirits of Men are formed and moulded into a frame most suitable for the belief and entertainment of the most dismal impressions that Satan can put upon them For strong fears like Fire do assimulate every thing to their own nature making them naturally incline to receive the blackest the most disadvantagious interpretations of all things against themselves so that they have no capacity to put any other sense upon what lies in their way but the very worst hence are they possessed with no other thoughts but that they are remediless Wretches desperate Miscreants utterly forsaken of God They are brought into such a woful partiality against their own Peace that they cannot judg aright of any Accusation Plea or Argument that Satan brings for a proof of their Unhappiness but being fill'd with strong prejudices of Hell they think every Sophism a strong Argument every Supposition a Truth and every Accusation conclusive of no less than their Eternal Damnation Insomuch that their Fears do more to discomfit them than all Satan's Forces A dreadful sound being in their Ears their strength fails them at the appearance of any Opposition As when fear comes upon an Army they throw away their Weapons and by an easie Victory give their Backs sometimes to an inconsiderable Enemy 2. Men thus possessed with fear do not only receive into their own Bowels every Weapon which Satan directs on purpose to the wounding and slaying of their Hopes but by a strange kind of belief they imagine every thing to be the Sword of an Enemy All they hear or meet with turns into Poyson to them for they think every thing is against them Promises as well as Threatnings Mercies as well as Judgments and that by all these one as well as another God as with a Flaming Sword turning every way doth hinder their access to the Tree of Life Bilney the Martyr as Latimer in his Sermons reports of him after his denial of the Truth was under such horrours of Conscience that his Friends were forced to stay with him Night and Day No Comforts would serve If any comfortable place of Scripture was offered to him it was as if a Man should cut him through with a Sword Nothing did him good he thought that all Scriptures made against him and sounded to his Condemnation Neither is it so rare a thing for Fears to form the Imagination into such mishapen apprehensions as that we should think such Instances to be only singular and unusual but 't is a common effect of Terrour which few or none escape that are under Spiritual Distresses The blackness of their thoughts make the whole Scripture seem black to them The unfit medium through which they look doth discolour every Object So that the Book of Life as Mrs. Kath. Bretterge in the like case expressed her self concerning the Bible seems to be nothing else but a Book of Death to them 3. From hence it follows that no Counsel or Advice can take place with them Excessive Fears do remove their Souls so far from Peace that they will not believe there is any Hope for them though it be told them The most compassionate serious Admonitions of Friends the strongest Arguments against Despair the clearest discoveries of the Hopes that are before them c. effect but little while they are spoken it may be they seem to relieve them a little but the Comfort abides not with them 't is soon gone Though they cannot answer the Arguments brought for them yet they cannot believe them as if their Souls were now deprived of all power to believe any thing for their good Suitable to that Expression of Spira in answer to his Friends that laboured to comfort him I would believe Comfort but cannot I can believe nothing but what is contrary to my Comfort Nay when they are told that many others have been under the like dreadful apprehensions of everlasting Misery who have at last been Comforted and by manifold Experience we find that it is the greatest ease to distressed Souls to hear especially to speak with some that have been in the like case for this will oft administer some hope that they also may at last be comforted when the most comfortable Promises of the Scripture are a Terrour to them Yet this doth not effect the least ease for them sometimes because some are so wholly possessed with unalterable Prejudice against themselves that they think none are or ever were like them They compare themselves to Judas and Cain and think their Iniquity to be aggravated by many Circumstances far beyond the pitch of them Thus Spira judged of himself I tell you saith he my case is mine own 't is singular none like it 4. Though Fears make the Soul unactive to any thing of Comfort because they wholly destroy its inclination and alter its Byas to Hope yet on the contrary they make it very nimble and active to pursue the conclusions of Misery which they have helped to frame For the spring of all the faculties of the Soul are bent that way Hence it is that those who are possessed with these
two-edged Sword but when the Weapon is poysoned and Satan hath a way to do that then it burns making painful malignant Inflammations The Wrath of God expressed to the Conscience brings the greatest Terrour Who knows the power of thine Anger Psal 90. 11. It is impossible for the most trembling Conscience or most jealous Fears to go to the utmost bounds of it neither can we apprehend any Torture greater the Rack Tortures Fire Gibbets c. are all nothing to it Hence is it that those who were afraid of suffering for Truth when by this means they were brought under these Distresses could then be willing to suffer any Torment on the Body yea and heartily wish to suffer much more so that these Tortures might be ended Thus it was with Bainham Martyr who in the publick Congregation bewailed his Abjuration of the Truth and prayed all his Hearers rather to Die by and by than to do as he had done But that of Spira seems almost beyond belief thus speaks he to Vergerius If I could conceive but the least spark of Hope of a better Estate hereafter I would not refuse to endure the most heavy weight of the Wrath of that Great God yea for twenty thousand Years so that I might at length attain to the end of that Misery What dreadful Agonies were these that put him to these Wishes But 't is less wonder if you observe what Apprehensions he had of his present Trouble he judged it worse than Hell it self And if you would have a lively Exposition of David's expression The pains of Hell c. you may fetch it from this Instance My present Estate saith he I now account worse than if my Soul separated from my Body were with Judas and the rest of the Damned and therefore I desire rather to be there than thus to live in the Body So that if you imagine a Man crusht under the greatest weight wounded in the most tender parts and those Wounds provoked by the sharpest Corrosives his Bones all disjoynted and broken pined also with hunger and thirst and in that case put under the highest Tortures yet you have but a very shadow of Divine Wrath Add to all these according to Spira's wish twenty thousand Years of Hell it self yet all is nothing to that which a distressed Mind supposeth while the word Eternity presents the Soul with the total Sum of utmost Misery all at once Oh unexpressible burthen of a Distressed Mind Who can understand it truly but he that feels it How terribly is the Mind of Man shaken with Terrours as the Wilderness by a mighty Wind which not only produceth violent Motions but also hideous Noise Murmur and Howling 4. This burthen upon the Mind forceth the Tongue to vent its Sorrow in the saddest accent of most doleful Out-crys their whole language is Lamentation but when the pangs of their Agonies come upon them for their Distresses have their Fits then they speak in the bitterness of their Souls Oh! said Bainham I would not for all the Worlds good feel such an Hell in my Conscience again One formerly mentioned in these Distresses crys out Wo wo wo a woful a wretched a forsaken Woman It would surely have made a Man's Hair to stand upright for dread to have heard Spira roaring out that terrible Sentence How dreadful is it to fall into the hands of the Living God Or to have heard his Reply to him that told of his being at Venice O cursed Day saith he O cursed Day O that I had never gone thither would God I had then died c. The like Out-crys had David often Psal 22. 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my Roaring And Heman Psal 88. 14. Lord why castest thou off my Soul why hidest thou thy Face from me 'T is true David's and Heman's words have a better Complexion than those others last mentioned but their disquiet of Heart seems at sometimes to have urged their Expressions with impetuous violence as those Passages seem to say Psal 38. 8. I have Roared by reason of the disquietness of my Heart Psal 32. 3. My Bones waxed old through my Roaring all the Day long Job 3. 24. My Roarings are poured out like Water If their Lamentations were turned into Roarings and those Roarings were like the breaking in of a Flood and that Flood of so long continuance that it dried up the Marrow of the Bones we may safely imagine that they were not so much at leasure to order their words but that their Tongues might speak in that Dialect which is proper to Astonishment and Distress 5. Though the Mind be the principal seat of these Troubles yet the Body cannot be exempted from a Copartnership in these Sorrows Notwithstanding this is so far from abating the Trouble that it increaseth it by a Circulation The pains of the Body contracted by the trouble of the Mind are communicated again to the Fountain from whence they came and reciprocally augment the disquiet of the Mind The Body is weakned their strength poured out like Water they are withered like Grass pined as a Skin become as a Bottle in the smoak Thus David frequently complains Psal 22. 14. he describes himself as reduced to a Skeliton I am poured out like Water and all my Bones are out of joynt My Heart is like Wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels my strength is dried up like a Potsherd my tongue cleaveth to my Jaws and thou hast brought me to the dust of Death Neither is this his peculiar case but the common effect of Spiritual Distresses Psal 39. 11. When thou with Rebukes dost correct Man for Iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a Moth. 6. Being thus distressed for their Souls they cast off all care of their Bodies Estates Families and all their outward Concerns whatsoever And no wonder for being perswaded that they have made Shipwrack of their Souls they judg the rest are not worth the saving 7. Giving all for lost they usually cast about for some ease to their Minds by seeking after the lower degrees of Misery hearing or supposing that all are not tormented alike they endeavour to perswade themselves of a Cooler Hell This if they could reach it were but poor Comfort and little to their Satisfaction but as poor as it is it is usually denied to them for while they judg themselves to be the greatest Sinners they cannot but adjudg themselves to the greatest Torments And these Endeavours being frustrated they return back to themselves as now hopeless of the least case worse than before Now they fix themselves upon the deep contemplations of their Misery Oh think they how great had our Happiness been if we had been made Toads Serpents Worms or any thing but Men For then should we never have known this Vnhappiness and this begets a thousand vain wishes Oh that we had never been
do consent Satan cannot prevail Prayer will either make the Temptation give way or the Temptation will make Prayer give way but so long as we hold out with earnestness the Temptation cannot prevail Some further Object that the more they pray they are the worse and more infested by Satan than they were before they undertook that course It may be they may have more trouble from Satan David thought on God and his trouble was increased and no wonder Satan's spite and fury puts him upon giving greatest molestations to those of whom he despairs to subdue Secondly But though they may be more troubled yet they may be furthest from Conquest These disquiets are like the trouble of the working of Physick which at first taking may make a Man more sick and yet bring him nearer to a state of health and strength fear not then faint not resist faithfully and to the utmost and God shall bruise Satan under thy Feet shortly FINIS 2 Sam. 12. 31. The Text opened Vid. Leigh Crit. Sac. The Accuser of the brethren Rev. 12. 10. Gen. 3. 3. Job 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quia inordinatam excellentiam affectando ordinatam amiserunt ideo de aliorum excellentiâ— dolebat ad eam oppugnâ—ndam maliciâ—se ferebatur Am. med l. 1. c. 11. Esa 49. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ira brevis furor Vid. Pool Synop in loc 2 Pet. 2. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 104. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 1. 16. Quid inter se distant quatuor ista vocabula dicant qui possâ—nt si tamen possunt probare quae dicunt ego me ista ignorare confiteor Enchirid. ad Laurent c. 58. Instit l. 1. c. 4. §. 8. 1 Sam. 16. 14. 1 King 22. 21. Psal 78. 49. Zancheus Q. A. Acts 5. 3. Ephes 2. 2. 2 Tim. 2. 26. 2 Cor. 12. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrows Tract Sacr. l. 2. c. 8. § 3. Lib. 2. Enchir. c. 58. Panst Vol. 2. l. 9. c. 11. Sclater in loc Cal. Instit l. 1. c. 14. §. 8. Vid. Bayns on Ephes 6. 12. Baynes ibid. Calvin in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 6. 12. Gen. 2. 29. Hierozâ—oicon 1. Part. quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principaliter ad Diabolum referenda est calliditâ—s Cognitio Vespertina Matutina Barth Sybillae otium Theol. p. 361. Aug. in 3 Gen. civitat Dei lib. 11. c. 29. Dr. Jenison Height of Israels Idolatry p. 31. Ipsam creaturam melius ibi hoc est in Sapientia Dei tanquam in arte qua facta est quam in ea ipsa sciunt Aug. Civit. Dei Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quest 1. Answ 1. Heb. 4. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Answ 2. Matth. 12. 25. Dr. Jenison's height of Israels Idolatry p. 35. Vid. Goodwin Child of Light p. 65. Quest peregâ—iâ—â—tum p. 392. Daemones cognoscunt cogitationes nostras quantum ad subjectum objectum affectum non aâ—utem quantum ad sinem Sciunt quid cogitamus sed ignorant ad quem finem deprehendas animit tormenta latentis ex aegrotorum faciâ— Saepe tacens vocem verbaque vultus habet Quest 2. Answ 1. Conclusion 2. Conclusion Invictus etis Alexander Plutarch in vit Alexandri Non non supeâ—aiâ—t Gailus 〈…〉 nunquam per bella 〈◊〉 Scot. discovery of Witchcraft l. 6. c. 1. Antiq. l. 4. c. 8. * Medeides Herbae mistaque cum magicis mersa venena sonis Ovid Art Amandi l. 2. Has Herbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena Ipsa dedit Maeris his ego saepe lupum fieri se condere Sylvis Maeâ—im saepe animas â—imis exire Sepulchris Virg. â—ccl 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philtrum Magicas Actiones quae in imaginibus caracteribus certis verbis ac similibus consistunâ— significat Unde pharmaceutria appellatur Idyllium Secund. Theoâ—iti Eccleg â— Virgilii Antiquos etiam vocabulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro omni veneficii genere quo vel hominibus vel jumentis vel frâ—giâ—us seu carmine seu aliis modis nocetur accâ—yere manifeste patet ex Platone lib. 10. de Legibus Et apud Aristot Hist Animal cap. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nominantur Et Apocal c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro praeâ—tigii impostura sumitur Dan. Sennert Tom. 3. lib. 6. Part. 9. Cap. 2. Fulâ—er Pisg Sight lib. 4. c. 7. p. 128. Maâ—men vid. Pool in loc Godwin Jews Antiq. l. 4. c. 10. Pool in loc Witchcraft reckoned as distinct from Murther in Gal. 5. 20 21. Scot. Witchcraft l. 6. c. 2. Hobs Leviath c. 2. p. 7. Teneson Hobs Creed Exam. Art 4. p. 63. Baxâ—er Sin against the Holy Ghost p. 83. J. Glanvil Considerations of Witchcraft p. 6. Teneson against Hobs Art 4. p. 59. Vid. Epist D Balthasaris â—an M. D. in calce Tom. 3. oper Dan. Sennerâ—i de foemina â—ascinata in cujis cuâ—e literae N. B. notae Crucis 〈◊〉 capite ad câ—lcem cum Astronomicorum Chymicorum caracteribus Rosae figura in dextra trisolii in sinistrâ artiâ—icioâ—è picta cum Anuo Christi 1635. cor Servatoris telis transfixum imago stulti cum verbo Germanico Naâ—r procumbebant Dr. More Mr. Baxter ut supra Dan. Sennertus Tom. 3. Lib. 6. Pars 9. Varias historias enumerat de morbis incantatione inductis Ex Jo. Langâ—o Alex. Benedicâ—o Cornel. Gemma Foresto aliis Helmont Magne◠〈…〉 §. 87. Dr. More Death consists not so much in an actual separation of Soul and Body as in the indisposition and unfitness of the Body for vital union What is the meaning else of that Expression Whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell except the Soul may be separated from the Body without death J. Glanvil Witchcraft p. 15. 18. Helmont ubi suprà Aricenna vid. Barthol Sybilla Perig. quaest p. 401. Nescio quis teneros oculos c. Glanvil Witchcraft p. 24. Helmont ut supra §. 101. Satan Itaque vim magicam hanc eâ—cit it secus dormientem scientia exterioris hominis impeditam in â—uis mancipiis Glav Wit p. 18. 2. Wonders Q. A. 1. Polanus 1632. Tho. Cont. Gent. lib. 3. c. 101. cited by Sclater on 2 Thess 2. 9. Mira non Miracula Sâ—later in loc Magia Naturalis l. 2. c. 17. Calvin in loc Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 18. De Civit. Dei lib. 21. c. 5 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plin. lib. 28. Vid. L. Vives Comment in lib. 21. c. 6. De Civit Dei Determinata activa ad determinata passiva applicando Tho. Cajatan Delrio Barth Sybilla Pereg. Quaest p. 372. Rivetus Apparitions Scot. Witchcraft l. 7. c. 12. Vid. Poolâ— Synops in lâ—â— Possessions Vid. Clark 's Lives Esther 5. 13. De Civit. Dei 〈◊〉 18. c. 52. 1 Kings 18. Tertul. Aolog cap. 9. Purchas Pilgrim Part. 1. l. 8. c. 10. Idem Part. 1. lib. 5. cap. 11. It higenia sacrificata de
6. Is not this thy fear thy Confidence thy Hope and the uprightness of thy ways Which must not only be understood as an Ironical Scoss at the weakness of his Confidence and Hope as not being able to support him against fainting in his trouble but as a direct accusation of the falseness and Hypocrisy of his supposed Integrity and all the Hopes and Confidence which was built upon it and ver 7. doth evidence where he plainly declares himself to mean that Job could not be Innocent or Righteous it being in his apprehension a thing never heard of that so great Calamities should overtake an upright Man Whoever perished being Innocent The ground of which assertion was from ver 5. It is now come upon thee and thou faintest That is Distresses are upon thee and thou hast no visible means of help but despairest ever to see a Providence that will bring thee out therefore furely thou hast had no real Interest in God as his Child Eliphaz also seconds his Friend in this uncharitable Censure If thou wert pure and upright he would awake for thee that is because he doth thus overlook thee therefore thou art not pure and upright If Men do thus assault the Comforts of God's Children we have reason enough to think that Satan will for besides that we may conclude they are set on work by the Devil and what he speaks by them he will also by other ways promote as being a design that is upon his Heart we may be confident that this being a Surmise so Natural to the Heart of Man he will not let slip so fair an advantage for the forming of it in our own Hearts against our selves Secondly The best of Gods Children in such cases escape it very hardly if at all which declares not only the depth and Power of that Policy but also how usual it is with Satan to urge the Servants of God with it Job chap. 19. 25. recovered himself to a firm perswasion of Sonship I know that my Redeemer liveth c. but by the way his Foot had well-nigh slipt when ver 10 11. he cryes out He hath destroyed me on ever side and I am gone he hath also kindled his Wrath against me and he counteth me unto him as one of his Enemies His earnest resolve not to give up his Trust in God and the Confidence of his Integrity is sufficient to discover Satans â—ager Indeavours to have him bereaved of it Thirdly Satans Success in this Temptation over the Saints of God who sometime have actually failed shews how much it is his work to cast down their hopes of Interest in God by overthrowing their Trust in his Providences If he attempts this and that successfully on such whose frequent Experiences might discourage the Tempter and in probability frustrate his undertaking We have little cause to think that he will be more sparing and gentle in this Assault upon those that are more weak and less acquainted with those Clouds and Darknesses that overshadow the ways of Providence David for all the Promises that he had received and notwithstanding the manifold tryals that he had of seasonable and unexpected deliverances yet when he was distressed he once and again falls into a fear of his Soul and a questioning of God's Favour He complains as one utterly forsaken Why hast thou forsaken me In Psal 69. He expresseth himself ver 1. sinking in the deep Mire as a Man that had no firm ground to stand upon and that his troubles had brought him to fear the state of his Soul not only as deprived of God's Favour and therefore ver 17. begs that his Face may be no longer hid but also as suspecting the loss of it ver 18. draw nigh unto my Soul and redeem it Psal 77. upon the occasion of outward Troubles Asaph falls into such a fit of fear about his Spiritual Condition that no consideration of former Mercies could relieve him He remembred God ver 3. but was troubled he considered the days of old called to remembrance his Songs in the Night But none of these were effectual to keep him from that sad outcry of Distrust ver 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever is his Mercy clean gone for ever hath God forgotten to be Gracious c. Which upon the review in the composing of the Psalm he acknowledgeth an unbelieving miscarriage I said this is mine infirmity Fourthly 'T is also a common and ordinary thing with most to entertain misapprehensions of their Spiritual Condition when they meet with disappointments of Providence Hence the Apostle Heb. 12. 5 6. when he would quiet the Hearts of Men under the Lords Chastening doth of purpose make use of this encouragement that God speaks to them in the Rod as to Children and such as are under his Care and Love My Son despise not the Chastening of the Lord whom the Lord loveth he chastneth c. Which certainly tells us thus much that 't is ordinary for Men to doubt their Son-ship because of their Afflictions We may conjecture what the Malady is when we know what is prepared as a Medicine This would not have been a common Remedy that we may be Children though we be scourged if the disbelief of this had not been the usual interpretation of Afflictions and a common Distemper Fifthly We may further take notice that those disquiets of Mind that were only occasioned by outward things and seem to have no Affinity either in the nature of the occasion or present Inclination of the Party with a Spiritual Trouble yet if they continue long do wholly change their Nature they that at first only troubled themselves for losses or crosses forget these Troubles and take up fears for their Souls Sometime this ariseth from a natural softness and timerousness of Spirit such are apt to misgive upon any occasion and to say Surely If I were his Child he would not thus forsake me his fatherly Compassions would some way or other work towards me Sometime this ariseth from Melancholly contracted or heightned by outward Troubles These when they continue long and peirce deep put Men into a Spirit of heaviness which makes them refuse to be comforted Here the Devil takes his advantage Vnlawful Sorrows are as delightfully improved by him as unlawful pleasures they are Diabâ—li Balneum his Bath in which he sports himself as the Leviathan in the Waters When for temporal Losses or Troubles Men fall into Melancholy if they be not relieved soon then their grief changeth its Object and presently they disquiet themselves as being out of God's Favour as being estranged from God as being of the number of the damned such against whom the Door of Mercy is shut and so cry out of themselves as hopeless and miserable The Observations of Physitians afford store of instances of this kind Felix Platerus gives one of a Woman at Basil who first grieved for the Death of her Son and when by this means she grew Melancholly
that changed into an higher trouble she mourns that her Sins would not be pardoned that God would not have Mercy for her Soul Another for some loss of Wheat first vexeth himself for that and then at last despairs of the Happiness of his Soul with a great many more of that kind Sometimes a desperate Humor doth from the same occasion Distract Men into a Fury of which Mercennus gives one Instance from his own Knowledg of a Person who upon the Distresses which he met with fell into a rage against God uttering speeches full of Horrour and Blasphemy not fit to be related If there be such an Affinity betwixt distrust of Providence and distrust of Son-ship that the one slides into the other naturally If this be common to all Men under troubles to suspect their Souls if the best do here actually miscarry if those that do not yet hardly escape and if by-standers commonly give this Judgment of Men in straits that there is no help for them in their God we cannot but collect from all this that it is an advantage which Satan will not neglect and that he doth very much imploy himself to bring it about The Reasons of it are these First Distrust of Providence hath in it the very formal nature of distrust of Son-ship If the Object of distrust were but changed it would without any further addition work that way He that trusts Providence acknowledgeth that God knoweth his wants that he is of a merciful inclination to give what he sees he hath need of that he hath manifested this by Promise that he is so faithful that this Promise cannot be neglected and that he hath Power to do what he hath promised He that distrusts Providence disbelieves all these consequentially at least and he that will not believe that God takes any care of the Body or that he is of a merciful disposition toward him or thinks either he hath made no such Promise or will not keep it if any such were made cannot believe if that doubt were but once started that God is his Father or that he hath interest in the Priviledg of a Son Seeing it is impossible to believe a Sonship while his Care Mercy Promises and Power are distrusted In this then Satans work is very easy it is but his moving the Question about the Lords Mercy to the Soul and presently as when new Matter is ministred to a raging Flame it takes hold upon it and with equal nay greater force it carries the Soul to distrust Spiritual Mercies as before it disbelieved Temporal Kindnesses Secondly The same Reasons which any Man doth gather from the seeming neglect or Opposition of Providence upon which he grounds his distrust of the Lords Kindness in reference to outward things will also serve as Arguments for a distrust of Spiritual Favours The distresses of Men seem to argue 1. That there is Sin and Provocation on their part 2. And that there is a manifestation of Anger on Gods part 3. And from these apprehensions ariseth Bitterness Anxiety Fear and Dejection of Spirit which intercepts all the Help and Consolation which might arise from other considerations of the Lords Promise or Mercy for the quieting of the Heart and fortifying it against such apprehensions these same grounds with the prevailing fears and perplexities arising from them are enough to make us suspect that we are not yet under any such peculiar Favours as may bespeak us his Children by Adoption so that from the same premises Satan will conclude that as he hath no care for our Bodies so no love to our Souls that we neither love God nor are beloved of him betwixt the one conclusion and the other there is but a step and with a small labour he can cut the Channel and let in that very Distrust to run with all its force against our Spiritual Interest in God Thirdly To trust God for the Soul is an higher act than to trust him for the Body the Soul being of greater excellency than the Body and the Mercy necessary for the happiness of it being more precious and less visible it must require an higher Confidence in God to assure of this then satisfy us in the other 't is more easy to believe a lesser kindness from a Friend than a singular or extraordinary Favour he then that cannot trust God for temporal Mercies shall be more unable to believe Eternal Blessings If we run with Foot-men and they have wearried us shall we be able to contend with Horse-men If the Shallow Brooks be too strong for us what shall we do in the swellings of Jordan Fourthly When Faith is weakned as to one Object 't is so tainted and discouraged that it is generally weakned as to all other if the hand be so weakned that it cannot hold a Ring it will be less able to Grasp a Crown when we are baffled in our trust for temporal Mercies if Satan then put us to it not to believe for spiritual Blessings how can we expect but to be much more at a loss in them So that he is sure of the Victory before he Fights and he that is so sedulous to take advantage against us will not lose so considerable a Conquest for want of pursuit There is indeed one thing that may seem fit to be objected against this which is that Men may retain their Faith in one thing when yet they distrust in another as the Israelites distrusted the Power and Goodness of God for Bread and Flesh in the Wilderness when yet they believed that as he had given Water out of the Rock so he could do it again if there were need Psal 78. 20. He smote the Rock and the Waters gushed out but can he give Bread as if they had said we believe he can give Water but 't is impossible he should provide Bread But they that would thus object may consider that the reason of Mens Confidence in one thing while distrust is in other things prevailing is not from any real strength of their Faith but a present want of a Temptation if such a confidence were put to it it would quickly be seen that it were truly nothing As confident as the Israelites were that they could believe for a supply of Water we find that neither that experience nor the other of supplying them with Manna and Quails were sufficient to keep up their trust in God but that at the next strait all was to seek verse 32. For all this they sinned still and believed not for his wonderous works Fifthly Besides all the forementioned Advantages that Satan hath in raising this Temptation of distrusting Son-ship out of a distrust to Providence we may suppose him the more earnest in this matter because 't is so provoking to God to distrust his Providence that he often as a just chastisement of that evil punisheth it by giving them up to distrust him for their Souls the height of the provocation may be measured by this