Scripture Canst thou deny this Then he pursues But thou sinnest often that is thine own complaint against thy self thy Conscience also bearing witness to the truth of this Accusation therefore thou canst be no Child of God Sometimes he plays upon words that are used in divers senses a fit Engine for the Devil to work by for what is true in one sense will be false in another and his arguing is from that which is true to that which is false I remember one that was long racked with that of Rev. 21. 8. The fearful and unbelieving c. shall have their part in the Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone From whence the Party thus argued The proposion is true because 't is Scripture and I cannot deny the Assumption Fearful I am because I am doubtful of Salvation and unbelieving I am for I cannot believe that I am Regenerate or in a state of Grace and therefore I cannot avoid the Conclusion To the same purpose he disputes against some from 1 John 4. 18. There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear but thou art full of fears therefore thou lovest not God Sometimes he makes use of those Scriptures that make the prevailing degree of our love and respects to God above the World and the things of this Life to be the Characters of true Grace as that of John If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him And that of Christ If a Man love any thing more than Me he is not worthy of Me he that forsakes not all for Me cannot be my Disciple c. Then he urgeth upon them their love of the World and unwillingness to part with their Estates and so brings the Conclusion upon them Instances might be infinite but by these you may judg of the rest Let us now cast our Eye upon his subtilty in managing his Arguments against men 1. He grounds his Arguments on Scripture because that hath authority with it and the very troubled Conscience hath a reverence to it 2. He always suits his Scriptures which he thus cites to that wherein the Conscience is most tender if there be any thing that affords matter of suspition or fear he will be sure to chuse such an Arrow out of the Quiver of Scriptures as will directly hit the Mark 3. Though in the citation of Scripture he always urgeth a sense which the Holy Ghost never intended Yet there will be always something in those Scriptures which he makes use of which in words at least seem to favour his Conclusion as appears in the Instances now given For when he would conclude a Man not to be a Child of God because of his Ignorance something of his Argument is true it may be the Man is sensible that his knowledg is but little compared with the measures which some others have or that he is at a loss or confused in many Doctrinal points of Religion or hath but little experience in many Practical cases c. This as it is true so is it his trouble and whilst he is poring upon his defect Satan claps an Arrest upon him of a far greater Debt than God chargeth upon him and from Scriptures that speak of a total ignorance of the Fundamentals of Religion as that there is a God that Christ Jesus is God and Man the Redeemer of Mankind by a satisfaction to Divine Justice c. Or of a wilful ignorance of the worth of the proffer of the Gospel or its reality which is discovered in the refusal of the terms thereof he concludes him to be in a state of Darkness whereas the Ignorance which the Man complains of is not the Ignorance which those Scriptures intend So in the next Instance the sins which a Child of God complains of are those of daily Incursion which he labours and strives against but that committing sin mentioned in the Text hath respect to the Gnosticks who taught a liberty in sinning and fancied a Righteousness consistant with the avowed practice of Iniquity Hence doth John 1 John 3. 7. directly face their Opinion in these terms Little Children let no Man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous And He that is born of God neither doth nor can avouch a liberty of sinning it being contrary to the Principles of the New Nature So that the miscarriages of Infirmity which the Child of God laments in himself are not the same with that of the Text upon which Satan grounds the Accusation The like may be said of the third Instance from Rev. 21. 18. The threatning there is against such a fear to lose the comforts of the World that they dare not believe the Gospel to be true and accept it accordingly which is nothing to those fears and doubtings that may be in a Child of God in reference to his Happiness Thus in all the rest the Fallacy lies in misapplying the Scripture to suit them to that wherein the Conscience is tender under a sense which was never intended by them yet in another sense the thing charged upon the Conscience is true 4. Yet is Satan so subtile that when he disputes by such Fallacious Arguments he chiefly endeavours to draw off the Defendants Eye and consideration from that part of the Argument wherein its weakness lies which in this case is always in the abuse of the Scripture to a wrong sense this he doth partly from the advantage which he hath from the reverence that they carry to Scripture they believe it to be true and are not willing to suspect the sense and many are so weak that if they should Satan is so cunning that he can easily baffle them in any distinction that they can make And partly from the sense they have of that whereof they are accused they feel themselves so sore in that place and for that very end doth Satan direct his Scripture to hit it that they readily take it for granted that the hinge of the Controversie turns upon it and that the whole Dispute rests upon it Now Satan having these fair advantages by a further improvement of them hides the weakness of his Argument For 1. He takes that sense of the Scripture in which he misapplies it for granted and that with great confidence making as if there were no doubt there 2. He turns always that part of the Argument to them which they can least answer pressing them eagerly with the matter of charge which they are as ready to confess as he is to accuse them of and aggravating it very busily And because the unskilful have no other direction for the finding the Knot of the Controversie than Satan's busle though he like the Lapwing makes the greatest noise when he is furthest from his Nest on purpose to draw them into a greater mistake they look no further and then not being able to answer they are soon cast and striking in with the conclusion against themselves they multiply their Sorrows and
some perfect some less perfect some little Children some young men some Fathers The end of all this is to make them apprehend themselves Christians of an higher rank and order which also makes way consequently for a further inference viz. That there must needs be immunities and priviledges suitable to these heights and attainments To this purpose 3 he produceth those Scriptures that are design'd by God to raise up the minds of Men to look after the internal Work and Power of his Ordinances and not to center their minds and hopes in the bare formal use of them without applying their thoughts to God and Christ unto whom they are appointed to lead us Such as these Scriptures Rom. 2. 28. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter And Rom. 6. 7. we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter 2 Cor. 5. 16. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Ephes 4. 13. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets c. for the perfecting of the Saints till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man By a perverse Interpretation of these and some other Scriptures of like import he would perswade them That the great thing that Christ designed by his Ordinances was but to train up the weaker Christians by these rudiments as the A B C to Children to a more spiritual and immediate way of living upon God and that these become altogether useless when Christians have gotten up to any of these imaginary degrees of a supposed Perfection Enough of this may be seen in the writings of Saltmarsh Winstanly and others in the late times How great a Trade Satan drove by such misapprehensions not long since cannot easily be forgotten so that God's Worship did almost lye wast and in many places the way to Sion did mourn Secondly He will sometimes confess an equality of priviledge among the Children of God and yet plead an inequality of duty that God is as good and strong to us and that we have all an equal advantage by Christ he will readily acknowledge But then when we should propound the diligence of the Saints in their Services for our pattern as of Davids praying seven times a day Daniels three times Anna's serving God with fastings and prayers night and day c. He tells us these were extraordinary Services and as it were works of supererrogation more than the Command of God laid upon them So that we are not tyed to such strictness and we being naturally apt to indulge our selves in our own ease are too ready to comply with such Delusions And by degrees Men are thus brought to a confident belief that they may be good enough and do as much as is required though they slacken their pace and do not Fast Pray or Hear so often as others have done Thirdly Another Sophism of his is to heighten one Duty to the ruine of another He strives to make an intestine War among the several parts of the Services we owe to God and from the excellency of one to raise up an enmity and undervaluing disregard of another Thus would he sever as inconsistent those things that God hath joyned together As among false Teachers some say Lo here is Christ and others Lo he is there So we find Satan dealing with Duties he puts some upon such high respects to Preaching that say they Christ is to be found here most frequently rather than in Prayer or other Ordinances others are made to have the like esteem for Prayer and they affirm in this is Christ especially to be met withal Others say the like of Sacraments or Meditation In all these Satan labours to beget a dislike and neglect of other Services Thus in what relates to the Constitution of Churches he endeavours to set up purity of Churches to the Destruction of Vnity or Vnity to the ruine of Purity A notable Example hereof we have in the Euchytae a Sect of praying Hereticks which arose in the time of Valentinian and Valens who upon the pretence of the Commands of Christ and Paul for Praying continually or without ceasing and fainting owned no other Duty as necessary vilifying Preaching and Sacraments as things at best useless and unprofitable The like attempts he makes daily upon Men where though he prevail not so far as to bring some necessary Duties of Service into open contempt yet he carries them into too much secret neglect and disregard Fourthly He improves the grace of the Gospel to infer an unnecessariness of Duty and this he doth not only from the advantage of a prophane and careless Spirit in such as presumptuously expect Heaven though they mind not the way that leads to it for with such it is usual as one observes for Satan to sever the means from the end in things that are good to make them believe they shall have Peace though they walk in the Imaginations of their Heart to make them lean upon the Lord for Heaven in the apparent neglect of Holiness and Duty As in evil things he severs the end from the means making them confident they shall escape Hell and Condemnation though they walk in the path that leads thither But besides this he abuseth the understandings and affections of Men by strange and uncouth inferences as that God hath received a satisfaction and Christ hath done all so that nothing is left for us to do The Apostle Paul was so much aware of this kind of arguing that when he was to magnifie the Grace of God he always took care to fence against such perverse reasonings severely rebuking and refelling such objections as in Rom. 3. 7 8. Where speaking that our unrighteousness did commend the righteousness of God he falls upon that reply Why then am I judged as a sinner Which he sharply refells as an inference of slanderous imputation to the Gospel which hath nothing in it to give the least countenance to that Conclusion Let us do evil that good may come And adds That Damnation shall justly overtake such as practise accordingly The like we have Rom. 6. 1. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound which he rejected with the greatest abhorrency God forbid From both which places we may plainly gather that as unsound as such arguings are yet Men through Satans subtilty are too prone upon such pretences to dispute themselves to a careless neglect of Duty This might be enlarged in many other instances as that of Maximus Tyrius who disputed all Duties unnecessary upon this ground That what God will give cannot be hindred and what he
cry out of themselves as miserable 2. Another piece of his Sophistry is the improving certain false Notions which Christians of the weaker sort have received as proofs of their Unregeneracy or bad Condition As there are Vulgar Errors concerning Natural things so there are Popular Errors concerning Spiritual things These mistakes in a great part have their Original from the Fancies or Misapprehensions of unskilful Men. Some indeed have it may be been preached and taught as Truths others have risen without a Teacher from meer Ignorance being the conclusions and surmises which weak Heads have framed to themselves from the Sayings or Practices of Men which have not been either so cleared from the danger of mistake or not so distinctly apprehended as was necessary These false Inferences once set on foot are traditionally handed down to others and in time they gain among the simple the opinion of undoubted Truths Now where ever Satan finds any of these that are fit for his purpose for to be sure whatever mistake we entertain he will at one time or other cast it in our way he will make it the foundation of an Argument against him that hath received it and that with very great advantage For a falshood in the Premises will usually produce a falshood in the Conclusion And these falshoods being taken for granted the Devil is not put to the trouble to prove them if then he can but exactly fit them to something in the party which he cannot deny he forthwith carries the cause and condemns him by his own concessions as out of his own mouth 'T is scarce possible to number the false Notions which are already entertained among Christians relating to Grace and Conversion much less those that may afterward arise But I shall mention some that Satan frequently makes use of as grounds of Objection 1. 'T is a common apprehension among the weaker sort that Conversion is always accompanied with great fear and terrour This is true in some as hath been said and though none of the Preachers of the Gospel have asserted the universality of these greater measures of Trouble yet the People taking notice that many speak of their deep humiliations in Conversion and that several Authors have set forth the greatness of Distress that some have been cast into on that occasion though without any intention of fixing this into a general Rule have from thence supposed that all the Converted are brought to their Comforts through the flames of Hell Upon this mistake the Devil disquiets those that have not felt these extream Agonies of Sorrow in themselves and tells them that it is a sure sign that they are not yet Converted Though 't is easie for a Man that sees the falshood of the Notion to answer the Argument yet he that believes it to be true cannot tell what to say because he finds he never was under such Troubles and now he begins to be troubled because he was not troubled before or as he supposeth not troubled enough 2. Another false Notion is That a Convert can give an account of the time and manner of his Conversion This is true in some as in Paul and some others whose Change hath been sudden and remarkable though in many this is far otherwise who can better give account that they are Converted than by what Steps Degrees and Methods they were brought to it But if any of these receive the Notion they will presently find that Satan will turn the edge of it against them and will tell them that they are not Converted because they cannot nominate the time when nor the manner how such a Change was wrought 3. Some take it for granted that Conversion is accompanied with a remarkable measure of Gifts for Prayer and Exhortation and then the Devil objects it to them That they are not Converted because they cannot Pray as others or Speak of the things of God so readily fluently and affectionately as some others can Thus the poor weak Christian is baffled for want of Abilities to express himself to God and Men. 4. False Notions about the nature of Faith are a sad stumbling-Block to some Many suppose that Saving Faith is a certain belief that our Sins are Pardoned and that we shall be Saved making Faith and Assurance all one This mistake is the deeper rooted in the Minds of Men because some have directly taught so and those Men of Estimation whose words are entertained with great Reverence by well-meaning Christians For whom notwithstanding this may be pleaded in excuse that they have rather described Faith in its height than in its lowest measures How ever it be those that have no other understanding of the nature of Faith can never answer Satan's Argument if he takes them at any time at the advantage of fear or doubting For then he will dispute thus Faith is a belief that sins are Pardoned but thou dost not believe this therefore thou hast no Faith Oh what numbers of poor doubting Christians have been distressed with this Argument 5. Some take it for a truth that growth of Grace is always visible and the progress remarkable And then because they can make no such discovery of themselves the Devil concludes their Grace to be counterfeit and hypocritical 6. Of like nature are some mistaken signs of true Grace as that true Grace fears God only for his Goodness And then if there be any apprehension of Divine Displeasure impressed upon the Heart though upon the necessary occasion of miscarriage they through the Devils instigation conclude that they are under a spirit of Bondage and their supposed Grace not true or not genuine at least according to that disposition which the New-Testament will furnish a Man withal 'T is also another mistaken sign of Grace That it doth direct a Man to love God singly for himself without the least regard to his own Salvation for that they think is but Self-love Now when a Child of God doth not see his love to God so distinct but that his own salvation is twisted with it Satan gets advantage of him and forceth him to cast away his love as adulterate and selfish Like to this mistake but of an higher strain is that of some That where Grace is true 't is so carried forth to honour God that the Man that hath it can desire God may be honoured though he should be damned God doth not put us to such Questions as these but upon supposition that this is true the grace of most Men will be shaken by the Objection that Satan will make from thence he can and will presently put the mistaken to it Canst thou say thou art willing to go to Hell that God may be glorified If not where is thy Grace From such mistakes as these he disputes against the holiness of the Children of God and 't is impossible but that he should carry the Cause against those who grant these things to be true Satan can undeniably shew them that their Hearts
the nature of the affliction and the temper of Mens Hearts do afford him For 1. Afflictions are a great depth one of the secrets of God so that 't is hard to know what God intends by them 2. The end of the Lord is not discovered at first but at some distance when the Fruits thereof begin to appear 3. The mind of the afflicted cannot always proceed regularly in making a judgment of God's design upon them especially at first when 'tis stounded by the assault and all things in confusion Faith is to seek Patience awanting and Love staggering after it hath recollected it self and attained any calmness to fit it for a review of the ways of God and of the Heart it is better enabled to fix some grounds of Hope Lam. 3. 19 20 21. This I recall to my Mind therefore have I Hope 4. Afflictions have a Light and a Dark side and their appearances are according to our posture in which we view them as some Pictures which if we look upon them one way they appear to be Angels if another way they seem Devils 5. Some Men in Affliction do only busy themselves in looking upon the dark side of Affliction Their disposition either through natural timerousness or strong impressions of Temptation is only to meditate terrours and to surmise evils These Men out of the Cross can draw nothing but the Wormwood and the Gall while others that have another Prospect of them observe mixtures of Mercy and Gentleness and do melt into submission and thankfulness These considered together are a great advantage to Satan in disputing against the peace of Gods afflicted Children and it often falls out that as he doth misrepresent God's design so do they urged by Temptation upon that account misjudge themselves 3. He also misrepresents God in the works of his Spirit if God withdraw his countenance or by his Spirit signifies his displeasure to the Consciences of any if he permit Satan to molest them with Spiritual Temptations presently Satan takes occasion to put his false and malignant interpretation upon all he tells them that Gods hiding his Face is his casting them off that the threatnings signified to their Conscience are plain declarations that their present state is Wrath and Darkness That Satans molestations by Temptations shew them to be yet under his power that the removal of their former Peace Joy and sensible delight which they had in the ways of God is beyond contradiction an evidence that God hath no delight in them nor they in him that their Faith was but that of Temporaries their Joy but that of Hypocrites which is only for a moment How often have I heard Christians complaining thus We cannot be in a state of Grace our Consciences lye under the sense of Gods displeasure they give testimony against us and we know that testimony is true for we feel it 'T is true time was when we thought we had a delight in Hearing Praying Meditating but now all is a burthen to us we can relish nothing we can profit nothing we can remember nothing time was when we thought we had assurance and our Hearts rejoyced in us sometimes we have thought our Hearts had as much of Peace and Comfort as they could hold now all is vanished and we are under sad fears if God had had a favour to us would he have dealt thus with us Thus are they cheated into a belief that they never had any Grace they take all for granted that is urged against them they cannot consider Gods design in hiding his Face nor yet can they see how Grace acts in them under these complainings how they express their Love to God in their desires and pantings after him in their bewailing of his absence in abhorring and condemning themselves c. but their present feeling and an Argument from sence is very strong bears down all before it Thus doth Satan frame his Arguments from misrepresentations of God which though a right view of God would easily answer them yet how difficult it is for a Person in an hour of Temptation to dispel by a right apprehension of the ways of the Holy God doth abundantly appear from Psal 77. where the case of Asaph or whoever else he was doth inform us 1. That 't is usual for Satan for the disquieting of the Hearts of Gods Children to offer a false Prospect of God 2. That this overwhelms their Hearts with grief ver 3. 3. That the more they persist in the prosecution of this method under the Mists of Prejudice they see the less being apt to misconstrue every thing in God to their disadvantage ver 3. I remembred God and was troubled 4. The reason of all that trouble lies in this that they can only conclude wrath and desertion from God's carriage toward them 5. That till they look upon God in another method and take up better thoughts of him and his Providences even while they carry the appearance of Severity they can expect no ease to their complainings For before the Prophet quitted himself of his trouble he was forced to acknowledge his mistake ver 10. in the misconstruction he made of his dealings and to betake himself to a resolve of entertaining better thoughts of God ver 7. His Interrogation Will the Lord cast off for ever c shews indeed what he did once think being misled by Satan but withal that he would never do so again Will the Lord cast off for ever Is not here the Voice of a despairing Man but of one that through better information hath rectified his Judgment and now is resolved strongly to hold the contrary to what he thought before as if he should say 'T is not possible that it should be so he will not cast off for ever and I will never entertain such perverse thoughts of God any more 6. But before they can come to this it will cost them some pains and serious thoughts 't is not easy to break these Fetters to answer this Argument but they that will do so must appeal from their present sence to a consideration of the issues of these dealings upon other Persons or upon themselves at other times for the Prophet ver 5. considered the days of old and the years of ancient times and ver 6 he also made use of his own experience calling to remembrance that after such dealings as these God by his return of favour gave him Songs in the Night 4. Another common head from whence this great Disputant doth fetch his Arguments against the good condition and state of God's Servants is their sin and miscarriages Here I shall observe two or three things in the general concerning this before I shew how he draws his false Conclusions from thence As 1. That with a kind of feigned ingenuity he will grant a difference betwixt Sin and Sin betwixt Sins reigning and not reigning Sins mortified and not mortified betwixt the Sins of the Converted and the Unconverted and upon this
would seem to be a clearer Character of a Man dead in Trespasses and Sins than a hard Heart that can neither be sensible of Judgments nor Mercies This he sometimes chargeth upon the Children of God from the great disproportion that they find in themselves betwixt the little sence that they seem to have and that which is disproportionable they reckon to be nothing and the vast greatness of Gods Mercy or Holiness I have observed some to complain of utter unthankfulness and insensibleness of Heart from thence concluding confidently against themselves because when God hath remarkably appeared for them in deliverances from dangers or in unexpected kindnesses they could not render a thankfulness that carried any proportion to the Mercy While they were in the highest admiration of the kindness saying What shall I render to the Lord they were quite out of the sight of their own sence and feeling and thought they returned nothing at all because they returned nothing equivalent to what they had received Others I have known who from the confusion and amazement of their Spirit when they have been overwhelmed with troubles have positively determined themselves to be sensless stupid past feeling hardened to destruction when in both cases any might have seen the working of their Hearts to be an apparent contradiction to what Satan charged them withal For they were not unapprehensive either of Mercies or Judgments but on the contrary had only a greater sence of them than they were able to manage 4. To make full measure Satan doth sometimes aggravate the miscarriages of those whom he intends to accuse by comparing their lives and actions with the holy Lives of some eminent Servants of God especially such as they have only heard of and not known personally For so they have only their Vertues represented without their failings Here Satan takes a liberty of declaming against them and though he could never spare a Saint a good word out of respect yet that others might be put out of heart and hope he will commend the holiness strictness care constancy of dead Saints to the Skies And then he Queries Art thou such an one Canst thou say thou art any thing like them for a heavenly Heart a holy Life a contempt of the World a zeal for God for good Works for patient Suffering c. All this while not a word of their Weaknesses These saith he were the Servants of the Most High their Examples thou shouldst follow if thou expectest their Crown Had they any more Holiness than they needed And if thouhast not so much thou art nothing What can Humility Modesty and sense of Guilt speak in such a case They go away mourning their Fears increase upon them and what God hath set before them in the Examples of his Servants for the increase of their diligence they take to be as a Witness against them to prove them Unconverted 5. The last part of Satan's Sophistry is to lessen their Graces that so he may altogether deny them In this he proceeds upon such Scriptures as do assert the Fruits of the Spirit and urgeth for his foundation that none are the Children of God but such as are led by the Spirit and that he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his The necessity of Faith Love Patience Humility with the Fruits of these and other Graces he presseth but still in order to a Demonstration as he pretends that such are not to be found in those whose Gracious state he calls into question and consequently that they are not the Children of God The Rule by which he manageth himself in this Dispute is this The more Graces are heightned in the Notions that must give an account of their Nature and Beings the more difficult it will be to find out their Reality in the Practice of them His design then hath these two parts 1. He heightens Grace in the Notion or Abstract all he can 2. He lessens it in the Concrete or Practice as much as is possible that it may appear a very Nullity a shadow and not a substance I shall speak a little of both 1. As to the first part of his Design he hath many ways by which he aggravates Grace in the Notion We may be sure if it lie in his way he will not stick to give false definitions of Grace and to tell Men that it is what indeed it is not He is a Lyar and in any case whatsoever he will lie for his advantage if he have hope his Lye may pass for current but he cannot always use a palpable Cheat in this matter where the nature of any Grace is positively determined in Scripture except it be with the Ignorant or where the nature of Grace is made a business of Controversie among Men. I will not make Conjectures what Satan may possibly say in belying the nature of Grace to make it seem to be quite another thing than it is but shall rather shew you the more usual plausible ways of Deceit which herein he exerciseth and they are these that follow 1. As the same Graces have different Degrees in several Persons and these different Degrees have Operations suitable some Acts being stronger some weaker some more perfected and ripened others more imperfect and immature So when Satan comes to describe Grace he sets it forth in its highest Excellencies and most glorious Attainments You shall never observe him to speak of Graces at their lowest pitch except where he is carrying on a design for Presumption and then he tells Men that any Wishing or Woulding is Grace and every formal Lord forgive me is true Repentance but on the contrary he offers the highest reach of it that any Saint on Earth ever arrived at as essentially necessary to constitute its Being and tells them if they have not that they have nothing Let us see it in the Particulars 1. Grace sometimes hath its Extraordinaries as I may call them We have both Precept and Example of that nature in Scripture which are propounded not as the common Standard by which the Being and Reality of Grace is to be measured but as Patterns for imitation to provoke us to Emulation and to quicken us in pressing forward Of this nature I reckon to be the Example of Moses desiring to be blotted out of God's Book whatever he meant by it in his love to the People and the like of the Apostle Paul wishing himself to be accursed from Christ for his Brethrens sake Of this nature also we have many Precepts as rejoyce evermore of waiting and longing for the Appearance of Christ of rejoycing when we fall into divers Temptations and many more to this purpose All which are heights of Grace that do rarely appear among the Servants of God at any time 2. Grace hath sometimes its special Assistances this is when the occasion is extraordinary but the Grace befitting that occasion is promised in ordinary and ordinarily recieved When God calls any to such
who flee from Battel Hence then do we hear of these various Complaints One saith Alas I have no Grace because I live not as other Saints have done in all exactness Another saith I have no Faith because I cannot believe above Reason and contrary to Sense as Abraham did A third crys out He hath no Love to God because he cannot find his Soul ravished with desire after him Another thinks He hath a hard Heart because he cannot weep for Sin Another concludes against himself because He finds not a present chearful resolve while he is not under any question for Religion to suffer Torments for Christ Some fear themselves Because Temporaries in some particulars have much out-gone them You see how Complaints may upon this score be multiplied without end and yet all this is but Fallacy Satan tells them what Grace is at the highest but not a word of what it is at lowest And so unskilful is a tossed weak Christian that he in examining his Condition looks after the highest Degrees of Grace as affording clearer Evidence and not after the Sincerity of it which is the safest way for Trial where Graces are weak In a word this kind of Arguing is no better than that of Children who cannot conclude themselves to be Men because their present stature is little and they are not as tall as the Adult 2. Another part of his cunning in lessening the real Graces of God's Children is to take them at an advantage when their Graces are weakest and themselves most out of order He that will chuse to measure a Man's Stature while he is upon his Knees seems not to design to give a faithful account of his Height No more doth Satan who when he will make Comparisons always takes the Servants of God at the worst And indeed many advantages do the Children of God give him insomuch that it is no wonder that he doth so oft Baffle them but rather a wonder that they at any time return to their Comforts 1. Sometimes he takes them to task while they are yet young and tender when they are but newly converted before their Graces are grown up or have had time to put forth any considerable Fruit. 2. Or when their Graces are tired out by long or grievous assaults of Temptation for then they are not what they are at other times 3. When their Hearts are discomposed or muddied with fear for then their sight is bad and they can so little judg of things that differ that Satan can impose almost any thing upon them 4. Sometimes he comes upon them when some Grace acts his part but poorly as not having its perfect work and is scarce able to get through sticking as it were in the Birth 5. Or when the progress of Grace is small and imperceptible 6. Or while in the absence of the Sun which produceth Flowers and Fragrancy and is the time of the singing of Birds Cant. 2. 11 12. it is forced to cast off its Summer Fruits of Joy and sensible Delights and only produceth Winter Fruits of Lamenting after God Longing and Panting after him justifying of God in his Dealings and Condemning it self all this while sowing in Tears for a more pleasing Crop 7. Or while Expectations are more than Enjoyments the Man it may be promised himself large incomes of greater measures of Comforts Ease or Strength under some particular Ordinances or Helps which he hath lately attained to and not finding things presently to answer what he hoped for is now suspitious of his case and thinks he hath attained nothing because he hath not what he would 8. Sometimes Satan shews them his Face in this Glass when 't is foulest through the spots of some Miscarriage 9. Or he takes advantage of some Natural Defects as want of Tears which might be more usual in former times but are now dried up or from the Ebbings and uncertainty of his Aâ—â—ections which are never sure rules of Trials 10. Or in such acts that are of a mixed nature in the Principles and Motives where it may seem to be uncertain to which the Act must be ascribed as to the true Parent The Heart of a gracious Person being challenged upon any of these Points and under so great a Disadvantage being called out to give a proof of himself especially in the view of Grace set forth in all its Excellency and Glory shall have little to plead but will rather own the Accusation And the rather because 3. It is another part of Satan's cunning to urge them whilst they are thus at a stand with a Possibility nay a Probability of their mistaking themselves by passing too favourable an opinion formerly of their Actions To confirm them in this apprehension 1. He lays before them the consideration of the deceitfulness of the Heart which being so above all things and desperately wicked beyond ordinary discovery makes a fair way for the entertainment of a suspition of Self-delusion in all the former hopes which a Man hath had of himself Satan will plainly speak it Thou hast had some thoughts and workings of Mind towards God but seeing they carry so great a disproportion to Rule and Example and come so far short of Common Graces 't is more than probable that such poor weak confused appearances are nothing How knowest thou that thine adherence to and practice of the Command and Services of God are any more than from the power of Education the prevalency of Custom or the impressions of Moral swasion How dost thou know that thy desires after God and thy delight in him are any more than the products of Natural Principles influenced by an Historical faith of Scripture Doctrine 'T is oftentimes enough for Satan to hint this A suspitious Heart as it were greedy of its own misery catcheth at all things that make against it and hence complains That it hath no Grace because it sees not any visible Fruits or makes not a sufficient appearance at all times when opposed or resisted or because it wants sensible progress or gives not the Summer Fruits of Praises Rejoycings and Delights in God or because it seems not to meet with remarkable improvements in Ordinances or because it cannot produce Tears and raise the Affections and because the Party doth not know but his Heart might decieve him in all that he hath done Which the Devil yet further endeavoureth to confirm 2. By a consideration of the seeming Holiness and Graces of such as believed themselves to be the Children of God and were generally by others reputed so to be who yet after a glorious profession turned Apostates This being so great and undeniable an Instance of the Hearts deceitfulness makes the poor tempted Party conclude that he is certainly no true Convert Thus have we seen Satan's Sophistry in the management of those five grand Topicks from whence he draws his false Conclusions against the Children of God pretending to prove that they are not Converted or at least if they
he fixeth upon that and labours all he can to make it look most desperately that so he may call it the Sin against the Holy Ghost and in this he hath a mighty advantage that most Men are in the Dark about that sin All Men being not yet agreed whether it be a distinct Species of Sin or an higher degree of wilfulness relating to any particular Sin Upon this score Satan can lay the Charge of this sin upon those that Apostatize from the Truth and through Weakness have Recanted it Thus he dealt with Spira with Bilney with Bainham and several others There is so near a resemblance in these sins of denying Truths to what is said of the Unpardonable Sin that these Men though they were Scholars and Men of good Abilities yet they were not able to answer the Argument that the Devil urged against them but it prevailed to distress them Upon others also hath Satan the advantage to fix this Accusation For let the Species of the sin be what it will if they have any thing of that Notion that the Sin against the Holy Ghost is a presumptuous Act of Sin under Temptation they will call any notorious Crime the Sin against the Holy Ghost because of the more remarkable aggravating Circumstances that have accompanied such a Fact 2. He aggravates the Sins of God's Children from the Wilfulness of their sinning 'T is a thing often too true that a Child of God may be carried by a violent Impetus or strong inclination of Affection to some particular Iniquity where the forwardness of desires that way by a sudden haste do stifle those Reluctancies of Mind which may be expected from one endowed with the Spirit of God whose power upon them doth ordinarily sway them to lust against the Flesh But it is more ordinary to find a Temptation to prevail notwithstanding that an enlightned Mind doth make some Resistance which because 't is too feeble is easily born down by the strong importunities of Satan working upon the inclinations of the Flesh Both these Cases are improved against them over whom Satan hath got any advantage of doubting of their Estate If they have resisted but ineffectually or not resisted at all he chargeth them with the highest Wilfulness and will so aggravate the matter that they shall be put in fear not only that there can be no Grace where Sin hath so much power as either to controul so much light and endeavours or hath so subjected the Heart to its dominion that it can command without a contradiction but that they can have no Hope that they that sin with so high an hand should ever enter into God's Rest And to this purpose he commonly sets before them that Text of Heb. 10. 26. If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledg of the Truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins Or that of Heb. 6. 4. It is impossible for those who were once enlightned if they fall away to renew them again to Repentance Both which places speak indeed at least such a difficulty as in common use of speech is called an impossibility if not an utter absolute impossibility of Repentance and Pardon But then the sinning wilfully or falling away there mentioned is only that of Total Apostacy when Men that have embraced the Gospel and by it have met with such impressions of Power and delight upon their Hearts which we usually call Common Grace do notwithstanding reject that Gospel as false and fabulous and so rise up against it with Scorn and utmost Contempt as Julian the Apostate did If now the true intendment of those Scriptures were considered by those that are distressed with them they might presently see that they were put into fear where no such cause of fear was But all Men have not this knowledg nor do they so duely attend to the matter of the Apostles Discourse as to be able to put a right Interpretation upon it upon such Satan imposeth his deceitful gloss and tells them Wilful sinners cannot be restored to Repentance but you have sinned wilfully when sin was before you you rushed into it without any consideration as the Horse into the Battel or when God stood in your way with Commands and advice to the contrary when your Consciences warned you not to do so great wickedness yet you would do it You were as those that break the Yoke and burst the Bonds Upon this supposition that these Texts speak of wilful sinning in the General How little can be said against Satan's Argument How many have I known that have been tortured with these Texts judging their Estate fearful because of their wilfulness in sinning Who upon the breaking of the snare of Satan's misrepresentation have escaped as a Bird unto the Hill 3. When either of the two former Ways will not serve the turn that is when he meets with such against whom he hath nothing of notorious wickedness to object or such as have a better discerning of Scripture than so to be imposed upon he labours to make a Charge against them from the number of their Miscarriages Here he takes up all the filth he can and lays it upon one heap at their Door 'T is indeed an easie thing for Satan to set the Sins of a Child of God in order before him and to bring to mind innumerable Evils especially to one that is already awakened with a true discovery of the Corruption of Nature and the Vileness of Sin In which case the more a Man considers the more he will discover and Sins thus set in Battel Array though they be not more than ordinary hainous yet being many have a very dismal appearance Satan's design in this is to bring Men under the Affrightments which seem most proper to be raised from a perverse Aspect of the third Rank of Scriptures which a little before I pointed at For the Word of God speaking of the Final Estate of Men doth not only discover the hopeless condition of some as to Eternal Life from some particular Acts of Sin but also the sad Estate of others from the manner degrees and frequency of sinning The Heathens because they improved not the Knowledg of God which they had from the Works of Creation neither making those Inferences in matters relating to his Worship which those Discoveries did direct them unto nor behaving themselves in full compliance to those Rules of vertuous Conversation which they might have drawn from these Principles and unto which in point of Gratitude they were obliged Rom. 1. 21. They glorified him not as God neither were thankful therefore God gave them up to a Reprobate mind And generally concerning all others the Scripture teacheth us that a return to a prophane fleshly Life after some Reformation hath a greater hazard in it than ordinary as appears by the Parable in Mat. 12. 45. Seven more wicked Spirits re-enter where one that was cast out is received again and the last state of that Man is