yeares thou hast waged war against the Almighty making havock of his lawes loading his patience till it groaned again raking in the sides of Christ with thy bloody dagger while thou didst grieve his Spirit and reject his grace and doest think a little remorse like a rolling cloud letting fall a few drops of sorrow will now be accepted no thou must steep in sorrow as thou hast soak't in sin Now to shew you the fallacy we must distinguish of a twofold proportion of sorrow First an exact proportion of sorrow to the inherent nature and demerit of sin Secondly there is a proportion to the Law and Rule of the Gospel Now the first is not a thing feasible because the injury done in the least sin is infinite because done to an infinite God and if it could be feasible yet according to the tenour of the first Covenant it would not be acceptable because it had no clause to give any hope for an after-game by repentance but the other which is a Gospel-sorrow this is indeed repentance unto life both given by the Spirit of the Gospel and to be tried by the Rule of the Gospel This is given for thy relief As you see sometimes in the high-way where the waters are too deep for travellers you have a foot-bridge or Causey by which they may scape the flood and safely passe on so that none but such as have not eyes or are drunk will venture to go through the waters when they may avoid the danger Thou art a dead man if thou think to answer thy sin with proportionable sorrow thou wilt soon be above thy depth and quackle thy self with thy own teares but never get over the least sin thou committedst go not on therefore as thou lovest thy life but turn aside to this Gospel-path and thou escapest the danger O you tempted soules when Satan saith you are not humbled enough see where you may be relieved I am a Romane saith Paul I appeal to Cesar I am a Christian say I appeal to Christs law and what is the Law of the Gospel concerning this Heart-sorrow is Gospel-sorrow They were pricked in their heart and Peter like an honest Chirurgion will not keep these bleeding Patients longer in pain with their wounds open but presently claps on the healing plaister of the Gospel Believe in the Lord Jesus Now a prick to the heart is more then a wound to the conscience The heart is the seat of life Sin wounded there lies a dying To do any thing from the heart makes it acceptable Eph. 6.6 Now poor soul hadst thou sate thus long in the devils stocks if thou hadst understood this aright doth thy heart clear or condemn thee when in secret thou art bemoaning thy sin before God if thy heart be false I cannot help you no not the Gospel it self but if sincere thou hast boldnesse with God A second argument Satan useth is this He whose sorrow falls short of theirs that never truly repented he is not humbled enough But soul thy sorrow falls short of some that never truly repented Ergo. Well the first Proposition is true but how will Satan prove his minor Thus Ahab he took on for his sin and went in sack-cloth Judas he made bitter complaint O saith Satan didst thou not know such a one that lay under terrour of conscience walking in a sad mournful condition so many moneths and every one took him for the greatest Convert in the countrey and yet he at last fell foully and proved an Apostate but thou never didst feel such smart passe so many weary nights and days in mourning and bitter lamentation as he hath done therefore thou fallest short of one that fell short of repentance And truly this is a sad stumbling block to a soul in an houre of temptation Like a ship sunk in the mouth of the harbour which is more dangerous to others then if it had perisht in the open sea There is lesse scandal by the sins of the wicked who sink as it were in the broad sea of profanenesse then in those who are convinced of sin troubled in conscience and miscarry so near the harbour within sight as it were of saving grace Tempted soules can hardly get over these without dashing Am I better then such a one that proved naught at last Now to help thee a little to finde out the fallacy of this argument we must distinguish between the terrours that accompany sorrow and the intrinsecal nature of this grace The first which are necessary may be separated from the other as the raging of the sea which is caused by the winde from the sea when the winde is down From this distinction take two Conclusions First one may fall short of an hypocrite in the terrours that sometimes accompany sorrow and yet have the truth of this grace which the other with all his terrours wants Christians run into many mistakes by judging rather according to that which is accessary then that which is essential to the nature of duties and graces Sometimes thou hearest one pray with a moving expression while thou canst hardly get out a few broken words in duty and thou art ready to accuse thy self and to admire him as if the gilt of the Key made it open the door the better thou seest another abound with joy which thou wantest and are ready to conclude his grace more and thine lesse whereas thou mayest have more real grace only thou wantest a light to shew thee where it lies Take heed of judging by accessaries perhaps thou hast not heard so much of the ratling of the chains of hell nor in thy conscience the out-cries of the damned to make thy flesh tremble but hast thou not seen that in a bleeding Christ which hath made thy heart melt and mourne yea loath and hate thy lusts more then the devil himself Truly Christian 't is strange to hear a Patient complain of his Physician when he findes his Physick work effectually to the evacuating of his distempered humours and the restoring his health meerly because he was not so sick as some others with the working of it soule thou hast more reason to be blessing God that the convictions of his Spirit wrought so kindly on thee to effect that in thee without those terrours which have cost others so dear Secondly this is so weak an argument that contrariwise the more the terrours are the lesse the sorrow is for sin while they remain These are indeed preparatory sometimes to sorrow they go before this grace as austere John before meek Jesus But as John went down when Christ went up his increase was Johns decrease so as true godly sorrow goes up these terrours go down As the winde gathers the clouds but those clouds seldom melt into a set rain until the winde falls that gathered them so these terrours raise the clouds of our sins in our consciences but when these sins melt into godly sorrow this layes the storme
motions of them not only passing by the door of a Christian but looking in also as holy motions may be found stirring in the bosome of wicked men but I ask thee whether thou canst finde in thy heart to lodge these guests and bid them welcome 'T is like thou wouldst not be seen to walk in the street with such company not lead a whore by the hand through the Town not violently break open thy neighbours house to murder or rob him but canst thou not under thy own roofe in the withdrawing room of thy soul let thy thoughts hold up an unclean lust while thy heart commits speculative folly with it canst thou not draw thy neighbour into thy den and there rend him limb from limb by thy malice and thy heart not so much as cry murder murder In a word canst thou hide any one sinne in the vance roofe of thy heart there to save the life of it when enquired after by the Word and Spirit as Rahab hid the spies and sent the King of Jerichoes messengers to pursue them as if they had been gone Perhaps thou canst say the adulterer the murderer is not here thou hast sent these sinnes away long ago and all this while thou hidest them in the love of thy soul know it or thou shalt another day know it to thy cost thou art stark naught If there were a spark of the life of God or the love of Christ in thy bosome though thou couldst not hinder such motions in thy soul yet thou wouldst not conceale them much lesse nourish them in thy bosome when over-powered by them thou wouldst call in help from heaven against these destroyers of thy soul Vse 3 Secondly shew your loyalty O ye Saints to God by a vigorous resistance of and wrestling against these spirituals of wickednesse First consider Christian heart-sinnes are sinnes as well as any The thought of foolishnesse is sinne Prov. 24.9 Mercury is poison in the water distill'd as well as in the grosse body Uncleannesse covetousnesse murder are such in the heart as well as in the outward act every point of hell is hell Secondly consider thy spirit is the seat of the holy Spirit He takes up the whole heart for his lodging and 't is time for him to be gone when he sees his house let over his head Defile not thy spirit till thou art weary of his company Thirdly consider there may be more wickednesse in a sinne of the heart then of the hand and outward man for the aggravation of these is taken from the behaviour of the heart in the act The more of the heart and spirit is let out the more malignity is let in to any sinfull act To back-slide in heart is more then to back-slide 't is the comfort of a poor soul when tempted and troubled for his relapses that though his foot slides back yet his heart turnes not back but faceth Heaven and Christ at the same time so to erre in the heart is worse then to have an errour in the head therefore God aggravates Israels sinne with this They do alwayes erre in their heart Their hearts runne them upon the errour they liked idolatry and so were soon made to believe what pleased them best As on the contrary the more of the heart and spirit is in any holy service the more real goodnesse there is in it though it fâ—ll short of others in the outward expression The widowes two mites surpassed all the rest Christ himselfe being judge so in sinne though the internal acts of sinne in thoughts and affections seem light upon mans balance if compared with outward acts yet these may be so circumstanciated that they may exceed the other in Gods account Peter layes the accent of Magus his sinne on the wicked thought which his words betrayed to be in his heart Pray God if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven Act. 8.22 Sauls sinne in sparing Agag and saving the best of the sheep and oxen which he was commanded to destroy was materially a farre lesse sinne then Davids adultery and murder yet it is made equal with a greater then both even witchcraft it selfe 1 Sam. 15.23 and whence receiv'd his sinne such a dye but from the wickednesse of his heart that was worse then Davids when deepest in the temptation Fourthly if Satan get into thy spirit and defile it O how hard wilt thou finde it to stay there thou hast already sipt of his broth and now art more likely to be overcome at last to sit down and make thy full meale of that which by tasting hath vitiated thy palate already It were strange if while thou art musing and thy heart hot with the thoughts of lust the fire should not break forth at thy lips or worse Quest But what help have we against this sort of Satans temptations Answ I suppose thee a Christian that makest this question and if thou dost it in the plainnesse of thy heart it proves thee one Who besides will or can desire in earnest to be eased of these guests even when a carnal heart prayes for deliverance from them he would be loath his prayer should be heard Not yet Lord the heart of such a one cries as Austin confessed of himself Sin is as truly the off-spring of the soule as children are of our bodies and it findes as much favour in our eyes yea more for the sinner can slay a son to save a sin alive Micah 6.7 and of all sinnes none are more made on then these heart sins First because they are the first-born of the sinful heart and the chiefest strength of the soule is laid out upon them Secondly because the heart hath more scope in them then in outward acts The proud man is staked down oft to a short state and cannot ruffle it in the world and appear to others in that pomp he would but within his own bosome he can set up a stage and in his own foolish heart present himself as great a Prince as he pleaseth The malicious can kill in his desires as many in a few minutes as the Angel smote in a night of Senacheribs host Nero thus could slay all Rome on the block at once Thirdly these sins stay with the soule when the other leave it when the sinner hath cripled his body with drunkennesse and filthinesse and proves miles emeritus cannot follow the devils campany longer in those wayes then these cursed lusts will entertain the sinner with stories of his old pranks and pleasures In a word these inward lusts of the heart have nothing but the conscience of a Deity to quell them Other sins put the sinner to shame before men and as some that believed on Christ durst not confesse him openly because they loved the praise of men so there are sinners who are kept from vouching their lusts openly for the same tendernesse to their reputation but here is no feare of that if they can but forget that heaven sees
concerning some truth or promise but then hath a spiritual eye which the Christlesse person wants and so is darknesse And this darknesse cannot be enlightened but by its union with Christ which is exprest in the following phrase But now are ye light in the Lord. As the eye of the body once put out can never be restored by the creatures Art so neither can the spiritual eye lost by Adams sin be restored by the teaching of men or Angels It is one of the diseases which Christ came to cure Luke 4.18 'T is true there is a light of reason which is imparted to every man by nature but this light is darknesse compared with the Saints As the night is dark to the day even when the moon is in its full glory This night-light of Reason may save a person from some ditch or pond great and broad sins but it will never help him to escape the more secret corruptions which the Saint sees like atomes in the beams of spiritual knowledge There is such curious work the creature is to do which cannot be wrought by candle-light of natural knowledge Nay more where the common illumination of the Spirit is superadded to this light of nature yet that is darknesse compar'd with the sanctifying knowledge of a renewed soule which doth both discover spiritual truths and warme the heart at the same time with the love of truth having like the Sun a prolifical and quickening vertue which the other wants so that the heart lies under such common illuminations cold and dead He hath no more strength to resist Satan then if he knew not the command whereas the Christians knowledge even when taken Prisoner by a temptation pursues and brings back the soul as Abraham his Nephew out of the enemies hands which hints the third Thirdly the Christlesse state is a state of impotency Rom. 5. When we were without strength Christ came to die for the ungodly What can a disarm'd people that have not sword or gun do to shake off the yoke of a conquering enemie Such a power hath Satan over the soule Luke 11.21 he is call'd the strong man that keeps the soule as his Palace If he hath no disturbance from heaven he need feare no mutiny within he keeps all in peace there What the Spirit of God doth in a Saint that in a manner doth Satan in a sinner The Spirit fills the heart of his with love joy holy desires feares so Satan fills the sinners heart with pride lust lying Why hath Satan filled thy heart saith Peter And thus fill'd with Satan as the drunkard with wine he is not his own man but Satans slave Fourthly the state of unregeneracy is a state of friendship with sin and Satan If it be enmity against God as it is then friendship with Satan Now it will be hard to make that soule fight in earnest against his friend Is Satan divided will the devil within fight against the devil without Satan in the heart shut out Satan at the door sometimes indeed there appears a scuffle between Satan and a carnal heart but it is a meer cheat like the fighting of two fencers on a stage you would think at first they were in earnest but observing how wary they are where they hit one another you may soon know they do not mean to kill and that which puts all out of doubt when the prize is done you shall see them making merry together with what they have got of their Spectatours which was all they fought for when a carnal heart makes the greatest bussle against sin by complaining of it or praying against it follow him but off the stage of duty where he hath gained the reputation of a Saint the prize he fights for and you shall see them sit as friendly together in a corner as ever Vse 1 First this takes away the wonder of Satans great Conquests in the world when you look abroad and see his vast Empire and what a little spot of ground contains Christs subjects what heaps of precious souls lie prostrate under this foot of pride and what a little regiment of Saints march under Christs banner perhaps the strangenesse of the thing may make you ask Is hell stronger then heaven the armes of Satan more victorious then the Crosse of Christ No such matter Consider but this one thing and you will wonder that Christ hath any to follow him rather then that he hath so few Satan findes the world unarm'd when the Prince of the world comes he findes nothing to oppose the whole soule is in a disposition to yield at first summons and if Conscience Governour for God in the creature stands out a while all the other powers as will and affections are in a discontent like mutinous souldiers in a garrison who never rest till they have brought over conscience to yield or against its command set open the City gate to the enemie and so deliver traiterously their conscience prisoner to their lusts But when Christ comes to demand the soul he meets a scornful answer Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of the most High We will not have this man to reign over us With one consent they vote against him and rise up as the Philistines against Samson whom they call'd the Destroyer of the countrey Ye will not come unto me saith Christ O how true are poor sinners to the devils trust They will not deliver the Castle they hold for Satan till fired over their heads Pharaoh opposeth Moses on one hand and Israel cry out upon him on the other Such measure hath Christ both at Satans hand and the sinners That which lessened Alexanders Conquests was he overcame a people buried in barbarisme without armes or discipline of war and that which heightened Cesars though not so many he overcame a people more warlike and furnish't Satans victories are of poor ignorant gracelesse souls who have neither armes nor hands nor hearts to oppose but when he assaults a Saint then he sits down before a city with gates and bars and ever riseth with shame unable to take the weakest hold to pluck the weakest Saint out of Christs hands but Christ brings souls out of his dominion with a high hand in spite of all the force and fury of hell which like Pharaoh and his hoste pursue them Vse 2 Secondly this gives us a reason why the devil hath so great a spite against the Gospel Why because this opens a magazine of armes and furniture for the soule the Word is that Tower of David Cant. 4.4 built for an Armourie wherein there hang a thousand bucklers all the shields of mighty men Hence the Saints have ever had their armour and the preaching of the Gospel unlocks it As Gospel-light ascends so Satans shady Kingdom of darknesse vanisheth Rev. 14.6 there one Angel comes forth to preach the everlasting Gospel and another Angel followes at his back verse 8. crying Victoria Babylon is fallen is fallen The very first
Indeed there is not such a suitableness between the Angelical nature mans as there is between one man another and therefore he cannot make his approaches so familiarly to us as man can do to man and here as in other things he is Gods Ape you know this very reason was given why the Israelites desired God might not speak to them but Moses and God liked the motion They have well said saith God I will raise up a Prophet from the midst of them like unto thee Thus Satan he useth the Ministery of men like our selves by which as he becomes more familiar so he is lesse suspected while Joab-like he gets another to do his errand Now 't is not any will serve his turne for this employment he is very choice in his instruments he pitcheth on 't is not every souldier is fit for an Ambassage to treat with an enemy to betray a town and the like Satan considers who can do his work to his greatest advantage and in this he is unlike God who is not at all choice in his instruments because he needs none and is able to do as well with one as another but Satans power being finite he must patch up the defect of the Lions skin with the Foxes Now the persons Satan aimes at for his instruments are chiefly of foure sorts First persons of place and power Secondly persons of parts and policie Thirdly persons of holinesse or at least reputed so Fourthly persons of relation and interest First Satan makes choice of persons of place and power These are either in the Common-wealth or Church if he can he will secure the Throne and the Pulpit as the two Forts that command the whole line First men of power in the Common-wealth 't is his old trick to be tampering with such A Prince a Ruler may stand for a thousand therefore saith Paul to Elymas when he would have turned the Deputy from the faith O full of all subtilty thou child of the devil Asts 13.8 As if he had said you have learn't this of your father the devil to haunt the Courts of Princes winde into the favour of great ones There it a double policy Satan hath in gaining such to his side First none have such advantage to draw others to their way corrupt the Captan and 't is hard if he bring not off his troop with him When the Princes men of renown in their tribes stood up with Corah presently a multitude are drawn into the conspiracy Let Jeroboam set up idolatry and Israel is soon in a snare it 's said the people willingly walked after his Commandment Hos 5.11 Secondly should the sin stay at Court and the infection go no further yet the sin of such a one though a good man may cost a whole Kingdom dear 1 Chron. 21.1 Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number the people He owed Israel a spite and he payes them home in their Kings sin which drop't in a fearful plague upon their heads Secondly such as are in place and office in the Church No such way to infect the whole town as to poison the Cistern at which they draw their water who shall perswade Ahab that he may go to Ramoth-Gilead and fall Satan can tell I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his Prophets 2 Kings 22.21 How shall the profane be hardened in their sins let the Preacher sowe pillows under their elbowes and cry peace peace and it 's done How may the worship of God come to be neglected let Hophni and Phineas be but scandalous in their lives and many both good and bad will abhor the sacrifice of the Lord. Secondly he employeth persons of parts and policy if any hath more pregnancy of wit and depth of reason then other he is the man Satan looks upon for his service and so far he prevails that very few of this rank are found among Christs disciples Not many wise Indeed God will not have his Kingdome either in the heart or in the world maintained by carnal policy 't is a Gospel-command that we walk in godly simplicity sine plicis though the Serpent can shrink up into his folds and appear what he is not yet it doth not become the Saints to juggle or shuffle with God or men and truly when any of them have made use of the Serpents subtilty it hath not followed their hand Jacob got the blessing by a wile but he might have had it cheaper with plain dealing Abraham and Sarah both dissemble to Abimelech God discovers their sin and reproves them for it by the mouth of an Heathen Asa out of State-policy joynes league with Syria yea pawns the vessels of the Sanctuary and all for help and what comes of all this Herein thou hast done foolishly saith God from henceforth thou shalt have wars Sinful policy shall not long thrive in the Saints hands well but Satan will not out of his way he enquires for the subtilest-pated men a Balaam Achitophâ—l Haman Sanballat men admired for their counsel and deep plots these are for his turne A wicked cause needs a smooth Oratour bad ware a pleasing Chapman as in particular his instruments he useth to seduce and corrupt the mindes of men are commonly subtile-pated men such that if it were possible should deceive the very elect This made the Apostle so jealous of the Corinthians whom he had espoused to Christ lest as Eve by the Serpent so their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ He must be a cunning devil indeed that can draw off the Spouses love from her beloved yet there is such a witchery in Satans instruments that many have been brought to flie on the face of those truths and ordinances yea Christ himself to whom they have seemed espoused formerly Now in three particulars this sort of Satans instruments shew their Masters subtilty First in aspersing the good name of the sincere messengers of Christ Satans old trick to raise his credit upon the ruined reputation of Christs faithful servants Thus he taught Corah Dathan and Abiram to charge Moses and Aaron Ye take too much upon you seeing all the Congregation is holy they would make the people believe that it was the pride of their heart to claim a monopoly to themselves as if none but Aaron and his fraternity were holy enough to offer incense and by this subtile practice they seduced for a while in a manner the whole Congregation to their side So the lying Prophets that were Satans Knights of the post to Ahab fell foul on good Micaiah Our Saviour himself was no better handled by the Pharisees and their Confederates and Paul the chief of the Apostles his Ministery undermined and his reputation blasted by false teachers as if he had been some weak sorry Preacher His bodily presence is weak say they and his speech contemptible and is this your admired man Secondly in covering their impostures and errours with
an All-wise God that cannot be out-witted and therefore will in the end but pay the workmen in greater damnation The foolishnesse of God is wiser then men yea then the wisdome of men and devils that is the meanes and instruments which God opposeth Satan withal What weaker then a Sermon who sillier then the Saints in the account of the wise world yet God is wiser in a weak Sermon then Satan is in his deep plots wherein the State-heads of a whole Conclave of profound Cardinals are knock't together wiser in his simple ones then Satan in his Achitophels and Sanballats and truly God chooseth on purpose to defeat the policies of hell and earth by these that he may put such to greater shame 1 Cor. 1.21 How is the great Scholar ashamed to be baffled by a plain Countrey-mans argument thus God calls forth Job to wrestle with Satan and his Seconds for such his three friends shewed themselves in taking the devils part and sure he is not able to hold up the cudgels against the fencing-Master who is beaten by one of the scholars God sits laughing while hell and earth sit plotting Psal 2.4 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty he breaketh their studied thoughts and plots as the words import Job 5.12 in one moment pulling down the labours of many yeares policy Indeed as great men keep wilde beasts for game and sport as the fox the boare c. so doth God Satan and his instruments to manifest his wisdom in the taking of them It is observed that the very hunting of some beasts affords not only pleasure to the Hunter but also more sweetnesse to the eater Indeed God by displaying of his wisdome in the pursuit of the Saints enemies doth superadde a sweet relish to their deliverances at last He brake the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gave him to be meat to his people After he had hunted Pharaoh out of all his formes and burrowes now he breaks the very braines of all his plots and serves him up to his people with the garnishment of his wisdom and power about CHAP. IX An Account is given how the All-wise God doth out-wit the devil in his tempting of Saints to sin wherein are laid down the ends Satan propounds and how he is prevented in them all with the gracious issue that God puts to these his temptations Quest But how doth God defeat Satan and out-wit his wiles in tempting his Saints Answ This God doth by accomplishing his own gracious ends for the good and comfort of his people out of those temptations from which Satan designes their ruine this is the noblest kinde of Conquest to beat back the devils weapon to the wounding of his own head yea to cut it off with the devils own sword thus God sets the devil to catch the devil and layes as it were his own counsels under Satans wings and makes him hatch them Thus the Patriarchs help't to fulfil Josephs dream while they are thinking to rid their hands of him To instance in a few particulars SECT I. First Satan by his temptations aimes at the defiling of the Christians conscience and disfiguring that beautiful face of Gods image which is engraven with holinesse in the Christians bosome he is an unclean spirit himself and would have them such that he might glory in their shame but God out-wits him for he turneth the temptations of Satan to sin to the purging them from sinne they are the black soap with which God washeth his Saints white First God useth the temptations of Satan to one sin as a preventive against another to Pauls thorn in the flesh to prevent his pride God sends Satan to assault Paul on that side where he is strong that in the mean time he may fortifie him where he is weak Thus Satan is befool'd as sometimes we see an army sitting down before a town where it wasts its strength to no purpose and in the mean time gives the enemy an advantage to recruit and all this by the counsel of some Hushai that is a secret friend to the contrary side God who is the Saints true friend sits in the devils Councel and over-rules proceedings there to the Saints advantage He suffers the devil to annoy the Christian with temptations to blasphemy atheisme and by these together with the troubles of spirit they produce the soule is driven to duty is humbled in the sense of these horrid apparitions in its imagination and secured from abundance of formality and pride which otherwise God saw invading him As in a family some businesse falls out which keeps the Master up later then ordinary and by this the thief who that night intended to rob him is disappointed had not such a soule had his spirit of prayer and diligence kept awake by those afflicting temptations 't is likely Satan might have come as a seducer and taken him napping in security Secondly God purgeth out the very sin Satan tempts to even by his tempting Peter never had such a conquest over his self-confidence never such an establishment of his faith as after his foule fall in the High Priests hall He that was so well perswaded of himself before as to say Though all were offended with Christ yet would not he how modest and humble was he in a few dayes become when he durst not say he loved Christ more then his fellow-brethren to whom before he had preferr'd himself what an undaunted Confessour of Christ and his Gospel doth he prove before Councels and Rulers who even now was dash't out of countenance by a filly maid and all this the product of Satans temptation sanctified unto him Indeed a Saint hath a discovery by his fall what is the prevailing corruption in him so that the temptation doth but stir the humour which the soul having found out hath the greater advantage to evacuate by applying those means and using those ingredients which do purge that malady cum delectu Now the soule sure will call all out against this destroyer Paul had not took such pains to buffet his body had he not found Satan knocking at that door Thirdly God useth these temptations for the advancing of the whole work of grace in the heart One spot occasions the whole garment to be washed David overcome with one sinne renewes his repentance for all Psal 51. A good husband when he seeth it rain in at one place sends for the Workman to look over all the house This indeed differenceth a sincere heart from an hypocrite whose repentance is partial soft in one plot and hard in another Judas cries out of his treason but not a word of his thievery and hypocrisie The hole was no wider in his conscience then where the bullet went in whereas true sorrow for one breaks the heart into shivers for others also SECT II. Secondly Satan by tempting one Saint hath a mischievous design against others either by encouraging them to sin by the example of such a one or discouraging them
of destroying his faith which he aimes at he is the occasion of the refining of it and thereby adding to its strength Secondly the love of tempted Saints is enkindled to Christ by their temptations and foiles in their temptations Possibly in the fit there may seem a damp upon their love as when water is first sprinkled upon the fire but when the Conflict is a little over and the Christian comes to himself his love to Christ will break out like a vehement flame First the shame and sorrow which a gracious soule must needs feele in his bosome for his sinful miscarriage while under the temptation will provoke him to expresse his love to Christ above others as is sweetly set forth in the Spouse who when the cold fit of her distemper was off and the temptation over bestirs her to purpose her lazy sicknesse is turned to love-sicknesse she findes it as hard now to sit as she did before to rise she can rest in no place out of her Beloveds sight but runs and asks every one she meets for him and whence came all this vehemency of her zeale all occasioned by her undutiful carriage to her husband she parted so unkindly with him that bethinking what she had done away she goes to make her peace If sins committed in unregeneracy have such a force upon a gracious soule that the thought of them though pardoned will still break and melt the heart into sorrow as we see in Magdalen and prick on to shew zeal for God above others as in Paul how much more will the sins of a Saint who after sweet acquaintance with Jesus Christ lifts up the heel against that bosome where he hath layen affect yea dissolve the heart as into so many drops of water and that sorrow provoke him to serve God at a higher rate then others No childe so dutiful in all the family as he who is return'd from his rebellion Again secondly as his own shame so the experience which such a one hath of Christs love above others will encrease his love Christs love is fuel to ours Ex iisdem nutrimur quibus constamus as it gives its being so it affords growth It is both Mother and Nurse to our love The more Christ puts forth his love the more heat our love gets and next to Christs dying love none greater then his succouring love in temptation The Mother never hath such advantage to shew her affection to her childe as when in distresse sick poor or imprisoned so neither hath Christ to his children as when tempted yea worsted by temptation When his children lie in Satans prison bleeding under the wounds of their consciences this is the season he takes to give an experiment of his tender heart in pitying his faithfulnesse in praying for them his mindfulnesse in sending succour to them yea his dear love in visiting them by his comforting Spirit Now when the soul hath got off some great temptation and reades the whole history thereof together wherein he findes what his own weaknesse was to resist Satan nay his unfaithfulnesse in complying with Satan which might have provok't Christ to leave him to the fury of Satan now to see both his folly pardoned and ruine graciously prevented and that by no other hand but Christs coming in to his rescue as Abishai to David when that gyant thought to have flaine him This must needs exceedingly endear Christ to the soul At the reading of such records the Christian cannot but enquire as Ahashuerus concerning Mordecai who by discovering a treason had saved the Kings life what honour hath been done to his sweet Saviour for all this And thus Jesus Christ whom Satan thought to bring out of the soules favour and liking comes in the end to sit higher and surer in the Saints affections then ever CHAP. X. A brief Application of the Point in two Branches Vse 1 THis affords a reason why God suffers his dear children to fall into temptation because he is able to out-shoot Satan in his own bowe and in the thing wherein he thinks to out-wit the Christian to be above him God will not only be admired by his Saints in glory for his love in their salvation but for his wisdom in the way to it The love of God in saving them will be the sweet draught at the marriage-feast and the rare wisdom of God in effecting this as the curious workmanship with which the cup shall be enamel'd Now wisdom appears most in untying knots and wading through difficulties The more crosse wards there are in a businesse the more wisdome to fit a key to the lock to make choice of such means as shall meet with the several turnings in the same On purpose therefore doth God suffer such temptations to intervene that his wisdom may be the more admired in opening all these and leading his Saints that way to glory by which Satan thought to have brought them to hell The Israelites are bid remember all the way that God led them in the wildernesse for fourty yeares Deut. 8.2 The History of these warres Christian will be pleasant to reade in heaven though bloody to fight on earth Moses and Elias talk't with Christ on Tabor an Embleme of the sweet communion which shall passe between Christ and his Saints in glory and what was their talk Luke 9.30 but of his death and sufferings It seems a discourse of our sufferings and temptations are not too low a subject for that blisseful state Indeed this left out would make a blemish in the faire face of Heavens glory Could the damned forget the way they went into hell how oft the Spirit of God was wooing and how far they were overcome by the conviction of it in a word how many turnes and returnes there were in their journey forward and backward what possibilities yea probabilities they had for heaven when on earth were but some hand so kinde as to blot these tormenting passages out of their memories it would ease them wonderfully So were it possible glorified Saints could forget the way wherein they went to glory and the several dangers that interven'd from Satan and their own back-sliding hearts they and their God too would be losers by it I mean in regard of his manifestative glory What is the glory wherein God appears at Zions deliverance those royal garments of salvation that make him so admired of men and Angels but the celebration of all his Attributes according to what every one hath done towards their salvation Now wisdom being that which the creature chiefly glories in and chosen by Satan for his first bait who made Eve believe she should be like God in knowledge and wisdome therefore God to give Satan the more shameful fall gives him leave to use his wits and wiles in tempting and troubling his children in which lies his great advantage over the Saints that so the way to his own Throne where his Wisdome shall at last as well as his mercy sit in
other works of God empty themselves as rivers into this sea losing their names or rather swelling into one of Redemption Had not Satan taken Gods Elect prisoners they would not have gone to heaven with such acclamations of triumph There are three expressions of a great joy in Scripture the joy of a woman after her travel the joy of harvest and the joy of him that divideth the spoil the exultaton of all these is wrought upon a sad ground many a paine and teare it costs the travelling woman many a feare the husbandman perils and wounds the souldier before they come at their joy but at last are paid for all the remembrance of their past sorrows feeding their present joyes Had Christ come and entered into affinity with our nature and return'd peaceably to heaven with his Spouse finding no resistance though this would have been admirable love and that would have afforded the joy of marriage yet this way of carrying his Saints to heaven will greaten the joy as it addes to the nuptial Song the triumph of a Conquerour who hath rescued his Bride out of the hands of Satan as he was leading her to the chambers of hell SECT III. Vse 1 Is Satan such a great Prince try whose subject thou art His Empire is large only a few priviledg'd who are translated into the Kingdome of Gods dear Son even in Christs own territories visible Church I mean where his Name is profest and the Scepter of his Gospel held forth there Satan hath his subjects As Christ had his Saints in Nero's Court so the devil his servants in the outward Court of his visible Church Thou must therefore have something more to exempt thee from his Government then living within the pale and giving an outward conformity to the Ordinances of Christ Satan will yield to this and be no loser As a King lets his Merchants trade to yea live in a forreign Kingdome and while they are there learn the language and observe the customes of the place this breaks not their allegiance nor all that thy loyalty to Satan When a Statute was made in Queen Elizabeths reign that all should come to Church the Papists sent to Rome to know the Popes pleasure he return'd them this answer as 't is said Bid the Catholicks in England give me their heart and let the Queen take the rest His subject thou art whom thou crownest in thy heart and not whom thou flatterest with thy lips But to bring the trial to an issue know thou belongest to one of these and but to one Christ and Satan divide the whole world Christ will bear no equal and Satan no Superiour and therefore hold in with both thou canst not Now if thou sayest Christ be thy Prince answer to these Interrogatories First how came he into the throne Satan had once the quiet possession of thy heart thou wast by birth as the rest of thy neighbours Satans vassal yea hast oft vouch't him in the course of thy life to be thy Liege Lord how then comes this great change Satan surely would not of his own accord resigne his Crown and Scepter to Christ and for thy self thou wert neither willing to renounce nor able to resist his power this then must only be the fruit of Christs victorious armes whom God hath exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour Asts 5.31 Speak therefore hath Christ come to thee as once Abraham to Lot when prisoner to Kederlaomer rescuing thee out of Satans hands as he was leading thee in chains of lust to hell Didst thou ever hear a voice from heaven in the Ministery of the Word calling out to thee as once to Saul so as to lay thee at Gods foot and make thee face about for heaven to strike thee blinde in thine own apprehension who before hadst a good opinion of thy state to tame and meeken thee so as how thou art willing to be led by the hand of a childe after Christ Did ever Christ come to thee as the Angel to Peter in prison rowsing thee up and not only causing the chaines of darknesse and stupidity to fall off thy minde and conscience but make thee obedient also that the iron gate of thy Will hath opened to Christ before he left thee then thou hast something to say for thy freedome But if in all this I be a Barbarian and the language I speak be strange thou knowest no such work to have passed upon thy spirit then thou art yet in thy old prison can there be a change of Government in a Nation by a Conquerour that invades it and the subjects not heare of this one King unthroned and another crowned in thy soule and thou hear no scuffle all this while The regenerating Spirit is compared to the winde John 3.8 His first attempts on the soule may be so secret that the creature knows not whence they come or whither they tend but before he hath done the sound will be heard throughout the soule so as it cannot but see a great change in it self and say I that was blinde now I see I that was as hard as ice now relenting for sin now my heart gives I can melt and mourne for it I that was well enough without a Christ yea did wonder what others saw in him to make such a do for him now have changed my note with the Daughters of Jerusalem and for what is your Beloved as I scornfully have ask't I have learn't to ask where he is that I might seek him with you O soul canst thou say 't is thus with thee thou mayest know who has been here no lesse then Christ who by his victorious Spirit hath translated thee from Satans power into his own sweet Kingdom Secondly whose law doest thou freely subject thy self unto the lawes of these Princes are as contrary as their natures the one a law of sin Rom. 8.2 the other a law of holinesse Rom. 7.12 and therefore if sin hath not so far bereav'd thee of thy wits as not to know sin from holinesse thou mayest except resolve to cheat thy own soul soon be resolved confesse therefore and give glory to God to which of these laws doth thy soule set its seal When Satan sendes out his Proclamation and bids sinner goe set thy foot upon such a command of God observe what is thy behaviour doest thou yield thy self as Paul phraseth it Rom. 6.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a metaphor from Princes servants or others who are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to present themselves before their Lord as ready and at hand to do their pleasure by which the Apostle elegantly describes the forwardnesse of the sinners heart to come to Satans foot when knock or call Now doth thy soule go out thus to meet thy lust as Aaron his brother glad to see its face in an occasion thou art not brought over to sin with much ado but thou likest the command Transgresse at Gilgal saith God this liketh you well Hos 4.5 As
while the Saint goes in his rags Princes are not more careful to oblige their Courtiers with pensions and preferments then the devil is to gratifie his followers He hath his rewards also All this will I give thee Am not I able to promote thee saith Balak to Balaam O 't is strange and yet not strange considering the degeneracy of mans nature to see how Satan carries sinners after him with this golden hook Let him but present such a bait as honour pelfe or pleasure and their hearts skip after it as a dog would at a crust he makes them sin for a morsel of bread O the naughty heart of man loves the wages of unrighteousnesse which the devil promiseth so dearly that it feares not the dreadful wages which the great God threatens As sometimes you shall see a Spaniel so greedy of a bone that he 'll leap into the very river for it if you throw it thither and by that time he comes with much ado thither 't is sunk and he gets nothing but a mouth-full of water for his pains Thus sinners will after their desired pleasures honours and profits swimming through the very threatenings of the Word to them and sometimes they lose even what they gaped for here Thus God kept Balaam as Balak told him from honour Numb 24.11 But however they speed here they are sure to lose themselves everlastingly without repentance They that are resolved they will have these things are the men that fall into the devils snare and are led into those foolish and hurtful lusts which will drown them in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 O poor sinners were it not wisdom before you truck with the devil to enquire what title he can give you to these goodly vanities will he settle them as a free estate upon you can he secure your bargain and keep you from suits of law or is he able to put two lives into the purchase that when you die you may not be left destitute in another world Alas poor wretches you shall ere long see what a cheat he hath put on you from whom you are like to have nought but Caveat emptor Let the buyer look to that yea this great Prince that is so brag to tell what he will give you must down himself and a sad Prince must needs make a sad Court O what howling will there then be of Satan and his vassals together O but saith the sinner the pleasures and honours sin and Satan offer are present and that which Christ promiseth we must stay for This indeed is that which takes most Demas saith Paul forsook me having loved this present world 2 Tim. 4.10 'T is present indeed sinners for you cannot say it will be yours the next moment your present felicity is going and the Saints though future is coming never to go and who for a gulpe of pottage and sensual enjoyments at present would part with a reversion of such a Kingdom except thou art of his minde who thought he had nothing but what he had swallowed down his throat Haec habeo quae edi quaeque exaturata libido Hausit which Cicero could say was more fit to be writ on an oxes grave then a mans Vile wretch that thinkest 't is not better to deale with God for time then the devil for ready pay Tertullian wonders at the folly of the Romanes ambition who would endure all manner of hardship in field and fight for no other thing but to obtain at last the honour to be Consul which he calls unius anni volaticum gaudium a joy that flies away at the years end But O what desperate madnesse is it of sinners then not to endure a little hardship here but entaile on themselves the eternal wrath of God hereafter for the short feast and running banquet their lusts entertain them here withal which often is not gaudium unius horae a joy that lasts an houre Vse 2 Secondly let this encourage thee O Christian in thy conflict with Satan the skirmish may be sharp but it cannot be long Let him tempt thee and his wicked instruments trounce thee 't is but a little while and thou shalt be rid of both their evill neighbourhoods The cloud while it drops is rolling over thy head and then comes faire weather an eternal Sunshine of glory Canst thou not watch with Christ one houre or two keep the field a few dayes if yield thou art undone for ever persevere but while the battel is over and thine enemy shall never rally more bid faith look through the Key-hole of the promise and tell thee what it sees there laid up for him that overcomes bid it listen and tell thee whether it cannot hear the shout of those crowned Saints as of those that are dividing the spoile and receiving the reward of all their services and sufferings here on earth and doest thou stand on the other side afraid to wet thy foot with those sufferings and temptations which like a little plash of water run between thee and glory SECT II. Secondly the devils Empire is confined to place as well as time he is the Ruler of this lower world not of the heavenly The highest the devil can go is the aire call'd the Prince thereof as being the utmost marches of his Empire he hath nothing to do with the upper world Heaven feares no devil and therefore its gates stand alwayes open never durst this fiend look into that holy place since he was first expell'd but rangeth to and fro here below as a vagabond creature excommunicated the presence of God doing what mischief he can to Saints in their way to heaven but is not this matter of great joy that Satan hath no power there where the Saints happinesse lies What hast thou Christian which thou needest value that is not there Thy Christ is there and if thou lovest him thy heart also which lives in the bosome of its beloved Thy friends and kindred in Christ are there or expected with whom thou shalt have a merry meeting in thy Fathers house notwithstanding the snare on Tabor the plots of Satan which lie in the way O friends get a title to that Kingdome and you are above the flight of this Kite This made Job a happy man indeed who when the devil had plundered him to his skin and worried him almost out of that too could then vouch Christ in the face of death and devils to be his Redeemer whom he should with those eyes that now stood full with brinish teares behold and that for himself as his own portion It is sad with him indeed who is robbed of all he is worth at once but this can never be said of a Saint The devil took away Jobs purse as I may say which put him into some straits but he had a God in Heaven that put him into stock again Some spending money thou hast at present in thy purse in the activity of thy faith the evidence of thy son-ship and comfort
prisoner I cannot shake off my fetters and set my self at liberty to come unto Christ Well poor soul canst thou groan heartily under thy bondage then for thy comfort know thy deliverance is at the door he that heard the cry of Israel in Egypt will hear thine also yea come and save thee out of the hands of thy lusts He will not as some who entangle thy affections by making love to thee and then give over the suit and come at thee no more If Christ has won thy heart he 'll be true to thee and be at all the cost to bring thee out of thy prison-house also yea take the paines to come for thee himselfe and bring with him these wedding-garments in which he will carry thee from thy prison to his Fathers house with joy where thou shalt live not only as a subject under his Law but as a Bride in the bosome of his love and what can be added to thy happinesse more when thy Prince is thy husband and that such a Prince to whom all other are vassals even the Prince of the world himself and yet so gracious that his Majesty hinders not his familiar converse with thee a poor creature but addes to the condescent thereof therefore God chooseth to mixe names of greatnesse and relation together the one to sweeten the other Thy Maker is thy husband thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel The God of the whole earth shall he be called Isa 54.5 And to usher in those promises with titles of greatest dread and terrour to the creature that hold forth the greatest condescensions of love How can God stoop lower then to come and dwell with a poor humble soule which is more then if he had said such a one should dwell with him for a beggar to live at Court is not so much as the King to dwell with him in this cottage Yet this promise is usher'd in with the most magnificent titles Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit Isa 57.15 and why such titles but to take away the feares which his Saints are prone to take up from them Will the high and lofty One saith the humble soule look on me a poor worme will the Holy God come near such an unclean creature saith the contrite one Isaiah himself cried he was undone at the sight of God and this attribute proclaim'd before him Isa 6. Now God prefixeth these that the creature may know his Majesty and holinesse which seems so terrible to us are no prejudice to his love yea so gracious a Prince is thy husband that he delights rather his Saints should call him by names of love then state Thou shalt call me Ishi and shalt no more call me Baali Hos 2.16 that is my Husband not my Lord. SECT IV. The second point follows Ignorance above other sins enslaves a soule to Satan a knowing man may be his slave but an ignorant one can be no other Knowledge doth not make the heart good but it is impossible that without knowledge it should be good There are some sins which an ignorant person cannot commit there are more which he cannot but commit Knowledge is the Key Luke 11.52 Christ the door John 15. Christ opens Heaven Knowledge opens Christ In three particulars the Point will appear more fully First ignorance opens a doore for sinne to enter Secondly as ignorance lets sin in so it locks it up in the soule and the soule in it Thirdly as it locks it up so it shuts all meanes of help out First Ignorance opens the door for Satan to enter in with his troops of lusts where the watch is blinde the City is soon taken an ignorant man sins and like drunken Lot he knowes not when the tempter comes nor when he goes he is like a man that walks in his sleep knowes not where he is nor what he does Father forgive them said Christ they know not what they do The Apostle 1 Cor. 15. having reproved the sensuality of some verse 32. who made the consideration of death by which others are awed from sinne a provocative to sinne Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die he gives an account of this absurd reasoning All have not the knowledge of God An ignorant person is a man in shape and a beast in heart There is no knowledge in the land saith the Prophet Hosea 4.2 and see what a regiment followes this blinde Captain swearing lying killing stealing and what not We reade 2 Tim. 3.5 of some laden with sins here are trees full of bitter fruit and what dung shall we finde at the root that makes them so fruitfull but ignorance silly women and such who never come to the knowledge of the truth Secondly ignorance as it lets sin in so it locks it up and the soule in it such a one lies in Satans inner dungeon where no light of conviction comes darknesse inclines to sleep a blinde minde and a drowsie conscience go together When the storme arose the mariners who were awake fell a praying to their God but the sleeper feares nothing Ignorance layes the soule asleep under the hatches of stupidity God hath planted in the beast a natural feare of that which threatens hurt to it Go to thrust a beast into a pit and it hangs back nature shewes its abhorrency Man being of a nobler nature and subject to more dangers God hath set a double guard on him as a natural feare of danger so a natural shame that covers the face at the doing of any unworthy action Now an ignorant man hath slipt from both these his Keepers he sins and blusheth not because he knowes not his guilt he wants that Magistrate within which should put him to shame neither is he afraid because he knowes not his danger and therefore he playes with his sin as the childe with the waves that by and by will swallow him up Conscience is Gods alarm to call the sinner up It doth not alwayes ring in his eare that hath knowledge being usually set by God to go off at some special houre when God is speaking in an Ordinance or striking in a Providence but in an ignorant soule this is silent The Clock cannot go when the weights are taken off Conscience is only a witnesse to what it knows Thirdly ignorance shuts out the means of recovery Friends and Ministers yea Christ himself stands without and cannot help the creature as such threatenings and promises all of no use he feares not the one he desires not the other because he knows neither Heaven-way cannot be found in the dark and therefore the first thing God doth is to spring in with a light and let the creature know where he is and what the way is to get out of his prison-house without which all attempts to escape are in vain There is some shimmering
the wickednesse of his heart in this glasse of the devils nature and he will see himself as a great debtor to the mercy of God as Manasses or the worst of sinners as in pardoning so in preventing the same cursed nature with theirs before it gave fire on God with those bloody sinnes which they committed That thou didst not act such outragious sinnes thou art beholden to Gods gracious surprize and not the goodnesse of thy nature which hath the devils stamp on it for which God might have crusht thee as we do the brood of Serpents before they sting knowing what they will do in time Who will say that Faux suffered unjustly because the Parliament was not blown up it was enough that the materials for that Massacre were provided and he taken there with match and fire about him ready to lay the traine and canst thou say when God first took hold on thee that thou had'st not those weapons of rebellion about thee a nature fully charged with enmity against God which in time would have made its own report of what for present lay like unfired ponder silent in thy bosome O Christian think of this and be humbled for thy villainous nature and say Blessed be God that sent his Spirit and grace so timely to stay thy hand as Abigail to David while thy nature meditated nothing but warre against God and his laws Vse 3 Again Thirdly are the devils so wickedly malicious against God himself O Sirs take the right notion of sinne and you will hate it The reason why we are so easily perswaded to sinne is because we understand not the bottome of his designe in drawing a creature to sinne It is with men in sinning as it is with Armies in fighting Captains beat their drummes for Voluntiers and promise all that list pay and plunder and this makes them come trowling in but few consider what the ground of the Warre is against whom or for what Satan enticeth to sinne and give golden promises what they shall have in his service with which silly souls are won but how few ask their souls Whom do I sinne against what is the devils designe in drawing me to sinne Shall I tell thee dost thou think 't is thy pleasure or profit he desires in thy sinning alas he means nothing lesse he hath greater plots in his head then so He hath by his Apostasie proclaim'd warre against God and he brings thee by sinning to espouse his quarrel and to jeopard the life of thy soul in defence of his pride and lust which that he may do he cares no more for the damnation of thy soul then the great Turk doth to see a company of his slaves cut off for the carrying on of his designe in a siege And darest thou venture to go into the field upon his quarrel against God O Earth tremble thou at the presence of the Lord. This bloody Joab sets thee where never any came off alive O stand not where Gods bullets fly throw down thy armes or thou art a dead man Whatever others do O ye Saints abhorre the thoughts of sinning willingly which when you do you help the devil against God and what more unnatural then for a childe to be seen in armes against his father CHAP. VII Of Satans plot to defile the Christians spirit with heart-sinnes The second Point followes THat these wicked Spirits do chiefly annoy the Saints with and provoke them to spiritual sinnes Sinnes may be called spiritual upon a double account either from the subject wherein they are acted or from the object about which they are conversant First in regard of the subject when the spirit or heart is the stage whereon sinne is acted this is a spiritual sinne such are all impure thoughts vile affections and desires though the object be fleshly lust yet are spiritual sinnes because they are purely acts of the soul and spirit and break not forth unto the outward man Secondly in regard of the object when that is spiritual and not carnal such as are idolatry errour spiritual pride unbelief c. both which Paul calls the filthinesse of the spirit and distinguisheth them from filthinesse of the flesh 2 Cor. 7.1 SECT I. First of the first Satan labours what he can to provoke the Christian to heart-sinnes to stirre up and foment these inward motions of sinne in the Christians bosome hence it is he can go about no duty but these his Impes I may call them haunt him one motion or other darts in to interrupt him as Paul tells us of himselfe When he would do good evil was present with him if a Christian should turne back when ever these crosse the way of him he should never go on his journey to heaven It is the chief game the devil hath left to play against the children of God now his field-army is broken and his commanding power taken away which he had over them to come out of these his holds where he lies sculking and fall upon their rear with these suggestions He knows his credit now is not so great with the soul as when it was his slave then no drudgery work was so base that it would not do at his command but now the soul is out of his bondage and he must not think to command anothers servant as his own No all he can do is to watch the fittest season when the Christian least suspects and then to present some sinful motion handsomely drest up to the eye of the soul that the Christian may before he is aware take this brat up and dandle it in his thoughts till at last he makes it his own by embracing it and this he knowes will defile the soul and may be this boy sent in at the window may open the door to let in a greater thief or if he should not so prevaile yet the guilt of these heart-sinnes yea their very neighbour-hood will be a sad vexation to a gracious heart whose nature is so pure that it abhorres all filthinesse so that to be haunted with such motions is as if a living man should be chain'd to a stinking carcase that where ever he goes he must draw that after him and whose love is so dear to Christ that it cannot bear the company of those thoughts without amazement and horrour which are so contrary and abusive to his beloved This makes Satan so desirous to be ever raking in the unregenerate part that as a dunghil stirr'd it may offend them both with the noisome streames which arise from it SECT II. Vse 1 First let this be for trial of thy spiritual state What entertainment findes Satan when he comes with these spirituals of wickednesse and solicites thee to dwell on them canst thou dispense with the filthinesse of thy spirit so thy hands be clean or dost thou wrestle against these heart-sinnes as well as others I do not ask whether such guests come within thy door for the worst of sinnes may be found in the
sorrow CHAP. IX Of Pride of Gifts and how Satan tempts the Christian thereto THe second spiritual wickednesse which Satan provokes unto especially the Saint is spiritual pride This was the sin made him of a blessed Angel a cursed devil and as it was his personal sin so he chiefly labours to derive it to the sons of men and he so far prevailed on our first Parents that ever since this sin hath and doth claim a kinde of regency in the heart making use both of bad and good to draw her chariot First of evil Pride enters into the labours of other sins they do but work to make her brave as subjects to uphold the state and grandure of their Prince Thus you shall see some drudge and droile cheat cosen oppresse and what mean they O 't is to get an estate to maintain their pride Others fawn and flatter lie dissemble and for what to help pride up some mount of honour Again it maketh use of that which is good it can work with Gods own tooles his Ordinances by which the holy Spirit advanceth his Kingdom of grace in the hearts of his Saints These often are prostituted to pride A man may be very zealous in prayer and painful in preaching and all the while pride is the Master whom he serves though in Gods livery It can take Sanctuary in the holiest actions and hide it self under the skirt of vertue it self Thus while a man is exercising his charity pride may be the idol in secret for which he lavisheth out his gold so freely It is hard starving this sin because there is nothing almost but it can live on nothing so base that a proud heart will not be lift up with and nothing so sacred but it will profane even dare to drink in the bowles of the Sanctuary nay rather then starve it will feed on the carcases of other sins Difficilè valde vitatur peccatum quod ex victoriâ vitiorum nascitur This minion pride will stir up the soule to resist yea in a manner kill some sins that she may boastingly shew the head of them and blow the creature up with the conceit of himself above others as the Pharisee who through pride bragged that he was not as the Publicane so that pride if not look't to will have to do every where and hath a large sphere it moves in Nothing indeed without divine assistance the creature hath or doth but will soon become a prey to this devourer but I am not to handle it in its latitude Pride is either conversant about carnal objects as pride of beauty strength riches and such like or about spiritual the latter we shall speak a little to I confesse for the former possibly a Saint may be catched in them no sin to be slighted yet not so commonly for ordinarily pride is of those perfections which are suitable if not proper to the state and calling we are in thus the Musician he is proud of the skill he hath in his Art by which he excells others of his rank The Scholar though he can play perhaps as well yet is not proud of that but looks on it as beneath him no he is proud of his learning and choice notions and so of others Now the life of a Christian as a Christian is superiour to the life of man as a man and therefore doth not value himself by these which are beneath him but in higher and more raised perfections which suit a Christians calling As a natural man is proud of perfections suitable to his natural estate as honour beauty so the Christian is prone chiefly to be puffed up with perfections suitable to his life I shall name three pride of Gifts pride of Grace pride of Priviledges these are the things which Satan chiefly labours to entangle him in SECT I. First Pride of Gifts By Gifts I mean those supernatural abilities with which the Spirit of God doth enrich and endow the mindes of men for edification of the body of Christ of which gifts the Apostle tells us there is great diversity and all from the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 There is not greater variety of colours and qualities in plants and flowers with which the earth like a carpet of needle-work is variegated fOr the delight and service of man then there is of gifts in the mindes of men natural and spiritual to render them useful to one another both in civil societies and Christian fellowship The Christian as well as man is intended to be a sociable creature and for the better managing this spiritual Common-wealth among Christians God doth wisely and graciously provide and impart gifts suitable to the place every one stands in to his brethren as the vessels are larger or lesse in the body natural according to their place therein Now Satan labours what he can to taint these gifts and fly-blow them with pride in the Christian that so he may spoile the Christians trade and commerce which is mutually maintained by the gifts and graces of one another Pride of gifts hinders the Christians trade at least thriving by their commerce two wayes First pride of gifts is the cause why we do so little good with them to others Secondly why we receive so little good from the gifts of others First pride of gifts hinders the doing of good by them to others and that upon a threefold account First pride diverts a man from aiming at that end so far as pride prevails the man prayes preaches c. rather to be thought good by others then to do good to others rather to enthrone himself then Christ in the opinions and hearts of his hearers Pride carries the man aloft to be admired for the height of his parts and notions and will not suffer him to stoop so low as to speak of plain truths or if he does not plainly he must have some fine lace though on a plain stuffe such a one may tickle the eare but very unlikely to do real good to the soules alas it is not that he attends Secondly if this painted Jezabel of pride be perceived to look out at the window in any exercise whether of preaching prayer or conference it doth beget a disdain in the spirits of those that heare such a one both good and bad 'T is a sin very odious to a gracious heart and oft-times makes the stomack go against the food though good through their abhorrency of that pride they see in the instrument It is indeed their weaknesse but wo to them that by their pride lead them into temptation nay those that are bad and may be in the same kinde like not that in another which they favour in themselves and so prejudiced return as bad as they went Thirdly pride of gifts robs us of Gods blessing in the use of them The humble man may have Satan at his right hand to oppose him but be sure the proud man shall finde God himself there to resist him whenever he goes about any duty
should use him more then themselves And 't is observable that the lusting for flesh broke out among the mixt multitude and baser sort of people Numb 11.4 5. but this of pride and envie took fire in the bosomes of the most eminent for place and Piety O what need then have we poor creatures to watch our hearts when we see such precious servants of God led into temptation The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy James 4.5 Our corrupt nature is ever putting on to this sin 'T is as hard to keep our hearts and this sin asunder as it is to hinder two lovers from meeting together Thatch is not more ready to be fired with every flash of lightening then the heart to be kindled at the shining forth of any excelling gift or grace in another It was one of the first windows that corrupt nature look't out at a sin that shed the first blood Cains envy hatcht Abels murder Now if ever thou meanest to get the mastery of this sin First call in help from heaven No sooner hath the Apostle set forth how big and teeming full the heart of man is with envy but he shews where a fountain of grace is infinitely exceeding that of lust The Spirit within us lusteth to envie but he giveth more grace v. 5. And therefore sit not down tamely under this sin it is not unconquerable God can give thee more grace then thou hast sin more humility then thou hast pride Be but so humble as cordially to beg his grace and thou shalt not be so proud as wickedly to envy his gifts or grace in others Secondly make this sin as black and ugly as thou canst possibly to thy thought that when it is presented to thee thou mayest abhor it the more Indeed there needs no more then its own face wouldest thou look wishly on it to make thee out of love with it For first this envying of others gifts casts great contempt upon God and that more wayes then one First when thou enviest the gifts of thy brethren thou takest upon thee to teach God what he shall give and to whom as if the great God should take counsel or ask leave of thee before he dispenseth his gifts and darest thou stand to thy own envious thoughts with this interpretation such a one thou findest Christ himself give Matth. 20.15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own as if Christ had said what hath any to do to cavil at my disposure of what is not theirs but mine to give Secondly thou malignest the goodnesse of God It troubles thee it seems that God hath a heart to do good to any besides thy selfe thy eye is evil because his is good Wouldest not thou have God be good you had as good speak out and say you would not have him God he can assoon cease to be God as to be good Thirdly thou art an enemy to the glory of God as thou defacest that which should set it forth Every gift is a ray of divine excellency and as all the beams declare the glory of the Sunne so all the gifts God imparts declare the glory of God Now envy labours to deface and fully the representations of God it hath ever something to disparage the excellency of another withal God shewed Miriam her sin by her punishment she went to bespatter Moses that shone so eminently with the gifts and graces of God and God spits in her sace Numb 12. yea fills her all over with a noisome scab Doest thou cordially wish well to the honour of God why then hangest thou thy head and doest not rather rejoyce to see him glorified by the gifts of others Could a Heathen take it so well when himself was passed by and others chosen to places of honour and government that he said he was glad his City could finde so many more worthy then himself and shall a Christian repine that any are found fit to honour God besides himself Secondly thou wrongest thy brother as thou sinnest against the law of love which obligeth thee to rejoyce in his good as thy owne yea to prefer him in honour before thy self Thou canst not love and envy the same person envy is as contrary to love as the hectical feavourish fire in the body is to the kindly heat of nature Charity envieth not 1 Cor. 13. How can it when it lives where it loves and when thou ceasest to love thou beginnest to hate and kill him and doest not thou tremble to be found a murderer at last Thirdly thou consultest worst of all for thy self God is out of thy reach what thou spittest against heaven thou art sure to have fall on thy own face at last and thy brother whom thou enviest God stands bound to defend him against thy envy because he is maligned for what he hath of God in him Thus did God plead Josephs cause against his envious brethren and Davids against wicked Saul Thy selfe only hast real hurt First thou deprivest thy self of what thou mightest reap from the gifts of others That old saying is true Tolle invidiam mea tua sunt tua mea What thou hast is mine and what I have thine when envy is gone Whereas now like the leach which they say draws out the worst blood thou suckest nothing but what swells thy minde with discontent and is after vomited out in strife and contention O what a sad thing is it that one should go from a precious Sermon a sweet prayer and bring nothing away but a grudge against the instrument God used as we see in the Pharisees and others at Christs preaching Secondly thou robbest thy self of the joy of thy life He that is cruel troubles his own flesh Prov. 11.17 The envious man doth it to purpose he sticks the honour and esteem of others as thornes in his own heart he cannot think of them without paine and anguish and he must needs pine that is ever in paine Thirdly thou throwest thy self into the mouth of temptation thou needest give the devil no greater advantage it is a stock any sin almost will grow upon What will not the Patriarchs do to rid their hands of Joseph whom they envied that very pride which made them disdain the thought of bowing to his sheaf made them stoop far lower even to debase themselves as low as hell and be the devils instruments to sell their dear brother into slavery which might have been worse to him if God had not provided otherwise then if they had slaâ—n him on the place What an impotent minde and cruel did Saul shew against David when once envy had envenomed his heart from that day which he heard David preferr'd in the womens Songs above himself he could never get that sound out of his head but did ever after devote this innocent man to death in his thoughts who had done him no other wrong but in being an instrument to keep the crown on his head by the
of his own unworthinesse and great unrighteousnesse tell him of a pardon alas he is so wrapt up with the thoughts of his own vilenesse that you cannot fasten it upon him What will God ever take such a toad as he is into his bosome discount so many great abominations at once and receive him into his favour that hath been so long in rebellious armes against him he cannot beleeve it no though he heares what Christ hath done and suffered for sin he refuseth to be comforted Little doth the soule think what a bitter root such thoughts spring from thou thinkest thou doest well thus to declaim against thy self and aggravate thy sins indeed thou canst not paint them black enough or entertain too low and base thoughts of thy selfe for them But what wrong hath God and Christ done thee that thou shouldest so unworthily reflect upon the mercy of the one and merit of the other Mayest thou not do this and be tender of the good Name of God also Is there no way to shew thy sense of thy sin except thou asperse thy Saviour Canst thou not charge thy self but thou must condemn God and put Christ and his blood to shame before Satan who triumphs more in this then all thy other sins In a word though thou like a wretch hast undone thy self and damned thy soule by thy sins yet art thou not willing God should have the glory of pardoning them and Christ the honour of procuring the same or art thou like him in the Gospel Luke 16.3 who could not dig and to beg was ashamed Thou canst not earne heaven by thy own righteousnesse and is thy spirit so stout that thou wilt not beg it for Christs sake yea take it at Gods hands who in the Gospel comes a begging to thee and beseecheth thee to be reconciled to him Ah soule who would ever have thought there could have lien such pride under such a modest veile and yet none like it 'T is horrible pride for a beggar to starve rather then take an alms at a rich mans hands a malefactour rather to choose his halter then a pardon from his gracious Princes hand but here is one infinitely surpassing both a soule pining and perishing in sin and yet rejecting the mercy of God and the helpng hand of Christ to save him Though Abigail did not think her self worthy to be Davids wife yet she thought David was worthy of her and therefore she humbly accepted his offer and makes haste to go with the messengers That 's the sweet frame of heart indeed to lie low in the sense of your own vilenesse yet to believe to renounce all conceit of worthinesse in our selves yet not therefore to renounce all hope of mercy but the more speedily to make haste to Christ that wooes us All the pride and unmannerlinesse lies in making Christ stay for us who bids his messengers invite poor sinners to come and tell them all things are ready But may be thou wilt say still it is not pride that keeps thee off but thou canst not believe that ever God will entertain such as thou art Truly thou mendest the matter but little with this either thou keepest some lust in thy heart which thou wilt not part with to obtain the benefit of the promise and then thou art a notorious hypocrite who under such an out-cry for thy sins canst drive a secret trade with hell at the same time or if not so thou doest discover the more pride in that thou darest stand out when thou hast nothing to oppose against the many plain and clear promises of the Gospel but thy peremptory unbelief God bids the wicked forsake his wayes and turne to him and he will abundantly pardon him but thou sayest thou canst not believe this for thy own self Now who speaks the truth One of you two must be the liar either thou must take it with shame to thy self for what thou hast said against God and his promise and that is thy best course or thou must proudly yea blasphemously cast it upon God as every unbeliever doth 1 John 5.10 Nay thou makest him forsworn for God to give poor sinners the greater security in flying for refuge to Christ who is that hope set before them Heb. 6.17 18. hath sworn they should have strong consolation O beatos quorum causâ Deus jurat O miserrimos si nec juranti credamus Tertul. de poenit O happy we for whose sake God puts himself under an oath but O miserable we who will not believe God no not when he sweares Secondly when the soul hath shot the great gulfe and got into a slate of peace and life by closing with Christ yet this mannerly pride Satan makes use of in the Christians daily course of duty and obedience to disturb him and hinder his peace and comfort O how unchearfully yea joylesly do many precious soules passe their dayes If you enquire what is the cause you shall finde all their joy runs out at the crannies of their imperfect duties and weak graces they cannot pray as they would and walk as they desire with evennesse and constancy they see how short they fall of the holy rule in the Word and the patterne which others more eminent in grace do set before them and this though it doth not make them throw the Promises away and quite renounce all hope in Christ yet it begets many sad fears and suspitions yea makes them sit at the feast Christ hath provided and not know whether they may eat or not In a word as it robs them of their joy so Christ of that glory which he should receive from their rejoycing in him I do not say Christian thou oughtest not to mourn for those defects thou findest in thy graces and duties nay thou couldest not approve thy self to be sincere if thou didst not A gracious heart seeing how far short his renewed state forthe present falls of mans primitive holinesse by Creation cannot but weep and mourn as the Jewes to behold the second Temple yet Christian even while the tears are in thy eyes for thy imperfect graces for a soule riseth with his grave-clothes on thou shouldest rejoyce yea triumph over all these thy defects by faith in Christ in whom thou art compleat Col. 1.10 while imperfect in thy selfe Christs presence in the second Temple which the first had not made it though comparatively mean more glorious then the first Hag. 2.9 how much more doth his presence in this spiritual temple of a gracious heart imputing his righteousnesse to cover all its uncomelinesse make the soule glorious above man at first This is a garment for which as Christ saith of the lilie we neither spin nor toile yet Adam in all his created royalty was not so clad as the weakest believer is with this on his soul Now Christian consider well what thou doest while thou sittest languishing under the sense of thy own weaknesses and refusest to rejoyce in Christ and live comfortably
on the sweet priviledges thou art interessed in by thy marriage to him Doest thou not bewray some of this spiritual pride working in thee O if thou couldest pray without wandering walk without limping believe without wavering then thou couldest rejoyce and walk chearfully It seems soule thou stayest to bring the ground of thy comfort with thee and not to receive it purely from Christ O how much better were it if thou wouldest say with David Though my house my heart be not so with God yet he hath made with me a Covenant ordered in all things and sure and this is all my desire all my confidence Christ I oppose to all my sins Christ to all wants he is my all in all and all above all Indeed all those complaints of our wants and weaknesses so far as they withdraw our hearts from relying chearfully on Christ they are but the language of pride hankering after the Covenant of works O 't is hard to forget our mother-tongue which is so natural to us labour therefore to be sensible of it how grievous it is to the Spirit of Christ What would a husband say if his wife in stead of expressing her love to him and delight in him should day and night do nothing but weep and cry to think of her former husband that is dead The Law as a Covenant and Christ are compared to two husbands Rom. 7.4 Ye are become dead to the Law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead Now thy sorrow for the defect of thy own righteousnesse when it hinders thy rejoycing in Christ is but a whining after thy other husband and this Christ cannot but take unkindely that thou art not as well pleased to lie in the bosome of Christ and have thy happinesse from him as with your old husband the Law Secondly a self applauding pride when the heart is secretly lift up so as to promise it self acceptation at Gods hands for any duty or act of obedience it performes and doth not when most assisted go out of his own actings to lay the weight of his expectation entirely upon Christ every such glance of the soules eye is adulterous yea idolatrous If thy heart Christian at any time he secretly enticed as Job saâ—th of another kinde of idolatry or thy mouth doth kisse thy hand that is dote so farre on thy own duties or righteousnesse as to give them this inward worship of thy confidence and trust this is a great iniquity indeed for in this thou deniest the God that is above who hath determined thy faith to another object Thou comest to open heaven-gate with the old key when God hath set on a new lock Doest thou not acknowledge tnat thy first entrance into thy justified state was of pure mercy thou wert justified freely by hit grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 And whom are thou beholden to now thou art reconciled for thy further acceptance in every duty or holy action to thy duty thy obedience thy self or Christ The same Apostle will tell you Rom. 5.2 By whom we have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand If Christ should not lead thee in and all thou doest thou art sure to finde the door shut upon thee there is no more place for desert now thou art gracious then when thou wert gracelesse Rom. 1.17 The righteousnesse of God is revealed from faith to faith for the just shall live by faith We are not only made alive by Christ but we live by Christ faith sucks in continual pardoning assisting comforting mercy from him as the lungs suck in the aire Heaven way is paved with grace and mercy to the end Be exhorted above all to watch against this play of Satan beware thou restest not in thy own righteousnesse thou standest under a tottering wall the very cracks thou seest in thy graces and duties when best bid thee stand off except thou wouldest have them fall on thy head the greatest step to heaven is out of our own doors over our own threshold It hath cost many a man his life when his house on fire a gripplenesse to save some of the stufte which venturing among the flames to preserve they have perished themselves more have lost their soules by thinking to carry some of their own stuffe with them to heaven Such a good work or duty while they like lingring Lot have been loath to leave in point of confidence have themselves perish't O Sirs come out come out leave what is your own in the fire flie to Christ naked he hath cloathing for you better then your own poor to Christ and he hath gold not like thine which will consume and be found drossy in the fire but such as hath in the fiery trial past in Gods righteous judgment for pure and full weight you cannot be found in two places at once choose whether you will be found in your own righteousnesse or in Christs Those who have had more to shew then thy selfe have thrown away all and gone a begging to Christ Reade Pauls Inventory Phil. 3. what he had what he did yet all drosse and losse give him Christ and take the rest who will So Job as holy a man as trod on earth God himself being witnesse yet saith Though I were perfect yet would I not know my own soule I would despise my life He had acknowledged his imperfection before now he makes a supposition indeed quod non est supponendum If I were perfect yet would I not know my own soule I would not entertain any such thoughts as should puffe me up into such a confidence of my holinesse as to make it my plea with God like to our common phrase We say Such a one hath excellent parts but he knows it that is he is proud of it Take heed of knowing thy own grace in this sense thou canst not give a greater wound both to thy grace and comfort then by thus priding thy self in it SECT III. First thy grace cannot thrive so long as thou thus restest on it A legal spirit is no friend to grace nay a bitter enemy against it as appeared by the Pharisees in Christs time Grace comes not by the Law but by Christ thou mayest stand long enough by it before thou gettest any life of grace into thy soule or further life into thy grace If thou wouldest have this thou must set thy self under Christs wings by faith from his Spirit in the Gospel alone comes this kindly natural heat to hatch thy soul to the life of holinesse and increase what thou hast and thou canst not come under Christs wings till thou comest from under the shadow of the other by renouncing all expectation from thy own works and services You know Reubens curse that he should not excel because he went up into his fathers bed when other tribes encreased he stood at a little number By trusting in
that ye are of mine elect ones which will stand you more in stead at the great day then all this SECT II. A second Priviledge is when God honours a person to suffer for his truth this is a great Priviledge Vnto you it is given not only to beleeve but to suffer for his sake God doth not use to give worthless gifts to his Saints there is some preciousnesse in it which a carnal eye cannot see Faith you will say is a great gift but perseverance greater without which faith would be little worth and perseverance in suffering this above both honourable This made John Carelesse our English Martyr who though he died not at the stake yet in prison for Christ say Such an honour 't is as Angels are not permitted to have therefore God forgive me mine unthankfulnesse Now when Satan cannot scare a soul from prison yet then he will labour to puffe him up in prison when he cannot make him pity himself then he will flatter him till he prides in himself Affliction from God exposeth to impatience for God to pride and therefore Christians labour to fortifie your selves against this temptation of Satan how soon you may be called to suffering work you know not such clouds oft are not long arising Now to keep thy heart humble when thou art honoured to suffer for the truth Consider First though thou doest not deserve those sufferings at mans hand thou canst and mayest in that regard glory in thy innocency thou sufferest not as an evil doer yet thou canst not but confesse it is a just affliction from God in regard of sin in thee and this methinks should keep thee humble the same suffering may be Martyrdome in regard of man and yet a fatherly chastising for sin in regard of God none suffered without sin but Christ and therefore none may glory in them but he Christ in his own we in his God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of Christ Gal. 6. This kept Mr. Bradford humble in his sufferings for the truth none more rejoyced in them and blessed God for them yet none more humble under them then he and what kept him in this humble frame reade his godly letters and you shall finde almost in all how he bemoans his sins and the sins of the Protestants under the reign of King Edward It was time saith he for God to put his rod into the Papists hands we were grown so proud formal unfruitful yea to loath and despise the means of grace when we enjoyed the liberty therof and therfore God hath brought the wheele of persecution on us As he look't at the honour to make him thankful so to sinne to keep him humble Secondly consider who bears thee up and carries thee through thy sufferings for Christ Is it thy grace or his that is sufficient for such a work thy spirit or Christs by which thou speakest when call'd to bear witnesse to his truth how comes it to passe thou art a sufterer and not a persecutour a confessour and not a denier yea betrayer of Christ and his Gospel This thou owest for to God he is not beholden to thee that thou wilt part with estate credit or life it self for his sake If thou hadst a thousand lives thou wouldest owe them all to him but thou art beholden to God exceedingly that he will call for these in this way which has such an honour and reward attending it He might have suffered thee to live in thy lusts and at last to suffer the losse of all these for them O how many die at the Gallowes as Martyrs in the devils cause for felonies rapes and murders Or he might withdraw his grace and leave thee to thy own cowardise and unbelief and then thou wouldest soon shew thy self in thy colours The stoutest Champions for Christ have been taught how weak they are if Christ steps aside Some that have given great testimony of their faith and resolution in Christs cause even to come so near dying for his Name as to give themselves to be bound to the stake and fire to be kindled upon them yet then their hearts have failed as that holy man Mr. Benbridge in our English Martyrol who thrust the faggots from him and cried out I recant I recant Yet this man when re-inforc't in his faith and indued with power from above was able within the space of a week after that sad foile to die at the stake cheerfully Qui pro nobis mortem semel vicit semper in nobis vincit He that once overcame death for us 't is he that alwayes overcame death in us And who should be thy Song but he that is thy strength applaud not thy selfe but blesse him 'T is one of Gods Names he is call'd the glory of his peoples strength Psal 89.17 The more thou gloriest in God that gives thee strength to suffer for him the lesse thou wilt boast of thy self A thankful heart and a proud cannot dwell together in one bosome Thirdly consider what a foule blot pride gives to all thy sufferings where it is not bewailed and resisted it alters the case The old saying is that 't is not the punishment but the cause makes the Martyr we may safely say further it is not barely the cause but the sincere frame of the heart in suffering for a good cause that makes a man a Martyr in Gods sight Though thou shouldest give thy body to be burnt if thou hast not an humble heart of a sufferer for Christ thou turnest Merchant for thy self Thou deniest but one self to set up another runnest the hazard of thy estate and life to gain some applause may be and reare up a monument to thy honour in the opinions of men thou doest no more in this case then a souldier who for a name of valour will venture into the mouth of death and danger only thou shewest thy pride under a religious disguise but that helps it not but makes it the worse If thou wilt in thy sufferings be a sacrifice acceptable to God thou must not only be ready to offer up thy life for his truth but sacrifice thy pride also or else thou mayest tumble out of one fire into another suffer here from man as a seeming champion for the Gospel and in another world from God for robbing him of his glory in thy sufferings SECT III. A third priviledge is when God flowes in with more then ordinary manifestations of his love then the Christian is in danger of having his heart secretly lift up in pride Indeed the genuine and natural effect which such discoveries of divine love have on a gracious soule is to humble it The sight of mercy encreaseth the sense of sin and that sense dissolves the soule kindely into sorrow as we see in Magdalen The heart which possibly was hard and frozen in the shade will give and thaw in the Sun-shine of love and so long all pride is hid from the creatures eye Then saith God
that thou canst not as thou usest lift up thy heart from earthly to spiritual duties They were intended as helps against temptation and therefore when they prove snares to us there is a distemper on us If we waxe worse after sleep the body is not right because the nature of sleep is to refresh if exercise indisposeth for work the reason is in our bodies So here Secondly when thy diligence in thy particular calling is more selfish possibly thou hast wrought in thy shop and set close at thy study in obedience to the command chiefly thy carnal interests have swayed but little with thee but now thou tradest more for thy self and lesse for God O have a care of this Thirdly when thou canst not bear the disappointment of thy carnal ends in thy particular calling as thou hast done thou workest and gettest little of the world thou preachest and art not much esteemed and thou knowest not well how to brook these The time was thou couldest retire thy self into God and make up all thou didst want elsewhere in him but now thou art not so well satisfied with thy estate rank and condition thy heart is fingering for more of these then God allowes thee this shews declining children are harder to be pleased and old men whose decay of nature makes them more froward and in a manner children the second time then others labour therefore to recover thy decaying grace and as this lock grows so thy strength with it will to acquiesce in the disposure of Gods Providence CHAP. IV. A word of counsel for the recovery of declining grace WE come now to give a few directions to the Christian how to recover decaying grace Enquire faithfully into the cause of thy declining The Christians armour decays two wayes either by violent bartery when the Christian is overcome by temptations to sin or else by neglecting to forbish and scoure it with the use of those means which are as oile to keep it clean and bright Now enquire which of these have been the cause of thy decay It is like both concurre First if thy grace be weakened by any blow given it by any sin committed by thee there then lies a threefold duty upon thee towards the recovery of it First thou art to renew thy repentance It is Christs counsel Rev. 2.5 to Ephesus Repent and do thy first works where it is not only commanded as a duty but prescribed as a means for her recovery as if he had said Repent that thou mayest do thy first works So Hosea 14.2 The Lord sets back-sliding Israel about this work bidding her take words and turn to the Lord and v. 4. he then tells her he 'll take her in hand to recover her of her sins I will heale their back-slidings a repenting soule is under promise of healing and therefore Christian go and search thy heart as thou wouldest do thy house if some thief or murderer lay hid in it to cut thy throat in the night and when thou hast found the sin that has done thee the mischief then labour to fill thy heart with shame for it and indignation against it and so go big with sorrow and cast it forth before the Lord in a heart-breaking confession better thou do this then Satan do thy errand to God for thee Secondly when thou hast renewed thy repentance forget not delay not then to renew thy faith on the promise for pardon Repentance that is like purging physick to evacuate the peccant humour but if faith come not presently with its restorative the poor creature will never get heart or recover his strength A soule may die of a fluxe of sorrow as well as of sin faith hath an incarnating vertue as they say of some strengthening meats it feeds upon the promise and that is perfect converting or rather restoring the soule Psal 19.7 Though thou wert pined to skin and bones all thy strength wasted yet faith would soon recruit thee and enable every grace to perform its office chearfully Faith sucks peace from the promise call'd peace in beleeving from peace flowes joyes Being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 5.1 and v. 2. We rejoyce in the hope of glory and joy affords strength The joy of the Lord is our strength Thirdly back both these with a daily endeavour to mortifie those lusts which most pevail over thy grace Weeds cannot thrive and the flowers also when grace doth not act vigorously and freely conclude it is opprest with some contrary lust which weighs down its spirits and makes them lumpish even as superfluous humours do load the natural spirits in our bodies that we have little joy to stir or go about any businesse till they be evacuated and therefore ply this work close it is not a dayes work or two in the yeare like Physick at spring and fall nothing more vain then to make a busle as the Papists do at their Lent or as some unsound Professours among our selves who seem to bestir themselves before a Sacrament or day of Fasting with a great noise of zeal and then let those very lusts live peaceably in them all the yeare after No this is child-play to do and undo thou must mortifie daily thy lusts by the Spirit Rom. 8.13 Follow but this work conscionably in thy Christian course making it thy endeavour as constantly as the labouring man goes out every day to work in the field where his calling lies to watch thy heart and use all means for the discovery of sin and as it breaks forth to be humbled for it and be chopping at the root of it with this axe of mortification and thou shalt see by the blessing of God what a change for the better there will be in the constitution of thy grace thou who art now so poor so pale that thou art afraid to see thy own face long in the glasse of thy own conscience shall then reflect with joy upon thy owne conscience and dare to converse with thy self without those surprizals of horrour and feare which before did appale thee thy grace though it shall not be thy rejoycing yet it will be thy evidence for Christ in whom it is and lead thee in with boldnesse to lay claim to him while the loose Christian whose grace is over-grown with lusts for want of this weeding hook shall stand trembling at the door questioning whether his grace be true or no and from that doubt of his welcome Secondly if upon enquiry thou findest that thy Armour decays rather for want of scouring then by any blow from sin presumptuously committed as that is most common and ordinary rust will soon spoil the best armour and negligence give grace its bane as well as grosse sins then apply thy self to the use of those means which God hath appointed for the strengthening grace if the fire goes out by taking off the wood what way to preserve it but by laying it on again First I shall send thee to the Word of
Peter who set out so valiantly at first to walk on the sea the winde doth but rise and he begins to sink now he sees there was more unbelief in his heart then he before suspected Sharp afflictions are to the soule as a driving raine to the house we know not that there are such crannies and holes in the house till we see it drop down here and there Thus we perceive not how unmortified this corruption nor how weak that grace is till we are thus search't and made more fully to know what is in our hearts by such trials This is the reason why none have such humble thoughts of themselves and such pitiful and forbearing thoughts towards others in their infirmities as those who are most acquainted with afflictions they meet with so many foiles in their conflicts as make them carry a low saile in respect of their own grace and a tender respect to their brethren more ready to pity then censure them in their weaknesses Fourthly this is the season when the evil one Satan comes to tempt What we finde call'd the time of tribulation Mat. 13.22 we finde in the same parable Luke 8.13 call'd the time of temptation Indeed they both meet seldome doth God afflict us but Satan addeth temptation to our wildernesse This is your houre saith Christ and the power of darknesse Luke 22.53 Christs sufferings from man and temptation from the devil came together Esau who hated his brother for the blessing said in his heart The dayes of mourning for my father are at hand then will I kill my brother Gen. 27.41 Times of affliction are the dayes of mourning those Satan waits for to do us amischief in Fifthly and lastly the day of affliction hath oft an evil event and issue and in this respect proves an evil day indeed All is well we say that ends well the product of afflictions on the Christian is good the rod with which they are corrected yields the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse and therefore they can call their afflictions good that is a good instrument that lets out only the bad blood It is good for me that I was afflicted saith David I have read of a holy woman who used to compare her afflictions to her children they both put her to great pain in the bearing but as she knew not which of her children to have been without for all the trouble in the bringing forth so neither which of her afflictions she could have missed notwithstanding the sorrow they put her to in the enduring But to the wicked the issue is sad first in regard of sin they leave them worse more impenitent hardened in sin and outragious in their wicked practices Every plague on Egypt added to the plague of hardnesse on Pharaohs heart he that for some while could beg prayers of Moses for himself at last comes to that passe that he threatens to kill him if he come at him any more O what a prodigious height do we see many come to in sin after some great sicknesse or other judgement Children do not more shoot up in their bodily stature after an ague then they in their lusts after afflictions O how greedy and ravenous are they after their prey when they once get off their clog and chain from their heeles when Physick works not kindly it doth not only leave the disease uncured but the poison of the Physick stays in the body also Many appear thus poisoned by their afflictions by the breaking out of their lusts afterward Secondly in regard of sorrow every affliction on a wicked person produceth another and that a greater then it self The last wedge comes the last which shall rive him fit for the fire the sinner is whip't from affliction to affliction as the vagrant from Constable to Constable till at last he comes to hell his proper place and setled abode where all sorrrows will meet in one that is endlesse The second branch of the point follows This evil day is unavoidable We may as well stop the chariot of the Sun when posting to night and chase away the shades of the evening as escape this houre of darknesse that is coming upon us all None hath power over the Spirit to retain it neither hath he power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war Eccl. 8.8 Among men 't is possible to get off when prest for the wars by pleading priviledge of yeares estate weaknesse of body protection from the Prince and the like or if all these fail possibly the sending another in our room or a bribe given in the hand may serve the turn But in this war the presse is so strict that there is no dispensation David could willingly have gone for his son we hear him crying Would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son but he will not be taken that young Gallant must go himself We must in our own person come into the field and look death in the face Some indeed we finde so fond as to promise themselves immunity from this day as if they had an ensuring office in their breast They say they have made a Covenant with death and with hell they are at an agreement when the overflowing scourge shall passe through it shall not come unto them And now like debtors that have feed the Serjeant they walk abroad boldly and feare no arrest But God tells them as fast as they binde he will loose Your Covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand and how should it if God will not set his seal to it There is a divine Law for this evil day which came in force upon Adams first sin that laid the fatal knife to the throat of mankinde which hath opened a sluce to let out his heart-blood ever since God to prevent all escape hath sowen the seeds of death in our very constitution and nature so that we can assoon run from our selves as run from death We need no feller to come with a hand of violence and hew us down there is in the tree a worme which grows out of its own substance that will destroy it so in us those infirmities of nature that will bring us down to the dust Our death was bred when our life was first conceived and as a breeding woman cannot hinder the houre of her travel that follows in nature upon the other so neither can man hinder the bringing forth of death with which his life is big All the pains and aches man feels in his life are but so many singultus morientis naturae groans of dying nature they tell him his dissolution is at hand Beest thou a Prince sitting in all thy state and pomp death dare enter thy Palace and come through all thy guards to deliver the fatal message it hath from God to thee yea runs its dagger to thy heart wert thou compassed with a Colledge of Doctors consulting thy health Art and Nature both
nothing more poor and dastard-like Such a one is as great a stranger to this enterprise as the craven souldier is to the exploits of a valiant Chieftain The Christian in prayer comes up close to God with an humble boldnesse of faith and takes hold of him wrestles with him yea will not let him go without a blessing and all this in the face of his own sins and divine justice which let flie upon him from the fiery mouth of the Law while the others boldness in prayer is but the childe either of ignorance in his minde or hardnesse in his heart whereby not feeling his sins and not knowing his danger he rushes upon duty with a blinde confidence which soon quails when conscience awakes and gives him the alarâ—m that his sins are upon him as the Philistines on Samson alas then in a fright the poor-spirited wretch throwes down his weapon flies the presence of God with guilty Adam and dares not look him on the face Indeed there is no duty in a Christians whole course of walking with God or acting for God but is lined with many difficulties which shoot like enemies through the hedges at the Christian whilest he is marching toward Heaven so that he is put to dispute every inch of ground as he goes They are only a few noble-spirited soules who dare take Heaven by force that are fit for this calling For the further proof of this Point see some few pieces of service that every Christian engageth in First the Christian is to proclaim and prosecute an irreconcileable war against his bosome-sins those sins which have layen nearest his heart must now be trampled under his feet So David I have kept my self from my iniquity Now what courage and resolution doth this require you think Abraham was tried to purpose when called to take his son his son Isaac his only son whom he loved and offer him up with his own hands and no other yet what was that to this Soul take thy lust thy only lust which is the childe of thy dearest love thy Isaac the sin which hath caused most joy and laughter from which thou hast promised thy self the greatest return of pleasure or profit as ever thou lookest to see my face with comfort lay hands on it and offer it up poure out the blood of it before me run the sacrificing knife of mortification into the very heart of it and this freely joyfully for it is no pleasing sacrifice that is offered with a countenance cast down and all this now before thou hast one embrace more from it Truly this is a hard chapter flesh and blood cannot bear this saying our lust will not lie so patiently on the Altar as Isaac or as a Lambe that is brought to the slaughter which is dumb but will roar and shreek yea even shake and rend the heart with their hideous out-cries Who is able to expresse the conflicts the wrestlings the convulsions of Spirit the Christian feels before he can bring his heart to this work or who can fully set forth the Art the Rhetorical insinuations which such a lust will plead with for its life one while Satan will extenuate and mince the matter It is but a little one O spare it and thy soule shall live for all that Another while he flatters the soul with the secrecy of it Thou mayest keep me and thy credit also I will not be seen abroad in thy company to shame thee among thy neighbours shut me up in the most retired room thou hast in thy heart from the hearing of others if thou wilt only let me now and then have the wanton embraces of thy thoughts and affections in secret if that cannot be granted then Satan will seem only to desire execution may be stayed a while as Jephtha's daughter of her father Let me alone a monthor two and then do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth well knowing few such reprieved lusts but at last obtain their full pardon yea recover their favour with the soule Now what resolution doth it require to break through such violence and importunity and notwithstanding all this to do present execution Here the valiant Sword-men of the world have shewed themselves meer cowards who have come out of the field with victorious banners and then lived yea died slaves to a base lust at home As one could say of a great Romane Captain who as he rode in his triumphant Chariot through Rome had his eye never off a Courtizan that walk't along the street Behold how this goodly Captain that conquered such potent Armies is himself conquered by one silly woman Secondly the Christian is to walk singularly not after the worlds guise Rom. 12.2 we are commanded not to be conformed to this world that is not to accommodate our selves to the corrupt customes of the world The Christian must not be of such a complying nature to cut the coat of his Profession according to the fashion of the times or the humour of the company he falls into like that Courtier who being ask't how he could keep his preferment in such changing times which one while had a Prince for Popery another while against Popery answered he was Esalice non ex quercu ortus he was not a stubborn oake but bending osier that could yield to the winde No the Christian must stand fixt to his principles and not change his habit but freely shew what Country-man he is by his holy constancy in the truth Now what an odium what snares what dangers doth this singularity expose the Christian to Some will hoot and mock him as one in a Spanish fashion would be laugh't at in your streets Thus Michal flouted David Indeed the world counts the Christian for his singularity of life the only foole which I have thought gave the first occasion to that nick-name whereby men commonly expresse a silly man or a fool Such a one say they is a meer Abraham that is in the worlds account a foole But why an Abraham because Abraham did that which carnal reason the worlds idol laughs at as meere folly he left a present estate in his fathers house to go he know not whither to receive an inheritance he knew not when And truly luch fooles all the Saints are branded for by the wise world You know the man and his communication said Jehu to his companions asking what that mad fellow came for who was no other then a Prophet 2 Kings 9.11 Now this requires courage to despise the shame which the Christian must expect to meete withal for his singularity Shame is that which proud nature most disdaines to avoid which many durst not confesse Christ openly many lose heaven because they are ashamed to go in a fooles coat thither Again as some will mock so others will persecute to death meerly for this non-conformity in the Christians principles and practices to them This was the trap laid for the three children they
his Heifer He opens the wombe of the soule to conceive by it as the understanding to conceive of it that the barren soul becomes a joyful mother of children David sate for halfe a year under the publick Lectures of the Law and the wombe of his heart shut up till Nathan comes and God with him and now is the time of life he conceives presently yea and brings forth in the same day falls presently into the bitter pangs of sorrow for his sins which went not over till he had cast them forth in that sweet Psalm 51. Why should this one word work more then all the former but that God now struck in with his Word which he did not before He is therefore said to teach his people to profit he sits in heaven that teacheth hearts When Gods Spirit who is the Head-master shall call a soul from his Usher to himselfe and say Soul you have not gone the way to thrive by hearing the Word thus and thus conceive of such a truth improve such a promise presently the eyes of his understanding open and his heart burnes within him while he speaks to him Thus you see the truth of this Point That the Christians strength is in the Lord. Now we shall give some demonstrations SECT I. Reason 1 The first Reason may be taken from the nature of the Saints and their grace both are creatures they and their grace also now Inesse est de esse creaturae 'T is in the very nature of the creature to depend on God its Maker both for being and operation Can you conceive an accident to be out of its subject whitenesse out of the wall or some other subject 't is as impossible that the creature should be or act without strength from God This to be act in and of himself is so incommunicable a property of the Deity that he cannot impart it to his creature God is and there is none besides him when God made the world it is said indeed he ended his work that is of Creation he made no new species and kindes of creatures more but to this day he hath not ended his work of Providence Hitherto my Father worketh saith Christ John 5.17 that is in preserving and empowering what he hath made with strength to be and act and therefore he is said to hold our souls in life Works of Art which man makes when finish't may stand some time without the Workmans help as the house when the Carpenter that made it is dead but Gods works both of nature and grace are never off his hand and therefore as the Father is said to work hitherto for the preservation of the works of nature so the Son to whom is committed the work of Redemption he tells us he worketh also Neither ended he his work when he rose again any otherways then his Father did in the work of Creation God made an end of making so Christ made an end of purchasing mercy grace and glory for believers by once dying and as God rested at the end of the Creation so he when he had wrought eternal Redemption and by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on High Heb. 1.3 But he ceaseth not to work by his intercession with God for us and by his Spirit in us for God whereby he upholds his Saints their graces and comforts in life without which they would run to ruine Thus we see as grace is a creature the Christian depends on God for his strength But further Reason 2 Secondly the Christians grace is not only a creature but a weak creature conflicting with enemies stronger then it selfe and therefore cannot keep the field without an auxiliary strength from Heaven The weakest goes to the wall if no succour comes in Grace in this life is but weak like a King in the Cradle which gives advantage to Satan to carry on his plots more strongly to the disturbance of this young Kings reigne in the soule yea he would soon make an end of the war in the ruine of the believers grace did not Heaven take the Christian into protection 'T is true indeed grace whereever it is hath a principle in it selfe that makes it desire and endeavour to preserve it self according to its strength but being over-powered must perish except assisted by God as fire in green wood which deads and damps the part kindled will in time go out except blown up or more fire put to that little so will grace in the heart God brings his grace into the heart by Conquest now as in a conquered City though some yield and become true subjects to the Conquerour yet others plot how they may shake off this yoke and therefore it requires the same power to keep as was to win it at first The Christian hath an unregenerate part that is discontented at this new change in the heart and disdains as much to come under the sweet government of Christs Scepter as the Sodomites that Lot should judge them What this fellow a Stranger controule us And Satan heads this mutinous rout against the Christian so that if God should not continually re-inforce this his new-planted Colony in the heart the very natives I mean corruptions that are left would come out of their dens and holes where they lie lurking and eat up the little grace the holiest on earth hath it would be as bread to these devourers Reason 3 A third demonstration may be taken from the grand designe which God propounds to himself in the Saints salvation yea in the transaction of it from first to last And that is two-fold First God would bring his Saints to heaven in such a way as might be most expressive of his deare love and mercy to them Secondly he would so expresse his mercy and love to them as might rebound back to him in the highest advance of his own glory possible Now how becoming this is to both that Saints should have all their ability for every step they take in the way to heaven will soon appear First this way of communicating strength to Saints gives a double accent to Gods love and mercy First it distills a sweetnesse into all the believer hath or doth when he findes any comfort in his bosome any enlargement of heart in duty any support under temptations To consider whence came all these what friend sends them in they come not from my own cisterne or any creatures O 't is my God that hath been here and left this sweet perfume of comfort behinde him in my bosome my God that hath unawares to me fill'd my sailes with the gales of his Spirit and brought me off the flats of my own deadnesse where I lay a ground O 't is his sweet Spirit that held my head stayed my heart in such an affliction and temptation or else I had gone away in a fainting fit of unbelief How can this choose but endear God to a gracious soul his succours coming so
braving language shall you hear drop from the lips of the most prophane and ignorant among us they trust in God hope in his mercy defie the devil and all his works and such like stuffe who yet are poor naked creatures without the least piece of Gods armour upon their souls To cashiere such presumption from the Saints Camp he annexeth this Directory to his exhortation Put on the whole armour of God c. So that the words fall into these two general parts First a Direction annex't to the former Exhortation shewing how we may in a regular way come to be strong in the Lord that is by putting on the whole armour of God Secondly a reason or argument strengthening this Direction that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil In the Direction observe First the furniture he directs and that is Armour Secondly the kinde or quality of this Armour Armour of God Thirdly the quantity or entirenesse of the Armour The whole Armour of God Fourthly the use of this Armour Put on the whole Armour of God To begin with the first the furniture which every one must get that would fight Christs battels The question here will be What is this Armour First by armour is meant Christ we reade of putting on the Lord Jesus Rom. 13.14 where Christ is set forth under the notion of Armour The Apostle doth not exhort them for rioting and drunkennesse to put on sobriety and temperance for chambering and wantonnesse put on chastity as the Philosopher would have done but bids Put on the Lord Jesus Christ implying thus much till Christ be put on the creature is unarmed 'T is not a mans morality and Philosophical vertues that will repel a temptation sent with a full charge from Satans cannon though possibly it may the pistol shot of some lesse solicitation so that he is the man in Armour that is in Christ Again the Graces of Christ these are Armour as the Girdle of truth the breast plate of righteousnesse and the rest Hence we are bid also put on the new man Eph. 4.24 which is made up of all the several graces as its parts and members And he is the unarm'd soule that is the unregenerate soule Not excluding those duties and means which God hath appointed the Christian to use for his defence The phrase thus opened the Point is CHAP. I. Sheweth the Christlesse and gracelesse soule to be the soule without Armour and therein his misery THat a person in a Christlesse gracelesse state is naked and unarm'd and so unfit to fight Christs battels against sin and Satan Or thus A soule out of Christ is naked and destitute of all armour to defend him against sin and Satan God at first sent man forth in compleat armour being created in righteousnesse and true holines but by a wile the devil strip't him and therfore assoon as the first sin was compleated it is written Gen. 3.7 They were naked that is poor weak creatures at the will of Satan a subdued people disarm'd by their proud Conquerour and unable to make head against him Indeed it cost Satan some dispute to make the first breach but after that he had once the gates open'd to let him in as Conquerour into the heart of man he playes Rex behold a troop of other sins croud in after him without any stroak or strife in stead of confessing their sins they run their head in a bush and by their good will would not come where God is and when they cannot flie from him how do they prevaricate before him They peale one of another shifting the sin rather then suing for mercy So quickly were their hearts hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sin And this is the woful condition of every son and daughter of Adam naked he findes us and slaves he makes us till God by his effectual call delivers us from the power of Satan into the Kingdome of his dear Son which will further appear if we consider this Christlesse state in a foure-fold notion First it is a state of alienation from God Ephes 2.12 Ye were without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant of Promise c. Such a one hath no more to do with any Covenant-promise then he that lives at Rome hath to do with the Charter of London which is the birth-right of its own Denisons not Strangers He is without God in the world he can claim no more protection from God then an out-law'd subject from his Prince If any mischief befalls him the mends is in his own hands whereas God hath his hedge of special providence about his Saints and the devil though his spite be most at them dares not come upon Gods ground to touch any of them without particular leave Now what a deplored condition is that wherein a soule is left to the wide world in the midst of legions of lusts and devils to be rent and torne lâ—ke a silly hare among a pack of hounds and no God to call them off Let God leave a people though never so warlike presently they lose their wits cannot finde their hands A company of children or wounded men may rise up and chase them out of their fenced Cities because God is not with them which made Caleb and Joshuah pacifie the mutinous Israelites at the tidings of giants and walled cities with this They are bread for us their defence is departed from them How much more must that soule be as bread to Satan that hath no defence from the Almighty Take men of the greatest parts natural or acquired accomplishments who only want an union with Christ and renewing grace from Christ O what fooles doth the devil make of them leading them at his pleasure some to one lust some to another the proudest of them all is slave to one or other though it be to the ruining of body and soul for ever Where lies the mystery that men of such parts and wisdom should debase themselves to such drudgery work of hell even here they are in a state of alienation from God and no more able of themselves to break the devils prison then a slave ro run from his chain Secondly the Christlesse state is a state of ignorance and such must needs be naked and unarm'd He that cannot see his enemie how can he ward off the blow he sends One seeing Prophet leads a whole army of blinde men whither he pleaseth The imperfect knowledge Saints have here is Satans advantage against them he often takes them on the blinde side how easily then may he with a parcel of good words carry the blinde soule out of his way who knowes not a step of the right Now that the Christlesse state is a state of ignorance See Eph. 5.8 Ye were sometimes darknesse but now are ye light in the Lord. Ye were darknesse not in the dark so one that hath an eye may be A childe of light is often in the dark
charge the Gospel gave to the Kingdom of darknesse shak't the foundations thereof and put the legions of hell to the run The seventy whom Christ sent out bring this speedy account of their ambassage Lord even the devils are subject unto us through thy Name and Christ answers I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven As if he had said 't is no newes you tell me I beheld Satan falllng when I sent you I knew the Gospel would make work where it came and therefore no wonder Satan labours to dispossesse the Gospel which dispossesseth him he knows that army is near lost whose magazine is blowen up 'T is true indeed under the very Gospel the devil rageth more in such swinish sinners as are given over of God to be possest of that fiend for rejecting of his grace but he is cast out of others who before the loving kindnesse of God to man appeared in the Gospel were commanded by him serving divers lusts and pleasures But now by the light of the Gospel they see their folly and by the grace it brings are enabled to renounce him This this is that which torments the foule spirit to see himself forsaken of his old friends and servants and this new Lord to come and take his subjects from him and therefore he labours either by persecution to drive the Gospel away or by policy to perswade a people to send it away from their coasts and was he ever more likely to effect it among us What a low esteem hath he brought the preaching of the Gospel unto the price is fallen half in half to what it was some yeares past even among those that have been counted the greatest Merchants upon the Saints Exchange Some that have thought it worth crossing the seas even to the Indies almost as far as others fetch their gold to enjoy the Gospel are loath now to crosse the street to hear it at so cheap a rate And some that come who formerly trembled at it make it most of their errand to mock at or quarrel with it Nay it is come to such a passe that the Word is so heavy a charge to the squeamish stomacks of many Professors that it comes up again presently and abundance of choler with it against the Preacher especially if it fall foule of the sins and errours of the times the very naming of which is enough to offend though the Nation be sinking under their weight What reproaches are the faithful Ministers of the Gospel laden withal I call heaven and earth to witnesse whether ever they suffered a hotter persecution of the tongue then in this apostatizing age A new generation of Professours are started up that will not know them to be the Ministers of Christ though those before them as well in grace as time more able to derive their spiritual pedigree then themselves have to their death owned them for their spiritual fathers And must not the Ark needs shake when they that carry it are thus struck at both in their person and office what are these men doing alas they know not Father forgive them They are cutting off their right hand with their left they are making themselves and the Nation naked by despising the Gospel and those that bring it Vse 3 Consider your deplored estate who are wholly naked and unarm'd Can you pity the begger at your door when you see such in a Winter-day shivering with naked backs exposed to the fury of the cold and not pity your own far more dismal soul-nakednesse by which thou liest open to heavens wrath and hells malice Shall their nakednesse cover them with shame fill them with feare of perishing which makes them with pitiful moanes knock and cry for relief as it is reported of Russia where their poor through extreme necessity have this desperate manner of begging in their streets Give me and cut me give me and kill me and canst thou let Satan come and cut thy throat in thy bed of sloth rather then accept of clothes to cover yea Armour to defend thee I mean Christ and his grace which in the Gospel is tendered to you And do not lightly beleeve your own flattering hearts if they shall tell you you are provided of these already I am afraid many a gaudy Professour will be found as naked in regard of Christ and truth of grace as drunkards and swearers themselves Such there are who content themselves with a Christ in Profession in gifts and in duties but seek not a Christ in solid grace and so perish those indeed are an ornament to the Christian as the scarfe and feather to the souldier but these quench not the bullet in battel 't is Christ and his grace doth that therefore labour to be sound rather then brave Christians Grace embellisht with gifts is the more beautiful but these without grace only the richer spoile for Satan The second Branch of the first general part of the words followes and that is the quality or kinde of that Armour the Christian is here directed to provide It is not any trash will serve the turn better none then not Armour of proof and none such but Armour of God In a twofold respect it must be of God First in institution and appointment Secondly in constitution CHAP. II. Sheweth that the Armour we use against Satan must be divine in the Institution such only as God appoints FIrst the Christians Armour which he weares must be of divine Institution and appointment The souldier comes into the field with no armes but what his General commands 't is not left to every ones fancie to bring what weapons he please this will breed confusion The Christian souldier is bound up to Gods order though the army be on earth yet the Councel of War fits in Heaven This duty ye shall do that means ye shall use and to do more or use other then God commands though with some seeming successe against sin such shall surely be call'd to account for this boldnesse The discipline of war among men is strict in this case Some have suffered death by a Councel of war even when they have beaten the enemie because out of their place or beside their order God is very precise in this point he will say to such as invent wayes to worship him of their own coyne meanes to mortifie corruption obtain comfort in their own mint Who hath required this at your hands this is truly to be righteous over-much as Solomon speaks when we will pretend to correct Gods Law and adde supplements of our own to his rule Who will pay that man his wages that is not set on work by God God tells Israel the false Prophets shall do them no good because they come not of his errand so neither will those wayes and meanes help which are not of Gods appointing Gods thoughts are not as mans nor his wayes as ours which he useth to attain his ends by If man had been to set forth the
indeed shew one sin thou hast slain by all thy praying Joseph was alive though his coat was brought bloody to Jacob and so may thy sin be for all thy mortified look in duty and out cry thou makest against them If thou wouldest thus try every piece thy credulous heart would not so easily be cheated with Satans false ware Obj. But is all armour that is of God thus mighty we reade of weak grace little faith how can this then be a trial of our armour whether of God or not Answ I answer the weaknesse of grace is in respect of stronger grace but that weak grace is strong and mighty in comparison of counterfeit grace Now I do not bid thee try the truth of thy grace by such a power as is peculiar to stronger grace but by that power which will distinguish it from false true grace when weakest is stronger then false when strongest There is a principle of divine life in it which the other hath not Now life as it gives excellency a flea or fly by reason of its life is more excellent then the Sun in all its glory so it gives strength The slow motion of a living man though so feeble that he cannot go a furlong in a day yet coming from life imports more strength then is in a ship which though it sailes swiftly hath its motion from without Thus possibly an hypocrite may exceed the true Christian in the bulk and out-side of a duty yet because his strength is not from life but from some winde and tide abroad that carries him and the Christians is from an inward principle therefore the Christians weaknesse is stronger then the hypocrite in his greatest enlargements I shall name but two acts of grace when weakest whereby the Christian exceeds the hypocrite in all his best array You will say then grace is at a weak stay indeed when the Christian is perswaded to commit a sin a great sin such a one as possibly a carnal person would not have it said of him for a great matter so low may the tide of grace fall yet true grace at such an ebbe will appear of greater strength and force then the other First this principle of grace will never leave till the soule weeps bitterly with Peter that it hath offended so good a God Speak O ye hypocrites can ye shew one tear that ever you shed in earnest for a wrong done to God Possibly ye may weep to see the bed of sorrow which your sins are making for you in hell but ye never loved God so well as to mourne for the injury ye have done the Name of God It is a good glosse Augustine hath upon Esau's teares Heb. 12. Flevit quòd perdidit non quòd vendidit He wept that he lost the blessing not that he sold it Thus we see an excellency of the Saints sorrow above the hypocrites The Christian by his sorrow shews himself a Conquerour of that sin which even now overcame him while the hypocrite by his pride shews himself a slave to a worse lust then that he resists While the Christian commits a sin he hates it whereas the other loves it while he forbears it Secondly when true grace is under the foot of a temptation yet then it will stir up in the heart a vehement desire of revenge like a prisoner in his enemies hand who is thinking and plotting how to get out and what he will do when out waiting and longing every moment for his delivery that he may again take up armes O God remember me saith Samson this once I pray thee and strengthen me that I may be at once avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes Judg. 16.27 Thus prays the gracious soul that God would but spare him a little and strengthen him but once before he dies that he may be avenged on his pride unbelief and those sins whereby he hath most dishonoured his God but a false heart is so far from studying revenge that he rather swells like the sea against the Law which banks his lust in and is angry with God who hath made sin such a leap that he must hazard his soule if he will have it CHAP. IV. Of the entirenesse of our furniture It must be the whole Armour of God THe third Branch in the Saints furniture is the entirenesse thereof The whole Armour of God The Christians Armour must be compleat and that in a threefold respect SECT 1. First he must be armed in every part cap-a-pe soule and body the powers of the one and senses of the other not any part left naked A dart may flie in at a little hole like that which brought a message of death to Ahab through the joynts of his harnesse and Satan is such an Archer who can shoot at a penny breadth If all the man be armed and only the eye lest without Satan can soon shoot his fire-balls of lust in at that loop-hole which shall set the whole house on flame Eve look't but on the tree and a poisonous dare struck her to the heart If the eye be shut and the ear be open to corrupt communication Satan will soon wriggle in at this hole If all the outward senses be guarded and the heart not kept with all diligence he will soon by his own thoughts be betrayed into Satans hands Our enemies are on every side and so must our armour be on the right hand and on the left 2 Cor. 6.7 The Apostle calls sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an enemy that surrounds us If there be any part of the line unguarded or weakly provided there Satan falls on we see the enemy often enter the city at one side while he is beat back on the other for want of care to keep the whole line Satan divides his temptations into several squadrons one he employes to assault here another to storme there We reade of fleshly wickednesse and spiritual wickednesse while thou repellest Satan tempting thee to fleshly wickednesse he may be entring thy city at the other gate of spiritual wickednesse Perhaps thou hast kept thy integrity in the practical part of thy life but what armour hast thou to defend thy head thy judgement If he surprise thee here corrupting that with some errour then thou wilt not long hold out in thy practice He that could not get thee to profane the Sabbath among Sensualists and Atheists will under the disguise of such a corrupt principle as Christian liberty prevail Thus we see what need we have of universal armour in regard of every part SECT II. Secondly the Christian must be in compleat armour in regard of the several pieces and weapons that make up the whole Armour of God Indeed there is a concatenation of graces they hang together like links in a chain stones in an arch members in the body prick one vein and the blood of the whole body may run out at that sluce neglect one duty and no other will do us good The
men would beleeve it to quench this thirst to the creature were to enkindle another after Christ and Heaven Get but a large heart vehemently thirsting after these and the other will die alone As the Fevourish thirst doth when nature comes to her temper Secondly others labour not thus to perfect grace because they have a conceit they are perfect already and upon this fancy throw away praying hearing and all other Ordinances as strings for those babes in grace to be carried by who are not arrived to their high attainments O what fooles does pride make men Truly Heaven were no such desirable place if we should be no more perfect then thus a sort of people that are too high for this world and too low for another The way by which God cures this phrensie of pride we have in these days seen to be something like that of Nebuchadnezzar To give them a heart of a beast I mean for a time suffer them to fall into beastly practices by which he shewes them how far they are from that perfection they dreamed of so vainly Thirdly others who have true grace and desire the advancement of it yet are discouraged in their endeavour for more from too deep a sense of their present penury Bid some such labour to get more power of corruption more faith on and love to God that they may be able to do the Will of God chearfully and suffer it in the greatest afflictions patiently yea thankfully and they will never believe that they whose faith is so weak love so chill and stock so little in hand should ever attain to any thing like such a pitch You may as well perswade a beggar with one poor penny in his purse that if he will go and trade with that he shall come to be Lord Major of London before he die But why poor hearts should you thus despise the day of small things Do you not see a little grain of mustard seed spread into a tree and weak grace compar'd to it for its growth at last as well as littlenesse at first Darest thou say thou hast no grace at all If thou hast but any though the least that ever any had to begin with I dare tell thee that he hath done more for thee in that then he should in making that which is now so weak as perfect as the Saints grace is now in heaven First he hath done more considering it as an act of Power There is a greater gulfe between no grace grace then between weak grace and strong between a Chaos and nothing then between a Chaos and this beautiful frame of heaven and earth The first days work of both Creations is the greatest Secondly consider it as an act of grace it is greater mercy to give the first grace of conversion then to crown that with glory It is more grace and condescent in a Prince to marry a poor Damosel then having married her to cloth her like a Prince he was free to do the first or not but his relation to her pleads strongly for the other God might have chose whether he would have given thee grace or no but having done this thy relation to him and his Covenant also do oblige him to adde more and more till he hath fitted thee as a Bride for himself in glory CHAP. V. Of the use of our spiritual Armour or the exercise of grace THe fourth and last branch in the Saints furniture is the use they are to make thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put on the whole Armour of God Briefly what is this duty put on These being Saints many of them at least he writes to 't is not only putting on by Conversion what some of them might not yet have but also he means they should exercise what they have It is one thing to have armour in the house and another thing to have it buckled on to have grace in the principle and grace in the act so that the instruction will be It is not enough to have grace but this grace must be kept in exercise The Christians Armour is made to be worne no laying down or putting off our Armour till we have done our warfare and finished our course Our Armour and our garment of flesh go off together then indeed will be no need of watch and ward shield or helmet Those military duties and field-graces as I may call faith hope and the rest they shall be honourably discharged In heaven we shall appear not in armour but in robes of glory but here they are to be worne night and day we must walk work and sleep in them or else we are not true souldiers of Christ this Paul professeth to endeavour Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have alwayes a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man Here we have this holy man at his armes training and exercising himself in his postures like some souldier by himself handling his pike and inuring himself before the battel Now the Reason of this is SECT 1. First Christ commands us to have our Armour on our grace in exercise Luke 12.35 Let your loines be girded about and your lights burning Christ speaks either in a martial phrase as to souldiers or in a domestick as to servants If as to souldiers then let your loynes he girded and your lights burning is that we should be ready for a march having our armour on for the belt goes over all and our match light ready to give fire at the first alarm of a temptation If as to servants which seems more natural then he bids us as our Master that is gone abroad not through sloth or sleep put off our clothes and put out our lights but stand ready to open when he shall come though at midnight 'T is not fit the Master should stand at the door knocking and the servant within sleeping indeed there is no duty the Christian hath in charge but implies this daily exercise Pray but how without ceasing Rejoyce but when evermore Give thanks for what in every thing The shield of faith and helmet of hope we must hold them to the end The summe of all which is that we should walk in the constant exercise of these duties and graces Where the souldier is plac't there he stands and must neither stir nor sleep till he be brought off When Christ comes that soule shall only have his blessing whom he findes so doing Secondly Satans advantage is great when grace is not in exercise When the devil found Christ so ready to receive his charge and repel his temptation he soon had enough it is said He departed for a season as if in his shameful retreat he had comforted himself with hopes of surprising Christ unawares at another season more advantagious to his designe and we finde him coming again in the most likely time indeed to have attained his end had his enemy been man and not God Now if this bold fiend did
if he cannot trip up so as to hinder his arrival in heaven yet at least to bruise it that he may go with more pain thither CHAP. II. Satans subtilty in managing his temptations where several stratagems used by him to deceive the Christian are laid down THe second way wherein Satan shews his tempting subtilty is in those stratagems he useth to deceive the Christian in the act of temptation First he hangs out false colours and comes up to the Christian in the disguise of a friend so that the gates are opened to him and his motions received with applause before either be discovered therfore he is said to transform himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11.14 Of all plots 't is most dangerous when he appears in Samuels mantle and silvers his foul tongue with faire language Thus in point of errour he corrupts some in their judgements by commending his notions for precious Gospel-truths and like a cunning Chapman puts off his old ware errours I mean that have layen long upon his hand only turkening them a little after the mode of the times and they go for new light under the skirt of Christian liberty he conveys in Libertinisme by crying up the Spirit he decries and vilifies the Scripture by magnifying faith he labours to undermine repentance and blow up good works by bewailing the corruption of the Church in its administrations he drawes unstable souls from it and amuseth them till at last they fall into a vertigo and can see no Church at all in being And he prevails no lesse on the hearts and lives of men by this wile then on their judgements Under the notion of zeal he kindles sometimes a dangerous flame of passion and wrath in the heart which like a rash fire makes the Christians spirit boile over into unchristian desires of and prayers for revenge where he should forgive of which we have an instance in the disciples Luke 9.55 where two holy men are desiring that fire may come down from heaven Little did they think from whence they had their coal that did so heat them till Christ told them Ye know not what Spirit you are of Sometimes he pretends pity and natural affection which in some cases may be good counsel and all the while he desires to promote cowardise and sinful self-love whereby the Christian may be brought to flie from his colours shrink from the truth or decline some necessary duty of his calling this his wile Christ soon spied when he got Peter to be his spokesman saying Master pity thy self who stop't his mouth with that sharp rebuke Get thee behinde me Satan O what need have we to study the Scriptures our hearts and Satans wiles that we may not bid this enemy welcome and all the while think it's Christ that is our guest A second policie he useth is to get intelligence of the Saints affairs This is one great wheele in the Politicians clock to have Spies in all places by whom they are acquainted with the counsels and motions of their enemies and this gives them advantage as to disappoint their designes so more safely to compasse their own 'T is no hard matter for him to play his game well that sees his enemies hand David knew how the squares went at Court Jonathans arrowes carried him the newes and accordingly he removed his quarters and was too hard for his great enemy Saul Satan is the greatest Intelligencer in the world he makes it his businesse to enquire into the inclinations thoughts affections purposes of the creature that finding which humour abounds he may apply himself accordingly which way the stream goes that he may open the passage of temptation and cut the channel to the fall of the creatures affections and not force it against the torrent of nature Now if we consider but the piercing apprehension of the Angelical nature how quick he is to take the sent which way the game goes by a word drop't the cast of an eye or such a small matter signal enough to give him the alarm his experience in heart-anatomy having inspected and as it were dissected so many in his long practice whereby his knowledge is much perfected as also his great diligence to adde to both these being as close a Student as ever considering the Saints and studying how he may do them a mischief as we see in Jobs case whom he had so observed that he was able to give an answer ex tempore to God what Jobs state and present posture was and what might be the most probable means of obtaining his will of him and besides all this the correspondence that he hath with those in and about the Christian from whom he learnes much of his state as David by Hushai in Absaloms counsel all these considered 't is almost impossible for the creature to stir out of the closet of his heart but it will be known whither he enclines some corrupt passion or other will bewray the soule to him as they did David to Saul who told him where he might finde him in the wildernesse of Engedi Thus will these give intelligence to Satan and say If thou wouldest surprize such a one he is gone that way you shall have him in the wood of worldly employments over head and eares in the desires and cares of this life see where another sits under such a bower delighting himself in this childe or that gift endowment of mind or the like lay but the lime-twig there and you shall soon have him in it Now Satan having this intelligence lets him alone to act his part he sure cannot be at a losse himself when his scholars the Jesuites I mean have such agility of minde to wreath and cast themselves into any forme becoming the persons they would seduce Is ambition the lust the heart favours O the pleasing projects that he will put such upon how easily having first blown them up with vain hopes doth he draw them into horrid sins Thus Human that he may have a monopoly of his Princes favour is hurried into that bloody plot fatal at last to himself against the Jewes Is uncleannesse the lust after which the creatures eye wanders Now he 'll be the Pander to bring him and his Minion together Thus he finding Amnon sick of this disease sends Jonadah a deep-pated fellow to put this fine device into his head of feigning himself sick whereby his Sister fell into his snare Thirdly in his gradual approaches to the soul When he comes to tempt he is modest asks but a little he knows he may get that at many times which he should be denied if lie ask't all at once A few are let into a city when an army coming in a body would be shut out and therefore that he may beget no suspition he presents may be a few general propositions which do not discover the depth of his plot these like Scouts goe before while his whole body lies hid as it were in
break my heart Acts 21.13 CHAP. IV. Wherein this Point of Satans subtilty as a Tempter to sin is briefly applied Vse 1 First affect not sinful policy and subtilty it makes you but like the devil There is the wisdom of the Serpent which is commended and that is his perfection as a creature in which both the literal and the mystical excel the one in an ingenious observing nature above the beasts of the field and the other in knowledge as an Angel above men but as the subtilty of the one and knowledge of the other is degenerate and makes them more able to do mischief the one to the bodies the other to the soules of men this kinde of wisdom and subtilty is to be abhorred by us The Serpents eye as one saith does well only in the Doves head First affect not subtilty in contriving any sin Some are wise to do evil Jer. 4.22 Masters of this craft who can as they lie on their beds cast their wicked designes into an artificial method shewing a kinde of devillish wit therein as the Egyptians who dealt wisely as they thought with the Israelites and Jezabel who had printed her bloody design in so faire a letter that some might reade her Saint while she was playing the devil This is the black Art indeed and will make the soul black as hell that practiseth it It is not hard for any though a fool to learn Be but wicked and the devil will help thee to be witty Come but a while to his school and thou mayest soon be a cunning man No sins speak a higher attainment in wickednesse then those which are the result of deliberate counsel and deep plottings Creatures as they go longer with their young so their birth is more strong and perfect as the Elephant above all others The longer a sin is a forming and forging within and the oftner the head and heart meet about it the compleater the sinne Here are many litters of unform'd sins in one such I mean that are conceived and cast forth in the hurry of an extemporary passion such sudden acts shew weaknesse these other deep wickednesse Secondly take heed of hiding sin when thou hast committed it This is one of the devices that are in mans heart and as much Art and cunning is shewen in this as in any one part of the sinners trade What a trick had the Patriarchs to blinde their fathers eye with a bloody coat Josephs Mistresse to prevent a charge from Ioseph accuseth him for what she is guilty like the Robber who scap't by crying Stop the Thief God taught man to make coats to cover his naked body but the devil learnt him to weave these coverings to hide the nakednesse of his soule the more subtile thou seemest in concealing thy sin the more egregiously thou playest the fool None so sham'd as the liar when found out and that thou art sure to be Thy covering is too short to hide thee from Gods eye and what God sees if thou doest not put thy self to shame he will tell all the world of hereafter however thou escapest in this life Thirdly take heed of subtilty and sinful policy in compassing that which is lawful in it selfe 't is lawful to improve thy estate and husband it well for thy posterity but take not the divels counsel who will be putting thee upon some tricks in thy trade and slights in thy dealing such may go for wise men a while but the Prophet reads their destiny Ier. 17.11 At his end he shall be a fool 'T is lawful to love our estate life liberty but beware of sinful policy to save them 'T is no wisdome to shuffle with God by denying his truth or shifting of our duty to keepe correspondence with men he is a weak fencer that layes his soule at open guard to be stabbed and wounded with guilt while he is lifting up his hands to save a broken head Our fear commonly meets us at that door by which we think to run from it He that will save his life shall lose it As you love your peace Christians be plain-hearted with God and man and keep the Kings high-way go the plain way of the command to obtain thy desire and not leap over hedge and ditch to come a little sooner to the journeys end such commonly either meet with some stop that makes them come back with shame or else put to venture their necks in some desperate leap He is sure to come safer if not sooner home that is willing to go a little about to keep God company The Historians observation is worth the Christians remembrance Consilia callida primâ specie laeta tractatu dura eventu tristia Livius Crafty counsels promise faire at first but prove more difficult in the managing and in the end do pay the undertaker home with desperate sorrow Vse 2 Is Satan so subtile O then think not to be too cunning for the devil he 'll be too hard for thee at last sin not with thoughts of an after-repentance it is possible thou meanest this at present but doest thou think who sits down to play with this cheater to draw out thy stock when thou pleasest alas poor wretch he has a thousand devices to carry thee on and engage thee deeper 'till he hath not left thee any tendernesse in thy conscience As some have been served at play intending only to venture a shilling or two yet have by the secret witchery in gaming played the very cloathes off their back before they had done O how many have thus sinned away all their principles yea Profession it self that they have not so much as this cloak left but walk naked to their shame Like children who got into a boat think to play near the shore but are unawares by a violent gust carried down to the wide sea O how know you that dallie with Satan but that at last you may who begin modestly be carried down to the broad sea of prophanenesse Some men are so subtile to over-reach and so cruel when they get men into their hands that a man had better beg his bread then borrow of them Such a Merchant is Satan cunning to insinuate and get the creature into his books and when he hath him on the hip no more mercy to be had at his hand then the Lambe may expect from the ravenous Wolfe Vse 3 Study the wiles and acquaint thy self with Satans policy Paul takes it for granted that every Saint doth in some measure understand them We are not ignorant of his devices 2 Cor. 2.11 He is but an ill fencer that knows and observes nothing of his emies play many particular stratagems I have laid down already which may help a little and for thy direction in this study of and enquiry into Satans wiles take this threefold counsel First take God into thy counsel Heaven over-looks hell God at any time can tell thee what plots are hatching there against thee Consider Satan as he is
Gods creature so God cannot but know him He that makes the Watch knowes every pin in it He formed this crooked Serpent though not the crookednesse of this Serpent and though Satans way in tempting is as wonderful as the way of a Serpent on a rock yet God traceth him yea knowes all his thoughts together Hell it self is naked before him and this destroyer hath no covering Again consider him as Gods Prisoner who hath him fast in chaines and so the Lord who is his Keeper must needs know whither his Prisoner goes who cannot stir without his leave Lastly consider him as his messenger for so he is An evil spirit from the Lord vexed Saul and he that gives him his errand is able to tell thee what it is Go then and plough with Gods heifer improve thy interest in Christ who knows what his Father knows and is ready to reveal all that concernes thee to thee Joh. 15.15 It was he who descried the devil coming against Peter and the rest of the Apostles and faithfully revealed it to them Luke 22. before they thought of any such matter Through Christs hands passe all that is transacted in heaven and hell We live in dayes of great actions deep counsels and plots on all sides and only a few that stand on the upper end of the world know these mysteries of State all the rest know little more then Pamphlet-Intelligence Thus it is in regard of those plots which Satan in his infernal Conclave is laying against the soules of men they are but a few that know any thing to purpose of Satans designes against them and those are the Saints from whom God cannot hide his own counsels of love but sends his Spirit to reveal unto them here what he hath prepared for them in heaven 1 Cor. 2.10 and therefore much lesse will he conceal any destructive plot of Satan from them Be intimately acquainted with thy own heart and thou wilt the better know his design against thee who takes his method of tempting from the inclination and posture of thy heart As a General walks about the City and viewes it well and then raiseth his Batteries where he hath the greatest advantage So doth Satan compasse and consider the Christian in every part before he tempts Lastly be careful to reade the Word of God with observation In it thou hast the History of the most remarkable battels that have been fought by the most eminent Worthies in Christs Army of Saints with this great Warriour Satan Here thou mayest see how Satan hath foiled them and how they have recovered their lost ground Here you have his Cabinet-counsels opened there is not a lust which you are in danger of but you have it descried not a temptation which the Word doth not arme you against It is reported that a certain Jew should have poisoned Luther but was happily prevented by his picture which was sent to Luther with a warning from a faithful friend that he should take heed of such a man when he saw him by which he knew the Murderer and escaped his hands The Word shewes thee O Christian the face of those lusts which Satan employes to butcher thy precious soule By them is thy servant warned saith David Psal 19.11 CHAP. V. Wherein is shewed the subtilty of Satan as a Troubler and an Accuser for sin where many of his wiles and policies to disquiet the Saints spirits are discovered THe second General in which Satan appears such a subtile enemy is in molesting the Saints peace and disquieting the Saints spirit As this holy Spirits work is not only to be a Sanctifier but also a Comforter whose fruits are righteousnesse and peace so the evil spirit Satan is both a seducer unto sin and an accuser for sin a Tempter and a Troubler and indeed in the same order As the Holy Ghost is first a Sanctifier and then a Comforter so Satan first a Tempter then a Troubler Josephs Mistresse first tries to draw him to gratifie her lust that string breaking she hath another to trounce him and charge him and for a plea she hath his coat to cover her malice nor is it hard for Satan to pick some hole in the Saints coat when he walks most circumspectly The proper seat of sin is the Will of comfort the Conscience Satan hath not absolute knowledge of or power over these being lock't up from any other but God and therefore what he doth either in defiling temptations or disquieting is by wiles more then by open force and he is not inferiour in troubling to himself in tempting Satan hath as the Serpent away by himself other beasts their motion is direct right on but the Serpent goes a skue as we say winding and wreathing its body that when you see a serpent creeping along you can hardly discerne which way it tends thus Satan in his vexing temptations hath many intricate policies turning this way and that way the better to conceale his designe from the Saint which will appear in these following methods SECT I. First he vexeth the Christian by laying his brats at the Saints door and charging him with that which is his own creature and here he hath such a notable Art that many dear Saints of God are wofully hampered and dejected as if they were the vilest blasphemers and veriest Atheists in the world whereas indeed the cup is of his own putting into the sack but so slily conveyed into the Saints bosome that the Christian though amazed and frighted at the sight of them yet being jealous of his own heart and unacquainted with Satans tricks of this kind cannot conceive how such motions should come there if not bred in and vomited out by his own naughty heart and so bears the blame of the sin himself because he cannot finde the right father mourning as one that is forlorn and cast off by God or else saith he I should never have such vermine of hell creeping in my bosome and here Satan hath his end he proposeth for he is not so silly as to hope he should have welcome with such a horrid crue of blasphemous and atheistical thoughts in that soul where he hath been denied when he came in an enticing way no but his designe is by way of revenge because the soul will not prostitute it selt to his lust otherways therfore to haunt it and scare it with those imps of blasphemy As he served Luther to whom he appeared and when repulsed by him went away and left a noisome stinch behinde him in the room Thus when the Christian hath worsted Satan in his more pleasing temptations being madded he belcheth forth this stinch of blasphemous motions to annoy and affright him that from them the Christian may draw some sad conclusion or other and indeed the Christians sin lies commonly more in the conclusion which he draws from them as that he is not a child of God then in the motions themselves All the counsel therefore I shall give thee
them that gives them plums But 't is strange that a Saint should be at a losse for his afflicted state when he hath a Key to decipher Gods character Christian hath not God secretly instructed thee by his Spirit from the Word how to reade the short-hand of his Providence doest not thou know that the Saints afflictions stand for blessings Every son whom he loves he corrects and prosperity in a wicked state must it not be read a curse doth not God damne such to be rich honourable victorious in this world as well as to be tormented in another world God gives them more of these then they seem to desire sometimes and all to binde them faster up in a deep sleep of security as Jael served Sisera he shall have milk though he asked but water that she might naile him the surer to the ground Milk having a property as some write to encline to sleep SECT IV. Fourthly be careful to keep thy old receits which thou hast had from God for the pardon of thy sins There are some gaudy dayes and Jubilee-like Festivals when God comes forth clothed with the robes of his mercy and holds forth the Scepter of his grace more familiarly to his children then ordinary bearing witnesse to their faith sincerity c. and then the firmament is clear not a cloud to be seen to darken the Christians comfort Love and joy are the soules repast and pastime while this feast lasts Now when God withdrawes and this chear is taken off Satans work is how he may deface and weare off the remembrance of this testimony which the soule so triumphs in for its spiritual standing that he may not have it as an evidence when he shall bring about the suite again and put the soule to produce his writings for his spiritual state or renounce his claim It behoves thee therefore to lay them up safely such a testimony may serve to non-suit thy accuser many yeares hence one affirmative from Gods mouth for thy pardoned state carries more weight though of old date then a thousand negatives from Satans Davids Songs of old spring in with a light to his soule in his midnight-sorrowes Quest But what counsel would you give me saith the distressed soul who cannot fasten on my former comforts nor dare to vouch those evidences which once I thought true I finde indeed there have been some treaties of old between God and my soule some hopes I have had but these are now so defaced and interlined with back-slidings repentances and falls again that now I question all my evidences whether true or counterfeit what should one in this case do Answ First renew thy repentance as if thou hadst never repented Put forth fresh acts of faith as if thou hadst never believed This seriously done will stop Satans mouth with an unexpected answer Let him object against thy former actings as hypocritical what can he say against thy present repenting and beleeving which if true sets thee beyond his shot It will be harder for Satan to disprove the present workings of Gods gracious Spirit whilest the impressions thereof are fresh then to pick an hole in thy old deeds and evidences Acts are transient and as wicked men look at sins committed many yeares since as little or none by reason of that breadth of time which interposeth so the Christian upon the same account stands at great disadvantage to take the true aspect of those acts of grace which so long ago passed between God and him though sometimes even these are of great use As God can make a sinner possesse the sins of his youth as if they were newly acted to his terrour in his old age so God can present the comforts and evidences which of old the Saint received with those very thoughts he had then of them as if they were fresh and new And therefore secondly If yet he haunts thee with the feares of thy spiritual estate ply thee to the throne of grace and beg a new copy of thy old evidence which thou hast lost The Original is in the Pardon-Office in Heaven whereof Christ is Master if thou beest a Saint thy name is upon record in that Court make thy moane to God heare what newes from Heaven rather then listen to the tales which are brought by thine enemie from hell Did such reason lesse with Satan and pray over their feares more to God they might sooner be resolved Can you expect truth from a liar and comfort from an enemy Did he ever prophesie well of believers Was not Job the Devils hypocrite whom God vouch't for a non-such in holinesse and prov'd him so at last If he knew thou wert a Saint would he tell thee so if an hypocrite he would be as loath thou shouldest know it turn thy back therefore on him and go to thy God feare not but sooner or later he will give his hand again to thy Certificate But look thou doest not rashly passe a censure on thy self because a satisfactory answer is not presently sent at thy desire the Messenger may stay long and bring good newes at last Thirdly shun battel with thine enemy while thou art in a fitter posture and that thou mayest draw into thy trenches and make an honourable retreat into those fastnesses and strengths which Christ hath provided for his sick and wounded souldiers Now there are two places of advantage into which deserted souls may retire the Name of God and the absolute Promises of the Gospel these I may call the faire Havens which are then chiefly of use when the storme is so great that the ship cannot live at sea O saith Satan doest thou hope to see God none but the pure in heart shall be blest with that vision Think'st thou to have comfort that is the portion of the Mourners in spirit Now soule though thou canst not say in the hurry of temptation thou art the pure and the Mourner in spirit yet then say thou believest God is able to work these in thee yea hath promised such a mercy to poor sinners 't is his Covenant He will give a new heart a clean heart a soft heart and here I wait knowing as there was nothing in the creature to move the great God to make such Promises so there can be nothing in the creature to hinder the Almighty his performance of them where and when he pleaseth This act of faith accompanied with a longing desire after that grace thou canst not yet finde and an attendance on the meanes though it will not fully satisfie all thy doubts may be yet will keep thy head above water that thou despairest not and such a shore thou need'st in this case or the house falls Fourthly If yet Satan dogs thee call in help and keep not the devils counsel The very strength of some temptations lies in the concealing of them and the very revealing of them to some faithful friend like the opening and pricking of an imposthume gives the soule present ease
Satan knowes this too well and therefore as some thieves when they come to rob an house either gagge them in it or hold a pistol to their breast frighting them with death if they cry or speak Thus Satan that he may more freely rifle the soule of its peace and comfort over-awes it so that it dares not disclose his temptation O saith Satan if thy brethren or friends know such a thing by thee they 'l cast thee off others will hoote at thee Thus many a poor soul hath been kept long in its pangs by biting them in thou losest Christian a double help by keeping the devils secret the counsel and prayers of thy fellow-brethren and what an invaluable losse is this CHAP. VIII Of the Saints victory over their subtile enemy and whence it is that creatures so over-match't should be able to stand against Satans wiles THe second Branch of the Apostles Argument followes to excite them the more vigourously to their armes and that is from the possibility yea certainty of standing against this subtile enemie if thus arm'd That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil So that this gives the Apostles argument its due temperament for he meant not to scare them into a cowardly flight or sullen despaire of victory when he tells them their enemy is so subtile and politick but to excite them to a vigourous resistance from the assured hope of strength to stand in battel and victoriously after it which two I conceive are comprehended in that phrase standing against the wiles of Satan Sometimes to stand implies a fighting posture so verse 14. Sometimes a conquering posture Job 19.25 I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth That earth which was the field where all the bloody battels were fought betwixt him and Satan on it shall he stand when not an enemy shall dare to shew his head So that taking both these in the Observation is Satan with all his wits and wiles shall never vanquish a soule arm'd with true grace nay he that hath this armour of God on shall vanquish him Look into the Word you shall not finde a Saint but hath been in the list with him sifted and winnowed more or lesse by this enemy yet at last we finde them all coming off with an honourable victory as in David Job Peter Paul who were the hardest put to it of any upon record and lest some should attribute their victory to the strength of their inherent grace above other of their weaker brethren you have the glory of their victories appropriated to God in whom the weak are as strong as the strongest We shall give a double Reason of this truth why the Christian who seemes to be so over-match't is yet so unconquerable First the curse that lies upon Satan and his cause Gods curse blasts whereever it comes The Canaanites with their neighbour-Nations were bread for Israel though people famous for warre and why They were cursed Nations The Egyptians a politick people Let us deal wisely say they yet being cursed of God this lay like a thorne at their heart and was at last their ruine yea let the Israelites themselves who carry the badge of Gods Covenant on their flesh by their sins once become the people of Gods curse and they are trampled like dirt under the Assyrians feet This made Balak beg so hard for a curse upon Israel Now there is an irrevokeable curse cleaves to Satan from Gen. 3.14 15. And the Lord said to the Serpent Because thou hast done this thou art cursed c. which place though partly meant of the literal serpent yet chiefly of the devil and the wicked his spiritual serpentine brood as appeares by the enmity pronounced against the Serpents seed and the womans which clearly holds forth the feud between Christ with his seed against the devil and his Now there are two things in that curse which may comfort the Saints First the curse prostrates Satan under their feet Vpon thy belly shalt thou go which is no more then is elsewhere promised that God will subdue Satan under our feet Now this prostrate condition of Satan assures believers that the devil shall never lift his head that is his wily policy higher then the Saints heele He may make thee limp but not bereave thee of thy life and this bruise which he gives thee shall be rewarded with the breaking of his own head that is the utter ruine of him and his cause Secondly his food is here limited and appointed Satan shall not devoure whom he will The dust is his food which seems to restrain his power to the wicked who are of the earth earthy meere dust but for those who are of a heavenly extraction their graces are reserved for Christs food Cant. 7.13 and their souls surely are not a morsel for the devils tooth The second reason is taken from the wisdom of God who as he undertakes the ordering of the Christians way to heaven Ps 37.24 so especially this businesse of Satans temptations We finde Christ was not led of the evil spirit into the wildernesse to be tempted but of the Holy Spirit Mat. 4.1 Satan tempts not when he will but when God pleaseth and the same Holy Spirit which led Christ into the field brought him off with victory And therefore we finde him marching in the Power of the Spirit after he had repulsed Satan into Galilee Luke 4.14 When Satan tempts a Saint he is but Gods messenger 2 Cor. 12.7 There was given to me a thorne in the flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me So our Translation But rather as Beza who will have it in casu recto the Messenger Satan implying that he was sent of God to Paul And indeed the errand he came a was too good and gracious to be his own Lest I should be exalted above measure The devil never meant to do Paul such a good office but God sends him to Paul as David sent Vriah with letters to Joab neither knew the contents of their message The devil and his instruments both are Gods instruments therefore the wicked are called his sword his axe now let God alone to wield the one and handle the other He is but a bungler that hurts and hackles his own legs with his own axe which God should do if his children should be the worse for Satans temptations Let the devil choose his way God is for him at every weapon If he 'll try it by force of armes and assault the Saints by persecution as the Lord of Hostes he will oppose him If by policy and subtilty he is ready there also The devil and his whole counsel are but fooles to God Nay their wisdome foolishnesse Cunning and Art commend every thing but sinne The more artificial the watch the picture c. the better but the more wit and Art in sin the worse because it is employed against
in their holy course by the scandal he hath given but God here befooles him First making the miscarriages of such a seasonable caveat to others to look to their standing Doest thou see a meek Moses provok't to anger what watch and ward hast thou need keep over thy unruly heart though loud winds do some hurt by blowing down here a loose tyle and there a turret which was falling before yet the common good surmounts the private damage of some few these being as a broom in Gods hand to sweep and cleanse the aire so though some that are wicked are by Gods righteous judgement for the same hardened into further abominations by the Saints falls yet the good which sincere soules receive by having their formality and security in a further degree purged doth abundantly countervaile the other who are but sent a little faster whither they were going before Secondly God makes his Saints falls an argument for comfort to distressed consciences This hath been and is as a feather when the passage seems so stop't that no comfort can be got down otherwise to drop a little hope into the soule to keep the creature alive from falling into utter despair some have been revived with this when next door to hell in their own feares Davids sin was great yet found mercy Peter fell foully yet now in heaven Why sittest thou here O my soul under the hatches of despair up and call upon thy God for mercy who hath pardoned the same to others Thirdly God hath a design in suffering Satan to trounce some of his Saints by temptation to train them up into a fitnesse to succour their fellow-brethren in the like condition he sends them hither to school where they are under Satans ferular and lash that his cruel hand over them may make them study the Word and their own hearts by which they get experience of Satans policies till at last they commence Masters in this Art of comforting tempted soules It is an Art by it self to speak a word in season to the weary soule 't is not serving out an Apprenticeship to humane Arts will furnish a man for this great Doctors have proved very dunces here knowing no more how to handle a wounded conscience then a Rustick the Chirurgions instrument in dissecting the body when an Anatomy-Lecture is to be read 'T is not the knowledge of the Scripture though a man were as well acquainted with it as the Apothecary with his pots and glasses in his shop able to go directly to any promise on a sudden will suffice No not grace it selfe except exercised with these buffetings and soul-conflicts Christ himself we finde trained up in this school Isa 50.4 He wakeneth mine eare to heare as the learned Even as the Tutor calls up his Pupil to reade to him and what is the Lecture which is read to Christ that he may have the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the weary soule see vers 5. The Lord hath opened mine eare and I was not rebellious neither turned I away my back I gave my back to the smiters c. His sufferings which were all along mingled with temptations were the Lecture from which Christ came out so learned to resolve and comfort distressed soules So that the devil had better have let Christ alone yea and his Saints also who do him but the greater disservice in comforting others none will handle poor soules so gently as those who remember the smart of their owne heart-sorrowes none so skilful in applying the comforts of the Word to wounded consciences as those who have layen bleeding themselves such know the symptomes of soul-troubles and feel others pains in their own bosomes which some that know the Scriptures for sack of experience do not and therefore are like a novice Physician who perhaps can tell you every plant in the Herbal yet wanting the practick part when a Patient comes knowes not well how to make use of his skill The Saints experiences help them to a soveraign treacle made of the Scorpions own flesh which they through Christ have slain and that hath a vertue above all other to expel the venome of Satans temptations from the heart SECT III. Thirdly Satan in tempting the Saint to sin labours to make a breach between God and the soule He hates both and therefore labours to divide these dear friends If I can thinks he get such a one to sin God will be angry and when angry he 'll whip his childe foundly this will be some sport and when God is correcting the Saint he 'll be questioning the love of God to him and cooles in his love to God so though I should not keep him from heaven at last yet he shall have little joy thither in the way In this case God and the soul will be like man and wife fallen out who neither of them look kindly one upon another Now see how God befooles Satan in both these First God useth his Saints temptations as his method by which he advanceth the communications of his love unto them The devil thought he had got the goale when he got Adam to eate the forbidden fruit he thought now he had man in the same predicament with himself as unlikely ever to see the face of God as those Apostate spirits but alas this was by God intended to usher in that great Gospel-plot of saving man by Christ who assoon as this Prologue of mans fall is done is brought upon the stage in that grand Promise of the Gospel made to Adam and at Gods command undertakes the charge of recovering lost man out of Satans clutches and re-instating him in his primitive glory with an accesse of more then ever man had at first so that the meanest lilly in Christs field exceeds Adam in all his native Royalty And as Satan sped in his first temptation so he is still on the losing hand what got he by all his paines upon Job but to let that holy man know at last how dearly God loved him When he foiled Peter so shamefully do we not finde Christ owning Peter with as much love as ever Peter must be the only disciple to whom by name the joyful newes of his resurrection is sent Go tell my disciples and Peter As if Christ had said Be sure let his sad heart be comforted with this newes that he may know I am friends with him for all his late cowardise Quest But doth not this seem to countenance sin and make Christians heedlesse whether they fall into temptation or no If God do thus shew his love to his Saints after their falls and foiles why should we be so shy of sin which ends so well at last Answ Two things will prevent the danger of such an inference First we must distinguish between a soules being foiled through his own infirmity and his enemies subtilty and power over-matching him and another who through a false heart doth voluntarily prostrate himself to the lust of
Satan though a General will shew little pity to a souldier that should traiterously throw down his armes and run to the enemy yet if another in fighting receives a wound and be worsted it will be no dishonour for him to expresse his pity and love no though he should send him out of the field in his own coach lay him in his own bed and appoint him his own Chirurgion God doth not encourage wickednesse in his Saints but pities weaknesse Even when the Saints fall into a sin in its nature presumptuous they do not commit it so presumptuously as others there is a part true to God in their bosomes though over-voted Moses spake unadvisedly but the devil had his instruments to provoke him quite against the good mans temper David numbers the people but see how the devil dogg'd and hunted him till at last he got the better 1 Chron. 21.1 Satan stood up and provoked David to number Israel How bravely did Job repel Satans darts no wonder if in such a shower some one should get between the joynts of his armour And for Peter we know good man with what a loyal heart yea zealous he went into the field though when the enemy appear'd his heart fail'd him Secondly consider but the way how God communicates his love after his Saints falls not in sinning or for sinning but in mourning and humbling their souls for their sins Indeed did God smile on them while acting sinfully this might strengthen their sin as wine in a feaver would the disease but when the fit is off the venome of the disease spent and breathed out in a kindly humiliation now the creature lies low Gods wine of comfort is a cordial to the drooping spirit not fuel for sin When David was led into temptation first he must be clad in sack-cloth and mourning and then God takes it off and puts on the garment of joy and praise 1 Chron. 21.10 15. Job though he exprest so much courage and patience yet bewraying some infirmities after he was baited long by so many fresh dogs men and devils he must cry peccavi and abhor himself in dust and ashes before God will take him into his armes Job 42.6 and the same way God takes with all his children Now to his Saints in such a posture God may with safety to his honour and their good give a larger draught of his love then ordinary their feares and sorrow which their sin hath cost them will serve instead of water to dash this strong wine of joy and take away its headinesse that it neither fume up into pride nor occasion them to reele backward into Apostasie Quest But why doth God now communicate his love Answ 1 First from his own pitiful nature You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lordis very pitiful and of tender mercy God loves not to rake in bleeding wounds he knowes a mourning soul is subject to be discouraged A frown or an angry look from God whom the Saint so dearly loves must needs go near the heart therefore God declares himself at hand to revive such Isa 57 15. and he gives the reason verse 16. For I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wreth for the spirit should faile before me Whose spirit is there meant not of the presumptuous sinner he goes on and never blunks but of the contrite and humble ones As the father observes the disposition of his children one commits a fault and goes on rebelliously despising his fathers anger another when offending him layes it to heart refuseth to eat gets into some corner to lament the displeasure of his father the father sees it and his bowels yerne towards him Indeed should he not put his childe out of feare by discovering his love the spirit of such a one would faile 't is not possible there should be a long breach between such a father and such a son the one relenting over his sin the other over his mourning son Secondly God doth thus to poure the greater shame upon Satan who is the great make-bate between God and the soule How is the man ashamed that hath stirr'd up variance between husband and wife father and son to see the breach made up and all set themselves against him It went ill on Christs side when Herod and Pilate were made friends and can it go well with Satan to see all well between God and his children If Esther be in favour Haman her enemy shall have his face covered Indeed this covers Satans face with shame to see a poor Saint even now his prisoner whom he had leave to rob and plunder tempt and disquiet now sitting in the Sun-shine of Gods love while he like a ravening Lion takes on for the losse of his prey Secondly Satans aime is to weaken the Saints faith on God and cool his love to God but befool'd in both for first God turnes their temptations yea their falls to the further establishment of their faith which like the tree stands stronger for its shaking or like the Gyant Anteus who in his wrestling with Hercules is feigned to get strength by every fall to the ground False faith indeed once foiled seldom comes on again but true faith riseth and fights more valiantly as we see in Peter and other Scripture-examples Temptation to faith is as fire to gold 1 Pet. 1.7 The fire doth not only discover which is true gold but makes the true gold more pure it comes out may be lesse in bulk and weight because severed from that soile and drosse which embased it but more in value and worth when Satan is bound up and the Christian walks under the shines of divine favour and encouragement of divine assistance his faith may appear great if compared with another under the withdrawings of God and buffetings of Satan but this is not equall judging as if to try who is biggest of two men we should measure one naked and the other over his clothes or in comparing two pieces of gold weigh one with the drosse and dirt it contracts in the purse with the other purged from these in the fire faith before temptation hath much heterogeneal stuffe that cleaves to it and goes for faith but when temptation comes these are discovered Now the Christian feels corruption stir which lay as dead before now a cloud comes between the soule and the sweet face of God the sense of which latter and the little sense of the other bore up his faith before but these bladders prick't he comes now to learne the true stroke in this heavenly Art of swimming on the promise having nothing else to beat him up but that and a little of this carries more of the precious nature of faith in it then all the other yea is like Gideons handful of men stronger when all these accessaries to faith are sent away then when they were present and here is all the devil gets in stead
There is nothing got by scuffling with God but blows or worse If he say he will afflict thee no more 't is even the worst he can say 't is as much as if he should say he 'll be in thy debt till another world and there pay thee altogether But if he means thee mercy thou shalt hear from him in some sharper affliction then ever He hath wedges that can rive thee wert thou a more knotty piece then thou art Are there yet the treasures of wickednesse and the scant measure that is abominable saith God to Israel what uncorrigible though the Lords voice crieth unto the City bidding you hear the rod and him that hath appointed it See what course God resolvs on v. 13. Therefore will I make thee sick in smiting of thee As if he had said my other Physick I see was too weak it did not work or turne your stomack but I will prepare a potion that shall make you sick at heart Secondly It reproves those who seem to wrestle against sin but not according to the Word of Command that Christ gives There is a Law in wrestling which must be observ'd 2 Tim. 2.5 If a man also strive for Masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully He alludes to the Romane games to which there were Judges appointed to see that no foule play were offered contrary to the Law for wrestling the prize being denied to such though they did foile their adversary which the Apostle improves to make the Christian careful in his war as being under a stricter Law and Discipline that requires not only valour to fight but obedience to fight by order and according to the Word of Command Now few do this that go for great Wrestlers First some while they wrestle against one sin embrace another and in this case 't is not the person wrestles against sin but one sin wrestles with another and 't is no wonder to see thieves fall out when they come to divide the spoil Lusts are divers Tit. 3.3 and 't is hard to please many Masters especially when their commands are so contrary when pride bids lay on in bravery lavish out in entertainment covetousnesse bids lay up when malice bids revenge carnal policy saith conceal thy wrath though not forgive When lust sends to his whores hypocrisie pulls him back for shame of the world Now is he Gods Champion that resists one sin at the command of another it may be a worse Secondly some wrestle but they are prest into the field not Voluntiers their slavish feare scares them at present from their lust so that the Combate is rather betwixt their Conscience and Will then them and their lust Give me such a sin saith Will No saith conscience it will scall'd and throwes it away A man may love the wine though he is loath to have his lips burnt Hypocrites themselves are afraid to burne In such Combates the Will at last prevails either by bribing the understanding to present the lust it desires in a more pleasing dresse that conscience may not be scared with such hideous apparitions of wrath or by pacifying conscience with some promise of repentance for the future or by forbearing some sin for the present which it can best spare thereby to gain the reputation of something like a reformation Or if all this will not do then prompted by the fury of its lust the Will proclaims open war against conscience sinning in the face of it like some wilde horse impatient of the spur which pricks him and bridle that curbs him gets the bit between his teeth and runs with full speed till at last he easeth himself of his Rider and then where he sees fattest pasture no hedge or ditch can withhold him till in the end you finde him starving in some pound for his trespasse Thus many sin at such rate that conscience can no longer hold the reines nor sit the saddle but is thrown down and laid for dead and then the wretches range where their lusts can have the fullest meal till at last they pay for their stollen pleasures most dearly when conscience comes to it self pursues them and takes them more surely by the throat then ever never to let them go till it brings them before Gods Tribunal Thirdly others wrestle with sin but they do not hate it and therefore they are favourable to it and seek not the life of sin as their deadly enemy these wrestle in jest and not in earnest the wounds they give sin one day are healed by the next Let men resolve never so strongly against sin yet it will creep again into their favour till the love of sin be quenched in the heart and this fire will never the of it self the love of Christ must quench the love of sin as Ierome excellently Vnus amor extinguit alium This heavenly fire will indeed put out that flame of hell which he illustrates by Ahashuerus his carriage to Vashti his Queen who in the first Chapter makes a decree in all haste that she comes no more before him but when his passion is a little down chap. 2. v. 1. he begins to relent towards her which his Councel perceiving presently seek out for a beautiful Virgin on whom the King might place his love and take into his royal bed which done we hear no more of Vashti then and not till then will the soules decree stand against sin when the soule hath taken Christ into his bosome SECT IV. Secondly to the Saints seeing your life is a continual wrestling here on earth 't is your wisdom to study how you may best manage the combate with your best enemy which that you may do take these few directions First look thou goest not into the field without thy Second my meaning is engage God by prayer to stand at thy back God is in a league offensive and defensive with thee but he looks to be called Did the Ephraimites take it ill that Gideon called them into the field and may not God much more as if thou meanedst to steal a victory before he should know it Thou hast more valour then Moses who would not stir without God no though he sent an Angel for his Lieutenant Thou art wiser then Iacob who to overcome Esau now marching up turnes from him and falls upon God he knew if he could wrestle with God he might trust God to deale with his brother Engage God and the back-door is shut no enemy can come behinde thee yea thine enemy shall fall before thee God turne the counsel of Achitophel into foolishnesse saith David Heaven saith Amen to his prayer and the wretch hangs himself Secondly be very careful of giving thine enemy hand-hold Wrestlers strive to fasten upon some part or other which gives them advantage more easily to throw their adversary to prevent which they used First to lay aside their garments Secondly to anoint their bodies For the first Christian labour to put off the old man which
is most personal that corruption which David calls his own iniquity Psal 18.23 This is the skirt which Satan layes hold of observe what it is and mortifie it daily then Satan will retreat with shame when he sees the head of that enemy upon the wall which should have betrayed thee into his hands Secondly the Romane wrestlers used to anoint their bodies so do thou bathe thy soul with the frequent meditation of Christs love Satan will finde little welcome where Christs love dwells love will kindle love and that will be as a wall of fire to keep off Satan it will make thee disdain the offer of a sinne and as oile supple thy joynts and make agile to offend thy enemy Think how Christ wrestled in thy quarrel sin hell and wrath had all come full mouth upon thee had not he coped with them in the way And canst thou finde in thy heart to requite his love by betraying his glory into the hands of sin by cowardise or treachery say not thou lovest him so long as thou canst lay those sins in thy bosome which pluck't his heart out of his bosome It were strange if a childe should keep and delight to use no other knife but that wherewith his father was stabb'd Thirdly improve the advantage thou gettest at any time wisely Sometimes the Christian hath his enemy on the hip yea on the ground can set his foot on the very neck of his pride and throw away his unbelief as a thing absurd and unreasonable now as a wise wrestler fall with all thy weight upon thine enemy though man think it foule play to strike when his adversary is down yet do not thou so complement with sin as to let it breath or rise Take heed thou beest not charged of God as once Ahab for letting go this enemy now in thy hands whom God hath appointed to destruction Learne a little wisdome of the Serpents brood who when they had Christ under their foot never thought they had him sure enough no not when dead and therefore both seale and watch his grave Thus do thou to hinder the resurrection of thy sin seal it down with stronger purposes solemn covenants and watch it by a wakeful circumspect walking Vse 3 This is ground of consolation to the weak Christian who disputes against the truth of his grace from the inward conflicts and fightings he hath with his lusts and is ready to say like Gideon in regard of outward enemies If God be with me why is all this befallen me why do I finde such struglings in me provoking me to sin pulling me back from that which is good Why doest ask The Answer is soon given because thou art a Wrestler not a Conquerour Thou mistakest the state of a Châ—istian in this life when one is made a Christian he is not presently call'd to triumph over his slaine enemies but carried into the field to meet and fight them The state of grace is rhe commencing of a war against sin not the ending of it rather then thou shalt not have an enemy to wrestle with God himself will come in a disguise into the field and appear to be thine enemy Thus when Jacob was alone a man wrestled with him until breaking of the day and therefore set thy heart at rest if this be thy scruple Thy soule may rather take comfort in this that thou art a wrestler This strugling within thee if upon the right ground and to the right end doth evidence there are two Nations within thee two contrary natures the one from earth earthly and the other from heaven heavenly yea for thy further comfort know though thy corrupt nature be the elder yet it shall serve the younger Vse 4 O how should this make thee Christian long to be gone home where there is none of this stir and scuffle 'T is strange that every houre seems not a day and everyday a year till death sounds thy joyful retreat and calls thee off the field where the bullets flie so thick and thou art fighting for thy life with thy deadly enemies to come to Court where not swords but palmes are seen in the Saints hands not drums but harps not groanes of bleeding souldiers and wounded consciences but sweet and ravishing musick is heard of triumphing Victors caroling the praises of God and the Lambe through whom they have overcome Well Christians while you are below comfort your selves with these things There is a place of Rest remains for the people of God You do not beat the aire but wrestle for a Heaven that is yonder above these clouds you have your worst first the best will follow You wrestle but to win a Crown and win to wear it yea wear never to lose it which once on none shall take off or put you to the hazard of battel more Here we overcome to fight again the battel of one temptation may be over but the war remaines What peace can we have as long as devils can come abroad out of their holes or anything of sinful nature remains in our selves unmortified which will even fight upon its knees and strike with one arme while the other is cut off but when death comes the last stroak is struck this good Physician will perfectly cure thee of thy spiritual blindnesse and lamenesse as the Martyr told his fellow at the stake bloody Bonner would do their bodily What is it Christian which takes away the joy of thy life but the wrestlings and combates which this bosome-enemy puts thee to Is not this the Peninnah that vexing and disturbing thy Spirit hath kept thee off many a sweet meale thou mightest have had in communion with God and his Saints or if thou hast come hath made thee cover the Altar of God with thy teares and groans and will it not be a happy hand that cuts the knot and sets thee loose from thy deadnesse hypocrisie pride and what not wherewith thou wert yoak't 'T is life which is thy losse and death which is thy gaine Be but willing to endure the rending of this vaile of thy flesh and thou art where thou wouldest be out of the reach of sin at rest in the bosome of thy God And why should a short evil of paine affright thee more then the deliverance from a continual torment of sins evil ravish thee Some you know have chose to be cut rather then to be ground daily with the stone and yet may be their pain comes again and canst thou not quietly think of dying to be delivered from the torment of these sins never to return more And yet that is not the half that death doth for thee Peace is sweet after war ease after pain but what tongue can expresse what joy what glory must fill the creature at the first sight of God and that blessed company none but one that dwells there can tell Did we know more of that blisseful state we Ministers should finde it as hard a work to perswade Christians to be
willing to live here so long as now it is to perswade them to be willing to die so soon CHAP II. Wherein is shewed what is meant by flesh and blood how the Christian doth not and how he doth wrestle against the same SECT I. NOw followes the description of the Saints enemies with whom he is to wrestle First described Negatively Not with flesh and blood Secondly Positively But against Principalities and Powers c. First for the Negative part of the Description we are not to take it for a pure negation as if we had no conflict with flesh and blood but wholly and solely to engage against Satan but by way of comparison not only with flesh and blood and in some sense not chiefly It is usual in Scripture such manner of phrase Luke 14.12 Call not thy friends to dinner but the poore that is not only those so as to neglect the poor Now what is meant here by flesh and blood there is a double interpretation of the words First by flesh and blood may be meant our own bosome-corruptions that sin which is in our corrupt nature so oft called flesh in the Scripture The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and sometimes flesh and blood as Matth. â—6 17 Flesh and blood hath not revealed this that is this Confession thou hast made comes from above thy fleshly corrupt minde could never have found out this supernatural truth thy sinful Will would never have embraced it So 1 Cor 15.20 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God that is sinful mortal flesh as it 's expounded in the words following So Gal. 1.21 I consulted not with flesh and blood that is carnal reason Now this bosome-enemy may be called flesh partly from its derivation and partly from its operation from its derivation because it 's derived and propagated to us by natural generation thus Adam is said to beget a son in his own likenesse sinful as he was as well as mortal and miserable yea the holiest Saint on earth having flesh in him derives this corrupt and sinful nature to his childe as the circumcised Jew begat an uncircumcised childe and the wheat cleans'd and fann'd being sowen comes up with a husk John 3.6 That which is borne of the flesh is flesh Secondly it s call'd flesh from the operations of this corrupt nature which are fleshly and carnal The reasonings of the corrupt minde fleshly therefore called the carnal minde uncapable indeed of the things of God which it neither doth nor can perceive As the Sunne doth obsignare superiora dum revelat inferiora hide the Heavens which are above it from us while it reveales things beneath so carnal reason leaves the creature in the dark concerning spiritual truths when it is most able to conceive and discourse of creature-excellencies and carnal interests here below What a childish question for so wise a man did Nicodemus put to Christ though Christ to help him did wrap his speech in a carnal phrase If fleshly reason cannot understand spiritual truths when thus accommodated and the notions of the Gospel translated into its own language what skill is it like to have of them if put to reade them in their original tongue I mean if this garment of carnal expression were taken off and spiritual truths in their naked hue presented to its view The motions of the natural will are carnal and therefore Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh are said to minde the things of the flesh All its desires delights cares feares are in and of carnal things it savours spiritual food no more then an Angel fleshly Omnis vita gustu ducitur What we cannot relish we will hardly make our daily food Every creature hath its proper diet the Lion eats not grasse nor the horse flesh what is food to the carnal heart is poison to the gracious and that which is pleasing to the gracious is distastful to the carnal Now according to this Interpretation the sense of the Apostle is not as if the Christian had no combate with his corrupt nature for in another place it 's said the Spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit and this enemy is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin that besets the Christian round but to aggravate his conflict with this enemy by the accesse of a forreign power Satan who strikes in with this domestick enemy As if while a King is fighting with his own mutinous subjects some out-landish troops should joyne with them now he may be said not to fight with his subjects but with a forrein power The Christian wrestles not with his naked corruption but with Satan in them were there no devil yet we should have our hands full in resisting the corruptions of our own hearts but the accesse of this enemy makes the battel more terrible because he heads them who is a Captain so skilful and experienced Our sin is the engine Satan is the Engineer lust the bait Satan the Angler when a soule is enticed by his own lust he is said to be tempted James 1.14 because both Satan and our own lust concur to the compleating the sinne First let this make thee Christian ply the work of mortification close it is no policy to let thy lusts have armes who are sure to rise and declare against thee when thine enemy comes Achish his Nobles did but wisely in that they would not trust David in their army when to fight against Israel lest in the battel he should be an adversary to them And darest thou go to duty or engage in any action where Satan will appear against thee and not endeavour to make sure of thy pride unbelief c. that they joyne not with thine enemy Secondly are Satan and thy own flesh against thee not single corruption but edged with his policy and backed by his power see then what need thou hast of more help then thy owne grace take heed of grapling with him in the strength of thy naked grace here thou hast two to one against thee Satan was too hard for Adam though he went so well appointed into the field because left to himself much more easily will he foile thee cling therfore about thy God for strength get him with thee and then though a worme thou shalt be able to deal with this Serpent SECT II. Secondly flesh and blood is interpreted as a periphrasis of man We wrestle not with flesh and blood that is not with man who is here described by that part which chiefly distinguisheth him from the Angelical nature Touch me saith Christ and handle me a Spirit hath not flesh Now according to this Interpretation observe First how meanly the Spirit of God speaks of man Secondly where he layes the stresse of the Saints battel not in resisting flesh and blood but Principalities and Powers where the Apostle excludes not our combate with man for the war is against the Serpent and his seed As wide as
a Courtier who doth not only obey but thank his Prince that he 'll employ him Need'st thou be long in resolving whose thou art did ever any question whether those were Jeroboams subjects who willingly followed his command Hos 5.11 Alas for thee thou art under the power of Satan tied by a chaine stronger then brasse or iron thou lovest thy lust A Saint may be for a time under a force sold under sin as the Apostle bemoans and therefore glad when deliverance comes but thou sellest thy self to work iniquity If Christ should come to take thee from thy lusts thou wouldest whine after them as Micah after his gods Thirdly to whom goest thou for protection as it belongs to the Prince to protect his subjects so Princes expect their subjects should trust them with their safety the very bramble bids Iudg. 9.15 If in truth ye anoint me King then put your trust under my shadow Now who hath thy confidence Darest thou trust God with thy soule and the affaires of it in well-doing Good subjects follow their calling commit State-matters to the wisdom of their Prince and his Councel when wrong'd they appeal to their Prince in his Laws for right and when they do offend their Prince they submit to the penalty of the Law and beare his displeasure patiently till humbling themselves they recover his favour and do not in a discontent fall to open rebellion Thus a gracious soule follows his Christian calling committing himself to God as a faithful Creatour to be ordered by his wise Providence If he meets with violence from any he scornes to beg aid of the devil to help him or be his own Judge to right himself No he acquiesceth in the counsel and comfort the Word of God gives him If himself offends and so comes under the lash of Gods correcting hand he doth not then take up rebellious armes against God and refuse to receive correction but saith Why should a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin whereas a naughty heart dares not venture his estate life credit or any thing he hath with God in well-doing he thinks he shall be undone presently if he sits still under the shadow of Gods promise for protection and therefore he runs from God as from under an old house that would fall on his head and layes the weight of his confidence in wicked policy making lies his refuge like Israel he trusts in perversenesse when God tells him In returning and rest he shall be saved in quietnesse and confidence shall be his strength he hath not faith to take Gods Word for his security in wayes of obedience And when God comes to afflict him for any disloyal carriage in stead of accepting the punishment for his sin and so to own him for his Soveraign Lord that may righteously punish the faults of his disobedient subjects his heart is fill'd with rage against God and in stead of waiting quietly and humbly like a good subject till God upon his repentance receives him into his favour his wretched heart presenting God as an enemy to him will not suffer any such gracious and amiable thought of God to dwell in his bosome but bids him look for no good at his hand This evil is of the Lord why should I wait on the Lord any longer whereas a gracious heart is most encouraged to wait from this very consideration that drives the other away Because 't is the Lord afflicts Micah 7.6 Fourthly whom doest thou sympathize with he is thy Prince whose victories and losses thou layest to heart whether in thy own bosome or abroad in the world What saith thy soul when God hedgeth up thy way and keeps thee from that sin which Satan hath been soliciting for If on Christs side thou wilt rejoyce when thou art delivered out of a temptation though it be by falling into an affliction as David said of Abigail so wilt thou here Blessed be the Ordinance blessed be the Providence which kept me from sinning against my God but if otherwise thou wilt harbour a secret grudge against the Word which stood in thy way and be discontented thy designe took not A naughty heart like Amnon pines while his lust hath vent Again what musick do the atchievements of Christ in the world make in thy eare when thou hearest the Gospel thrives the blinde see the lame walk the poor gospellized doth thy spirit rejoyce in that houre If a Saint thou wilt as God is thy Father rejoyce thou hast more brethren borne as he is thy Prince that the multitude of his subjects increase so when thou seest the plots of Christs enemies discovered powers defeated canst thou go forth with the Saints to meet King Jesus and ring him out of the field with praises or do thy bells ring backward and such newes make thee haste like Haman mourning to thine house there to empty thy spirit swolne with rancour against his Saints and truth or if thy policy can master thy passion so far as to make faire weather in thy countenance and suffer thee to joyne with the people of God in their acclamations of joy yet then art thou a close mourner within and likest the work no better then Haman his office in holding Mordecai's stirrup who had rather have held the ladder this speaks thee a certain enemy to Christ how handsomely soever thou mayest carry it before men Vse 2 Secondly blesse God O ye Saints who upon the former trial can say you are translated into the Kingdome of Christ and so delivered from the tyranny of this usurper There are few but have some one gaudy day in a year which they solemnize some keep their birth-day others their marriage some their manumission from a cruel service others their deliverance from some imminent danger here is a mercy where all these meet You may call it as Adam did his wife Chavah the mother of all the living every mercy riseth up and calls this blessed this is thy birth-day thou wert before but beganst to live when Christ began to live in thee the father of the Prodigal dated his sons life from his returne This my son was dead and is alive It is It is thy marriage-day I have married you to one husband even Christ Jesus said Paul to the Corinthians Perhaps thou hast enjoyed this thy husbands sweet company many a day and had a numerous off-spring of Joyes and comforts by thy fellowship with him the thought of which cannot but endeare him to thee and make the day of thy espousals delightful to thy memory 'T is thy manumission then were the Indentures cancell'd wherein thou wert bound to sin and Satan when the Sonne made thee free thou becamest free indeed Thou canst not say thou wast borne free for thy father was a slave nor that thou boughtest thy freedome with a summe By grace ye are saved Heaven is setled on thee in the promise and thou not at charge so much as for the writings drawing
had he not been call'd to reside as our Ambassadour and Advocate in heaven with the Father and therefore in his bodily absence he hath intrusted thee and a few more to carry on the Treaty with sinners which when on earth himself began And what can you do more acceptable to him then to be faithful in it as a businesse on which he hath set his heart so much As ever you would see his sweet face with joy you that are his Ambassadours attend to your work and labour to bring this Treaty of Peace to a blessed issue between God and those you are sent to And then if sinners will not come off and seal the Articles of the Gospel you shall as Abraham said to his servant be cleare of your oath Though Israel he not gathered yet you shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord. And let not the private Christian say he is a dry tree and can do nothing for Christ his Prince because he may not bear the Magistrates fruit or Ministers Though thou hast not a commission to punish the sins of others with the sword of justice yet thou mayest shew thy zeal in mortifying thy own with the sword of the Spirit and mourne for theirs also though thou mayest not condemn them on the bench yet thou mayest yea oughtest by the power of a holy life to convince and judge them Such a Judge Lot was to the Sodomites Though thou art not sent to preach and baptize yet thou mayest be wonderful helpful to them who are The Christians prayers whet Magistrates and Ministers sword also O pray Christian and pray again that Christs Territories may be enlarged never go to heare the Word but pray Thy Kingdom come Loving Princes take great content in the acclamations and good wishes of their subjects as they passe by A vivat rex Long live the King coming from a loyal breath though poor is more worth then a subsidy from those who deny their hearts while they part with their money Thou servest a Prince Christian who knowes what all his subjects think of him and he counts it his honour not to have a multitude feinedly submit to him but to have a people that love him and cordially like his government who if they were to chuse their King and make their own lawes they should live under every day would desire no other then himself nor any other lawes then what they have already from his mouth It was no doubt great content to David that he had the hearts of his people so as Whatever the King did pleased them all And surely God took it as well that what he did pleased David for indeed David was as content under the rule and disposure of God as the people were under his witnesse the calmnesse of his Spirit in the greatest affliction that ever befell him 2 Sam. 15.26 Behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him Loyal soule he had rather live in exile with the good Will of God then have his throne if God will not say 't is good for him CHAP. IV. Of the great power Satan hath not only over the elementary and sensitive part of the world but intellectual also the soules of men SECT I. THis is the Second Branch of the Description wherein Satan is set forth by his might and Power This gives weight to the former were he a Prince and not able to raise a force that might dread the Saints the swelling name of Prince were contemptible but he hath power answerable to his dignity which in five particulars will appear First in his names Secondly his nature Thirdly his number Fourthly his order and unity Lastly the mighty works that are attributed to him First for the first he hath names of great power called the strong man Luke 11.21 so strong that he keeps his house in peace in defiance of all the sons of Adam none on earth being able to cope with this giant Christ must come from Heaven to destroy him and his works or the field is lost He is call'd the roaring lion which beast commands the whole forrest If he roares all tremble yea in such a manner as Pliny relates that he goes amongst them and they stand exanimated while he chooseth his prey without resistance such a lion is Satan who leads sinners captive at his will 2 Tim. 3.26 He takes them alive as the word is as the Fowler the bird which with a little scrap is enticed into the net or as the Conquerour his cowardly enemy who has no heart to fight but yields without contest Such cowards the devil finds sinners he no sooner appears in a motion but they yield They are but a very few noble spirits and those are the children of the most High God who dare valiantly oppose him and in striving against sin resist to blood He is call'd the great red dragon who with his taile wicked men his instruments sweeps down the third part of the stars of Heaven The Prince of the power of the aire because as a Prince can muster his subjects and draw them into the field for his service so the devil can raise the posse coeli aërii In a word he is call'd the God of this world 2 Cor. 4.4 because sinners give him a God-like worship feare him as the Saints do God himselfe Secondly the devils nature shewes his power 'T is Angelical Blesse the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength Psal 103.20 Strength is put for Angels Psal 78.25 They did eat Angels food Heb. the food of the mighty In two things the power of Angelical nature will appear In its Superiority and in its Spirituality First its Superiority Angels are the top of the Creation man himself made a little lower then the Angels Now in the works of Creation the Superiour hath a power over the Inferiour the beasts over the grasse and herb man over the beasts and Angels over man Secondly the Spirituality of their nature The weaknesse of man is from his flesh his soule made for great enterprizes but weighed down with a lump of flesh is forced to rowe with a strength suitable to its weak Partner but now the devils being Angels have no such incumbrance no sumes from a fleshly part to cloud their understanding which is clear and piercing no clog at their heele to retard their motion which for swiftnesse is set out by the winde and flame of fire Yea being spiritual they cannot be resisted with carnal force fire and sword hurt not them The Angel which appear'd to Manoah went up in the fire that consumed the sacrifice though such hath been the dotage and is at this day of superstitious ones that they think to charme the devil with their carnal exorcismes hence the Romish Reliques Crosse holy water yea and among the Jewes themselves in corrupter times who thought by their phylacteries and Circumcision to scare away the devil which made some of them expound that Cant.
lesse then a God like fear and dread of them by that power he puts forth through divine permission in smiting their goods beasts and bodies as among the Indians at this day Yea there are many among our selves plainly shew what a throne Satan hath in their hearts upon this account such who as if there were not a God in Israel go for help and cure to his Doctours wizzards I mean And truly had Satan no other way to work his will on the soules of men but by this vantage he takes from the body yet considering the degeneracy of mans state how low his soule is sunk beneath its primitive extraction how the body which was a lightsome house is now become a prisoner to it that which was its servant is now become its Master it is no wonder he is able to do so much But besides this he hath as a spirit a neerer way of accesse to the soule and as a superiour spirit yet more over man a lower creature And above all having got within the soule by mans fall he hath now far more power then before so that where he meets not resistance from God he carrries all before him As in the wicked whom he hath so at his devotion that he is in a sense said to do that in them which God doth in the Saints God works effectually in them Gal. 2.8 1 Thes 2.13 Satan worketh effectually in the children of disobedience Eph. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word with the former places he is in a manner as efficacious with them as the holy Spirit with the other His delusions strong 2 Thes 2.11 They return not re infectâ The Spirit enlightens he blindes the mindes of those that believe not 2 Cor. 4.4 The Spirit fills the Saints Ephes 5.18 Why hath Satan filled thy heart saith Peter to Ananias Acts. 5.3 The Spirit fills with knowledge and the fruits of righteousnesse Satan fills with envy and all unrighteousnesse The holy Spirit fills with comfort Satan the wicked with terrours As in Saul vexed by an evil spirit and Iudas into whom 't is said he entered and when he had satisfied his lust upon him as Amnon on Tamar shuts the door of mercy upon him and makes him that was even now Traitour to his Master Hangman to himselfe And though Saints be not the proper subjects of his power yet they are the chief objects of his wrath his foot stands on the wickeds back but he wrestles with these and when God steps aside he is far above their match He hath sent the strongest among them home trembling and crying to their God with the blood running about their consciences He is mighty both as a tempter to and for sin knowing the state of the Christians affairs so wel able to throw his fire-bals so far into the inward senses whether they be of lust or horrour and to blow up these with such unwearied solicitations that if they at first meet not with some suitable dispositions in the Christian at which as from loose cornes of powder they may take fire which is most ordinary yet in time he may bring over the creature by the length of the siege and continued volleys of such motions to listen to a parley with them if not a yielding to them Thus many times he even wearies out the soule with importunity SECT II. Vse 1 First let this O man make the plumes of thy pride fall whoever thou art that gloriest in thy power hadst thou more then thou or any of the sons of Adam ever had yet what were all that to the power of these Angels Is it the strength of thy body thou gloriest in Alas what is the strength of frail flesh to the force of their spiritual nature thou art no more to these then a childe to a giant a worme to a man who could tear up the mountaines and hurle the world into a confusion if God would but suffer them Is it the strength of thy parts above others doest thou not see what fooles he makes of the wisest among men winding them about as a Sophister would do an Idiot making them believe light is dark bitter is sweet and sweet bitter were not the strength of his parts admirable could he make a rational creature as man is so absurdly throw away his scarlet and embrace dung I mean part with God and the glorious happinesse he hath in him in hope to mend himself by embracing sin Yet this he did when man had his best wits about him in innocency Is it the power of place and dignity got by warlike atchievement Grant thou wert able to subdue Nations and give lawes to the whole world yet even then without grace from above thou wouldest be his slave And he himselfe for all this his power is a cursed spirit the most miserable of all Gods creatures and the more because he hath so much power to do mischief had the devil lost all his Angelical abilities when he fell he had gained by his losse Therefore tremble O man at any power thou hast except thou usest it for God Art strong in body who hath thy strength God or thy lusts some are strong to drink strong to sin Thy bands shall therefore be stronger Isa 28.22 Hast thou power by thy place to do God and his Church service but no heart to lay it out for them but rather against them thou and the devil shall be tried at the same bar it seems thou meanest to go to hell for something thou wilt carry thy full lading thither No greater plague can befall a man then power without grace Such great ones in the world while here make a brave shew like chief Commanders and field-Officers at the head of their Regiments the common souldiers are poor creatures to them but when the Army is beaten and all taken prisoners then they fling off their scarfe and feather and would be glad to passe for the meanest in the army Happy would devils be Princes and great ones in the world be if then they could appear in the habit of some poor sneaks to receiv their sentence as such but then their titles and dignity and riches shall be read not for their honour but further shame and damnation Vs e 2 Secondly it shewes the folly of those that think it is such an easie matter to get heaven If the devil be so mighty and heavens way so full of them then sure it will cost hot water before we display our banners upon the walls of that new Ierusalem Yet it is plain many think otherwise by the provision they make for their march If you should see a man walking forth without a cloak or with a very thin one you will say Surely he fears no foule weather or one riding a long journey alone and without armes you will conclude he expects no thieves on the road All if you ask them will tell you they are on their way to heaven but how few care for
him out of his new way or if that take not by turning their old love into bitter wrath against him for playing the Apostate and leaving him so Or if yet he will not be stopt in his way then he hath his daubing Preachers still like Iobs messengers the last the worst who with their soul-flattering or rather murdering doctrine shall go about to heal his wound slightly Now as ever you desire to get out of Satans bondage have a care of all these harden thy self against the entreaties of carnal friends and relations Resolve that if thy children should hang about thy knees to keep thee from Christ thou wilt throw them away If thy father and mother should lie prostrate at thy foot rather then not go to Christ to go over their very backs to him Never can we part with their love upon such advantageous termes as these And for thy brethren in iniquity I hope thou doest not mean to stay while thou hast their good will then even ask the devils also Heaven is but little worth if thou hast not a heart to despise a little shame and beare a few frumps from prophane Ishmaels for thy hopes of it Let them spit on thy face Christ will wipe it off let them laugh so thou winnest If they follow not thy example before they die the shame will be their own God himself shall spit it on their face before men and Angels and then kick them into hell And lastly scape but the snare of those flatterers who use their tongues only to lick sinners consciences whole with their placentia's soothing doctrine and thou art faire for a Christ ask not counsel of them they may go about to give you ease but all those stitches with which they sowe up thy wounds must be ripp't open or thou diest for it Thirdly Satan labours to while off the sinner with delayes Floating flitting thoughts of repenting he feares not he can give sinners leave to talk what they will do so he can beg time and by his Art keep such thoughts from coming to a head and ripening into a present resolution few are in hell but thought of repenting but Satan so handled the matter that they could never pitch upon the time in earnest when to do it If ever thou meanest to get out of his clutches flie out of his doors and run for thy life whereever this warning findes thee stay not though in the midst of thy joyes with which thy lusts entertain thee As the paper which came to Brentius from that Senatour his dear friend took him at supper with his wife and children and bade him flee citò citiùs citissimè which he did leaving his dear company and sweet cheere so do thou or else thou mayest repent thy stay when 't is too late A vision charged the wise men to go back another way and not so much as see Herod though he had charged them otherwise O go not back drunkard to thy good fellows adulterer to thy Queanes covetous wretch to thy usury and unlawful gaine turne another way and gratifie not the devil a moment The command saith now repent the Imperative hath no future tense God saith To day while it is to day The devil saith To morrow which wilt thou obey God or him Thou sayest thou meanest at last to do it then why not now Wilt thou stand with God for a day or two huckle with him for a penny Heaven is not such a hard pennyworth but thou mayest come up to his termes And which is the morrow thou meanest thou hast but a day in thy life for ought thou knowest where then canst thou find a morrow for repentance but shouldest thou have as many dayes to come is Methuselah lived yet know sin is hereditary and such sort of diseases grow more upon us with our years 'T is with long accustomed sinners as with those who have sate long under a Government they rather like to be as they are though but ill on it then think of a change or like those who in a journey have gone out of their way all the day will rather take any new way overhedge and ditch then think of going so far back to be set right Fourthly Satan labours to comprimise the businesse and bring it to a composition between him and Christ when conscience will not be pacified then Satan for quiets sake will yield to something as Pharaoh with Moses after much ado he is willing they should go Exod. 8.28 And Pharaoh said I will let you go that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wildernesse But then comes in his caution only you shall not go very farre away Thus Satan will yield the sinner may pray and heare the Word and make a goodly Profession so he doth not go very far but that he may have him again at night If God hath the mattins he looks for the vigils and thus he is content the day should be divided Doth conscience presse a reformation and change of the sinners course rather then faile he 'll grant that also yet as Pharaoh when he yielded they should go he meant their little ones should stay behinde as a pledge for those that went Exod. 10.11 So Satan must have some one sin that must be spared and no matter though it be a little one Now if ever you would get out of the devils rule make no composition with him Christ will be King or no King Not a hoofe must be left behinde or any thing which may make an errand for thee afterwards to return Take therefore thy everlasting farewel of every sin as to the sincere and fixt purpose of thy heart or thou doest nothing Paul joynes his faith and his purpose togethes 2 Tim. 3.10 not the one without the other At the promulgation of the Law in Sinai God did as it were give Israel the oath of Allegiance to him then he told them what law he would rule them by and they gave their consent this was the espousal which God puts them in minde of Jerem. 2. in which they were solemnly married together as King and subjects Now mark before God would do this he will have them out of Egypt They could not obey his lawes and Pharaoh's idolatrous customes also and therefore he will have them out before he solemnly espouseth them to be a Nation peculiarly his Thou must be a widow before Christ marry thee he will not lie by the side of anothers wife O that it were come to this then the match would soon be made between Christ and thee Let me ask thee poor soul hast thou seriously considered who Christ is and what his sweet Government is and couldest thou finde in thy heart out of an inward abhorrency of sin and Satan and a liking to Christ to renounce sin and Satan and choose Christ for thy Lord Doth thy soule say as Rebecca I will go if I could tell how to get to him But alas I am here a poore
when meat is eaten and digested it is not to be found as it was received but the man is cheered and strengthened by it more able to walke and work then before by which you may know it is not lost so you may taste the truths the Christian heard in his spirit see them in his life Perhaps if you aske him what the particulars were the Minister had about faith mortification repentance and the like he cannot tell you yet this you may finde his heart is more broken for sin more enabled to rely on the promises and now weaned from the world As that good woman answered one that coming from Sermon ask't her what she remembred of the Sermon said she could not at present recal much but she heard that which should make her reforme some things as soon as she came home Secondly meditate on what thou hearest by this David got more wisdome then his teachers Observe what truth what Scripture is cleared to thee in the Sermon more then before take some time in secret to converse with it and make it thereby familiar to thy understanding Meditation to the Sermon is what the harrow is to the seed it covers those truths which else might have been pickt or washt away I am afraid there are many proofs turned down at a Sermon that are hardly turned up and lookt on any more when the Sermon is done and if so you make others believe you are greater traders for your souls then you are indeed as if one should come to a shop and lay by a great deal of rich ware and when he hath done goes away and never calls for it O take heed of such doings The hypocrite cheats himself worst at last Thirdly discharge thy memory of what is sinful We wipe our table-book and deface what is there scribled before we can write new There is such a contrariety betwixt the truths of God and all that is frothy and sinful that one puts out the other if you would retain the one you must let the other go CHAP. VI. Of the Spirituality of the devils nature and their extreme wickednesse Against spiritual wickednesse THese words are the fourth branch in the deseription Spiritual wickednesses and our contest or combate with them as such exprest by the adversative particle Against in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word for word Against the Spirituals of wickednesse which is say some against wicked spirits that is true but not all I conceive with many Interpreters not only the spiritual nature of the devil and the wickednesse thereof to be intended but also yea chiefly the nature and kinde of those sins which these wicked spirits do most usually and vigourously provoke the Saints unto and they are the spirituals of wickednesse not those grosse fleshly sinnes which the herd of beastly sinners like swine wallow in but sin spirituallized and this because it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not spirits but spirituals The words present us with these three doctrinal Conclusions First the devils are spirits Secondly the devils are spirits extremely wicked Thirdly these wicked spirits do chiefly annoy the Saints with and provoke them to spiritual wickednesses First of the first SECT I. First they are spirits Spirit is a word of various acception in Scripture Amongst other used often to set forth the essence and nature of Angels good and evil both which are called spirits The holy Angels Heb. 1.14 Are they not all ministring spirits The evil There came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade him 1 Kings 22.21 that spirit was a devil How oft is the devil call'd the unclean spirit foule spirit lying spirit c. Sin did not alter their substance for then as one saith well that nature and substance which transgrest could not be punish't First the devil is a spirit that is his essence is immaterial and simple not compounded as corporal beings are of matter and forme Handle and see me saith Christ to his disciples that thought they had seen a Spirit a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luke 24.39 If they were not thus immaterial how could they enter into bodies and possesse them as the Scripture tells us they have even a legion into one man Luke 8.30 one body cannot thus enter into another Secondly the devils are spiritual substances not qualities or evil motions arising from us as some have absurdly conceived So the Sadduces and others following them deny any such being as Angel good or evil but this is so fond a conceit that we must both forfeit our reason and deny the Scriptures to maintain it where we finde their Creation related Col. 1.18 the fall of some from their first estate Jude 6. and the standing of others called the Elect Angels The happinesse of the one who behold Gods face and their employment are sent out to attend on the Saints as servants on their Masters heirs Heb. 1. The misery of the other reserved in chaines of darknesse unto the judgement of the great day and their present work which is to do mischief to the souls and bodies of men as far as they are permitted all which shew their subsistence plain enough But so immerst is sorry man in flesh that he will not easily beleeve what he sees not with his fleshly eyes upon the same account we may deny the being of God himself because invisible Thirdly they are entire spiritual substances which have every very one proper existence and thus they are distinguish't from the souls of men which are made to subsist in a humane body and together with it to make one perfect man so that the soule though when separated from the body it doth exist yet hath a tendency to union with its body again Fourthly they are though entire spiritual substances yet finite being but creatures God only is the uncreated infinite and absolutely simple Spirit yea Father of all other spirits Now from this spiritual nature of the devil we may further see what a dreadful enemy we have to grapple with First as spirits they are of vast intellectual abilities Sorry man while in this dark prison of the body hath not light enough to know what Angelical perfections are that they excel in knowledge all other creatures we know because as Spirits they come nearest by Creation to the Nature of God that made them the heavens are not lift higher from the earth then Angels by knowledge from man while on earth Man by Art hath leatn't to take the height of the stars of heaven but where is he that can tell how far in knowledge Angels exceed man 'T is true they have lost much of that knowledge they had even all their knowledge as holy Angels what now they know of God hath lost its savour and they have no power to use it for their own good What Jude saith of wicked men may be said of them What they
their infernal Father in the world this shews sin is mighty in them indeed Many a man though so cruel to his own soul as to be drunk or sweare yet will not like this in a childe or servant what are they then but devils incarnate who teach their children the devils Catechisme to sweare and lie drink and drab If you meet such be not afraid to call them as Paul did Elymas when he would have perverted the Deputy children of the devil full of all subtilty and mischief and enemies of all righteousnesse O do you not know what you do when you tempt I 'le tell you you do that which you cannot undo by your own repentance thou poisonest one with errour initiatest another in the devils School Alehouse I mean but afterwards may be thou seest thy mistake and recantest thy errour thy folly and givest over thy drunken trade art thou sure now to rectifie and convert them with thy selfe alas poor creatures this is out of thy power they may be will say as he though he did it upon a better account that was solicited to turne back to popery by him who had before perswaded him to renounce the same You have given me one turn but shall not give me another And what a grief to thy spirit will it be to see these going to hell on thy errand and thou not able to call them back thou mayest cry out as Lamâ—ch I have slaine a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt Nay when thou art asleep in thy grave he whom thou seducedst may have drawn in others and thy name may be quoted to commend the opinion and practice to others by which as it is said though in another sense Abel being dead yet speaks thou mayest though dead sinne in those that are alive generation after generation A little spark kindled by the errour of one hath cost the pains of many ages to quench it and when thought to be out hath broke forth again Thirdly They are not barely wicked but maliciously wicked The Devill hath his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to denote his spightfull nature his desire to vex and mischief others When he drawes souls to sinne it is not because he tastes any sweetnesse or findes any profit therein he hath too much light to have any joy or peace in sin he knows his doome and trembles at the thought of it and yet his spightful nature makes him vehemently desire and uncessantly endeavour the damnation of souls As you shall see a mad dogge run after a flock of sheep kill one then another and when dead not able to eate of their flesh but kills to kill so Satan is carried out with a boundlesse rage against man especially the Saints he would not if he could leave one of Christs flock alive such is the height of his malice against God whom he hates with a perfect hatred and because he cannot reach him with a direct blow therefore he strikes him at second hand through his Saints that wicked arme which reacheth not to God is extended against these excellent on the earth well knowing the life of God is in a manner bound up in theirs God cannot outlive his honour and his honour speeds as his mercy is exalted or depressed this being the attribute God meanes to honour in their salvation so highly and therefore maligned above the rest by Satan And this is the worst that can be said of these wicked spirits that they maliciously spite God and in God the glory of his mercy Vse 1 First this may help us to conceive more fully what the desperate wickednesse of mans nature is which is so hard to be known because it can never be seen at once it being a fountain whose immensity consists not in the streame of actual sinne that is visible and may seem little but in the spring that uncessantly feeds this but here is a glasse that will give us the shape of our hearts truly like themselves Seest thou the monstrous pitch and height of wickednesse that is in the devil all this there is in the heart of every man there is no lesse wickednesse potentially in the tamest sinner on earth then in the devils themselves and that one day thou whoever thou art wilt shew to purpose if God prevent thee not by his renewing grace thou art not yet fledg'd thy wings are not grown to make thee a flying Dragon but thou art of the same brood the seed of this serpent is in thee and the devil begets a child like himselfe thou yet standest in a soile not so proper for the ripening of sinne which will not come to its fulnesse till transplanted unto hell Thou who art here so maidenly and modest as to blush at some sinnes out of shame and forbear the acting of others out of fear when there thou shalt see thy case as desperate as the devil doth his then thou wilt spit out thy blasphemies with which thy nature is stuft with the same malice that he doth The Indians have a conceit that when they die they shall be transform'd into the deformed likenesse of the devil therefore in their language they have the same word for a dead man and the devil sinne makes the wicked like him before they come there but indeed they will come to their countenance more fully there when those flames shall wash off that paint which here hides their complexion The Saints in heaven shall be like the Angels in their alacrity love and constancy to serve God and the damned like the devils in sinne as well as punishment This one consideration might be of excellent use to unbottome a sinner and abase him so as never to have high thought of himself It is easie to runne down a person whose life is wicked and convince him of the evil of his actions and make him confesse what he doth is evil but here is the thicket we lose him in he will say 't is true I am overseen I do what I should not God forgive me but my heart is good Thy heart good sinner and so is the devils his nature is wicked and thine as bad as his These pimples in thy face shew the heat of thy corrupt nature within and without Gospel-physick the blood of Christ applied to thee thou wilt die a Leper none but Christ can give thee a new heart till which thou wilt every day grow worse and worse Sin is an hereditary disease that encreaseth with age A young sinner will be an old devil Vse 2 Again it would be of use to the Saints especially those in whom God by his timely call forestall'd the devils market as sometimes the Spirit of God takes sin in its quarters before it comes into the field in the sinnes of youth now such a one finding not those daring sinnes committed by him that others have been left unto may possibly not be so affected with his own sinne or Gods mercy O let such a one behold here
them or perswade themselves there is no danger from thence the coast then is clear they may be as wicked as they please These make inward sins so hugg'd and embraced If thou therefore canst find thy heart set against these I may venture to call thee a Christian and for thy help against them First be earnest with God in prayer to move and order thy heart in its thoughts and desires If the tongue be such an unruly thing that few can tame O what is the heart where such a multitude of thoughts are flying forth as thick as bees from the hive and sparks from the furnace It is not in man not in the holiest on earth to do this without divine assistance Therefore we finde David so often crying out in this respect to order his steps in his Word to unite his heart to his feare to enâ—â—ine his heart to his testimonies As a servant when the childe he tends is troublesome and will not be ruled by him calls out to the father to come to him who no sooner speaks but all is whist with him No doubt holy David found his heart beyond his skill or power that makes him so oft do its errand to God Indeed God hath promised thus much to his children to order their steps for them Psal 37.22 only he looks they should bring their hearts to him for that end Commit thy work to the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established Prov. 16.3 or ordered Art thou setting thy face towards an Ordinance where thou art sure to meet Satan who will be disturbing thee with worldly thoughts and may be worse Let God know from thy mouth whither thou art going and what thy feares are never doth the soule march in so goodly order as when it puts it self under the conduct of God Secondly set a strong guard about thy outward senses these are Satans landing places especially the eye and the eare Take heed what thou importest at these vaine discourse seldome passeth without leaving some tincture upon the heart as unwholesome aire inclines to putrefaction things sweet in themselves so unsavoury discourse to corrupt the minde that is pure look thou breathest therefore in a clear aire And for thy eye let it not wander wanton objects cause wanton thoughts Job knew his eye and his thoughts were like to go together and therefore to secure one he covenants with the other Job 31 1. Thirdly often reflect upon thy self in a day and observe what company is with thy heart A careful Master will ever and anon be looking into his work-house and see what his servants are doing and a wise Christian should do the same We may know by the noise in the school the Master is not there much of the mis-rule in our bosomes ariseth from the neglect of visiting our hearts Now when thou art parlying with thy soule make this threefold enquiry First whether that which thy heart is thinking on be good or evil If evil and wicked such as are proud unclean distrustful thoughts shew thy abhorrency of them and chide thy soul sharply for so much as holding conference with them of which nought can come but dishonour to God and mischief to thy own soul and stirre up thy heart to mourn for the evil neighbour-hood of them and by this thou shalt give a testimony of thy faithfulnesse to God When David mourn'd for Abner all Israel 't is said understood that day that it was not of the King to stay Abner Thy mourning for them will shew these thoughts are not so much of thee as of Satan Secondly if they be not broadly wicked enquire whether they be not empty frothy vaine imaginations that have no subserviency to the glory of God thy own good or others and if so leave not till thou hast made thy selfe apprehensive of Satans designe on thee in them though such are not for thy purpose yet they are for his they serve his turne to keep thee from better All the water is lost that runnes beside the mill and all thy thoughts are waste which help thee not to do Gods work withal in thy general or particular calling The Bee will not sit on a flower where no honey can be suckt neither should the Christian Why sittest thou here idle thou shouldest say to thy soul when thou hast so much to do for God and thy soul and so little time to dispatch it in Thirdly if thou findest they are good for matter thy heart is busied about then enquire whether they be good for time and manner which being wanting they degenerate First for the season that is good fruit which is brought forth in its season Christ liked the work his mother would have put him upon as well as her self John 2. but his time was not come Good thoughts and meditations misplaced are like some interpretations of Scripture good truths but bad expositions they fit not the place they are drawn from nor these the time To pray when we should hear or be musing on the Sermon when we should pray this is to rob God one way to pay him another Secondly tarefully observe the manner Thy heart may meditate a good matter and spoile it in the doing Thou art may be musing of thy sinnes and affecting thy heart into a sense of them but so that while thou art stirring up thy sorrow thou weakenest thy faith on the promise that is thy sinne He is a bad Chirurgion that in opening a veine goes so deep that he cuts an artery and lames the arme if not kills the man Or thou art thinking of thy family and providing for that this thou oughtest to do and wert worse then an infidel if thou neglectest but may be these thoughts are so distracting and distrustfull as if there were no promise no providence to relieve thee God takes this ill because it reflects upon his care of thee O how near doth our duty here stand to our sinne so much care is necessary ballast to the soul a little more sinks it under the waves of unbeliefe like some things very wholesome but one degree more of hot or cold would make them poison CHAP. VIII How Satan labours to corrupt the Christians minde with errour THe second sort of spiritual sinnes are such as are not only acted in the spirit but are conversant about spiritual objects proper to the soules nature that is a spirit and not laid out in carnal passions of fleshly lusts in which the soul acts but as a Pander for the body and partakes of their delights only by way of sympathy for as the soul feels the bodies pains no other way then by sympathy so neither doth it share in the pleasures of the flesh by any proper taste it hath of them but only from its neer neighbourhood with the body doth sympathize with its joy but in spiritual wickednesses that corrupt the minde here the soul moves in its own sphere with a delight proper to it selfe and there are no lesse
of these then the other There is hardly a fleshly lust but hath some spiritual sinne analogical to it as they say there is no species of creatures on the land but may be pattern'd in the sea Thus the heart of man can produce spiritual sinnes answering carnal lusts for whoredom and uncleannesse of the flesh there is idolatry call'd in Scripture spiritual adultery from which the seat of Antichrist is call'd spiritual Sodom for sensual drunkennesse there is a drunkennesse of the minde intoxicating the judgement with errour a drunkennesse of the heart in cares and feares for carnal pride in beauty riches honour there is a spiritual pride of gifts graces c. Now Satan in an especial manner assaults the Christian with such as these it would require a larger discourse then I can allow to runne over the several kindes of them I shall of many pick out two or three As first Satan labours to corrupt the mind with erroneous principles he was at work at the very first plantation of the Gospel sowing his darnel assoon almost as Christ his wheate which sprung up in pernicious errours even in the Apostles times which made them take the weeding-hook into their hands and in all their Epistles labour to countermine Satan in this design Now Satan hath a double design in this his endeavour to corrupt the mindes of men especially Professours with errour SECT I. First he doth this in despite to God against whom he cannot vent his malice at a higher rate then by corrupting his truth which God hath so highly honoured Psal 138.2 Thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Every creature bears the Name of God but in his Word and truth therein contained 't is writ at length and therefore he is more choice of this then of all his other works he cares not much what becomes of the world and all in it so he keeps his Word and saves his truth Ere long we shall see the world on a light flame the heavens and earth shall passe away but the Word of the Lord endures for ever When God will he can make more such worlds as this is but he cannot make another truth and therefore he will not lose one iota thereof Satan knowing this sets all his wits on work to deface this truth and disfigure it by unsound doctrine The Word is the glasse in which we see God and seeing him are changed into his likenesse by his Spirit If this glasse be crackt then our conceptions we have of God will mis-repesent him unto us whereas the Word in its native clearnesse sets him out in all his glory unto our eye Secondly he endeavours to draw into this spiritual sin of errour as the most subtil and effectual means to weaken if not destroy the power of godlinesse in them The Apostle joynes the Spirit of power and a sound minde together 2 Tim 1.7 Indeed the power of holinesse in practice depends much on the foundnesse of judgement Godlinesse is the childe of truth and it must be nurst if we will have it thrive with no other milk then of its own mother Therefore we are exhorted to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow 1 Pet. 2.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if this milk be but a little dash't with errour it is not so nutritive All errour how innocent soever any may seem like the Ivy draws away the strength of the souls love from holinesse Hosea tells us Whoredom and wine take away the heart now errour is spiritual adultery Paul speaks of his espousing them to Christ when a person receives an errour he takes a stranger into Christs bed and it is the nature of adulterous love to take away the wises heart from her true husband that she delights not in his company so much as of her adulterous lover and do we not see it at this day fulfill'd do not many shew more zeal in contending for one errour then for many truths how strangely are the hearts of many taken off from the wayes of God their love cool'd to the Ordinances and Messengers of Christ and all this occasioned by some corrupt principle got into their bosomes which controuls Christ and his truth as Hagar and her son did Sarah and her childe Indeed Christ will never enjoy true conjugal love from the soule till like Abraham he turns these out of doors Errour is not so innocent a thing as many think it it is as unwholesome food to the body that poisons the spirits and surfeits the whole body which seldom passeth away and not break out into sores As the knowledge of Christ carries a soule above the pollutions of the world so errour entangles and betrayes it to those lusts whose hands it had escaped Thirdly Satan in drawing a soule into this spiritual sin hath a designe to disturb the peace of the Church which is rent and shattered when this fire-ship comes among them I hear saith Paul there are divisions among you and I partly beleeve it for there must be heresies 1 Cor. 11.18 19. implying that divisions are the natural issue of heresie Errour cannot well agree with errour except it be against the truth then indeed like Pilate and Herod they are easily made friends but when truth seems to be overcome and the battel is over with that then they fall out among themselves and therefore it is no wonder if it be so troublesom a neighbour to truth O Sirs what a sweet silence and peace was there among Christians a dozen years ago me thinks the looking back to those blessed dayes in this respect though they had also another way their troubles yet not so uncomfortable because that storme united this scatters the Saints spirits is joyous to remember in what unity and love Christians walk't that the Persecutors of those times might have said as their Predecessours did of the Saints in primitive times See how they love one another but now alas they may jeere and say See how they that loved so dearly are ready to pluck one anothers throats out SECT II. The application of this shall be only in a word of exhortation to all especially you who bear the Name of Christ by a more eminent Profession of him O beware of this soul-infection this leprosie of the head I hope you do not think it needlesse for 't is the disease of the times This plague is begun yea spreads apace not a flock a Congregation hardly that hath not this scab among them Paul was a Preacher the best of us all may write after and he presseth this home upon the Saints yea in the constant course of his preaching it made a piece of his Sermon Acts 20.30 31. he sets us Preachers also on this work Take heed to your selves and to all the flock for I know this that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things therefore watch And then he presents his
own example that he hardly made a Sermon for several yeares but this was part of it to warn every one night and day with teares We need not prophesie what Impostors may come upon the stage when we go off There are too many at present above board of this gang drawing disciples after them And if it be our duty to warn you of them surely 't is yours to watch lest you by any of them be led into temptation in this houre thereof wherein Satan is let loose in so great a measure to deceive the Nation May you not as easily be sowered with this leaven as the disciples whom Christ bids beware Are you priviledged above those famous Churches of Galatia and Corinth many of which were bewitched with false teachers and in a manner turned to another Gospel Is Satan grown Orthodox or have his instruments lost their cunning who hunt for souls In a word is there not a sympathy between thy corrupt heart and errour Hast thou not a disposition which like the fomes of the earth makes it natural for these weeds to grow in thy soile Seest thou not many prostrated by this enemy who sate upon the mountain of their faith and thought it should never have been removed surely they would have tooke it ill to have been told you are the men and women that will decry Sabbaths which now ye count holy you will turn Pelagians who now defie the name you will despise Prophecie it self who now seem so much to honour the Prophets you will throw family-duties out of doors who dare not now go out of doors till you have prayed there Yet these and more then these are come to passe and doth it hot behove thee Christian to take heed lest thou fallest also and that thou mayest not First make it thy chief care to get a through change of thy heart If once the root of the matter be in thee and thou beest bottom'd by a lively faith on Christ thou art then safe I do not say wholly free from all errour but this I am sure free from ingulphing thy soule in damning errour They went out from us saith Saint John but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us 1 John 2.19 As if he had said they had some outward Profession and common work of the Spirit with us which they have either lost or carried over to the devils quarters but they never had the unction of the sanctifying Spirit By this verse 20. he distinguisheth them and comforts the sincere ones who possibly might feare their own fall by their departure But ye have an unction from the Holy One and ye know all things 'T is one thing to know a truth and another thing to know it by unction An hypocrite may do the former the Saint only the latrer It is this unction which gives the soule the savour of the knowledge of Christ those are the fit prey for Impostors who are enlightened but not enlivened O it 's good to have the heart establish't with grace this as an anchor will keep us from being set a drift and carried about with divers and strange doctrines as the Apostle teacheth us Heb. 13.9 Secondly ply the work of mortification Crucifie the flesh daily Heresie though a spiritual sinne yet by the Apostle reckon'd among the deeds of the flesh Gal. 5.20 because it is occasioned by fleshly motives and nourisht by carnal food and fuel Never any turn'd Heretick but flesh was at the bottome either they serv'd their belly or a lust of pride 't was the way to Court or secur'd their estates and saved their lives as sometimes the reward of truth is fire and fagot some pad or other is in the straw when least seen and therefore it 's no wonder that heresies should end in the flesh which in a manner sprang from it The rheume in the head ascends in fumes from the stomack and returnes thither or unto the lungs which at last fret and ulcerate Carnal affections first send up their fumes to the understanding clouding that yea bribing it to receive such and such principles for truths which imbraced fall down into the life corrupting that with the ulcer of profanenesse So that Christian if once thou canst take off thy engagements to the flesh and become a free-man so as not to give thy vote to gratifie thy carnal fears or hopes thou wilt then be a sure friend to truth Thirdly waite conscionably on the Ministery of the Word Satan commonly stops the eare from hearing sound Doctrine before he opens it to embrace corrupt This is the method of soules apostatizing from truth 2 Tim. 4.3 4. They shall turn their eares from the truth and shall be turned unto fables Satan like a cunning thief drawes the soul out of the road into some lane or corner and there robs him of the truth By rejecting of one Ordinance we deprive our selves of the blessing of all other say not that thou prayest to be led into truth he will not hear thy prayer if thou turnest thine eare from hearing the law He that loves his child when he sees him play the truant will whip him to school If God loves a soul he will bring him back to the Word with shame and sorrow Fourthly When thou hearest any unusual Doctrine though never so pleasing make not up the match hastily with it have some better testimony of it before you open your heart to it The Apostle indeed bids us entertain strangers for some have entertain'd Angels unawares Heb. 13.3 but he would not have us carried about with strange Doctrine vers 9. by this I am sure some have entertained devils I confesse 't is not enough to reject a doctrine because strange to us but ground we have to wait and enquire Paul marvelled that the Galatians were so soon removed from him who had called them unto the grace of Christ unto another Gospel they might sure have stayed till they had acquainted Paul with it and asked his judgement what no sooner an Impostour come into the countrey and open his pack but buy all his ware at first sight O friends were it not more wisdom to pray such new notions over and over again to search the Word and our hearts by it yea not to trust our own hearts but call in counsel from others If your Minister have not such credit with you yet the most holy humble and establish't Christians you can finde Errour is like fish which must be eaten new or it will stink When those dangerous errours sprung up first in New England O how unsettled were many of the Churches what an outis was made as if some mine of gold had been discovered but in a while when those errours came to their complexion and it was perceived whither they were bound to destroy Churches Ordinances and Power of Godlinesse then such as feared God who had stept aside returned back with shame and
can a proud soul look on God Suppose one left an Executor to pay Legacies and this man should pay them not as Legacies of another but gifts of his own Christ at his ascension gave gifts that his children should receive thou hast some in thy hand now a proud soul gives out all not as the Legacy of Christ but as his own he assumes all to himselfe O how abominable is this to entitle our selves to Christs honour Fourthly thy gifts commend thee not to God Man may be taken with thy expression and notion in prayer but these are all pared off when thy prayer comes before God O woman saith Christ great is thy faith not compt and flourishing thy language It were good after our duties to sort the Ingredients of which they are made up what grace contributed and what gifts and what pride and when all the heterogeneal stuffe is sever'd you shall see in what a little compasse the actings of grace in our duties will lie Fifthly consider while thou art priding in thy gifts thou art dwindling and withering in thy grace Such are like corne that runs up much into straw whose eare commonly is but light and thin Grace is too much neglected where gifts are too highly prized we are commanded to be clothed with humility Our garments cover the shame of our bodies humility the beauty of the soul and as a tender body cannot live without cloathes so neither can grace without this cloathing of humility It kills the Spirit of praise when thou shouldest blesse God thou art applauding thy self It destroys Christian love and stabs our fellowship with the Saints to the heart A proud man hath not room enough to walk in company because the gifts of others he thinks stand in his way Pride so distempers the palate that it can relish nothing that is drawen from anothers vessel Sixthly it is the fore-runner of some great sin or some great affliction God will not suffer such a weed as pride to grow in his garden without taking some course or other to root it up may be he will let thee fall into some great sinne and that shall bring thee home with shame God useth sometimes a thorn in the flesh to prick the bladder of pride in the Spirit or at least some great affliction the very end whereof is to hide pride from man As you do with your hot-metall'd horses ride them over plowed lands to tame them and then you can sit safely on their back If Gods honour be in danger through thy pride then expect a rod and most likely the affliction shall be in that which will be most grievous to thee in the thing thou art proud of Hezekiah boasted of his treasure God sends the Chaldeans to plunder him Jonah fond of his gourd and that is smitten and if thy Spirit be blown up with pride of gifts thou art in danger of having them blasted at least in the opinion of others whose breath of applause possibly was a means to overset thy unballast spirit SECT III. Quest But how would you direct us against this Answ Arguments you have had before I shall only therefore point to two or three doors where your enemy comes forth upon you and surely the very sight thereof if thou beest loyal to Christ will stirre thee up to fall upon it First pride discovers it self in dwelling upon the thoughts of our gifts with a secret kinde of content to see our own face till at last we fall in love with it We read of some whose eyes are full of the adulteresse and cannot cease from sinne a proud heart is full of himself his own abilities cast their shadow before him they are in his eye wherever he goes the great subject and theam of his thoughts is what he is and what he hath above others applauding himself as Bernard confesseth that when one would think he had little leisure for such thoughts even in preaching pride would be whispering in his eare Bene fecisti Bernarde O well done Bernard Now have a care Christian of chatting with such company Run from such thoughts as from a Beare If the devil can get thee to stand on this pinacle while he presents thee with the glory of thy spiritual attainments and endowments for thee to gaze on them thy weak head wâ—ll soon turn round in pride and therefore labour to keep the sense of thy own infirmities lively in thy soule to divert the temptation As those who are subject to some kinde of fits carry about them things proper for the disease that when the fit is coming which oft is occasioned with a sweet perfume they may use them for their help Sweet sents are not more dangerous for them then any thing that may applaud thee is to thy soul Have a care therefore not only of wearing such thoughts in thy own bosome but also of sitting by others that bring the sweet sent of thy perfections to thee by their flattery Secondly this kinde of pride appears in a forwardnesse to expose it self to view Davids brethren were mistaken in him in deed but oft the pride and naughtinesse of the heart breaks out at this door Christs carnal friends bid Christ shew himselfe pride loves to climbe up not as Zaecheus to see Christ but to be seen himself The fool Solomon tells us hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover it self Prov. 18.2 Pride would be some body and therefore comes abroad to court the multitude whereas humility delights in privacy as the leaves do cover and shade the fruits that some hand must gently lift up them before they can see the fruit so should humility and a holy modesty conceal the perfections of the soule till a hand of Providence by some call invites them out There is a pride in naked gifts as well as in naked breasts and backs humility is a necessary veile to all other graces and therefore first Christian look whenever thou comest forth to publike duty that thou hast a call it is obedience to be ready to answer when God calls thee forth but it 's pride to run before God speaks Secondly when call'd earnestly implore divine strength against this enemy shun not a duty for feare of pride thou mayest shew it in the very seeming to escape it but go in the strength of God against it there is more hope of overcoming it by obedience then disobedience Thirdly in envying the gifts of others when they seeme to blinde our own that they are not so faire a prospect as we desire This is a weed may grow too rank in a good soile Aaron and Miriam could not bear Moses his honour Numb 12.1 that was the businesse though they pick a quarrel with him about his wife because an Ethiopian as appears plainly v. 2. Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses hath he not spoken also by us They thought Moses went away with too much of the honour and did repine that God
Ezek. 36.31 ye shall remember your wayes and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight c. And when shall this be but when God would save them from all their uncleannesses as appears v. 25. yet notwithstanding this there remain such dregs of corruption unpurged out of the best that Satan findes it not impossible to make the manifestations of Gods love an occasion of pride to the Christian and truly God lets us see our pronenesse to this sin in the short stay he makes when he comes with any greater discoveries of his love The Comforter 't is true abides for ever in the Saints bosome but his joyes they come and are gone again quickly They are as exceedings with which he feasts the believer but the cloth is soon drawn and why so but because we cannot bear them for our every day food A short interview of heaven and a vision of love now and then upon the mount of an ordinance or affliction cheeres the spirits of drooping Christians who might they have leave to build Tabernacles there and dwell under a constant shine of such manifestations would be prone to forget themselves and think they were Lords of their own comforts If holy Paul was in danger of falling into this distemper of pride from his short rapture to prevent which God saw it needful to let him blood with a thorne in the flesh would not our blood much more grow too rank and we too crank and wanton if we should feed long on such luscious food And therefore if ever Christian thou hadst need to watch then is the time when comforts abound and God dandles thee most on the knee of his love when his face shines with clearest manifestations lest this sin of pride as a thief in the candle should swaile out thy joy To prevent which thou shouldest do well First to look that thou measurest not thy grace by thy comfort lest so thou beest led into a false opinion that thy grace is strong because thy comforts are so Satan will be ready to help forward such thoughts as a fit medium to life thee up and slacken thy care in duty for the future Such discoveries do indeed bear witnesse to the truth of thy grace but not to the decree and measure of it the weak childe may be yea is oftner in the lap then the strong Secondly do not so much applaud thy self in thy present comfort as labour to improve it for the glory of God Vp and eate saith the Angel to the Prophet because the journey is too great for thee The manifestations of Gods love are to fit us for our work It is one thing to rejoyce in the light of our comfort and another to go forth in the power of the Spirit comforting us as Giants refreshed with this wine to run our race of duty and obedience with more strength and alacrity He shews his pride that spends his time in telling his money meerly to see how rich he is but he his wisdom that layes out his money and trades with it The boaster of his comforts will lose what he hath when he that improves his comforts in a fuller trade of duty shall adde more to what he hath Thirdly remember thou dependest on God for the continuance of thy comfort They are not the smiles thou hadst yesterday can make thee joyous to day any more then the bread thou didst then eate can make thee strong without more thou needest new discoveries for new comforts let God hide his face and thou wilt soon lose the sight and forget the taste of what thou even now hadst It is beyond our skill or power to preserve those impressions of joy and comfortable apprehensions of Gods favour on our spirits which sometimes we finde as Gods presence brings those so when he goes he carries them away with him as the setting-Sun doth the day We would laugh heartily at him who when the Sun shines in at his window should think by shutting that to imprison the Sun-beams in his chamber and doest thou not shew as much folly who thinkest because thou now hast comfort thou therefore shalt never be in darknesse of Spirit more The believers comfort is like Israels Manna 't is not like our ordinary bread and provision we buy at market and lock up in our Cupboards where we can go to it when we will no it is rained as that was from heaven Indeed God provided for them after this sort to humble them Deut. 8.16 Who fed thee in the wildernesse with Manna which thy fathers knew not that he might humble thee It was not because such mean food that God is said to humble them for it was delicious food therefore call'd Angels food Psal 78.25 Such as if Angels did eate might serve them But the manner of the dispensing it from hand to mouth every day their portion and no more so that God kept the key of their Cupboard they stood to his immediate allowance and thus God communicates our spiritual comforts for the same end to humble us So much for this second sort of spiritual wickednesse I had thought to have instanced in some other as hypocrisie unbelief formality but possibly the subject being general what I have already said may be thought but a digression and that too long I shall therefore conclude this branch of spiritual wickednesse in a word to those who are yet in a natural and unsanctified state which is to stir them up from what I have said concerning Satans assaulting beleevers with such temptations to consider seriously how that Satans chief designe against them also lies in the same sins These are the wickednesses he labours to ingulph you in above all others If ever you perish it will be by the hand of these sins 'T is your feared conscience blinde minde and dedolent impenitent heart will be your undoing if you miscarry finally Other sins the devil knowes are preparatory to these and therefore he drawes thee into them to bring thee into these Two wayes they prepare a way to spiritual sins First as they naturally dispose the sinner to them 't is the nature of sin to blinde the minde stupifie the conscience harden the heart as is implied Heb. 3.13 Lest your heart be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sin As the feet of Travellers beat the high way hard so does walking in carnal grosse sins the heart they benumbe the conscience so that in time the sinner loses his feeling and can carry his lusts in his heart as Bedlams their pins in their very flesh without pain and remorse Secondly as they do provoke God by a judiciary act to give them up to these sins Lam. 3.65 Give them obstinacy of heart so 't is in your margin thy curse unto them and when the devil hath got sinners at this passe then he hath them under lock and key They are the fore-runners of damnation if God leave thy heart hard and unbroken
a Tradesman out of his shop now and then but he is as a fish out of the water never in his element till he be in his calling again Thus when the Christian is about the world and the worldling about heavenly matters both are men out of their way not right girt till they get into their employment again Now this heavenly trade is that which Satan doth in an especial manner labour to stop Could the Christian enjoy but a free trade with heaven a few years without molestation he would soon grow a rich man too rich indeed for earth but what with losses sustained by the hands of this Pyrate Satan and also the wrong he receives by the treachery of some in his own bosome that like unfaithful servants hold correspondence with this robber he is kept but low in this life and much of his gaines are lost Now the Christians heavenly trade lies either within doors or abroad he can be free in neither Satan is at his heels in both First within doores This I may call his home-trade which is spent in secret between God and his own soule here the Christian drives an unknown trade he is at heaven and home again richly laden in his thoughts with heavenly meditations before the world knows where he hath been Every creature he sees is a text for his heart to raise some spiritual matter and observations from Every Sermon he heares cuts him out work to make up and enlarge upon when he gets alone Every Providence is as winde to his sailes and sets his heart a moving in some heavenly affection or other suitable to the occasion One while he is wrap't up with joy in the consideration of mercy another while melted into godly sorrow from the sense of his sins Sometimes exalting God in his praises anon abusing himself before God for his own vilenesse One while he is at the breast of the Covenant milking out the consolations of the Promises at another time working his heart into a holy awe and feare of the threatenings Thus the Christian walks aloft while the base worldling is licking the dust below One of these heavenly pearles which the Christian trades for is more worth then the worldling gets with all his sweat and travel in his whole life The Christians feet stand where other mens heads are he treads on the Moon and is clothed with the Sun he looks down on earthly men as one from a high hill doth upon those that live in some fenne or moore and sees them buried in a fog of carnal pleasures and profits while he breaths in a pure heavenly aire but yet not so high as to be free from all stormes and tempests many a sad gust he hath from sin and Satan without What else mean those sad complaints and groans which come from the children of God that their hearts are so dead and dull their thoughts so roving and unfixt in duty yea many times so wicked and filthy that they dare hardly tell what they are for feare of staining their own lips and offending the eares of others by naming them Surely the Christian findes it in his heart to will and desire he could meditate pray heare and live after another sort then this doth he not yes I durst be his surety he doth But so long as there is a devil tempts and we continue within his walk it will be thus more or lesse as fast as we labour to clear the spring of our hearts he will be labouring to royle or stop it again so that we have two works to do at once to performe a duty and watch him that opposeth us trowel and sword both in our hands They had need work hard indeed who have others continually endeavouring to pull down as they are labouring to rear up the building Secondly that part of the Christians trade which lies abroad is heavenly also Take a Christian in his relations calling neighbourhood he is a heavenly trader in all the great businesse of his life is to be doing or receiving some good that company is not for him that will neither give nor take this What should a Merchant be where there is no buying nor selling Every one labours as his calling is to seat himself where trade is quickest and he is likest to have most takings The Christian where he may choose takes such in relations near to himself husband wife servants as may suite with his heavenly trade and not such as will be a pull-back to him he falls in with the holiest persons as his dearest acquaintance if there be a Saint in the town where he lives he 'll finde him out and this shall be the man he will consort with and in his conversation with these and all else his chief work is for heaven his heavenly principle within inclines him to it Now this alarums hell What not contented to go to heaven himself but by his holy example gracious speeches sweet counsels seasonable reproofs will he be trading with others and labour to carry them along with him also This brings the Lion fell and mad out of his den such to be sure shall finde the devil in their way to oppose them I would have come saith Paul but Sacan hindered me He that will vouch God and let it appear by the tenure of his conversation that he trades for him shall have enemies enough if the devil can help him to such Thirdly the Christians hopes are all heavenly he lots not upon any thing the world hath to give him Indeed he would think himself the most miserable man of all others if here were all he could make of his Religion No 't is heaven and eternal life that he expects and though he be so poor as not to be able to make a Will of a groat yet he counts himself a greater heire then if he were childe to the greatest Prince on earth This inheritance he sees by faith and can rejoyce in the hope of the glory which it will bring him The masquery and cheating glory of the great ones of this world moves him not to envy their fanciful pomp but when on the dunghil himself he can forget his own present sorrowes to pity them in all their bravery knowing that within a few dayes the crosse will be off his back and the crowns off their heads together their portion will be spent when he shall be to receive all his These things entertain him with such joy that they will not suffer him to acknowledge himself miserable when others think him and the devil tells him he is such This this torments the very soule of the devil to see the Christian under saile for heaven fill'd with the sweet hope of his joyful entertainment when he comes there and therefore he raiseth what stormes and tempests he can either to hinder his arrival in that blessed Port which he most desires and doth not wholly despair of or at least to make it a troublesome winter-voyage such as
up is a riddle to any that know what they both are Thirdly the Christian wrongs himself in not endeavouring to repaire his broken armour and recover his declining grace By this he loses the evidence of his inheritance at least so blots it that it cannot be so clearly perceived by him A declining Christian must needs be a doubting Christian because the common symptome of an hypocrite is to wear and waste like a stake set in the ground which rots while true grace like the tree grows Is not this the knot which the devil poseth many poor soules withal and findes them work for many yeares to untie If thou wert a Christian thou wouldest grow Right Saints go from strength to streugth and thou goest from strength to weaknesse They go up the hill to Zion every Ordinance and Providence is a step that bears them nearer Heaven but thou goest down the hill and art further from thy salvation then when thou didst first believe as thou thoughtest and doth it stand wirh thy wisdom Christian to put a staffe into the devâ—ls hand an argument into his mouth to dispute against thy salvation with If you held an estate by the life of a childe which upon the death of it should all go away from you that childe I warrant you should be well look't unto his head should not ake but you would post to the Physician for counsel I pray what is your evidence for that glorious estate you hope for Is it not Christ within you Is not this new creature whâ—ch may well be call'd Christ for its likenesse to him the young heire of Heavens glory and when that is sick or weak is it not time to use all meanes for its recovery while thus thou canst neither live nor die comfortably Not live a man in a consumption has little joy of his life he neither findes sweetnesse in his meat nor delight in his work as a healthfuâ— man doth O how sweet is the promise to faith when active and vigourous how easie the yoke of the Command to the Christian when his conscience is not gall'd with guilt nor hi strength enfeebled by temptation but the Christian in a declining condition he tastes not the promise every command is grievous and every duty burdensome to him he goes in pain like one whose foot is out of joynt though the way be never so pleasant And he is as unfit to die as he is to live such a one can like no more to hear the newes of death then a tenant that wants his rent doth to hear of the quarter-day This made David beg time of God Spare me a little that I may recover my strength Having shewen you why the Christian should endeavour to recover his declining graces it will be very requisite to give a word of counsel to the Christian First to direct him how to judge of the declining state of grace that he may not passe a false judgement upon himself therein Secondly to direct him when he findes grace to be in a declination how he may recover it CHAP. III. A cautionary direction from what we may not as also from what we may judge our graces to be in a declination Quest FIrst of the first How may a Christian judge whether grace be declining in him or no Answ First I shall resolve this negatively and shew by what he is not to judge his grace to decline Secondly positively by what he may certainly conclude a decay of grace First negatively and that in several particulars Frist Christian do not judge grace to be fallen weaker because thy sense of corruption is grown stronger This oft lies at the bottome of poor souls complaints in this case O they never felt pride hypocrisie and other corruptions so haunt them as now none knows how they are vexed with these and the like besides themselves Now let me ask thee who makest this sad moane whether thou doest not think these corruptions were in thee before thou didst thus feel them how oft hast thou prayed as formally and not been troubled how oft hast thou stood chatting with the same lusts and thy soule hath not been laid low before the Lord with such abasement of thy self as now deal faithfully between God and thy soule and tell not a lie for God by bearing false witnesse against thy self If it be thus thou hast rather a comfortable signe of grace growing then decaying Sin cannot be on the getting hand if the sense of sin grow quick this is the concomitant of a thriving soul none so full of complaints of their own hearts as such the least sin goes now to their very soules which makes them think viler of themselves then ever but it is not the increase of sin in them but the advance of their love to Christ makes them judge so when the Sun shines with some power and the year gets up we observe though we may have frosts and snow yet they do not lie long but are soon dissolved by the Sun O 't is a sweet signe that the love of Christ shines with a force upon thy soule that no corruptions can lie long in thy bosome but they melt into sorrow and bitter complaints That is the decaying soul where sinne lies bound up and frozen little sense of or sorrow for it appears Secondly Take heed thou thinkest not grace decayes because thy comfort withdrawes The influence of the Sun comes where the light of it is not to be found yea is mighty as appears in those mines of gold and silver which are concocted by the same And so may the actings of grace be vigourous in thee when least under the shines of his countenance Did ever faith triumph more then in our Saviour crying My God my God here faith was at its meridian when it was midnight in respect of joy Possibly thou comest from an Ordinance and bringest not home with thee those sheaves of comfort thou usest to do and therefore conclude grace acted not in thee as formerly Truly if thou hast nothing else to go by thou mayest wrong the grace of God in thee exceedingly Because thy comfort is extrinsecal to thy duty a boon which God may give or not yea doth give to the weak and deny to the strong The traveller may go as fast and rid as much ground when the Sun doth not shine as when it doth though indeed he goes not so merrily on his journey nay somtimes he makes the more hast the warm Sun makes him sometime to lie down and loyter but when dark and cold he puts on with more speed Some graces thrive best like some flowers in the shade such as humility dependance on God c Thirdly take heed thou doest not mistake and think thy grace decayes when may be it is only thy temptations increase and not thy grace decrease If you should hear a man say because he cannot to day run so fast when a hundred weight is on his back as he could yesterday
without any such a burden that therefore he was grown weaker you would soon tell him where his mistake lies Temptation lies not in the same heavinesse alway upon the Christians shoulder observe therefore whether Satan is not more then ordinary let loose to assault thee whether thy temptations come not with more force and violence then ever possibly though thou doest not with the same facility overcome these as thou hast done lesse yet grace may act stronger in conflicting with the greater then in overcoming the lesse The same ship that when lightly ballasted and favoured with the winde goes mounting at another time deeply laden and going against winde and tide may move with a slow pace and yet they in the ship take more pains to make it sail thus then they did when it went faster Secondly positively how thou mayest conclude that grace is declining and that in a threefold respect First in reference to temptations to sin Secondly in reference to the duties of Gods worship Thirdly the frame of thy heart in worldly employments First in reference to sin and that is threefold First when thou art not so wakeful to discover the encroachings of sin upon thee as formerly at one time we finde Davids heart smote him when he but rent the skirt of Sauls garment at another time when his eye glanced on Bathsheba he takes no such notice of the snare Satan had him in and so is led from one sin to another which plainly shewed that grace in him was heavy-eyed and his heart not in so holy a frame as it had been If an enemy comes up to the gates and the sentinel not so much as give an alarm to the City of his approach it shewes he is off his guard either fallen asleep or worse If grace were awake and thy conscience had not contracted some hardnesse it would do its office Secondly when a temptation to sin is discovered and thou findest thy heart shut up that thou doest not pray against it or not with that zeal and holy indignation as formerly upon such occasions it is a bad signe that lust hath got an advantage of thy grace that thou canst not readily betake thy selfe to thy armes Thy affections are bribed and this makes thee so cold a Suitour at the throne of grace for helpe against thine enemy Thirdly when the arguments prevailing most with thee to resist temptations to sin or to mourn for sin committed are more carnal and lesse Evangelical then formerly may be thou remembrest when thy love to Christ would have spit fire on the face of Satan tempting thee to such a sin but now that holy fire is so abated that if there were not some other carnal motives to make the vote full it would hazard to be carried for it rather then against it and so in mourning for a sin there is possibly now some slavish arguments like an onion in the eye which makes thee weep rather then pure ingenuity arising from love to God whom thou hast offended this speaks a sad decay and the more mixture there is of such carnal arguments either in the resisting of or mourning for sin the greater the declination of grace is Davids natural heat sure was much decayed when he needed so many cloathes to be laid on him and he yet feel so little heat the time was he would have sweat with fewer I am afraid many their love to Christ will be found in these declining times to have lost so much of its youthful vigour that what would formerly have put them into a holy fury and burning zeal against some sins such as Sabbath-breaking pride of apparel neglect of family-duties c. hath now much ado to keep any heat at all in them against the same Secondly in point of duties of worship First if thy heart doth not prompt thee with that forwardnesse and readinesse as formerly to hold communion with God in any duty possibly thou knowest the time when thy heart echoed back to the motions of Gods Spirit bidding thee Seek his face Thy face Lord will I seek yea thou didst long as much till a Sabbath or Sermon-season came as the carnal wretch doth till it be gone but now thy pulse doth not beat so quick a march to the Ordinances publick or secret nature cannot but decay if appetite to food go away a craving soule is the thriving soule such a childe that will not let his mother rest but is frequently crying for the breast Secondly when thou declinest in thy care to performe duties in a spiritual sort and to preserve the sense of those more inward failings which in duty none but thy self can check thee of It is not frequency of duty but spirituality in duty causeth thriving and therefore neglect in this point soon brings grace into a consumptive posture Possibly soul the time was thou wert not satisfied with praying but thou didst watch thy heart strictly as a man would every piece in a summe of money he payes lest he should wrong his friend with any brasse or uncurrant coin thou wouldest have God not only have duty but duty stamp't with that faith which makes it currant have that zeal and sincerity which makes it Gospel-weight but now thou art more careless and formal O look to it poor soul thou wilt if thou continue thus carelesse melt in thy spiritual estate apace Such dealings will spoil thy trade with heaven God will not take off these slighty duties at thy hands Thirdly when a Christian gets little spiritual nourishment from communion with God to what it hath done The time hath been may be thou couldest shew what came of thy praying hearing and fasting but now the case is altered There is a double strength communion with God imparts to a soule in a healthful disposition strength to faith and strength for our obediential walking doest thou hear and pray and get no more strength to hold by a promise no more power over or brokennesse of heart under thy usual corruptions what come down the Mount and break the Tables of Gods Law assoon as thou art off the place as deep in thy passion as uneven in thy course as before there is a sure decay of that inward heat which should and would if in its right temper suck some nourishment from these Thirdly by thy behaviour in thy worldly employments First when thy worldly occasions do not leave thee in so free and spiritual a disposition to return into the presence of God as formerly may be thou couldest have come from thy shop and family-employments to thy closet and finde that they have kept thee in frame yea may be delivered thee up in a better frame for those duties but now 't is otherwise thou canst not so shake them off but they cleave to thy spirit and give an earthly savour to thy praying and hearing thou hast reason to bewail it when nature decayes men go more stooping and 't is a signe some such decay is in thee
God be more frequently conversant with it David tells us where he renewed his spiritual life and got his soul so oft into a heavenly heate when grace in him began to chill The Word he tells us quickened him This was the Sunny bank he fate under The Word draws forth the Christians grace by presenting every one with an object suitable to act upon this is of great power to rouse them up as the coming in of a friend makes us though sleepy before shake off all drowsinesse to enjoy his company Affections they are actuated when their object is before them if we love a person this is excited by sight of him or anything that mindes us of him if we hate one our blood riseth much more against him when before us Now the Word bring the Christian graces and their object together Here love may delight her self with the beholding Christ who is set out to life there in all his love and lovelinesse here the Christian may see his sins in a glasse that will not flatter him and can there any godly sorrow be in the heart any hatred of sin and not come forth while the man is reading what they cost Christ for him Secondly from the Word go to meditation this is as bellowes to the fire that grace which lies chosk't and eaten up for want of exercise will by this be cleared and break forth while thou art musing this fire will burne and thy heart grow hot within thee according to the nature of the subject thy thoughts dwell upon resolve therefore Christian to enclose some time from all worldly Suitours wherein thou mayest every day if possible at least take a view of the most remarkable occurrences that have past between God and thee First ask thy soul what takings it hath had that day what mercies heaven hath sent into thee and do not when thou hast askt the question like Pilate go out but stay till thy soul has made report of Gods gracious dealings to thee and if thou beest wise to observe and faithful to relate them thy conscience must tell thee that the cock was never turn'd the breast of mercy never put up all the day yea while thou art viewing these fresh mercies telling over this new coine hot out of the mint of Gods bounty ancient mercies they will come crowding in upon thee and call for a place in thy thoughts and tell thee what God hath done for thee moneths and years ago and indeed old debts should not be paid last give them Christian all a hearing one time or another and thou shalt see how they will work upon thy ingenious spirit It is with the Christian in this case as with some Merchants servant that keeps his Masters cash he tells his Master he hath a great summe of his by him and desires he would discharge him of it and see how his accounts stand but he can never finde him at leisure There is a great treasure of mercy alwayes in the Christians hands and conscience is oft calling the Christian to take the account and see what God has done for him but seldom it is he can finde time to tell his mercies over and is it any wonder that such should go behinde-hand in their spiritual estate who take no more notice what the gracious dealings of God are with them how can he be thankful that seldome thinks what he receives or patient when God afflicts that wants one of the most powerful arguments to pacifie a mutinous spirit in trouble and that is taken from the abundant good we receive at the hands of the Lord as well as a little evil how can such a soules love flame to God that is kept at such a distance from the mercies of God which are fuel to it and the like might be said of all the other graces Secondly reflect upon thy self and bestow a few serious thoughts upon thy own behaviour what it hath been towards God and man all along the day Ask thy soul as Elisha his servant Whence comest thou O my soul where hast thou been what hast thou done for God this day and how and when thou goest about this look that thou neither beest taken off from a through search as Jacob was by Rachels specious excuse nor be found to cocker thy self as Eli his sons when thou shalt upon enquiry take thy heart tardy in any part of thy duty take heed what thou doest for thou judgest for God who receives the wrong by thy sin and therefore will do himself justice if thou wilt not Thirdly from meditation go to prayer indeed a soul in meditation is on his way to prayer that duty leads the Christian has to this and this brings help to that when the Christian has done his utmost by meditation to excite his graces and chase his spirit into some divine heat he knows all this is but to lay the wood in order The fire must come from above to kindle and this must be fetch 't by prayer They say stars have greatest influences when they are in conjunction with the Sunne then sure the graces of a Saint should never work more powerfully then in prayer for then he is in the nearest conjunction and communion with God That Ordinance which hath such power with God must needs have a mighty influence on our selves It will not let God rest but raiseth him up to his peoples succour and is it any wonder if it be a means to rouse up and excite the Christians grace how oft do we see a dark cloud upon Davids spirit at the beginning of his prayer which by that time he is a little warme in his work begins to clear up and before he ends breaks forth into high actings of faith and acclamations of praise Only here Christian take heed of formal praying this is as baneful to grace as not praying A plaister though proper and of soveraign vertue yet if it be laid on cold may do more hurt then good Fourthly to all the former joyne fellowship and communion with the Saints thou lived amongst No wonder to hear a house is robb'd that stands far from neighbours he that walks in communion of Saints he travels in company he dwells in a City where one house keeps up another to which Jerusalem is compared 'T is observable concerning the house in whose ruines Jobs children were entombed that a winde came from the wildernesse and smote the foure corners of it it seems it stood alone the devil knowes what he does in hindering this great Ordinance of communion of Saints in doing this he hinders the progresse of grace yea brings that which Christians have into a declining wasting state The Apostle couples those two duties close together to hold fast our Profession and to consider one another and provoke unto love and to good works Heb. 10.23 24. Indeed it is a dangerous step to Apostasy to forsake the communion of Saints hence 't is said of Demas he hath left us and
Fowler because she sees him not Thou art a faire mark for Gods vengeance he sees thee and is taking his aime at thee when thou seest not him yea thou puttest thy self under an inevitable necessity of perishihg by not thinking of this day The first step to our safety is consideration of our danger Vse 2 It reproves these who if they think of the evil day yet it is so far off that it is to little purpose They will be sure to set it at such a distance from them as shall take away the force of the meditation that it shall not strike them down in the deep sense and fear of it That cannon which if we stood at the mouth of it would shatter limb from limb will not so much as scare them that get out of its reach The further we put the evil day the weaker impression it makes on us 'T is true say sinners it cannot be help't we owe a debt to nature it must be paid sickness will come and death follow on that and judgement brings up the reare of both But alas they look not for these guests yet they prophesy of these things a great while hence to come Many a faire day they hope will intervene Thus men are very kind to themselves First they wish it may be long before it comes and then because they would have it so they are bold to promise themselves it shall be so and when once they have made this promise no wonder if they then live after the rate of their vain hopes putting off the stating of their accounts till the winter-evening of old age when they shall not have such allurements to gad abroad from the pleasures of this life O then they will do great matters to fit them for the evil day Bold man who gave thee leave to cut out such large thongs of that time which is not thine but Gods Who makes the Lease the Tenant or the Landlord or doest thou forget thou farmest thy life and art not an Owner This is the device of Satan to make you delay whereas a present expectation of the evil day would not let you sit still unprepared O why do you let your soules from their work make them idle and rest from their burdens by telling them of long life while death chop in upon you unawares O what shame will your whorish hearts be put to that now say your husband is gone afar off you may fill your selves with loves if he should come before he is look't for and finde you in bed with lusts And let me tell you sudden destruction is threatened especially to such secure ones Reade Matth. 24.48 50 51. where 't is denounced against that sort of sinners who please themselves with their Lords delaying his coming that the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an houre that he is not aware of Indeed God must go out of his ordinary road of dealing with sinners if such scape a sudden ruine One is bold to challenge any to shew a President in Scripture of any that are branded for security that some remarkable yea sudden judgement did not surprise Sodom how soon after a Sun-shine morning did the heavens thicken and bury them in a few houres by a storme of fire in their own ashes Carelesse Laish cut off before they almost think of it Agag when he saw the clouds of his fears break and faire weather was in his countenance they return immediately upon him and shut him up in death he is presently hewen in pieces Amalek slaughtered by David before the triumph of their late victory was cold Nebuchadnezzar strutting himself in his Palace with this bravado in his mouth Is not this great Babylon that I have built and before he can get the words out of his throat there is another voice falling from heaven saying O King to thee be it spoken thy Kingdome is departed from thee and the same houre it was fulfill'd and he sent to graze with the beasts Dives blessing himself for many years and within a few houres the pillow is pluck't from under his head and you heare no more of him till out of hell he roare yea a whole world few persons excepted drowned and they not know till the day the flood came Mat. 24.29 and swept them all away And who art thou O man that promisest thy self an exemption when Kings Cities a whole world have been ruined after this sort Vse 3 This reproves those who indeed think oft of this evil day much against their will by reason of an awakened conscience that is ever pinching of them and preaching on Pauls text before Felix to them till it makes them tremble as he did yet such is the power of lust in their hearts that it makes them spur on notwithstanding all the rebukes conscience gives them and affrighting thoughts they have of the evil day yet they continue in their old trade of sin desperately These wretches are the objects of our saddest pity The secure sinner that has broke prison from his conscience is like a strong-brain'd drunkard he swallows down his sin as the other doth his drink with pleasure and is not stirr'd at all but here is a man that is stomack sick as I may so say his conscience is oft disgorging his sweet draughts and yet he will sinne though with pain and anguish O consider poor wretches what you do instead of arming your selves against the evil day you arme the evil day against your selves you are sticking the bed with pins and needles on which you must ere long be laid you are throwing billets into that fiery furnace wherein at last you shall be cast and all this in spight of your consciences which yet God mercifully sets in your way that the prickings of them may be as a hedge of thornes to keep thee from the pursuit of thy lusts Know therefore if thou wilt go on that as thy conscience takes from the pleasure of thy sin at present so it will adde to the horrour of thy torment hereafter Vsue 4 It reproves those who though they are not so violent and outragious in sin to make them stink above ground in the nostrils of others yet rest in an unarm'd condition they do not flie to Christ for covering and shelter against this day of storme and tempest and the reason is they have a lie in their right hand they feed on a shell and a deceived heart carries them aside from seeking after Christ It would make one tremble to see how confident many are with their false hopes and self-confidences daring to come up as Corah with his Censer as undauntedly as Moses himself even to the mouth of the grave till on a sudden they are swallowed up with destruction and sent to be undeceiv'd in hell who would not be beaten from their refuges of lies here whoever thou art O man and whatever thou hast to glory in were it
the most Saint-like conversation that ever any lived on earth yet if this be thy shelter against the evil day thou wilt perish No salvation when that flood comes but Christ yea being in Christ hanging on the out-side of the Ark by a specious Profession will not save Me thinks I see how those of the old world ran for their lives some to this hill and others to that high tree and how the waves pursued them till at last they were swept into the devouring flood Such will your end be that turn any other way for help then to Christ yet the Ark waits on you yea comes up close to your gate to take you in Noah did not put forth his hand more willingly to take in the dove then Christ doth to receive those who flie to him for refuge O reject not your own mercies for lying vanity Vse 3 Let it put thee upon the enquiry whoever thou art whether thou beest in a posture of defence for this evil day Ask thy soul soberly and solemnly Art thou provided for this day this evil day how couldest thou part with what that will take away and welcome what it will certainly bring Death comes with a voider to carry away all thy carnal enjoyments and to bring thee up a reckoning for them O canst thou take thy leave of the one and with peace and confidence reade the other will it not affright thee to have thy health and strength turn'd into faintnesse and feeblenesse thy sweet nights of rest into waking eyes and restlesse tossings up and down thy voice that has so often chanted to the viol to be now acquainted with no other tune but sighs and groans O how canst thou look upon thy sweet and dear relations with thoughts of removing from them yea behold the instrument as it were whetting that shall give the fatal stroke to sever soul and body think that thou wert now half dead in thy members that are most remote from the fountain of life and death to have but a few moments journey before it arrive to thy heart and so beat thy last breath out of thy body Possibly the inevitable necessity of these do make thee to harden thy self against them this might indeed in some Heathen that is not resolv'd whether there be another world or no help a little to blunt the edge of that terrour which otherwise would cut deeper in his amazed heart But if thou believest another world and that judgement which stands at deaths back ready to allot thee thy unchangeable state in blisse or misery surely thou canst not relieve thy awakened conscience with such a poor cordial O therefore think what answer thou meanest to give unto the great God at thy appearing before him when he shall ask thee what thou canst say why the sentence of eternal damnation should not then be pronounced against thee Truly we deale unfaithfully with our owne soules if we bring not our thoughts to this issue If now you should ask how you should provide against the evill day so that you may stand before that dreadful bar and live so in the mean time that you might not be under a slavish bondage through the fearful expectation of it Take it in a few directions First if ever you would have a blessed issue of this evil day so as to stand in judgement before the great God rest not till thou hast got into a Covenant-relation with Christ Dying Davids living comfort was drawn from the Covenant God had made with him this was all his desire and all his salvation how canst thou put thy head into the other world without horrour if thou hast not solid ground that Christ will own thee for his Heaven hath its proper heires and so hath hell The heires of heaven are such as are in Covenant with God The foundation of it was laid in a Covenant and all the mansions there are prepared for a people in Covenant with him Gather my Saints together that have made a Covenant with me But how mayest thou get into this Covenant-relation First break thy covenant with sin Thou art by nature a covenant-servant to sin and Satan may be thou hast not expresly in words and formally as witches seal'd this covenant yet virtually as thou hast done the work of Satan and been at the command of thy lusts accepting the reward of unrighteousnesse the pleasure and carnal advantages they have paid thee in for the same therein thou hast declared thy self to be so Now if ever thou wilt be taken into Covenant with God break this a Covenant with hell and heaven cannot stand together Secondly betroth thy self to Christ The Covenant of grace is the joynture which God settles only upon Christs Spouse Rebeccah had not the Jewels and costly raiment till she was promised to become Isaaks wife Gen. 24.53 All the Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ If once thou receivest Christ with him thou receivest them He that owes the tree hath right to all the fruit that is on it Now that thou mayest not huddle up a marriage between Christ and thee so as to be disown'd of Christ and it prove a nullity at last it behooves thee to look to it that there be found in thee what Christ expects in every soul that he espouseth First therefore consider whether thou canst heartily love the person of Christ Look wishly on him again and again as he is set forth in all his spiritual excellencies are they such as thy heart can close with doth his holy nature and all those heavenly graces with which he is beautified render him desirable to thee or couldest thou like him better if he were not so precise and exactly holy yea is thy heart so inflamed with a desire of him that thou canst love him with a conjugal love A woman may love one as a friend whom she cannot love so as to make him her husband A friendly love may stand with a love of some other equal to it yea Superiour But a conjugal love is such as will bear neither canst thou finde in thy heart to forsake all other and cleave to Christ does thy heart speak thee ready and present thee willing to go with thy sweet Jesus though he carry thee from father and fathers house Is thy confidence such of his power to protect thee from all thy enemies sin wrath and hell that thou canst resolvedly put the life of thy soul into his hands to be saved by the sole vertue of his blood and strength of his omnipotent arme and of his care to provide for thee for this life and the other that rhou canst acquiesce in what he promiseth to do for thee In a word if thou hast Christ thou must not only love him but for his sake all thy new Kindred which by thy marriage to him thou shalt be allied unto How canst thou fadge to call the Saints thy brethren canst thou love them heartily and forget all the old grudges thou
beautiful colours that were drawn on them but not laid in oyle and therefore soon wash't off again The foolish Virgins made as great a blaze with their lamps and did expect as good a day when Christ should come as the wise Virgins but alas their lamps are out before he appeared and as good never a whit as never the better The stony ground more forward then the best soile the seed comes up immediately as if a crop should soon have been reap't but a few nipping frosts turns its hue and the day of harvest proves a day of desperate sorrow All these instances and many more in Scripture do evince that nothing short of solid grace and a principle of divine life in the soul will persevere How forward soever Formalists and slighty Professours are to promise themselves hopes of reaching heaven they will finde it too long a step for their short-breathed souls to attain The reasons are First such want a principle of divine life to draw strength from Christ to persevere them in their course That by which the gracious soule it self perseveres is the continual supply it receives from Christ as the arme and foot is kept alive in the body by those vital spirits which they receive from the heart I live saith Paul yet not I but Christ in me that is I live but at Christs cost he holds as my soul so my grace in life Now the carnal person wanting this union must needs waste and consume in time He hath no root to stand on A carcase when once it begins to rot never recovers but every day grows worse till it runs all into putrefaction no salve or plaister will do it good but where there is a principle of life there when a member is wounded nature sends supplies of spirits and helps to work with the salve for a cure There is the same difference between a gracious person and an ungracious see them opposed in this respect Prov. 14.17 The righteous man falls seven times a day and riseth but the wicked falleth into mischief that is in falling he falls further and hath no power to recover himself When Cain sinned see how he falls further and further like a stone down a hill never stayes till he comes to the bottome of despair from envying his brother to malice from malice to murder from murder to impudent lying and brazen-fac't boldnesse to God himself and from that to despair so true is that 2 Tim. 3 13. Evill men shall waxe worse and worse But now when a Saint falls he riseth because when he falls he hath a principle of life to cry out to Christ and such an interest in Christ as stirs him up to help Lord save me said Peter when he began to sink and presently Christs hand is put forth he chides him for his unbelief but he helps him Secondly an unregenerate soul hath no assurance for the continuance of those common gifts of the Spirit he hath at present they come on the same termes that temporal enjoyments do to such a one A carnal person when he hath his table most sumptuously spread cannot shew any word of promise under Gods hand that he shall be provided for the next meal God gives these things to the wicked as we a crust or a nights lodging to a beggar in our barne 't is our bounty such a one could not sue us for denying the same so in the common gifts of the Spirit God was not bound to give them nor is he to continue them Thou hast some knowledge of the things of God thou mayest for all this die without knowledge at last thou art a sinner in chaines restraining grace keeps thee in this may be taken off and thou let loose to thy lusts as freely as ever And how can he persevere that in one day may from praying fall to cursing from a whining complaining conscience come to have a seared conscience Thirdly every unregenerate man when most busie with Profession hath those engagements lie upon him that will necessarily when put to it take him off one time or other One is engaged to the world and when he can come to a good market for that then he goes away he cannot have both and now he 'll make it appear which he loved best Demas hath forsaken us and embraced this present world Another is a slave to his lust and when this calls him he must go in spight of Profession conscience God and all Herod feared John and did many things but love is stronger then feare his love to Herodias overcomes his fear of John and makes him cut off at once the head of John and the hopeful buddings which appeared in the tendernesse of his conscience and begun Reformation One root of bitternesse or other will spring up in such a one If the complexion of the soul be profane it will at last come to it however for a while there may some religious colour appear in the mans face from some other external cause This shews us what is the root of all final apostasy and that is the want of a through change of the heart The Apostate doth not lose the grace he had but discovers he never had any and 't is no wonder to hear that he proves bankrupt that was worse then nought when he first set up Many take up their Saintship upon trust and trade in the duties of Religion with the credit they have gain'd from others opinion of them They believe themselves to be Christians because others hope them to be such and so their great businesse is by a zeal in those exercises of Religion that lie outmost to keep up the credit which they have abroad but do not look to get a stock of solid grace within which should maintain them in their Profession and this proves their undoing at last Let it therefore make us in the feare of God to consider upon what score we take up our Profession Is there that within which bears proportion to our outward zeal Have we laid a good bottome Is not the superstructive top heavy jetting too far beyond the weak foundation They say trees shoot as much in the root under ground as in the branches above and so doth true grace O remember what was the perishing of the seed in the stony ground it lacked root and why so but because it was stony Be willing the plough should go deep enough to humble thee for sin and rend thy heart from sinne The soul effectually brought out of the love of sin as sin will never be through friends with it again In a word be serious to finde out the great spring that sets all thy wheels on motion in thy religious trade Do as men that would know how much they are worth who set what they owe on one side and what stock they have on the other and then when they have laid out enough to discharge all debts and engagements what remaines to themselves they may call their
own Thus do thou consider what thou standest engaged to thy worldly credit profit slavish feare of God and selfish desire of happinesse and when thou hast allowed for all these see then what remaines of thy feare of God love to God c. if nothing thou art nought if any the lesse there be the weaker Christian thou art and when thou comest to be tried in Gods fire thou wilt suffer losse of all the other which as hay and stubble will be burnt up SECT V. Every soule clad with this Armour of God shall stand and persevere Or thus true grace can never be vanquish't The Christian is borne a Conquerour the gates of hell shall nor prevail against him He that is borne of God overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 Mark from whence the victory is dated even from his birth There is victory sowen in his new nature even that seed of God which will keep him from being swallowed up by sin or Satan As Christ rose never to die more so doth he raise soules from the grave of sin never to come under the power of spiritual death more These holy ones of God cannot see corruption Hence he that believes is said in the present tense to have eternal life At the Law that came foure hundred years after could not make void the promise made to Abraham so nothing that intervenes can hinder the accomplishing of that promise of eternal life which was given and passed to Christ in their behalf before the foundation of the world If a Saint could any way miscarry and fall short of this eternal life it must be from one of these three causes 1. Because God may forsake the Christian and withdraw his grace and help from him Or 2. Because the believer may forsake God Or lastly because Satan may pluck him out of the hands of God A fourth I know not Now none of these can be First God can never forsake the Christian Some unadvised speeches have drop't from tempted soules discovering some fears of Gods casting them off but they have been confuted and have eaten their words with shame as we see in Job and David O what admirable security hath the great God given his children in this particular First in Promises He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Five negatives in that promise as so many seals to ratifie it to our faith he assures us there never did or can so much as arise a repenting thought in his heart concerning the purposes of his love and special grace towards his children Rom. 11.29 The gifts and calling of God are without repentance even the believers sin against him their froward carriage stirs not up thoughts of casting them off but of reducing them For the iniquity of this covetousnesse I was wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart I have seen his wayes and will heal them Isa 57.27 28. The water of the Saints failings cast on the fire of Gods love cannot quench it Whom he loves he loves to the end Secondly God to give further weight and credit to our unbelieving and mis-giving hearts seals his promise with an oath See Isa 54.9 10. With everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer this is as the waters of Noah unto me for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should not return over the earth so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee Yea he goes on and tells them The monntaines shall depart meaning at the end of the world when the whole frame of the heavens and earth shall be dissolv'd but his kindnesse shall not depart neither shall his Covenant of peace be removed Now lest any should think this was some charter belonging to the Jewes alone we finde it v. 17. setled on every servant of God as his portion This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnesse is of me saith the Lord. And surely God that is so careful to make his childrens inheritance sure to them will con them little thanks who busie their wits to invalid and weaken his conveyances yea disprove his will if they had taken a bribe they could not plead Satans cause better Thirdly in the actual fulfilling these promises which he hath made to beleevers to Christ their Attourney As God before the world began gave a promise of eternal life to Christ for them so now hath he given actual possession of that glorious place to Christ as their Advocate and Attourney where that eternal life shall be enjoyed by them for as he came upon our errand from heaven so thither he returned again to take and hold possession of that inheritance which God had of old promised and he in one summe at his death had paid for And now what ground of feare can there be in the believers heart concerning Gods love standiog firme to him when he sees the whole Covenant performed already to Christ for him whom God hath not only called to sanctified for and upheld in the great work he was to finish for us but also justified in his Resurrection and Jayle-delivery and received him into heaven there to sit on the right hand of the Majesty on high by which he hath not only possession for us but full power to give it unto all believers A second occasion of feare to the believer that he shall not persevere may be taken from himself He has many sad feares and tremblings of heart that he shall at last forsake God The journey is long to heaven and his grace weak O saith he is it not possible that this little grace should faile and I fall short at last of glory Now here there is such provision made in the Covenant as scatters this cloud also First the Spirit of God is given on purpose to prevent this Christ left his mother with John but his Saints with his Spirit to tutour and keep them that they should not lose themselves in their journey to heaven O how sweet is that place Ezek. 36.27 I will put my Spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgements and do them He doth not say they shall have his Spirit if they will walk in his statutes no his Spirit shall cause them to do it But may be thou art afraid thou mayest grieve him and so he in anger leave thee and thou perish for want of his help and counsel Answ The Spirit of God is indeed sensible of unkindnesse and upon a Saints sin may withdraw in regard of present assistance but never in regard of his care as a mother may let her froward childe go alone till it get a knock that may make it cry to be taken up again into her armes but still her eye is on it that it shall not fall into mischief The Spirit withdrew from Samson and he fell into the
of Saints falling from grace gives a sad dash to the sweet wine of the Promises the soul-reviving comfort that sparkles in them ariseth from the sure conveyance with which they are in Christ made over to believers to have and to hold for ever Hence called the sure mercies of David Acts 13.34 mercies that shall never faile This this indeed is wine that makes glad the heart of a Saint though he may be whipt in the house when he sins yet he shall not be turned out of doores As God promised in the type to Davids seed Psal 89.33 Neverthelesse my loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile and v. 36. His seed shall endure for ever Could any thing separate the believer from the love of God in Christ this would be as a hole at the bottome of his cup to leak out all his joy he might then feare every temptation or affliction he meets would slay him and so the wickeds curse would be the Saints portion His life would ever hang in doubt before him and the fearful expectation of his final miscarriage which he sees may befall him would eat up the joy of his present hope Now how contrary such a frame of heart is to the spirit of adoption and full assurance of hope which the grace of the new Covenant gives he that runs may reade in the Word Vse 2 This truth prepares a sovereign cordial to restore the fainting spirits of weak believers who are surprised with many feares concerning their persevering and holding out to the end of their warfare Be of good cheer poor soule God hath given Christ the life of every soule within the Ark of his Covenant Your eternal safety is provided for Whom he loves he loves to the end Jâ—h 13.1 Hath he made thee willing in the day of his power to march under his banner and espouse his quarrel against sin and hell the same power that overcame thy rebellious heart to himself will overcome all thy enemies within and without for thee say not thou art a bruised reed with this he will break Satans head and not cease till he hath brought forth judgement into compleat victory in thy soule He that can make a few wounded men rise up and take a strong city can make a wounded spirit triumph over sin and devils The Ark stood in the midst of Jordan till the whole Camp of Israel was safely got over into Canaan Josh 3. And so doth the Covenant which the Ark did but typifie yea Christ Covenant and all stand to secure the Saints a safe passage to Heaven If but one believer drownes the Covenant must drown with him Christ and the Saint are put together as co-heires of the same inheritance Rom. 8.17 If children then heires heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ. We cannot dispute against one but we question the firmnesse of the others title When you heare Christ is turn'd out of heaven or himself to be willing to sell his inheritance there then poore Christian feare thy coming thither and not till then Co-heires cannot sell the inheritance except both give up their right which Christ will never do nor suffer thee Vse 3 Thirdly this truth calls for a word or two of caution Though there is no feare of a Saints salling from grace yet there is great danger of others falling from the top of this comfortable doctrine into a carelesse security and presumptuous boldnesse and therefore a battlement is very necessary that from it we may with safety to our soules stand and view the pleasant prospect this truth presents to our eye That flower from which the Bee sucks honey the spider draws poison That which is a restorative to the Saints grace proves an incentive to the lust of a wicked man What Paul said of the Law we may truly of the Gospel Sin taking occasion from the grace of the Gospel and the sweet promises thereof deceives the carnal heart and works in him all manner of wickednesse Indeed sin seldome grows so rank any where as in those who water its roots with the grace of the Gospel Two wayes this doctrine may be abused First into a neglect of duty Secondly into a liberty to sin Take heed of both First beware of falling into a neglect of duty upon this score if a Christian thou canst not fall away from grace Take for an antidote against this three particulars First there are other arguments to invite yea that will constrain thee to a constant vigourous performing of duty though the feare of falling away should not come in or else thou art not a Christian what nothing make the childe diligent about his fathers businesse but feare of being disinherited and turned out of doors There is sure some better motive to duty in a Saints heart or else Religion is a melancholy work Speak for your selves O ye Saints is self-preservation all you pray for and heare for should a messenger come from Heaven and tell you Heaven were yours would this make you give over your spiritual trade and not care whether you had any more acquaintance with God till you came thither O how harsh doth this sound in your eares There are such principles engraven in the Christians bosome that will not suffer a strangenesse long to grow betwixt God and him He is under the Law of a new life which carries him naturally to desire communion with God as the childe doth to see the face of his deare father and every duty is a Mount wherein God presents himself to be seen and enjoyed by the Christian Secondly to neglect duty upon such a perswasion is contrary to Christs practice and counsel First his practice Though Christ never doubted of his Fathers love nor questioned the happy issue of all his temptations agonies and sufferings yet he prayes and prayes again more earnestly Luke 22.44 Secondly his counsel and command He told Peter that Satan had begg'd leave to have them to sift them But withal he comforts him who was to be hardest put to it with this But I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Sure our Saviour by this provision made for him and the rest means to save them a labour that they need not watch or pray No such matter after this as you may see v. 40. He calls them up to duty Pray that ye enter not into temptation Christs praying for them was to strengthen their faith when they should themselves pray for the same mercy not to nourish their sloth that they needed not to pray Christs prayers in Heaven for his Saints are all heard already but the returne of them is reserved to be enclosed in the answer God sends to their own prayers The Christian cannot in faith expect to receive the mercies Christ prayes for in Heaven so long as he lives in the neglect of his duty on earth They stand ready against he shall call for them by the prayer of faith and
if they be not worth sending this messenger to Heaven truly they are worth little Thirdly consider that although the Christian be secured from a total and final apostasy yet he may fall sadly to the bruising of his conscience enfeebling his grace and reproach of the Gospel which sure are enough to keep the Christian upon his watch and the more because ordinarily the Saints back-slidings begin in their duties As it is with tradesmen in the world they first grow carelesse of their businesse often out of their shop and then they go behinde-hand in their estates So here first remisse in a duty and then fall into a decay of their graces and comforts yea sometimes into wayes that are scandalous A stuffe loseth its glosse before it weares The Christian the lustre of his grace in the lively exercise of duty and then the strength of it Secondly take heed of abusing this doctrine unto a liberty to sin shall we sin because grace abounds grow loose because we have God fast bound in his promise God forbid none but a Devil would teach us this Logick It was a great height of sin those wretched Jewes came to who could quaffe and carouse it while death look't in upon them at the windows Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die They discovered their Atheisme therein But what a prodigious stature in sin must that man be grown to that can sin under the protection of the promise and draw his encouragement to sin from the everlasting love of God Let us eat and drink for we are sure to live and be saved Grace cannot dwell in that heart which drawes such a cursed conclusion from the premisses of Gods grace The Saints have not so learn't Christ The inference the Apostle makes from the sweet priviledges we enjoy in the Covenant of grace is not to wallow in sin but having these promises to cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 'T is the nature of faith the grace that trades with Promises to purifie the heart Now the more certain report faith brings of Gods love from the promise to the soule the mote it purifies the heart because love by which faith works is thereby more inflamed to God and if once this affection takes fire the room becomes too hot for sin to stay there SECT VI. The fourth note and last is That it will abundantly recompence all the hardship and trouble the Christian endures in this war against sin and Satan that he shall be able when the war is ended to stand In mans wars all do not get by them that fight in them the gaines of these are commonly put into a few pockets The common souldiers endure most of the hardship but go away with little of the profit they fight to make a few that are great yet greater and are many times themselves turn'd off at last with what will hardly pay for the cure of their wounds or keep them from starving in a poor Hospital But in this war there is none loseth but he that runs away A glorious reward there is for every faithful souldier in Christs Camp and that is wrapt up in this phrase Having done all to stand Now in this place to stand imports three things which laid together will clear the point First to stand in this place is to stand Conquerours An Army when conquered is said to fall before their enemy and the Conquerour to stand Every Christian shall at the end of the war stand a Conquerour over his vanquish't lusts and Satan that headed them Many a sweet victory the Christian hath here over Satan But alas the joy of these Conquests is again interrupted with fresh alarms from his rallied enemy One day he hath the better and may be the next he is put to the hazard of another battel much ado he hath to keep what he hath got yea his very victories are such as send him bleeding out of the field Though he repulses the temptation at last yet the wounds his conscience gets in the fight do overcast the glory of the victory 'T is seldome the Christian comes off without some sad complaint of the treachery of his own heart which had like to have lost the day and betrayed him into his enemies hand But for thy eternal comfort Know poor Christian there is a blessed day coming which shall make a full and final decision of the quarrel betwixt thee and Satan Thou shalt see this enemies Camp quite broke up not a weapon left in his hand to lift up against thee Thou shalt tread upon his high places from which he hath made so many shots at thee Thou shalt see them all dismantled and demolished till there be not left standing any one corruption in thy bosome for a devil to hide and harbour himself in Satan at whose approach thou hast so trembled shall then be subdued under thy feet he that hath so oft bid thee bow down that he might go over thy soule and trample upon all thy glory shall now have his neck laid to be trodden on by thee Were there nothing else to be expected as the fruits of our watching and praying weeping mourning severe duties of mortification and self-denial with whatever else our Christian warfare puts us upon but this our labour sure would not be in vain in the Lord. Yea blessed watching and praying happy tears and wounds we meet with in this war may they out at last end in a full and eternal victory over sin and Satan Bondage is one of the worst of evils The baser an enemy is the more abhorred by noble spirits Saul feared to fail into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines and to be abused by their scornes and reproaches more then a bloody death Who baser then Satan what viler tyrant then sin Glorious then will the day be wherein we shall praise God for delivering us out of the hands of all our sins and from the hand of Satan But dismal to you sinners who at the same time wherein you shall see the Saints stand with crowns of victory on their heads must like fettered captives be dragg'd to hells dungeon there to have your eare bored unto an eternal bondage under your lusts And what more miserable sentence can God himself passe upon you Here sin is pleasure there it will be your torment Here a sweet bit and goes down glib but there it will stick in your throats Here you have suitable provision to entertain your lusts withal Palaces for pride to dwell and strut her self in Delicious fare for your wanton palates houses and lands with coffers of silver and gold for your covetous hearts by their self-pleasing thoughts to sit brooding upon but you will finde none of these there hell is a barren place nothing grows in that land of darknesse to solace and recreate the sinners minds You shal have your lusts but want the food they long for O what a torment must
all his glory I know nothing would have a more powerful yea universal operation upon a Saints spirit then the frequent and spiritual consideration of that blisseful state in heaven which shall at last crown all their sad conflicts here on earth None like this sword to cut the very sinews of temptation and behead those lusts which defie and out-brave whole troops of other Arguments It is almost impossible to sin with lively thoughts and hopes of that glory 'T is when the thoughts of heaven are long out of the Christians sight and he knows not what is become of his hopes to that glorious place that he begins to set up some idol as Israel the Calfe in Moses his absence which he may dance before But let heaven come in sight and the Christians heart will be well-warm'd with the thoughts of it and you may as soon perswade a King to throw his royal Diademe into a sink and wallow with his robes in a kennel as a Saint to sin with the expectation of heavens glory Sin is a devils work not a Saints who is a Peer of heaven and waits every houre for the Writ that shall call him to stand with Angels and glorified Saints before the throne of God This would cheer the Christians heart and confirme him when the fight is hottest and the bullets flie thickest from men and devils to think 't is heaven all this is for where it 's worth having a place though we go through fire and water to it 'T is before the Lord said David to scoffing Michal that chose me before thy father and all his house therefore I will play before the Lord and I will yet be more vile then thus 2 Sam. 6.21 Thus Christian wouldest thou throw off the vipers of reproaches which from the fire of the wickeds malice flie upon thee 'T is for God that I pray hear mortifie my lust deny my self of my carnal sports profits and pleasures that God who hath passed by Kings and Princes to choose me a poor wretch to stand before him in glory therefore I will be yet more vile then thus O Sirs were there not another world to enjoy God in yet should we not while we have our being serve our Maker The heavens and the earth obey his Law that are capable of no reward for doing his Will Quench hell burn heaven said a holy man yet I will love and feare my God How much more when everlasting armes of mercy stand ready stretch't to carry you assoon as the fight is over into the blisseful presence of God You have servants of your own so ingenuous and observant that can follow your work hard abroad in all weathers and may they but when they come home weary and hungry at night obtain a kinde look from you and some tender care over them they are very thankful Yea saith one to shame the sluggish Christian how many hundred miles will the poor Spaniel run after his Master in a journey who gets nothing but a few crumbs or a bone from his Masters trencher In a word which is more the devils slaves what will they not do and venture at his command who hath not so much to give them as you to your dog not a crust not a drop of water to cool their tongue and shall not the joy of heaven which is set before the Christian into which he shall assuredly enter make him run his race endure a short scuffle of temptation and affliction yea sure and make him reckon also that these are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in him FINIS BOOKS lately printed by RALPH SMITH Master Dicksons Exposition on the whole Book of Psalmes in three Books Second Edition Mr. Hutcheson on all the twelve Small Prophets in three Volumns Mr. Cottons Exposition on Ecclesiastes Dr. Spurstowe of the Nature Preciousnesse and Usefulnesse of Gospel-Promises Mr. Rutherford on the Covenant of Grace are to be sold by Ralph Smith Also Mr. Bailies Appendix to the Hebrew Grammer AN ALPHABETICAL Table A. Ability ABilities of minde and body not to be gloried in 202 Accuser Satan an Accuser 116 How to know his accusations from the rebukes of Gods Spirit 117 Affliction Affliction a season Satan chooseth to tempt in 95 The day of affliction an evil day 351 How affliction is evil and how not 352 Afflictions discover the naughtinesse of the heart 354 Wicked men the worse for afflictions 356 Almighty Almightinesse given as the finest hold-fast for faith in straits 24 No easy matter to oppose Almighty Power against sense and reason 25 God very tender of the honour of this Attribute 27 28 A five-fold engagement on Gods Almighty Power for his Saints help 29 30 31 Answer How we put a stop to Gods Answers of prayer how not 47 48 Apostasie The Apostasie of false Christians must not discourage weake Saints 8 Lamentation for the Apostasie of these times 376 The root of final Apostasie is the want of a through change upon the heart 380 Armour What meant by Armour 53 The Saints Armour must be divine in institution 61 The slighty Armour used by Papists and carnal Protestants 62 Our armour must be of divine constitution 67 How to try our armour whether of God or not 69 The necessity of armour for every faculty and sense and why 73 Assurance Assurance lost by declining 336 Attribute Those Attributes of God which comfort Saints speak terrour to the wicked 38 B. Boldnesse The wickeds boldnesse and Saints cowardise alike uncomely 10 C. Christ What a Prince Christ is to his subjects 219 Covenant-relation with Christ See Covenant-relation Christian course Vprightnesse in our Christian course a comfort in the evil day 370 Church A cordial to our fainting faith for the afflicted Church 153 154 Comfort The Saints comfort ebbs or flows as he believes or questions his interest in the power of God 35 Conflict A soules conflict with sin an evidence of grace 169 Conquer Conquest Saints when most tempted cannot be conquered 138 The Saints Conquest at last makes amends for all 390 Conscience Sins against rebukes of conscience very dangerous 365 Contention The contention of Saint with Saint 179 The evil of it 180 Conversation The vanity of pretending to grace without a holy conversation discovered 89 Converts The advantage Satan hath on new Converts 94 Conversion Not necessary to know the time of Conversion 131 Covenant Gods Covenant sure 31 Covenant-relation with Christ How to get into Covenant-relation with Christ 367 Courage Courage necessary in a Saint 4 The want of this one cause of Apostasie 9 Corruption How to improve Gods power when corruption is too strong for us 4O Cunning. The folly of thinking to be too cunning for the devil and who do 112 Curse The curse that lies on the devil and his cause 139 This the cause why he prevailes not over Saints ib. D. Darknesse Sin called darknesse and why 213 Day See evil Death The houre of death
an houre of temptation 97 Death to be thought of 362 370 Decay Grace subject to decay 78 Declining Saints subject to decline in grace 334 And to take care to recover ib. The wrong a declining Christian doth to God 335 To his brethren ib. To himself 336 How to know whether grace be declining 337 338 How to recover declining grace 343 344 Degrees Further degrees of grace denied that Saints may stir up what they have 45 Despair Temptation to despair from defects of humiliation 121 Devil The devils nature spiritual 250 And what a dreadful enemy he is 252 Distrust To distrust Gods willingnesse lames faith to distrust his power kills it 26 Doctrine Strange doctrine not hastily to be embraced 272 Doing Doing required of Christians 317 Duty When duty too great for us we should not run from it but by faith lay it on God 41 How we do the duties God appoints not as he hath appointed in three particulars 65 Three rules to know whether we eye God in a duty or not 66 Satan cavils at the Saints duties 118 Constant and diligent performance of duty required of Christians notwithstanding they be sure never to fall away 388 Thoughts of heavens glory should quicken to duty 394 E. Earth Earthly Many professe heaven and practise earth 314 Earthly things to be improved for an heavenly end 317 To be pursued with an holy indifferency 318 How to keep earthly things 319 Arguments to call men off from earthly things to heavenly 322 Earthly things are uncertain 325 Election Satan pusles Saints about their Election 130 How to evade his sophistry therin 131 Endeavours God accepts weake endeavours with sincerity as full obedience 373 Envy Envy of others gifts how to get victory over it 282 The evil of envying gifts of others in three particulars 283 Enemy Satans policy to make God and the Saints enemies 146 How God defeats him therein ib. Errour Errour indulgent to the flesh 107 Three lusts from whence most errours spring carnal reason pride and fleshly liberty 108 Satan labours to corrupt the Saints with errour 267 His design therein 268 What need Christians have especially in this age to watch against errour 270 Foure preservatives against errour 271 Evidence Old evidences for our spiritual state carefully to be kept 135 What to do when they are out of the way 136 Evil day How afflictions are called an evil day 373 The evil day to be thought of and provided for 358 362 363 How to provide for the evil day 367 369 Vprightnesse in a Christian course a comfort in the evil day 370 Exercise Why we ought to keep grace in exercise 82 83 Grace must be exercis'd or sinwil 90 Expectation The expectation of believers shall never be disappointed 31 F. Fall Saints falls end in the advance of their grace 144 Gods love to Saints after their fals no encouragement to sin and why 147 c. Why God communicates his love to such 149 Final falling away This doctrine of the Saints final falling away crosseth Gods designe in the Gospel reflects on Christs honour wounds the Saints comfort 385 c. Faith Satan in tempting strikes at the faith 149 How he is disappointed ib. Feare Feare makes uncapable of counsel 3 Of distrustful feares how we shall bear affliction 131 Satans policie in them 132 Three considerations to quiet the heart tempted with them ib. The sin of fearing man because flesh 177 How we may come not to feare flesh 178 A soveraign cordial to weak believers against feare of not holding out to the end 387 Flesh Why sin is called flesh 172 We conflict not with flesh singly but back't by Satan ib. Best policy to disarme our flesh before Satan comes 173 Man is flesh 174 We must not be proud of flesh 175 Nor trust in man because flesh 176 Nor feare flesh 177 G. Grace Gifts are ornaments but grace is armour 60 Grace how it depends on God and why 17 18 Grace left weak that supporting power may be great 47 Better no grace then counterfeit in two respects 68 The concatenation of graces where the whole chaine in 2 Pet. 1.6 7. is drawn out 74 75 Grace to be exercised 82 83 Grace in the Saints lives not endured by those that like a Profession 88 When a soul is proud of his grace 285 'T is no excuse that its grace we are proud of 286 Grace not to be rested on for our acceptance with God 289 Resting on grace hinders its thriving 296 And hinders the soules comfort 297 Grace subject to decline See Decline Without true grace no perseverance 377 Where true grace is that soule shall persevere 381 Gifts The variety of the gifts of the Spirit 275 A double evil of pride in gifts ib. Great gifts without grace yield no solid comfort 277 Saints not to be troubled at the meannesse of their gifts 277 Reasons against pride of gifts 278 Wherein it discovers it self 280 Glory See Heaven Gospel The reason of Satans spight against the Gospel 58 Government See Rule H. Heare People should not be weary of hearing the same truthes often 333 Heart The more of the heart in a sin the greater the sin 262 No sins more made of then heart sins 263 The root of final Apostasie want of a through change of the heart 380 Afflictions discover the naughtinesse of the heart 354 Heaven Heavenly The Saints wrestling life should make him long for Heaven 170 No easie matter to get Heaven and why 203 371 Satans designe to plunder the Christian of what is heavenly 307 How the Christian is heavenly 308 A check to men for refusing Heaven 312 They are the devils agents that hinder from what is heavenly 313 Trials whether we are heavenly 315 To be with God in heaven the highest preferment 394 Thoughts of Heaven how profitable 395 Heresie Heresie why rank't among the deeds of the flesh 271 Holinesse Holinesse in a Saint awful to the wicked 91 Hopes False hopes very dangerous 365 Humble Humility Saints dependance on God a ground of humility 22 To be humble when most afflicted necessary 49 Two particulars discover whether we be so or not ib. Satans arguments to prove a soul not humbled 122 The fallacy of them 124 I. Ignorance Ignorance enslaves a soul to Satan 227 It lets sin in by troops 228 Locks them up in the heart ib. Shuts out the means of recovery 229 The misery of an ignorant state 238 Instrument Why Satan chooseth to tempt by instruments 103 Foure sorts of instruments he useth to seduce others 104 105 Day of Judgement The day of judgement a day of justification to the godly 392 Justification Ignorance in the doctrine of justification the cause of long troubles of conscience 129 K. Knowledge How the knowledge of a natural man differs from a Saints 56 What is required to get divine knowledge 242 243 Three things to be observed in our search after knowledge 245 L. Lazy Against lazy Preachers 333 Light Sinners hate
the light 214 Love Saints the object of Gods love in a threefold respect 30 31 The best way to quench our love to the creature is to set it on Christ 79 Satan ambitious to tempt after manifestations of Gods love and why 96 Why God communicates his love to Saints after their falls 149 Saints love to Christ advanced by their temptations 150 How this comes to passe 151 Gods love to the soul sometimes an occasion of pride 302 Saints should watch against this 303 How to prevent it ib. M. Man Man is flesh 174 Why seeing his better part is a spirit is he called flesh 175 Man not to be trusted in 176 Memory How to remember what we hear 248 Ministers Ministers duty towards the ignorant 235 Four wayes they may be guilty of their peoples ignorance 236 Ministery Ministery of the Word the means to get knowledge 246 Motions Satan annoyes Saints with sinful motions 260 Saints should resist thsee motions for three reasons 262 Helps against them 26â— O. Obedience Obedience strong or weak as our faith is on the power of God 34 Weak endeavours with sincerity accepted by God as full obedience 373 Old-age The misery of old-age yoked with ignorance 241 P. Parents Parents duty to instruct their children and why 229 230 Parts What fooles men of the greatest parts are without grace 55 Perfection Perfection of grace to be prest after and why 77 78 How God confutes those that dream of perfection here c. 80 Persecute When wicked men persecute us we should pity them and save our wrath for the devil 181 Perseverance See falling away Perseverance necessary 9 How to persevere in our Christian course against all opposition 12 Without true grace no perseverance 377 Where true grace is that soul shall persevere 381 The doctrine of perseverance not to be abused 388 Pity God's pity to the fraile nature of his children in three particulars 178 Pleasure The sinners pleasures but short 209 Policy Sinful policy thrives not with Saints 105 It makes men like the devil 110 Poverty Not poverty but ignorance makes miserable 241 Power Satans power discovered in five particulars 196 Saints not to be dismayed at his power and that for three reasons 204 205 Prayer Prayer sometimes answered when it is not perceiv'd and in what cases this is 43 44 Preach What truthes are to be preached often 331 Against lazy Preachers 333 Preferment To stand before God in Heaven the highest preferment 394 Prevent God to be admired for preventing mercy 258 Pride Pride makes use of good and evil to draw her chariot 273 Pride double carnal and spiritual The Saint commonly in most danger of the latter and why 274 Pride of gifts See Gifts Pride of grace See Grace A mannerly pride how it hinders from Christ 290 291 It hinders from peace 292 A self-applauding pride what it is and the evil of it 294 Pride of priviledges what 299 Prince Satan a great Prince 183 How he obtained it 185 Trialls whether Christ or Satan be our Prince 187 188 The blessednesse of those that have Christ to be their Prince 193 See Christ Prison How Paul spent his time in prison Profession Heaven not won by good words and a faire Profession 371 Profit How to profit by the Word 247 248 Promise The end of the Promises to give security to the Saints faith 34 Not to endeavour an establish't faith on them is to undervalue them ib. In claiming the benefit of the Promise we must keep close to the condition 41 When absolute Promises stand the soul in great stead 136 Protection An unregenerate soule cannot claim Gods protection 55 Providence Dark Providences used by Satan to trouble Saints 133 Q. Question Satan pusles the Christian with nice questions 130 R. Reserve Satan hath his reserves to fall on when former temptations are beaten back 101 Retreat Satans politick retreats 102 Rich. Rich men poore with knowledge 242 Rule The time when Satan rules 209 The place where 211 The subjects whom he rules 212 Now to get from under Satans rule 221 His policy to keep sinners under his rule 222 S. Satan The reason why Satans conquests are so great 97 Of Satans rule 209 Of Satans wiles See Wiles Scripture Obscure Scriptures most mused on by tempted soules 102 Satans policie therein and what is to be done 133 Security The danger of security 363 Sense Affliction grievous to sense 353 Sincerity Sincerity a comfort in the evil day 370 Sinne. In troubles of conscience for the greatnesse of sinne what to do 39 Satan hath a strange Art in aggravating the Saints sins 116 How he fathers his own sin upon the Christian 115 Satans method to tempt to sin before he troubles for sinne 128 Why sin is call'd flesh 129 The state of sin a state of misery 217 The devils design in tempting to sin an argument to hate it 258 Sin hardens the heart 305 Sins against rebukes of conscience very grievous 365 We must not take liberty to sin because if true Christians we shall not fall away 389 Sinner The sinner and Satan friends when they seem to fight 57 Every sinner under Satans rule 213 The sinner an unserviceable creature 215 Singularity How it is necessary in the Saints 7 Sloth The difficulty of recovering a soule out of spiritual sloth 83 Solicitour Christ in heaven the Saints Solicitour and his faithfulnesse therein 32 33 Spiritual Of spiritual sins and how Satan annoyes the Saints with them 259 How to know our spiritual state 251 Stability The stability of the Saints not from their grace but from God reinforcing their grace 20 Strength A Christians strength in God not in himself 13 God takes it kindly we will make use of his strength 42 Lesse assisting strength given to advance accepting grace 46 The sweetnesse of being at Gods finding for assisting and comforting strength 19 A Christian when foiled stronger then another when a seeming Conquerour over the same temptation in two respects 71 72 Subtilty Satans subtilty in drawing to sin 98 Suffering No reason to be proud of our suffering for God 300 T. Tempt Temptation Satan chooseth the best season to tempt 93 How the presence of the object gives force to the temptation 96 Satans subtilty in tempting 98 His approaches in tempting are gradual 100 The same sin Satan tempts to purged by the temptation 143 Satan in tempting one Saint hath a designe against others 144 How God disappoints him 144 145 Why God suffers his Saints to be tempted 152 Temptation to one sin God orders to prevent another 143 Thoughts How thoughts good for the matter may be sinful 266 Trouble Satan the troubler of the Saints for sin 114 Troublers of the Saints thereby prove themselves Satans children 125 Foure wayes wicked men may trouble the Saints spirits 126 The mercy of being kept out of Satans hands as a troubler 127 It s dangerous in temptation to keep our troubles secret 137 The Saints troubles but short 211 The Christians life in this world full of trouble 349 Trust To trust God when he withdraws yea frowns very hard 8 The evil of trusting to the strength of grace 286 287 U. Unregenerate Unregeneracy a state of ignorance 50 Unthankfulnesse Unthankfulnesse for what we have hinders our receiving what we would have 48 Uprightnesse See Sincerity W. Waiting Waiting on God under discoucouragements a signe of strong grace 50 Such are assured to speed well at last 50 51 War How hard to war with bosome-sins 5. Weak Encouragements to the weake in grace to presse for more 80 Weak endeavours with sincerity accepted by God through Christ as full obedience 373 A cordial to weake believers 387 Wicked Wickednesse The attempts of the wicked against the Saints are folly and why 16 Wicked men trouble the Saints 180 The devils wickednesse 253 The wickednesse of mans nature 256 Wicked men the worse for affliction 356 Wiles Christians should labour to know Satans wiles 112 How we may know them ib. Wisdome The Wisdome of God in baffling Satan 140 Great wisdome to provide for the evil day 360 Word How to profit by the Word 247 248 Wrath. The devil is in the wrath of wicked men Wrestling The Saints life is a wrestling 159 It s dangerous wrestling with God 161 How sinners wrestle against the Spirit 162 163 How against Providence in two particulars 164 165 Several sorts that wrestle against sin but not lawfully 166 167 How we are to wrestle against sin 168 Y. Youth Youth the best time to get knowledge 240 FINIS 2 Tim. 2.4 Doct. Gen. 22 1â— Judg. 17. v. 2 37. Joh. 7.13 2 Sam. 2.22 Job 13.15 Heb. 2. Doct. John 17. Rom. 8. Ps 138.2 Act 16.14 Isa 48.17 Rom. 9.16 Doct. Mat. 8.2 Doct. Zech. 3. Psal 91.1 Observ Observ Jer. 23.32 Gen. 3.21 Jude 20. 1 Pet. 1.3 Tit. 1.1 Eph. 4.24 Vse Heb. 12.1 Acts 1.4 Ioh. 15.2 Rom. 5.3 Vse Doct. 1 Thes 5.16 17. 1 Pet. 1.13 Luke 4.13 Ps 119.99 2 Pet. 1.11 Doct. Ezek. 1.2 6 8. 1 Sam 24 1. 1 Sam. 13.3 Mat. 4 4 5 Pro. 30.19 Deut. 18.17 Numb 16 2 19. Numb 16 3 19 2. Cor. 10.10 Answ 1. Pro. 19.22 2 Cor. 2.11 2 Chro. 33 12. Acts 5.31 Zech. 12.10 Acts 2.37 2 Co. 5.11 1 Joh. 3.21 1 Sam. 16.7 Deut. 25.19 Psal 77. Answ 1. Joh. 14.30 Ps 19.13 1 Kings 22.35 Rom. 3.24 Rom. 4.5 Rom. 14.1 Heb. 13.5 Judg. 5.25 Doct. 2 Cor. 12.9 Jam. 5.11 Peâ—s 1. Isa 10.5 Ps 17.13 Isa 10.15 Joh. 21.15 2 Sam. 21. Doct. Acts 7.51 Ezek. 2.5 Isa 44.25 * Mic. 6.9 Heb 12 1â— Vse Doct. Mal. 3.1 2 Sam. 3.26 Isa 10.7 Tit. 2.12 1 Cor. 15.24.25 Doct. 1. Vse Mat. 11.28 Iâ—… 11.10 Heb. 2.14 15. Heb. 4.15 Phil. 1.29 Heb. 11.3 Luke 15. Doct. 2. Job 36. Prov. 1.21 22 23. Doct. 2. Heb. 3.10 Vse Job 33.17.19 1 Sam. 17.28 Vse Job 9.21 Luke 10.12 * See Dr. Gouge oâ— the place Doct. Gen. 33.9 11. Doct. Ezek. 18. Doct. Heb. 12.11 Jud. 2.15 Dan. 4.31 33. Doct. 2. Doct. 1. Rom. 13.10 Vse Doct. 2. Vse Doct. 3. Heb. 13.5 2 Cor. 2.17 Jer. 37.10 Lev. 26. Dan. 11.25 Cant. 1.12
us flee for the Lord fighteth for them Whereas there be many now a dayes will rather give the honour of their discomfitures to Satan himself then acknowledge God in the businesse more ready to say the devil fought against them then God O you that have not yet worne off the impressions which the Almighty power of God hath at any time made upon your spirits beware of having any thing to do with that generation of men whoever they are Come not near their Tabernacle cast not thy lot in amongst them who are enemies to the Saints of the most High for they are men devoted to destruction God so loves his Saints that he makes nothing to give whole Nations for their ransome He rip 't open the very wombe of Egypt to save the life of Israel his childe Isa 43.3 Vse 2 Secondly this shews the dismal deplorable condition of all you who are yet in a Christ lesse state you have seen a rich mine open'd but not a penny of this treasure comes to your share a truth laden with incomparable comfort but it is bound for another coast it belongs to the Saints into whose bosome this truth unlades all her comfort see God shutting the door upon you when he sets his children to feast themselves with such dainties Esay 65.13 My servants shall eat but ye shall be hungry my servants shall drink but ye shall be thirsty God hath his set number which he provides for He knows how many he hath in his family these and no more shall sit down One chief dish at the Saints board is the Almighty power of God This was set before Abraham and stands before all his Saints that they may eate to fulnesse of comfort on it But thou shalt be hungry He is Almighty to pardon but he will not use it for thee an impenitent sinner thou hast not a friend on the bench not an attribute in all Gods Name will speak for thee Mercy it self will sit and vote with the rest of its fellow-attributes for thy damnation God is able to save and help in a time of need but upon what acquaintance is it that thou art so bold with God as to expect his saving arme to be stretcht forth for thee Though a man will rise at midnight to let in a childe that cryes and knocks at his doore yet he will not take so much paines for a dog that lies howling there This presents thy condition sinner sad enough yet this is to tell thy story fairest for that Almighty power of God which is engaged for the beleevers salvation is as deeply obliged to bring thee to thy execution and damnation What greater tie then an oath God himself is under an oath to be the destruction of every impenitent soul That oath which God sware in his wrath against the unbeleeving Israelites that they should not enter into his rest concernes every unbeleever to the end of the world In the Name of God consider were it but the oath of a man or a company of men that like those in the Acts should sweare to be the death of such a one and thou wert the man would it not fill thee with feare and trembling night and day and take away the quiet of thy life till they were made friends What then are their pillows stuft with who can sleep so soundly without any horrour or amazement though they be told that the Almighty God is under an oath of damning them body and soul without timely repentance O bethink your selves sinners is it wisdome or valour to refuse termes of mercy from Gods hands whose Almighty power if rejected will soone bring you into the hands of justice and how fearful a thing that is to fall into the hands of Almighty God no tongue can expresse no not they who feel the weight of it Vse 3 Thirdly this speaks to you that are Saints indeed Be strong in the faith of this truth make it an Article of your Creed with the same faith that you beleeve there is a God beleeve also this Gods Almighty power is thy sure friend and then improve it to thy best advantage As First in agonies of conscience that arise from the greatnesse of thy sinnes flie for refuge into the Almighty power of God Truly Sirs when a mans sinnes are displayed in all their bloody colours and spread forth in their kâ—lling aggravations and the eye of conscience awakened to behold them through the multiplying or magnifying glasse of a temptation they must needs surprize the creature with horror and amazement till the soul can say with the Prophet for all this huge hoast There is yet more with me then against me One Almighty is more then many Mighties All these mighty sinnes and devils make not one Almighty sinne or an Almighty devil Oppose to all the hideous charges brought against thee by them this onely attribute As the French Ambassadour once silenced the Spaniards pride in repeating his Masters many titles with one that drowned them all God himself Hosea 11.9 when he had aggravated his peoples sinnes to the height then to shew what a God can do breaks out into a sweet promise I will not execute the fiercenesse of mine anger and why not I am God and not man I will shew the Almightinesse of my mercy Something like our usual phrase when a childe or a woman strikes us I am a man and not a childe or woman therefore I will not strike again The very considering God to be God supposeth him Almighty to pardon as well as to avenge and this is some relief But then to consider it is Almighty power in bond and Covenant to pardon this is more As none can binde God but himself so none can break the bond himself makes and are they not his own words that he will abundantly pardon Isa 55. he will multiply to pardon as if he had said I 'le drop mercy with your sinne and spend all I have rather then let it be said my good is overcome of your evil It fares with the gracious soul in this case as with a Captaine that yields his Castle upon gracious termes of having his life spared and he safely convey'd to his house there to be setled peaceably in his estate and possessions for all which he hath the Generals hand and Seal on which he marcheth forth but the rude souldiers assault him and put him in feare of his life he appeals to the General whose honour now is engaged for him and is presently releeved and his enemies punisht Thou mayest poore soule when accused by Satan mollested by his terrours say It is God that justifies I have his hand to it that I should have my life given me assoon as I laid down my armes and submitted to him which I desire to do behold the gates of my heart are open to let the Prince of peace in and is not the Almighty able to performe his promise I commit my selfe to him as unto a
faithful Creatour Secondly improve this Almighty power of God and thy interest therein in temptations to sin when thou art over-powered and fliest before the face of thy strong corruption or fearest thou shalt one day fall by it make bold to take hold of this attribute and re-inforce thy self from it again to resist and in resisting to believe a timely victory over it The Almighty God stands in sight of thee while thou art in the valley fighting and stayes but for a call from thee when distressed in battel and then he will come to thy rescue Jehoshaphat cried when in the throng of his enemies and the Lord helped him much more mayest thou promise thy self his succour in thy soul-combates Betake thy self to the throne of grace with that promise Sin shall not have dominion over you and before thou urgest it the more to help thy faith comfort thy self with this that though this word Almighty is not exprest yet it is implied in this and every promise and thou mayest without adding a title to the Word of God read it in thy soul sin shall not have dominion over you saith the Almighty God for this and all his attributes are the constant seale to all his promises Now soule put the bond in suit fear not the recovery 't is debt and so due He is able whom thou suest and so there is no feare of losing the charge of the suit and he that was so gracious to binde himself when he was free will be so faithful being able to perform now he is bound only while thou expectest the performance of the promise and the assistance of this Almighty power against thy corruptions take heed that thou keep under the shadow of this attribute and condition of this promise The shadow will not cool except in it what good to have the shadow though of a mighty rock when we sit in the open Sun To have Almighty power engaged for us and we to throw our selves out of the protection thereof by bold salleys into the mouth of temptation The Saints falls have been when they run out of their trench and hold for like the conies they are a weak people in themselves and their strength lies in the rock of Gods Almightinesse which is their habitation Thirdly Christian improve this when opprest with the weight of any duty and service which in thy place and calling lies upon thee Perhaps thou findest the duty of thy calling too heavy for thy weak shoulders make bold by faith to lay the heaviest end of thy burden on Gods shoulder which is thine if a believer as sure as God can make it by promise When at any time thou art sick of thy work and ready to think with Jonas to run from it encourage thy selfe with that of God to Gideon whom he call'd from the flaile to thresh the mountains Go in this thy might hath not God call'd thee fall to the work God sets thee about and thou engagest his strength for thee The way of the Lord is strength Run from thy work and thou engagest Gods strength against thee he 'll send some storme or other after thee to bring home his runaway servant How oft hath the Coward been kill'd in a ditch or under some hedge when the valiant souldier that stood his ground and kept his place got off with safety and honour Art thou call'd to suffer flinch not because thou art afraid thou shalt never be able to bear the crosse God can lay it so even thou shalt not feel it though thou shouldest finde no succour till thou comest to the prison-door yea till thou hast one foot on the ladder or thy neck on the block despair not In the Mount will the Lord be seen And in that houre he can give thee such a look of his sweet face as shall make the blood come in the gastly face of a cruel death and appear lovely in thy eye for his sake He can give thee so much comfort in hand as thou shalt acknowledge God is aforehand with thee for all thy shame pain thou canst endure for him And if it should not amount to this yet so much as will bear all thy charges thou canst be put to in the way lies ready told in that promise 1 Cor. 10.13 Thou shalt have it at sight and this may satisfie a Christian especially if he considers though he doth not carry so much of heavens joy about him to heaven as others yet he shall meet it as soon as he comes to his Fathers house where it is reserved for him In a word Christian relie upon thy God and make thy daily applications to the throne of grace for continual supplies of strength you little think how kindly he takes it that you will make use of him the oftner the better and the more you come for the more welcome else why would Christ have told his disciples Hitherto ye have ask't nothing but to expresse his large heart in giving loath to put his hand to his purse for a little and therefore by a familiar kind of Rhetorick puts them to rise higher in asking as Naaman when Gehazi asks one talent entreats him to take two such a bountiful heart thy God hath while thou art asking a little peace and joy he bids thee open thy mouth wide and hee 'l fill it Go and ransack thy heart Christian from one end to the other finde out thy wants acquaint thy selfe with all thy weaknesses and set them before the Almighty as the Widow her empty vessels before the Prophet hadst thou more then thou canst bring thou mayest have them all fill'd God hath strength enough to give but he hath no strength to deny here the Almighty himselfe with reverence be it spoken is weak even a childe the weakest in grace of his family that can but say Father is able to overcome him and therefore let not the weaknesse of thy faith encourage thee No greater motive to the bowels of mercy to stir up Almighty power to relieve thee then thy weaknesse when pleaded in the sense of it The pale face and thin cheeks I hope move more with us then the canting language of a stout sturdy beggar Thus that soule that comes laden in the sense of his weak faith love patience the very weaknesse of them carries an argument along with them for succour CHAP. V. Wherein is answered a grand Objection that some disconsolate soules may raise against the former Discourse Object O But saith some disconsolate Christian I have prayed again and again for strength against such a corruption and to this day my hands are weak and these sons of Zerviah are so strong that I am ready to say all the Preachers do but flatter me that do poure their oyle of comfort upon my head and tell me I shall at last get the Conquest of these mine enemies and see that joyful day wherein with David I shall sing to the Lord for delivering me out of the
sinners such shall finde least mercy false friends shall speed worse then open enemies Secondly they use not the Armour of God as God hath appointed who put a carnal confidence therein We must not confide in the Armour of God but in the God of this Armour because all our weapons are only mighty through God 2 Cor. 10. The Ark was the meanes of the Jewes safety but carnally applauded and gloried in hastened their overthrow so duties and Ordinances gifts and graces in their place are means for the souls defence Satan trembles as much as the Philistines at the Ark to see a soule diligent in the use of duty and exercise of grace but when the creature confides in them this is dangerous As some when they have prayed think they please God for all day though they take little heed to their steps Others have so good an opinion of their faith sincerity knowledge thut you may assoon make them believe they are dogs as that they may ever be taken in such an errour or sinful practice Others when assisted in duty are prone to stroak their own head with a Bene fecisti Bernarde and so promise themselves to speed because they have done their errand so well What speak such passages in the hearts of men but a carnal confidence in their armour to their ruine Many soules we may safely say do not only perish praying repenting and believing after a sort but they perish by their praying and repenting c. while they carnally trust in these As it falls out sometimes that the souldier in battel loseth his life by means of his own Armour it is so heavy he cannot flie with it and so close buckled to him that he cannot get it off to flie for his life without it If we be saved we must come naked to Christ for all our duties we will not flie to Christ while confiding in them and some are so lock't into them that they cannot come without them and so in a day of temptation are trampled under the feet of Gods wrath and Satans fury The poor Publican throwes down his armes that is all confidence in himself cries for quarter at the hands of mercy God be merciful unto me a sinner and he comes off with his life he went away justified but the Pharisee loaden with his righteousnesse and conceited of it stands to it and is lost Thirdly they do not use the Armour of God as such who in the performing of divine duties eye not God through them and this makes them all weak and uneffectual Then the Word is mighty when read as the Word of God then the Gospel preach't powerful to convince the conscience and revive the drooping spirit when heard as the appointment of the great God and not the exercise of a mean creature Now it will appear in three things whether we eye divine appointment in the meanes First when we engage in a duty and look not up to God for his blessing Didst thou eye Gods appointment in the means thou wouldest say Soul if there come any good of thy present service it must drop from heaven for it is Gods appointment not mans And can I profit whether God will or no or think to finde and bring away any soul-enriching treasure from his Ordinance without his leave had I not best look up to him by whose blessing I live more then by my bread Again Secondly it appears we look not at Gods appointment when we have low thoughts of the means What is Jordan that I should wash in it what is this preaching that I should attend on it where I heare nothing but I knew before what these beggarly elements of water and bread and wine Are not these the reasonings of a soul that forgets who appoints these Didst thou remember who commands thou wouldest not question what the command is what though it be clay let Christ use it and it shall open the eyes though in it self more like to put them out Hadst thou thy eye on God thou wouldest silence thy carnal reason with this 'T is God sends me to such a duty whatsoever he saith unto me I will do it though he should send me as Christ them to draw wine out of pots fill'd with water Thirdly when a soule leaves off a duty because he hath not in it what he expected from it O saith the soul I see it is in vain to follow the means as I have done still Satan foiles me I will even give over Doest thou remember soule 't is Gods appointment surely then thou wouldest persevere in the midst of discouragements He that bids thee pray bids thee pray without ceasing He that bids thee hear bids thee wait at the posts of wisdom thou wouldest reason thus God hath set me on duty and here I 'le stand till God takes me off and bids me leave praying CHAP. III. Sheweth that the Armour we use for our defence against Satan must not only be divine by Institution but constitution also SEcondly the Christians Armour must be Armour of God in regard of its make and constitution My meaning is 't is not only God that must appoint the weapons and armes the Christian useth for his defence but he must also be the efficient of them he must work all their work in them and for them Prayer is an appointment of God yet this is not armour of proof except it be a Prayer of God flowing from his Spirit Hope that is the helmet the Saint by command is to wear but this hope must be Gods creature who hath begotten us to a lively hope Faith that 's another principal piece in the Christians furniture but it must be the faith of Gods Elect. He is to take righteousnesse and holinesse for his breast-plate but it must be true holinesse Eph. 4.24 Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Thus you see it is not armour as armour but as armour of God that makes the soul impregnable That which is borne of God overcometh the world A faith borne of God a hope borne of God but the spurious adulterous brood of duties and graces being begot of mortal seed cannot be immortal Must the soules armour be of Gods make be exhorted then to look narrowly whether the armour ye weare be the workmanship of God or no. There is abundance of false ware put off now adayes little good armour worne by the multitude of Professours 't is Satans after-game he playes if he cannot please the sinner with his naked state of prophanenesse then to put him off with something like grace some slighty stuffe that shall neither do him good nor Satan hurt thus many like children that cry for a knife or dagger and are pleas'd as well with a bone knife and wooden dagger as with the best of all so they have some armour it matters not what Pray they must but little care how it be performed Beleeve in
God yes they hope they are not infidels but what it is how they come by it or whether it will hold in an evil-day this never was put to the question in their hearts Thus thousands perish with a vain conceit they are arm'd against Satan death and judgment when they are miserable and naked yea worse on it then those who are more naked those I mean who have not a rag of civility to hide their shame from the worlds eye and that in a double respect First it is harder to work on such a soul savingly because he hath a forme though not the power and this affords him a plea. A soule purely naked nothing like the wedding garment on he is speechlesse the drunkard hath nothing to say for himself when you ask him why he lives so swinishly you may come up to him and get within him and turn the very mouth of his conscience upon him which will shoot conviction into him But come to deal with one that prayes and heares one that is a pretender to faith and hope in God here is a man in glistering armour he hath his weapon in his hand with which he will keep the Preacher and the Word he chargeth him with at armes length Who can say I am not a Saint what duty do I neglect here 's a breast-work he lies under which makes him not so faire a mark either to the observation or reproof of another his chief defect being within where mans eye comes not Again 't is harder to work on him because he hath been tamper'd with already and miscarried in the essay How comes such a one to he acquainted with such duties to make such a Profession was it ever thus No the Word hath been at work upon him his conscience hath scared him from his trade of wickednesse into a forme of Profession but taking in short of Christ for want of a through change it is harder to remove him then the other he is like a lock whose wards have been troubled which makes it harder to turn the Key then if never potter'd with 'T is better dealing with a wilde ragged cole never back't then one that in breaking hath took a wrong stroak A bone quite out of joynt then false set In a word such a one hath more to deny then a profane person the one hath but his lusts his whores his swill and draffe but the other hath his duties his seeming graces O how hard is it to perswade such a one to light and hold Christs stirrup while he and his duties are made Christs foot-stool Secondly such a one is deepest in condemnation None sink so far into hell as those that come nearest heaven because they fall from the greatest height As it aggravates the torments of damned souls in this respect above devils they had a cord of mercy thrown out to them which devils had not so by how much God by his Spirit waits on pleads with and by both gains on a soul more then others by so much such a one if he perish will finde hell the hotter these adde to his sin and the rememberance of his sin in hell thus accented will adde to his torment None will have such a sad parting from Christ as those who went half-way with him and then left him Therefore I beseech you look to your armour David would not fight in armour he had not tried though it was a Kings perhaps some thought him too nice What is not the Kings armour good enough for David Thus many will say Art thou so curious and precise such a great man doth thus and thus and hopes to come to heaven at last and darest not thou venture thy soule in his armour No Christian follow not the example of the greatest on earth 't is thy own soul thou venturest in battel therefore thou canst not be too choice of thy armour Bring thy heart to the Word as the only touch-stone of thy grace and furniture the Word I told you is the Tower of David from whence thy armour must be fetch 't if thou canst finde this Tower-stamp on it then 't is of God else not Try it therefore by this one Scripture-stamp Those weapons are mighty which God gives his Saints to fight his battels withal 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God The sword of the Spirit hath its point and edge whereby it makes its way into the heart and conscience through the impenitency of the one and stupidity of the other wherewith Satan as with buffe and coat of male armes the sinner against God and there cuts and slashes kills and mortifies lust in its own Castle where Satan thinks himself impregnable The Breast-plate which is of God doth not bend and break at every pat of temptation but is of such a divine temperament that it repels Satans motions with scorne on Satans teeth Should such a one as I sin as Nehemiah in another case and such are all the rest Now try whether your weapons be mighty or weak what can you do or suffer more for God then an hypocrite that is clad in fleshly armour I 'le tell you what the world faith and if you be Christians clear your selves and wipe off that dirt which they throw upon your glistering armour they say These Professors indeed have God more in their talk then we they are oftner in the mount of duty then we but when they come down into their shops relations and worldly employments then the best of them all is but like one of us they can throw the Tables of Gods Commandments out of their hands as well as we come from a Sermon and be as covetous and griping as peevish and passionate as the worst they shew as little love to Christ as others when it is matter of cost as to relieve a poor Saint or maintain the Gospel you may get more from a stranger an enemie then from a professing brother O Christians either vindicate the Name of Christ whose Ensign you seem to march after or throw away your seeming armour by which you have drawn the eyes of the world upon you If you will not Christ himself will cashiere you and that with shame enough ere long Never call that Armour of God which defends thee not against the power of Satan Take therefore the several pieces of your armour and try them as the souldier before he fights will set his helmet or head-piece as a mark at which he lets flie a brace of bullets and as he findes them so will weare them or leave them but be sure thou shootest Scripture-bullets Thou boastest of a breast-plate of righteousnesse ask thy soul Didst thou ever in thy life perform a duty to please God and not to accommodate thy self Thou hast prayed often against thy sin a great noise of these pieces have been heard coming from thee by others as if there were some hot fight between thee and thy corruption but canst thou