Prophet 2 Kings 19. 3. This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and blasphemy wherefore lift up a Prayer for them O Pray that God would be their shield and his power might be manifested in their weakness that the Evill one might not touch them with any assimilating touch who though he do molest them may not yet defile them and though he fight against them may not yet prevaile over them but that with the temptation God would make a way to escape that they may be able to bear it SECT III. A Third Device and Policy of the Prince of darkness Tenebrifer not Lucifer as Bernard stiles him is a ceasing to tempt or after some short conflict to faigne a flight not from necessity but from designe It is said Josh 8. 15. That Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before the Men of Ai and fled by the way of the Wilderness But it was to draw them from their fenced City into the Power of an Ambush set to ensnare them And this among other stratagems which Brasidas in Thucidides calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belli the thefts of War Satan often useth dissembling a flight that thereby he may the better steal a victory and bring unlooked for mischiefes upon those from whom he seems to fly Parisiensis saith it is omnium insidiarum periculosissima of all his snares and wiles the most dangerous because that as he designes it for evill ends so it seldome misseth of success few heeding to observe whether his flight be pretended or reall whether his ceasing to tempt be out of skill in order to some hidden design or out of constraint caused by the resistance of faith I shall therefore indeavour to show First What Satan aimes at in his seeming flight Secondly How to distinguish it from that which is reall and forced by the firme opposition which Faith makes against him and the victory that it obtaines over him First By this Policy he seekes to infect and swell the heart with pride which to keep down and destroy is one great end of Gods suffering his to be tempted Pride is a sin which it is hard to kill or to starve so sutable a Soyle is the heart to nourish it above all other sins whatsoever and so apt is every occasion to make it put forth afresh but nothing doth more quicken and actuate it then greater atcheivments It is Tacitus his observation Rebus secundis etiam egregii duces insolescunt Renowned Generalls are puft up with success especially against an enemy of repute and eminency And is there any adversary that can contribute more to his glory who puts him to slight then the great Dragon that old Serpent called the Devill and Satan Is not he the Prince of the Aire and the God of the World are not his Territories full of Captives whom he hath miserably enthralled Hath he not more Vassalls then Christ hath Subjects Must it not then be matter of just glory and triumph to defeate and overcome him by whom such multitudes are vanquished But yet as he that striveth must strive lawfully so he that glorieth must glory lawfully which must be in the Lord in the power of whose might he is made strong else his glorying will be both his sin and snare And this Satan so fully understands as that in the heat of a Temptation he makes certain Cessations and unexpected retirements on purpose to deceive by the vain hopes of a supposed victory And are not many by this deceipt lifted up as if their Conflict were at an end and the Field wholly won by them Do they not pride and please themselves in thinking how they shook off the infernal Viper with as much ease and as little hurt to themselves as Paul did that Viper that came from the bundle of sticks and fastened on his hand Do they not slight others who complain of long and sore temptations with which they are buffeted as if they did spring rather from their weakness than the power of the Tempter Oh when men thus set imaginary Crowns on their own heads how unlike are they to those holy Elders who cast their Crowns before the Throne of God saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power And how like unto him whom they think they have foiled By being tainted with that sin of pride which cast the Angels out of heaven and condemned them to be reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness unto the judgment of the Great Day Secondly By this Art he seeks to induce a spirit of security and to possess the heart with vain presumption of a future peace and freedom from his assaults than which nothing can prove more fatal to a Spiritual Warfare That saying of Epicharmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember to distrust is more useful Counsel to none than to a Christian when not frowned upon by the World nor molested by Satan for changes will come both from the one and the other The World will prove a false Friend the Devil a true Tempter After three sharp repulses given him by our Saviour he departed only for a season Luk. 4. 13. And can we expect that he will be beaten out of heart and made a Coward by us When resisted and put to slight again and again he will return if not to conquer yet to vex But nothing will more hasten his return than a drowsie security that is the season which he watcheth for that is the end of his ceasing to tempt and his seeming departure and when he finds us like the men of Laish living careless and at ease Judg. 18. 7. then he smites not as the good Angel did Peter to awaken him Acts 12. 7. but as the fierce Danites to kill and destroy as much as in him lies Then it is that he sows those noxious tares that come up afterwards to the prejudice and hurt of the good Seed Mat. 13. 25. Then it is he comes and brings seven worse Spirits with him making the last state of that man more miserable than the first Luk. 11. 26. Let none therefore please themselves in a sinful ease and rest from temptations as if the work were wholly done when in truth nothing is done but let them look how they come by it and examine whether it be not a practise of the Enemy rather than a reality whether it spring not rather from a ceasing of the Tempter to stir than from a victory obtained against him now how to difference the one from the other is the next particular that I am to descend unto To find out therefore the truth of the one from the imposture of the other I will set down briefly these three Rules First Look what means and wayes of resistance have been used to put Satan to flight Have instant prayers been made to God Have the goings out against him been in the power and might of Christ Hath the Sword of the Spirit which is the
Enemy as he is represented to be It is no wonder then if his designs be so successfull and his Triumphs many when the greatest part of Men are no way anxious to proportion their care and watchfullness either to the greatness of their own danger or their adversaries diligence SECT IV. A Fourth Demonstration which may discover the power of Satan to tempt is taken both from the Number of the evil Spirits and the Unity of their Counsels which meet all in one common center of an irreconcilable hatred to Gods glory and Mans happiness First Their Numbers are great which renders their Power as well as their Counsells exceeding dreadfull Weak things which when few are contemptible when seconded with multitude become irresistable Caterpillars Frogs Locusts Flies by the excess of their number make the proud heart of Pharaoh to stoop who cannot free himself or his Kingdome from such impotent Adversaries The Whale of which God saith that upon the earth there is not his like He is a king over all the children of pride Job 41. 33 34. Of all creatures by Sea or Land that pride themselves of their might and strength he is the chiefe and yet Pliny saith that the Herrings do by their vast numbers oppress and destroy sometimes the biggest Whales How dreadful then must that opposition be that ariseth from such creatures that are for their nature powerfull and for their numbers past finding out The School men who would seem to be expert Benjamites to hit at a hairs breadth every mark at which they aime and not miss speak as confidently of the number of good and evil Angells as if they had looked into the Muster-Roll both of the Heavenly host and the Infernall Legions and yet their assertions have as little agreement with each other as the testimonies of the false Witnesses concerning Christ no two of them speaking the same thing Aquinas conceives the number of them in their Creation to exceed incomparably all material substances and his reason as Estius sets it down is because the more perfect any beings are in their nature the greater is their excess either of Magnitude if they be corporeal or of Number if they be incorporeal As therefore the Heavenly Bodies which are most perfect do wonderfully surpass all inferiour bodies in quantity so do the spiritual Angells in number Now of these vast numbers say some the one halfe become Apostates Others from a mistake of that place Rev. 12. 4. of the Dragons drawing of the third part of the Stars of Heaven after him have fondly concluded that a third part of them fell when as it plainly speakes of a defection in the Church Others again have made the number of fallen Angells equall to the number of the elect Men that shall be saved who are to supply the breach that was by their defection But what light oâ— evidence do any of these positions carry in them that may gain the understanding of sober Men to a beliefe of them are they not nicities that are as unfit to build upon as the dreames of sick Men It is enough that the Scripture though it acquaint us not with the certain number of good or evill Angells that of the one it tells us that there are thousand thousands that Minister unto God and ten thousand times ten thousand that stand before him Daniel 7. 10. And that there is an innumerable company of Angells Heb. 12. 22. And that it represents unto us the evill Angells by a Kingdome which implies multitudes and by a Prince whose greatness lies to the extent of his condition and the number of his Subjects Surely we need no Hermits Visions to inform us that the air is full of malignant Spirits and the earth of their snares to entrap the inhabitants of it St. Paul points out to us their number as well as their power when he faith that we wrastle not with flesh and bloud but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickedness in high places Eph. 6. 12. Oh! what a troublesome passage must every Christian expect in his way to heaven who is to conflict with Armies of these infernal Anakims How necessary is it that he put on the Armour of God for protection and fight in the strength of God to obtain a victory For in his own might no man can prevail If Elijah a Prophet of an Heroick Spirit complained of his being left alone to contest with the Priests of Baal and the Idolaters of Israel so as to grow weary of his life how apt will the best of men be to faint and sink in the long and sharp Conflicts that must be undergone with the Combined forces and powers of darkness if not aided and supported by the strength of Christ If therefore we would be successful Combatants in this Spiritual Warfare we must do as David did who prepared to encounter Goliah by disarming himself of his warlike Habiliments going forth only in the name of the Lord of Hosts we must put off all carnal confidence which will be as unuseful to us as Sauls Armour was to him and be strong only in the Lord and in the power of his might this is that that will both animate us in the fight and give unto us an assured victory in the Issue Secondly As their Number is great so their Unity and agreement is wonderful In Satans Kingdom are no divisions Mat. 12. 26. In his Armies no mutinies for want of pay no complaints of hard marches though they be continually compassing the earth to and fro That there should be an Union amongst the heavenly Host is not strange in regard they are all as so many melodious Instruments tuned to one Key as so many Needles touched with the same Loadstone which fixeth them invariably to one point they dwell with him and in him who is love it self But is it not matter of admiration that an entire oneness which is so much wanting on earth should be found in hell What is Hell but the Common Sewer and Drain into which those Lusts of Pride Wrath Envy and Bitterness from whence Wars do arise do empty themselves Have Devils any love Is there any print of that noble quality which is as amiable as the Sun to be found in the territories of darkness What then is that Ligament or Cement that so firmly ties and conjoyns them together It is no other but a perfect hatred both to God and man it being the one thing designed by them to rob God of his glory and man of his happiness and to effect this the Conspiracy is strong and League inviolable The good Angels rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner and the evil Angels at his destruction The ruined sinners are the only Trophies and spoyls of Hell Oh! blush then ye Saints who have so many Sacred bonds to unite you to God and also to one another and yet by Divisions are set at a distance from
Covetousness remember life consists not in abundance If to uncleanness the Lord knows how to reserve the wicked 2 Pet. 2. 10. Especially them that walk after the flesh in the lusts of uncleanness Heb. 13. 4. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge If to inordinate fear apply Luk. 12. 4. If to distractions in troublesome times that of Psal 55. 22. Cast thy burden upon the Lord. Thus have the Word in readiness like Solomons Worthies Cant. 3. 8. that had their sword on their thigh ready to be out of the sheath presently and labour for skill to manage it Thirdly Look to Christ as a pattern in his constancy in resisting temptations in his perseverance against renewed assaults our Saviour was long in the field he was forty daies together tempted Mar. 1. 13. Those that are recorded in Mat. 4. were after the forty daies When he had fasted forty daies then the Tempter came and perswaded him to turn stones into bread the Evangelists record only those chief and last temptations Now let us learn of our Captain to fight a good fight without discouragement and without changes though temptations change yet let not us change though they be multiplied yet let us keep on our warfare and maintain our courage Fourthly Make use of Christ as a Pattern in the manner of resisting Thus by proportioning the resistance to the rise and growth of temptations when temptations rise higher and are more gross then we are to be more earnest proportioning our resistance according to the vileness and sinfulness of them That temptation of Christ to blasphemy Christ did reject and resist in another manner than he did the two former There he only answers it is written but here he saith Get thee behind me Satan He doth not only resist it by the Word but expresses a loathing and an indignation and so should we when temptations assault us that strike immediately at Gods glory we should express a loathing and abhorrency of them and certainly such temptations to Atheism Murder Blasphemy c. are best resisted by abhorrency of them and loathing them not by disputing with them as Parisiensis saith Some temptations are resisted per fugam by flight as flee fornication Some per indignationem by indignation as a man hath his anger moved when he is offered nothing near the worth of his Commodity So when a man is tempted for trifles to sin against God and hazard his soul Sola unius syllabae pronunciatione ejus jacula confringuntur c. It is enough to resist such temptations with that interjection Fie fie upon such filthiness fie upon such blasphemy and this is by many thought the safest way Secondly You must make use of Christ as your aid and succour as well as your pattern not only as a pattern to know how to fight but make use of his power and strength to fight the better Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Eph. 6. 10. And Heb. 2. 18. He is said to be able to succour them that are tempted Go not into the field therefore alone In prophane Duels wherein men challenge one another the field for small punctillioes of honour or happily for worse things in which as Bernard saith Unus lethaliter peccat alter aeternaliter perit One mortally sins and the other eternally dies they seldom appear without Seconds that they may see there be no wrong done and that they may call for aid if need be Much more should Christians in this divine Conflict and wrastling with Satan take Christ along with them We should not go in the strength of our own resolutions or our own vows but we should go against Satan as David did against the Philistim 1 Sam. 17. In the name of the Lord. VVhen we do so we alwaies prevaile and when we do otherwise we are alwaies foiled No conflicting with Satan but in Gods strength remember Christ is able to succour he hath an ability of sufficiency and an ability that arises from experience SECT IV. THe foutrh Antidote is to be abundant in the use of prayer as faith is the best of graces in resisting Satan so prayer is the best of duties The neglect of prayer was the beginning of Sauls fall as most of the Fathers interpret that place 1 Sam. 14. 19. VVhen Saul commanded the Priest to withdraw his hand from the Ark. They say of the Palm tree that all its strength lyeth on the top it is true of a Christian all his strength lies above There is a threefold use of prayer 1. As a duty for prayer is an offering the Prophet compares it to Incense Psal 141. A Sacrifice is but a visible prayer and prayer is nothing else but an audible Sacrifice 2. As a dignity when a man doth abstract himself from earth and grow into a familiarity with God it is a Mount Tabor wherein the soul hath admirable transfigurations and sees not Moses and Elias but God 3. There is a necessity of prayer for God hath left prayer as our City of refuge on all occasions to flee to Paul would have the Thessal pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without ceasing 1 Thes 5. 17. The Ephesians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 6. 18. There is no duty at all times so seasonable and useful as prayer When we want blessings prayer is the Key whereby we unlock the Treasury of heaven and gain the blessings we need When we are assaulted by Satan it is one of the best weapons we can use to defend our selves with When David knew not how to withstand the wisdom of Achitophel who was then as an Oracle of God he praies Lord turn the counsel of Achitophel unto foolishness 2 Sam. 15. 31. So do thou pray O Lord turn the counsel of this hellish Adversary into folly So when Jehoshaphat was in a great strait the Captains of the Enemy having beset him about 2 Chron. 18. 31. Jehoshaphat cried out and the Lord helped him and moved them to depart from him This now is our way to betake our selves to prayer as Bernard excellently saith Gravis quidem nobis tentati◠sua sed longè gravior illioratio nostra His Temptations are grievous to us but our Prayers are far more grievous to him You do not know how you wound his head with Prayer when he bruises your heel with Temptations Therefore be much in prayer it works deliverance from men from devils from all the straits you can be surrounded with For this cause saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 12. 8. I besought the Lord thrice viz. when he was under the buffetings of Satan Pray saith Christ that you enter not into temptation so pray that you fall not under temptation when you are entred Prayer it delivers out of temptation Mat. 26. 41. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation In tentationem cadit qui ad orationem non vadit saith Chrysologus he is sure to go into temptation that goes not to prayer In temptation it gives