Satan are these that follow THe first Remedy against this device 1. Remedy of Satan is to dwell till your hearts be affected upon those commands of God that doe expressely require us to shun the society of the wicked Ephes 5. 11. And have no fellowship Non paerentum aut majorum authoritas sed Dei docentis imperium Jerom. The commands of God must ouâ—-weigh all authority and example of men with the unfruit fud works of darknesse but rather reprove them Prov. 4. 14 15 16. Enter not into the path of the wicked and goe not in the way of evill men Avoid it passe not by it turne from it and passe away 1 Cor. 5. 9 10 11. 2 Thess 3. 6. Prov. 1. 10 11 12 13 14 15. turne to these Scriptures and let your soules dwell upon them till a holy indignation be raised in your soules against fellowship with vaine men God will not take the wicked by the hand as Job speaks why then should you Gods commands are not like those that are easily reversed but they are like those of the Medes that cannot be changed if these commands be not now observed by thee they will at last be witnesses against thee and milstones to sinke thee in that day that Christ shall judge thee The second Remedy against this device 2. Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that their company is very infectious Eusebius reports of John the Evangelist that he would not suffer Cerinthus the heretick in the same bath him left some judgement should abide them both Euseb lib. 3. cap. 25. A man that keepeth ill company is like him that walketh in the Sun tanned insensibly and dangerous as is cleare from the Scriptures above mentioned Ah! how many have lost their names and lost their estates and strength and God and Heaven and soules by society with wicked men As ye shun a stinking carcase as the Sea-man shuns sands and rocks and shelves As ye shun those that have the plague-sore running upon them so should you shun the society of wicked men As weeds endanger the corne as bad humors endanger the blood or as an infected house the neighbourhood so doth wicked company the soule Bias a heathen man being at Sea in a great storme and perceiving many wicked men with him in the ship calling upon the Gods oh saith he forbear prayer hold your tongues I would not have the Gods take notice that you are here they will sure drowne us all if they should Ah sirs could a heathen Prov. 13. 20. v. see so much danger in the society of wicked men and can you see none The third Remedy against this device 3. Remedie 2 Tim. 4. 17. Isa 11. 7. 29. Ezek. 3. 10. Mat. 16. 9. Revel 3. 5. 10. Mat. 3. 7. Isa 10. 17. 27. ch 4. 55. 13. Ezek 26. Judg. 9. 14. Job 21. 18. Psal 18. 42. Psa 14. 18. Psa 42. Ezek. 22. 18 19. 65. Esa 5. Ezek 24. 6. Lactantius saith of Lucian nec diis nec hominibus pepercit he spared neither God nor man such monsters are wicked men which should render their company to all that have tasted of the sweetnesse of divine love a burden and not a delight of Satan is to looke alwayes upon wicked men under those names and notions that the Scripture sets them out under The Scripture calls them Lions for their fiercenesse and Beares for their cruelty and Dragons for their hideousnesse and Dogs for their filthinesse and Wolves for their subtilnesse The Scripture stiles them Scorpions Vipers Thornes Briars Thistles Brambles stubble dirt chaffe dust drosse smoke scumme as you may see in the margent 'T is not safe to look upon wicked men under those names and notions that they set out themselves by or that flatterers sets them out by this may delude the soul but the looking upon them under those names and notions that the Scripture sets out by may preserve the soule from frequenting their company and delighting in their society Doe not tell me what this man calls them or how such and such count them but tell me how doth the Scripture call them how doth the Scripture count them As Naballs name was so was his nature and as wicked mens names are so are their natures you may know well enough what is within them by the apt names that the Holy Ghost hath given them The fourth and last Remedy against 4. Remedie O Lord let me not goe to hell where the wicked are for Lord thou knowest I never loved their company here said a gracious gentlewoman when she was to die being in much trouble of conscience this device of Satan is to consider that the societie and company of wicked men have been a great griefe and burden to those precious soules that were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in heaven Psal 120. ver 5 6. Woe is mee that I dwell in Mesech that I sojourne in the tents of Kedar My soule hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace So Jeremiah Oh that I had in the wildernesse a lodging place of wayfaring men that I might leave my people and goe from them for they be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men Jer. 9. ver 2. So they vexed Lots 2 Pet. 2. c. ver 7 8 Vide Bezam righteous soule by their filthy conversation they made his life a burden they made death more desirable to him then life yea they made his life a lingering death Guilt or grief is all the good soules get by conversing with wicked men The second thing to be shewed is the severall Devices that Satan hath as to draw soules to sin so to keep soules from holy duties to hinder soules in holy Services and to keep them off from Religious performances And he shewed me Joshua the high Priest standing before the Angell of the Lord and Satan standing at his righthand to resist him Zach. 3. 1. The truth of this I shall shew you in the following particulars The first device that Satan 1. Device hath to draw soules from holy duties and to keep them off from religious services is BY presenting the world in such a dresse and in such a garbe to the soule as to insnare the soule and to winn upon the affections of the soule The beauty of the world soils a Christian more then the strength the flattering Sun shâ—ne more then the blustering storme in stormes we keep our garments close about us he represents the world to them in its beauty and bravery which proves a bewitching sight to a world of men 'T is true this tooke not Christ because Satan could finde no matter in him for his temptation to worke upon but Satan findes matter in us for this temptation to worke upon so that he can no sooner cast out his golden bait but we are ready to play with it and to nibble at it he can no sooner throw out his golden ball but men
when something is parted with to gain more he applyeth it to their sufferings wherin though the flesh lost something yet the spirit got much more the comfort the rest that Saints meet with in the wayes and service of God they find that Religious services are not empty things but things in which God is pleased to discover his beautie and glory to their soules My soul thirsts for God saith David that I might see thy beauty and thy glory as I have seen thee in thy Sanctuary Oh! the sweet looks the sweet words the sweet hints the sweet joggings the sweet influences the sweet love-letters that gracious soules have from Heaven when they waite upon God in holy and heavenly services the least of which will darken and outweigh all the bravery and glory of this world and richly recompence the soul for all the troubles afflictions and dangers that have attended it in the service of God oh the Saints can say under all their troubles and afflictions that they have meate to eate and drinke to When the Moble Generall Zeâ—slaus had lost his hand in the Wars of the K. of Poland the King sent him a golden hand for it what we lose in Christs service he will make up by giving in some golden mercies drinke that the world knows not of that they have such incomes such refreshments such warmings c. that they would not exchange for all the honours riches and dainties of this world Ah! let but a Christian compare his externall losses with his spirituall internall and eternall gain and he shall find that for every penny that he loses in the service of God he gaines a pound and for every pound that he looses hee gains a hundred for every hundred lost he gains a thousand wee loose pins in his service and find pearls we loose the favour of the creature and peace with the creature and happily the comforts and contents of the creature and we gain the favour of God peace with conscience and the comforts and contents of a better life Ah! did the men of this world know the sweet that Saints injoy in afflictions they would rather chuse Manasses iron chaine then his golden Crown They would rather be Paul a prisoner then Paul rap't up in the third Heaven for light afflictions they shall have a Though the Crosse be bitter yet 't is but short a little storm as one said of Julians persecution and an eâ—eâ—nall calm follows weight of glory for a few afflictions they shall have those joyes pleasures and contents that are as the stars of heaven or as the sands of the sea that cannot be numbred for momentany afflictions they shall have an eternall Crown of glory 't is but winking and thou shalt be in heaven presently said the Martyr oh therefore let no afflictions nor troubles work thee to shun the wayes of God or to quit that service that should be dearer to thee then a world yea then thy very life c. The third Device that Satan 3. Device hath to hinder soules from holy and heavenly services from gracious and religious performances is BY presenting to the soule the difficulty of performing them saith Satan 't is so hard and difficult a thing to pray as thou shouldst and to wait on God as thou shouldst and to walke with God as thou shouldst and to be lively warm and active in the communion of Saints as thou shouldst that you were better ten thousand times to neglect them then to meddle with them and doubtlesse by this Device Satan hath and doth keep off thousands from waiting on God and from giving to him that service that is due to his name c. Now the remedies against this Device are these that follow THe first Remedie against this device 1. Remedy of Satan is to dwell more upon the necessity of the service and duty then on the difficulty that doth attend the duty you should reason thus with your soules oh our soules though such and such duties and services be hard and difficult yet are they not exceeding necessarie for the honour of God and the keeping up of his name in The necessity of doing your duty appears by this that you are his servants by a three-fold right you are his servants jure creationis jure sustentationis jure redemptionis by right of creation and by right of sustentation and by right of redemption the world and the keeping under of sin and the keeping under of weak graces and for the reviving of languishing comforts and for the keeping clear and bright your blessed evidences and for the scattering of your fears and for the raising of your hopes and for the gladding the hearts of the righteous and stopping the mouths of unrighteous souls who are ready to take all advantages to blaspheme the name of God and throw dirt and contempt upon his people and wayes oh never leave thinking on the necessity of this and that duty till your souls be lifted up far above all the difficulties that doe attend religious duties The second Remedie against this device 2 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that the Lord Jesus will make his services easie to you by the sweet discovery of himselfe to your soules whilst you are in his service Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousnesse those that remember thee in thy wayes as the Prophet Isaiah saith if meeting with Isa 64. v. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paganta is diversly taken but most take the word here to meet a soule with those bowells of love and tendernesse as the Father of the Prodigall met the Prodigall with God is pater miserationum hee is all bowels he is as swift to shew mercy as he is slow to anger God who is goodnesse it selfe sweetnesse it selfe beauty it selfe strength it selfe glory it self will not sweeten his service to thy soule nothing in Heaven or Earth will Jacob's meeting with Rachel and enjoying of Rachell made his hard service to be easie and delightfull to him and will not the soules enjoying of God and meeting with God render his service to be much more easie and delightfull doubtlesse it will The Lord will give that sweet assistance by his Spirit and grace as shall make his service joyous and not grievous a delight not a burden a Heaven and not a Hel to believing souls the confidence of this divine assistance raised up Nehemiah's spirit far above all those difficulties and discouragements that did attend him in the work and service of the Lord as you may see in that 2 Nehemiah vers 19 20. But when Sanballat Luther spake excellently to Melancthon who was apt to be disconraged with doubts and difficulties feares from foes and so â—ease the service they had undertaken if the work be not good why did we ever own it if it be good why should wee ever decline it why saith he should we feare the conquered world that
as the Apostle speaks Know yee not that the Saints shall judge the world and in that day oh how will the great and the rich the Mr. Fox being once asked whether he knew a certain poor man who had received succour of him in time of trouble he answered I remember him well I tel you I forget Lords Ladies to remember such So will the Lord deale by his poor S t s he will forget the great and mighty ones of the world to remember his few poor despised ones Though Iohn was poore in the world yet the holy ghost calls him the greatest that was born of women ah poor Saints men that know not your worth cannot have such low thoughts of you but the Lord wil have aâ— high learned and the noble wish that they had lived and spent their dayes with these few poor contemptible creatures in the service of the Lord oh how wil this wicked world curse the day that ever they had such base thoughts of the poor meane Saints and that their poverty became a stumbling block to keep them off from the wayes of sanctity I have read of Ingo an ancient King of the Draves who making a stately feast appointed his Nobles at that time Pagans to sit in the Hall below and commanded certaine poore Christians to be brought up into his Presence-chamber to sit with him at his Table to eate and drink of his Kingly cheer at which many wondering he said he accounted Christians though never so poore a greater ornament at his Table and more worthy of his company then the greatest Peers unconverted to the Christian faith for when these might be thrust down to Hell those might be his Consorts and fellow Princes in Heaven you know how to apply it Although you see the stars sometimes by their reflictions in a puddle or in the bottome of a Well I in a stinking ditch yet the stars have their scituation in Heaven So though you see a godly man in a poor miserable low despised condition for the things of this world yet he is fixed in Heaven in the Region of Heaven Who hath raised us up saith the Apostle and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Oh! therefore say to your owne souls when they begin to decline the wayes of Zion because of the poverty and paucity of those that walke in them the day is at hand when these few poor despised Saints shall shine in glory when they shall judge this world and when all the wicked of the world will wish that they were in their condion would give ten thousand worlds were it in their power that they might but have the honour and happinesse to waite upon those whom for their poverty and paucity they have neglected and despised in this world The sixt and last Remedie against this 6 Remedy device of Satan is solemnly to consider that there will come a time even in this These following Scriptures do abundantly confirm this truth Ier. 31. 12. Isa 30. 23. Isa 62. 8 9. Ioel 2. 23 24. Mica 4. 6. Amos 9. 13 14. Zech. 8. 12. Isa 41. 18 19. Isa 55. 13. Isa 66. 6 7. Isa 65. 21 22. Isa 61. 4. Isa 60. 10. Ezek. 36. 10. life in this world when the reproach and contempt that is now cast upon the wayes of God by reason of the poverty and paucity of those that walk in those wayes shall be quite taken away by his making them the head that have dayes without number been the taile and by his raising them up to much outward riches prosperity and glory who have been as the out-cast because of their poverty and paucity John speaking of the glory of the Church the new Jerusalem that came downe from Heaven in that 21. of the Revelation tells us That the Nations of them which are saved shall walke in the light of it and the Kings of the earth do bring their glory into it So the Prophet Isaiah They shall bring their sons from far and their silver and their gold with Only take these 2 cautions First that in these times the Saints chiefest comforts delights and contents will consist in their more cleer full and constant injoyments of God 2. That they shaâ— have such an abundant â—easure of he spirit poured out â—pon them â—hat their riches and outward glory shall not be sâ—ares to â—hem but golden steps to lead them to a richer living in God them vers 9. For brasse I will bring gold and for iron I will bring silver and for wood brasse and for stones Iron vers 19. And so the Prophet Zechariah speaks Chap. 14. v. 14. And the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together gold and silver and apparell in great abundance The Lord hath promised that the meek shal inherite the earth And heaven and earth shall passe away before one jot or tittle of his word shall pass unfulfilled Ah poor Saints now some thrust sore at you others look a squint upon you others shut the door against you others turne their backs upon you and most of men except it be a few that live much in God and are filled with the riches of Christ do either neglect you or despise you because of your poverty but the day is coming when you shall be lifted up above the dunghil when you shall change pâ—vâ—rty for riches your rags for robes your reproach for a crowne of honour your infamy for glory even in this world And this is not all but God will also mightily increase the number of his chosen ones multitudes shall be converted to him Who hath heard such a Isa 66. 8. thing who hath seen such things shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a Nation be borne at once for assoone as Zion travelled she brought forth children And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all Nations upon Vers 19 20. horses and in Chariots in Litters and upon Mules upon swift beasts to my holy mountaine Jerusalem saith the Lord as the children of Israel bring an offering in a cleane vessell into the house of the Lord. Doth not the Scripture say that the Kingdomes of Revel 11. 15. this world must become the Kingdomes of our Lord Hath not God given to Christ the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possessions Hath not the Lord said that in the last dayes the mountaine of the Lords Psal 2. 8. house shall be lifted up above the hills and shall be established in the top of the mountains and all Nations shall flow unto it Pray read Isa 2. 2. Isa 54. 14. Isa 61. 9. and meditate upon the sixty chapter of Isaiah and the sixty sixth chapter and the five first verses of the second chapter of Isaiah and there you shall finde the multitudes that shall be converted to Christ and oh that you
c. But above all pray for me that I may more and more finde the power and sweet of those things upon my owne heart that I give out to you and others and that my soule be so visited with strength from on high that I may live up fully and constantly to those truths that I hold forth to the world and that I may be both in Life and Doctrine a burning and a shining light That so when the Lord Jesus shall appear I may receive a crown of glory which he shall give to me in that day and not onely to me but to all that love his appearing c. For a close remember this that your life is short your duties many your assistance great and your reward sure therefore faint not hold on and hold up in wayes of well doing and Heaven shall make amends for all I shall now take leave of you when my heart hath by my hand subscribed that I am Your loving Pastor under Christ according to all Pastor all affections and engagements in our dearest Lord. THOMAS BROOKS A WORD TO THE READER Deare Friend SOLOMON bids us buy the Pro. 23. 23 Truth but doth not tell us what it must cost because we must get it though it be never so deare wee must love it both Multi amaÌ„â— veritatem lucentem o derunt redarguentem shining and scorching every parcell of Truth is precious as the filings of gold wee must either live with it or dye for it As Ruth said to Naomi Whither thou goest I will goe and Ruth 1. 16 17. where thou lodgest I will lodge and nothing but death shall part thee and mee So must gracious spirits say where Truth goes I will goe and where Truth lodges I will Si veritas est causa discordiae mori possum tacere con possum Jâ—rome lodge and nothing but death shall part me and Truth A man may lawfully sell his House Lands and Jewells but Truth is a Jewell that exceeds all price and must not be sould 'T is our Heritage Thy Testimonies have I taken Psal 119. 11â— as an Heritage for ever 't is a Legacie that our fore-fathers have hought with their bloods which should make us willing to lay downe any thing and to lay out any thing that wee may with the wise Merchant in the Gospel purchase this precious Pearle Mâ—t. 5. 18. Veritâ—s vinâ—it Truth at last triumphs which is more worth then Heaven and Earth and which will make a man live happily die comfortably and reign eternally And now if thou pleasest reade the Worke and receive this councell from mee First Thou must know that every man cannot be excellent that yet may be usefull An iron key may unlocke the doore of a golden treasure yea ferrum potest quod aurum non potest Iron can doe some things that gold cannot c. Secondly Remember 't is not hasty reading but serious meditating upon 'T is a Law among the Persees in India to use premeditation in what they are to doe that if it be bad to reject it if good to act it holy and heavenly truths that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soule 'T is not the Bees touching of the Flower that gathers Honey but her abiding for a time upon the Flower that drawes out the sweet 'T is not he that reads most but he that meditates most that will prove the choicest sweetest wisest and strongest Christian c. Thirdly Know that 't is not the knowing nor the talking nor the reading man but the doing man that at last will be found the happiest man If you know these things blessed John 15. 14. Mat. 7. 21. and happie are you if you doe them Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the 'T was a good saying of Justin Martyr Non in verbis sed in factis res nostrae religioniâ— consistunt Kingdome of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father that is in Heaven Judas called Christ Lord Lord and yet betrayed him and is gone to his place ah How many Judasses have we in these dayes that kisse Christ and yet betray Christ That in their words professe him but in their workes deny him that bow The Heathen Philosopher Seneca liked not such that are semper victuri alwayes about to live better but never begin God loves saith Luther curristâ—â— not quâ—ristas the â—unner not the questioner Pacunius hath an elegant saying I hate saith he the men that are idle in deed and philosophicall in word c. their knee to him and yet in their hearts despise him that call him Jesus and yet will not obey him for their Lord. Reader If it be not strong upon thy heart to practise what thou readest to what end doest thou read to encrease thy owne condemnation If thy light and knowledge be not turn'd into practise the more knowing man thou art the more miserable man thou wilt be in the day of recompence thy light and knowledge will more torment thee then all the Devills in hell Thy knowledge will be that rod that will eternally lash thee and that Scorpion that will for ever bite thee and that worme that will everlastingly gnaw thee therefore reade and labour to know that thou mayest doe or else thou art undone for ever When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of an Orator what the second what the third he answered action the same may I say if any should aske me what is the first the second the third part of a Christian I must answer action as that man that reades that he may know and that labours to know that he may doe will have two Heavens a Heaven of Joy Peace and Comfort on earth and a Heaven of glory and happinesse after death Fourthly and lastly if in thy reading thou wilt cast a serious eye upon the Margent thou wilt finde many sweet and precious Notes that will oftentimes give light to the things thou readest and pay thee for thy paines with much comfort and profit So desiring that thou mayest finde as much sweetnesse and advantage in reading this Treatise as I have found by the overshadowings of Heaven in the studying and writing of it I commend thee to God and to the word of his grace which is able to Acts 20. 32. build thee up and to give thee an inheritance among them which are sanctified And rest Reader Thy soules Servant in every office of the Gospel THOMAS BROOKS PRECIOUS REMEDIES AGAINST SATANS Devices 2 CORINTH 2. 11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his Devices IN the fifth Verse the Apostle shews that the incestuous person had by his incest sadded those precious souls that God would not have sadded soules that walk sinfully are Hazaels to the godly and draw many sighes and tears from them Jeremy weepes in secret for Judah's sins and Paul cannot speak of those
were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in Heaven did look upon the mercy of God as the most powerfull argument to preserve them from sin and to fence their souls against sin and not as an encouragement Psal 26. 3 4 5 6. to sin Psal 26. 3 4 5 6. For thy loving kindnesse is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth I have not sat with vaine persons neither will I goe in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of evill doers and will not sit with the wicked So Joseph strengthens himselfe against sin from the remembrance of mercy How then can I saith he doe this great Gen. 39. 9. wickednesse and sin against God He had fixt his eye upon mercy and therefore sin could not enter though the irons entred into his soul his soul being taken with mercy was not moved by his Mistrisses impudency Satan knock't oft at the door but the sight of mercy would not suffer him to answer or open Joseph like a Pearle in a Puddle keeps his vertue still So Paul Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound God Rom. 6. 1 2. The stone called Pâ—ntaurus is of that vertue that it preserves him that carries it from taking any harm by poison the mercy of God in Christ to our souls is the most precious stone or Pearleâ— in the world to preserve us from being poysoned with sin forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein There is nothing in the world that renders a man more unlike to a Saint and more like to Satan then to argue from mercy to sinfull liberty from Divine goodnesse to licentiousnesse this is the Devils Logick and in whom ever you find it you may write This soul is lost A man may aâ— truly say the Sea burns or fire cools as that free grace and mercy should make a soul truly gracious to doe wickedly So the same Apostle I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service So John These things I write unto you that you sin not What was it that he wrote He wrote that we might have fellowship with the Father and his Son 1 John 2. 1 2. and that the Blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin and that if we confesse our sins he is just and faith full to forgive us our sins and that if we doe sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous These choyce favours and mercies the Apostle holds forth as the choycest means to preserve the soul from sin and to keep at the greatest distance from sin and if this won't doe it you may write the man void of Christ and grace and undone for ever The sixt Device that Satan hath to 6 Device draw the soule to sin is by perswading the soul that the work of Repentance is â—n easie work and that therefore the soul need not make such a matter of sin why suppose you do sin saith Satan 't is no such difficult thing to return and confesse and be sorrowfull and beg pardon and cry Lord have mercy upon me and if you doe but this God will cut the score and pardon your sins and save your souls c. By this Device Satan draws many a soul to sin and makes many millions of souls servants or rather slaves to sin c. Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedy is seriously to consider 1 Remedy Fallen man hath lost imperium suum and imperium sui the command of himselfe and the command of the creatures and certainly he that cannot command himselfe cannot repent of himselfe Da poenitentiaÌ„ postea indulgentiam said dying Fulgentius that Repentance is a mighty work a difficult work a work that is above our power There is no power below that power that raised Christ from the dead and that made the world that can break the heart of a sinner or turn the heart of a sinner thou art as well melt Adamant as to melt thine owne heart to turn a flint into flesh as to turn thine own heart to the Lord to raise the dead and to make a world as to Repent Repentance is a flower that growes not in Natures garden Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may yee also doe good that are accustomed to doe evill Jer. 13. 23. Repentance is a gift that comes down from above men are not born with Repentance in their hearts as they are borne with tongues in their mouths Acts. 5. It was a vain brag of King Cyrus that caused it to be written upon his Tomb-stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I could doe all things So could Paul too but it was through Christ which strengthned him 31. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give Repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sins So in that 2 Tim. 2. 25. In meeknesse instructing them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth 'T is not in the power of any mortall to repent at pleasure Some ignorant deluded souls vainly conceit that these five words Lord have mercy upon me are efficacious to send them to Heaven but as many are undone by buying a counterfeit Jewell so many are in Hell by mistake of their Repentance many rest in their Repentance though it be but the shadow of Repentance which caused one to say Repentance damneth more then sin The second Remedy against this Device 2 Râ—medy of Satan is solemnly to consider of the nature of true Repentance Repentance is some other thing then what vain men conceive Repentance is sometimes taken in a more strict and narrow The Hebrew word for Repentance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to returne implying a going back from what a man had don it notes a returning or converting from one thing to another from sin to God The Greeks have two words by which they expresse the nature of repentance one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to be carefull anxious solicitous after a thing is done the other word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is resipiscentia after-wit or after-wisdom the minds recovering of wisdome or growing wiser after our folly Ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dementia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post it being the correction of mens folly and returning ad sanam mentem True repentance is a thorough change both of the mind and manners optima aptissima poenitentia est nova vita saith Luther which saying is an excellent saying Repentance for sin is nothing worth without repentance from sin If thou repent with a contradiction saith Tertullian God will pardon thee with a contradiction thou repentest and yet continuest in
and by the strongest and the choicest Arguments that the Scripture doth afford And why doe they kill two at once The faithfull Labourers name and their own souls by their wicked words and actings because they are put upon repenting which Satan tells them is so easie a thing surely were repentance so easie wicked men would not be so much enraged when that doctrine is by evangelicall considerations prest upon them The fift Remedy against this Device 5 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that to repent of sin is as great a work of grace as not to sin By our sinfull falls the powers of the soule are weakned the Yet it is better to be kept from sin then cuâ—ed of sin by Repentance as it is better for a man to be preserved from a disease then to be cured of the disease strength of grace is decayed our evidences for Heaven are blotted feares and doubts in the soul are raised will God once more pardon this scarlet sin and shew mercy to this wretched soul and corruptions in the heart are more advantaged and confirmed and the conscience of a man after falls is the more inraged or the more benummed now for a soul notwithstanding all this to repent of his falls this shewes that 't is as great a work of grace to repent of sin as 't is not to sin Repentance is the vomit of the soul and of all Physick none so difficult and hard as 't is to vomit the same means that tends to preserve the soul from sin the same means works the soul to rise by Repentance when 't is fallen into sin We know the mercy and loving kindnesse of God is one speciall means to keep the soul from sin as David spake Thy loving kindnesse is alwayes before mine eyes and I have Psal 26. 3 4 5. walked in thy truth I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of evill doers and will not sit with the wicked So by the same means the soul is raised by Repentance out of sin as you may â—ee in Mary Magdalen who loved much and Luke 7. 37 38 39 c. Hos 6. 1 2. wept much because much was forgiven her so those in Hosea Come let us returne unto the Lord for he hath torne and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will binde us up after two dayes he will revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight or before his face as the Hebrew hath it i. e. in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 favour confidence in Gods mercy and love that he would heal them and bind up their wounds and revive their dejected spirits and cause them to live in his favour was that which did work their hearts to repent and return unto him I might further shew you this truth in many other perticulars but this may suffice onely remember this in the gnerall that there is much of the power of God and love of God and faith in God and fear of God and care to please God and zeale for the glory of God requisite to work a man to repent 2 Cor. 7. 11. of sin as there is to keep a man from sin by which you may easily judge that to repent of sin is as great a work as not to sin and now tell me oh soul is it an easie thing not to sin we know then certainly 't is not an easie thing to repent of sin The sixt Remedy against this Device 6 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that he that now tempts thee to sin upon this account that repentance is easie will ere long to work thee to despaire Beda tells of a certain great man that was admonished in his sicknes to repent who answer'd that he would not repent yet for if he should recover his companions would laugh at him but growing sicker and sicker his friends pressed him again to repent buâ—then he told them it was toolate Quia jam judicatus sum condemnatus for now said he I am judged and condemned to say we are thine and we must follow thee Now Satan will help to work the soul to look up and see God angry and to look inward and see Conscience accusing and condemning and to look downwards and see Hells mouth open to receive the impenitent soul and all this to render the work of repentance impossible to the soul what saith Satan doest thou think that that is easie which the whole power of grace cannot conquer while we are in this world Is it easie saith Satan to turn from some outward act of sin to which thou hast been addicted Dost thou not remember that thou hast often complained against such and such particular sins and resolved to leave them and yet to this hour thou hast not thou canst not What will it then be to turn from every sin Yea to mortifie and cut off those sinâ— those darling lusts that are as joynts and members that be as right hands and right eyes Hast thou not loved thy sins above thy Saviour Hast thou not preferred earth before Heaven Hast thou not all along neglected the means of Grace and despised the offers of Grace and vexed the spirit of Grace There would be no end if I should set before thee the infinit evils that thou hast committed and the innumerable good services that thou hast omitted As one Lamachus a Commander said to one of his souldiers that was brought before him for a misbehaviour who pleaded he would doe so no more saith he Non li cet in bello bis peccare no man must offend twice in war so God will not suffer men often to neglect the day of grace and the frequent checks of thy owne Conscience that thou hast contemned and therefore thou mayest well conclude that thou canst never repent that thou shalt never repent now saith Satan doe but a little consider thy numberlesse sins and the greatnesse of thy sins the foulnesse of thy sins the hainousnesse of thy sins the circumstances of thy sins and thou shalt easily see that those sins that thou thoughtest to be but motes are indeed mountaines and is it not now in vain to repent of them Surely saith Satan if thou shouldest seek repentance and grace with tears as Esau thou shalt not find it thy glasse is out thy sun is set the door of mercy is shut the golden Scepter is taken in and now thou that hast despised mercy shalt be for ever destroyed by Justice for such a wretch as thou art to attempt repentance is to attempt a thing impossible 't is impossible that thou that in all thy life couldest never conquer one sinne shouldest master such a numberles number of sins which are so near so dear so necessary and so profitable to thee that have so long bedded and boarded with thee that have been old acquaintance
been consumed by the sword and by the famine This is just the language of a world of ignorant prophane and superstitious souls in London and England that would have made them a Captaine 'T is said of one of the Emperours that Rome had no war in his daves because 't was plague enoâ—gh to have such an Emperour you are wise and know how to apply it to returne to bondage yea to that bondage that was worse then that the Israelites groaned under Oh say they since such and such persons have beene put down and left off we have had nothing but plundering and taxing and butchering of men c. and therefore we will doe as we and our Kings and Nobles and Fathers have formerly done for then had we plenty at home and peace abroad c. and there was none to make us afraid Now the Remedies against this Device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedy is solemnly to consider 1 Remedy that no man knowes how the heart of God stands by his hand his hand of mercy may be towards a man when his heart may be set against that man as you may see in Saul and Tully judged the Jews Religion to be naught because they were so often overcome impoverish'd and afflicted and the Religion of Rome to be right because the Romans prospered and became Lords of the world yet though the Romans had his hand the Jews had his heart for they were dearly beloved though sorely afflicted others and the hand of God may be set against a man when the heart of God is dearly set upon a man as you may see in Job and Ephraim the hand of God was sorely set against them and yet the heart and bowels of God were strongly working towards them no man knoweth either love or hatred by outward mercy or misery for all things come alike to all to the righteous and to the unrighteous to the good and to the bad to the clean and to the unclean c. The sun of prosperity shines as well upon brambles of the Wildernesse as fruit-trees of the Orchard the snow and haile of adversity lights upon the best gardens as well as the stinking dunghills or the wild waste Ahabs and Josiah's ends concur in the very circumstances Saul and Jonathan though different in their natures deserts and deportments yet in their deaths they were not divided Health wealth honours c. crosses sicknesses losses c. are cast upon good men and bad men promiscuously The whole Turkish Empire is Nihil est nisi mica panis Luther nothing else but a crust cast by Heavens great House-keeper to his dogs Moses dies in the Wildernesse as well as those that murmured Nabal is rich aswell as Abraham Achitophell wise aswell as Solomon and Doeg honoured by Soul as well as Ioseph was by Pharoah Usually the worst of men have most of these outward things and the best of men have least of Earth though most of Heaven The second Remedy against this Device 2 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider That there is nothing in the world that doth so provoke God to be wrath and angry as mens taking incouragement from Gods goodnesse and mercy to do wickedly this you may see by that wrath that fell upon the old world and by Gods raining hell out of Heaven upon Such soules make God a God of clouts one that will not doe as he saith but they shall find God to be as severe in punishing as he is to others gracious in pardoning Good turnes aggravate unkindnesses and our guilt is increased by our obligations Sodome and Gomorah This is clear in that 44 of Jeremiah from the 20 verse to the 28 verse the words are worthy of your best meditation oh that they were engraven in all your hearts and constant in all your thoughts though they are too large for me to transcribe them yet they are not too large for you to remember them To argue from mercy to sinfull liberty is the Devils Logick and such Logicians doe ever walk as upon a mine of Gun-powder ready to be blown up no such souls can ever avert or avoid the wrath of God This is wickednesse at the height for a man to be very bad because God is very good a worse spirit then this is not in hell ah Lord doth not wrath yea the greatest wrath lie at this mans door Are not the strongest chaines of darknes prepared for such a soul To sin against mercy is to sin against humanity it is bestiall nay it is worse To render good for evill is Divine to render good for good is humane to render evill for evill is brutish but to render evill for good is devilish and from this evill deliver my soul oh God The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remdy of Satan is solemnly to consider that there is no greater misery in this life then not to be in misery no greater Religio peperit divitias filia devoravit matrem Religion brought forth Riches and the daughter soon devoured the Mother saith Augustine affliction then not to be afflicted woe woe to that soul that God will not spend a rod upon this is the saddest stroke of all when God refuses to strike at all Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Why should you be smitten any more you will revolt more and more When the Physician gives over the Patient you say ring out his knell the man is dead so when God gives over a soul to sin without controule you may truly say this soule is lost you may ring out his knel for he is twice dead and pluckt up by the roots Freedome from punishment is the mother of security the step-mother of virtue the poyson of Religion the moth of holinesse and the introducer of wickednesse nothing said one seemes more unhappy to me then he to whom no adversity hath happened Outward mercies oft-times prove a snare to our soules I will lay a stumbling block Ezek. 3. 20. Vatablus his note there is Faciam ut omnia habeant prospera calamitatibus eum à peccato non revocabo I will prosper him in all things and not by affliction restraine him from sin Prosperity hath been a stumbling block at which millions have stumbled and fallen and broke the neck of their souls for ever The fourth Remedie against this device 4 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that the wants of wicked men under all their outward mercy freedom from adversitie is far greater then al their outward injoyments They have many mercies yet they want more then they injoy the mercies which they injoy are nothing to the mercies they want 'T is true they have honors and riches and pleasures and friends and are mighty in power their seed is established in their sight with them and their off-spring before their eyes their houses are safe from feare neither is the rod
that he might be cast down would be set higher then others when 't is but in order to his being brought downe lower then others There is not a wicked man in the world that is set up with Lucifer as high as Heaven but shall with Lucifer be brought down as low as Hell Canst thou think seriously of this oh soul and not say O Lord I humbly crave that thou wilt let me be little in this world that I may be great in another world and low here that I may be high for ever hereafter Let me be low and feed low and live low so I may live with thee for ever let me now be cloathed with rags so thou wilt cloath me at last with thy Robes let me now be set upon a dunghill so I may at last be advanc'd to sit with theâ— upon thy Throne Lord make me rather gracious then great inwardly holy then outwardly happy and rather turn me into my first nothing yea make me worse then nothing rather then set me up for a time that thou mayest bring me low for ever The seventh Remedy against this Device 7 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that God doth often most plague and punish those whom others think he doth most spare and love that is God do's plague and punish them most with spirituall judgements which are the greatest the sorest and the heaviest whom he least punishes with temporall punishments there are no men on earth Psal 81. 12. Psal 78. 26 27 28 29 30 31. Psal 106. 15. He gave them their request but sent leannesse into their soule 'T is a heavy plague to have a fat body and a lean soul a house full of gold and a heart full of sin so internally plagued as those that meet with least externall plagues Oh! the blindnesse of mind the hardnesse of heart the searednesse of Conscience that those souls are given up to who in the eye of the world are reputed the most happy men because they are not outwardly afflicted and plagued as other men Ah souls 't were better that all the temporall plagues that ever befell the children of men since the fall of Adam should at once meet upon your souls then that you should be given up to the least spirituall plague to the least measure of spirituall blindnesse or spirituall hardnesse of heart c. nothing will better that man nor move that man that is given up to spirituall judgements let God smile or frowne stroke or strike cut or kill he minds it 'T is better to have a sore then a seared conscience 'T is better to have no heart then a hard heart no mind then a blind mind not he regards it not let life or death heaven or hell be set before him it stirs him not he is made up on his sin and God is fully set to doe Justice upon his soule this mans preservation is but a reservation unto a greater condemnation This man can set no bounds to himselfe he is become a brat of fathomlesse perdition He hath guilt in his bosome and vengeance at his back where-ever he goes neither ministry nor misery neither miracle nor mercy can mollifie his heart and if this soul be not in hell on this side hell who is who is 8 Remedy The eigth Remedy against this Device of Satan is to dwell more upon that strict account that vain men must make for all that good that they doe injoy In this day men shall give an account De bonis commissis de bonis dimissis de malis commissis de malis permissis of good things committed unto them of good things neglected by them of evils committed by them and of evills suffered by them then upon the outward good they doe injoy Ah! did men dwell more upon that account that they must ere long give for all the mercies that they have injoyed and for all the favours that they have abused and for all the sins they have committed would make their hearts to tremble and their lips to quiver rottennesse to enter into their bones it would cause their soules to cry out and say oh that our mercies had been fewer and lesser that our account might have been easier and our torment and misery for our abuse of so great mercy not greater then we are able to bear O cursed be the day wherein the Crown of honour was set upon our heads and the treasures of this world were cast into our laps O cursed be the day wherein the sun of prosperity shin'd so strong upon us and this flattering world smil'd so much upon us as to occasion us to forget God to slight Jesus Christ to neglect our souls and to put far from us the day of our account Philip the third of Spaine whose life was free from grosse evills professed that he would rather loose all his Kingdome then offend God willingly yet being in the Agony of death and considering more throughly of his In die judicii plus valebit conscientia pura quam marsupia plena Bernard Then shall a good conscience be more worth then all the worlds good account he was to give to God feare struck into him and these words brake from him Oh! would to God I had never reigned oh that those years I have spent in my Kingdome I had lived a life in the wildernesse oh that I had lived a solitary life with God! how much more securely should I now have dyed how much more confidently should I have gone to the Throne of God What doth all my glory profit me but that I have so much the more torment in my death God keeps an exact account of every penny that 's laid out upon him and his and that is laid out against him and his and this in the day of account men shall know and feel though now they wink and Hierome still thought that that voyce was in his ears Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Arise you dead and come to judgement As oft as I think on that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart within me tremble will not understand The sleeping of vengeance causeth the overflowing of sin and the overflow of sin causeth the awaking of vengeance abused mercy will certainly turn into fury Gods forbearance is no quittance the day is at hand when he will pay wicked men for the abuse of new and old mercies if he seem to be slow yet he is sure he hath leaden heels but iron hands the farther he fetcheth his blow or draweth his arrow the deeper he will wound in the day of vengeance Mens actions are all in print in heaven and God will in the day of account read them aloud in the ears of all the world that they may all say amen to that righteous sentence that he shall passe upon all the despisers and abusers of mercy The ninth Device that Satan hath to 9 Device draw the soule to sin
his happinesse and glory hereafter Why should that man be afraid or troubled for That was a notable speech of Luther let him that dyed for my soule see to the salvation of it stormes at Sea whose treasures are sure in a friends hand upon land why a believers treasure is always safe in the hands of Christ his life is safe his soule is safe his grace is safe his comfort is safe and his Crown is safe in the hand of Christ I know him in 2 Tim. 1. 12. whom I have beleeved and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him untill that day saith the Apostle The childes most precious things are most secure in his Fathers hands so are our soules our graces and our comforts in the hand of Christ The second Remedie against this device 2. Remedy of Satan is to consider that other precious Saints that were shining Will Flower Martyr said that heaven should assoon fall as I will forsake my profession or budge in the least degree from it So Santus being under as great torment as you have read of cries out Christianus sum I am a Christian no torment could worke him to decline the service of his God I might produce a cloud of witnesses but if these do not work you to be noble and brave I am afraid more will not lights on earth and are now triumphing in Heaven have held on in religious services notwithstanding all the troubles and dangers that have surrounded them Nehemiah and Ezra were surrounded with dangers on the left hand and on the right and yet in the face of all they hold on building the Temple and the wall of Jerusalem so Daniel and those precious worthies in the 44 Psal under want of outward incouragements and in the face of a world of very great discouragements their souls clave to God and his wayes Though they were sore broken in the place of dragons and covered with the shadow of death yea though they were all the day long counted as sheep for the slaughter yet their hearts were not turned back neither did their steps decline from his wayes Though bonds and imprisonment did attend Paul and the rest of the Apostles in every place yet they held on in the work and service of the Lord and why then should you degenerate from their worthy examples which is your duty and your glory to follow The third Remedie against this device 3. Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that all the troubles and dangers that doe attend the performance of holy duties and heavenly services are but temporall and momentary but the neglect of them may lay thee open to all temporall spirituall and eternall dangers How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation He saith not if we reject or renounce so great salvation but if wee neglect or shift off as the word is so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dis-regard not care for it great salvation he doth not say how shall we escape if we oppose or persecute so great salvation no but if we let slip or neglect so great salvation how shall we escape that is we cannot by any way or meanes or device in the world escape divine Justice will be above us in spight of our very souls The doing of such and such heavenly services may lay you open to the frowns of men but the neglect of them will lay you open to the frowns of God the doing of them may render you contemptible in the eyes of men Francis Xaverius counselled John the third King of Portugal to meditate every day a quarter of an hour upon that Text What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world loose his soule but the neglect of them may render you contemptible in the eyes of God the doing of them may be the losse of thy estate but the neglect of them may be the losse of God Christ Heaven and thy soule for ever the doing of them may shut thee out from some outward temporal contents the neglect of them may shut thee out from that excellent matchlesse glory that eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive Remember this there is no man that breaths but shall suffer more by neglecting those holy and heavenly services that God commands commends and rewards then possibly he can suffer by doing of them c. The fourth Remedie against this device 4 Remedie of Satan is to consider this that God knows how to deliver from troubles by troubles from afflictions by afflictions from dangers by dangers God by lesser troubles and afflictions doth oftentimes deliver his people from greater So that they shall say we had perished if wee had not perished we had been undone if we had not been Pâ—riissem nisi periissem undone we had been in danger if wee had not been in danger God will so order all the afflictions that befall you in the way of righteousnesse that your Non essem ego salvus nisi istae periissent Anaxagoras had not these things perished I could not have been safe said this Philosopher when he saw great possessions that he had lost soules shall say we would not for all the world but that wee had met with such and such troubles and afflictions for surely had not these befallen us it would have been worse and worse with us Oh! the carnal security pride formality dead-heartednesse lukewarmnesse censoriousnesse and earthlinesse that God hath cured us of by the troubles and dangers that we have met with in the wayes and services of the Lord. I remember a story of a godly man that as hee was going to take shipping for France he broke his leg and it pleased Providence so to order it that the ship that he should have gone in at that very time was cast away and not a man saved so by breaking a bone his life was saved So the Lord many times breaks our bones but 't is in order to the saving of our lives and our soules for ever he gives us a potion that makes us heart-sick but 't is in order to the making us perfectly well and to the purging of us from those ill humours that have made our heads ake and Gods heart ake and our souls sick and heavy to the death c. Oh! therefore let no danger or misery hinder thee from thy duty The fifth Remedie against this device of Satan is solemnly to consider that you shall gaine more in the service of God and by walking in righteous and holy wayes though troubles and afflictions should attend you then you can possibly suffer or loose by your being found in the service of God Godlinesse is great gaine Oh the joy the peace Tertullian in in his book to the Martyrs hath an apt saying Negotiatio est aliquid amittere ut majora lucreris i. e. that 's right good merchandize
have Christ the Conquerour on our side Isa 40. ult 3. Remedy It is not fit sith the head was crowned with thorns that the members should be crowned with rose-buds saith Zanch. the Horonite and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite and Geshem the Arabian heard it they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said what is this thing that ye do will ye rebell against the King Then answered I them and said unto them the God of heaven he will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build but you have no right nor portion nor memoriall in Jerusalem Ah souls while you are in the very service of the Lord you shall find by experience that the God of Heaven will prosper you and support you and incourage and strengthen you and carry you through the hardest service with the greatest sweetnesse and cheerfulnesse that can be Remember this that God will suit your strength to your worke and in the hardest service you shall have the choisest assistance The third Remedie against this device of Satan is to dwel upon the hard and difficult things that the Lord Jesus Christ hath past through for your temporall spirituall and eternall good Ah! what a sea of blood a sea of wrath of sinne of sorrow and misery did the Lord Jesus wade through for your internal and eternall good Christ did not plead this Crosse is too heavy for me to beare this wrath is too great for me to lie under this Cup which hath in it all the ingredients of divine displeasure is too bitter for me to sip off how much more to drink the very dregs of it no Christ stands not upon this he pleads not the difficulty of the service but resolutely and bravely wades through all as the Prophet Isa shews The Lord God hath opened my ear and I was not rebellious neither turned away back I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the haire I hid not my face from shame and spitting Christ makes nothing of his Fathers wrath the burden of your sins the malice Godfrey of Bullen first K. of Ierusalem refused to be crowned with a crowne of gold saying it became not a Christian there to wear a crown of gold where Christ for our salvation had sometime were a crown of thorns of Satan and the rage of the world but sweetly and triumphantly passes through all Ah soules if this consideration will not raise up your spirits above all the discouragements that you meet with to owne Christ and his service and to stick and cleave to Christ and his service I am afraid nothing will A soule not stir'd by this not rais'd and lifted up by this to be resolute and brave in the service of God notwithstanding all dangers and difficulties is a soule left of God to much blindnesse and hardnesse The 4. Remedy against this Device of 4. Remedie Satan is to consider that religious duties holy and heavenly exercises are only difficult to the worser to the ignoble part of a Saint they are not to the noble and better part of a Saint to the noble part the soule and the renewed affections of a Saint holy exercises are a heavenly pleasure and recreation as the Apostle speaks I delight in the Law of God after the inward As every flowr hath its sweet savour so every good duty carries meat in the mouth comfort in the performance of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. my yoke is a benigne a gracious a pleasant a good and a gainfull yoke opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 painfull tedious man With my minde I serve the Law of God though with my flesh the law of sinne To the noble part of a Saint Christs yoke is easie and his burden is light all the commands and wayes of Christ even those that tend to the pulling out of right eyes and cutting off of right hands are joyous and not grievous to the noble part of a Saint all the wayes and services of Christ are pleasantnesse in the abstract to the better part of a Saint a Saint so far as he is renewed is alwayes best when he sees most of God when he tasts most of God when he is highest in his injoyments of God and most warme and lively in the service of God oh saith the noble part of a Saint that it might be alwayes thus oh that my strength were the strength of stones and my flesh as brasse that my worser part might be more serviceable to my noble part that I might act by an untired power in that service that is a pleasure a Paradise to me The fifth Remedy against this Device 5 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that great reward and glorious recompence that doth attend those that cleave to the service of the Lord in the Basil speaks of some Martyrs that were cast out all night naked in a cold frosty time were to be burned the next day how they comforted themselves in this manner The winter is sharp but Paradise is sweet here we shiver for cold but the bosome of Abraham will make amends for all face of all difficulties and discouragements though the work be hard yet the wagâ—s is great Heaven will make amends for all I one hours being in heaven will abundantly recompence you for cleaving to the Lord and his wayes in the face of all difficulties This carried the Apostle through the greatest difficulties hee had an eye to the recompence of reward he look't for a house that had foundations whose builder and maker was God and for a heavenly countrey yea this bore up the Spirit of Christ in the face of all difficulties and discouragements Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse despising the shame and is set downe at the right hand of the Throne of God Christians that would hold on in the service of the Lord must look more upon the Crown then upon the Crosse more upon their future glory then their present misery more upon their incouragements then upon their discouragements Gods very service is wages his wayes are strewed with roses and paved with joy that is unspeakable This is praemium ante praemium a sure reward of wel doing in doing thereof not only for doing thereof there is great reward Psal 19. v. 11. and ful of glory and with peace that passeth understanding Some degree of comfort follows every good action as heate accompanies fire as beames and influences issue from the Sun Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward not only for keeping but in keeping of them there is great reward the joy the rest the refreshing the comforts the contents the smiles the incomes that Saints now injoy in the wayes of God are so precious and glorious in their eyes that they would not exchange them for ten
they are these partly to keep them humble and low in their owne eyes and partly to put them upon the use of all divine helps whereby sin may be subdued and mortified And partly that they may live upon Christ for the perfecting the work of Sanctification Lilmod lelammed we therefore learn that wee may teach is a proverb among the Rabbins After the Trojans had been wandering tossing up and down the Mediterranean Sea as soon as they espied Italy they cried out with exulting joy Italy Italy so will Saints when they come to Heaven and partly to weane them from things below and to make them heart-sick of their absence from Christ and to maintain in them bowels of compassion towards others that are subject to the same infirmities with them and that they may distinguish between a state of grace and a state of glory and that Heaven may be more sweet to them in the close Now doth the Lord upon these weighty reasons suffer his people to be exercised and molested with the operations of sinfull corruptions oh then let no beleever speak write or conclude bitter things against his owne soule and comforts because that sinne troubles and vexes his righteous soule c. but lay his hand upon his mouth and be silent because the Lord will have it so upon such weighty grounds as the soule is not able to withstand The sixth Remedy against this Device 6. Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that Beleevers must repent for their being God never gâ—ve a Beleever a new hâ—art that it should always liâ— a bleeding and that it should always be rent and torn in pieces with discouragements discouraged by their sins Their being discouraged by their sins will cost them many a prayer many a teare and many a groane And that because their discouragements under sin flowes from ignorance and unbeliefe it springs from their ignorance of the riches freenesse fulnesse and everlastingnesse of Gods love and from their ignorance of the power glory sufficiency and efficacy of the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ And from their ignorance of the worth glory fulnesse largenesse and compleatnesse of the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ And from their ignorance of that reall close spiritual glorious and inseparable union that is betwixt Christ and their precious soule Ah! did precious souls know and beleeve the truth of these things as they should they would not sit down dejected and over-whelmed under the sense and operations of sin c. The second Device that Satan 2 Device hath to keep souls in a sad doubting and questioning condition is BY working them to make false definitions of their graces Satan knows that as false definitions of sinne wrong the soule one way so false definitions of grace wrong the soule another way I will instance only in faith oh how doth Satan labour might and main to work men to make false definitions of faith Some he works to define faith too high as that it is a full assurance of the love of God to a mans soule in particular or a full perswasion of the pardon and remission of a mans owne sins in particular saith Satan what dost thou talk of faith faith is an assurance of the love of God and of the pardon of sin and this thou hast not thou knowest thou art far off from this therefore thou hast no faith and by drawing men to make such a false definition of faith he keeps them in a sad doubting and questioning condition and makes them spend their days in sorrow and sighing so that teares are their drink and sorrow is their meate and sighing is their work all the day long c. The Philosophers say there are eight dâ—grees of heat we discern three now iâ— a mâ—n should define heat only by the highest degree then all other degrees will be cast out from being heat so if men shall define faiâ—h only by the highest degrees by assurance of the love of God and of the pardon of his sins in particular what will become of lesser degrees of faith If a man should define a man to be a living man onely by the highest and stâ—ongest demonstrations of life as laughing leaping running working walking c. would not many thousands that groan under internal and externall weaknesses and that cannot laugh nor leap nor run nor work nor walk be found dead men by such a definition that yet wee know to be alive 't is so here and you know how to apply it c. Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this Device 1. Remedy of Satan is solemnly â—o consider that there may be true faith yea gâ—eat measures of faith where there is no assurance The Canaanite woman in the Gospel had strong faith yet no assurance that we read of These things have I written unto you saith John that believe on the name of the Son of God that yee may know that ye have eternall life and that ye may beleeve on the name of the Son of God In these words you see that they did believe and had eternall life in respect of the purpose and promise of God and in respect of the seeds and beginnings of it in their souls and in respect of Christ their head who sits in Heaven as a publique person representing all his chosen ones Who hath raised us up together Ephes 2. 6. and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and yet they did not know that they had eternall life 'T is one thing to have a right to heaven and another thing to know it 'T is one thing to be beloved and another thing for a man to know that he is beloved 'T is one thing for God to write a mans name in the book of life and another thing for God to tell a man that his name is written in the book of life and to say to him rejoyce because thy name is written in heaven So Paul In whom yee also trusted after Ephes 1. 13. So those in â—haâ— Isa 50. 10 had faith though they had no assurance Mica 7. 8 9. yee heard the word of truth the Gospell of your salvation in whom also after that yee believed yee were sealed with that holy spirit of promise So Micha Rejoyce not against me oh my enemie when I shall fall I shall rise when I shall sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light unto me I will beare the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned c. or the sad countenance of God as the Hebrew hath it This soul had no assurance for he sits in darknesse and was under the sad countenance of God and yet had strong faith As appears in those words when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light unto me He will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his
use of thankfulness Vse to those that escape Satans snares that are not taken by him at his will ah Christians it stands you upon with that Princely Prophet David to call upon your soules and say Blesse the Psal 103. 1 2. Lord oh our soules and all that is within us blesse his holy name Blesse the Lord oh our soules and forget not all his benefits who hath not given us to be a prey to Satan and to be ensnared by those snares that he hath laid for our souls the sense of this great favour did work up Davids heart to praises Blessed be the Lord saith Psalm 144. 6 7. hee who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth our soule is escaped as a bird out of the snares of the Fowlers the snare is broken and we are escaped Ah Christians Remember that the greatest part of the world yea the greatest part of Professors are taken in Satans snares can you think seriously of this and not The Ancients use to say ingratum dixeris omnia dixeris say a man is unthankfull and say he is any thing blush to be unthankful what are you better then others and what have you deserved of God or done for God more then otherâ— that you should by the help of a Divine hand escape the snares when others are taken and held in the snares of the Devill to their eternall Psal 71. 14. I will yet praise thee more more in the Originall 't is I will adde to thy praise overthrow c. Will you be thankfull for the escaping the snares that men spread for your lives or estates c and will you not be much more thankfull for escaping those snares that Satan hath laid for your precious souls Remember this that deliverance The Stork is said to leave one of her young ones where shee hatcheth them and the Elephant to turn up the first sprig toward Heaven when he cometh to feed out of some instinct of gratitude ah soules that these may not bear witnesse against you in the day of Christ from Satans snares doth carrie with it the clearest and the greatest evidence of the soule and heart of God to be towards you Many a man by a common hand of Providence escapes many a snare that man hath laid for him but yet escapes not the snares that Satan hath laid for him Saul and Iudas and Demas doubtlesse escaped many snares that men had laid for them but none of them escaped the snares that the Devill had laid for them Many men are lifted up above the snares of men by a common hand of providence that are left to fall into the snares of the Devill by a hand of Justice your deliverance from Satans snares is a fruit of speciall love can you thus look upon it and not be thankfull oh precious soules I judge not The last use of this point is to bespeak Vse Christians to long to be at home oh long to be in the bosome of Christ long to be in the Land of Canaan for Austin wished that he might have seene 3. things Rome flourishing Paul preaching Christ conversing with men upon the earth Bede comes after correcting this last wish faith yea but let me see the King in his beauty Christ in his heavenly Kingdome this world this wildernesse is full of snares and all employments are full of snares and all enjoyments are full of snares in civill things Satan hath his snares to entrapus and in all spirituall things Satan hath his snares to catch us All places are full of snares City and Countrey shop and closet Sea and Land and all our mercies are surrounded with snares there are snares about our tables snares about our beds c. yea Satan is so powerful and subâ—il that he will oftentimes make our greatest nearest and dearest mercies to become our greatest snares sometimes hee will make the wife that lies in the bosome to be a snare to a man as Sampsons was and as Jobs was sometimes he will make the child to be a snare as Absolom was and Elies sons were and sometimes he will make the servant to be a snare as Joseph was to his Mistris ah soules Satan is so cunning and artificiall that he can turne your cups into snares and your cloths into snares and your houses into snares and your gardens into snares all your recreations into snares c. And oh how should the consideration of these things work all your souls to say with the Church Make hast my Cant. 8. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Berahh dodi flee away speedily my beloved beloved and be like to a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountaines of spices and to love and look and long for the coming of Christ shall the espoused Maid long for the marriage day the servant for his freedome the captive for his ransome the Traveller for his Inne the Phil. 1 23. 2 Cor. 5. 2. 4 Mariner for his Harbour and shall not the people of the Lord long much more to be in the bosome of Christ there being nothing below the bosome of Christ that is not surrounded with Satans snares What Paul once spake of bonds and Acts 20. 23. afflictions that they attended him in every place that may all the Saints say of Satans snares that they attend them in every place which should cause them to cry out migremus hinc migrâ—mus hinc let us goe hence let us goe hence and to say with Monica Austins mother * Quid hic faciemus cur non ocyus migramus cur non hinc avolamus what do we here why depart we not hence why flie wee no swifter Ah soules till you are taken up into the bosom of Christ your comforts will not be ful pure and constant till then Satan will still be tempting you and spreading snares to entangle you therefore you should alwayes bee crying out with the Church Come Lord Rev. 22. 20. It is as easie to compass the Heavens with a span and contain the Sea in a nut-shel as to relate fully Christs excellencies or heavens happinesse Jesus Is not Christ that star of Jacob that giveth light to them that are in darkenesse that Prince of Peace who brings the Olive-branch of Peace to souls that are perplexed Is not the greatest worth and wealth in him Is not all the petty excellencies and perfections of all created creatures epitomized in him Is not he the Crown of Crowns the glory of glories and the Heaven of Heavens Oh then be still a longing after a full cleare and constant enjoyment of Christ in Heaven for till then Satan will still have plots and designes upon you he acts by an untired power and will never let you rest till you are taken up to an everlasting rest in the bosome of Christ An Appendix touching five more severall Devices that Satan hath to keep poor soules from believing in
PRECIOUS REMEDIES AGAINST SATANS Devices OR Salve for Believers and Vnbelievers Sores Being a Companion for those that are in Christ or out of Christ That are high or low learned or illiterate staggering or wandering That slight or neglect Ordinances under a pretence of living above them That are growing in spiritualls or decaying That are Tempted or Deserted afflicted or Opposed That have Assurance or that want Assurance That are Self-seekers or the Common-wealths Caterpillars That are in love sweetly united or that yet have their spirits too much imbittered c. By THOMAS BROOKES a willing Servant unto God and the faith of his people in the glorious Gospel of Christ at Margarets Fish-street hill The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarged Put on the whole Armour of God that yee may be able to stand against the Wiles of the Devil Ephes 6. 11. But unto you I say and unto the rest in Thyatira as many as have not this Doctrine and which have not knowne the Depths of Satan as they spake I will put upon you no other burthen but that which you have already hold fast till I come Rev. 2. 24 25. LONDON Printed by M. Simmons for John Hancock at the first shop in Popes-head Alley next to Corn-hill 1653. THE EPISTLE Dedicatorie TO HIS Most Dear and Precious Ones The Sons and Daughters of the most High God over whom the holy Ghost hath made him a Watchman Beloved in our dearest Lord CHrist the Scripture your owne hearts and Satans Devices are the foure prime things that should be first and most studied searched if any cast off the study of these they cannot be safe here nor happie If a Minister had as many eyes as Argus to watch as many heads as Typheus to dispose and as many hands as Briareus to labour he might finde imployment enough for them all hereafter 'T is my worke as a Christian but much more as I am a watchman to doe my best to discover the fulnesse of Christ the emptinesse of the creature and the snares of the great Deceiver which I have endeavoured to doe in the following discourse according to that measure of grace which I have received from the Lord. God once accepted a handfull of meale for a sacrifice and a gripe of Goats haire for an oblation and I know that you have not so learned the Father as to despise the day of small things Beloved Satan being fallen from light to darknesse from felicity to misery from Heaven to hell from an Angell to a Devill is so full of malice and envy that he will leave no meanes unattempted whereby he may make all others eternaly miserable with himselfe he being shut out of Heaven and shut up under chaines of darknesse till the judgement of the great day makes use of all his power and skill to bring all the sons of men into the same condition and condemnation with himselfe Satan hath cast such sinfull seed into our soules that now he can no sooner tempt but we are ready to assent he can no sooner have a plot upon us but he makes a conquest of us if he doth but shew men a little of the beauty and bravery of the world how ready are they to fall down and worship him What ever sin the heart of man is most prone to that the Devill will help forward If David be proud of 2 Sam. 24. his people Satan wil provoke him to number them that he may be yet prouder If Peter be slavishly Matth. 16. ver 22. 26. ch 69. ult fearfull Satan will put him upon rebuking and denying of Christ to save his owne skin If Ahabs 1 Kings 22. Prophets be given to flatter the Devill will strait way become a lying spirit in the mouthes of foure hundred of them and they shall flatter Ahab to his ruine If Judas will John 13. 2. be a Traitor Satan will quickly enter into his heart and make him sell his Master for money which some Heathens would never have done If Ananias will lye Acts 5. 3. for advantage Satan wil fill his heart that he may lye with a witness to the Holy Ghost Satan loves to saile with the winde and to suite mens temptations to their conditions and inclinations if they be in prosperity he will tempt them to deny God if they be in adversity he will tempt them to distrust Prov. 30. v. 9. God if their knowledge be weak he will tempt them to have low thoughts of God if their conscience be tender he will tempt to scrupulosity if large to carnall security if we be bold-spirited he will tempt to presumption if timerous to desperation if flexible to inconstancie if stiffe to impenitency c. From the power malice and skill of Satan doth proceed all the soule killing plots devices stratagems and machinations that be in the world Severall devices he hath to draw soules to sin and severall plots he hath to keepe soules from all holy and heavenly services and severall stratagems he hath to keep soules in a mourning staggering doubting and questioning condition He hath severall devices to destroy the great and honourable the wise and learned the blinde and ignorant the rich and the poore the reall and the nominall Saints c. One while he will refraine from tempting that we may think our selves secure and neglect our watch another while he will seeme to flie that he may make us proud of the victory one while hee will fix mens eyes more on others sins then their own that he may puffe them another while he will fix their eyes more on others graces then their own that he may overwhelme them c. A man may as well tell the stars and number the sands of the sea as reckon up all the devices of Satan yet those which are most considerable and by which he doth most mischiefe to the precious soules of men are in the following Treatise discovered and the Remedies against them prescribed c. Beloved I think it necessary to give you and the world a faithfull account of the Reasons moving me to appear in Print in these dayes wherein we may say there was never more writing and yet neverlesse practising and they are these that follow c. First because Satan hath a 1. Reason greater influence upon men and higher advantages over men having the winde and the hill as it were then they thinke he hath and the knowledge of his high advantages is the high way to disappoint him and to render the soul strong in resisting and happy in conquering c. Your importunity and the importunity 2. Reason of many other precious sons of Zion hath after much striving with God my own heart and others made a conquest of me and forced me to doe that at last which at first was not a little contrary to my inclination and resolution c. The strange opposition that I 3. Reason Pirates make the strongest and the
his bowels is turned it is the gall of Asps within him Forbidden profits and pleasures are most pleasing to vaine men who count madnesse mirth c. Many long to be medling with the murthering morsels of sin which nourish not but rent and consume the belly the soule that receives them Many eat that on earth that they digest in hell sins murthering morsels will deceive those that devoure them Adams If intemperance couâ—d afford more pleasure then temperance Heliogobalus should have been more happy then Adam in Paradise Apple was a bitter-sweet Escu's messe was a bitter-sweet the Israelites quails a bitter-sweet Jonathans honey a bitter-sweet and Adonijahs dainties a bitter-sweet after the meale is ended comes the reckoning Men must not think to dance and dine with the Devil and then to sup with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven to feed upon the poison of Asps and yet that the Vipers tongue shall not slay them when the Aspe stings a man it doth first tickle him so as it makes him laugh till the poison by little and Plutark little gets to the heart and then it pains him more then ever it delighted him so doth sin it may please a little at first but it will paine the soule with a witnesse at last yea if there were the least reall delight in sin there could be no perfect Hell where men shall most perfectly be tormented with their sin The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that sin will usher in the greatest and the Isa 59. 2. Psal 51. 12. Isa 59. 8. 2 Chron. 15. 3 4. Jer. 17. 18. saddest losses that can be upon our souls it will usher in the losse of that Divine favour that is better then life and the losse of that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory and the losse of that peace that passeth understanding and the losse of those Divine influences by which the soule hath beene refreshed quickned Jer. 5. 25. raised strengthned and gladded and the losse of many outward desirable mercies which otherwise the soule might have injoyed It was a sound and savory reply of an English Captain at the losse of Callice when a proud French-man scornfully demanded when will you fetch Callice again replied * Quando peccata vestra erunt nostris graviera When your sinnes shall weigh downe ours ah England my constant Prayer for thee is that thou mayest not sin away thy mercies into their hands that cannot call mercy mercy and that would joy in nothing more then to see thy sorrow and misery and to see that hand to make thee naked that hath cloath'd thee with much mercy and glory The fourth Remedy against this Device 4 Remedy In Sardis there grew an herb called Appium Sardis that would ' make a man lye laughing when he was deadly sick-such is the operation of sin of Satan is seriously to consider that sin is of a very deceitfull and bewitching nature sin is from the greatest deceiver 't is a child of his owne begetting 't is the ground of all the deceit in the world and 't is in its own nature exceeding deceitfull Heb. 3. 13. But exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfullnesse of sinne it will kisse the soul and pretend fair to the soul and yet betray the soul for ever it will with Dalilah smile upon us that it may betray us into the hands of the Devil as she did Sampson into the hands of the Pro. 5. 22 23. Philistimes sin gives Satan a power over us and an advantage to accuse us and to lay claime to us as those that weare his badge 't is of a very bewitching nature it bewitches the soule where 't is upon the throne that the soule cannot leave it though it perish eternally by it Sin so bewitches the soul that it makes Which occasioned Chrysostâ—me to say when Eudoxia the Empress threatned him Goe tell her Nil nisi prâ—â—atum ti 〈…〉 I feare nothing but sin the soul call evill good and good evill bitter sweet and sweet bitter light darknesse and darknesse light and a soul thus bewitcht with sin will stand it out to the death at the swords point with God Let God strike and wound and cut to the very bone yet the bewitched soul cares not fears not but will still hold on in a course of wickednesse as you may see in Pharaoh Balaam and Judas tell the bewitched soul that sin is a Viper that will certainly kill when 't is not killed that sin often kils secretly insensibly eternally yet the bewitched soul cannot nor will not cease from sin When the Physitians told 〈…〉 nen 〈◊〉 Ambrose Ambrose Theotimus that except he did abstain from drunkennesse and uncleannesse c. he would loose his eyes his heart was so bewitch't to his sins that he answers Then farewell sweet light he had rather loose his eyes then leave his sins So a man bewitcht with sin had rather loose God Christ Heaven and his own soul then part with his sin O therefore for ever take heed of playing or nibling at Satans golden baits The second Device of Satan to draw 2 Device the soule to sin is by painting sin with vertues colours Satan knowes that if hâ— should present sin in its own nature and dresse the soul would rather fly from it then yield to it and therefore he presents it unto us not in its owne proper colours but painted and guilded over with the name and shew of vertue that we may the more easily be overcome by it and take the more pleasure in committing of it Pride he presents to the soul under the name and notion of neatnesse and cleanlinesse and covetousnesse which the Apostle condemns for idolatry to be but good husbandry and drunkennes to be good fellowship and riotousnesse under the name and notion of liberality and wantonnesse as a trick of youth c. Now the Remedies against this Device of Satan are these FIrst Consider that sin is never a whit 1 Remedy the lesse filthy vilde and abominable by its being coloured and painted with vertues colours A poysonous Pill is never a whit the lesse poysonous because 't is gilded over with gold nor a Wolf is never a whit the lesse a Wolfe because he hath put on a sheeps-skin nor the Devil is never a whit the lesse a Devil because he appears somtimes like an Angel of light so neither is sin any whit the lesse filthy and abominable by its being painted over with vertues colours The second Remedy is this That the 2 Remedy more sin is painted forth under the colour Turpiora sunt vitia quae virtutum specie celantur Jerome Thus the Illuminates as they called themselves a pestilent Sect in Arragon professing and affecting in themselves a kind of Angelicall purity fell suddenly to
the justifying of beastiality as many have done in these dayes of vertue the more dangerous 't is to the souls of men this we see evident in these days by those very many souls that are turned out of the way that is holy and in which their souls have had sweet and glorious communion with God into wayes of highest vanity and folly by Satans neat colouring over of sin and painting forth vice under the name and colour of vertue this is so notoriously knowne that I need but name it the most dangerous vermine is too often to be found under the fairest and sweetest Flowers and the fairest glove is often drawn upon the foulest hand and the richest robes are often put upon the filthiest bodies so are the fairest and the sweetest names upon the greatest and the most horriblest vices and etrors that be in the world ah that we had not too many sad proofs of this amongst us The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedy is to look on sin with that eye Tacitus speaks of Tiberius â—hat when his sins did appâ—ar in their own colours they did so terrifie and torment him that he protested to the Senate that he suffered death daily which within a few hours we shall see it ah souls when you shall lye upon a dying bed and stand before a judgement seat sin shall be unmaskt and its dresse and robes shall then be taken off and then it shall appear more vile filthy and terrible then Hell it self then that which formerly appear'd most sweet will appear most bitter and that which appear'd most beautifull will appear most ugly and that which appear'd most delightful will then appear most dreadfull to the soul ah the shame the paine the gall the bitternes the horrour the hell that the fight of sin when its dress is taken off will raise in poor souls Sin will surely prove evill and bitter to the soul when its robes are taken off A man may have the Stone who feels no fit of it Conscience will work at last though for the present one may feele no fit of accusation Laban Satan that now allures thee to sin will ere long make thee see that Peccatum est deicidium sin is a murthering of God and this will make thee murther two at once thy soule and thy body unlesse the Lord in mercy holds thy hand shewed himself at parting sin will be bitternes in the latter end when it shall appear to the soul in its own filthy nature The Devil deals with men as the Panther doth with Beasts he hides his deformed head till his sweet sent hath drawn them into his danger till we have sinned Satan is a Parasite when we have sinned he is a Tyrant Ah souls the day is at hand when the Devil will pull off the paint and garnish that he hath put upon sin and present that monster sin in such a monstrous shape to your soules that will cause your thoughts to be be troubled your countenance to be changed the joynts of your loines to be loosed and your knees to be dashed one against another and your hearts to be so terrified that you will be ready with Achitophel and Judas to strangle and hang your bodies on earth and your soules in Hell if the Lord hath not more mercy on you then he had on them oh therefore looke upon sin now as you must look upon it to all eternity and as God Conscience and Satan will present it to you another day The fourth Remedie against this device 4. Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that even these very sins that Satan paints and puts new names and colours Vâ—a guttula plus valet quam coelum terra Luther i. e. one little drop speaking of the blood of Christ is more worth then Heaven and Earth upon cost the best blood the noblest blood the life-blood the heart-blood of the Lord Jesus that Christ should come from the eternall bosome of his Father to a Region of sorrow and death that God should be manifested in the flesh the Creator made a Creature that he that was cloathed with glory should be wrapped with raggs of flesh he that filled heaven and earth with his glory should be cradled in a manger that the power of God should flie from weak man the God of Israel into Aegypt that the God of the Law should be subject to the Law One of the Rabbins when he read what bitter torments the Messias should suffer when he came into the world cryed out Veniat Messias at ego non videam i. e. Let the Messias come but let not me see him Dionysius being in Aegypt at the time of Christs suffering and seeing an Eclipse of the Sun and knowing it to be contrary to nature cryed out aut Deus naturae patitur aut mundi machina dissolvitur Either the God of Nature suffered or the frame of the world will be dlssolved the God of Circumcision circumcised the God that made the Heavens working at Josephs homely trade that he that bindes the Devills in chaines should be tempted that he whose is the world and the fulnesse thereof should hunger and thirst that the God of strength should be weary the Judge of all flesh condemned the God of life put to death that he that is one with his Father should cry out of misery my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee that he that had the keyes of Hell and death at his girdle should lie imprison'd in the sepulcher of another having in his life time no where to lay his head nor after death to lay his body that that head before which the Angels doe cast down their Crowns should be crowned with thornes and those eyes purer then the Sun put out by the darknesse of death those eares which hear nothing but Hallelujahs of Saints and Angels to hear the blasphemies of the multitude that face that was fairer then the Sons of men to be spit on by those beastly wretched Jewes that mouth and tongue that spake as never man spake accused for blasphemy those hands that freely swayed the Scepter of Heaven nailed to the Crosse those feet like unto fine brasse nailed to the Crosse for mans sins each sense annoyed his feeling or touching with a speare and nailes 'T is an excellent saying of Bernard quanto pro nobis vilior tanto nobis charior the more vilde Christ made himself for us the more dear he ought to be to us his smell with stinking savour being crucified about Golgatha the place of Skulls his taste with vinegar and gall his hearing with reproaches and sight with his mother and Disciples bemoaning him his soule comfortlesse and forsaken and all this for those very sins that Satan paints and puts fine colours upon oh how should the consideration of this stir up the soule against it and worke the soule to flie from it and to use all holy meanes whereby sin may be
last to advance and lift up themselves and their Christ-dishonouring and soul-damning opinions A young man being long tempted to kill his Father or lie with his mother or be drunk he thought to yeeld to the lesser viz. to be drunk that he might be rid of the greater but when he was drunk he did both kill his Father and lie with his Mother above Scripture and Ordinances Sinne gaines upon mens soules by insensible degrees Ecclesiastes 10. v. 13. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishnesse and the end of his talking is mischievous madnesse Corruption in the heart when it breaks forth is like a breach in the Sea which begins in a narrow passage till it eat through and cast down all before it The debates of the soul are quick and soone ended and that may be done in a moment that may undoe a man for ever When a man hath begun to sin he knowes not where or when or how he shall make a stop of sin usually the soule goes on from evill to evill from folly to folly till it be ripe for eternall misâ—ry men usually grow from being nought to be very nought and from very nought to be starke nought and then God sets them at nought for ever The third Remedy against this third 3. Remedie device that Satan hath to draw the soul to sin is solemnly to consider that 't is sad to stand with God for a trifle Dives would not give a crum therefore Luk 16. 21. he should not receive a drop 't is the greatest folly in the world to adventure the going to hell for a small matter I tasted but a little honey said Jonathan 1 Sam. 14. 43. and I must dye it is a most unkinde and unfaithfull thing to break with God for a little little sins carry with them but little temptations to sin It was a vexation to King Lysimachus that his staying to drink one small draught of water lost him his Kingdome and so it will eternally vex som souls at last that for some one little sin compared with great transgressioâ—s they have lost God Heaven and their soules for ever and then a man shewes most viciousnesse and unkindnesse when he sins on a little temptation 'T is divelish to sinne without a temptation 't is little lesse then divelish to sin on a little occasion the lesse the temptation is to sin the greater is that â—inne Saul's sin in not staying for Samuel was not so much in the matter but it was much in the malice of it for though Samuel had not come at all yet Saul should not have offered Sacrifice but this cost him dear his Soul and his Kingdome 'T is the greatest unkindnesse that can be shewed to a friend to adventure the complaining bleeding and grieving of his soule upon a light and slight occasion so 't is the greatest unkindnesse that can be shewed to God Christ and the Spirit for a soul to put God upon complaining Christ upon bleeding and the Spirit upon grieving by yeelding to little sins therefore when Satan sayes 't is but a little one doe thou answer that often times there is the greatest unkindnesse shewed to Gods glorious Majesty in the acting of the least folly and therefore thou wilt not displease thy best and greatest friend by yielding to his least enemy The fourth Remedy against this Device 4 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that there is great danger yea many times most danger in the smallest sins 1 Cor. 5. 6. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump if the Serpent wind in his head he will draw his whole body after Greater sins doe sooner startle the soule and awaken and rouse up the soul to repentance Caesar was stab'd with bodkins then lesser sins doe little sins often slide into the soule and breed and work secretly and undiscernably Pope Adrian was choaked with a Gnat. in the soule till they come to be so strong as to trample upon the soule and to cut the throat of the soule there is oftentimes greatest danger to our bodies in the least Diseases that hang upon us because we are apt to make A Scorpion is little yetable to sting a Lion to death a Mouseis but little yet killeth an Elephant if he gets up into his trunck light of them and to neglect the timely use of means for the removing of them till they are grown so strong that they prove mortall to us so there is most danger often in the least sins we are apt to take no notice of them and to neglect those heavenly helps whereby they should be weakned and destroyed till they are grown up to that strength that we are ready to cry out the Medicine is The Leopard being great is poysoned with a head of Garlick too weak for the Disease I would pray and I would hear but I am afraid that sin is growne up by degrees to such a head that I shall never be able to prevaile over it but as I have begun to fall The smallest errors prove many times most dangerous It is as much treason to coyne pence as bigger pieces so I shall utterly fall before it and at last perish in it unlesse the power and free grace of Christ doth act gloriously beyond my present apprehension and expectation The Viper is killed by the little young ones that are nourished and cherished in her belly so are many men eternally killed and betrayed by the little One little miscarriage doth in the eyes of the world over-shaddow all a Christians Graces as one little cloud doth sometimes overshadow the whole body of the Sun sins as they call them that are nourished in their own bosomes I know not saith one whether the maintenance of the least sin be not worse then the commission of the greatest for this may be of frailty that argues obstinacy a little hole in the Ship sinks it a small breach in a Sea-bank carries away all before it a little stab at the heart kills a man and a little sin without a great deale of mercy will damn a man The fift Remedy against this Device 5 Remedy Melius mori fame quam Idolothys is vesci August It is better to dye with hunger then to eat that which is offred to Idols of Satan is solemnly to consider that other Saints have chosen rather to suffer the worst of torments rather then they would commit the least sin i. e. such as the world accounts so as you may see in Daniel and his Companions that would rather chuse to burne and be cast to the Lions then they would bow to the Image that Nebuchadnezzer had set up when this peccadillo in the worlds account and a hot fiery furnace stood in competition that they must either fall into sin or be cast into the Many Heathens would rather dye then cozen or cheat one another so faithfull were they one to another
Satan is seriously to consider that sins against mercy will bring the greatest and the sorest judgements upon mens heads and hearts Mercy is Alpha Justice is Omega David speaking of these Attributes placeth Mercy in the foreward and Justice in the rereward saying My Song shall be of Mercy and Judgement Psal 101. 1. when Mercy is despised then Justice takes the Throne God is like a Quantò gradus altior tantò casus gravior the higher we are indignity the more grievous is our fall and misery Prince that sendeth not his Army against Rebels before he hath sent his Pardon and proclaimed it by a Herauld of Arms. He first hangs out the white Flag of Mercy if this wins men in they are happy for ever but if they stand out then God will put forth his red Flag of Justice and Judgement if the one be despised the other shall be felt with a witnesse see this in the Israelites Deus tardus est ad iram sed tarditatem gravitate â—â—nae compensat God is slow to anger but he recompenceth his slownesse with grievousnesse of punishment he loved them and chose them when they were in their blood and most unlovely he multiplied them not by means but by miracle for from seventy souls they grew in few years to six hundred thousand the more they were oppressed the more they prospered like Camomile the more you tread it the more you spread it or to a Palme tree the more it is pressed the further it spreadeth or to fire the more it is raked the more it burneth their mercies came in upon them like Job's Messengers one upon the neck of another If we abuse mercy to serve our lusts then in Salvians phrase God will rain hell out of Heaven rather then not visit for such sins He put off their sackcloath and girded them with gladnesse and compassed them about with songs of deliverance he carried them on the wings of Eagles he kept them as the Apple of his eye c. But they abusing his mercy became the greatest objects of his wrath as I know not the man that can reckon up their mercies so I know not the man that can sum up the miseries that are come upon them for their sins for as our Saviour prophesied concerning Jerusalem That a stone Vespasian brake into their City at Cedron where they took Christ on the same Feast day that Christ was taken he whipped them where they whipped Christ he sold twenty Jews for a penny as they sould Christ for 30 pence 8. Andr. cat should not be left upon a stone so it was fulfilled forty years after his Ascension by Vespasian the Emperour and his Son Titus who having besiâ—ged Jerusalem the Jewes were oppressed with a grievous famine in which their food was old shooes old leather old hay and the dung of Beasts thene died partly of the Sword and partly of the Famine eleven hundred thousand of the poorer sort two thousand in one night were imbowelled six thousand were burned in a porch of the Temple the whole City was sacked and burnt and laid levell to the ground and ninety seven thousand taken Captives and applied to base and miserable service as Eâ—sebius and Josephus saith and to thiâ— day in all the parts of the world are they not the off-scouring of the world none lesse belov'd and nonâ— more abhor'd then they And so Caparnaum that was lifted up to Heaven was threatned to be Men are therfore the wors because they ought to be better and shall be deeper in Hell because Heaven was offered unto them but they would not Ingentia beneficia flagitia supplicia good turnes aggravate unkindnesses and mens offences are increased by their obligation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shift off disregard thrown down to Hell No souls fall so low into Hell if they fall as those souls that by a hand of mercy are lifted up nearest to Heaven you flight souls that are so apt to abuse mercy consider this that in the Gospel dayes the plagues that God inflicts upon the despisers and abusers of mercy are usually spirituall plagues as blindnesse of mind hardnesse of heart benumednesse of conscience which are ten thousand times worse then the worst of outward plagues that can bâ—fall you and therefore though you may escape temporall Judgements yet you shall not escape spirituall Judgements How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation saith the Apostle Oh! therefore when ever Satan shall present God to the soul as one made up all of mercy that he may draw thee to doe wickedly say unto him that sins against mercy will bring upon the soul the greatest misery and therefore whatever becomes of thee thou wilt not sin against mercy c. The fourth Remedy against this Device 4 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that though Gods generall mercy be over all his works yet his speciall mercy Augustus in his solemn Feasts gave trifles to some but gold to others that his heart was most set upon so God by a hand of generall mercy gives these poore trifles outward blessings â—o those that he least loves but his gold his speciall mercy is onely towards those that his heart is most set upon is confined to those that are divinely qualified so in Exod. 34. 6 7. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and that will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 20. 6. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandements Psal 25. 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Psal 32. 10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compasse him about Psal 33. 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy Psal 103. 11. For as the Heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy to as ard them that feare him Ver. 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that feare him When Satan attempts to draw thee to sin by presenting God as a God all made up of mercy oh then reply that tho Gods general mercy extends to all the works of his hand yet his speciall mercy is confined to them that are divinely qualified to them that love hâ—m and keep his Commandements to them that trust in him that by hope hang upon him and that fear him and that thou must be such a one here or else thou canst never be happy hereafter thou must partake of his speciall mercy or else eternally perish in everlasting misery notwithstanding Gods generall mercy The fifth Remedy against this Device 5 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that those that
he sits down and blushes as the Hebrew hath it as one ashamed yea true Repentance doth Quantum displicet Deo immunditia peccaâ—â— in tantum placet deo eruhiscentia poenitentis Ber. i. e. So much the more God hath been displeased with the blacknesse of sin the more will he be pleased with the blushing of the sinner They that do not burn now in zeale against sin must ere long burne in Hell for sin work a man to crosse his sinfull self and to walk contrary to sinfull selfe to take a holy revenge upon sin as you may see in Paul the Jaylor Mary Magdalen and Manasses this the Apostle shewes in that 2 Cor. 7. 10 11. For godly sorrow worketh repentance never to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death for behold the selfesame thing that ye sorrowed after a Godly sort what carefullnesse it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what feare yea what vehement desire yea what zeale yea what revenge Now souls sum up all these things together and tell me whether it be such an easie thing to repent as Satan would make the soul to beleeve and I am confident your hearts will answer that 't is as hard a thing to repent as 't is to make a world or to raise the dead I shall conclude this second Remedy with a worthy saying of a precious holy man Repentance saith he strips us stark naked of all the garments of the old Adam and leaves not so much as the shirt behind in this rotten building it leaves not a stone upon a stone As the Flood drowned Noa'hs own friends and servants so must the flood of repenting tears drown our sweetest and most profitable sins The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that Repentance is a continued act the word Repent implies the continuation of it True Repentance inclines a mans Anselme in his Meditations confesseth that all his life was either damnable for sin committed or unprofitable for good omitted and at last concludes Quid restat o peccatâ—r nisi ut in tota vita tua deplores totam vitam tuam Oh what then remaines but in our whole life to lament the sins of our whole life heart to perform Gods Statutes always even unto the end a true Penitent must goe on from Faith to Faith from strength to strength he must never stand still nor turne back Repentance is a grace and must have its daily operation as well as other graces true Repentance is a continued spring where the waters of godly sorrow are alwayes flowing My sins are ever before me a true penitent is often casting his eyes back to the dayes of his former vanity and this makes him morning and evening to water his couch with his tears Remember not against me the sins of my youth saith one blessed Penitent and I was a blasphemer and a persecuter and injurious saith another Penitent Repentance is a continued act of turning a Repentance never to be repented of a turning never to turne again to folly a true penitent hath ever something within him to turn from he can never get near enough to God no not so near him as once he was and therefore he is still turning and turning that he may get nearer and nearer to him that is his chiefest good and his onely happinesse optimum 'T is truly said of God that he is omnia super omnia maximum the best and the greatest they are every day a crying out O wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death They are still sensible of sin and still conflicting with sin and still sorrowing for sin and still loathing of themselves for sin Repentance is no transient act but a continued act of the soul and tell me oh tempted soule whether it be such an easie thing as Satan would make thee believe to be every day a turning more and more from sin and a turning nearer and nearer to God thy choicest blessednesse A true Penitent can as easily content himselfe with one act of faith or one act of love as he can content himselfe with one act of Repentance A Jewish Rabbie pressing the practice of Repentance upon his Disciples exhorting them to be sure to Repent the day before they dyed one of them replyed that the day of any mans death was very uncertaine Repent therefore every day said the Rabbin and then you shall be sure to repent the day before you dye you are wise and know how to apply it to your own advantage The fourth Remedy against this Device 4 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that if the work of Repentance were such an easie work as Satan would If thou be backward in the thoughts of Repentance be forward in the thoughts of Hell the flames whereof onely the streams of the penitent eye can extinguish Tertul. make it to be then certainly so many would not lye roaring and crying out of wrath and eternall ruine under the horrours and terrours of conscience for not repenting yea doubtlesse so many millions would not goe to hell for not Repenting if 't were such an easie thing to repent Ah! doe not poor souls under horrours of conscience cry out and say were all this world a lump of gold and in our hand to dispose of we would give it for the least dram of true Repentance and wilt thou say it is an easie thing to repent When a poor sinner whose Conscience is awakened shall judge the exchange of all the world for the least dram of Repentance to be the happiest exchange that ever sinner made tell me oh soul is it Oh how shalt thou â—ear and rend thy self how shalt thou lament fruitlesse repenting what wilt thou say woe is me that I have not cast off the burden of sin woe is me that I have not washed away my spots but aâ— now pierced with mine iniquities now have I lost the surpassing joy of Angels Basil good going to hell is it good dwelling with the devouring fire with everlasting burnings Is it good to be for ever seperated from the blessed and glorious presence of God Angels and Saints And to be for ever shut out from those good things of eternall life which are so many that they exceed number so great that they exceed measure so precious that they exceed all estimation we know 't is the greatest misery that can befall the sons of men and would they not prevent this by Repentance if it were such an easie thing to repent as Satan would make it well then doe not run the hazard of loosing God Christ Heaven and thy soul for ever by hearkening to this Device of Satan viz. That it is an easie thing to Repent c. If it be so easie why then doe wicked mens hearts so rise against them that presse the Doctrine of repentance in the sweetest way
and companions with thee hast thou not often purposed promised vowed and resolved to enter upon the Repentanceis a work that must be timely done or men are utterly undone for ever Aut poenitendum aut pereundum practice of repentance but to this day couldest never attain it Surely 't is in vain to strive against the streame where it is so impossible to overcome thou art lost and cast for ever to hell thou must to hell thou shalt ah souls he that now tempts you to sin by suggesting to you the easinesse of repentance will at last to work you to despaire present repentance as the hardest work in all the world and a work as far above man as Heaven is above Hell as light is above darknesse Oh! that you were wise to break off your sins by timely repentance Now the seventh Device that Satan 7 Device hath to draw the soul to sin is by making the soul bold to venture upon the occasions of sin Saith Satan you may walk by the Harlots door though you won't goe into the Harlots bed you may sit and sip with the drunkard tho you won't be drunk with the drunkard you may look upon Jezabels beauty and you may play and toy with Daliloh though you doe not commit wickednesse with the one or the other you may with Achan handle the golden wedge though you doe not steale the golden wedge c. Now the Remedies against this Device are these that follow THe first Remedy is solemnly to 1 Remedy dwell upon those Scriptures that doe expressly command us to avoid the occasions of sin and the least appearance of evill 1 Thess 5. 22. Abstaine from all Epiphanius saith that in the old Law when any dead body was carried by any house they were injoyn'd to shut their doors and windows appearance of evill whatsoever is heterodox unsound and unsavory shun it as you would doe a Serpent in your way or poyson in your meats Theodosius tare the Arrians Arguments presented to him in writing because he found them repugnant to the Scriptures and Augustine retracted even Ironies onely because they had the appearance of lying When God had commanded the Jewes to abstain from Swines flesh they would not so much as name it but in their common talk would call a Sow another thing To abstain from all appearance of evill is to doe nothing wherein sin appears or which hath a shadow of sin Bernard glosseth finely Quicquid est male celoratū Whatever is of an ill shew or of ill report that he may neither wound conscience nor credit we must shun and be shie of the very shew and shadow of sinne if either we tender our credit abroad or our comfort at home It was good counsell that Livia gave her Husband Socrates speaketh of two young men that flung away their belts when being in an Idols Temple the lustrating water fell upon them detesting saith the Historian the garment sported by the flesh Augustus it behoveth thee not onely not to doe wrong but not to seeeme to doe so c. So Jude 23. v. And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh 'T is a phrase taken from legall uncleanesse which was contracted by touching the houses the vessells the garments of uncleane persons Under the Law men might not touch a menstrous cloath nor God would not accept of a spotted peace-offering So we must not onely hate and avoid grosse sins but every thing that may carry a savor or susprition of sin we must abhor the very signes and tokens of sin so in Proverbs 5. ver 8. Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the doore of her house He that would not be burnt must dread the fire Hee that would not heare the bell must not meddle with the rope To venture upon the occasion of sin and then to pray lead us not into One said as oft as I have been among vaine men I returned home lesse a man then I was before temptation is all one as to thrust thy finger into the fire and then to pray that it might not be burnt So in the 4. Prov. 14. 15. you have another command Enter not in the path of the wicked and goe not in the way of evell men avoid it and passe not by it turne from it and passe away This triple gradation of Solomon sheweth with a great Emphasie how necessary it is for men to flee from all appearance of sin as the Sea-man shuns sands and shelves and as men shun those that have the plague-sores running upon them as weeds doe endanger the corne as bad humor◠doe endanger the bloud or as an infected house doth indanger the neighbourhood so doth the company of the bad endanger those that are good intirenesse with wicked conforts is one of the strongest chaines of hell and bindes us to a participation both of sin and punishment The second Remedie against this device 2 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that ordinarily there is no conquest over sin without the soule turnes from the occasion of sin 't is impossible for that man to get the conquest of sin that playes and sports with the occasions of sin God will not remove the tentation except The Fable saith that the Butterflie asked the Owle how he should deale with the fire which had singed her wings who counsel'd her not to behold so much as its smoak we turne from the occasion It is a just and righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit that will adventure to dance upon the brink of the pit and that he should be a slave to sin that will not flee from the occasions of sin As long as there is fuell in our hearts for a temptation we cannot be secure he that hath gun-powder about him had need keep far enough off from sparkles to rush upon the occasions of sin is both to tempt our selves and to tempt Satan to tempt our souls 't is very rare that any soule playes with occasions of sin but that soul is insnar'd by sin 't is seldome that God keeps that soul from the acts of sin that will not keep off from the occasions of sin he that adventures upon the occasions of sin is as he that would quench the fire with Oyle which is a fuell to maintaine it and increase it Ah souls often remember how frequently you have been overcome by sin when you have boldly gon upon the occasions of sin look back souls to the days of your vanity wherein you have been as easily conquered as tempted vanquished as assaulted when you have played with the occasions of sin and therefore as you would for the future be kept from the acting of sin and be made victorious over sin oh flee from the occasions of sin The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider
that other precious Saints that were once glorious on earth and are now triumphing in heaven have turned from the occasions of sin as Hell it selfe as you may see in Joseph Gen. 39. 10. And it came to passe as she spake to Joseph day by day that he hearkned not unto her to lye by her or to be with her Joseph was famous for all the four Cardinall vertues if ever any were in this one temptation you may see his Fortitude Justice Temperance There are stories of Heathens that would not look upon excellent beauties lest they should be insnared and Prudence in that he shuns the occasion for he would not so much as be with her and that a man is indeed that he is in a temptation which is but a tap to give vent to corruption The Nazarite might not only not drink wine but not taste a grape or the husk of a grape The Leaper was to shave his haire and paire his nailes The Devill counts a fit occasion halfe a conquest for he knowes that corrupt nature hath Democritus pluck't out his own eyes to avoid the danger of uncleannesse a seed-plot of all sin which being drawn forth and watered by some sinfull occasion is soon set a work to the producing of death and destruction God will not remove the temptation till we remove the occasion A Bird whiles a loft is safe but she comes not near the snare without danger the shunning the occasions of sin renders a man most like the best of men a soul eminently gracious dares not come near the traine though he be far off the blow So Job 31. 1. I made a Covenant with mine eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I cut a Covenant In making Covenants it was a custome among the Jewes to cut some beast or other in pieces and to walk between the pieces to signifie that they desired God to destroy them that should break the Covenant why then should I think upon a maid I set a watch at the entrance of my senses that my foul might not by them be infected and endangered the eye is the window of the soule and if that should be alwayes open the soul might smart for it A man may not look intently upon that that he may nat love intirely The Disciples were set a gogg by beholding the beauty of the Temple 't is best and safest to have the eye alwayes fixt upon the highest and noblest objects as the Marriners eye is fixt on the star when their hand is on the sterne so David when he was himself he shuns the occasion of sin Psal 26. 4 5. I have not sat with vaine persons neither will I goe in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of evill doers and will not sit with the wicked Stories speak of some that could not sleep when they thought of the Trophies of other Worthies that went before them the highest and choycest examples are to some and should be to all very quickning and provoking and oh that the examples of those worthy Saints David Joseph and Job might prevaile with all your souls to shun and avoid the occasions of sin every one should strive to be like to them in grace that they desire to be equall with in glory He that shooteth at the Sun though he come far short will shoot higher then he that aimeth at a shrub 't is best and it speaks out much of Christ within to eye the highest and the worthiest examples The fourth Remedy against this Device 4 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that the avoiding the occasions of sin is an evidence of grace and that which lifts up a man above most other men in the world that a man is indeed which he is in temptation and when sinfull occasions doe present themselves before the soul this speaks out both the truth Plutarch saith of Demosthenes that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of his Ancestors but not so at imitating them oh that this were not applicable to many professors in our times and the strength of grace when with Lot a man can be chast in Sodome and with Timothy can live temperately in Asia among the luxurious Ephesians and with Job can walk uprightly in the land of Vz where the people were prophane in their lives and superstitious in their worship and with Daniel be holy in Babylon and with Abraham righteous in Chaldea and with Nehemiah zealous in Damasco c. Many a wicked man is big and full of sinful corruption but shews it not for want of occasion but that man is surely good who in his course will not be bad though tempted by occasions a Christlesse soul is so far from refusing occasions when they come in his way that he looks and longs after them and rather then he will go without them he will buy them not onely with love or money but also with the losse of his soul nothing but grace can fence a man against the occasions of sin when he is strongly tempted thereunto therefore as you would cherrish a precious evidence in your own bosomes of the truth and strength of your graces shun all sinfull occasions The eight Device that Satan hath to 8 Device draw the soule to sin is by presenting 'T was a weighty saying of Seneca Nihil est infelicius eo cui nil nunquā contigit advers◠there is nothing more unhappy then he who never felt adversity to the soule the outward mercies that vaine men inioy and the outward miseries that they are freed from whil'st they have walked in the wayes of sin Saith Satan do'st thou not see oh soule the many mercies that such and such inioy that walk in those very wayes that thy soul startles to think of and the many crosses that they are delivered from even such as makes other men that say they dare not walke in such wayes to spend their dayes in sighing weeping groaning and mourning and therefore saith Satan if ever thou wouldest be freed from the dark night of adversity and injoy the sun-shine of prosperity thou must walk in their wayes by this stratagem the Devil took those in the 44 Jeremiah 16 17 18. As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee but we will certainly doe whatsoever thing goeth forth of our mouth to burne Incense unto the Queen of Heaven and to pour Some of the Heathens would be wicked as their Gods were counting it a dishonour to their God to be unlike to him Lactan tius out drink-offrings unto her as we have done we and our Fathers our Kings and our Princes in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem for then had we plenty of victualls and were well and saw no evill But since we left off to burn Incense to the Queen of Heaven and to pour out drink-offerings unto her we have wanted all things and have
is by presenting to the soule the crosses losses reproaches sorrows and sufferings that doe daily attend those that walk in the wayes of holinesse Saith Satan do not you see that there are none in the world that are so vexed afflicted and tossed as those that walk more circumspectly and holily then their neighbours they are a by-word at home and a reproach abroad their miseries come in upon them like Job's messengers one upon the neck of another and there is no end of their sorrowes and troubles therefore saith Satan you were better walk in wayes that are lesse troublesome and lesse afflicted though they be more sinfull for who but a mad man would spend his dayes in sorrow vexation and affliction when it may be prevented by walking in the wayes that I set before him Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedy against this Device 1 Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider that all the afflictions that doe attend the people of God are such as shall turne to the profit and glorious advantage of the people of God they shall discover that filthinesse and vilenesse in sin that yet the soul hath never seen It was a speech of a Germane Divine in his sicknesse In this Disease Guspar Olevianus I have learned how great God is and what the evill of sin is I never knew to purpose what God was before nor what sin meant till now Afflictions are a christall glasse wherein the soul hath the clearest sight of the ugly face of sin in this glasse the soul comes to see sin to be but a bitter-sweet yea in this glasse the soul comes to see sin not only to be an evill but to be the greatest evill in the world to be an evill far worse then hel Againe they shall contribute to the Isa 1. 25. c. 27. 8 9. mortifying and purging away of their sins afflictions are Gods furnace by which he cleanses his people from their drosse affliction is a fire to purge out In times of peace our Armer is rusty in time of war 't is bright our drosse and to make virtue shine it is a potion to carry away ill humours better then all the Benedicta Medicamentum as Physitians call them Aloes kills worms colds and frosts doe destroy Vermine so doe afflictions the corruptions that be in our hearts The Jewes under all the Prophets thundering retained their Idols but after their babylonish captivity 't is observed there have been no Idols found amongst them Again afflictions are sweet preservatives to keep the Saints from sin which is a greater evill then hell it self as Job spake Surely it is meet to be said unto God Job 34. 31 32 I have borne chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will doe no more Once have I spoken foolishly yea Salt brine preserves from putâ—efaction and salt marshes keep the sheep from the rot so do afflictions the Saints from sin twice but I will doe so no more saith Job The burnt child dreads the fire ah saith the soul under the rod sin is but a bitter-sweet and for the future I intend by the strength of Christ that I will not buy Repentance at so dear a rate The Rabbins to scare their scholars from sin were wont to tell them that sin made Gods head ake and Saints under the rod have found by wofull experience that sin makes not only their heads but their hearts ake also Augustine by wandring out of his way escaped one that lay in weight to mischief him if afflictions did not put us out of our way we should many times meet with some sin or other that would mischief our precious souls Again they will work the Saints to be more fruitfull in holinesse Heb. 12. 10 11. But he afflicts us for our profit that The bâ—ll in the emblemâ— saith Percussa Suâ—go the harder you beat me down in affliction the higher I shall bound in affection towards heaven and heavenly things we might be partakers of his holinesse The flowers smell sweetest after a shower Vines bear the better for bleeding the Walnut-tree is most fruitfull when most beaten Saints spring and thrive most internally when they are most externally afflicted afflictions are called by some the mother of virtue Manasses his chain was more profitable to him then his Crown Luther could not understand some Scriptures till he was in affliction the Chris-crosse is no letter and yet that taught him more then all the letters in the row Gods house of Schola crucis Schola lucis correction is his school of instruction all the stones that came about Stevens â—ars did but knock him closer to Christ the corner-stone The waves did but lift Noah's Ark nearer to Heaven and the higher the waters grew the more near the Ark was lifted up to Heaven afflictions do lift up the soule to more rich clear and full injoyments of God Hosea 2. 14. Behold I will allure her into the wildernesse and speak comfortably to her or rather as the Hebraw hath it I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vedib bartignal-libbab will â—arnestly or vehemently speak to her heart God makes afflictions to be but inlets to the soul more sweet and full injoyment of his blessed self When was it that Steven saw the Heavens open and Christ standing at the right hand of God but when the stones were about It is reported of Tiberius the Emperour that passing by a place where he saw a Crosse lying in the ground upon a marble stone and causing the stone to be â— diâ—ged up â—ound a great deale of treasure under the Crosse So many a precious Saint hath sound much spirituall and heavenly treasure under the crosses â—hey have met withall his ears and there was but a short step betwixt him and eternity and when did God appear in his glory to Jacob but in the day of his troubles when the stones were his pillows and the ground his bed and the hedges his curtaines and the Heavens his Canopie Then he saw the Angels of God ascending and descending in their glistering robes The plant in Nazianzen growes with cutting being cut it flourisheth it contends with the axe it lives by dying and by cutting it growes so doe Saints by their afflictions that doe befall them They gaine more experience of the power of God supporting them of the wisdome of God directing them of the grace of God refreshing and cheering them and of the goodnesse of God quieting and quickning of them to a greater love to holinesse and to a greater delight in holinesse and to a more vehement pursuing after holinesse I have read of a Fountaine that at noon day is cold and at midnight it growes warm so many a precious Saint is cold God-wards and Heaven-wards and Holinesse-wards in the day of prosperity that grow warm God-wards and
shall not be so hot to thee as to others yet thou must as certainly to hell as others unlesse the glorious grace of God shines forth upon thee in the face of Christ God wil suit mens punishments to their sins the greatest sins shall be attended with the greatest punishments and lesser sins with lesser punishments alasse what a poor comfort will this be to thee when thou comest to die to consider that thou shalt not be equally tormented with others and yet must be for ever shut out from the glorious presence of God Christ Angels and Saints and from those good things of eternall life that are so many that they exceed number The gate of Indulgence the gate of hope the gate of mercy the gate of glory the gate of consolation and the gate of salvatioâ— will be for ever shuâ— against them Mat. 25. 10. so great that they exceed measure so precious that they exceed estimation Sure it is that the tears of hell are not sufficient to bewaile the losse of heaven the worme of grief gnawes as painfull as the fire burnes if those soules Acts 20. wept because they should see Paul's face no more How deplorable is the eternall deprivation of the beatificallvision But this not all thou shalt not be onely shut out of heaven but shut up in hell for ever not onely shut out from the presence of God and Angells c. but shut up with devills and damned spirit for ever not onely shut out from 'T was a good saying of Chrysostome speaking of Hell Ne quaeramuâ— ubi sit sed quomodo illam fugiamus let us not seek where it is but how we shall escape it those sweet surpassing unexpressabl and everlasting pleasures that be at Gods right hand but shut up for ever under those torments that are easelesse remedilesse and endlesse Ah soules were it not ten thousand times better for yee to break off your sins by repentance then to goe on in your sins till you feele the truth of what now you hear The God of Israel is very mercifull ah that you would repent and returne that your soules might live for ever Remember this grievous is the torment of the damned for the bitternesse of the punishments but most grievous for the eternity of the punishments For to be tormented without end this is Surely one good means to escape Hel is to take a turne or two in Hell by our daily meditations that which goes beyond all the bounds of desperation ah how doe the thoughts of this make the damned to roare and cry out for disquietnesse of heart and teare their haire and gnash their teeth and rage for madnesse that they must dwell in everlasting burnings for ever The eleventh Device that Satan hath 11 Device to draw the soule to sin is by polluting and defiling the soules and judgements of men with such dangerous errors that doe in their proper tendency tend to carry the soules of men to all loosnesse and wickednesse as wofull experience doth abundantly evidence Ah! how many are there filled with these and such like Christ-dishonouring and soule-undoing opinions viz. That Ordinances are poor low carnall things and not onely to be lived above but without also That the Scriptures are full of fallasies and uncertainties and no further to be heeded then they agree with that spirit that is in them That 't is a poor low thing if not idolatry too to worship God in a Mediator That the Resurrection is already past That there was never any such man or person as Jesus Christ but that all is an Allegory and it signifies nothing but light and love and such good frames borne in men That there 's no God nor Devill Heaven nor Hell but what is within us That there is no sinne in the Saints they are under no Law but that of the spirit which is all freedome That sin and grace are equally of God and agreeth to his will with a hundred other horrid opinions which hath caused wickednesse to break in as a flood among us c. Now the generall Remedies against this Device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedy against this Device 1 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that an erroneous vain mind is as odious A blinde eye is worse then a lame foot Lev. 13. 44. to God as a vicious life he that had the leprosie in his head was to be pronounced utterly unclean Grosse errors make the heart foolish and render the life loose and the soul light in the eye of God Errour spreads and frets The breath of the erronious is infectious and like the dogs of Congâ— they bite though they barke not like a Gangreen and renders the soul a leoper in the sight of God It was Gods heavy and dreadfull plague upon the Gentiles to be given up to a mind void of Judgement or an injudicious mind or a mind rejected disallowed abhorred of God or a mind that none have cause to glory in but rather to be ashamed Through animosity to persist in errour is diabolicall it were best that we never erred next to that that we amended our errour of I think that in these dayes God doth punish many mens former wickednesses by giving them up to soule-ruining errours Ah Lord this mercy I humbly beg that thou wouldest rather take me into thine owne hand and doe any thing with me then to give me up to those sad errours to which thousands have married their souls and are in a way of perishing for ever The second Remedy against this Device 2 Remedy of Satan is to receive the truth affectionately and let it dwell in your soules plenteously when men stand out against the truth when truth would enter The greatest sinners are sure to be the greatest sufferers and men bar the door of their souls against truth God in justice gives up such souls to be deluded and deceived by errour to their eternall undoing 2 Thess 2. 10 11 12. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God shall send them strong delusions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Greek hath it the efficacie of errour that they should believe a lye That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Ah sirs as you love your soules doe not tempt God do not provoke God by your withstanding truth and out-facing truth to give you up to beleeve a lye that you may be damned There are no men on earth so fenc'd against errour as those are that receive the truth in the love of it Such soules Ephes 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gr. signifies cogging with a dye such slights as cheaters and false gamesters use at Dâ—câ— are not easily tossed too and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceive
not God made 2 Tim. 1. 13. 1 Titus 9. The Priests of Mercurie when they eat their figs and honey cried ou◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sweet is truth truth sweet to thy soule yea sweeter then the honey or the honey combe and wilt thou not goe on â—o Heaven feeding upon truth that heavenly honey-comb as Samson did of his honey-comb Ah soules have you not found truth sweetning your spirits and cheering your spirits and warming your spirits and raising your spirits and corroborating your spirits have you not found truth a guide to leade you a staffe to uphold you a cordiall to strengthen you and a plaister to heale you and will you not hold fast the truth hath not truth been your best friend in your worst dayes hath not truth stood by you when friends have forsaken you hath not truth done more for you then all the world could doe against you and will you not hold fast the truth is not truth your right eye without which you cannot see for Christ and your right hand without which you cannot doe for Christ and your right foot without which you cannot walke with Christ and will you not hold fast truth oh hold fast the truth in your judgements and understandings in your wills and affections in your profession It is with truth as with some plants which live and thrive not but in warme climates and conversation Truth is more precious then gold or Rubâ—es and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her Truth is that heavenly glasse wherein we may see the luster and glory of divine wisdome power greatnesse love and mercifulnesse In this glasse you may see the face of Christ the favour of Christ the riches of Christ and the heart of Christ beating and working sweetly towards your soules Oh! let your soules cleave to truth as Ruth Ruth 1. v. 15 16 17. Though I cannot dispute for the truth yet I can die for the truth said that blessed Maâ—â—yr did to Naomi and say I will not leave truth nor returne from following after truth but where truth goes I will goe and where truth lodgeth I will lodge and nothing but death shall part truth and my soule What John said to the Church of Philadelphia I may say to you Hold thâ—â— fast which thou hast that no man take thy Crowne the Crowne is the top of royalties such a thing is truth let Tit. 1. v. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no man take thy Crown Hold fast the faithfull word as Titus speaks you were better let goe any thing then truth you were better let goe your Hold fast as with tooth and naile against those that would snatch it from us honours and riches your friends and pleasures and the worlds favours yea your nearest and dearest relations I your very lives then to let goe truth Oh! keep the truth and truth will keep you safe and happy for 6. Remedy I have read of one who seeing in a vision many snares of the devill spread upon the earth he sate downe mourning and said within himselfe Quis periransiet ista who shall passe thorough these whereunto he heâ—d a voice answering humilitas periransiet humility shall passe thorough them ever blessed are those soules that are kept by truth The sixt Remedy against this device of Satan is to keep humble humility will keep the soule free from many darts of Satans casting and erronious snares of his spreading As low trees and shrubs are free from many violent gusts and blasts of winde which shake and rend the taller trees so humble soules are free from those gusts and blasts of errour that rend and teare proud lofty soules Satan and the world hath least power to fasten errours upon humble soules The God of light and truth delights to dwell with the humble and the more light and truth dwells in the soule the further off darknesse and errour will stand from the soule The God of grace poures in grace into humble soules as men poure liquor into empty vessells and the more grace is poured into the soule the lesse errour shall be able to over-power the soule or to infect the soule That 's a sweet word in the Psa 25. v. 9. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnanavim from gnanah which signifies the humble or afflicted The high tide quickly ebs and the highest Sun is presently declining you know how to apply it 25. Psal 9. v. The meek or the humble will he guide in judgement and the meeke will he teach his way and certainly soules guided by God and taught by God are not easily drawn aside into wayes of errour Oh! take heed of spirituall pride pride fills our fancies and weakens our graces and makes roome in our hearts for errour there are no men on earth so soone entangled and so easily conquered by errour as proud soules Oh! 't is dangerous to love to be wise above what is written to be curious and unsober in your desire of knowledge and to The proud soule is like him that gazed upon the Moon but fell into the pit trust to your own capacities and abilities to undertake to prie into all secrets and to be puffed up with a carnall minde soules that are thus a soaring up above the bounds and limits of humility usually fall into the very worst of errours as experience doth daily evidence The seventh Remedy against this device 7. Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider the great evills that errours have produced errour is a fruitfull mother and hath brought forth such monstrous Errours in conscience produce many great evills not onely ad intra in mens own soules but also ad extra in humane affaires children as hath set Towns Cities and Nations on fire Errour is that whorish woman that hath cast down many wounded many yea slaine many strong men and many great men and many learned men and many professing men in former times and in our own time as is too evident to all that are not much left of God destitute of the truth and blinded by Satan Oh the graces that errour hath weakned and the sweet joyes and comforts that errour hath clouded if not buried oh the hands that errour hath weakned the eyes that errour hath blinded the judgements of men that errour hath perverted the mindes that errour hath darkned the hearts that errour hath hardened the affections that errour hath cooled the Consciences that errour hath sâ—ared and the lives of men that errour hath polluted ah soules can you solemnly consider of this and not tremble more at errour then at hell it selfe c. The twelâ—th Device that Satan hath 12. Device to draw the soule to sin is to affect wicked company to keep wicked society and oh the horrid impieties and wickednesses that Satan hath drawn men to sin by working them to sit and associate themselves with vaine persons Now the Remedies against this device of
are apt to run after it though they loose God and their soules in the pursuit Ah! how many Professors in these dayes have for a time followed hard after God Christ and The inhabitants of Nilus are deafe by the noise of the waters so the world makes such a noise in mens eares that they cannot heare the things of Heaven The world is like the swallowes dung that put out Tobias eyes Ordinances till the Devill hath set before them the world in all its beauty and bravery which hath so bewitched their soâ—les that they have grown to have low thoughts of holy things and then to be cold in their affections to holy things and then to slight them and at last with the young man in the Gospell to turne their backs upon them ah the time the thoughts the spirits the hearts the soules the duties the services that the inordinate love of this wicked world doth eat up and destroy and hath eat up and destroyed where one thousand is destroyed The champions could â—or wring an Apple out oâ— Mâ—lâ—'s ha 〈◊〉 by strong hand but a faire maid by faire meanes got it presently by the worlds frownes ten thousands are destroyed by the worlds smiles The world Siren-like it sings us and sinks us it kisses us and betraies us like Judas it kisses us and imites us under the fifth rib like Joab The honors splendor and all the glory of this world are but sweet poysons that will much endanger us if they doe not eternally destroy us Ah! the multitude of soules that have surseited of these sweet baites and died for ever Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedy against this device 1 Remedy The Prior in Melancton 〈◊〉 his hands up and down in a baâ—â—n full of â—â—â—ells thinking thereby to have charmed 〈◊〉 gour but 〈◊〉 would not â—oe of Satan is to dwell upon the impotency and weakness of all these things below they are not able to secure you from the least evill They are not able to procure you the least desirable good The Crown of Gold cannot cure the head-ach nor the velvet slipper ease the gout nor the Jewell about the nâ—ck cannot take away the paine of the teeth The Fâ—ogs of Egypt entered into the rich mens houses of Egypt as well as the poore our daily experience doth Nugas the Scythian despiseing the rich presents and ornaments that were sent unto him by the Emperour of Constantinople asked whether those things could drive away calamities diseases or death evidence this that all the honors and riches c. That men enjoy cannot free them from the collick the feaver or lesser diseases Nay that which may seem most strange is that a great deal of wealth cannot keep men from falling into extreame povertie In the first of Judges 6. ver you shall finde seventy Kings with their fingers and toes cut off glad like whelps to lick up crummes under another Kings table and shortly after the same King that brought them to this penury is reduced to the same poverty and misery Why then should that be a bar to keep thee out of Heaven that cannot give thee the least ease on earth The second Remedy against this device 2. Remedy of Satan is to dwell upon the vanity of them as well as upon the impotencie of all worldly good This is the summe of Solomons sermon Vanity of vanity and all is vanity This Gilimex King of Vandaâ—â—s led in triumph by Bellisarius cried out Vanity of vanity all is vanity our first parents found and therefore named their second Abell or vanity Solomon that had tried these things and could best tell the vanity of them he preacheth this sermon over againe and againe Vanity of vanity and all is vanity 'T is sad to think how many thousands there be that can say with the preacher vanity of vanity all is vanity The fancie of Lucian who placeth Charon on the top of an high hill viewing all the affaires of men living and looking on their greatest Cities as little birds nests is very pleasant nay swear it and yet follow after these things as if there were no other glory nor selicity but what 's to be found in those things they call vanity Such men will sell Christ Heaven and their soules for a trifle that call these things vanity but doe not cordially beleeve them to be vanity but set their hearts upon them as if they were their Crown the top of all their Royalty and glory Oh! let your soules dwell upon the vanity of all things here below till your hearts be so thoroughly convinced and perswaded of the vanity of them as to trample upon them and make them a a foot-stoole for Christ to get np and ride in a holy triumph in your hearts Oh the imperfection the ingratitude the leâ—ity the inconstancy the perfidiousnesse of those creatures we most servilly affect Chrysostome said once that if he were the fittest in the world to preach a Sermon to the whole world gathered together in one Congregation and had some high Mountaine for his Pulpit from whence he might have a prospect of all the world in his view and were furnished with a voice of brasse a voice as loud as the Trumpet of the Arch-Angell that all the world might hear him he would chuse to preach upon no other text then that in the Psalnâ—es O mortall men how long will yee love vanity and follow after leasing Ah! did we but weigh mans paine with his paiment his crosses with his mercies his miseries with his pleasures we should then see that there is nothing got by the bargaine and conclude Vanity of vanity all is vanity Tell me you that say all things under the Sun is vanitie if you doe really beleeve what you say why doe you spend more thoughâ—â— and time on the world then you doe on Christ Heaven and your immortall soules Why doe you then neglect your duty towards God to get the world Why doe you then so eagerly pursue after the world and are so cold in your pursuing after God Christ and holinesse Why then are your hearts so exceedingly rais'd when the world comes in and smiles upon you and so much dejected and castdown when the world frownes upon you and with Jonah's Gourd withers before you The third Remedy against this device 3. Remedy of Satan is to dwell much upon the uncertainty the mutabilitie and inconstancie of all things under the Sun Riches were never true to any that trusted to them they have deceived men as Jobs brook did the poore traveller in the Summer season Man himselfe is but the dreame of a dreame but the generation of a fancie but an emptie vanity but the curious picture of nothing a poore feeble dying flash All temporalls are as transitory as a hastie head-long torrent a shadow a ship a bird an arrow a post that passeth
by why shouldest thou set thine eyes upon that which is not saith Solomon and saith the Apostle the fashion of this world passeth away Heaven 1 Cor. 7. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimateth that there is nothing of any firmnesse or solid consistence in the creature onely hath a foundation earth hath none but is hanged upon nothing as Job speaks The Apostle willed Tymothie to charge rich men that they be not high minded nor put their trust in uncertaine riches They are like bad servants whose shooes are made of running leather and will never tarrie long with one Master as a bird hoppeth from tree to tree so doe the honors and riches of this world from man to man let Job and Nebuchadnezzar testifie this truth who fell The most renowned Frederick lost all and sued to be made but Sexton of the Church that himselfe had built I have reâ—d of a poore fisherman who while his nets were adâ—ying slâ—pt upon the Rock and dreamed that he was made a King on a sudden starts up and leaping for joy falls down fâ—oâ— the Rock and in the place of his imaginaâ—y felicities loses his little portion of pleasures from great wealth to great want No man can promise himself to be wealthie till night one storme at Sea one coal of fire one false friend one unadvised word one false witnesse may make thee a begger and a prisoner all at once All the riches and glory of this world is but as smoke and chaff that vanisheth as a dreame and vision in the night that tarrieth not as if an hungrie man dreameth and thinketh that he eateth and when he awaketh his soule is emptie and like a thirstie man which thinketh he drinketh and behold when he is awaked his soule is faint as the Prophet Esay saith Where is the glory of Solomon the sumptuous buildings of Nebuchadnezzar the nine hundred Chariots of Sisera the power of Alexander the authority of Augustus that commanded the whole world to be taxed Those that have been the most glorious in what men generally account glorious and excellent have had inglorious ends As Sampson for strength Absolom for beauty Achitophel for policie Hamon for favour Asael for swiftnesse Alexander for great conquest and yet after twelve yeares poysoned the same you may see in the mighty foure Kingdomes The Caldean Persian Grecian and Romane The pompe of this world Iohn compareth to the Moone which crescit decrescit increaseth and decreaseth Apoc. 12. v. 1. how soone were they gone and forgotten Now rich now poore now full now emptie now in favour anon out of favour now honourable now despised now health now sicknesse now strength now weaknesse Oh! let not these uncertaine things keep thee from those holy services and heavenly imployments that may make thee happy for ever and render thy soule eternally blessed and at ease when all these transitory things shall bid thy soule an everlasting farewell The fourth Remedie against this Device 4. Remedie of Satan is to consider that the great things of this world are very hurtfull and dangerous to the outward and inward man thorough the Henry the second hearing Menz his chiefe City to be taken used this blasphemous speech I shall never saith he love God any more that suffered a City so dear to mee to be taken from me When one presented Antipater King of Macedonia with a book treating of happinesse his answer ou scholazo I have no leasure corruptions that be in the hearts of men oh the rest the peace the comfort the content that the things of this world doe strip many men off Oh the feares the cares the envie the malice the dangers the mischiefs that they subject men to They oftentimes make men carnally confident The rich mans riches are a strong tower in his imagination I said in my prosperity I should never be moved They often swell the heart with pride and make men forget God and neglect God and despise the Rock of their salvation when Jesurum waxed fat and was grown thick and covered with fatnesse then he forgot God and forsooke God that made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation as Moses spake ah the time the thoughts the spirits that the things of the world consumes and spends Oh! how doe they hinder the actings of faith upon God how doe they interrupt our sweet communion with God how doe they abate our love to the people of God and coole our love to the things of God and worke us to act like those that are most unlike to God oh the deadnesse the dulnesse the barrennesse that doth attend 〈…〉 n under great outward mercies Oh! the riches of the world chokes That foure good mothers beget foure bad daughters great familiarity begets contempt truth hatred vertue envie riches ignonorance is a french Proverb Gen. 13. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Policrates bestowed five talents for a gift upon one Anacrion who for two nights after was so troubled with care how to keep them and how to bestow them as he carried them back againe to Policrates saying they were not worth the paines which he had already taken for them the word that men live under the most soule-searching and soule in riching meanes with leane soules though they have full purses though their chests are full of silver yet their hearts are emptie of grace In the 13. Gen. 2. It is said that Abraham was very rich in cattell in silver and in gold according to the Hebrew Chabbedh 't is Abraham was very heavie to shew that riches are a heavie burden and a hinderance many times to heaven and happinesse King Henry the fourth asked the Duke of Alva if he had observed the great Ecclipse of the Sun which had lately hapned no said the Duke I have so much to doe on earth that I have no leasure to looke up to Heaven ah that this were not true of most Professors in these dayes 't is very sad to thinke how their hearts and time is so much taken up with earthly things that they have scarce any leasure to looke up to Heaven or to looke after Christ and the things that belong to their everlasting peace Riches though well got yet are but like to Manna those that gathered lesse bad no want and those that gathered more 't was but a trouble and annoyance to them The world is troublesome and yet it is loved what would it be if it were peaceable you imbrace it though it be filthy what would you doe if it were beautifull you cannot keep your hands from the thornes how earnest would you be then in gathering the flowers The world may be fitly likened to the Serpent Scytale whereof it is reported that Sicily is so full of sweet flowers that dogs cannot hunt there and what doe all the sweet contents of this world but make us loose the sent of Heaven when she cannot overtake the flying passengers she
holy and heavenly duties I am afraid if one should rise from the dead his arguments would not win upon you but you would hold on in your sins and neglect his service though you lost your soules for ever c. The fifth Device that Satan 5. Device hath to draw soules off from religious services and to keep soules off from holy duties and heavenly performances is BY presenting to them the paucity and poverty of those that walk in the wayes of God that hold on in religious practices saith Satan do not you see that those that walk in such and such religious wayes are the poorest the John 47 48 49. verses meanest and the most despicable persons in the world this took with them in that seventh of John Then answered the Pharisees are ye also deceived Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees beleeved on him But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this Device 1. Remedy Do you not see saith Chrysostome the places where treasures are hid are rough and over-grown with thorns Do not the naturallists tel you that the mountaines that are big with gold within are bare of grasse without Saints have as Scholars poor commons here because they must study hard to go to heaven of Satan is to consider that though they are outwardly poor yet they are inwardly rich though they are poor in temporalls yet they are rich in spiritualls the worth and riches of the Saints is inward The Kings daughter is all glorious within Hearken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heires of the Kingdome which he hath promised to them that love him saith James I know thy poverty but thou art rich saith John to the Church of Smyrna What though they have little in possession yet they have a glorious Kingdome in reversion Feare not little flocke 't is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdome Though Saints have little in hand yet they have much in hope you count those happy in a worldly sense that have much in reversion though they have but little in possession and wil you count the Saints miserable because they have little in hand little in possession though they have a glorious Kingdome in reversion of this I am sure the poorest Saint that breaths wil not exchange were it in his power that which hee hath in hope and in reversion for the possession of as many worlds as there be stars in Heaven or sands in the Sea c. The second Remedie against this device 2. Remedie of Satan is to consider that in all ages God hath had some that have been great rich wise and honourable that have chosen his wayes and cleaved to his service in the face of all difficulties Good Nobles saith one are like black swans and thinly scattered in the firmament of a state even like stars in the first mâ—gnitude yet some God hath had in al ages as might be shewed out of Histories though not many wise men yet some wise men have and though not many mighty yet some mighty have and though not many noble yet some noble have witnesse Abraham and Jacob and Job and severall Kings and others that the Scriptures speak of and ah how many have we among our selves whose soules have cleaved to the Lord and who have swum to his service through the blood of the slain and who have counted their lives dear unto them that they and others might injoy the holy things of Christ according to the mind and heart of Christ c. The third Remedie against this device 3 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that the spiritual riches of the poorest Saints do infinitely transcend the temporall riches of all the wicked men in the Alexanders vast mind enquired if there were any more worlds to conquer world their spirituall riches do satisfie them they can sit downe satisfied with the riches of grace that be in Christ without honours and without riches c. He that drinks of that water that I shall give him shall thirst no more The riches of poor Saints are durable they will bed and board with them they Crassus was so rich that he maintained an Army with his own revenues yet he his great Army with his son and heire sell together and left his great estate to others will goe to the Prison to a sick bed to a grave yea to Heaven with them The spirituall riches of poore Saints are as wine to cheer them and as bread to strengthen them and as cloathes to warme them and as Armour to protect them Now all you that know any thing do know that the riches of this world cannot satisfie the soules of men and they are as fading as a flower or as the owners of them are c. The fourth Remedie against this device 4 Remedie is seriously to consider that though the Saints considered comparatively are few though they be a little little flocke a Luke 12. 32. remnant a garden enclosed a spring shut up Cant. 4. 12. a fountaine sealed though they are as the Summer gleanings though they are one of a City and two of a Tribe though they be Ier. 3. 14. but a handfull to a house-full a sparke to a flame a drop to the Ocean yet consider them simply in themselves and so they are an innumerable number that cannot be numbred as John speaketh After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number of all Nations Rev. 7. 9. and kindred and people and tongues stood before the Throne and before the Lambe cloathed with white robes and palmes in their hands So Matth. speaks And I say Mat. 8. 11. Hebr. 12. 22 23. When Fulgentius saw the Nobility of Rome sit mounted in their bravery it mounted his meditation to the heavenly Jerusalem unto you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven So Paul But ye are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angells To the generall assembly and Church of the first borne which are written in Heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect The fifth Remedie against this device 5 Remedie of Satan is seriously to consider that 't will be but as a day before these poor despised Saints shall shine brighter then the Sun in her glory 't will not be long before you will wish oh that we were now among the poor meane despised ones in the day that God comes to make up his jewells 'T will not be long before these poor few Saints shall be lifted up upon their Thrones to judge the multitude the world
would be mighty in believing and in wrestling with God that he would hasten the day of his glory that the reproach that is now upon his people and wayes may cease The sixth Device that Satan 6 Device hath to keepe soules off from religious services is BY presenting before them the examples Iohn 4. 12. 7. Chap. 48 49. 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. Mica 7. 2 3 4. of the greatest part of the world that walk in the wayes of their owne hearts and that make light and slight of the wayes of the Lord why saith Satan do not you see that the great and the rich the noble and the honourable the learned and the wise even the greatest number of men never trouble themselves about such and such wayes and why then should you be singular and nice you were far better doe as the most doe c. Now the remedies against this Device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this device 1 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider of those Scriptures that make directly against following the sinfull examples of men as that in Exodus Thou shalt not The way to hell is broad and well beaten the way to be undone for ever is to do as the most do argumentum turpissimum est turba the multitude is the weakest and worst argument saith Seneca follow a multitude to doe evill neither shalt thou speake in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgement The multitude generally are ignorant and know not the way of the Lord therefore they speake evill of that they know not they are envious and maliciously bent against the service and way of God and therefore they cannot speak well of the wayes of God This way is every where spoken against said they so in that Numb 16. Seperate from them and come out from among them So the Apostle Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkenesse So Solomon Enter not into the way Prov. 4. 14. ch 9. v. 6. of the wicked for sake the foolish and live They that walke with the most shall pâ—rish with the most They that do as the most shall ere long suffer with the most they that live as the most must dye with the most and to hell with the most The second Remedie against this device 2 Remedie of Satan is seriously to consider that if you will sin with the multitude all the Angells in heaven and men on earth cannot keep you from suffering Sin and punishment are linked together with chains of adamant of sinn we may say as Isidore doth of the serpent Tot dolores quot colores so many colours so many dolours with the multitude if you wil be wicked with them you must unavoidably be miserable with them say to thy soule oh my soul if thou wilt sin with the multitude thou must be shut out of heaven with the multitude thou must be cast downe to hell with the multitude c. And I heard another voyce from Heaven saying come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Come out in affection in action and in habitation for else the infection of sin will bring upon you the infliction of punishment So saith the wise man He that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fooles shall be destroyed or as the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ieroange from ruange to be naught hath it shall be broken in pieces Multitudes may help thee into sin yea one may draw thee into sin but 't is not multitudes that can help thee to escape punishments As you may see in Moses and Aaron that were provoked to sinne by the multitude but were shut out of the pleasant Land and fell by a hand of Justice as well as others The third Remedie against this device 3. Remedy of Satan is solemnly to consider the worth and excellency of thy immortall soule Thy soul is a jewell more worth What wise man would fetch gold out of a fieâ—y crucible hazard his immortall soule to gain the world by following a multitude in those steps that lead to the chambers of death and darknesse then heaven and earth The losse of thy soule is incomparable irreparable and irrecoverable if that be lost all is lost and thou art undone for ever Is it madnesse and folly in a man to kill himselfe for company and is it not greater madnesse or folly to break the neck of thy soule and to damn it for company Suspect that way wherein thou seest multitudes to walk the multitude being a stream that thou must row hard against or thou wilt be carried into that gulfe out of which Angells cannot deliver thee Is it not better to walke in a strait way alone then to wander into crooked wayes with company sure 't is better to goe to Heaven alone then to Hell with company I might adde other things but these may suffice for the present and I am afraid if these arguments do not stir you other arguments will work but little upon you The seventh Device that Satan 7 Device hath to keepe soules from holy and heavenly services is BY casting in a multitude of vaine thoughts whilst the soule is in seeking of God or in waiting on God and by this device he hath cooled some mens spirits in heavenly services and taken off at least for a time many precious Vellem servire Domine sed cogitationes non patiuntur Lord now how fain would I serve thee vaine thoughts will not suffer me soules from religious performances I have no heart to heare nor no heart to pray nor no delight in reading nor in the society of the Saints c. Satan doth so dog and follow my soule and is still a casting in such a multitude of vaine thoughts concerning God the world and my own soule c. that I even tremble to think of waiting upon God in any religious service oh the vaine thoughts that Satan casts in do so distast my soule and so grieve vex perplex and distract my soule that they even make me weary of holy duties yea of mâ— very life oh I cannot be so raised and ravished so heated and melted so quickned and enlarged so comforted and refreshed as I should be as I might be and as I would be in religious services by reason of that multitude of vain thoughts that Satan is injecting or casting into my soule c. Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this device 1 Remedie When Pompey could not keep his souldiers in the camp by perswasion he cast himselfe all along in the narrow passage that lead out of it and then bid them goe if you will but you shall first trample upon your Generall and the thoughts of this overcame them you are wise know how to apply it to
the point in hand of Satan is to have your hearts strongly affected with the greatnesse holinesse Majesty and glory of that God before whom you stand and with whom your souls do converse in religious services Oh! let your souls be greatly affected with the presence purity and majesty of that God before whom thou standest A man would be afraid of playing with a feather when he is speaking to a King ah when men have poor low light slight c. thoughts of God in their drawing neer to God they tempt the Devill to bestir himselfe and to cast in a multitude of vaine thoughts to disturb and distract the soul in its waiting on God There is nothing that will contribute so much to the keeping out of vaine thoughts as to looke upon God as an omniscient God an omnipresent God an omnipotent God a God full of all glorious perfections a God whose Majestie purity and glory wil not suffer him to behold the least iniquity The reason why the blessed Saints and glorious Angells in Heaven have not so much as one vaine thought is because they are greatly affected with the greatnesse holinesse majesty purity and glory of God The second Remedie against this Device 2 Remedy of Satan is to be peremptory in religious services notwithstanding all those wandering thoughts the soule It is a rule in the civil Law nec videtur actum siquid supersit quod agatur nothing seems to be done if there remains ought to be done is troubled with This will be a sweet help against them for the soul to be resolute in waiting on God whether it be troubled with vain thoughts or not to say wel I will pray still and heare still and meditate still and keep fellowship with the Saints still many precious soules can say from experience that when their soules have been peremptory in their waiting on God that Satan hath left them and hath not been so busie in vexing their soules with vaine thoughts when Satan perceives that all Si dixisti suffisit periisti iâ— once thou sayest 't is enough thou art undone saith Augustin those trifling vain thoughts that he casts into the soule do but vex the soule into greater diligence carefulnesse watchfulnesse and peremptorinesse in holy and heavenly services and that the soul looses nothing of his zeale piety and devotion but doubles his care diligence and earnestnesse he often ceases to interpose his triflles vain thoughts as he ceased to tempt Christ when Christ was peremptory in resisting his temptations The third Remedie against this device 3. Remedy of Satan is to consider this that those vaine and trifling thoughts that are cast 'T is not Satans casting in of vaine thoughts that can keepe mercie from the soule or undoe the soul but the lodging and cherishing of vaine thoughts oh Ierusalem how long shall vain thoughts lodg within thee â—er 4. 14. Heb. in the midst of thee they passe through the best hearts they are lodged and cherished only in the worst hearts into our soules when we are waiting upon God in this or that religious service if they are not cherished and indulged but abhorred resisted and disclaimed they are not sins upon our soules though they may be troubles to our mindes they shall not be put upon our accounts nor keep mercies and blessings from being injoyed by us when a soule in uprightnesse can look God in the face and say Lord when I approach neer unto thee there be a world of vain thoughts croud in upon me that do disturb my soule and weaken my faith and lessen my comfort and spirituall strength oh these are my clog my burden my torment my hell oh do justice upon these free me from these that I may serve thee with more freenesse singlenesse spiritualnesse and sweetnesse of spirit These thoughts may vexe that soule but they shall not harm that soul nor keep a blessing from that soule If vaine thoughts resisted and lamented could stop the current of mercie and render a soule unhappy there would be none on earth that should ever tast of mercy or be everlastingly happy c. The fourth Remedy against this device 4 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that watching against sinfull thoughts resisting of sinfull thoughts lamenting and weeping over sinfull thoughts carries Psal 139. 23. Thoughts are the first born the blossomes of the soul the beginning of our strength whether for good or evill and they are the greatest evidence for or against a man that can be with it the sweetest and strongest evidence of the truth and power of grace and of the sincerity of your hearts and is the readiest and the surest way to be rid of them many low and carnal considerations may worke men to watch their words their lives their actions As hope of gaine or to please friends or to get a name in the world and many other such like considerations oh but to watch our thoughts to weep and lament over them c. this must needs be from some noble spiritual and internal principle as love to God a holy fear of God a holy care and delight to please the Lord c. The Schools do well observe that outward sinnes are of greater Majoris infamiae Majoris reatus infamy but inward heart sinnes are of greater guilt as wee see in the Devills There is nothing that speaks out a man to be throughly and kindly wrought upon as his having his thoughts to be 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. brought into obedience as the Apostle speaks Grace is growen up to a very great height in that soule where it prevailes to the subduing of those vaine thoughts that walk up and down in the the soule well though you cannot be Psal 139. 2. Isa 59. 7. ch 66. 18. Mat. 9. 4. ch 12. 25. Zenâ— a wise heathen affirmed that God even beheld the thoughts Mat. 15. 15 16 17 18 19. rid of them yet make resistance and opposition against the first risings of them when sinfull thoughts arise then thinke thus the Lord takes notice of these thoughts he knows them afar off as the Psalmist speaks he knew Herods bloody thoughts and Judas his betraying thoughts and the Pharisees cruell and blasphemous thoughts afarre off oh think thus all these sinfull thoughts they defile and pollute the soule they deface and spoyle much of the inward beauty and glory of the soule if I commit this or that sinne to which my thoughts incline me then either I must Tears in stead of Gems were the ornaments of Davids bed when he had sinned so they mâ—st be thine or else thou must lie downe in a bed of sorrow forever repent or not repent if I repent it will câ—st me more griefe sorrow shame heart-breaking and soul-bleeding before my conscience will be quieted divine Justice pacified my comfort and joy restored my evidences cleared and my pardon in the Court of Conscience sealed then
the imagined profit or seeming sensuall pleasure can be worth What fruit had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed If I never repent oh then my sinfull Inward bleeding kils many a man so will sinfull thoughts if not repented of thoughts will be the Scorpions that wil eternally vex me the rods that will eternally lash me the thorns that will everlastingly prick me the dagger that will be eternally a stabbing mee the worme that will be for ever a gnawing me oh therefore watch against them be constant in resisting them anâ— in lamenting and weeping over them and then they shall not hurt thee though they may for a time trouble thee and remember this he that doth this doth more then the most glistering and blustering Hypocrite in the world doth The fifth Remedie against this device 5. Remedy Ephes 3. 19. The words are an hebraisme the Hebrews when they would set out many excellent things they add the name of God to it City of God Cedars of God wrestlings of God so here that ye may be filled with the fulnesse of God of Satan is to labour more and more to be filled with the fulnesse of God and to be inriched with all spirituall and heavenly things what 's the reason that the Angells in heaven have not so much as an idle thought 't is because they are filled with the fulnesse of God take it for an experienced truth the more the soule is filled with the fulnesse of God and inriched with spirituall and heavenly things the lesse room there is in that soule for vaine thoughts The fuller the vessel is of wine the lesse room there is for water Oh! lay up much of God of Christ of precious promises and choise experiences in your hearts and then you wil be lesse troubled with vain thoughts A good man out of the good treasure Mat. 12. 3. of his heart bringeth forth good things 6. Remedy The sixth Remedie against this device of Satan is to keep up holy and spirituall affections for such as your affections are such will be your thoughts Oh! Psal 119. 97. Psal 139. 8. how I love thy law 't is my meditation all the day what we love most we most muse upon when I awake I am still with thee That which wee much like wee shall much mind them that are frequent in their love to God and his law wil be frequent in thinking of God and his Simile law a childe will not forget his mother The seventh Remedie against this device 7. Remedie 2 Tim. 2. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is entangled it is a comparison which St Paul borroweth from the custome of the Roman Empire wherein soldiers were forbidden to be proctors of other mens causes to undertake husbandry or Merchandize of Satan is to avoid multiplicity of wordly businesse oh let not the world take up your hearts thoughts at other times soules that are torne In pieces with the cares of the world will be alwayes vexed and tormented with vain thoughts in all their approaches to God vain thoughts will be still crouding in upon him that lives in a croud of businesse The stars which have least circuit are neerest the Pole and men that are least perplexed with businesse are commonly nearest to God The eighth Device that Satan 8 Device hath to keepe soules from religious services from holy performances is BY working them to rest in their performances to rest in prayer and to rest in hearing reading and the communion Isa 58. 1 2 3. Zech. 7. 4 5 6. Mat 6. 2. Rom. 17. of Saints c. and when Satan hath drawn the soul to rest upon the service done then he will help the soul to reason thus why thou wert as good never pray as to pray and rest in prayer as good never heare as to heare and rest in hearing as good never be in the communion of Saints as to rest in the communion of Saints and by this device he stops many soules in their heavenly race and takes off poor soules from those services that should be their joy and Crown Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this device 1 Remedie of Satan is to dwell much upon the imperfections and weaknesses that Pride and high confidence is most apt to creep in upon duties wel done saith one doe attend your choisest services oh the spots the blots the blemishes that are to be seen upon the face of our fairest duties when thou hast done all thou canst thou hast need to close up all with this Oh! enter not into judgement with thy servant oh Lord for the weaknesses that cleave to my best services we may all Isa 64. 6. say with the Church All our righteousnesses are as a menstruous cloath If God should be strict to marke what is done amisse in our best actions wee were undone Oh! the water that is mingled with our wine the drosse that cleaves unto our Gold The second Remedie against this device 2 Remedie of Satan is to consider the impotency and inability of any of your bâ—st services divinely to comfort refresh and beare your soules up from fainting and sinking in the dayes of troubles when darkenesse is round about you when God shall say to you as he did 10. 14. once to the Israelites Goe and cry unto the gods that you have chosen let them save you in the time of your tribulation So when God shall say in the day of your troubles goe to your prayers to your hearing and to your fasting c. and see if they can help you if they can support you if they can deliver you if God in that day doth but with-hold the influence of his grace from thee thy former services will be but poore cordiallâ— to comfort thee and then thou must and wilt cry out oh none but Christ none Omne bonum in summo bono all good is in the chiefest good Nec Christus nec coelum patitur hyperbolen but Christ oh my prayers are not Christ my hearing is not Christ my fasting is not Christ c. oh one smile of Christ one glimps of Christ one good word from Christ on nod of love from Christ in the day of trouble and darknesse will more revive and refresh the soule then all your former services in which your soules rested as if they were the bosome of Christ which should be the only center of our soules Christ is the Crowne of Crownes the glory of glories and the heaven of heaven The third Remedie against this device 3 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that good things rested upon will as certainly undoe us and everlastingly destroy us as the greatest enormities that can be committed by us those soules that after they have done all doe not look up so high as a Christ and rest and center alone in Christ laying
I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did beare the reproach of my youth Ephraim is my deare sonne he is a pleasant child for since I spake against him I doe earnestly remember him still therefore my bowells are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. God can look sowrly and chide bitterly and strike heavily even where and when he loves dearly The hand of God was very much against Job and yet his love his heart was very much set upon Job as you may see by comparing the 2. first chap. of Iob with the two last The hand of God was sore against David and Jonah when his heart was much set upon them He that shall conclude that the heart of God is against those that his hand is against will condemne the generation of the just whom God unjustly would not have condemned The third Remedie against this device 3 Remedie of Satan is to consider that all the crosse providences that befall the Saints are but in order to some noble good that God doth intend to conferre upon them Providence wrote crosse to Davids desire in taking away the child sinfully begotten but yet not crosse to a more noble good for was it not farre better for David to have such a legitimate Heire as Solomon was then that a Bastard should weare the Crown and sway the Scepter Joseph you know was sold into a far Country by the envy and malice of his brethren and afterwards imprisoned because he would not be a prisoner to his Mistrisses lusts yet all these cross providences did wonderfully conduce to his advancement and the preservation of his Fathers family which was then the visible Church of Christ It was so ordered by a noble hand of providence that what they sought to decline they did promote Joseph was therefore sold by his brethren that he might not be worshipped and yet he was therefore worshipped because he was sold David was designed to a Kingdome but oh the straits troubles and deaths that he run through before he feels the weight of the Crown and all this was but in order to the sweetning of his Crown and to the setling of it more firmly and gloriously upon his head God did so contrive it that Jonah's offence and those crosse actings of his that did attend it should advantage that end which they seemed most directly The motions of divine providence are so dark so deep so changeable that the wisest and noblest soules cannot tell what conclusions to make to oppose Jonah he flies to Tanshish then cast into the Sea then saved by a miracle Then the Marriners as is very probable who cast Jonah into the Sea declared to the Ninivites what had hapned therefore he must be a man sent of God and that his threatnings must be beleeved and hearkned to and therefore they must repent and humble themselves that the wrath threatned might not be executed c. The fourth Remedy against this device 4 Remedie of Satan is seriously to consider that all the strange dark deep and changeable providences that Believers meet with shall further them in their way to heaven in their journey to happinesse divine wisdome and love will so order all things here below that they shall work for the reall internall and eternall good of them that love him All the rugged providences that David met with did contribute to the Orosius speaking of Valentinian saith he that for Christs name sake had lost a Tribune ship within a while after succeeded his persecutor in the Empire bringing of him to the Throne and all the rugged promises that Daniel and the three children met with did contribute to their great advancement So all the rugged providences that Believers meet with they shall all contribute to the lifting up of their soules above all things below God As the waters lifted up Noah's Ark nearer Heaven and as all the stones that were about Stevens eares did but knock him the closer to Christ the corner-stone so all the strange rugged providences that we meet with they shall raise us nearer Heaven and knock us neerer to Christ that precious corner-stone c. The fourth Device that Satan 4 Device hath to keep the soule in a sad doubting questioning condition is BY suggesting to them that their graces are not true but counterfeit saith Satan all is not gold that glisters all is not grace that you count grace that you call grace that which Yet it must be granted that many a fair flower may grow out of a stinking root and many sweet dispositions and fair actions may be where there is onely the corrupt root of nature you call faith is but a fancy and that which you call zeal is but unnaturall heat and passion and that light you have 't is but common 't is short to what many have attained to that are now in hell c. Satan doth not labour more mightily to perswade hypocrites that their graces are true when they are counterfeit then he doth to perswade precious souls that their graces are counterfeit when indeed they are true and such as will abide the touch-stone of Christ c. Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this device of Satan is seriously to consider that grace is taken two wayes First 't is taken for the gracious good will and favour of God whereby he is pleased of his owne free love to accept of some in Christ for his owne This some call the first grace because 't is the fountaine of all other graces and the Spring from whence they flow and it 's therefore called grace because it makes a man gracious with God but this is only in God Secondly grace is taken for the gifts of grace and they are of two sorts common or special Some are common to Beleevers and hypocrites as a gift of knowledge a gift of prayer c. Gal. 5. 22 23. Some are special graces and they are proper and peculiar to the Saints as faith humility meeknesse love patience c. The second Remedie against this device 2 Remedie of Satan is wisely to consider the differences betwixt renuing grace and God brings not a paire of scales to weigh our graces but a touch-stone to try our graces Purity preciousness holines is stampt upon all saving graces Acts 15. 9. 2 Pet. 1. 1. Iude 20. restraining grace betwixt sanctifyng grace and temporary grace and this I shall shew you in these following particulars 1. True grace makes all glorious within and without The Kings daughter is all glorious within her raiment is of wrought gold True grace makes the underastanding glorious the will glorious the affections glorious it casts a generall glory upon all the noble parts of the soule The Kings daughter is all glorious within And as it makes the inside glorious so it makes the out-side glorious Her cloathing
is of wrought gold it makes men looke gloriously and speak gloriously and walke and act gloriously so that vaine souls shall be Acts 4. vers 8. to vers 15. forced to say that these are they that have seen Jesus as grace is a fire to burn up and consume the drosse and filth of the soule so it is an ornament to 2 Cor. 5. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a new creation new Adam new Covenant new Paradise new Creation new Lord new Law new hearts new natures go together beautifie and adorn the soule True grace makes all new the inside new and the out-side new If any man be in Christ he is a new creature but temporary grace doth not this True grace changes the very nature of a man morall vertue doth only restrain or chain up the outward man it doth not change the whole man a Lion in a grate is a Lion still he is restrained but not changed for he retains his Lion-like nature still so temporary graces restraine many men from this and that wickedness but it doth not change and turn their hearts from wickednesse but now true grace that turnes a Lion into a Lamb as you may see in Paul Acts 9. and a notorious strumpet into a blessed and glorious Penitent as you may see in Mary Magdalen c. Luke 7. 2. The objects of true grace are supernaturall true grace is conversant about the choisest and the highest objects 2 Cor. 4. 18. chap. 11. Hebr. 15. Prov. 14. A Saint hath his feet where other mens heads are Matth. 6. about the most soul-enobling and soul-greatning objects as God Christ precious promises that are more worth then a world and a Kingdome that shakes not a Crown of glory that withers not and Heavenly treasures that rust not The objects of temporary grace are low and poor and alwayes within the compasse of reasons reach 3. True grace inables a Christian when he is himselfe to do spirituall actions with reall pleasure and delight To souls truly gracious Christs yoke is Mat. 11. 30. 1 John 5. 3. Rom. 7. 22. easie and his burden is light his commandements are not grievous but joyous I delight in the law of God after the inward man saith Paul the blessed man is described by this that he delights in the law Psal 1. 2. of the Lord 'T is joy to the just to doe judgment Prov. 21. 15. saith Solomon To a gracious soul all the wayes of the Lord are pleasantnesse and his paths are peace But to souls that have but temporary grace but morall vertues religious services are a toile not a pleasure a burden and not a delight Wherefore have we fasted say they Isa 58. 3. and thou seest not wherefore have wee afflicted Mal. 3. 14. our soules and thou takest no knowledg c. Yee have said say those in Malachi it is vaine to serve God and what profit is it that wee have kept his Ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts When will the new Moone be gone say those in Amos that Amos 8. 5. we may sell corne and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat making the Epha small and the shekell great and falsifying the balances by deceit Fourthly True grace makes a man most carefull and most fearfull of his owne heart it makes him most studious about his owne heart informing that examining that and P 〈…〉 51. 10. Psal 119. 36. 80. Psal 139. 23. Psal 86. 11. Matth. 23. watching over that but temporary grace morall vertues make men more mindfull and carefull of others to instruct them and counsell them and stir up them and watch over them c. which doth with open mouth demonstrate that their graces are not saving and peculiar to Saints but that they are temporary and no more then what Judus Demas and the Pharisees had c. 5. Grace will work a mans heart to love and cleave to the strictest and hâ—liest wayes and things of God for their purity and sanctity in the face of all dangers and hardships Thy word is very Psal 119. 140. pure therefore thy servant loveth it others love it and like it and follow it for the credit the honour the advantage that they get by it but I love it for the spirituall beauty and purity of it So the Psalmist All this is come upon us Psal 44. 17 18 19. Grace is a panoply against all troubles a paradise of all pleasures yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned backe neither have our steps declined from thy way Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadowes of death But temporary grace that will not beare up the soule against all oppositions and discouragements in the wayes of God as is cleare by their apostacie in that sixt Mat. 13. 20 21. of John and by the stony grounds falling away c. 6. True grace will inable a man to step over the worlds Crown to take up Christs Crosse to preferre the crosse of Christ above the glory and bravery of this world It inabled Abraham and Moses and Daniel with those other Heb. 11. Worthies in the 11. of the Hebrews to do so Godfrey of Bullen first King of Jerusalem refused to be crowned with a Crown of Gold saying that it became Few are of Hieroms mind that had rather have St. Pauls coate with his heavenly graces then the purple of Kings with their Kingdoms 2 Tim. 4. 10. Mat. 19. 20 21 22. The King of Navarr told Beza that in the cause of Religion hee would launch no further into the Sea then he might be sure to return safe to the Haven not a Christian to weare a Crowne of Gold where Christ had wore a Crown of thornes oh but temporary grace cannot work the soul to prefer Christs crosse above the worlds Crowne but when these two meet a temporary Christian steps over Christs crosse to take up and keep up the worlds crown Demas hath for saken us to embrace this present world So the young man in the Gospel had many good things in him he bid fair for Heaven and came neer to Heaven but when Christ set his Crosse before him he steps over that to enjoy the worlds Crown When Christ bid him goe and sell all that he had and give to the poor c. He went away sorrowfull for he had great possessions If Heaven be to be had upon no other terms Christ may keep his Heaven to himselfe hee 'l have none c. Then in the seventh place consider this that sanctifying grace renewing grace puts the soule upon spirituall duties from spirituall and intrinsical motives as from the sense of divine love that doth constrain the soul to wait on As what I have if offered to thee pleaseth not thee oh Lord without my selfe
so the good things we have from thee though they may refresh us yet they satisfie us not without thy self Ber. It is an excellent speech of Bernard bonus es domine animae quaerenti quid invenienti Good art thou oh Lord to the soule that seeks thee what art thou then to the soul that finds thee God and to act for God and the sense of the excellency and sweetness of communion with God and the choise and precious discoveries that the soule hath formerly had of the beauty and glory of God whilst it hath been in the service of God The good looks the good words the blessed love-letters the glorious kisses and the sweet embraces that gracious soules have had from Christ in his service do provoke and move them to waite upon him in holy duties ah but restraining grace temporall grace that puts men upon religious duties only from externall motives as the eare of the creature the eye of the creature the rewards of the creature the keeping up of a name amongst the creatures and a thousand such like considerations as you may see in Saul Jehu Judas Demas and the Scribes and Pharisees c. The Abbot in Melancton lived strictly and walked demurely and look'd humbly so long as hee was but a Monke but when by his seeming extraordinary sanctity he got to be Abbot hee grew intollerable proud and insolent and being asked the reason of it confessed that his former lowly look was but to see if he could find the keyes of the Abbie Such poore low vaine motives work temporary soules to all the service they do perform c. 8. Saving grace renewing grace wil cause a man to follow the Lord fully in the desertion of all â—in and in the observation of all Gods precepts Joshua and Numb 14. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath fulfilled after me a metaphor taken from a ship under saile that is strongly carried with the wind as fearing neither rocks nor sands Luke 1. 5 6. Rev. 14. 4. Mat. 23. 23. Caleb followed the Lord fully Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous before God and walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse The Saints in the Revelation are described by this that they follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes but restraining grace temporary grace cannot enable a man to follow the Lord fully all that temporary grace can enable a man to do is to follow the Lord partially unevenly and haltingly as you may see in Jehu Herod Iudas and the Scribes and Pharisees who paid tithe of Mint and Anise and Cumming but omittted the weighty matters of the Law Judgement Mercy and faith c. True grace works the heart to the Psal 119. 104. 128. I had rather goe to hell pure from sin then to Heaven polluted with that filth saith Anselm hatred of all sin and to the love of all truth it works a man to the hatred of those sins that for his blood he cannot conquer and to loath those sins that he would give all the world to overcome So that a soule truly gracious can say though there be no one sinne mortified and subdued in mee as it should and as I would yet every sinne is hated and loathed by me So a soule truly gracious can say though I doe not obey any one command as I should and as I would yet every word is sweet every command of God is precious dearly prize and greatly love those Da quod jubes jube quâ—d vis give what thou commandest and command what thou wilâ— Psal 119. 119. 127. 167. verses commands that I cannot obey though there be many commands that I cannot in a strict sense fulfill yet there is no command I would not fulfill that I do not exceedingly love I love thy commandements above gold above fine gold My soule hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly 9. True grace leads the soule to rest in Christ as in his summum bonum chiefest good it works the soul to center in Christ as in his highest and ultimate end Whether should we goe thou hast 〈◊〉 6. 68. Cant. 5. 10. Cant. 3. 4. Grace is that star that leads to Christ 't is that cloud pillarâ— of fire that leads the soule to that heavenly Canaan where Christ siâ—s chiefe the worlds of eternall life My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand I found him whom my soule loved I held him and would not let him goe That wisdome a Beleever hath from Christ it leads him to center in the wisdome of Christ and that love the soule hath from Christ it leads the soule to center in the love of Christ and that Righteousnesse the soule hath from Christ it leads the soule to rest and center in the Righteousnesse of Christ 1 Cor. 1. 30. Phil. 3. 9. True grace is a beame of Christ and where it is it will naturally lead the soul to rest in Christ The streame doth not more naturally lead to the fountain nor the effect to the cause then true grace leads the soule to Christ But restraining grace temporary grace works the soule to center and rest in things below Christ Sometimes it works the soule to center in the prayses of the creature sometimes to rest in Mat. 6. 1 2. Zach. 7. 5 6. the rewards of the creature verily they have their reward saith Christ and so in a hundred other things c. 10. True grace will inable a soule to sit down satisfied and contented with the naked enjoyments of Christ The Cui cum paupertate bene convenit pauper non est saith Seneca A contented man cannot be a poor man enjoyment of Christ without honour will satisfie the soule the enjoyment of Christ without riches the enjoyments of Christ without pleasures and without the smiles of creatures will content and satisfie the soule 'T is enough Joseph is alive So saith a gracious soule though honour is not and riches are not and health is not and Charles the great his Motto was Christus regnat vincit triumphat And so 't is the Saints friends are not c. It is enough that Christ is that he reigns conquers and triumphs Christ is the pot of Mannah the cruice of oyle a bottomlesse ocean of all comfort content and satisfaction hee that hath him wants nothing he that wants him enjoys nothing having nothing saith Paul and yet possessing 2 Cor. 6. 10. Saint Austine upon Psal 12. brings in God rebuking a discontented Christian thus what is thy faith have I promised thee these things what wert thou made a Christian that thou shouldst flourish here in this world all things Oh! but a man that hath but temporary grace that hath but restraining grace cannot sit downe satisfied and contented under the wanâ— of outward comforts Christ is good with honours saith such a soule and Christ is good with riches and Christ is good with pleasures and he is
good with such and such outward contents I must have Christ and the world or else with the young man in the Gospel in soight of my soule I shall forsake Christ to follow the world Ah! how many shining Professors be there in the world that cannot sit down satisfied and contented under the want of this or that outward comfort and content but are like Bedlams fretting and vexing raging and madding as if there were no God no Heaven no Hell nor no Christ to make up all such outward wants to soules I but a soule truly gracious can Content is the deputy of outward felicity supplies the place where its absent As the Jews throw the book of Hester to the ground before they read it because the name of God is not in it as the Rabbins have observed So do Saints in some sense those mercies wherein they do not read Christs name see Christs heart Luther said he had rather be in hell with Christ then in heaven without him say In having nothing I have all things because I have Christ having therefore all things in him I seek no other reward for hee is the universall reward such a soule can say nothing is sweet to me without the enjoyment of Christ in it honours nor riches nor the smiles of creatures are not sweet to me no further then I see Christ and tast Christ in them the confluence of all outward good cannot make a Heaven of glory in my soule if Christ who is the top of my glory be absent As Absolom said What is all this to mee so long as I cannot see the Kings face so saith the soule what do you tell me of this and that outward comfort when I cannot see his face whom my soul loves why my honour is not my Christ nor riches is not Christ nor the favour of the creature is not Christ let me have him and let the men of this world take the world divide it amongst themselves I prize my Christ above all I would injoy my Christ before all other things in the world his presence will make up the absence of all other comforts and his absence will darken and embitter all my comforts so that my comforts will neither taste like comforts nor look like comforts nor warm like comforts c. when hee that should Lam. 1. 16. comfort my soule stands a far off c. Christ is all and in all to soules truly gracious we have all things in Christ and Christ is all things to a Christian Coloss 3. 11. None but Christ none but Christ said Lambers listing up his hands and his singers ends flaming if we be sick he is a Physician if wee thirst he is a fountaine if our sinnes trouble us he is righteousnesse if wee stand in need of help he is mighty to save if we feare death he is life if we be in darknesse he is light if we be weake he is strength if we be in poverty he is plenty if we desire Heaven he is the way The soule cannot say this I would have and that I would have but saith Christ 't is in me 't is in me eminently perfectly eternally The fifth Device that Satan 5 Device hath to keepe soules in a sad doubting and questioning condition is BY suggesting to them that that condict Iohn 8. 44. The Devill is a lyar and â—he Father of it The Devils breasts saith Luther â—re very fruitfull with lies that is in them is not a conflict that is onely in Saints but such a conflict that is to be found in hypocrites and prophane soules when the truth is there is as much difference betwixt the conflict that is in them and that which is in wicked men as there is betwixt light and darknesse betwixt Heaven and Hâ—ll And the truth of this I shall evidence to you in the following particulars 1. The whole frame of a Bâ—leevers soul is against sin understanding will and affections all the powers and faculties 'T was a good prayer of him that said Domine libera me a malo homine meipso Lord deliver mee from an ill man my selfe Austine complains that men doe not tame the beasts in their own bosomes Rom. 2. 21 22 23. of the soule are in armes against sin A covetous man may condemne covetousnesse and yet the frame and bent of his heart may be to it a proud person may condemn pride and yet the frame of his spirit may be to it the drunkard may condemne drunkennesse and yet the frame of his spirit may be to it a man may condemn stealing and lying and yet the frame of his heart may be to it Thou that preachest a man should not steale dost thou steale Thou that sayest a man should not commit Adultery dost thou commit Adultery Thou that abâ—orrest idols dost thou commit sacriledg Thou that makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the law dishonourest thou God But a Saints will is against it The evill that I would not doe I doe and his affections are against Rom. 7. 19. 17. it what I hate I doe 2. A Saint conflicts against sin universally Psal 119. 104. I hate every false way Sanethi from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to hate with a deadlyly and irreconciliable hatred the least as well as the greatest the most profitable and the most pleasing sin as well as against â—hose that are lesse pleasing and profitable he will combate with all though he cannot conquer one as he should and as he would he knowes that all sin strikes at Gods holiness as well as his own happiness at Gods glory as well as at his soules comfort and peace He knows that all sinne is hatefull to God and that all sinns are Traytors to the Crown and dignity of the Lord Jesus He looks upon one sin and sees He knows that all the parts of the old man hath and doth play the part of a treacherous friend and a friendly traytor therefore his heart strikes at all The greater the combat is the greater shall be the following rewards saith Tertullian that that threw down Noah the most righteous man in the world and hee looks upon another sinne and sees that that cast down Abraham the greatest beleever in the world and he looks upon another sinne and sees that that threw down David the best King in the world and he looks upon another sin and sees that that cast down Paul the greatest Apostle in the world He sees that one sinne threw down Sampson the strongest man in the world another cast down Solomon the wisest man in the world and another Moses the meekest man in the world and another sinn cast downe Job the patientest man in the world and this raises a holy indignation in his soule against all so that nothing can satisfie and content True hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the whole kind Plutarch reports of one who would not
houre to have A pardon given unexpectedly into the hand of a malefactor when he is on the last stâ—p of the ladder ready to be turn'd off will cause muâ—h joy rejoycing the newnesse and suddennesse of the change of his condition will cause his heart to leap and rejoyce yet in proces of time much of his joy will â—e abaâ—ed tho his liâ—e be as dâ—aâ— to him still as ever it was his night turn'd into day his darknesse turn'd into light his bitter into sweet Gods frownes into smiles his hatred into love his hell into a Heaven must greatly joy and comfort him It cannot but make his heart to leap and dance in him who in one houre shall see Satan accusing him his owne heart condemning him the eternall God frowning upon him the gates of Heaven bar'd against him all the creation standing armed at the least beck of God to execute vengeance on him and the mouth of the infernall pit open to receive him Now in this hour for Christ to come to the amazed soule and say to it I have trod the Winâ—-presse of my Fathers wrath for thee I have laid down my life a ransome for thee by my blood I have satisfied my Fathers Justice and pacified his anger and procured his love for thee by my blood I have purchased the pardon of thy sins thy freedom from hell and thy right to Heaven c. Oh! how wonderfully will this cause the soule to leap for joy The fifth Remedy against this Device 5 Remedie of Satan is to consider that God will restore and make up the comforts of his people though thy candle be put out Hudson the Martyr deserted at the stake went from under his chain and having prayed earnestly was comforted immediately and suffered valiantly So Mr. Glover when he was within sight of the stake cryed out to his friend he is come he is come meaning the comforter that Christ promised to send yet God will light it againe and make it burn more light then ever though thy sun for the present be clouded yet he that rides upon the clouds shall scatter those clouds and cause the sun to shine and warm thy heart as in formâ—r dayes as the Psalmist speakes a Ps 71. 20 21. Thou which hast shewed me great and sâ—re troubles shalt quicken me againe and shalt bring me up againe from the depths of the earth Thou shalt increase my greatnesse and comfort me on every side God takes away a little comfort that he may make room in the soule for a greater degree of comfort This the Prophet Isaiah sweetly shewes b Isa 57. 18. I have seen his wayes and will heale him I will lead him also and restâ—re comforts unto him and to his mourners Bear up sweetly oh precious soule thy storme shall end in a calm and thy dark night in a sun-shine day thy mourning shall be turn'd into rejoycing and the waters of consolation shall be sweeter and higher in thy soule then See also the 126 Psal 6. v. and the 42 Psal 7 8. ever the mâ—rcy is surely thine but the time of giving it is the Lords wait but a litâ—le and thou shalt find the Lord comforting thee on every side The seventh Device that Satan hath to keep souls in a doubting and questioning condition is BY suggesting to the soule his often 7 Device relapses into the same sin which formerly he hath pursued with particular sorrow grief shame and tears and prayed complained and resolved against Saith Satan thy heart is not right with God surely thy estate is not good thou dost but flatter thy selfe to think that ever God will eternally owne and embrace such a one as thou art who complainest against sin and yet relapsest into the same sin who with teares and groanes confessest thy sin and yet ever and anon art fallen into the same sin c. I confesse this is a very sad condition for a soule after he hath obtained mercy and pity from the Lord after God hath spoken peace and pardon to him and wip't the tears from his eyes and set him upon his legs to returne to folly ah how doe relapses lay men open to the greatest afflictions and worst A backslider may say opera impensa periit all my paines and charge is lost temptations How doe they make the wound to bleed afresh How doe they darken and cloud former assurances and evidenceâ— for Heaven How doe they put a sword into the hand of conscience to cut and slash the soule They raise such feares terrours horrours and doubts in the soule that the soule cannot be so frequent in duty as formerly nor so fervent in duty as formerly nor so confident in duty as formerly nor so bold familiar and delightfull with God in duty as formerly nor so constant in duty as formerly they give Satan an advantage to triumph over Christ they make the work of repentance moâ—e difficult they make a mans life a burden and they render death to be very terrible unto the soule c. Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this device 1 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that there are many Scriptures that doe clearly evidence a possibility of the St. falling into the same sins whereof they have formerly repented c Hos 14. 4. I will heale their backsliding I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from them saith the Lord by the Prophet Hosea so the Prophet Jeremiah speaks d Ier. 3. 12. 14. Goe and proclaime these words towards the North and say returne thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am mercifull saith the The sin of backsliding is a soul-wounding sin I will heale their backsliding you read of no arms for the back though you doe for the breast Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Turne oh backsliding Israel saith the Lord for I am married unto you And I will take you one of a City and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion So the Psalmist They turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their Fathers they were turned aside like a deceitfull bow And no wonder for tho their repentance be never so sincere and sound yet their graces are but weak and their mortification imperfect in When a souldier bragged too much of a great scar in his forehead Augustus Caesar in whose time Christ was borne asked him if he did not get it when he looked back as he fled this life though by grace they are freed from the dominion of sin and from the damnatory power of every sin and from the love of all sin yet grace doth not free them from the seed of any one sin and therefore 't is possible for a soule to fall againe and againe into the same sin if the fire be not wholly
the whisperings of the Spirit the commands of the Spirit the assistance of the Spirit the witnesse of the Spirit and from the glory of Heaven the excellency of grace the beauty of holinesse the worth of the soule and the vildnesse or bitternesse and evill of sinne the least sin being a greater evil then the greatest temptation in the world And looke that you make constant resistance as well as strong resistance be constant in armes Satan will come on with new temptations when old Luke 4. 14. And when the Devil had ended all the temptation he departed from him for a season Christ had no rest untill he was exactly tried with all kinds of temtations Calvin ones are too weak in a calme prepare for a storm the temper is restlesse impudent and subtile he will sute his temptations to your constitutions and inclinations Satan loves to saile with the winde if your knowledg be weake he will tempt you to errour if your consciences be tender he will tempt you to scrupulosity and too much precisenesse as to do nothing but heare pray read c. If your consciences be wide and large hee will tempt you to carnall security if you are bold spirited he will tempt you to presumption if timerous to desperation if flexible to inconstancy if proud and stiffe to grosse folly therefore still fit for fresh assaults make one victory a step to another When you have overcome a temptation take heed of unbending your bow and look well to it that your bow be alwayes bent and that it remains in strength when you have overcome one temptation you must Be ready to enter the list with another as distrust in some sense is the mother of safety so security is the gate of danger a man had need to feare this most of all that he fears not all if Satan be always a roaring wee should be alwayes a watching and resisting of him and certainely hee that makes strong and constant resistance of Satans temptations shall in the end get above his temptations and for the present is secure enough from being ruin'd by his temptations c. For a close of this remember that t is He that will yeeld to sin to be rid of temptation will be so much the more tempted and the lesse able to withstand temptations dangerous to yeeld to the least sin to be rid of the greatest temptation To take this course were as if a man should think to wash himselfe cleane in Inke or as if a man should exchange a light crosse made of paper for an Iron crosse which is heavy toilesome and bloody the least sin set home upon the conscience will more wound vex and oppresse the soul then all the temptations in the world can therefore never yeeld to the least sin to be rid of the greatest temptation Sidonius Apolinaris relateth how a certain man named Maximus arriving at the top of honour by indirect meanes was the first day very much wearied and fetching a deep sigh said Oh Damocles how happie doe I esteem thee for having been a King but the space of a dinner I have been one a wholeday and can beare it no longer I will leave you to make the Application The fourth thing to be shewed is the severall wayes and devices that Satan hath to destroy and ensnare all sorts and rankes of men in the world I Shall begin with the honourable and the great and shew you the Devices that Satan hath to destroy them I will only instance in those that are most considerable His first Device to destroy the 1 Device great and honourable of the earth is BY working them to make it their businesse to seek themselves to seek how to greaten themselves to raise Selfe-seeking â—â—ke the deluge overflowes the whole world themselves to enrich themselves to secure themselves c. As you may see in Pharaoh Ahab Rehoboam Jeroboam Absolom Joab Haman c. But were the Scripture silent our owne experiences do abundantly evidence this way and method of Satan to destroy the great and the honourable to bury their names in the dust and their souls in Hell by drawing them wholly to mind themselves and onely to minde themselves and in all things to minde themselves and always to mind themselves All saith the Apostle minde Phil. 2. 21. themselves all comparatively in respect of the paucity of others that let fall their private interests and drowne all self-respects in the glory of God and the publick good c. Now the Remedies against this Device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this Device 1 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider Self-love is the root of the hatred of others 2 Tim. 3. 2. First lovers of themselves then fierce c. that selfe-seeking is a sin that will put men upon a world of sin upon sins not only against the Law of God the rules of the Gospel but that are against the very lawes of Nature that are so much darkned by the fall of man It put the Pharisees upon opposing Christ and Iudas upon betraying Christ and Pilate The Naturalist observes that those beasts which are most cruel to others are most loving to their own upon condemning Christ It put Gehezi upon lying and Balaam upon cursing and Saul and Absolom upon plotting Davids ruine It put Pharaoh and Haman upon contriving wayes to destroy those Jewes that God did purpose to save by his mighty arme It puts men upon using wicked ballances and the bag of deceitfull weights It puts mâ—n upon wayes of oppression and selling Amos 2. 6. the righteous for silver and the poore for a paire of shooes c. I know not any sin in the world but this sin of selfe-seeking will put men upon it though it be their eternall losse The second Remedie against this Device 2 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that self-seeking doth exceedingly abase A self-seeker is a Cato without but a Nero within Domitian would seem to love them best whom he willed least should live that 's the very temper of selfe-seekers a man it strips him of all his royalty and glory of a Lord it makes a man become a servant to the creature I often to the worst of creatures yea a slave to slaves as you may see in Iudas Demas Balaam and the Scribes and Pharisees Selfe-seekers bow downe to the creatures as Gideons many thousands bowed down to the waters self-seeking will make a man say any thing do any thing and be any thing to please the lusts of others to get advantages upon others self-seeking transforms a man into all shapes and formes now It was death in Moses Rites to counterset that Ceremoniall and figurative oyntment Exod. 30. what shall it then be to counterseit the spirit of life and holinesse it makes a man appeare as an Angell of light anon as an Angel of darkenesse now selfe-seekers
brave publique spirit is hot in his desires and prayers that the people might be spared and pardoned saith he pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according unto the greatnesse of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt untill now And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word Aâ—â—â—hould God make such an offer to many that write themselves Moses and are called by many Moses I am afraid they would prefer their own advantage above the The Antients were wont to place the Statues of their Princes by their fountains intimating they were or at least should be fountains of the publick good publique good they would not care what become of the people so they and theirs might be made great and glorious in the world they would not care so they might have a Babell built for them though it was upon the ashes and ruine of the people baser spirits then these are not in hell no not in hell and I am sure there are no such spirits in Heaven such mens hearts and principles must be chang'd or they wil be undone for ever Nehemiah was a A certaine great Emperour coming into Egypt to shew the zeal he had for the publick good saith to the Aegyptians draw from me as from your river Nilus choice soule a man of a brave publick spirit a man that spent his time his strength and his estate for the good and ease of his people Moreover saith he from the time that I was appointed to be their Governour in the Land of Judah from the twentieth yeer even unto the two and thirtieth yeare of Artaxerxes the King that is twelve yeares I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the Governour Yea also I continued in the worke of this wall neither bought we any land and all my servants were gathered thither unto the worke Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jewes and Rulers besides those that came unto us from among the Heathen that are about us Now that which was prepared for me daily was one Oxe and sixe choice sheep also fowles were prepared for me and once in ten dayes store of all sorts of wine yet for all this required not I the bread of the Governour because the bondage was heavy upon the people Thinke upon me my God for good according to all that I have done for this people So Daniel was a man of a brave publick spirit Then the Presidents and Princes The Counsellor saith a States-man should be thus tripartited his will to God his love to his Master his heart to his Countrey his secret to his friend his time to busisinesse sought to finde occasion against Daniel concerning the Kingdome but they could finde no occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithfull neither was there any errour or fault found in him Then said these men we shall not finde any occasion against this Daniel except we finde it against him concerning the law of his God Christ had a publick spirit hee laid out himselfe and laid down himselfe for a publick good Oh! never leave looking and meditating upon these precious and sweet examples till your soules are quickned and raised up to act for the publick good more then for your owne particular advantage many Solomons Tribunall was underpropt with Lions to shew what spirit and mettall a Magistrate should be made of Heathens have been excellent at this Macrobius writes of Augustus Caesar in whose time Christ was borne that hee carried such an entire and fatherly affection to the Common-wealth that he called it filiam suam his own daughter and therefore refused to be called Dominus the Lord or Master of his Countrey and would only be called pater patriae Father of his Countrey because he governed it not by feare per timorem sed per amorem but by love the Senate and the people of Rome joyntly saluting him by the name of pater patriae Father of his Countrey The people very much lamented his death using that speech Would hee had Vtinam aut non nasceretur aut non moreretur never been borne or never dyed So Marcus Regulus to save his Countrey from ruine exposed himselfe to the greatest sufferings that the malice and rage of his Enemies could inflict So Titus and Aristides and many others have been famous for their preferring the publick good above their own advantage My prayer is and shall be that all our Rulers may be so spirited by God that they may be willing to be any thing to be nothing to deny themselves and to trample their sinfull selves under feet in order to the honour of God and a publick good that so neither Saints nor Heathens may be witnesses against them in that day wherein the hearts practises of all the Rulers in the world shall be open and bare before him that shall judge the world in Righteousness and Judgment c. The sixth Remedy against this Device 6 Remedie of Satan is seriously to consider that self is a great let to divine things therefore the Prophets and Apostles were usually carried out of themselves when they had the clearest choisest highest and most glorious visions Self-seeking blinds the soul that it cannot see a beauty in Christ nor an excellency in holiness it distempers the palate that a man cannot taste sweetnesse in the word of God nor in the ways of God nor in the society of the people of God it shuts the hand against all the soule-enriching offers of Christ it hardens the heart aganst all the knocks and entreaties of Christ it makes the soul as an empty vine and as a barren wildernesse Israel is an empty Hosea 10. 1. vine he brings forth fruit to himself There is nothing that speaks a man to be more empty and void of God Christ and grace then self-seeking The Pharisees Selfe-seeâ—ers with Esau prefer a messe of pottage above thair birth-right and with the men of Shechem esteem the bramble above the Vine the Olive and the fig-tree yea empty things above a full Christ base things above a glorious Christ were great self-seekers great undervaluers of Christ his word spirit There is not a greater hindrance to all the duties of piety then self-seeking oh this is that that keeps many a soule from looking after God and the precious things of eternity they cannot waite on GOD nor act for God nor abide in those ways wherein they might meete with God by reason of selfe self-seeking is that which puts many a man upon neglecting and slighting the things of his peace self-seekers will neither go into Heaven themselves nor suffer others to enter that are ready to take the Kingdome by violence as you may see in the Scribes and Pharisees Oh! but a gracious spirit is acted quite otherwayes as you may see in that sweet Scripture Cant. 7. 13. At our gates are all manner
of pleasant fruits new Cant. 7. 13. and old which I have laid up for thee oh my beloved All the Church hath and is is The Saints Motto is Propter te Domine propter te only for him let others beare fruit to themselves and lay up for themselves gracious spirits will hide for Christ and lay up for Christ all the divine indeavours and productions of Saints fall into Gods bosome and empty themselves into his lap As Christ layes up his merits for them his graces for them his comforts for them his Crown for them so they lay up all their fruits and all their loves all their graces and The Saints Motto is non nobis Domine all their experience and all their services only for him who is the soule of their comforts and the crown and top of all their royalty and glory c. The second Device that Satan 2 Device hath to ensnare and destroy the great and honourable of the earth is BY engaging them against the people of the most high against those that are his jewels his pleasant portion the delight of his eye and the joy of his heart c. Thus he drew Pharaoh to engage Exod. 14. against the children of Israel and that was his overthrow So he engaged Hester 7. Haman against the Iews and so brought him to hang upon that gallows that he had made for Mordecai So he engaged Dan. 6. those Princes and Presidents against Daniel which was the utter ruine of them and their relations So in Revel 20. Revel 20. 7 8 9. 7 8 9. And when the thousand yeares are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison And he shall goe out to deceive the Nations which are in the four quarters of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle whose number is as the sand of the Sea And they went up upon the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the Saints about and the beloved City and fire came down from God out of Heaven and consumed them Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this Device 1 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that none have engaged against the As they said once of the Grecians in the Epigram whom they thought invulnerable we shoot at them but they fall not downe we wound them and not kill them c. Saints but have been ruin'd by the God of Saints divine justice hath been too hard for all that have opposed and engaged against the Saints as is evident in Saul Pharaoh Haman c. He reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine anointed nor do my Prophets no harm when men of Balaams spirit tnd principles have been engaged against the Saints how hath the Angel of the Lord met them in the way and jusled their bones against the wall how hath hee broke their backs and necks and by his drawn sword cut them off in the prime of their dayes and in the height of their sins Ah! what a harvest hath hell had Tanto plas gloriae referemus quoniam eo plures superabimus the number of opposers makes the Christians conquest the more illustrious said Paedarelus in Erasmus in our dayes of those who have engaged against the Lamb and those that are called chosen and faithfull ah how hath divine Justice powred out their blood as water upon the ground how hath he laid their honour and glory in the dust who in the pride and madnesse of their hearts said as Pharaoh we will pursue we will overtake we will divide the spoile our lusts shall be satisfied upon them we will draw our sword our hand shall destroy them in the things wherein they have spoken done proudly Justice hath been above them History abounds in nothing more then in instances of this kind c. The second Remedie against this Device 2 Remedie of Satan is to dwell sometime every morning upon these following Scriptures wherein God hath engaged himselfe to stand by his people and for his people and to make them victorious over the greatest and wisest of their enemies Isa 8. 9 10. Associate your selves saith the Lord by the Prophet oh yee people and Occidit poterant sed vinci non poterant said Cyprian of the Christians in his time and yee shall be broken in pieces and give eare all ye of far Countries gird your selves ye shal be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsell together and it shall come to nougbt speake the word and it shall not stand for God is with us Feare not thou worm Jacob Isa 41. 14 15. and ye men of Israel I will help thee saith the Lord and thy Redemer the holy one of Israel Behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth thou shalt thresh the mountaines and beate them small and shalt make the hills as chaff Verse 16. Thou shalt fanne them and the winde shall carry them away and the whirle-winde shall scatter them and thou shalt rejoyce in the Lord and shalt glory in the holy one of Israel No weapon that is formed against Isa 54. 17. thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnesse is of me saith the Lord. Now also many Mica 4. 11. Nations are gathered together against thee that say let her be defiled and let our eye looke upon Zion But they know not Verse 12. the thoughts of the Lord neither understand they his counsell for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floore Arise and thresh Verse 13. oh daughter of Zion for I will make thy horne iron and I will make thy hoofs brasse and thou shalt beat in pieces many people and I will consecrate their gaine unto the Lord and their substance unto the Lord of the Zach. 12. 2 3. whole earth Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burden some stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it The 3. Remedie against this device of 3 Remedie Satan is to consider that you cannot engage against the Saints but you must Acts 5. 39. It seems to be drawn from the sable of the Gyants which were said to make War with the Gods engage against God himselfe by reason of that neer and blessed union that is between God and them you cannot be fighters against the Saints but you will be found in the casting up of the account to be fighters against God himself and
our graces the preserver of our mercies and the great promoter of holy duties Humility cannot finde three things on this side Heaven it cannot find fulnesse in the creature nor sweetnesse in sinne nor life in an Ordinance without Christ An humble soule always finds three things on this side Heaven the soule to be empty Christ to be full and every mercy and duty to be sweet wherein God is injoyed Humility can weep over other mens weaknesses and joy and rejoyce over their graces Humility will make a man 1 Thes 1. 2 3. quiet and contented in the meanest condition and 't will preserve a man from envying others prosperous condition Humility honours those that are strong in grace and puts two hands Ephes 3. 8. under those that are weak in grace Humility makes a man richer then other men and it makes a man judge himselfe the poorest among men Humility will see much good abroad when it can see but little at home Ah Christians though faith be the champion of grace and love thee nurse of grace yet humility is the beautifier of grace it casts a generall glory upon all the graces in the soule ah did Christians more abound in humility The humble soul is like the violet which grows low hangs the head downwards and hides it selfe with his own leaves and were it not that the fragrant smel of his many vertues discover him to the world he would choose to live and die in his self contenting secresie they would be lesse bitter froward and sower and they would be more gentle meek and sweet in their spirits and practises Humility will make a man have high thoughts of others and low thoughts of a mans selfe it will make a man see much glory and excellency in others and much basenesse and sinfulnesse in a mans selfe it will make a man see others rich and himself poor others strong and himself weak others wise and himself foolish Humility will make a man excellent at covering others infirmities and at recording their gracious services and at delighting in theâ—â— graces it makes a man joy in every light that out-shines his owne and in every winde that blowes others good Humility is better at beleeving then 't is at questioning other mens happinesse I judge saith an humble soul 't is well with these Christians now but it will be far better with them hereafter they are now upon the borders of the new Ierusalem and 't will be but as a day before they slide into Ierusalem An humble soule is willinger to say Heaven is that mans then mine and Christ is that Christians then mine and God is their God in Covenant then mine ah were Christians more humble there would be lesse fire and more love among them then now is c. Lastly as Satan hath his Devices Last Device to destroy gracious soules so he hath his devices to destroy poore ignorant soules and that sometimes BY drawing them to affect ignorance and to neglect slight and Hos 4. 6. Prov. 22. 29. despise the means of knowledg ignorance is the mother of mistake the of trouble error and of terrour Mat. 22. 29. 't is the high way to hell and it makes a man both a prisoner and a slave to the Devill at once Ignorance unmans a Ignorants have this advantage ut mitius ardeant they have a cooler hell man it makes a man a beast yea it makes him more miserable then the beast that perisheth there are none so easily nor so frequently taken in Satans snare as ignorant souls they are easily drawn to dance with the Devill all day and to dreame of supping with Christ at night c. Now the Remedies against this device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this Device 1 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that an ignorant heart is an evill heart without knowledge the minde is not good Prov. 19. 2. As an ignorant heart is a naughty heart 't is a heart in the dark and no Ignâ—â—at sane improbus omnis saith Aririsâ—otle Mâ—â— 6. 22. good can come into a dark heart but it must passe through the understanding and if the eye be darke all the body is dark A leprous head and a leprous heart are inseparable companions ignorant hearts are so evill that they let flye on all hands and spare not to spit their venone in the very face of God as Pharaoh did when thick darknesse was upon him The second Remedie against this Device 2 Remedie of Satan is to consider that ignorance is the deformity of the soule As blindnesse is the deformity of the face so is ignorance the deformity of the soule as the want of fleshly eyes spoils the beauty of the face so the want of spirituall eyes spoils the beauty of the soule A man without knowledg is as a work-man without his hands as a painter without his eyes as a traveller without his legs or as a ship without sailes or a bird without Wings or like a body without a soule The third Remedy against this Device 3 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that ignorance makes men the objects of Gods hatred and wrath It is a people Heb. 3. 10 11. They must needs eâ—re that know not Gods wayes yet cannot they wander so wide as to misse of hell Isa 27. 11. 2 Thes 1. 8. that do erre in their hearts and have not knowne my wayes Wherefore I sware in my wrath they should never enter into my rest My people are a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will have no mercy on them Christ hath said that he will come in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know not God Ignorance will end in vengeance When you see a poor blind man here you doe not loath him nor hate him but you pity him oh but soul-blindness makes you abhominable in the sight of God God hath sworn that ignorant persons shall never come into Heaven Heaven Hos 4. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cut off Rome saith Ignorance is the mother of devotion but the Scripture faith 't is the mother of destruction 4 Remedy it selfe would be a hell to ignorant soules My people are destroyed for want of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge I will reject thee Chilo one of the seven Sages being asked what God had done answered he exalted humble men and suppressed proud ignorant fooles The fourth Remedie against this device of Satan is to consider that ignorance is a sin that leads to all sins All sins are seminally in ignorance You doe Mat. 22. 29. erre not knowing the Scriptures It puts men upon hating and persecuting the Saints They shall hate you and put you Iohn 16. 2 3. out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that Aristotle makes ignorance the mother of all the misrule in the world 1 Tim. 1.
13. he doth God service And these things will they doe unto you because they have not known the Father nor me Paul thankes his ignorance for all his cruelties to Christians I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercie because I did it ignorantly 't was ignorance that put the Jewes upon crucifying Christ Eather forgive them saith Christ of his murtherers for they know 1 Co◠2. 8. not what they doe for if the Princes of this world had known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory Sinne at the first was the cause of ignorance but now ignorance is the cause of all sin swearing They did like Oedipus who killed his father Laius K. of Thebes and thought he killed his enemy and lying and killing and stealing whoring abound saith the Prophet because there is no knowledg of God in the Land There are none so frequent and so impudent in the wayes of sin as ignorant soules they care not nor mind not what they do nor what they say against God Christ Heaven holinesse and their own soules Our tongues Hosea 4. 1 2. Psal 73. 8 9. are our owne who shall controule us They are corrupt and speake wickedly concerning oppression they speake loftily They set their mouth against the Heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth Have all the Psal 14. 4. workers of iniquity no knowledge who eate up my people as they eate bread and call not upon the Lord. And now to prevent Objections I shall lay down some Propositions or Conclusions concerning Satan and his Devices and then give you the Reasons of the Point and so come to make some Use and Application of the whole to our selves The first Proposition or Conclusion I shall lay downe is this THat though Satan hath his Devices 1 Proposition to draw soules to sin yet we must be carefull that we do not lay all our temptations upon Satan that we doe not wrong the Devill and father that upon him that is to be fathered upon our own base hearts I thinke that oftentimes men charge that upon the Devill that is to be charged upon their own hearts And the Lord said unto the Gen. 3. 13. woman VVhat is this that thou hast done and the woman said the Serpent beguiled me and I did eate Sin and shifting came into the world together This is no small basenesse of our hearts that they will be naught I very naught and yet will father that naughtinesse upon Satan Man hath an evill root within him that were there no Devil to tempt him nor no wicked men in the world to entice him yet that root of bitternesse that cursed sinfull nature that is in him would draw him to sin though he knows before hand that the wages of sinne is eternall death For out of the heart proceed evill thoughts murders adulteries Rom. 6. ult Mat. 5. 19. fornications thefts false witnesses blasphemies The whole frame of man is Cum primum nascimur in omnt continuo pravitate versamur we are no sooner borne then buried in a bog of wickednesse Tully out of frame the understanding is dark the will crosse the memory slippery the affections crooked the conscience corrupted the tongue poisoned and the heart wholly evill only evill and continually evill Should God chaine vp Satan and give him no liberty to tempt or entice the sons of men to vanity and folly yet they would not yet they could not but sin against him by reason of that cursed nature that is in them that will still be a provoking Iude 15 16. them to those sins that will provoke and stir up the anger and wrath of God against them Satan hath only a perswading sleight not an enforcing might he may tempt us but without our selves he cannot conquer us hee Iames 1. 4. may entice us but without our selves he cannot hurt us our hearts carries the greatest stroak in every sin Satan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fire is our wood though it be the Devills flame Nazianzen can never undoe a man without himselfe but a man may easily undo himselfe without Satan Satan can onely present the golden cup but he hath no power to force us to drinke the poyson that is in the cup he can only present to us the glory of the world he cannot force us to fall down and worship him to enjoy the world he can only spread his snares he hath no power to force us to walke in the mid'd of his snares therefore do the Devill so much right as not to excuse your selves by your accusing him and laying that load upon him that you should lay upon your owne hearts The second Proposition is this 2 Proposition That Satan hath a great hand and stroak in most sinnes 'T was Satan that Gen. 3. 1. 4 5. tempted our first Parents to Rebellion 'T was Satan that provoked David to 1 Chron. 21. 1. number the people 'T was Satan that put Peter upon rebuking Christ therefore saith Christ Get thee behind me Satan Mat. 16. 22 23. 'T was Satan that put Cain upon murdering of righteous Abel therefore 't is that he is called a murderer from Iohn 8. 44. the beginning 'T was Satan that put treason into the heart of Judas against Christ And supper being ended the Devill Iohn 13. 2. having put it into the heart of Iudas Iscatiot Simons son to betray him 'T was Satan that pu◠Ananias upon lying Peter said Acts 5. 3. Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the holy Ghost As the hand of Ioab was in the tale of the woman of Tekoah so Satans hand is usually in all the sins that men commit such is Satans malice against God and his envy Diaholus tendat deus orobat Tertul. against man that he will have a hand one way or another in all their finnes though ke knows that all the sins that he provokes others to shall be charged upon him to his greater woe and eternall torment Ambrose brings in the Devill boasting against Christ and chalenging Judas as his owne hee is not thine Lord Jesus hee is mine his thoughts beat for me he eats with thee but is fed by me he takes bread from thee but money from me he drinks wine with thee and sells thy blood to me such is his malice against Christ and his wrath and rage against man that he wil take all advantages to draw men to that that may give him advantage to triumph over Christ and mens soules for ever The third Proposition is this That Satan must have a double leave 3 Proposition before he can do any thing against us he must have leave from God and leave from our selves before he can act any thing against our happinesse he must have his commission from God as you may see in the example of Iob though Iob 1. 11 12. Chap. 2 v
sweetly coming down into the soul and the soul by divine influences sweetly ascending up to Christ Communion with Christ is very inflaming raising and strengthning while Sampson kept up his communion The sea ebbs and flows the Moon encreases and decreases so 't is with Saints in their communion with God with God no enemy could stand before him but he goes on conquering and to conquer but when he was fallen in his communion with God he quickly falls before the plots of his enemies 't wil be so with your soules so long as your communion with God is kept up you wil be too hard for spiritual wickednesses in high places but if you fall from your Plutarch tells of Eudoxus that he would be willing to be burnt up presently by the Sun so he might be admitted to come so near it as to learne the nature of it what should not wee be content to suffer for the keeping up of commuion with Christ communion with God you will fall as others before the face of every temptation David so long as he kept up his communion with God he stands and triumphs over all his enemies but when he was fallen in his communion with God then he falls before the enemies that were in his own bosom flies before those that pursued after his life 'T wil be so with your souls if you doe not keepe up your communion with God Iob keeps up his communion with God and conquers Satan upon the dunghill Adam looses his communion with God and is conquered by Satan in Paradise Communion with God is a shield upon land as well as an anchor at sea 't is a sword to defend you as well as a staffe to support you therefore keep up your communion 9. If you would not be taken in any of Satans snares then engage not against Satan in your own strength but That is a remarkable saying of Moses Exod. 15. God is fortitudo mea and Laus mea and salus mea my strength and my praise and my salvation all in the abstract be every day drawing new vertue and strength from the Lord Jesus certainly that soule that engages against any old or new temptation without new strength new influences from on high will fall before the power of the temptation you may see this in Peter hee rested upon some old received strength Though all men should deny thee yet will not I and therefore he falls sadly before a new temptation he curses and Mat. 26. swears and denies him thrice that had thrice appeared gloriously to him ah soules when the snare is spread look up to Jesus Christ who is lifted up in the Gospell as the brazen Serpent was 'T is but look up and live look unto me and be saved from the ends of the earth 〈◊〉 45. 2â— in the wildernesse and say to him Dear Lord here is a new snare laid to catch my soule and grace formerly received wiâ—hout fresh supplies from thy blessed bosome will not deliver me from this snare oh give me new strength new power new influences new measures of grace that so I may escape this snare Ah soules remember this that your John 15. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is seorsim a me separat from me or apart from me ye can doe nothing strength to stand and overcome must not be expected from graces received but from the fresh and renewed influences of Heaven you must leane more upon Christ then upon your duties you must leane more upon Christ then upon spirituall taftâ— and discoveries you must leane more upon Christ then upon your graces or else Satan will lead you into captivity c. Tenthly and lastly If you would not be taken in any of Satans snares then be much in prayer prayer is a shelter to the soule a sacrifice to God and a scourge to the Devill Davids heart was oft more out of tune then his Harp he prays and then in spight Of Carolus Magnus it was spoken Carolus plus cum Deo quam cum hominibus loquitur that he spake more with God then with men ah that I could say so of the Christians in our dayes of the Devill cries returne unto thy rest oh my soule Prayer is Porta coeli clavis Paradisi the gate of Heaven a key to let us into Paradise there is nothing that renders plots fruitlesse like prayer therefore saith Christ watch and pray that yee enter not into temptation you must watch and pray and pray and watch if you would not enter into temptation When Sennacherib and Haman had laid plots and snares to have destroyed the Jewes they prayed and their souls were delivered Sennacherib and Hâ—man destroyed David had many snares laid for him and this putâ— him upon prayer Keep me saith hee from the snare which they have laid for me Psal 141. 9 10. and the grins of the workers of iniquity Let the wicked fall into their owne nets whilst that I escape The proud saith he hath hid a snare for me and cords they have spread a net by the way side they have set grins Psal 140. 5 6. for me Selab I said unto the Lord thou art my God heare the voyce of my supplication Nunquam abs te absque te recedo Bern. Oh Lord saith he I never go away from thee without thee oh Lord. Saul and many others had laid snares for David and this puts him upon prayer and so the snares are broken and he is dâ—lived ah souls take words to your selves and tell God that Satan hath spread his snares in all places and in all companies tell God that he digs deep and that he hath plot upon plot and device upon device and all to Let us saith Basil with a holy impudence make God ashamed that he cannot looke us in the face if he do deny our importunity Jacob like I wil not let thee go unlesse thou blesse me undo you tell God that you have neither skill nor power to escape his snares tell God that 't is a work too high and too hard for any created creature to work your deliverance unlesse he puts under his own everlasting arms tell God how his honour is engaged to stand by you and to bring you off that you be not ruin'd by his plots tell God how the wicked would triumph if you should fall into Satans snares tell God of the love of Christ of the blood of Christ and of the intercession of Christ for you that away may be found for your escape tell God if he will make it his honour to save you from falling into Satans snares you will make it your glory to speak of his goodnesse and to live out his kindenesse Christians must do aâ— Dedâ—lus that when hee could not escape by a way upon earth went by a way of heaven and that is the way of prayer which is the only way left to escape Satans snares c. The next Use is a
Christ from receiving of Christ from embracing of Christ from resting leaning or relying upon Christ for everlasting happinesse and blessedness according to the Gospel and Remedies against those Devices Now the first Device that Satan hath to keep the soule off from believing in Christ from closing with Christ c. is BY suggesting to the soule the 1 Device greatnesse and vilenesse of his sinnes what saith Satan dost thou think that thou shalt ever obtain mercy by Christ that hast sinned with so high a hand against Christ that hast slighted the tenders of grace that hast grieved the spirit of grace that hast despised the word of grace that hast trampled under feet the blood of the Covenant by which thou might'st have been pardoned purged justified and saved that hast spoken and done all the evill that thou couldst No no saith Satan he hath mercy for others Ierem. 3. 5. but not for thee pardon for others but not for thee righteousnesse for others but not for thee c. therefore 't is in vaine for thee to think of beleeving in Christ or resting and leaning thy guilty soule upon Christ Now the remedies against this Device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this Device Remedy of Satan is to consider that the greater your sinnes are the more you stand in need of a Saviour the greater your burthen is the more you stand in need of one to help to beare it the deeper the wound is the more need there is of the Surgeon the more dangerous the disease is the more need there is of the Physitian Who but mad men will argue thus my burden is great there-I'le not call out for help my wound is Mad Logick deepe therefore I 'le not call out for balm my disease is dangerous therefore I 'le not goe to the Physitian Ah! 't is spirituaâ—â—adnesse 't is the Devills Logick to argue thus My sinnes are great therefore I 'le not goe to Christ I dare not rest nor leane on Christ c. whereas the soule should reason thus the greater my sins are the more I stand in need of mercy of pardon and therefore I will goe to Christ who delights Mica 7. 18. in mercy who pardons sinne for his owne name sake who is as able and as Isa 43. 25. willing to forgive pounds as pence thousands as hundreds The second Remedie against this Device 2 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to consider that the promise of grace and mercy is to returning soules and therefore though thou art never so wicked yet if thou wilt returne God will be thine mercy shall be thine pardon thine c. 2 Chron. 30. 9. For if you turn again 2 Chron. 30. 9. unto the Lord your brethren and your children shall finde compassion before them that lead them captive so that they shall come againe into this land for the Lord your God is gracious and mercifull and will not turne away his face from you if ye returne unto him So Jer. 3. 12. Goe and proclaime Jer. 3. 12. these words towards the North and say returne thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you for I am mercifull saith the Lord and I will not keepe ang 〈…〉 for ever So Joel 2. 13. And rent youâ—â—â—rts and not Ioel 2. 13. your garments and turne unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse and repenteth him of the evill So Isa 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his wayes and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him returne unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon or as the Hebrew readâ— it he will multiply pardons So Ezek. Ezek. ch 18. Chap. 18. Ah sinner 't is not thy great transgressions that shall exclude thee from mercy if thou wilt break off thy sins by repentance and return to the fountaine of mercy Christs heart Christs armes are wide open to embrace the returning Prodigall 'T is not simply the greatest of thy sins but thy peremptory persisting in sinne that will be thy eternall overthrow The third Remedie against this Device 3 Remedie of Satan is seriously to consider that the greatest sinners have obtained mercy and therefore all the Angells in heaven all the men on earth and all the Devils in hell cannot tell to the contrary but that thou mayest obtain mercy Manasseh was a notorious sinner 2 King Chap. 21. he erected Altars for Baal he worshipped and served all the hoast of Heaven He caused his sonnes to passe through the fire he gave himselfe to witchcraft and sorcerie he made Judah to sinn more wickedly then the heathen did whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel hee The Hebrew Doctors write that he slew Isaiah the Prophet who was his father in law caused the streets of Jerusalem to run downe with innocent blood c. Ah! what a devill incarnate was he in his actings and yet when he humbled himselfe and sought the Lord the Lord was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him to Jerusalem and made himselfe known unto him and crowned him with mercy and loving kindnesse as you may see in 2 Chron. 2 Chron. chap. 33. chap. 33. So Paul was once a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious yet he obtained 1 Tim. 1. 13. mercy So Mary Magdalen was a Luke 7. notorious strumpet a common whore one out of whom Christ cast seaven Devills yet she is pardoned by Christ and dearly beloved of Christ Luke 7. So Mar. 16. 9. in Mar. 16. v. 9. Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene out of whom he had cast seaven Devills Jansenius on the place saith 't is very observable that our Saviour after his resurrection first appeared to Mary Magdalen and Peter that had been grievous sinners that even the worst of sinners may be comforted and encouraged to come to Christ to believe in Christ to rest and stay their soules upon Christ for mercy here and glory hereafter that is a very precious word for the worst of sinners to hang upon Psal 68. v. 18. The Psal 68. 18. Psalmist speaking of Christ saith Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them What though thou art a rebellious child or a rebellious servant what though thou art a rebellious swearer a rebellious drunkard a rebellious Sabbath-breaker c. yet Christ hath received gifts for thee even for the rebellious He hath received the gift of pardon the gift of righteousnesse yea all the gifts of the spirit for thee that thy heart may be made a delightfull house for God to dwell in Bodin hath a story concerning a great Rebell that had made a great strong party against a Roman Emperour the Emperour
in Christ surely none Ah sinners you should reason thus Christ hath bestowed the choisest mercies the greatest favours the highest dignities the sweetest priviledges upon unworthy sinners and therefore O our souls doe not you faint do not you despair but patiently and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord who can tell but that free grace and mercy may shine forth upon us though we are unworthy and give us a portion among those Worthies that are now triumphing in Heaven The third Remedie against this Device 3 Remedie of Satans is that if the soule will keep off from Christ till it be worthy it wil never close with Christ it will never embrace Christ 't will never be one with Christ it must lie down in everlasting Isa 50. ult sorrow God hath laid up all worthinesse in Christ that the creature may know where to finde it and may make out after it There is no way on earth to make unworthy soules worthy but by believing in Christ Believing in Christ of slaves 't will make 〈◊〉 1. 12. you worthy sons of enemies 't will James 2. 23. make you worthy friends c. God wil count none worthy nor call none worthy nor carry it towards none as worthy but Believers who are made Reuel 3. 4. worthy by the worthinesse of Christs person righteousnesse satisfaction and intercession c. The fourth and last Remedie against 4 Remedie this Device of Satans is solemnly to consider that if you make a diligent search into your own hearts you shall find that 't is the pride folly of your own hearts that puts you upon bringing of a worthinesse to Christ Oh you would faine bring something to Christ that might render you acceptable to him you are loft to come empty handed The Lord cries out Ho Isa 55. 1 2. every one that thirsteth come yee to the waters and he that hath no money come yee buy and eate come buy wine and milke without money and without price Wherefore doe you spend your money upon Verse 2. that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Here the Lord calls upon money lesse soules upon penni-lesse soules upon unworthy soules to come and partake of his precious favours freely but sinners are proud and foolish and because they have no money no worthiness to bring they 'l not come though he sweetly invites them Ah sinners what is more just then that you should perish for ever that preferre huskes among swine before the milke and wine the sweet and precious things of the Gospel that are freely and sweetly offered to you c. Well sinners remember this 't is not so much the sense of thy unworthinesse as thy pride that keeps thee off from a blessed closing with the Lord Jesus The third Device that Satan hath to keep poor sinners from believing in Christ from closing with Christ from resting on Christ c. is BY suggesting to them the want of 3 Device such and such preparations and qualifications saith Satan thou art not prepared to entertain Christ thou art not thus and thus humbled and justified thou art not heart-sick of sin thou hast not been under horrors and terrours as such and such thou must stay till thou art prepared and quâ—lified to receive the Lord Jesus c. Now the remedies against this Device of Satan are these that follow THe first Remedie against this Device 1 Remedy of Satan is seriously to consider that such as have not been so and so prepared and qualified as Satan suggests have received Christ believed in Christ and being saved by Christ Mathew Mat. 9. 9. was called sitting at the receipt of custome and there was such power went along with Christs call that made him to follow We read not of any horrors or terrours c. that hee was under before his being called by Christ Pray what preparations and qualifications were found in Zacheus Paul the Luke 19. 9. Acts 16. chap. Jaylor and Lydia before their conversion God brings in some by the sweet and still voyce of the Gospel and usually such that are thus brought in to Christ are the sweetest humblest 〈◊〉 isest and fruitfullest Christians God is a free agent to worke by Law or Gospel by smiles or frownes by presenting hell or heaven to sinners soules God thunders from Mount-Sinai upon some souls conquers them by thundering God speaks to others in a still voyce and by that conquers them You that are brought to Christ by the Law do not you judge and condemn them that are brought to Christ by the Rom. 14. Gospell and you that are brought to Christ by the Gospel do not you despise those that are brought to Christ by the Law Some are brought to Christ by fire storms and tempests others by more easie and gentle gales of the Spirit The Spirit is free in the works of Iohn 3. 8. conversion and as the wind it blows when where how it pleases Thrice happy are those souls that are brought to Christ whether it be in a winters night or in a summers day The second Remedie against this Device 2 Remedie of Satan is solemnly to dwel upon these following Scriptures which do clearly evidence that poor sinners which are not so and so prepared and qualified to meet with Christ to receive and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ may notwithstanding that believe in Christ and rest and lean upon him for happinesse and blessednesse according to the Gospel Read the first of the Proverbs from vers 20. to the end and the 11. first verses of the 8. of the Proverbs and the six first verses of the 9. of the Proverbs and the 14. first verses of Ezek. chap. 16. and the 3. of John 14 15 16 17 18. 36. verses and the 3. of the Revelations vers 15 16 17 18 19 20. Here the Lord Jesus Christ stands knocking at the Laodiceans door he would faine have them to sup with him and that he might sup with them that is that they might have intimate communion and fellowship one with another Now pray tell me what preparations or qualifications had these Laodiceans to entertain Christ surely none for they were luke-warm they were neither cold nor hot they were wretched and miserable and poore and blind and naked and yet Christ to shew his free grace and his condescending love invites the very worst of sinners to open to him though they were no wayes so or so prepared or qualified to entertain him c. The third Remedie against this Device 3 Remedie of Satan is seriously to consider that the Lord does not in all the Scripture require such and such preparations Rom. 4. 5. God justifies the ungodly qualifications before men come to Christ before they believe in Christ or entertaine or embrace the Lord Jesus Christ Believing believing in Christ is the great thing that God presses upon sinners throughout the Scripture as all know that know any thing of Scripture Obj. But does not
Christ say Come Mat. 11. 28. unto me all yee that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest To this I shall give these three Answers 1. That though the invitation be to such that labour and are heavy laden yet the promise of giving rest it s made over to coming to believing 2. I answer that all that this Scripture proves and shews is that such as labour under sin as under a heavy burden Math. 11. 28. opened and cleared and that are laden with the guilt of sin and sense of Gods displeasure ought to come to Christ for rest but it doth not prove that only such must come to Christ nor that all men must be thus burthened and laden with the sense of their sinnes and the wrath of God before they come to Christ Poor sinners when they are under the sense of sinne and wrath of God they are prone to run from creature to creature and from duty to duty and from Ordinance to Ordinance to find rest and if they could finde it in any thing or creature Christ should never heare of them But here the Lord sweetly invites them and to encourage them he engages himself to give them rest Come saith Christ and I will give you rest I 'le not shew you rest nor barely tell you of rest but I will give you rest I am faithfulnesse it selfe and cannot lye I will give you rest I that have the greatest power to give it the greatest will to give it the greatest right to give it come laden sinners and I will give you rest Rest is the most desireable good the most sutable good to you the greatest good Come saith Christ that is Believe in me I wil give you rest I wil give you peace with God and peace with conscience I will turn your storme into an everlasting calme I will give you such rest that the world can neither give to you nor take from you 3. I answer no one Scripture speaks out the whole minde of Christ therefore do but compare this one Scripture with those severall Scriptures that are laid downe in the second Remedie last mentioned and it will clearly appear that though men are not thus and thus burdened and laden with their sins and filled with horror and terrour if they may come to Christ they may receive and embrace the Lord Jesus Christ The 4. and last Remedie against this 4 Remedie Device of Satan is to consider that all that trouble for him all that sorrow shame and mourning c. which is acceptable to God and delightfull to God prevalent with God flows from faith in Christ as the stream doth from the fountain as the branch doth from the root as the effect doth from the cause Zech. 12. 10. They shall looke on Zach. 12. 10. him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him All Gospel-mourning Rom. 14. 23. flows from believing they shall first look and then mourn All that know any thing knows this that what ever is not of faith is sinne Till men have faith in Christ their best services are but glorious sins The fourth Device that Satan hath to keep Christ a sinner asunder to keep a poore sinner from believing in Christ from embracing of Christ c. is BY suggesting to the sinner Christs 4 Device unwillingnesse to save 't is true saith Satan Christ is able to save thee but is he willing surely though hee be able yet he is not willing to save such a wretch as thou art that hast trampled his blood under thy feet and that hast been in open rebellion against him all thy dayeâ— c. The Remedie against this Device of Satans is briefly to consider these few things 1. THe great journey that he hath 1 Remedie taken from heaven to earth on purpose to save sinners doth strongly demonstrate his willingnesse to save them Math. 9. 13. I came not to call the Mat. 9. 13. righteous but sinners to repentance 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithfull saying and worthy 1 Tim. 1. 15. of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe 2. His divesting himself of his glory in order to sinners salvation speaks out his willingnesse to save them he leaves his Fathers bosome he puts off his glorious robes and layes aside his glorious Crown and bids adieâ— to his glistering Courtiers the Angels and all this he doth that hee may accomplish sinners salvation 3. That sea of sin that sea of wrath that sea of trouble that sea of blood From the Cradle to the Crosse his whole life was a life of sufferings that Jesus Christ waded through that sinners might be pardoned justified reconciled and saved doth strongly evidence his willingnesse to save sinners 4. His sending his Ambassadors early and late to wooe and intreat sinners 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. to be reconciled to him doth with open mouth shew his readinesse and willingnesse to save sinners 5. His complaints against such as refuse him and that turn their backs upon him and that will not be saved by him doth strongly declare his willingnesse to save them He came to his owne 1 John 11. and his owne received him not So in that 5. of John v. 40. But yee will not come Iohn 5. 40. to me that ye may have life 6. The joy and delight that he takes at the conversion of sinners doth demonstrate his willingnesse that they should be saved Luk. 15. 7. I say unto Luke 15. 7. you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more then over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance God the Father rejoyceth at the return of his prodigall Sonne Christ rejoyces to see the travell of Isa 53. 11. his soule the Spirit rejoyces that he hath another Temple to dwell in and the Angels rejoyce that they have another Brother to delight in c. The fifth Device that Satan hath to keepe a sinner and Christ asunder is BY working a sinner to mind more 5 Device the secret decrease and counsels of God then his own duty What needest thou to busie thy selfe about receiving embracing and entertaining of Christ Saith Satan if thou art elected thou shalt be saved if not all that thou canst doe will do thee no good Nay he will worke the soule not onely to doubt of its election but to conclude that he is not elected and therefore let him doe what he can he shall never be saved Now the Remedies against this Device of Satan are these THe first Remedie is seriously to consider 1 Remedy that all the Angels in heaven nor all the men on earth nor all the Devills in hell cannot tell to the contrary but that thou maist be an elect person a chosen vessel Thou mayest be confident of this that God never made Satan one of his Privie Councel God never acquainted him with the names or persons of such that he