for a Remembrancer according to Prov. 3. 3. Bind them about thy neck write them upon the Table of thine heart However if they were literally enjoyned they would have them as Christ tells them broader than others as an evidence of their greater care The Cathari boasted of Sanctity and good Works and rejected second Marriages the Apostolici were so called from a pretended stricter imitation of the singular holiness of the Apostles The Valesians made themselves Eunuches according to the Letter for the Kingdom of God The Donatists accounted that no true Church where any spot or infirmity was found The Messalians or Euchytae were for constant praying The Nudipedales for going bare-foot c. The Papists urge Canonical Hours Whippings Pennances Pilgrimages voluntary Poverty abstinence from Meats and Marriage in their Priests and Votaries In a word all noted Sects have something of special singularity whereby they would difference themselves from others as a peculiar character of their greater strictness and for want of better stuff they sometimes take up affected gestures devotional looks and outward garbs all which have this note That what they most stand upon God hath least or not at all required at their hands their voluntary Humility or neglecting of the Body being but will-worship and a self-devised piece of Religion Thirdly When once Men are set in the way of exercising severities Satan endeavours by working upon their fancies to press them on further to a delight and satisfaction in these wayes of strictness so that the practiser themselves are not only confirmed in these usages and the opinions that are concomitant with them but others are the more easily drawn to like and profess the same things Any serious temper under any Profession of Religion easily comes to be devout and readily complies with opportunities of evincing its Devotion by strictness And therefore we shall find among Heathens a great devotional severity and such as far exceeds all of that kind which the Papists do usually brag of the Magi abstained from Wine eat not the flesh of living Creatures and professed Virginity The Indian Brachmans did the like and besides used themselves to incredible hardship they laid upon skins sustained the violence of the Sun and Storms and exercised themselves therewith some spending Thirty seven years in this course others more We read strange things of this nature concerning the Aegyptian Priests and others The Mahumetans are not without their Religious Orders which pretend a more holy and austere Life than others and though of some as of the Torlachs and Dervizes several private Villanies are reported yet of others as of the Order of Calender we are assured from History That they profess Virginity and expose themselves to Hardship and a stricter Devotion in their way and generally 't is said of all of them That they go meanly clad or half naked some abstinent in Eating and Drinking professing Poverty renouncing the World some can endure cutting and slashing as if they were insensible some profess perpetual Silence though urged with Injuries and Tortures others have Chains about their Necks and Arms to shew that they are bound up from the World c. If such things may be found among Heathens no wonder that Errour boasts of them for in both there is the same reason of Mens pleasing themselves in such hardships which is from a Natural Devotion assisted by Satans cunning and the same Design driven on by it for the Devil doth confirm Heathens and Mahumetans in their false Worship by the reverence and respect they carry to such practices Fourthly Because Religious Holiness hath a beauty in it and is very lovely he doth all he can to affect Men with the highest revernce for these pretences of Religious strictness so that they that will not be at pains to practise them can bestow an excessive respect and admiration upon those that are grown famous in the use of such things and by that means being almost adored they are without doubt perswaded that all they teach or do is right and in a doting fondness they multiply Superstitious Errours Idolatry is supposed to have a great part of its rise from this While Men endeavoured to express their thankful and admiring remembrances of some excellent Persons by setting up their Pictures their Posterity began to worship them as Gods Pilgramages were first set on foot by the respects that Men gave to places that were made famous by Persons and Actions of more than ordinary Holiness and because the Devil found Men so very apt to please themselves in paying such Devotional Reverences he wrought upon their Superstitious humour to multiply to themselves the occasions thereof and by fabulous Traditions sent them to places no otherwise made memorable than by Dreams and Impostures Much of this you might see if you would accompany a Caravan from Cairo to Mecca and Medina where you would see the zealous Pilgrims with a great many Orisons and Prayers compassing Abrahams house kissing a Stone which they are told fell from Heaven blessing themselves with a relique of the old Vesture of Abrahams House washing themselves in the Pond which as their Tradition goes the Angel shewed to Hagar saluting the Mountain of Pardons throwing Stones in defiances of the Devil as their Legend tells them Ismael did their Prayers on the Mountain of Health their visit to the Prophets Tomb at Medina c. The like might you observe among the Papists in their Pilgrimages to Jerusalem and the Sepulchre to the Lady of Loretto's Chappel and other places By such devices as these the unobservant people are transported with a pleasure insomuch that they not only perswade themselves they are very devout in these Reverences but they also become unalterably fixed to these Errours that do support these delightful Practices or as consequences do issue from them Sixthly A more plausible Argument for Errour than the Learning and Holiness of the Persons that profess it is that of Inspiration in which the Devil soars a loft and pretends the highest divine warrant for his falshoods for God is Truth and we know that no lye is of the Truth Now to make Men believe that God by his Holy Spirit doth in any manner dictate such Opinions or certainly reveal such things for Truths is one of the highest Artifices that he can pretend to and such a confirmation must it be to those that are so perswaded that all disputes and doubtings must necessarily be silenced That the Devil can thus transform himself into an Angel of Light we are assured from Scripture which hath particularly cautioned us against this cheat The Apostacy of the later times 1 Tim. 4. 1. the Apostle foretells should be carried on by the prevalency of this pretence Some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing Spirits That by Spirits there Doctrines are intended rather than Doctors is Mr. Medes interpretation but it will come all to one if we consider that the word
that 't is not only a denyal of God that is above but usually a vesting some mean and contemptible thing with those Attributes which only suit a God Infinite and Eternal As Israel did not only forsake the Almighty by their distrust but place their hopes upon Ashur upon their own Horses and Warlike Preparations and at last upon the works of their hands which they called their Gods How offensive this is to the Lord we may observe by that notable check which the Prophet gave Ahaz Esay 7. 8 13. notwithstanding his complement of refusing a Sign which God offered him for the strengthning of his hope upon a pretence that he would trust without it though indeed he absolutely distrusted him as appears by 2 Chron. 28. 20. that it was a weaning and tyring out the Patience of a long-suffering God Is it a small thing for you to weary Men but will you weary my God also God is so active and jealous of all incroachments of this kind that they may expect he will give up such Offenders to be punished by the terrors of an higher distrust He that is not owned as a God in his Providences will not be owned as a Father for Spiritual Mercies they that will not own him for the Body shall not be able to lay hold upon him or his strength to be at peace with him for their Souls and by this piece of just discipline he often cures the distrust of Providence in his Children who when they see themselves plunged into terrors and fears about their everlasting Welfare do not only call God Just and accept of the punishment of their Iniquity in distrusting him for smaller matters but now wish with all their hearts that they might have no greater thing to trouble them than what relates to the Body or this Life To Sum up all these reasons in one word Satan hath from the forementioned considerations a certain expectation of prevalency For not only in this case doth God as it were fight for him by giving them up to distrust their Filial Interest that have provoked him by a distrust of Providence and our Faith is also so weakned by the former overthrow that 't is not able to maintain its ground in an higher matter but also this distrust carries that in the nature and grounds of it that will of it self work up to a disbelief of spiritual Mercies He knows then that this piece of the Victory is an easy Consequence of the former and we may say of it as the Prophet Nahum chap. 3. 12. of the Strong-holds of Nineveh 't is like a Fig-tree with the first ripe Figs if they be shaken they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater This Temptation of distrusting our Son-ship falls into Satans Mouth with a little Labour when once he hath prevailed so far as to make us distrust the Providence of God in outward matters This must warn and caution us against any unbeseeming unbelieving entertainment of jealousy against the Lords Providence we are but too apt in our straits to take a greater liberty to question his Mercy and Power not foreseeing how closely this borders upon a greater evil we may say of it as the Apostle speaks of babling in Controversies that they lead to more ungodliness and that such words eat as a Canker so doth this distrust usually carry us further and when we fall out with God for small matters he will be angry in earnest and withdraw from us our Consolations in greater In the depth of your distresses when your fears are round about you and God seems to compass you about with his Net when Lover and Friend forsakes and when there is no appearance of help endeavour for the keeping hold of your Interest in God to behave your selves according to the following directions First Look upon the Providences of God to be as a great deep the bottom of whose ways and designs you cannot reach think of them as of a Mystery which indeed you must study but not throw away because you cannot at first understand it Providences are not to be dealt with as Alexander did by Gordius his knot who when he could not loose it he cut it If you see not the end of the Lord or cannot meet with a door of hope in it yet lay your Hand upon your Mouth speak not think not evil of things you know not but wait till the time of their bringing forth Secondly You must keep up in your hearts high and honourable thoughts of God yea of his Mercy and Goodness and where you cannot see your way or God's way before you yet as it were by a kind of implicit Faith must you believe that he is Holy and Good in all his ways Thirdly Though you may read your Sins or God's displeasure in them and accordingly endeavour to humble your selves and call your selves vile yet must it be always remembred that Eternal Love or Hatred is not to be measured by them Fourthly Restrain complainings 'T is indeed an ease to complain I will speak saith Job that I may be refreshed notwithstanding a vent being given 't is difficult to keep within bounds Our complainings entice us to distrust as may appear in Job who took a boldness this way more than was fit as Chap. 10. 3. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress and that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands All this hath been said in the opening of the Temptation it self now must I consider the motive that Satan used to bring on the Temptation by If thou be the Son of God c. The Question that is here moved by some is whether Satan really knew or truly doubted Christ to be the Son of God Several Learned Men think that he was in doubt and the reasons are variously conjectured Cyprian conceives that the unity of the two Natures in one Person did blind him he knew it to be impossible that the Divine Nature should hunger and might think it strange that the Humane Nature should fast so long Cornelius a Lapide thinks that Satan knew that there should be two Natures united in one Person and that this occasioned Satans Fall while he proudly stomacked the exaltation of the Humane Nature but he imagins Satan's doubt arose from a doubtful Sence of that phrase This is my beloved Son as not knowing whether Christ were the Natural or an Adopted Son of God But notwithstanding these apprehensions others conceive that Satan knew very well who Christ was and that being privy to so many things relating to him as the Promises which went before and directly pointed out the time the Angels Salutation of Mary at his Conception the Star that conducted the Wise Men to him the Testimony from Heaven concerning him with a great many things more he could not possibly be ignorant that he was the Messias and the Son of God by Nature Neither doth that expression If thou be the Son of God
Minds upon the occasion of any loss vexation disappointment or disgrace to as great an height as he can and when their Lives are made bitter to them and they are sufficiently prepared by the uneasiness of their condition then he propounds Death as the only remedy to set them at quiet wherein besides his officiousness to provide them with instruments of cruelty and opportunity for their use he follows them with Arguments drawn from the sence of their present Condition the great intendment whereof is to aggravate their smart and to make their burthen seem intollerable and then Self-ruine is but a natural Consequence We may see enough of this in the discontents of good Men and that they naturally work this way Job speaks the general apprehensions of Men in trouble Job 3. 20 21. The bitter in Soul value not Life they long for Death and dig for it more than for bid Treasures they rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the Grave Jonah in his discontent prefers Death before Life It is better for me to die than to live Elias doth the like and Job seems impatient for it All this is from the power and working of this Temptation though God held their hand that it did not fully prevail In Ahithophel the ground of discontent was more a fancied than a real disgrace his Counsel was rejected which was in it self no great dishonour and this works up such a perplexing resentment in his Mind that Satan prevails with him to hang himself very deliberately Secondly He most frequently drawn on Men to destroy themselves by terrors and desparing troubles of Conscience these as they afford greater disquiet and distress of mind than other kind of discontentments so doth he more prevail by them for a wounded Spirit is above ordinary strength and hard to bear only it may may seem strange that those who so experimentally feel how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God should entertain such a Temptation as to their apprehensions and knowledg will certainly plung them into the very Ocean of everlasting Vengeance This no doubt Satan finds to be no small obstruction to his design but here he useth his skill to open a way for them that would out-run their lives on the one hand as he labours to pursue them with sence of Wrath and Indignation on the other hand To this purpose he tells them 1. that all the Hell they are to meet with is in their Consciences and that Death will free them from all or at least that Death will give a present ease and that till the Resurrection they shall be in quiet Those that are willing to receive these apprehensions may easily be prevailed with to hasten their own death seeing they have already fixed this Conclusion with themselves that there is no hope nor pardon for them that they are Reprobates and cut off for their thoughts can meditate nothing but the terrors of such Conclusions 2. He sometimes endeavours to perswade them that by executing this revenge upon themselves they may make some kind of satisfaction and amends for the sins they have commited which though most false yet 't is a wonder how far such ungrounded Surmises may possess the Minds of the Desperate That Judas might have some such thought when he destroyed himself is conjectured by some but that must be but a conjecture seeing none can pretend to know his thoughts but we may speak with greater freedom of those who have declared the working of such apprehensions upon their Minds 3. A more plausible pretext he useth when he endeavours to perswade them that they may kill themselves and yet go to Heaven for all that to this purpose the subtil Adversary is not backward to tell them what have been the Charitable Expressions of some Men who have supposed a possibility of Repentance inter pontem fontem as we say betwixt the Stroke or Halter and the Death Capel is so apprehensive of the mischeivous improvement of this Charity for an encouragement to Self-Murther that he with great earnestness cautions all Ministers against such liberal Expressions I have known some and heard of others that have been so possessed with this Imagination of being saved notwithstanding that having purposed to destroy themselves though God prevented them that they did it not they have first by Prayer recommended themselves to God and so prepared themselves to die 4. Sometimes though such afflicted ones have no such perswasion but that from Death they go immediately to Hell yet are they pushed forward by a certain fearful curiosity of knowing the worst At that rate did Spira express himself when he desired to be freed of his Life that he might know the utmost of those torments which he feared as if the affrightments of his fearful expectations were worse than the real feeling of them 5. But most of all doth he prevail against that objection of greater misery after Death by running Men up to a desperate destraction in their terrors their present anguish is made insupportable so that they hasten out of Life without care or consideration of what shall follow Thirdly He tempts Men directly to destroy themselves from a Principle of Heroick boldness and seeming fortitude of Mind a thing very common among the Romans who impatient of injuries and from pride of Heart not willing to subject themselves to affronts chused rather to tear their own Bowels than to live to see themselves abused Lucretia being forced by Tarquinius and not willing to outlive her disgrace stabb'd her self Cato not being able to endure the Victory of Caesar puts an end to his days Innumerable instances of this kind Histories do every where afford These though they consulted their own passions and knew of nothing that prompted them but their own Generosity or Magnanimity yet were they not without a Tempter to such cruel actions Satan undoubtedly pleased himself by exercising his cruelty upon them so easily by the help of such an humour which passed among these blind Heathens for the highest proof of Vertue and Fortitude To this height it came insomuch that we find Seneca highly applauding Cato for procuring his liberty by his own death and setting forth that Fact as the most delightful Spectacle to the Gods Though indeed as Augustine notes it is not Fortitude but weakness and a clear evidence of impatience which cannot bear other Mens Insolencies or their own hardships And if we examine the matter to the bottom though there be audacity in it to undertake their own death yet is this led on by no better Principles than Pride Impatience and Despair which may the better be discovered if we consider such kind of attempts as they arise from more Ignoble and base occasions Paterculus tells us of a Tuscan Southsayer who being carried to Prison with his Friend Fulvius Flaccus and despairing of pardon desperately runs his head against the Prison Door and
though in his haste that all Men were Lyers it was an unbelieving Reflection on the Promise given him by Samuel In Mal. 3. 13. the People did not believe that they had spoken so much against God when yet their Words had been stout against him Secondly Satan endeavours this by violent Injections of Blasphemous thoughts that are directly such In this I shall note to you First That the vilest Thoughts of God of his Ways and Providences of Scripture and of Christ are frequently suggested things of greatest out-rage against Heaven and Contempt of the Almighty as Bernard expresseth it terribilia de Fide horribilia de Divinitate as that there is no God or that he is not Just or not Faithful to his Promises or that Christ was but an Impostor he sticks at nothing in this kind though never so contrary to the Hope and Perswasion of those whom he thus molests Secondly These are frequently reiterated upon them and their minds so troubled by them that they cannot free themselves from such thoughts but he follows on and clamours in their Ears as Gerson observes Nega Deum Meledic Deo Deny God Curse God Thirdly And this with so great a force and Impetuosity that they are compelled to form these thoughts in their Minds and to speak contrary to what they would as if their Thoughts and Tongues were not under their own Government the Devil not satisfying himself to bear in these Thoughts upon them but he endeavours as it were to make them say after him and to cast his Suggestions into their own Mould that so they might seem properly to be their own and this they are forced to whether they will or no even then when their Minds are filled with Horrour their Heart with Grief and their Body with Trembling I have discoursed with some who have bitterly complained that their Tongues and their Thoughts seemed not to be their own but that Satan ruled them at his Pleasure and that when in opposition to the Temptation they would have formed their Tongues to speak Blessing of God they have spoken Cursing instead of Blessing and that when a blasphemous Thought had been cast into their Mind they could not be at rest till they had thought it again Fourthly These troublesome Temptations are oft of long continuance Joannes Climacus tells us of a Monk that was troubled with blasphemous Thoughts for twenty years together and could not quit himself of them though he had macerated his Body with Watchings and Fastings Some have them going away and returning again by fits according as the prevalency and ferment of their Melancholy gives Satan the advantage of dealing thus with them For if we enquire why it is thus especially with the Children of God we must partly resolve it into the unsearchable Wisdom of God who for Holy Ends of Teaching and Disciplining his Servants permits Satan thus to molest them and partly into those particular advantages which Satan hath against them according to the variety of their Conditions which usually are these First He takes advantage of such Bodily Distempers as do deprive Men of the use of their Reason as Feavers Frenzies Madness in these he oft forms the Tongues of Men to horrid blasphemous Speeches Secondly a Pressure of outward Afflictions gives him his desired opportunity and this he knows to be generally so successful that he promised himself by this means a Victory over Job Ordinarily Straits and Miseries do produce Blaspheming Esa 8. 21. the Prophet notes that when the People should be hardly bestead and hungry they should fret themselves and curse their King and their God and look upward as avouching what they had done Thirdly Worldly Plenty Fulness and Pleasure lay often Foundations of this Temptation when their Cups are full and their Hearts high Satan can easily make them set their Mouth against Heaven A Proud Heart will readily say our Tongue is our own or who is the Lord This was the Engine which the Devil managed if it were as Job suspected against the Sons and Daughters of Job to make them Curse God in their Hearts and by this did he seek to prevail upon Christ in this blasphemous Temptation Fourthly A Melancholy Distemper doth usually invite Satan to give blasphemous Suggestions the disturbed and plyable Fancies of such are the advantages which he improves against them Fifthly Inward Terrors and Distresse of Conscience are also an occasion to Satan to move them as by a desperate Humor to utter hard things of God and against themselves But there is yet a third way by which Satan tempts Men to Blaspheming by sudden Glances of blasphemous Imaginations which like Lightnings do astonish the Heart and then suddenly Vanish these are very common and the best of Men observe them frequently Satan seems as it were rather to Frolick and Sport himself in these Suggestions than to intend a serious Temptation their danger is not so much yet are they not to be despised lest these often visits carelesly entertained and not dismissed with just abhorrency do secretly envenom the Soul and prepare it for stronger Assaults I shall next enquire into the Reasons of this trouble which Satan gives the Children of God First These Temptations are very affrighting though they prevail not yet they are full of perplexing annoyance Corrupt Nature startles at them and receives them not without dread and horrour 't is sadly troublesome to hear others Blaspheme God The reproaches of those that reproached thee saith David fell upon me It was as a Sword in his Bones to hear the blasphemous Scoffs of the wicked when they said to him where is thy God And if it were confusion and shame to him to hear the Enemy Reproach and Blaspheme as he professeth it was Psal 44. 15 16. how sadly afflicting would it be for any Child of God to observe such things in his own Imaginations If there were no more in its than this it is enough to put Satan upon that Design because 't is a troublesome kind of Martyrdom Secondly This is also a spiteful revenge against God all he can do is to blaspheme and rage and 't is a kind of Delight to put this force upon those that carry his own Image he would do all he can to make his own Children to vilify and reproach their Heavenly Father and to render Cursing for Blessing Thirdly This Temptation though it have not the Consent or Complyance of God's Children yet it opens a way to many other Sins as Murmuring Distrust Despair weariness of God's Ways and Services When we find Satan thus to run upon us it is apt to breed strange thoughts of God that thus permits Satan to take us by the Throat or to make us judge of our selves as rejected of God and given up to Satan's Power and if it do this his labour is not in vain we are as one observe more to fear his Subtilty in bringing us by this into other snares than the
19. I saw the Lord sitting upon his Throne and all the Host of Heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left which phrase though it import their Order and Observance yet undoubtedly the main of its intendment is to set forth their Power as Hosts are the strength of Kings and Nations God himself in putting on that Title The Lord of Hosts makes it an evidence of his incomprehensible Power that such Armies of strong and mighty Creatures are at his command But this only in the general That which comes nearer to a particular account of their strength is that Notion of a Spirit by which they are frequently described He maketh his Angels Spirits his Ministers flaming Fire The being of a Spirit is the highest our understanding is able to reach and that it shews a being very excellent is manifest in this that God is pleased to represent himself to us under the notion of a Spirit Not that he is truly and properly such but that this is the most excellent Being that falls under our apprehension Besides that the tearm Spirit raiseth our understanding to conceive a Being of an high and extraordinary Power it doth further tend to form our conceptions to some apprehensions of their Nature 1. From the knowledg that we have of our own Spirits that our Spirit is of a vast comprehension and activity our Thoughts Desires Reasonings and the particular Undertakings of some Men of a raised Spirit do abundantly evidence 2. In that it represents a Spiritual Being freed from the clog and hinderance of corporeity our own Spirits are limited and restrained by our Bodies as Fire an active Element is retarded and made sluggish by Matter unapt to serve its proper force as when 't is in an heap of Earth which is also sufficiently pointed at in that opposition betwixt Flesh and Blood and Principalities and Powers Ephes 6. shewing that Flesh and Blood are a disadvantage and hinderance to the activity of a Spirit A Spirit then as in corporeal may be conceived to move easily without molestation quickly imperceptibly and irresistibly 3. This is yet further illustrated by the Similitude of Wind and Fire which are to the common experience of all of very great force And 't is yet further observable that the Scripture sometime speaks of the power of Angels in the Abstract chusing rather to call them Powers than powerful clearly shewing that Angels are Beings of vast strength as indeed the Actions done by them do abundantly testifie such was the destroying Sennacheribs Host in a night the opening the Prison Doors for Peter the carrying Philip in the Air and such other Acts which tend to the protection of the Faithful or punishing of the wicked Though this may fully satisfie us that Angels excel in strength yet the Scripture suggests another consideration relating to the Office and Imployment of Angels where their Commission shews not only a liberty for the Exercise of this Power but also doth imply such a Power as is fit to be commissionated to such Acts these Invisible Beings are called Thrones Dominions Principalities Powers 1 Col. 16. 'T is indeed a task beyond a sober undertaking to distinguish these words and to set their true Bounds and Marks of difference This Augustin acknowledged yet may we hence conclude 1. that these words imply a very great Authority in Angels 2. A power and strength suitable to their Imployment and that God furnished them with power answerable to the Work which he intended for them in his moving the Heavens and governing the World c. However in some Cases God works by Instruments every way disproportionable to the Service That the excellency of the Power might be of God yet in the ordinary way of his working he puts an innate suitable force in Creatures for the Acts to be done by them as there is an innate Power in the Wind to blow in the Fire to burn in Herbs and Plants for Medicinal uses Thus may we conceive of Angels that God using them as his Host his Ministers to do his pleasure he hath indowed them with an innate natural Power for those great things which he doth by them which must not be supposed in the least derogatory to the Power of God in his ways of Mercies or Judgments seeing all the strength of Angels is originally from God hence is it that all the Names of Angels which we read of in Scripture carry this acknowledgment in their signification Michael thus unfolds it self Who is like God Gabriel thus The Glory of God and therefore may we suppose them not so much the proper Names of Angels but as Calvin noteth Nomina ad captum nostrum indita Names implying God's great Power in them Such a powerful Spirit is Satan by Creation But because it will be doubted lest his fall hath bereaved him of his excellency and cast him down from his strength I shall evidence that he still retains the same natural Power To which purpose 't is not unfit to be observed 1. that the same Terms and Names which were given to good Angels to signifie their Strength and Commission Col. 1. 16. and 1. 10. are also given to Satan Ephes 6. 12. Devils are called Principalities Powers Rulers and Col. 2. 15. they have the same Names which in vers 10. were given to good Angels he spoiled Principalities and Powers 2. The Scripture gives particular Instances of Satan's Power and Working as his raising Tempests in the Air commanding Fire from Heaven both which he did in prosecution of his Malice against Job his carrying the Bodies of Men in the Air as he did with Christ hurrying him from the Wilderness to the Mountain from thence to the Pinacle of the Temple his breaking Chains and Fetters of Iron Mark 5. 4. His bringing Diseases instances whereof were that crooked Woman whom Satan had bowed together Luke 13. 16. and the Lunatick Person Luk. 9. 31. with a great many more 3. 'T is also observable that notwithstanding Satan's fall hath made an alteration as to the Ends Vses and Office of his Power yet nevertheless God makes use of this strength in him not only as an Executioner of Wrath against his Enemies as when he vexed Saul by this Evil Spirit and through this Lying Spirit gave up Ahab to be deluded into his ruin and inflicted Plagues upon Egypt by sending Evil Angels among them but also for the tryal of his own Servants thus was Job afflicted by Satan and Paul buffeted by his Messenger Secondly This Power of his as a Devil falls next under our consideration wherein are divers Particulars to be noted As First His Commission and Authority If any put that Question to him which the Jews did to Christ By what Authority dost thou these things or Who gave thee this Authority We have the Answer in John 12. 24. and 16. 11. where he is called the Prince of this World and accordingly the
When a Man is chastned with pain upon his bed his life abhors bread and his Soul dainty meat And when a Man is brought to loath his Duties as having nothing of that sweetness and satisfaction in them which is every where spoken of a small Temptation may put him upon neglect of them 2 He hath plausible and colourable Arguments by which he formeth an Opinion in the minds of Men that in cases of indisposition they may do better to forbear than to proceed He tells them they ought not to pray or present any service while they are so indisposed that no prayer is acceptable where the Spirit doth not enliven the heart and raise the affections that they do not take his name in vain and increase their Sin and that they should wait till the Spirit fill their sails and to say the truth it is a great difficulty for a Child of God to hold his feet in such slippery places how many have I known complaining of this and perswading themselves verily that they might do far better to leave off all Service than to perform them thus and scarcely have I restrained them from a complyance with Satan by telling them that indispositions are no bar to duty but that duty is the way to get our indispositions cured That Duty is absolutely required and dispositions to be endeavoured and that 't is a less offence to keep to duty under indispositions than wholly upon that pretence to neglect it And indeed where these indispositions are bemoaned and striven with the services are often more acceptable to God than pleasing to our selves the Principle is truly Spiritual and excellent a foundation of Saphirs and precious Stones upon which if we patiently wait he will build a Pallace of Silver for that Service is more Spiritual that is bottom'd and carry'd on by a consciencious regard to a Command when there are no moral Motives from sence and comfort concurring than that which hath more of delight to encourage it while the power of the command is less swaying and influential Fourthly Men are oft discouraged from a sence of unworthiness of the priviledge of Duty a kind of excess of Humility which principally relates to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and Prayer the Accuser of the Brethren tells them that they have nothing to do to take the Name of God in their mouthes that 't is an insufferable Presumption Hence some like the Woman with the bloody Issue dare not come to Christ to ask a cure while yet they earnestly desire it and would rather if they could privately steal it then openly beg it The Publican is presented to us in the Parable as one that could scarce get over that objection he is set forth standing at a distance not daring to lift up his eyes to Heaven scarce attempting to speak rather expressing his unworthiness to Pray than setting upon the Duty his smiting upon his breast and saying God be merciful to me a sinner argued that much of these discouragements lay upon him The like we may see in the Prodigal who it seems had it long in dispute whether he should go to his Father whose kindnesses he had so abused and so long as he could make any other shift he yielded to the Temptation at last he came to that resolve I will arise and go to my father and say I have sinned against heaven and thee and am not worthy to be called thy Son Which shew that the sense of this kept him off till necessity forced him over it And this is a discouragement the more likely to prevail for a neglect of Service because part of it is necessary as the beginning of those Convictions of our Folly to have such low thoughts of our selves that we are not worthy to come into his presence nor to look toward him is very becoming but to think that we should not come to him because our Conscience accuseth of unworthiness is a conclusion of Satan's making and such as God never intended from the premises but the direct contrary Come saith God though unworthy The like course doth the Devil take to keep Men off from the Lord's Table Oh saith he 't is a very solemn Ordinance he that partaketh of it unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself how darest thou make such bold approaches While the Hearts of Men are tender their Consciences quick and accusing the threatning begets a fear and they are driven off long and debarr themselves unnecessarily from their Mercies Fourthly Satan endeavours to hinder Duty by bringing them into a dislike and loathing of Duty This is a course most effectual dislike easily bringeth forth Aversation and withal doth strongly fix the Mind in purposes of neglect and refusal the Devil bringeth this about many ways as First By Reproaches and Ignominious Terms It was an old trick of the Wicked-one to raise up Nick-names and Scoffs against the ways of God's Service thereby to beget an odium in the hearts of Men against them The seat of the scornful is a Chair that Satan had reared up from the Beginning By this art when God was known in Jury and his Name was great in Israel were the Heathens kept off from laying hold on the Covenant of God He rendred them and the Ordinances of Worship ridiculous to the Nations the opprobium of Circumcision and their unreasonable Faith as the Heathens thought it upon things not seen was a Proverb in every Man's mouth Credat Judaeus apella non ego The Jews were slandered with the yearly Sacrifice of a Grecian And Apion affirms That Antiochus found such an one in a Bed in the Temple and that they Worshipped an Asses head in the Temple Apion slandered the Jews with Vlcers in their privy Parts every Seventh day hence he derives Sabbath of Sabatosis which with the Aegyptians signifies an Vlcer Lysimachus slandered the Jews in Aegypt as Leprous Church-robbers and that their City was hence called Hierosola When the Gentiles were called into the fellowship of the Gospel it was aspersed with the like scoffs and flouts it was frequently called a Sect a Babling and strange and uncouth Doctrine besides a great many lies and forgeries that were invented to make it seem odious and by this means it was every where spoken against Machiavil that propounded the Policy of full and violent Calumniations to render an Adversary odious knowing that how unjust soever they were yet some impression of jealousie and suspition would remain had learned it of this old accuser who had often and long experienced it to be a prevalent course to bring the Services of God under dislike David speaking of what befel himself in this kind Psal 69. 9 10 11 12. That his Zeal lay under reproach his weeping and fasting became a Proverb and that in all these he was the Song of the Drunkard He expresseth such apprehensions of the power of this Temptation upon the weak that he
Assaults or made plyable with the allurements of the former but may also sit down secure as having in his supposal passed all the danger and so unawares fall into an unseen or unsuspected Trap. This may 1. by way of Caution assure us that we have no cause to think that all fear is over when we have avoided the more obvious and conspicuous designments of a Temptation but rather to suspect some further train than we yet have discovered 2. That there is a necessity for us to be circumspect every way and Janus-like to have an Eye before and behind that we may make timely discoveries of what Satan intends against us As we have taken a view of the various designments of Satan in one Temptation so 't is also remarkable that these various ways of his in this Temptation do give strength one to another and have as close a connection as Stones in an Arch. Christ was pleased to commend the wisdom of the unjust Steward though he intended not the least approbation of his dishonesty So may we turn aside and observe the cunning Artifice of the Devil in the management of this Argument against Christ which is to this purpose as if he had thus proceeded If thou art the Son of God as the Voice from Heaven lately testifyed it can be no inconvenience but every way an advantage to give a further proof of it Thy present condition of want and hunger seem to contradict it for how strange and unbeseeming is it for the Son of God to be in such Straits Yet if thou beest what thou sayest thou art 't is easy for thee to help thy self God that made the World of nothing by the power of his command can much more change the forms of things that are made already 't is but speaking and these Stones that are before thee will be turned into Bread and besides that in so doing thou maist seasonably vindicate thy self from the Eclipse of thy present condition Necessity and Duty for 't is Duty to supply the want of the Body which cannot be supported without its proper nourishment compel thee unavoidably to it except thou fearest not to contract the Guilt of self-destruction especially seeing I do not urge thee to provide Delicacies but only Bread and such as is needful to keep in the Lives of the poorest Men in the poorest manner Hence note Satan in driving on a Temptation useth such an Artifâ—cial Contrivement of Motives and things that still one doth infer another one strengthens another Temptations are like a Screw which if once admitted will improve its first hold to draw in all the rest By these Arts doth Satan like a cunning Serpent wriggle himself into the Affections of Men. CHAP. X. Of Satans chief end in this Temptation his Skill in making the means to Sin plausible The Reasons of that Policy with his Art therein Men's Ignorance his advantage Of the differences of things propounded to our use THe various aims of Satan and their close dependance one upon another having contributed to us their several Observations it remains that we ask after the main and chief thing that Satan principally intended And to make way to this it must be noted that in grand Temptations especially the main design of Satan comprehends these two The chief End and the chief Means conducing to that End About these some Authors conjecture variously whose differences we have no great occasion to mention seeing the Text gives so great a satisfaction in this matter For First The main End of Satan we have not obscurely expressed to us in these words If thou be the Son of God which if we compare with Matth. 3. 17. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased we shall easily apprehend that here Satan doth but eccho to that Voice which came down from Heaven As he did with Eve God had said of the Tree in the midst of the Garden ye shall not eat Satan having as it were the sound of this yet in his Ears in a clear reference to it saith Yea hath God said ye shall not eat So here is also an evident respect to God's Testimony concerning Christ as if he had said hath God said thou art his Son If thou beest indeed such as he testifyed give some proof of it c. By which it appears that his design was to undermine this Testimony or some way or other to defeat it neither need it pass for an objection against this that Satan doth not directly mention his doubt or distrust nor positively suggest to Christ a questioning or misbelief of his Son-ship for it was not suitable to his Policy so to lay open his main End that must have been expected afterward as the last in execution if it had taken effect though it were first in intention Secondly The chief Means by which he would have brought this End about may be understood from Christ's Answer to the Temptation for it cannot but be imagined that Christ knew the bottom of Satans Policy and that his Answer must fully confront the Means by which Satan indeavoured to ensnare him His Answer was Man lives not by Bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God If we can then come to a certain understanding of this Scripture which is not difficult we shall evidently know the mind of the Temptation to which this is a direct Answer These words are cited out of Deut. 8. 3. which some interpret to this Sense as if Christ had said Man hath not only a Life of the Body which is mentioned by Bread to look after but another life of the Soul which is of so great concernment that the bodily life is to be neglected rather than that of the Soul to be endangered This is a truth in it self but is apparently besides the meaning of Deut. 8. Neither doth it afford so full and particular an answer as doubtless Christ intended But let us consider the Text and we shall find more in it for Moses first sets down Gods dealing with Israel in the Wilderness in that he suffered them to hunger and took from them the ordinary means of Life which as the latter part of the verse shews is to be understood of ordinary Bread and then to supply that want he fed them by an extraordinary means such as they had never heard of before this was by Manna Next he makes an Inference from this way of God's proceeding improving this particular to a general rule That he might make thee know that Man lives not by Bread only but by every Word that procedeth out of the Mouth of the Lord doth Man live which is clearly of this Import that Man lives not by ordinary means only but that God can provide for his Life in an extraordinary way by appointing any thing to that end through his mighty and powerful Word and good Pleasure So that things never so unusual or unfit in themselves for
imply any doubting seeing that that is usually expressive of the greatest certainty and assurance as in the speech of Lamech If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold that is as certainly he shall be avenged so Satan might use it to this Sense If or seeing thou art the Son of God Now whereas it may seem strange that he should set upon Christ if he knew who he was I have answered that before and shall here only add that though Satan did believe Christ to be the Son of God yet so strongly did the power of Malice work in him that he would have had him to have doubted that he was not so From all this we have this Observation That the great design of Satan is to weaken the Assurance and Hopes of the Children of God in their Adoption This is the Master-piece of his design the very Center in which most of his Devices meet we may say of him as Esau said of Jacob is he not rightly called Jacob a supplanter he first stole away our Birth-right at the Creation and now he seeks to take away our blessing in Christ the Redeemer The reasons of this undertaking I shall not here insist on 't is sufficiently obvious that the greatest perplexity and sorrow ariseth to the Children of God from hence and that a troop of other Spiritual evils as Impatience Fury Blasphemy and many more doth follow it at the Heels besides all that inability for Service and at last plain neglect of all Duty All I shall further do at this time shall be to shew in a few particulars from Satans carriage to Christ in this Temptation how and after what manner he doth manage that design in which note First That 't is his design to sever us from the Promise and to weaken our Faith in that when Eve was tempted this was that he aimed at that she should question the good earnest of the prohibition Hath God said so Was he real in that command that you should not Eat at all c. the like he doth to Christ Is it true or can it be so as that Voice declared that thou art the Son of God Secondly Though this be his design yet his way to come to it is not at first to deny it but to question and enquire yet after such a manner as may imply and withal suggest a doubting or suspition that it is not so he doth not come to Christ thus Thou art not the Son of God or that Voice that gave thee that Testimony was but a lye or a delusion but he rather proceeds by questioning which might seem to grant that he was so yet withal might possibly beget a doubt in his mind Thirdly Next he more plainly suggests something that may seem to argue the contrary for thus he aggravates Christ's present condition of want Can it be that God would leave thee to these oppressing straits if thou wert his Son At this rate he deals with us improving the failure of outward means of help the permission of Temptation the want of Comfort the continuance of Affliction notwithstanding Prayers c. as probabilities that we belong not to God Fourthly After this he urgeth Christ to a sinful miscarriage to distrust Providence and to rely no longer on the Care of his Father if Christ had been prevailed with in this he would have made use of it as an Argument to prove that he was not the Son of God indeed 'T is usual in his disputings with us about adoption to put us upon something which may be as an Argument out of our own Mouths against us Christ might have answered him in this as the Man answered Joah If I should do so then thou thy self wouldst set thy self against me Fifthly When at last he hath gradually ascended to that Confidence as to deny our Adoption then at a very great disadvantage he puts us upon the proof in which he puts by the ordinary evidences and insists on extraordinary proofs as necessary The Servants of the Lord that are under this exercise do find that in this case the ordinary evidences of Repentance Mortification Love to the Brethren c. do nothing for them Satan puts their Spirit upon clamouring for higher evidences nothing will serve except they may view the Records of Eternity and read their Names enrolled in the everlasting Decrees or except God will speak from Heaven in an extraordinary way to testify of them as Thomas resolved that no less should satisfy his doubt than the feeling and seeing of the print of the Nails To this purpose some stand upon no less than a Miracle for proof of Son-ship Of which we have two Instances of later years the one Mrs. Honywood the other Mrs. Sarah Wight who in their distresses for their Souls were tempted by Satan to make an hasty Experiment the one by throwing a Venice Glass the other by throwing a Cup against the Wall with this or the like expression If I must be saved then let not this Glass break a desperate Temptation their manner of desiring satisfaction is so provoking that it cannot be expected God will give an answer by it but rather the contrary and if he should not condescend as he is not bound though he strangely preserved the Cup and Glass forementioned from breaking what a dangerous conclusion would Satan draw from it Of this nature and design was that proposal of Satans to Christ Command that these Stones be made Bread that is do it as a proof of thy Son-ship By this we must learn this skill not too easily to give up our hopes or to be Prodigal of our Interest in Christ so as to part with it slenderly If Satan would chiefly rob us of this we may learn thence to put a price upon these Jewels and to account that precious and of singular concernment which he useth so much cunning to bereave us of Many of the Lords Servants may justly blame themselves for their lavish unthriftiness in this matter who as if it were a necessary piece of humility or modesty will readily conclude against themselves that they are not God's Children that they are not yet converted c. Thus at unawares they give up to Satan without a stroke all that he seeks for But you will say Must all Men be confident of Adoption No I mean not so yet all Men must be wary how they cast away their hopes particularly First Though it be a dangerous arrogancy for a sinful wicked Creature to bear himself up in a belief that he is converted and actually instated into the Adoption of Sons yet 't is as dangerous on the other hand for that Man to cast off all hope and to say he is reprobated and such an one as cannot expect Pardon and Grace Secondly Those that are converted though they may and ought to humble themselves deeply for their sinful miscarriage and sincerely acknowledg that they deserve not to be called his Children yet must
wrought out to us by the Scripture and its Ordinances Faith which is our Shield and Hope which is our Helmet they neither of them act without the warrant and encouragement of it and whereas other parts of the Armour are defensive this of the Scripture is compared to the Sword which not only defends but also offends and beats back the Enemy If the matter be seriously considered all these parts of Armour are but these two the Graces of the Spirit Faith Hope Patience in their sincere exercise and the word of Scripture as the Instrument by and in which they shew their Operations so that all this Armour being put to use in every particular Temptation it amounts to no more than this we are speaking of viz. That sinful Motions are to be rejected by a believing sincerely resolute opposing of them with Arguments from the Word of God Thirdly Scripture as it is the Word and Command of the great King of Heaven hath a dâ—â—nting and commanding Authority over the Consciences of Men. Where the Word of a King is there is Power Eccles 8. 4. and such is the Majesty of a Divine Law that it hath Power over the Consciences of those that are yet in their Sins and can wound affright constrain and bind even the Rebellious so that so long as they retain any of their Natural Impressions of a Divine Power they have some awe for his Commands which may be seen and argued where it would be least expected from the enragement of the Hearts of Sinners when Sin by the Commandment accidentally becomes exceeding sinful For as that outragious fierceness doth arise from the contrariety that is betwixt a Carnal Heart and a Spiritual Law so that contrariety would never work if the Authority of that Law having a Power to restrain and give check to the corruption of the Heart were not some way owned by the Conscience for where no countermanding Law is owned there can be no irritating provoking restraint This it can do to the vilest of Men but of how much more Power may we imagine the Word to be with good Men whose Hearts tremble at the Word when they bind the Law upon their Heart and charge their Consciences with it 't is surely quick and powerful sharper than a two edged Sword nor doth it only by unlovely affrightments terrify them from Sin but by commanding Duty make the Heart in love with it so that it becomes a delightful satisfaction to be preserved from the Snare Fourthly There is no Argument that can be used against Temptations that can be more afflictively discouraging to Satan Satan as bad as he is cannot but believe those Truths which he knows and he knows that there are many Truths in Scripture which respect him as threatnings of Punishment and Divine Vengeance he believes these things and trembles Jam. 2. 19. His unavoidable knowledg or remembrance of these things begets horrour in him he cannot but be under a dread of these Truths What can be supposed so to wound him as the bringing these things to memory by urging the Command of God against him Dr. Arrowsmith gives two instances of this kind the one of Christopher Haas in Sweedland from the Epistle Dedicatory to the 5 tomes of Brentius's works The other of Daniel Cramer Rector of a School at Stetin in Germany on both which the Devil made a bold attempt in a personal Appearance from the first demanding a Catalogue of his Sins in Writing from the other demanding a Paper in which one of the Students had obliged himself to Satan's Service they both referred him to that Text of Gen. 3. 15. The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Head of the Serpent And this was retorted upon him with such a strong exercise of Faith that he presently desisted the suit and vanished Fifthly This Weapon cannot easily be wrested out of our hands When we urge a Divine Prohibition against a Temptation what can he say in Answer he cannot deny it to be the Word of God or to be true or that we are not obliged to it he made none of these returns to Christ but by his silence owned that it was God's Holy Command obliging us to Duty Neither dares he stand upon these exceptions to us except he find our Faith inclined to waver or our minds weak and wounded by inward troubles of Spirit and when he puts on a boldness to deny Scripture to be the Word of God or that it signifies God's real intendments in his threatning for by begetting unbelief of the Truth of Scripture and by suggesting hopes of escape and pardon notwithstanding the violation of the Commands of it the wrests when he doth prevail this Weapon out of our hands yet he is forced to fetch a compass and by many previous insinuations to make his way to these atheistical assertions Thus he did with Eve first finding her a little inclinaable he dropt in privily something that might argue the Improbability of the threatned Penalty and then at last positively denyed it But now if we hold to this that the Command is true and holy and just and good he cannot wrest our plea from us Sixthly Nothing doth more undermine Temptations by rendring the reasons and motives thereof vain and empty than doth the contrary commands of Scripture Temptation hath always some inticement of pleasure or profit and these only seem to be taking or reasonable while we consider not the Word of God as rotten wood or Fish shine only in the dark but when we are urged with sinful pleasures how mean base dangerous and unlovely be they when the command to the contrary gives information that they are snares and lead to Death or the provocation of the Almighty Seventhly While we resist with Scripture-Arguments we engage God whose Command we would stand by to go down to the Battel with us we lay hold upon his strength and put obligations upon him to take us out of the snare and to deliver us from him who is too strong for us Fourthly It remains that in a word I shew how the Commands or Arguments of Scripture are to be used in resisting Satan which is thus When you have any sinful thought cast into your mind presently reject the offer by charging your heart with duty from some opposite command As if you be urged to acts of Uncleanness presently refuse thus No I must not God hath commanded the contrary he hath said thou shalt not commit Adultery If a covetous thought arise reject it with this God hath said thou shalt not Covet If you be tempted to please the Flesh and follow vain delights answer it with this If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die and the like must be done in other Temptations Some may perhaps think that this is easy work and quickly done and that it seems to attribute a Virtue and Power to the words of Scripture as if Satan were charmed by the language or phrase However