the high flown straines of it Montanus as vile as he was had the confidence to call himself the Comforter Novatus and his Brother would be no less than Moses and Aaron The Gnosticks called themselves the Illuminati The Swinkfieildians assumed the title of the Confessors of the Glory of Christ The Family of Love had their Evangelium Regni the Gospel of the Kingdom The Fratricelli distinguished themselves from others by the term Spiritual Muntzer asserted That all of his Opinion were Gods Elect and that all the Children of their Religion were to be called the Children of God and that all others were ungodly and designed to Damnation H. Nicholas affirms That there was no knowledg of Christ nor Scripture but in his Family To this purpose most of them speak that forsake the wayes of Truth and though these swellings are but wind and vapour yet those heights are very serviceable to the Devils purposes who by this means confirms those whom he hath already Conquered and then fits them out with the greater confidence to allure others and Men are apt enough to be drawn by fair shews and confident boastings But I proceed The third Stratagem of Satan for promoting Errour is to astonish Men with strange Language and affected expressions It was an old device of Satan to coyn an unintelligible gibberish as the proper vehicle of strange Enthusiasticks Doctrine and this he artificially suits to his pretended Mysteries without this his rare Discoveries would be too flat and dull to gain upon any Man of competent understanding For if these Dotages were cloathed in plain words they would either appear to be direct non-sence or ridiculous folly It concerns him when he hath any feats of Delusion in hand to set them off with a canting speech as juglers use their hard words of Ailif Casyl Zaze Presto Millat c. to put their ignorant Admirers into a belief of some unknown power by which they do their Wonders And this is in some sort necessary extraordinary matters are above expression and such wild expressions put Men into an expectation of things sublime This knack Satan hath constantly used Montanus had his strange Speeches And all along downward to our times we may observe That Errour hath had this gaudy dress the Familists especially abound with it you may read whole Books full of such a kind of speaking as the Book called Theologia Germanica or German Divinity the Books of Jacob Behmen The bright Morning Star c. Neither are the Papists free one of late hath taken the paines to shew them this and other follies among them you may find such talk as this of being beclosed in the mid-head of God and in his meek-head of being substantially united to God of being oned to God as also of the abstractedness of Life of passive Vnions of the Deiform fund of the Soul of a state of introversion of a Super-essential life a state of nothingness c. Just like the raveings of H. Nicholas David George and others who confidently discourse of being godded with God of being consubstantiated with the Deity and of Gods being manned with them I have oft considered what reason might be given for the takeingness of such expressions and have been forced to satisfie my self with these First Many mistake the knowledge of words for the knowledge of things And well may poor ignorant Men believe they have attained no man knows what by this device when among Learned Men the Knowledg of words is esteemed so great a pitch of Learning and they nourish a great many Controversies that are only verbal Secondly Some are pleased to be accounted Vnderstanders by others and rest in such high words as a badge of Knowledge Thirdly Some are delighted with such an hard Language upon an hope That it will lead them to the knowledg of the things at last they think strange expressions are a sign of deep Mysteries I knew one that set himself to the reading of Jacob Behmens Books though at present he confessed he was scarce able to make common sense of three lines together upon a secret enticement that he had from the Language to come to some excellent discovery by much pains and reading Fourthly Some that have their Fancies heated have by this means broken confused impressions of strange things in their imaginations and conceive themselves to know things beyond what common Language can express as if with Paul rapt up into the third Heaven they hear and see Wonders unutterable But what reason soever prevails with Men to take up such a way of speaking Satan makes them believe that it containes a rich Mine or Treasury not of common Truths but of extraordinary Profundities Fourthly In stead of Argument to confirm an Errour sometimes we have only bold Assertions that it is Truth and a confident condemning the contrary as an Errour urging the danger of Mens rejecting it backed with threatning of Hell and Damnation and all this in the words of Scripture To be sure they are right and all other Men are wrong This kind of confidence and fierceness hath been still the complexion of any remarkable way of Delusion for that commonly confines their Charity to their own Party which is a great token of an Errour not only may you observe in such extraordinary Proclamations of Wrath against those that will not believe them a practice used by the Mad Fanaticks of Munster who as our Quakers were wont to do go up and down the streets crying Wo wo Repent repent come out of Babylon the heavy Wrath of God the Axe is laid to the root of the Tree But in their more setled Teaching they pronounce all to be Antichrist and of the carnal Church that do oppose them Take for this H. Nicholas his words all Knowledg besides his is but witchery and blindness and all other Teachers and Learners are a false Christianity and the Devils Synagogue a nest of Devils and wicked Spirits a false Being the Antichrist the Kingdom of Hell the Majesty of the Devil c. This piece of Art not only our Quakers to whom nothing is more familiar than to say to any opposer Thou art Damn'd thou art in the Gall of bitterness the Lake of fire and brimstone is prepared for thee c. but also the Papists commonly practise who shut all out of Heaven that are not of their Church and when they would affright any from Protestanism they make not nice to tell him That there is no possibility of Salvation but in their way The Reasons of this Policy are these 1 The Heart is apt to be startled with threatnings and moved by commands especially those that are of a more tender and frightful Spirit and though they know nothing by themselves yet these beget fears which may secretly betray Reason and make Men leave the right way because of affrightment 2 The confidence of the Assertors of such things hath also its prevalency for Men are apt to think that
Piacular Sacrifices they believed that except the life of a Man were given for the life of Men that the Gods could not be pacified In other Sacrifices both Eucharistical and for Atonement they retained this Principle that those things are to be offered to the Gods that are most pleasing and acceptable to us and that the offering of a Calf or a Pigeon was not sutable to such an end This Maxim they further improved by the addition of another of the same kind that if it were fit to offer an Humane Sacrifice it must also be innocent and consequently little Children are the fittest for such a purpose And some have also conjectured that the Devil hath not been a wanting to improve the example of Abraham sacrificing his Son or the Law in Levit. 27. 28. or the Prophecies concerning the death of Christ as the great Sacrifice of Atonement to justify and warrant his Hellish Cruelty In some cases Cruelty hath arisen from the very Principles of Reverence and Love which Children have to Parents and Friends to Friends as in Dragoian when any are sick they send to their Oracle to know whether the Parties shall live or die if it be answered they shall die then their Friends strangle them and eat them and all this from a kind of Religious respect to their Kindred to preserve as they imagine their Flesh from putrifaction and their Souls from torment The like they do at Java-major when their Friends grow old and cannot work only they eat not their own Friends but carry them to the Market and sell them to those that do eat them Lastly Let us call to mind how long the Devil domineer'd in the World at this rate of cruelty When the World grew to a freer use of Reason and greater exercise of Civility they found out ways of mitigation and changed these barbarous Rites into more tolerable Sacrifices as in Laodicea they substituted an Hart to be sacrificed instead of a Virgin in Cyprus an Ox was put instead of a Man in Egypt Waxen-Images instead of Men Images of Straw at Rome were cast into Tyber in the place of living Men and the terrible burnings of Moloch which was not peculiar only to the Nations near to Canaan but was in use also at Carthage and found in the American Islands by the Spaniards the like Brazen-Images were also found in Lodovicus Vives his time by the French in an Island called by them Carolina These were at last changed into a Februation and instead of burning their Children they only passed them betwixt two Fires but it was long before it came to this In the time of Socrates Humane Sacrifices were in use at Carthage and they continued in the Roman Provinces till the time of Tertullian Eusebius and Lactantius Though they had been severaly forbidden by Augustus Caesar and afterward by Tiberius who was forced to crucify some of the Priests that dared to offer such Sacrifices to affright them from those barbarous Customs In other places of the World how long such things continued who can tell especially seeing they were found at Carolina not so very long since How impossible is it to cast up the total Sum of so many large Items when these terrible customs have had so general a practice in most Nations upon so many occasions upon such seeming plausible Principles when such great numbers have been destroyed at once and these usages have been so long practised in the World and with such difficulty restrained what vast multitudes of Men must we imagine have been consumed by Satans execrable cruelty Sixthly There remains one instance more of the Devils Cruelty which is yet different from the former which I may call his Personal Cruelties because they are acted by his own immediate Hand upon certain of his Vassals without the help or interposure of Men who in most of the forementioned cases have been as Instruments acted by him Here I might take notice of his fury to those that are possessed some have been as it were racked and tortured in their Bodies and their Limbs and Members so distorted that it hath been not only matter of Pity to the Beholders to see them so abused but also of Admiration to consider how such abuses should be consistent with their lives and that such rendings and tearings have not quite separated the Soul from the Body In the Gospels we read of some such cast into the Fire and into the Water Others conversing with Tombs and Sepulchers in the cold nights without Cloaths and all of them spoken of as Creatures sadly tormented and miserably vexed The Histories of later days tell us of some that vomited crooked Pins pieces of Leather Coals Cloth and such like Of others snatched out of their Houses and tired even to fainting and waste of their Spirits as Domina Rossa mentioned by Bodin with a great many more to this same purpose We may take a view of his dealing with Witches who though he seem to gratify them in their Transportations from place to place and in their Feastings with Musick and Dancings are but cruelly handled by him very often the very Work they are put upon which is the destruction of Children Men Women Cattle and the Fruits of the Earth is but a base Imployment but the account he takes of them of the full performance of their Enterprizes and the cruel Beatings they have of him when they cannot accomplish any of their Revenges is no less than a severe Cruelty He gives them no rest unless they be doing Hurt and when they cannot do it to the Persons designed they are forced to do the same Mischief to their own Children or Relations that they may gratifie their Tyrannical Master Bodin relates the Story of a French Baron who was afterward put to death for Witchcraft that after he had killed eight Children was at last upon a design of sacrificing his own Child to the Devil and if at any time they grew weary of so execrable a Slavery or confess their Wickeness they are so miserably tormented that they chuse rather to die than live And what else but Cruelty can these Slaves expect from him when the Ceremonies of their Entrance into that cursed Service betokens nothing else for their Bonds and Obligations are usually writ or subscribed with their own Blood and some Magical Books have been writ with the blood of many Children besides the farewel that they have of him at their usual Meetings is commonly this thundering Threatning Avenge your selves or you shall die All these particulars are collected from the Confessions of Witches by Bodin Wierus and others But leaving these Let us further enquire into Satan's Carriage toward those that in America and other dark and barbarous Places know no other God and give their devoutest worship to him To those he is not so kind as might be expected but his constant way is to terrifie and torment them insomuch that some know no
sticks not sometime to asperse the poor troubled Soul with Dissimulation where that accusation is proper for the Devil cares not how inconsistent he be to himself so that he may but gain his end affirming all his seriousness to be nothing but whining Hypocrisy So that whether they judg these troubles to be real or feigned his conclusion is the same and he perswades Men thereby to hold off from all religious strictness holy diligence and careful watchfulness 5. A further use which the Devil makes of these troubles of Spirit is to prepare the Hearts of Men thereby to give entertainment to his venomous impressions Distress of Heart usually opens the Door to Satan and lays a Man naked without Armour or Defence as a fair Mark for all his poysoned Arrows and 't is a hundred to one but some of them do hit I shall chuse out some of the most remarkable and they are these 1. After long acquaintance with grief he labours to fix them in it In some cases custome doth alleviate higher griefs and Men take an odd kind of delight in them 't is some pleasure to complain and Men settle themselves in such a course their Finger is ever upon their Soar and they go about telling their Sorrows to all they converse with though to some this is a necessity for real Sorrows if they be not too great for vent will constrain them to speak yet in some that have been formerly acquainted with grief it degenerates at last into a formality of complaining and because they formerly had cause so to do they think they must always do so But besides this Satan doth endeavour to chain Men to their mourning upon two higher Accounts 1. By a delusive contentment in sorrow as if our tears paid some part of our debt to God and made amends for the injuries done to him 2. By an obstinate sullenness and desperate resolvedness they harden themselves in sorrow and say as Job 7. 11. I will not refrain my Mouth I will speak in the anguish of my Spirit I will complain in the bitterness of my Soul Am I a Sea or a Whale that thou settest a Watch over me 2. Another impression that Mens Hearts are apt to take is unthankfulness for the favours formerly bestowed upon them their present troubles blot out the memory of old kindnesses they conclude they have nothing at all because they have not peace though God heretofore hath sent down from on high and taken them out of the great Waters or out of the Mire and Clay where they were ready to sink though he hath sent them many tokens of Love conferred on them many Blessings yet all these are no more to them so long as their sorrows continue than Haman's Wealth and Honour was to him so long as Mordecai the Jew sate at the Kings Gate Thus the Devil oft prevails with God's Children to deal with God as some unthankful Persons deal with their Benefactors who if they be not humour'd in every request deny the reality of their Love and dispise with great ingratitude all that was done for them before 3. By inward griefs the Heart of the afflicted are prepared to entertain the worst interpretation that the Devil can put upon the Providences of God The various Instances of Scripture and the gracious Promises made to those that walk in Darkness and see no Light do abundantly forewarn Men from making bad conclusions of God's dealings and do tell us that God in design for our tryal and for our profit doth often hide his Face for a moment when yet his purpose is to bind us up with everlasting compassions Now the Devil labours to improve the sorrows of the Mind to give a quite contrary construction if they are afflicted instead of saying Sorrow may endure for a Night but Joy will come in the Morning or that for a little while God hath hidden himself he puts them to say this Darkness shall never pass away If the grief be little he drives them on to a fearful expectation of worse as he did with Hezekiah Esa 38. 13. I reckoned till Morning that as a Lyon so will be break all my Bones from Day even to Night wilt thou make an end of me If God purpose to teach us by inward Sorrows our Pride of Heart carelessness neglect of dependance upon him the bitterness of Sin or the like the Devil will make us believe and we are too ready to subscribe to him that God proclaims open War against us and resolves never to own us more So did Job chap. 19. 6. Know now that God hath overthrown me and compassed me with his Net how often complained he thou hast made me as thy mark thou hast broken me asunder thou hast taken me by my Neck and shaken me to peices So also Heman Psal 88. 14. Why castest thou off my Soul why hidest thou thy Face from me 4. Upon this occasion the Devil is ready to envenome the Soul with sinful wishes and execrations against itself Eminent Saints have been tempted in their trouble to say too much this way Job solemnly cursed his Day Job 3. 3. Let the Day perish wherein I was born and the Night in which it was said there is a Manchild conceived c. So also Jeremiah chap. 20. 14. Cursed be the Day wherein I was Born let not the Day wherein my Mother bare me be Blessed Cursed be the Man who brought tydings to my Father saying a Man-child is Born unto thee and let that Man be as the Cities which God overthrew and repented not Strange rashness what had the Day deserved or wherein was the Messenger to be blamed Violent Passions hurried him beyond all bounds of reason and moderation When troubles within are violent a small push sets Men forward and when once they begin they are carried headlong beyond what they first intended 5. On this advantage the Devil sometimes imboldens them to quarrel God himself directly When Job and Jeremiah cursed their day it was a contumely against God indirectly but they durst not make bold with God at so high a rate as to quarrel him to his Face Yet even this are Men brought to often when their sorrows are long-lasting and deep The Devil suggests Can God be faithful and never keep Promise for help can he be merciful when he turns away his ears from the cry of the miserable where is his pity when he multiplies his wounds without cause Though at first these cursed intimations do a little startle Men yet when by frequent inculcating they grow more familiar to the Heart the distressed break out in their rage with those exclamations Where is the faithfulness of God where are his Promises hath he not forgotten to be gracious are not his Mercies clean gone And at last it may be Satan leads them a step higher that is 6. To a desparing desperateness For when all Passages of relief are stop up and the burthen becomes great Men are
affrightment by the former but also in the manner of proceeding for when he designs chiefly to tempt to Atheism he first prepares his way by debauching the Conscience with vitious or negligent living According to Psal 14. 1. that which makes Men say in their Hearts there is no God is this that they are corrupt and have done abominable works and in this method was famous Junius tempted to Atheism But when he chiefly intends to affright he sets upon Men that by a watchful and strict conversation cut off from him that advantage yet he doth so manage himself that he can turn his course either way as he finds probability of success after tryal for he presseth on upon Men most where he finds them most to yeild so that those who were but at first affrighted may at last be solemnly perswaded and urged to believe the suggestion to be true if they give him any incouragement for such a procedure 2. Contemplative Heads and great Searchers are usually most troubled in this manner partly because they see more difficulties than other Men and are more sensible of Humane inability to resolve them and partly because God who will not suffer his Children to be tempted above what they are able doth not permit Satan to molest the weaker sort of Christians with such dangerous assaults 3. Persons of eminent and singular Holiness may be and often are troubled with Atheistical thoughts and have sad conflicts about them Satan labouring where he cannot prevail for a positive entertainment of Atheism at least to disquiet their Minds by haunting them with his Injections if not to weaken their assent to these Fundamental Truths in which he sometimes so prevails that good Men have publickly professed that they have found it an harder matter to believe that there is a God than most do imagine 4. Satan lies at the catch in this design and usually takes Men at the advantage suddenly setting upon them either in the height of their Meditations and Enquiries into Fundamental Truths for when they soar aloft and puzzle themselves with a difficulty then is he at hand to advise them to cut the knot which they cannot unloose or in the depth of their Troubles for when Men cannot reconcile the daily Afflictions and Sufferings which they undergo with the love and care of God toward his Children then 't is Satans season to tell them that there is no supream Disposer of things in both these cases the Devil leaps upon them unawares like a Robber out of a Thicket who if he do not wound them by the Dart of Atheistical Injection at least he is sure to astonish them and to confound them with amazement For 5. Sometimes he pursues with wonderful violence and will dispute with admirable subtilty urging the inequality of Providence the seeming contradictions of Scripture the unsuitableness of Ordinances to an infinite Wisdom and Goodness with many more Arguments of like kind and this with such unexpected acuteness and seeming demonstration that the most holy Hearts and wisest Heads shall not readily know what to answer but shall be forced to betake themselves to their Knees and to beg of God that he would rebuke Satan and uphold them that their Faith fail not Nay he doth not only dispute but by urging and with unspeakable earnestness threaping the Conclusion upon Men doth almost force them to a Perswasion so that they are almost carried off their Feet whether they will or no. Which was the very case of David when the Devil pursued him with Atheistical thoughts on the occasion of the prosperity of wicked Men and his daily Troubles Psal 73. 2. My Feet were almost gone my Steps had well-nigh slipt 6. Yet for all this he sometimes lays aside his Sophistical Subtilty and betakes himself to an Impudent Importunity for sometimes he insists only on one Argument not changing that which he first took up nor strengthening his Suggestion with variety of Arguments but by frequent repetition of the same Reason persists to urge his injected Atheism This gives no discovery of any deep reach if he designed to perswade for 't is scarce rational to imagine that serious Men who by many Arguments are fully perswaded there is a God should readily lose their hold upon the appearance of one Objection but it shews that he purposeth only to molest And this appears more evidently when he contents himself with weak and trivial Arguments which the afflicted Party can answer fully and yet cannot for all that quit themselves of the trouble for instance 'T is not very many years since a serious and pious Person came to me and complained that he could not be at rest for Atheistical thoughts that perpetually haunted him and upon a particular enquiry into the cause and manner of his Trouble he told me the first rise of it was from his Observation that I had interpreted some Scriptures otherwise than he had heard some others to have done but withall he added that he knew the reason of his perplexity was but silly and that which he could easily answer This being no just charge against the Scripture whose sense and truth might for all that be one and uniform to it self but only an implication of Humane weakness appearing in the different apprehensions of Expositors yet notwithstanding he affirmed he could not shake off the trouble and that his thoughts were ever urged with the same thing for a long time together nay such is his impudency in this kind of trouble that those who know 't is the best way not to dispute Fundamentals with Satan but with abhorrency to reject him after the example of Christ with a Get thee behind me Satan and accordingly do with their utmost strength reject them yet they find that he doth not readily desist How sad is this Trouble how are pious Persons affrighted to see the Face of their Thoughts made abominably ugly and deformed by these violent and unavoidable Injections 't is not only wearisome to those that know it to be solely Satans malice but it often proves to be an astonishing surprisal like that of a Traveller who while he passeth on his way without foresight or thought of danger is suddenly brought to the top of a great Precipice where when he looks down to the vast deep below his Head swims his Heart pants his Knees tremble and the very fear of the sudden danger so confounds him that he is through excessive dread ready to fall into that which he would avoid so are these amazed at so great hazards before them Satan could not by all his Art prevail with them to abandon the holy ways of God in exchange for the pleasures of Sin and now they seem to be in danger to lose all at once and yet 't is more affrightful by far to those that charge though Satans cunning all this Atheism upon themselves 2. Another affrightful Injection is that of blasphemous Thoughts as that God is not just not compassionate
that Scriptures and Ordinances are but low and sorry things c. That Satan doth delight to force such Thoughts upon Men is evident 1. From his Nature He is a blasphemous Spirit and withal so malicious that whatsoever is in his cursed Mind he will be ready to vent upon all occasions 2. From his Practice for where he can obtain the rule over Mens Imaginations as in some distracted Persons and those that are distempered with Feavers he usually makes them vomit forâ— Oaths Cursings and Blasphemies and this he doth to some that while they have had the use of their Reason have not been observed to give their Tongue the liberty of swearing or cursed speaking 3. From his professed Design in the case of Job concerning whom he boasted to God himself that he would make him curse him to his face and accordingly tempted him by his Wife to curse God and die 4. From the sad experience of those that have suffered under this sad Affliction for many have complained of blasphemous Thoughts and those whom he cannot conquer he will thus trouble Neither need we think it strange that the Devil can impress Blasphemies upon the Imaginations of Men against their wills when we consider that he could make Saul in his fits to behave himself like an inspired Person and cause him to utter things beyond and unsutable to his disposition after the rate and manner of those raptures which Idolatrous Priests used to be transported withal this in 1 Sam. 18. 10. is called Sauls prophesying when the evil Spirit from the Lord vexed him and is the same with that which is spoken concerning Baal's Priests 1 King 18. 29. They prophesied until the time of the offering of the Evening Sacrifice that is they were exercised with Trances and rapturous Furies in which they uttered strange Sounds and Speeches How easily then may Satan possess the Fancies of Men with Blasphemies so that the unwilling may be troubled with them and those that are deprived of the benefit of Reason may from the power of the impression upon their imagination vent them with a kind of unwilligness Melancholy Persons do very frequently meet with this kind of Trouble Satan having a great power upon their Imagination and great advantages from the darkness of that Humor to make the fear arising from such thoughts the more astonishing and to delude them into an apprehension that they are guilty of all that passeth through their thoughts and also to work this perplexity to more dismal effects In these kind of Men he doth play the Tyrant with such Injections abusing them to such an height as if they were his Vassals and Slaves whose Thoughts and Tongues were in his and not their own keeping and so strongly doth he possess them with this perplexity sometimes that all the counsels reasonings or advice of others cannot in the least satisfie or relieve them yet notwithstanding I have known several under this Affliction who when by Physick the state of their Bodies hath been altered have found themselves at ease immediately the Trouble gradually and insensibly ceasing of it self Others there are that have great vexation from these Thoughts and these are commonly such as by some long and grievous Pain Sickness or other Crosses have their Spirits fretted and imbittered then is Satan ready to suggest that God is cruel or regardless of his People and these Thoughts are the more dreadful because fretting and murmuring Spirits have a natural tendency to to think harshly of God so that Satan in this case doth with the more boldness obtrude these Suggestions upon them finding so great a forwardness toward such Imaginations and also with greater severity he doth reflect upon them as being in some likelihood compliant and consenting When other Persons not so concerned as these two sorts of Men above mentioned are assaulted with blasphemous thoughts the fits are less permanent and because they easily discover the design and Author of them not highly affrightful though still troublesome The burthen of these injections are much like the former very sadly afflicting For who can easily bear the noise of Satan while he shouts continually into their Ears odious Calumnies and Blasphemous Indignities against God David could not hear wicked Men blaspheme God but it was as a Sword in his Bones exceeding painful the impressions of Nature that teach us to revere and honour God the power of Education that confirms these impressions the perswasion of Faith that assures us of the reality and infinite Excellency of a Godhead and the force of Love that makes us more sensibly apprehensive of any Injury or Dishonour done to him whom we love above all all these do suffer by these violent Incursions of Satan and the Sufferer finds himself to be pained and tortured in these noble parts How grievous must it be to a Child of God to have his Ear chained to these intollerable ingrateful Reproaches Especially when we consider that the Devil will in this case utter the most dreadful Blasphemies he can devise which will still add to the Affliction for even those Men that through habit can well bear ordinary petty Oaths will yet startle at outragious prodigious Swearing and therefore what ever Covert and consequential Blasphemies may be to some Men these impudent hideous abuses of the Holy and Just God must needs sadly trouble those that are forced to hear them And the more constant the greater trouble Who would not be weary of their Lives that must be forced to undergo this Vexation still without intermission And yet the Devil can advance the trouble a little higher by the Apparatus or Artificial Dread which he puts upon the Temptation in the manner of the injection As the Roaring of the Lion increaseth terrour in the Beasts of the Field who without that would tremble at his presence and as the Thundering and Lightning at the giving of the Law increased the fear of Israel So when Satan is upon this design he shakes as it were the House and makes a noise that the fright may be increased 3. Suspicious fears of being excluded out of Gods eternal Decree of Election is another of his affrightments This is when Satan boldly takes upon him to determine God's secret Counsel concerning any Man peremptorily asserting that he is none of Gods Elect. In which case he often doth only inject the suspicion confidently without offer of Proof or if he use Arguments they never amount to a proof of his Assertion neither is it possible they should for these are among God's secrets and out of Satans reach though possibly they may prove the Person to be not Converted at present So that this kind of trouble differs exceedingly from those disquiets of Temptation which frequently Men suffer about their state of Regeneration And indeed the Question should not be confounded it being of great concern to Men when their Peace is assaulted to be able to observe the difference betwixt these two Assertions Thou
former hopes are taxed for self-delusion and his present state to be a state of Nature This trouble is far greater than the two former because the Party is judged to be in greater hazard and by many degrees more remote from hope 'T is the frequent and sad thought of such That if Death should in that estate cut off their days Oh! then they were for ever miserable The fears and disquiets of the Heart on this account are very grievous but yet they admit of degrees according to the Ignorance of the Party the Distemper of the Conscience the Strength of the Objections or Severity of the Prosecution in regard the Conscience is now sadly out of order We may call this degree of grief for distinction a wounded Spirit which how hard it is to be born Solomon tells us Prov. 18. 14. By comparing it with all other kind of troubles which the Spirit of a Man can make some shift to bear making this heavier than all and above ordinary strength Some make enquiry what may be the difference betwixt a wounded Spirit in the Regenerate and the Reprobate To which it may be answered 1. That in the Parties apprehension there is no difference at all both of them may be compassed about with the Sorrows of Death and suppose themselves to be in the Belly of Hell 2. Neither is there any difference in the degree of the trouble a Child of God may be handled with as much seeming Severity as he whom God intends for a future Tophet 3. Neither is there any such remarkable difference in the working of the Spirits of the one and other that they themselves at present or others that are by-standers can easily observe Yet a formal difference there is for Grace being in the Heart of the one will in some breathing or Pulse discover its Life And though sometimes it acts so low or confusedly that God only can distinguish yet often those that are experienced observes will discover some real Breathings after God and true loathing of Sin and other traces of Faith and Love that are not so discernible to the Parties themselves 4. But in God's design the difference is very great the wicked lye under his Lash as Malefactors but the regenerate are as Patients under Cure or Children under Discipline 5. And accordingly the Issue doth determine that Gods intention in wounding their Spirits were not alike to both the one at last coming out of the Furnace as Gold the other still remaining as reprobate Silver or being consumed as dross Thus have ye seen the nature and degree of Spiritual Sadness 2. For the further explanation whereof I shall next shew you that this is an usual trouble to the Children of God Which 1. I might evidence from several Instances of those that have suffered much under it as David whose complaints in this case are very frequent and Heman who left a memorial of his griefs in Psal 88. Jonah also in the Belly of the Whale had a sharp fit of it when he concluded that he was cast out of Gods Sight and his Soul fainted within him Jon. 2. 4. 7. Neither did Hezekiah altogether escape it for though his disquiet began upon another ground it run him into Spiritual trouble at last But besides these innumerable instances occur One shall scarce converse with any Society of Christians but he shall meet with some who with sad complaints shall bemoan the burthen of their Hearts and the troubles of their Conscience 2. The provisions which God hath made in his Word for such is an evidence that such Distempers are frequent He that in a City shall observe the Shops of the Apothecaries and there take notice of the great variety of Medicines Pots and Glasses full of Mixtures Confection and Cordials may from thence rationally conclude that 't is a frequent thing for Men to be Sick though he should not converse with any Sick Person for his information Thus may we be satisfied from the Declarations Directions and Consolations of Scripture that 't is a common case for the Children of God to stand in need of Spiritual Physitians and Spiritual Remedies to help them when they are wounded and fainting Solomon's exclamination a wounded Spirit who can bare shews that the Spirit is sometimes wounded The Prophets direction he that walks in darkness and sees no Light let him trust in the Lord clearly implies that some there are that walk in darkness God's creating the fruit of the Lips Peace peace his promises of restoring Comforts to Mourners his commands to others to comfort them do all inform us that 't is a common things for his Children to be under such Sadnesses of Spirit that all this is necessary for their relief 3. The reasons of this trouble do also assure us of the frequency of it for of them we may say as Christ speaks of the poor we have them always with us so that the grounds of Spiritual Sadness considered 't is no wonder to find many Men complaining under this Distemper The reasons are 1. The Malice of Satan who hath no greater revenge against a Child of God when translated from the Power of Darkness to the Kingdom of Christ than to hinder him of the Peace and Comfort of that condition 2. The many advantages which Satan hath against us For the effecting of this we cannot imagine that one so malicious as he is will suffer his Malice to sleep when so many fair opportunities of putting it in practice do offer themselves For 1. The Questions to be determined for setling the peace of the Soul are very intricate and often of greater difficulty than Doctrinal Controversies How hard is it to conclude what is the Minimum quod sic the lowest degrees of true Grace Or the Maximum quod sic the highest degree of sin consistant with true Grace To distinguish betwixt a Child of God at the lowest and an Hypocrite or Temporary Believer at the highest is difficult In mixt actions to be able to shew how the Soul doth manage its respect to God when the Man hath also a respect to himself especially when it is under any confusion is not easie And in thâ—se Actions where the difference from others of like kind lies only in the grounds and motives of the undertaking or where the prevailing degree must distinguish the Act in reference to different Objects that are subordinate to one another as our loving God above the World or our selves our fearinâ— God above Men c. 't is not every one that can give a satisfactory determination 2. As the intricacies of the Doubts to be resolved give the Devil an advantage to puzzle us so is the advantage heightned exceedingly by the great injudiciousness and unskilfulness of the greatest part of Christians These Questions are in their notion difficult more difficult in their application to particular Persons where the ablest Christian may easily be non-plust but most difficult to the weak Christians These Satan can
cry out of themselves as miserable 2. Another piece of his Sophistry is the improving certain false Notions which Christians of the weaker sort have received as proofs of their Unregeneracy or bad Condition As there are Vulgar Errors concerning Natural things so there are Popular Errors concerning Spiritual things These mistakes in a great part have their Original from the Fancies or Misapprehensions of unskilful Men. Some indeed have it may be been preached and taught as Truths others have risen without a Teacher from meer Ignorance being the conclusions and surmises which weak Heads have framed to themselves from the Sayings or Practices of Men which have not been either so cleared from the danger of mistake or not so distinctly apprehended as was necessary These false Inferences once set on foot are traditionally handed down to others and in time they gain among the simple the opinion of undoubted Truths Now where ever Satan finds any of these that are fit for his purpose for to be sure whatever mistake we entertain he will at one time or other cast it in our way he will make it the foundation of an Argument against him that hath received it and that with very great advantage For a falshood in the Premises will usually produce a falshood in the Conclusion And these falshoods being taken for granted the Devil is not put to the trouble to prove them if then he can but exactly fit them to something in the party which he cannot deny he forthwith carries the cause and condemns him by his own concessions as out of his own mouth 'T is scarce possible to number the false Notions which are already entertained among Christians relating to Grace and Conversion much less those that may afterward arise But I shall mention some that Satan frequently makes use of as grounds of Objection 1. 'T is a common apprehension among the weaker sort that Conversion is always accompanied with great fear and terrour This is true in some as hath been said and though none of the Preachers of the Gospel have asserted the universality of these greater measures of Trouble yet the People taking notice that many speak of their deep humiliations in Conversion and that several Authors have set forth the greatness of Distress that some have been cast into on that occasion though without any intention of fixing this into a general Rule have from thence supposed that all the Converted are brought to their Comforts through the flames of Hell Upon this mistake the Devil disquiets those that have not felt these extream Agonies of Sorrow in themselves and tells them that it is a sure sign that they are not yet Converted Though 't is easie for a Man that sees the falshood of the Notion to answer the Argument yet he that believes it to be true cannot tell what to say because he finds he never was under such Troubles and now he begins to be troubled because he was not troubled before or as he supposeth not troubled enough 2. Another false Notion is That a Convert can give an account of the time and manner of his Conversion This is true in some as in Paul and some others whose Change hath been sudden and remarkable though in many this is far otherwise who can better give account that they are Converted than by what Steps Degrees and Methods they were brought to it But if any of these receive the Notion they will presently find that Satan will turn the edge of it against them and will tell them that they are not Converted because they cannot nominate the time when nor the manner how such a Change was wrought 3. Some take it for granted that Conversion is accompanied with a remarkable measure of Gifts for Prayer and Exhortation and then the Devil objects it to them That they are not Converted because they cannot Pray as others or Speak of the things of God so readily fluently and affectionately as some others can Thus the poor weak Christian is baffled for want of Abilities to express himself to God and Men. 4. False Notions about the nature of Faith are a sad stumbling-Block to some Many suppose that Saving Faith is a certain belief that our Sins are Pardoned and that we shall be Saved making Faith and Assurance all one This mistake is the deeper rooted in the Minds of Men because some have directly taught so and those Men of Estimation whose words are entertained with great Reverence by well-meaning Christians For whom notwithstanding this may be pleaded in excuse that they have rather described Faith in its height than in its lowest measures How ever it be those that have no other understanding of the nature of Faith can never answer Satan's Argument if he takes them at any time at the advantage of fear or doubting For then he will dispute thus Faith is a belief that sins are Pardoned but thou dost not believe this therefore thou hast no Faith Oh what numbers of poor doubting Christians have been distressed with this Argument 5. Some take it for a truth that growth of Grace is always visible and the progress remarkable And then because they can make no such discovery of themselves the Devil concludes their Grace to be counterfeit and hypocritical 6. Of like nature are some mistaken signs of true Grace as that true Grace fears God only for his Goodness And then if there be any apprehension of Divine Displeasure impressed upon the Heart though upon the necessary occasion of miscarriage they through the Devils instigation conclude that they are under a spirit of Bondage and their supposed Grace not true or not genuine at least according to that disposition which the New-Testament will furnish a Man withal 'T is also another mistaken sign of Grace That it doth direct a Man to love God singly for himself without the least regard to his own Salvation for that they think is but self-Self-love Now when a Child of God doth not see his love to God so distinct but that his own salvation is twisted with it Satan gets advantage of him and forceth him to cast away his love as adulterate and selfish Like to this mistake but of an higher strain is that of some That where Grace is true 't is so carried forth to honour God that the Man that hath it can desire God may be honoured though he should be damned God doth not put us to such Questions as these but upon supposition that this is true the grace of most Men will be shaken by the Objection that Satan will make from thence he can and will presently put the mistaken to it Canst thou say thou art willing to go to Hell that God may be glorified If not where is thy Grace From such mistakes as these he disputes against the holiness of the Children of God and 't is impossible but that he should carry the Cause against those who grant these things to be true Satan can undeniably shew them that their Hearts
would seem to be a clearer Character of a Man dead in Trespasses and Sins than a hard Heart that can neither be sensible of Judgments nor Mercies This he sometimes chargeth upon the Children of God from the great disproportion that they find in themselves betwixt the little sence that they seem to have and that which is disproportionable they reckon to be nothing and the vast greatness of Gods Mercy or Holiness I have observed some to complain of utter unthankfulness and insensibleness of Heart from thence concluding confidently against themselves because when God hath remarkably appeared for them in deliverances from dangers or in unexpected kindnesses they could not render a thankfulness that carried any proportion to the Mercy While they were in the highest admiration of the kindness saying What shall I render to the Lord they were quite out of the sight of their own sence and feeling and thought they returned nothing at all because they returned nothing equivalent to what they had received Others I have known who from the confusion and amazement of their Spirit when they have been overwhelmed with troubles have positively determined themselves to be sensless stupid past feeling hardened to destruction when in both cases any might have seen the working of their Hearts to be an apparent contradiction to what Satan charged them withal For they were not unapprehensive either of Mercies or Judgments but on the contrary had only a greater sence of them than they were able to manage 4. To make full measure Satan doth sometimes aggravate the miscarriages of those whom he intends to accuse by comparing their lives and actions with the holy Lives of some eminent Servants of God especially such as they have only heard of and not known personally For so they have only their Vertues represented without their failings Here Satan takes a liberty of declaming against them and though he could never spare a Saint a good word out of respect yet that others might be put out of heart and hope he will commend the holiness strictness care constancy of dead Saints to the Skies And then he Queries Art thou such an one Canst thou say thou art any thing like them for a heavenly Heart a holy Life a contempt of the World a zeal for God for good Works for patient Suffering c. All this while not a word of their Weaknesses These saith he were the Servants of the Most High their Examples thou shouldst follow if thou expectest their Crown Had they any more Holiness than they needed And if thouhast not so much thou art nothing What can Humility Modesty and sense of Guilt speak in such a case They go away mourning their Fears increase upon them and what God hath set before them in the Examples of his Servants for the increase of their diligence they take to be as a Witness against them to prove them Unconverted 5. The last part of Satan's Sophistry is to lessen their Graces that so he may altogether deny them In this he proceeds upon such Scriptures as do assert the Fruits of the Spirit and urgeth for his foundation that none are the Children of God but such as are led by the Spirit and that he that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his The necessity of Faith Love Patience Humility with the Fruits of these and other Graces he presseth but still in order to a Demonstration as he pretends that such are not to be found in those whose Gracious state he calls into question and consequently that they are not the Children of God The Rule by which he manageth himself in this Dispute is this The more Graces are heightned in the Notions that must give an account of their Nature and Beings the more difficult it will be to find out their Reality in the Practice of them His design then hath these two parts 1. He heightens Grace in the Notion or Abstract all he can 2. He lessens it in the Concrete or Practice as much as is possible that it may appear a very Nullity a shadow and not a substance I shall speak a little of both 1. As to the first part of his Design he hath many ways by which he aggravates Grace in the Notion We may be sure if it lie in his way he will not stick to give false definitions of Grace and to tell Men that it is what indeed it is not He is a Lyar and in any case whatsoever he will lie for his advantage if he have hope his Lye may pass for current but he cannot always use a palpable Cheat in this matter where the nature of any Grace is positively determined in Scripture except it be with the Ignorant or where the nature of Grace is made a business of Controversie among Men. I will not make Conjectures what Satan may possibly say in belying the nature of Grace to make it seem to be quite another thing than it is but shall rather shew you the more usual plausible ways of Deceit which herein he exerciseth and they are these that follow 1. As the same Graces have different Degrees in several Persons and these different Degrees have Operations suitable some Acts being stronger some weaker some more perfected and ripened others more imperfect and immature So when Satan comes to describe Grace he sets it forth in its highest Excellencies and most glorious Attainments You shall never observe him to speak of Graces at their lowest pitch except where he is carrying on a design for Presumption and then he tells Men that any Wishing or Woulding is Grace and every formal Lord forgive me is true Repentance but on the contrary he offers the highest reach of it that any Saint on Earth ever arrived at as essentially necessary to constitute its Being and tells them if they have not that they have nothing Let us see it in the Particulars 1. Grace sometimes hath its Extraordinaries as I may call them We have both Precept and Example of that nature in Scripture which are propounded not as the common Standard by which the Being and Reality of Grace is to be measured but as Patterns for imitation to provoke us to Emulation and to quicken us in pressing forward Of this nature I reckon to be the Example of Moses desiring to be blotted out of God's Book whatever he meant by it in his love to the People and the like of the Apostle Paul wishing himself to be accursed from Christ for his Brethrens sake Of this nature also we have many Precepts as rejoyce evermore of waiting and longing for the Appearance of Christ of rejoycing when we fall into divers Temptations and many more to this purpose All which are heights of Grace that do rarely appear among the Servants of God at any time 2. Grace hath sometimes its special Assistances this is when the occasion is extraordinary but the Grace befitting that occasion is promised in ordinary and ordinarily recieved When God calls any to such
occasions though compared with that measure of Grace which usually is acted by the Children of God upon ordinary occasions it is a special assistance of the Spirit Of this nature is that Boldness which the Servants of Christ receive to confess Christ before Men in times of Persecution and to Die for the Truth with Constancy Courage and Joy 3. There are also singular Eminencies of Grace which some diligent careful and choice Servants of God attain unto far above what the ordinary sort arrive at Enoch had his Conversation so much in Heaven that he was said to walk with God David's Soul was often full of delight in God Some in the height of Assurance rejoyce in God with joy unspeakable and full of Glory Moses was eminent in Meekness Job in Patience the Apostle Paul in Zeal for promoting the Gospel c. Now Satan when he comes to question the Graces of Men he presents them with these Measures and if they fall short as ordinarily they do he concludes them altogether Graceless 2. Satan also can do much to heighten the ordinary work and usual fruits of every Grace His Art herein lies in two things 1. He gives us a description of Grace as it is in it self abstracted from the Weakness Dulness Distraction and Infirmities that are Concomitant with it as it comes forth to Practice He brings to our view Grace in its Glory and without the Spots by which our Weakness and Satan's Temptation do much disfigure it 2. He presents us with Grace in its whole Body compleated with all its Members Faith Love Hope Patience Meekness Gentleness c. From both these he sets before those whom he intends to discourage a compleat Copy of an exact holy Christian As if every true Christian were to be found in the constant Practice of all these Graces at all times on all occasions and that without weakness or Infirmity Whereas indeed a true Christian may be found sometimes evidently practising one Grace and weak or at present defective in another And sometimes the best of his Graces is so interrupted with Temptation so clogged with Infirmity that its workings are scarce discernable 3. He hath a Policy in heightning those Attainments and workings of Soul in things relating to God and Religion which are to be found in Temporary Believers which because they sometimes appear in the Unconverted as well as in the Converted though all Unconverted Men have them not are therefore called Common Graces This he doth that he may from thence take occasion to disprove the Real Graces of the Servants of God of whom better things and things that accompany Salvation that is special saving Graces are to be expected Heb. 6. 9. His way herein is 1. To shew the utmost bravery of these Common Graces how much Men may have how far they may go and yet at last come to nothing For Gifts they may have powerful Eloquence Prophecy understanding of Mysteries faith of Miracles For good Works they may give their Estates to relieve the Poor In Moral Vertues they may be Excellent their Illumination may be great they may taste the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come Heb. 6. 4. Their Conversation may be without offence and their Conscience Honest as Paul's was before his Conversion 2. With these heights of common Grace he compares the lowest degree of Special Grace And because the Principles Motives and Ends which constitute the difference betwixt these two are as it were under-ground more remote from Sense and Observation and oftentimes darkned by Temptation He takes the boldness to deny the Truth of Grace upon the account of the small inconsiderable appearance that it makes confidently affirming that Special Grace must of necessity make a far greater outward shew than these Common Graces In what manner and to what end Satan doth heighten Grace in the abstract we have seen It remains that we discover 2. How he doth lessen Grace in the Concrete this is the center of his Design He would not extol Grace so much but that he hopes thereby to condemn the Generation of the Just and to make it appear that there are few or none that are truly Gracious When he comes to apply all this to the condition of any Child of God he deals treacherously and his cunning consists of three Parts 1. He compares the present state of any one with whom he deals to the highest attainments and excellencies of Grace allowing nothing to be Grace but what will answer these Descriptions he had already given Here the Tempter doth apparently make use of a false Ballance and a Bag of deceitful Weights For thus he puts them to it Thou sayest thou hast Grace but thou dost altogether deceive thy self for indeed thou hast none at all Compare thy self with others that were in Scripture noted as undoubtedly Gracious and thou wilt see that in the Ballance thou art lighter than Vanity Abraham had Faith but he believed above hope Moses and Paul had love but they manifested it by preferring their Brethrens happiness before their own David was a Saint but he had a Heart ravished with God The Martyrs spoken of in Heb. 11. they could do Wonders they were above fears of Men above the love of the World they loved not their Lives to the Death How joyfully took they the spoyling of their Goods How couragiously did they suffer the sharpest Torments Besides saith he all the Children of God are described is Sanctified throughout abounding with all fruits of Righteousness their Faith is Working their Love still Laborious their Hope produceth constant Patience What art thou to these That in thee which thou callest Faith or Love or Patience c. 't is not fit to be named with these Thy fears may tell thee that thou hast no Faith and so may thy Works thy murmurings under God's Hand is evidence sufficient that thou hast no Patience The little that thou dost for God or especially wouldst do if it were not for thy own advantage may convince thee that thou hast no love to him thy weariness of Services and Duties thy confessed unprofitableness under all do proclaim thou hast no delight in God nor in his Ways He further adds for the confirmation of all this Consider how far Temporaries may go that shall never go to Heaven Thou art far short of them thy Gifts thy Works thy Vertues thy Illumination thy Conversation thy Conscientiousness are nothing like theirs How is it possible then that such as one as thou a pittiful contemptible Creature shouldst have any thing of true Grace in thee Thus he makes the Application of all the Discovery of Grace which he presented to them Though he needs not urge all these things to every one any one of these particulars frequently serves the turn When a trembling Heart compares it self with these Instances it turns its Back yields the Argument and is ashamed of its former Hopes as those are of their former Confidence
several ways they take in gratifying their Lusts and Humours and the Devil is only officious to help all this forward by inticing and perswading them to make these provisions for the Flesh And who can think other but that this must be Satans great Engine when as hath been said first the World and the Pleasures of it is the sum of all Iniquity containing in it virtually or actually the Transgression of the whole Law the root it is of all evil 1 Tim. 6. 10. all prophaneness against God all neglect of Duty all Outrage Wrong or Injustice to Man may and usually doth spring from hence insomuch that some have particularly traced it through every Command of the Decalogue and found it guilty either as Principal or Accessary of every Iniquity 2. Our thoughts may be the more confirmed in this when we see all Men intangled by it for albeit that some Temptations seem directly to carry Men from a love or care of the World as Despair terrours of Mind voluntary Humility neglecting of the Body and others of the same kind yet if the matter be considered the truth in hand cannot be prejudiced by such an objection For 1. those who seem in distress of Conscience most to loath the World were yet first entangled by it and the consideration of that Guilt whether at present justly or unjustly charged upon them is the usual occasion of these troubles And 2. those who seem to undervalue Money Riches Plenty c. are it may be no less Slaves to other Worldly Lusts for Pleasures of the World comprehend whatsoever may arise from any thing that is in the World to the delight of Life Honour Pride Ambition Prodigality are wordly Lusts as well as Covetousness and desire of Power or Rule And those that seem to deny themselves of faring deliciously or wearing soft Rayment may be as much distressed with an inward desire of Applause and Honour as those that would gratify their Senses are by sensual Lusts Thirdly How much the World stands Satan in stead may be observed from the force of that Temptation upon those that have very much engaged in their Profession of the ways of God it hath often fetch'd off those that seemed to have given up themselves to God Demas was once commended by Paul as his Fellow-Labourer Philem. v. 24. yet at last it so prevailed upon him that he complained 2 Tim. 4. 10. that Demas had forsaken him and turned his back upon his Profession and so far if Dorotheus do him right that he became an Idol-Priest in Thessalonica the cause of which horrid Apostacy was his love to the present World Balaam seemed resolute not to act any thing against Israel yet the ways of unrighteousness so far blinded him that he taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the Children of Israel The highest of nominal Professors noted by the thorny ground in Matth. 13. 22. who seemed to differ from the good ground only in this that their Fruit was green and not ripe as Luke expresseth it they brought not Fruit to Perfection They were choaked in these fair beginnings and offers for Holiness by the Cares and Pleasures of the World All Ages abound with instances of this kind Aeneas Sylvius preached against the Pope set up the Council above him commended the Germans for opposing him but Preferment made him alter his note and at last he became Pope himself Bonner the Persecutor seemed at first a good Man a Favourer of Luther's Doctrine but advancement changed him to a bloody Woolf a cruel Tygar Spalato forsook Popery but missing those Dignities which he aimed at in England was upon hopes of greater preferment induced to lick up his Vomit and to own Popery again How many Examples have we of those who the higher they grew in the World became more careless of Religion as Sixtus Quintus who went as fast back in Religion as he went forward in Promotion so that he that at first entring into Orders had a good hope of his Salvation by that time he came to be Pope he became so wicked that he despaired of Happiness Fourthly This Temptation is one of Satan's last Refuges and often prevails where Persecution cannot The Thorny-ground-hearers were above those of the Stony-ground in this that they stood out the Storm and bore the scorching Heat of Persecution but then the World choaked them Sad experience tells us that Churches that did thrive and grow as the Palm-tree under their Pressures were spoiled by ease and plenty which so cherished the Seeds of Pride Vanity and Contention that they grew up a-main and did more to their desolation than the cruelty of all their feircest Enemies Julian who by the greatest Art and Policy studied to overthrow the Christians name so observed this that he made it his rule rather to corrupt Men by Honours then to compel them by Torments we have also found that though the Romans Synagogue joyn force to Subtilty in the advancement of their Dagon yet they have still looked upon this Temptation of the World as most likely to gain the Hearts of their rational opposers Cruelty could over-aw the Sensless Multitude and could take out of the way those of whose opposition they were affraid but it seldom with success wrought upon Persons guided by Light and Conscience to a compliance that would hold long for though at first some good Men were over-awed to make subscription and to recant as it did with Bilney Bainham Cranmer and several others yet upon the working of Conscience after the stound and dazle of the Temptation was over they recoiled so resolutely upon them that they lost more than they gained that way But those that were willing to nibble at preferments became theirs wholly Thus they set upon Luther Galeacous Carracciolus Dr. Taylor and a great many more though to no purpose for they were ready to bid their Money perish with them and to bid defiance to their Favour as well as to their Frowns Notwithstanding they have made many real Conquests by this Weapon and accordingly this is reckoned among the Temptations of greatest force Heb. 11. 37. They were stoned they were sawn asunder they were tempted that is by the Pleasures and Preferments of the World it seems the Holy Ghost would point at this how fair and plausible soever it be as one of the Devil 's most powerful Engines Next I promised to discover what it is in the World which makes it so fit for Satan's designs First The World brings or affords fit matter to be made the Fewel of Lust For this reason the Apostle in the place aforecited forbids us so earnestly to love the World or the things of the World because there is nothing in it which is not improveable as an occasion or Provocation to Lust Whatsoever is in the World is Lust of Flesh or Eyes or Heart and there is no Lust but it may be furnished with a proper Object from hence the
Appetite Senses or Affections fetch all their delights from hence Secondly Besides the common Materials of Sin that are digged out of this Mine the World hath something of an aptitude in it to tempt Not that it hath properly and formally insidiationis animum an active Subtilty to lay snares for Men but yet it is not so purely passive as to make it altogether Innocent There is something of a Curse upon it ever since by the fall of Man it was loosned from its proper primitive ends and as the Devil spake by the Serpent so doth he urge speak tempt and insinuate by the World so that it is still an occasion of danger to us and hath a special advantage over our affections upon several accounts As 1. in that it is in its self lawful to be used 2. In that it is suitable to our desires and tempers 3. In some respects it might be necessary and advantageous for the comfort of Life for the support of Families and to enable us to be helpful to others 4. It is near to us under our Eye we have familiar converse with it it is still with us 5. We have a natural propensity to be in love with it the Flesh would fain be pleased and nothing is more answerable to it than the pleasures of the World We need not wonder then when we see it so highly captivating the affections of Men and leading them bound in Chains and Fetters Some make it their God Gain is all their Godliness and Religion they seek their Portion in this Life this is their Treasure and here is their Heart and it would be no less wonder if Satan should be guilty of so much oversight as to neglect the use of an Instrument which is every way so fitted for his purpose Thirdly Besides this fair prospect which it gives to Sin it hath an enmity to God and his ways which is no less advantagious to the Devil This is positively affirmed Jam. 4. 4. the Friendship of this World is Enmity with God not only is this true in a lower sense as a hinderance being backward and averse to it but it is a direct opposition and contrariety to God and his Service it s drawing back and hindring is charge enough against it for it 1. withdraws those thoughts affections time care and endeavours which should be laid out upon better things so that Holiness must needs be obstructed dwindle and decay by it 2. It hinders the influence of Heaven it shuts out the light causally quencheth and resisteth the Spirit and meritoriously also it provokes God to withdraw to remove his Glory and to give over his striving with them But the contrariety that it hath to all the parts of Holiness is yet more Christ notes it Matth. 6. 24. These two Masters God and the World are contrary in their Deisigns in their Commands in their Natures so that it is impossible for any Man to serve them both they both require the Heart and they both require it to contrary and incompitable Services and Ends These then are such Masters as would be Domini in Solidum Masters of the whole Now there cannot be two Masters of one thing in that sense neither if there were could the Hearts of Men serve these different commands but their work would necessarily engage their affections to one only they would either love the one and hate the other or hold to the one and despise the other This very consideration if there were no more doth render the World a desirable Instrument for Satan Fourthly In all this the World hath so many Cunning Disguises and plausible Shifts that it becomes thereby wonderfully serviceable to Satan 'T is the perfection of wicked Policy to manage wicked designs under plausible pretences these the World hath in readiness when 't is accused of Rebellion and Treachery against God The pleas of Necessity of Prosecution of a lawful Calling of providing for a Family of not neglecting the benefits of God of chearing the Heart and taking the Comforts of the Labours of their Hands and a great many more are ready excuses to ward off the force of the convincing Word these the Devil drives home and fastens them into such strong perswasions that the deluded Sinner cannot see the danger that is before him nor the Spiritual Adultery or Idolatry of his Soul in his excessive love to Worldly Pleasures Fifthly The World hath also a Spiritual Fascination and Witchcraft by which where it hath once prevailed Men are inchanted to an utter forgetfulness of themselves and God and being drunk with Pleasures they are easily engaged to a madness and height of Folly Some like foolish Children are made to keep a great stir in the World for very trifles for a vain shew they think themselves great honourable excellent and for this make a great bustle when the World hath not added one Cubit to their Stature of real worth Others are by this Circe transformed into Savage Creatures and act the part of Lyons and Tygars Others like Swine wallow in the Lusts of uncleanness Others are unmanned putting off all natural affections care not who they ride over so they may rule or be made Great Others are taken with ridiculous Frenzies so that a Man that stands in the cool shade of a sedate composure would judg them out of their wits It would make a Man admire to read or the Frisks of Caius Caligula Xerxes Alexander and many others who because they were above many Men thought themselves above humane Nature they forgat they were born and must die and did such things as would have made them but that their greatness over-awed it a laughing-Stock and common scorn to Children Neither must we think that these were but some few or rare instances of worldly intoxication when the Scripture notes it as a general distemper of all that bow down to worship this Idol They live without God in the World saith the Apostle that is they so carry it as if there were no God to take notice of them to check them for their madness God is not in all his thoughts saith David Psal 10. 4 5. The Judgments of God are far above out of their Sight he puffs at his Enemies and saith in his Heart he shall never be moved c. The whole Psalm describes the Worldling as a Man that hath lost all understanding and were acting the part of a Frantick Bedlam what then can be a more fit Engine for the Devil to work with than the Pleasures of the World I shall briefly apply this to two sorts of Men those that are straitned with want and necessities and those whose cups run over having all that their Heart can wish First To those that think their measure of outward Comforts little I would from the Doctrine now explained tell them that they have not so much cause to vex and disquiet themselves for their Poverty or Troubles as they apprehend The World is not so