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
frightful thoughts about it so that we judg of it according to our fears and make it frightful to our selves as if it would be to no purpose rather a mischief than an advantage 2. Sometime our satisfaction ariseth from some special token of Favour which our indulgent Father le ts fall upon us while we are in his work As when he gives us more than ordinary assistance or puts Joy and Comfort into our Hearts And this he often doth to make us come again and to engage afresh in the same or other services as having tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious and that there is a blessedness in waiting for him As in our Bodies he so orders it that the concocted juices become a successive Ferment to those that succeed from our daily Meat and Drink So from Duties performed doth he beget and continue Spiritual Appetite to new undertakings But O how sadly is all this hindered by the disquiet of the Heart The Graces of Faith and Love are usually obstructed if not in their Exercise yet in their delightful Fruits and if God offer a kindness inward sorrow hinders the perception As when Moses told the Israelites of their deliverance they hearkned not for hard bondage If a message of Peace present it self in a Promise or some consideration of Gods merciful disposition yet usually this is not credited Job confesseth so much of himself Job 19. 16. If I had called and he had answered me yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my Voice David also doth the like Psal 77. 2 3. My Soul refuseth to be comforted I remember God and was troubled Matter of greatest comfort is often so far from giving ease that it augments the trouble However the Heart is so hurried with its fears and discomposed with grief that it cannot hearken to nor consider nor believe any kind offer made to it By all these ways doth the Devil through the disquiet of Mind unfit the Lord's People for Duty and what a sad advantage this is against us cannot easily be told By this means he may widen the distance betwixt God and us keep our Wounds open make us a reproach to Religion And what not But 3. By these disquiets he pusheth us on to reject all duties for when he hath tyred us out by wearisom endeavours under so great indispositions and unfitness he hath a fair advantage to tempt us to lay all aside Our present posture doth furnish him with arguments he forgeth his Javelings upon our Anvil and they are commonly these three 1. That duties are difficult And this is easily proved from our own experience while we are broken or bowed down with sorrows we make many attempts for duty and are oft beat off with loss our greatest toil helps us but to very inconsiderable performances hence he infers 'T is foolishness to attempt that which is above our strength better sit still then toil for nothing 2. That they are unfruitful and this is our own complaint for troubled Spirits have commonly great expectations from duties at first and they run to them as the impotent and sick people to the Pool of Bethesda with thoughts of immediate ease as soon as they shall step into them but when they have tryed and waited a while siretching themselves upon duty as Elisha's Servant laid the Staff upon the Face of the Shunamites Son and yet there is no voice nor hearing no answer from God no peace then are they presently disatisfied reflecting on the Promises of God and the Counsels of good Men with this Where is all the pleasantness you speak of what advantage is it that we have thus run and laboured when we have got nothing and then 't is easy for the Devil to add And why do you wait on the Lord any longer 3. His last and most dangerous argument is that they are sinful Unfitness for Duty produceth many distractions much deadness wandering thoughts great interruptions and pittiful performances Hence the troubled Soul comes off from duty wounded and halting more distressed when he hath done than when he began upon these considerations that all his service was sin a mocking of God a taking his name in vain nay a very blasphemous affront to a divine Majesty Upon this the Devil starts the question to his Heart whether it be not better to forbear all Duty and to do nothing Thus doth Satan improve the trouble of the mind and often with the designed success For a dejected Spirit doth not only afford the materials of these Weapons which the Devil frames against it but is much prepared to receive them into its own Bowels The grounds of these Arguments it grants and the inferences are commonly consented to so that ordinarily duty is neglected either 1. Through sottishness of Heart or 2. Through frightful fears Or 3. Through desperateness bringing a Man to the very precipice of that Atheistical determination I have cleansed my hands in vain 4. Satan makes use of the troubles of Gods Children as a stumbling-block to others 'T is no small advantage to him that he hath hereby an occasion to render the ways of God unlovely to those that are beginning to look Heaven-ward he sets before them the Sighs Groans Complaints and restless Out-cries of the wounded in Spirit to scare them off from all seriousness in Religion and whispers this to them Will you chuse a Life of Bitterness and Sorrow can you eat Ashes for Bread and mingle your Drink with Tears will you exchange the comforts and contents of Life for a melancholly Heart and a dejected countenance how like you to go Mourning all the day and at night to be scared with Dreams and terrified with Visions will you chuse a Life that is worse than Death and a condition which will make you a terrour to your selves and a burthen to others can you be in love with an heart loaden with grief and perpetual fears almost to distraction while you see others in the mean time enjoy themselves in a contented peace Thus he follows young beginners with his suggestions making them believe that they cannot be serious in Religion but at last they will be brought to this and that 't is a very dangerous thing to be religious overmuch and the high way to dispair So that if they must have a Religion he readily directs them to use no more of it than may consist with the pleasures of Sin and the World and to make an easy business of it not to let Sin lye over-near their Heart lest it disquiet them nor over-much to concern themselves with Study Reading Prayer or hearing of threatning awakening Sermons lest it make them Mad nor to affect the sublimities of Communion with God exercises of Faith and Divine Love lest it discompose them and dash their worldly Jollities out of Countenance A Counsel that is readily enough embraced by those that are almost perswaded to be Christians and the more to confirm them in it he
Scripture Canst thou deny this Then he pursues But thou sinnest often that is thine own complaint against thy self thy Conscience also bearing witness to the truth of this Accusation therefore thou canst be no Child of God Sometimes he plays upon words that are used in divers senses a fit Engine for the Devil to work by for what is true in one sense will be false in another and his arguing is from that which is true to that which is false I remember one that was long racked with that of Rev. 21. 8. The fearful and unbelieving c. shall have their part in the Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone From whence the Party thus argued The proposion is true because 't is Scripture and I cannot deny the Assumption Fearful I am because I am doubtful of Salvation and unbelieving I am for I cannot believe that I am Regenerate or in a state of Grace and therefore I cannot avoid the Conclusion To the same purpose he disputes against some from 1 John 4. 18. There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear but thou art full of fears therefore thou lovest not God Sometimes he makes use of those Scriptures that make the prevailing degree of our love and respects to God above the World and the things of this Life to be the Characters of true Grace as that of John If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him And that of Christ If a Man love any thing more than Me he is not worthy of Me he that forsakes not all for Me cannot be my Disciple c. Then he urgeth upon them their love of the World and unwillingness to part with their Estates and so brings the Conclusion upon them Instances might be infinite but by these you may judg of the rest Let us now cast our Eye upon his subtilty in managing his Arguments against men 1. He grounds his Arguments on Scripture because that hath authority with it and the very troubled Conscience hath a reverence to it 2. He always suits his Scriptures which he thus cites to that wherein the Conscience is most tender if there be any thing that affords matter of suspition or fear he will be sure to chuse such an Arrow out of the Quiver of Scriptures as will directly hit the Mark 3. Though in the citation of Scripture he always urgeth a sense which the Holy Ghost never intended Yet there will be always something in those Scriptures which he makes use of which in words at least seem to favour his Conclusion as appears in the Instances now given For when he would conclude a Man not to be a Child of God because of his Ignorance something of his Argument is true it may be the Man is sensible that his knowledg is but little compared with the measures which some others have or that he is at a loss or confused in many Doctrinal points of Religion or hath but little experience in many Practical cases c. This as it is true so is it his trouble and whilst he is poring upon his defect Satan claps an Arrest upon him of a far greater Debt than God chargeth upon him and from Scriptures that speak of a total ignorance of the Fundamentals of Religion as that there is a God that Christ Jesus is God and Man the Redeemer of Mankind by a satisfaction to Divine Justice c. Or of a wilful ignorance of the worth of the proffer of the Gospel or its reality which is discovered in the refusal of the terms thereof he concludes him to be in a state of Darkness whereas the Ignorance which the Man complains of is not the Ignorance which those Scriptures intend So in the next Instance the sins which a Child of God complains of are those of daily Incursion which he labours and strives against but that committing sin mentioned in the Text hath respect to the Gnosticks who taught a liberty in sinning and fancied a Righteousness consistant with the avowed practice of Iniquity Hence doth John 1 John 3. 7. directly face their Opinion in these terms Little Children let no Man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous And He that is born of God neither doth nor can avouch a liberty of sinning it being contrary to the Principles of the New Nature So that the miscarriages of Infirmity which the Child of God laments in himself are not the same with that of the Text upon which Satan grounds the Accusation The like may be said of the third Instance from Rev. 21. 18. The threatning there is against such a fear to lose the comforts of the World that they dare not believe the Gospel to be true and accept it accordingly which is nothing to those fears and doubtings that may be in a Child of God in reference to his Happiness Thus in all the rest the Fallacy lies in misapplying the Scripture to suit them to that wherein the Conscience is tender under a sense which was never intended by them yet in another sense the thing charged upon the Conscience is true 4. Yet is Satan so subtile that when he disputes by such Fallacious Arguments he chiefly endeavours to draw off the Defendants Eye and consideration from that part of the Argument wherein its weakness lies which in this case is always in the abuse of the Scripture to a wrong sense this he doth partly from the advantage which he hath from the reverence that they carry to Scripture they believe it to be true and are not willing to suspect the sense and many are so weak that if they should Satan is so cunning that he can easily baffle them in any distinction that they can make And partly from the sense they have of that whereof they are accused they feel themselves so sore in that place and for that very end doth Satan direct his Scripture to hit it that they readily take it for granted that the hinge of the Controversie turns upon it and that the whole Dispute rests upon it Now Satan having these fair advantages by a further improvement of them hides the weakness of his Argument For 1. He takes that sense of the Scripture in which he misapplies it for granted and that with great confidence making as if there were no doubt there 2. He turns always that part of the Argument to them which they can least answer pressing them eagerly with the matter of charge which they are as ready to confess as he is to accuse them of and aggravating it very busily And because the unskilful have no other direction for the finding the Knot of the Controversie than Satan's busle though he like the Lapwing makes the greatest noise when he is furthest from his Nest on purpose to draw them into a greater mistake they look no further and then not being able to answer they are soon cast and striking in with the conclusion against themselves they multiply their Sorrows and
dashed out his Brains and yet this Man was moved to attempt his destruction upon the same general Principles by which Cato destroyed himself Fourthly 'T is also sufficiently known that Satan by the force of Custome in several Countries doth as it were necessitate Men to cut off their own Lives in some barbarous Places at the death of the Husband the Wife in a brutal Affection of the praise of Love and Loyalty casts her self to be devoured by the same Flame in which the dead Body of her Husband is consumed And there are found in other places customs of self-destruction for the avoiding the tedious inconveniencies of old age where 't is usual for old Persons with Joy to prepare their own Funeral Pile and to make a quick dispatch of their Lives and rather to die at once than by peece-meal as Seneca expresseth it Calanus an Indian Philosopher being Dysenterical obtained leave of Alexander to burn himself for more quick dispatch Fifthly There is yet another way by which Men are tempted sometime though rarely to hasten themselves out of the World and that is by a pretence of an earnest and impatient desire of Happiness to come That longings for such enjoyments do become the best of Saints and is indeed their Excellency cannot be denyed but to make such a preposterous haste must be a cheat of Satan That there is a possibility of this may appear in the Story of Cleombrotus mentioned also by Augustine who reading Plato's Phaedo of the Immortality of the Soul that he might hasten thither threw himself Head-long from a Wall and dyed Now though it be hard to find such an Instance among Christians yet we have reason to believe that where Satan perceives such a Temptation may take place he will not be wanting in the prosecution And if me may conjecture Augustines thoughts by that question which he propounds viz. Whether it be lawful for a Man to kill himself for the avoiding of Sin which he solidly confutes We may conclude that such thoughts were the usual Temptations of good Men in his time and the rather because in the close of that Chapter he applyes that discourse particularly to the Servants of Christ that they should not think their Lives a Burthen Secondly Satan promotes the design of Self-Murther not only Directly as we have heard but also by some Indirect ways he undermines the Life of Man That is when he doth not formally say to them destroy your selves but tempts them to such things as he knows will let in Death upon them This way of subtil Malice I shall explain under these heads First Upon highest pretexts of Zeal for God's Glory he sometimes lays a Snare for our Lives I cannot believe but Satan had a Hand in that forwardness of Ancient Christians who by an open Profession of their Faith before persecuting Judicatures did as it were Court a Martyrdom And I have the same perswasion of the painful earnestness of many Holy Preachers who lavish out their Strength in a Prodigality of Pains for the Good of Souls which like a Theif in the Candle wasts them immediately whereas a better husbanded Strength might be truely more advantagious as continuing the Light the longer and yet so sincere are their ends so pleasant is their work that they seldom observe as they ought that Satan when he can do no better is glad of the opportunity to destroy them with their own Weapon and therefore in this case they may expect he will do all he can to heighten and forward their Zeal not only by adding all the Fewel he can to their inward propensity of laboriousness but also by outward encouragement of the declared Acceptations and Expectations of their Hearers Secondly Upon baser pretences of the full enjoyment of sensual Pleasures and carnal Delights he doth unawares push Men forward to Death and Dangers Thus the Voluptuous the Glutton the Drunkard dig their own Graves and invite Death to cut them off before they have lived out half their time While Satan tempts Men to such excesses of Riot he labours not only the destruction of the Soul but also of the Body not only that they be miserable but that they may be so with all Expedition Thirdly Besides all these he hath other subtile ways of contriving the death of Men by putting them upon ways and actions that are attended with hazard Thus he sought the death of Christ not directly but indirectly by urging him to an action which he thought would unavoidably bring him to Death for a Fall from so great a Praecipice would easily have bereaved any Man of Life And sometimes when Men are besotted with Enthusiastical Delusions he can more easily beguile them with such Stratagems That Instance of Stuker is famous who cut off his Brothers Head upon a foolish perswasion that God would magnify his great Power in giving him Life again If Satan can befool such bewitched Slaves into such absurd and unreasonable apprehensions in regard of others what hinders but that he may so far impose upon them that they may be willing to practise upon themselves I remember something to this purpose of one whom the Devil had well-nigh prevailed with to make a hole in his Breast which of necessity must have let out his Life upon a pretended Promise of giving him Eternal Life and was accordingly forced to take up a Knife and to carry it to his Throat In Anno 1647. in York-shire a Company of People were seduced to sacrifice certain Creatures to God among the rest they Sacrificed their aged Mother perswading her she should rise the third day and for this they were Executed at York This may awaken all to be aware of this Temptation some are sadly concerned in it many are the complaints which some of us have met withal about it in private and the apprehensions of such hazards are sadly disquieting Through such fears thousands of God's dear Children have passed and many too many have been overcome by this Weapon those of us that have not yet known Temptations of this nature do not know how soon we may be assaulted in this kind 't is necessary for all to stand upon their Guard and for that end it behoves us to have at hand these defences against it First 'T is useful to consider that this is one of Satan's great Plots and when we meet with it cloathed with never so many pretexts enforced with never so many seeming necessities yet must we look upon it as the Counsel of an Enemy who certainly intends us no kindness let him pretend what he will and therefore may we be sure it will be our sad inconvenience and disadvantage Secondly It must be fixed in our minds that the thing in it self is an high Iniquity a most grievous Provocation no Instance of Self-Murther properly such can be met withal in Scripture as practised by any Holy Person the Command is directly against it Thou shalt
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
means of Temptation to qualify him with pity and power to help For in that he suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. And having Experience of Temptation himself be became a merciful High-Priest apt to be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities Fourthly The Consequence of this experimental compassion in Christ was a further reason why he submitted to be tempted to wit that we might have the greater comfort and encouragement in the expectancy of tender dealing from him Hence the Apostle Heb. 4. 16. invites to come boldly to the Throne of Grace at any time of need Fifthly A further end God seemed to have in this viz. To give a signal and remarkable Instance to us of the nature of Temptations of Satan's Subtilty his Impudency of the usual Temptations which we may expect as also to teach us what Weapons are necessary for resistance and in what manner we must manage them Secondly It seems as strange that Satan would undertake a thing so unfeasible and hopeless as the tempting of Christ What expectation could he have to prevail against him who was Anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows Some Answer First That Satan might possibly doubt whether Christ were the Son of God or no. But the Improbability of this I shall speak of afterwards Secondly Others attribute it to his Malice which indeed is great and might possibly blind him to a desperate undertaking But Thirdly We may justly apprehend the power of Sin over Satan to be so great that it might enforce him to the bold attempt of such a wickedness We see daily that wicked men by the force of their own wicked Principles are restlesly hurried upon Acts of Sin though they know the Prohibition and are not ignorant of the threatned Danger Satan is as great a Slave to his own internal corrupt Principles as any And whatsoever blind fury is stirred up in Man by the power of his lust we may very well suppose the like in Satan Fourthly There is a Superior hand upon the Devil that Sways Limits and Orders him in his Temptations He cannot tempt when he would neither always what he would but in his own cursed inclinations and the acting of them he is forced to be subservient to God's Designs And in this particular whatever might be Satan's proper End or Principle it is evident that God carried on a Gracious Design for the Instruction and Comfort of his Children The End of Christ's going to the Wilderness being that he might be tempted if together with this the Holiness and Dignity of Christ in respect of his Person and Office be considered we may note from it That neither height of Priviledg nor Eminency of Employment nor Holiness of Person will discourage Satan from Tempting or secure any from his Assaults The best of men in the highest attainments may expect Temptations Grace it self doth not exempt them For first None of these Priviledges in us nor Eminencies of Grace want matter to fix a Temptation upon The weaknesses of the best of Men are such that a Temptation is not rendred improbable as to the Success by their Graces Nay there are specil Occasions and Inclinations in them to encourage Temptations of Pride and Neglect He found indeed nothing in Christ that might offer the least probability of prevalency but in the Best of Men in their best Estate he can find some encouragement for his attempts Secondly None of us are beyond the necessity of such Exercises It cannot be said that we need them not or that there may not be holy ends wherefore God should not permit and order them for our Good Temptations as they are in God's disposal are a necessary spiritual Physick the design of them is to humble us to prove us and to do us good in the latter End Nothing will work more of Care Watchfulness Diligence and Fear in a Gracious Heart than a sence of Satan's designment against it Nothing puts a man more to Prayer breathing after God desiring to be dissolved and running to Christ than the troublesome and afflictive pursuits of Satan Nothing brings men more from the love of the World and to a delight in the Ordinances of God than the trouble which here abides them unavoidably from Satan This discipline the best have need of There are such remainders of Pride and other Evils in them that if God should not permit these Pricks and Thornes to humble them and thereby also awaken them to laborious watchfulness they would be careless secure and sadly declining This made Augustine conclude that it was no way expedient that we should want Temptations and that Christ taught us as much when he directed us not to pray that we should not be tempted but that we might not be led into the Power and Prevalency of Temptation Thirdly The Priviledges and Graces of the Children of God do stir up Satan's Pride Revenge and Rage against them And though he hath no encouragement to expect so easy a Conquest over these as he hath over others who are captivated by him at pleasure Yet hath he encouragements to attempt them for the singular Vse and Advantage he makes of any success against them the difficulty of the work being recompenced by the greatness of the booty For the fall of a Child of God especially of such as are noted above others is as when a Standard-bearer fainteth or as the fall of an Oak that bears down with it the lower Shrubs that stand near it How the hearts of others fail for fear lest they should also be overcome How the Hearts of some grow thereby bold and venturesome How a general disgrace and discredit thereby doth accrue to Religion and the sincere Profession of it are things of usual Observation If such Men had not in them something of special Prey in case of Conquest his Pride would not so readily carry him against the heads and chief of the People while he seems to overlook the meaner and weaker Out-Houses though more accessible are not the Objects of the Thief 's Design but the Dwelling-House though stronger Built and better Guarded because it affords hopes of richer Spoil is usually assaulted Neither do Pirates so much set themselves to take Empty Vessels though weakly Manned but richly loaden Ships though better able to make resistance are the Ships of their desire First This may be applyed for the Encouraging of those that think it strange that Temptations do so haunt them Especially that they should in their apprehension be more troubled by him when they fly furthest from him The consideration of this will much allay these thoughts by these Inferences which it affords First There is nothing unusual befalls these Complainants Satan frequently doth so to others they cannot justly say their case is Singular or that they are alone in such disturbances It is but what is Common to Man If they urge the uncessantness of
the most Beautiful Object the World in its Glory The Affections in that which is most Swaying Pride and delight in extraordinary Testimonies of Divine Power and Love in supporting him in the Air c. Tenthly Some of these warranted as Duty and to supply necessary hunger others depending upon the security of a promise He shall give his Angels charge c. The greater appearance of Duty or warrantableness is put upon Sin the greater is the Temptation By these ten Particulars may we as by a Standard judg when any Temptation is great or less Let us then take heed of small Temptations or the smoother proceedings of Satan as we would avoid the greater attempts that are to follow Where he is admitted to beat out our Lusts with a Rod or a Staff he may be suspected to bring the Wheel over them at last Let us also after our Assaults expect more and greater because the greatest are last to be looked for This holds true in three cases 1. In solemn Temptations where Satan fixeth his Assaults there the utmost rage is drawn out last 2. In the Continuance and Progress of Profession the further we go from him and the nearer to God be sure of the highest measure of his spite 3. At the end of our race for if he miss his prey then it is escaped for ever as a Bird unto its Hill But some may say I am but a Messenger of sad tidings and that by bringing such a report of Gyants and Walled Cities I may make the hearts of the People to faint I answer This is bad news only to the sluggish such as would go to Heaven with ease and in a fair and easy way but to the laborious resolute Souldiers of Christ this is no great discouragement for 1. It doth but tell them of their work which as they are perswaded of so it is in some measure their delight as well as their expectation 2. It doth but tell them Satans Malice and Fury which they are assured of and are most afraid of it sometimes when it seems to lye Idle and as asleep 3. It doth tell them that Satans thoughts concerning them are desparing he fears they are going oâ— gone from him If they were his willing Servants there would be no hostility of this nature against them I have thus compared these special Temptations with those wherewith our Lord Christ was exercised during the forty days I shall Secondly Compare these Temptations of Christ with those that usually betal his Members in which there is so much suitableness and agreement both in matter and manner that it cannot be unuseful to take notice of it which will the better appear in Instances First Then let us consider the first Temptation of Eve Gen. 3. 6. And when the Woman saw that the Tree was good for Food and that it was pleasant to the Eyes and a Tree to be desired to make one wise c. Here are all the Arguments and ways summed up by which Satan prevailed upon her It was good for Food here he wrought upon the desire of the natural Appetite It was pleasant to the Eyes here he took the advantage of the External Senses It was to be desired to make one wise here he enflamed the Affections Let us again call to mind the general Account of Temptations in the 1 Joh. 2. 16. All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life where the Apostle designedly calls all off from a love of the World because of the hazard and danger that we lye open unto from the things of the World striking upon and stirring up our Lusts which he ranks into three general heads according to the the various ways whereby these outward things do work upon us in exciting our natural powers and apprehensions to sinful lustings And these are so fully agreeing with those three in Eves Temptation that I need not note the Parallel Let us now cast our Eyes upon these Temptations and the suitableness of Satans ways and dealings will immediately appear When he tempted Christ to turn Stones into Bread there he endeavoured to take advantage of the Lust of the Flesh which in the 1 Joh. 2. I understand in a more restrained Sense not for the lustings of corrupt Nature but for the lustings of the Body in its Natural Appeâ—ite according to that exâ—â—â—ssion of Christ the Spirit is willing but the Flesh or body is weak And if we should not so restrain it in this place the Lust of the Flesh would include the Lust of the Eyes and the Pride of Life contrary to the clear scope of the Text for these are also the lustings of corrupt Nature When he further tempted him to cast himself down he pushed him upon the Pride of Life When he shewed him the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them he attempted to gain upon him by the Lust of the Eyes From this proportion and suitableness of Temptation to Christ and his Members observe That Satan usually treads in a beaten path using known and experienced Methods of Temptation 'T is true in regard of Circumstances he useth unspeakable varieties in tempting and hath many more Devices and Juggles than can be reckoned up yet in the General he hath digested them into Method and Order and the things upon which he works in us are the same thus he walks his round and keeps much-what the same Track not only in different Persons but also in the same Men using the same Temptations over and over and yet this argues no barrenness of Invention or sluggishness in Satan but he hath these reasons for it First Because the same Temptations being suited to humane Nature in General will with a small Variation of Circumstance suit all Men their Inclinations generally answering to one another as Face answers to Face in Water Secondly These standing Methods are Famous with him as generally powerful and taking and it can be no wonder if Satan practise most with these things that have the largest Probatum est of Experience to follow them Thirdly The more Experienced he is in any Temptation the more dexterously and successfully still he can manage it so that we may expect him more cunning and able in what he most practiseth This may be some satisfaction to those that are apt to think of themselves and their Temptations as Elias did in his perswasion I alone am left Where Satan useth any thing of Vigour and Fierceness we are apt to say none are tempted as we none in like case we are singular they are peculiar and extraordinary Temptations c. But 't is a mistake even that of Solomon may be applyed to these there is nothing new nor any thing befaln us which others have not undergon before us and would but Christians be so careful to observe the way of the Serpent upon their hearts and as they might and so communicative of
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