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
we can scarce forbear turning aside after them to gaze at them and yet when all is done except we wholly neglect the Duty for them they will so vanish that we can scarce remember them when the Duty is over 3 Sometimes he suits our desires and inclinations with the remembrances of things that are at other times much in our love and affection and with these we are apt to comply the pleasure of them making us forget our present Duty Thoughts of Estates Honours Relations Delights Recreations or whatever else we are set upon at other times will more easily prevail for audience now Fourthly He hath a way to betray and circumvent us by heightning our own jealousies and fears against him and here he out-shoots us in our own bow and by a kind of overdoing makes us undoe our desired work For where he observes us fearful and watchful against wandring he doth alarm us the more so that 1 instead of looking to the present part of Duty we reflect upon what is past and make enquiries whether we performed that aright or whether we did not wander from the beginning Thus our suspitions that we have miscarried bring us into a miscarriage by this are we deceived and put off from minding what we are doing at present Or 2 an eager desire to fix our thoughts on our present Service doth amaze and astonish us into a stupid inactivity or into a saying or doing we know not what as ordinarily it happens to persons that out of a great fearfulness to offend in the presence of some great Personages become unable to do any thing rigâ—t or to behave themselves tollerably well or as an over-steady and earnest fixing the Eye weakens the sight and renders the object less truly discernable to us Fifthly Sometimes the exercise of Fancy acting or working according to some mistake which we have entertained as to the manner of performance doth so hold our thoughts doing that we embrace a cloud or shadow when we should have looked after the substance I will give an instance of this in reference to Prayer which I have observed hath been a snare and mistake to some and that is this Because in that Duty the Scripture directs us to go to God and to set him before us therefore have they thought it necessary to frame an Idea of God in their thoughts as of a person present to whom they speak Hence their thoughts are busied to conceive such a representation and when the shadow of imagination vanisheth their thoughts are again busied to enquire whether their hearts are upon God Thus by playing with Fancy they are really less attentive upon their Duty Sixthly Satan can lay impressions of Distraction upon Men before they come to Religious Services which shall then work and shew their power to disturb and divide our hearts which is by a strong prepossession of the heart with any thing that we fear or hope or desire or doth any way trouble us these will stick to us and keep us company in our Duties though we strive to keep them back And this was the ground of the Apostles advice to the unmarried persons to continue in a single life times of Persecution and Distress nearly approaching that they might attend upon the Lord without distraction implying that the thoughtfulness and more than ordinary carefulness which would seize upon the minds of Persons under such straits and hazards would unavoidably follow them in their Duties and so distract them Secondly The other way besides this of distraction by which Satan spoils our Duties in the act of performance is by vitiating Duty it self and this he commonly doth three ways First When he puts Men upon greater care for the outward garb and dress of a Service than for the inward work of it he endeavours to make some Devotionaries deal with their Duties as the Pharisees did with their Cups washing and adorning the out-side while the inside is altogether neglected Thus the Papists generally are for the outward pomp and beauty of Services being only careful that all things should have their external bravery as the Tombs of the Prophets were painted and beautified which yet were full of rottenness And the generality of Christians more taken up with this than with the Service of the heart Paul was so sensible of this Snare in the work of Preaching where ordinarily Men cared for excellency of speech or wisdom that he determines another course of Preaching not Notions or Rhetorick and enticing words but the Doctrine of Christ Crucified in sincerity and plainness 'T is not indeed the outward cost and fineness of Ordinances that God regards Incense from Sheba and the sweet Cane from a far country are not to any purpose where the heart doth not most design a spiritual Service for these are rather a satisfaction to the humours of Men than to please God an offering to themselves rather than to him And therefore is it that what Jeremiah confessed they did Chap. 6. 20. in buying Incense and the sweet Cane Isaiah Chap. 43. 24. seems to deny Thou hast bought me no sweet Cane with money that is though thou didst it yet it was to thy self rather than to me I accepted it not and so was it all one as if thou hadst not done it Secondly Duties and Services are more apparently vitiated by humane additions a thing expresly contrary to the second Commandment and yet is there a strange boldness in Men this way which sometimes riseth to such an height that the plain and clear Commands of God are violated under the specious pretence of Decency Order and Humility and nothing doth more take them than what they devise and find out Satan knows how displeasing this is to God and how great an inclination there is in Men to be forward in their Inventions and self-devised Worship that he can easily prevail with the incautious This was the great miscarriage of the Jewish Nation all along the old Testament and of the Pharisees who though they declined the Idolatries of their Fathers yet were so fond upon their Traditions that they made their Worship vain as Christ tells them And this humour also in Pauls time was insinuating it self into Christians managed by a great deal of deceit Col. 2. 8. and shew of wisdom vers 23. which accordingly he doth earnestly fore-warn them of There are indeed several degrees of corrupting a Service or Ordinance by humane Additions according to which 't is more or less defiled yet the least presumption this way is an offence and Provocation Thirdly Duties are vitiated in their excess Natural Worship which consists in Fear Love Faith Humility c. can never be too much but Instituted Worship may Men may Preach too much and Pray too long a fault noted by Christ in the Pharisees they made long Prayers even in Duties a Man may be righteous overmuch Timothy was so in his great pains and over abstemious life to
Doctrine at Oxford And of late we have had the sad experience of the power of Errour to infect no Errour so absurd ridiculous or blasphemous but once broached it presently gained considerable numbers to entertain it Fourthly Errour is also eminently serviceable to Satan for the bringing in Divisions Schisms Rents Hatreds Heart-burnings Animofities Revilings Contentions Tumults Wars and whatsoever bitter Fruits breach of Love and the malignity of Hatred can possibly produce Enough of this might be seen in the Church of Corinth the divisions that were amongst themselves were occasioned by it and a great number of evils the Apostle suspected to have been already produc'd from thence as Debates Envyings Wraths Strifes Back-bitings Whisperings Swellings Tumults 2 Cor. 12. 20. He himself escaped not from being evilly intreated by those among them that were turned from the simplicity of the Gospel The quarrelsome exceptions that they had raised against him he takes notice of They charged him with levity in neglecting his promise to come to them 2 Cor. 1. 17. They called him carnal one that walked according to the flesh chap. 10. 2. they taunted him as a contemptible Fellow ver 10. They undervalued his Ministry which occasioned not without great Apology a commendation of himself nay they seemed to call him a false Apostle and were so bold as to challenge him for a proof of Christ speaking in him 2 Cor. 13. 3. If the Devil had so much advantage from Errour that was but in the bud and that in one Church only what may we imagine hath he done by it when it broke out to an open flame in several Churches What work do we see in Families when an Errour creeps in among them the Father riseth up against the Son the Son against the Father the Mother against the Daughter the Daughter against the Mother what sad divided Congregations have we seen what Fierceness Prejudices Slanders Evil-surmises Censurings and Divisions hath this brought forth what bandying of Parties against Parties Church against Church hath been produced by this Engine How sadly hath this poor Island felt the smart of it the bitter contests that have been betwixt Presbyterian and Independent betwixt them and the Episcopal makes them look more like factious Combinations than Churches of Christ The present differences betwixt Conformists and Nonconformists if we take them where they are lowest they do daily produce such effects as must needs be very pleasing and grateful to the Devil both Parties mutually objecting Schism and charging each other with Crime and Folly what invectives and railings may be heard in all Companies as if they had been at the greatest distances in point of Doctrine But whosoever loseth to be sure the Devil gains by it Hatreds Strife Variance Emulations Lyings Railings Scorn and Contempt are all against the known duty of brotherly kindness and are undoubted provocations against the God of Love and Peace What can we then think of that can be so useful to Satan as Errour when these abovementioned evils are the inseparable products of it The modestest Errours that ever were among good Men are still accompanied with something of these bitter Fruits The differences about Meats and Days when managed with the greatest moderation made the Strong to despise the Weak as silly wilful factious Humorists and on the contrary the Weak judged the Strong as prophane careless and bold Despisers of divine Institutions for so much the Apostle implyes Rom. 14. 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth But should we trace Errour thorow the ruines of Churches and view the slaughters and bloodshed that it hath occasioned or consider the Wars and Desolations that it hath brought forth we might heap up matter fit for Tears and Lamentations and make you cease to wonder that Satan should so much concern himself to promote it Fifthly The greatest and most successful Stratagem for the hindering a Reformation is that of raising up an Army of Errours Reformation of Abuses and corruptions in Worship or Doctrine we may well suppose the Devil will withstand with his utmost might and Policy because it endeavours to pull that down which cost him so much labour and time to set up and so crosseth his end They who are called out by God to jeopard their lives in the high places of the Field undertake an hard task in endeavouring to check the power of the Mighty whose interest it is to maintain those defilements which their Policy hath introduced to fix them in the possession of that grandeur and command which so highly gratifies their Humours and self-seeking aspiring Minds But Satan knowing the strength of that Power which hath raised them up to oppose with spiritual resolution the current of Prevailing Iniquity usually provides himself with this reserve and comes upon their backs with a Party of deluded erronious Men raised up from among themselves and by this means he hopes either to discourage the Undertakers for Reformation by the difficulty of their work which must needs drive on heavily when they that should assist prove hinderers or at least to straiten and limit the success For by this means 1. He divides the Party and so weakens their hands 2. He strengthens their Enemies who not only gather heart from these divisions seeing them so fair a prognostick of their ruine but also improve them by retorting them as an argument that they are all out of the way of Truth 3. The erroneous Party in the Rear of the Reformers do more gall them with their Arrows even bitter words of cursed reviling and more hazard them with their Swords and Spears of opposition than their Adversaries in the Front against whom they went forth In the mean while they that stand up for Truth are as Corn betwixt two Milstones oppressed with a double conflict beset before and behind This hath been Satan's method in all ages And indeed Policy it self could not contrive any thing that would more certainly obstruct Reformation than this When the Apostles who in these last days were first sent forth were imployed to reform the World to throw down the Ceremonies of the Old Testament and Heathen Worship Satan had presently raised up Men of corrupt Minds to hinder their Progress what work these made for Paul at Corinth and with the Galatians the Epistles to those Churches do testify The business of these Men was to draw Disciples after them from the simplicity of the Gospel nay to another Gospel and this they could not do but by setting up themselves boasting of the Spirit carrying themselves as the Apostles of Christ and contemning those that were really so insinuating thereby into the affections of the seduced as if they zealously affected them and that Paul was but weak and contemptible nay their very Enemy for telling them the truth What unspeakable hindrance must this be to Paul What grief of heart What fear and jealousie must this
of Spiritual Witchcraft where it pleaseth the Lord to permit to Satan the exercise of his Power Thou shalt perswade and prevail also But that which I would observe here is something relating to the manner of his proceeding in these Delusions He attempted to deceive the false Prophets and by them to delude Ahab and both by being a lying Spirit in the mouth of the Prophets which necessarily as Peter Martyr observes implies 1 That Satan had a Power so strongly to fix upon their Imaginary Faculty the Species Images or Characters of what was to be suggested that he could not only make them apprehend what he presented to their minds but also make them believe that it was a Divine Inspiration and consequently true for these false Prophets did not speak hypocritically what they knew to be false but what they confidently apprehended to be true as appears by the whole story 2 He could irritate and inflame their desire to publish these their Perswasions to the King after the manner of Divine Prophecies 3 He had a further power of perswading Ahab that his Prophets spake Truth That passage of Rom. 1. 28. God gave them over to a Reprobate Mind doth give some account how Men are brought by the Devil into these false Perswasions A Reprobate Mind is a Mind injudicious a Mind that hath lost its Power of discerning 'T is plain then that he can so besot and blind the mind that it shall not be startled at things of greatest absurdity or inconveniency If any yet further enquire how he can do these things We must answer That his particular ways and methods in this case we know not only it may be added That Ephes 4. 17. Paul tell us He can make their minds vain and darken their understandings By Mind the seat of Principles is commonly understood By Understanding the Reasoning or discursive Faculty which is the Seat of Conclusions so that his Power seems to extend to the obliterating of Principles and can also disable them to make right inferences insomuch that he wants nothing that may be necessary to the begetting of strong perswasions of any falshood which he suggests according to what is intimated Gal. 5. 3. This Perswasion cometh not of him that called you that is not of God but of the Devil From all these Scriptures then it appears That this Spiritual Fascination is a Power in Satan which he exerts by special Commission upon those that receive not the Truth in the love of it by which be can so strongly imprint falshoods upon their Minds that they become unable to discern betwixt Truth and a Lye and so by darkning their Vnderstanding they are effectually perswaded to believe an Errour Secondly There is yet another proof of this Spiritual Witchcraft from the consideration of the Effects of it upon the Deluded and the uncouth strange unnatural way of its proceeding Let all particulars of this kind be put together and it will not be found possible to give any other rational accompt of some Errours than that of extraordinary Delusion First Let us take notice of the vileness and odiousness of some Errours that have prevailed upon Men some have been plainly sottish so evidently foolish that it cannot be imagined that Men that entertained them had at that time the use of Reason or any competent Understanding This very consideration the Prophet Isaiah insists upon largely Chap. 44. from vers 9. to vers 21. Where he taxeth them smartly for the senceless doltishness of their Errour in Worshiping Idols he tells them the matter of it is the Work of Nature a Cedar Oak or Ash that they themselves possibly had planted and the Rain did nourish it Vers 14. He tells them also That the form of it was from the Art of the Workman the Smith or Carpenter Vers 12 13. The Smith with the Tongs both worketh in the Coals and fashioneth it with Hammers and worketh it with the strength of his Arms. The Carpenter stretcheth out his Rule he marketh it out with a Line he fitteth it with Planes and he marketh it out with a Compass He further minds them that without any reverence they make use of the residue of the Materials out of which they formed their Idol to common services of dressing their meat and warming themselves He burneth part thereof in the Fire with part thereof he eateth Flesh he roasteth roast and is satisfied yea warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warm I have seen the fire Vers 16. Then he accuseth them of Sottishness in that the residue thereof he maketh a God even his graven Image he falleth down to it and worshipeth it and prayeth unto it and saith Deliver me for thou art my God vers 17. And from all this he concludes That seeing this is so directly contrary to common reason and understanding which in the ordinary exercise of it would easily have freed them from such a dotage for if they had but knowledge or understanding to say I have burnt part of it in the fire I have baked bread and shall I make the residue an abomination Vers 19. They could not have been so foolish it must then of necessity be a Spiritual Infatuation Their Eyes were shut that they cannot see and their Hearts that they cannot understand Vers 18. A deceived heart hath turned him aside Vers 20. Other Errours there are that lead to beastly and unnatural Villanies such as directly cross all the sober Principles of Man-kind the natural Principles of Modesty the most general and undoubted Principles of Religion and Holiness As when Adulteries Swearing Ranting going Naked Cruelties Murthers outragious Confusions and Madness are cloathed with pretences of Spirit Revelation freedom in the use of the Creature exercise of Love and having all things common c. Of which sad instances have been given more than once Let any sober Man consider how it could come to pass That Men that have Reason enough to defend them against such Furies and the knowledge of Scripture which every-where with the greatest happiness imaginable and highest earnestness doth prohibit such Practices as most Abominable and doth direct to a Sober Just Modest Humble inoffensive Life should entertain notwithstanding such Errours as transform Men into Beasts Monsters or rather Devils and Religion into the grossest Impieties and all this as the perfection and top of Religious Attainment commanded in the Word of God or by his Spirit and well-pleasing to most holy and pure Divine Majesty Let it I say be left to the consideration of Men how it should be without some such extraordinary Cause as hath been mentioned Secondly Let it be observed also That some Errours bring with them some extraordinary strange unnatural unusual Actions and put Men into such odd garbs postures and behaviours that it is easie to see they are acted by a force or power not humane Some have been carried to do things beyond whatsoever might have been expected from the age and
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
the Children of God to fall under them For the further opening of them I shall next discover 3. The usual solemn occasions that do as it were invite Satan to give his onset against God's Children and they are principally these Six 1. The time of Conversion He delights to set on them when they are in the straits of a new Birth for then the Conscience is awakned the danger of Sin truly represented fear and sorrow in some degree necessary and unavoidable At this time he can easily overdrive them Where the Convictions are deep and sharp ready to weigh them down a few Grains more cast into the Scale will make the Trouble as Job speaks heavier than the Sand and where they are more easie or gentle yet the Soul being unsetled the thoughts in commotion they are disposed to receive a strong impression and to be turned as Wax to the Seal into a mould of Hopelessness and Desperation That this is one of Satans special occasions we need no other evidence for satisfaction than the common experience of Converts many of them do hardly escape the danger and after their difficult Conquest of the troubles of their Heart which at that time are extraordinarily enlarged do witness that they are assaulted with desperate fears that their sins were unpardonable and sad conclusions against any expectation of favour from the Lord their God These thoughts we are sure the Spirit of God will not bear witness unto because false and therefore we must leave them at Satans door 2. Another occasion which Satan makes use of is the time of solemn Repentance for some great sin committed after Conversion Sometimes God's Children fall to the breaking of their Bones What great Iniquities they may commit through the force of Temptation I need not mention The Adultery and Murther of David the Incest of the Corinthian Peters denial of Christ with other sad Instances in the Records of the Scriptures do speak enough of that These sins considering their hainousness the scandal of Religion the dishonour of God the grieving of his Spirit the condition of the Party offending against Love Knowledg and the various Helps which God affords them to the contrary with other aggravating Circumstances being very displeasing to God their Consciences at least either compelled to Examination by God immediately or mediately by some great Affliction or voluntarily awakening to a serious consideration of what hath been done by the working of its own Light assisted thereunto by quickning Grace 1 Cor. 11. 31 32. call them to a strict account thence follow Fear Shame Self-Indignation bitter Weeping deep Humiliation then comes Satan he rakes their Wounds and by his Aggravations makes them smart the more He pours in Corrosives instead of Oyl and all to make them believe that their Spot is not the Spot of Gods Children that their Back-slidings cannot be healed An occasion it is as suitable to his Malice as he could wish for ordinarily God doth severely testifie his Anger to them and doth not easily admit them again to the sence of his Favour At which time the Adversary is very busie to work up their Hearts to an excess of Fear and Sorrow This was the course which he took with the Incestuous Corinthian taking advantage of his great Transgressions to overwhelm him with too much Sorrow 2 Cor. 2. 7 11. 3. Satan watcheth the discomposures of the Spirits of God's Children under some grievous Cross or Affliction This occasion also falls fit for his design of wounding the Conscience when the Hand of the Lord is lifted up against them and their thoughts disordered by the stroke suggesting at that time God's Anger to them and their sins he can easily frame an Argument from these Grounds That they are not reconciled to God and that they are dealt withal as Enemies David seldom met with outward trouble but he at the same time had a Conflict with Satan about his spiritual condition or state as his frequent deprecations of Divine Wrath at such times do testifie Lord rebuke me not in thy Wrath c. There is indeed but a step betwixt discomposure of Spirit and Spiritual Troubles as hath been proved before 4. When Satan hath prepared the Hearts of God's Children by Atheistical or Blasphemous thoughts he takes that occasion to deny their Grace and Interest in Christ And the Argument at that time seems unanswerable Can Christ lodg in an Heart so full of horrid Blasphemies against him Is it possible it should be Washed and Sanctified when it produceth such filthy cursed thoughts All the troubles of Affrightment of which before are improveable to this purpose 5. Another spiritual occasion for Spiritual Trouble is Melancholy few Persons distempered therewith do escape Satans hands at one time or other he casts his Net over them and seeks to stab them with his Weapon Melancholy indeed affords so many advantages to him and those so answerable to his design that it is no wonder if he make much of it For 1. Melancholy affects both Head and Heart it affords both Fear and Sadness and deformed mishapen delirous imaginations to work upon than which nothing can be more for his purpose For where the Heart trembles and the Head is darkned there every Object is misrepresented the Ideas of the Brain are monstrous appearances reflected from opake and dark Spirits so that Satan hath no more to do but to suggest the new matter of Fear For that Question Whether the Man be Converted c. being once started to a mind already distempered with Fear must of it self it being a business of so high a nature without Satan's further pursuit summon the utmost powers of sadness and misreprehension to raise a Storm 2. Besides the impressions of Melancholy are always strong it is strong in its fears or else Men would never be tempted to destroy themselves it is strong in its mistakes or else they could never perswade themselves of the truth of foolish absurd and impossible Fancies as that of Nebuchadnezzar who by a delusive apprehension believing himself to be a Beast forsook the company of Men and betook to the Fields to eat Grass with Oxen. The imaginations of the Melancholick are never idle and yet straightned or confined to a few things and then the Brain being weakned as to a true and regular apprehension it frames nothing but Bugbears and yet with the highest confidence of certainty 3. These impressions are usually lasting not vanishing as an early Dew but they continue for Months and Years 4. And yet they have only so much understanding left them as serves to nourish their fears If their understanding had been quite gone their fears would vanish with them As the Flame is extinguished for want of Air but they have only knowledg to let them see their misery and sence to make them apprehensive of their pain And therefore will they pray with floods of Tears unexpressible Groanings deepest Sighing and trembling Joynts to be
delivered from their fears 5. They are also apt after ease of their troubles to have frequent returns What disposition all these things being considered can be more exactly shaped to serve Satans turn If he would have Men to believe the worst of themselves he hath such imaginations to work upon as are already misshapen into a deformity of evil surmising Would he terrifie by Fears or distress by Sadness he hath that already and 't is but altering the Object which oftentimes needs not for naturally the serious Melancholick imploys all his Griefs upon his supposed miserable estate of Soul and then he hath Spiritual distress Would he continue them long under their sorrows or take them upon all occasions at his pleasure or act them to a greater height than ordinary Still the Melancholick temper suits him This is sufficient for caution that we take special care of our Bodies for the preventing or abating of that Humour by all lawful means if we would not have the Devil to abuse us at his will 6. Sickness or Death-Bed is another solemn occasion which the Devil seldom misseth with his will Death is a serious thing it represents the Soul and Eternity to the Life While they are at a distance Men look slightly upon these but when they approach near to them Men usually have such a sight of them as they never had before We may truly call Sickness and Death-Bed an hour of Temptation which Satan will make use of with the more mischievous industry because he hath but a short time for it That 's the last Conflict and if he miss that we are beyond his reach for ever So that in this case Satan incourageth himself to the Battel with a now or never And hence we find that it is usual for the dying Servants of God to undergo most sharp Encounters then to tell them when the Soul is about to loose from the Body that they are yet in their Blood without God and Hope is enough to affright them into the extreamest Agonies for they see no time before them answerable to so great a work if it be yet to do And withal they are under vast discouragments from the weariness and pains of Sickness their understandings and faculties being also dull and stupified so that if at this last plunge God should not extraordinarily appear to rebuke Satan and to pluck them out of these great Waters as he often doth by the fuller interposition of the Light of his Face and the larger Testimony of his Spirit after their long and comfortable profession of their Faith and holy Walking their Light would be put out in Darkness and they would lie down in Sorrow Yet this I must note That as desirous as Satan is to improve this occasion he is often remarkably disappointed and that wherein he it may be and we would least expect I mean in regard of those who through a timerous Disposition or Melancholy or upon other Accounts are as I may so say all their life-time subject to Bondage those Men who are usually exercised with frequent fits of Spiritual Trouble when they come to Sickness Death-Bed and some other singular occasions of trouble though we might suspect their fears would then be working if ever Yet God out of gracious Indulgence to them considering their Mould and Fashion or because he would prevent their extream fainting c. doth meet them with larger Testimonies of his Favour higher Joys more confident satisfactions in his Love than ever they received at any time before and this to their wonder their high admiration making the times which they were wont to fear most to be times of greatest Consolation This Observation I have grounded not upon one or two Instances but could produce a cloud of Witnesses for it Enough it is to check our forward fears of a future evil day and to heal us of a sighing Distemper while we afflict our selves with such thoughts as these If I have so many fears in Health how shall I be able to go through the valley of the shadow of Death 4. I have one thing more to add for these discovery of these Spiritual Troubles and that is to shew you the Engines by which Satan works them and they are these two Sophistry and Fears 1. As to his Sophistry by which he argues the Children of God into a wrong apprehension of themselves it is very great He hath a wonderful dexterity in framing Arguments against their Peace he hath variety of shrewd Objections and subtile Answers to the usual Replies by which they seek to beat him off There is not a Fallacy by which a cunning Sophister would seek to entangle his Adversary in Disputation but Satan would make use of it as I might particularly shew you if it were proper for a common Auditory Though he hath so much impudence as not to blush at the most silly contemptible Reason that can be offered notwithstanding he hath also so much wit as to urge though never true yet always probable Arguments How much he can prevail upon the beliefs of Men in cases relating to their Souls may be conjectured by the success he hath upon the understandings of Men when he argues them into Errour and makes them believe a lye We usually say and that truly that Satan cannot in any case force us properly to consent yet considering the advantages which he takes and the ways he hath to prepare the Hearts of Men for his impressions and then his very great subtilty in disputing we may say that he can so order the matter that he will seldom miss of his aim It would be an endless work to gather up all the Arguments that Satan hath made use of to prove the Condition or State of God's Children to be bad But that I may not altogether disappoint your expectations in that thing I shall present to your view Satan's usual Topicks the Common-places or Heads unto which all his Arguments may be reduced And they are 1. Scripture abused and perverted His way is not only to suggest that they are Unregenerate or under an evil frame of Heart but to offer proof that these Accusations are true And because he haâ—h to do with them that profess a belief of Scriptures as the Oracles of God he will fetch his proofs from thence telling them that he will evidence what he saith from Scripture Thus sometimes he assaults the weaker unskilful sort of Christians Thou art not a Child of God for they that are so are Enlightned translated from Darkness they are the Children of the Light but thou art a poor ignorant dark blind Creature and therefore no Child of God Sometimes he labours to conclude the like from the Infirmities of God's Children abusing to this purpose that of 1 John 3. 9. He that is born of God doth not commit sin And He cannot sin because he is born of God Thus he urgeth it Can any thing be more plainly and fully asserted Is not this
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
compared with Psal 31. 22. is declared as his weakness will force us to conclude it an ingenuous Confession of his distrust at the first when he was greatly afflicted though he recovered himself afterwards to a belief of the promise and that in that Distemper he plainly reflected upon Samuel and calls the Promises of God given by him a very Lye Thirdly 'T is strange also that present Instances of God's Providences working out unexpected Deliverances should not relieve the hearts of his Saints from the power of such distrust that when they see God is not unmindful of them but doth hear them in what they feared they should still retain in their minds the impression of an unbelieving apprehension and not rather free themselves from their expectations of future ruine by concluding that he that hath and doth deliver will also yet deliver David had this thought in his heart that he should one day perish by the hand of Saul even then when God had so remarkably rescued him from Saul and forced Saul not only to acknowledg his Sin in prosecuting him but also to declare his belief of the Promise concerning David One would have expected that this should have been such a Demonstration of the Truth of what had been promised that he should have cast out all fear and yet contrariwise this pledg of God's purpose to him is received by a heart strongly prepossessed with misgiving thoughts and he continues to think that for all this Saul would one day destroy him Fourthly The pangs of this Distrust are also so remarkable that after they have been delivered and have found that the Event hath not answered their fears they have in the review of their carriage under such fears recounted this their weakness among other remarkable things thereby shewing the unreasonableness of their unbelief and their wonder that God should pass by so great a Provocation and notwithstanding so unexpectedly deliver them David in the places before cited was upon a thankful acknowledgment of God's Love and wonderful Kindness which he thought he could not perform without leaving a record of his strange and unworthy distrust as if he had said So greatly did I sin and so unsuitably did I behave my self that I then gave off and concluded all was lost To open this a little further I shall add the Reasons why Satan strikes in with such an occasion as the want of means to tempt to distrust which are these First Such a condition doth usually transport Men besides themselves puts them as it were into an Extacy and by a sudden rapture of of Astonishment and Fear forceth them beyond their settled thoughts and purposes This David notes as the ground of his inconsiderate rash speaking It was my haste I was transported c. Now as Passion doth not only make Men speak what otherwise they would not but also to put bad Interpretations upon actions and things beyond what they will bear and hasten Men to Resolves exceedingly unreasonable So doth this state of the Heart under an amazement and surprize of Fear give opportunity to Satan to put Men to injurious and unrighteous thoughts of the Providence of God and by such ways to alienate their Minds from the trust which they owe him Secondly Sense is a great help to Faith Faith then must needs be much hazarded when Sense is at a loss or contradicted as usually it is in straits That Faith doth receive an advantage by Sense cannot be denyed To believe what we see is easier than to believe what we see not and that in our state of Weakness and Infirmity God doth so far indulge us that by his allowance we may take the help of our Senses is evident by his appointment of the two Sacraments where by outward visible Signs our Faith may be quickned to apprehend the Spiritual benefits offered Thomas resolving to suspend his belief till he were satisfied that Christ was risen by the utmost tryal that Sense could give determining not to credit the Testimony of the rest of the Disciples till by putting his Finger into his Side he had made himself more certain Christ not only condescended to him but also pronounceth his approbation of his belief accepting it that he had believed because he had seen But when outward usual helps fail us our Sense being not able to see afar off is wholly puzled and overthrown the very disappearing of probabilities gives so great a shake to our Faith that it commonly staggers at it and therefore was it given as the great commendation of Abrahams Faith that he notwithstanding the unlikelyhood of the thing staggered not at the Promise noting thereby how extraordinary it was in him at that time to keep up against the contradiction of Sense and how usual it is with others to be beaten off all Trust by it 'T is no wonder to see that Faith which usually called Sense for a Supporter to fail when t is deprived of its Crutch And he that would a little understand what disadvantage this might prove to a good Man when Sense altogether fails his expectation he may consider with himself in what a case Thomas might have been if Christ had refused to let him see his Side and to thrust his Finger into the print of the Nails in all appearance had it been so he had gone away confirmed in his unbelief Thirdly Though Faith can act above Sense and is imployed about things not seen yet every Saint at all times doth not act his Faith so high Christ tells us that to believe where a Man hath not had the help of Sight and Sense is Noble and Blessed Joh. 20. 29. yet withal he hints it to be rare and difficult he that hath not seen and yet hath believed implyes that 't is but one amongst many that doth so and that 't is the Conquest of a more than ordinary difficulty Hence it is that to love God when he kills to believe when means fail are reckoned among the high actings of Christianity Fourthly When Sense is non-plust and Faith fails the Soul of Man is at a great loss having nothing to bear it up it must needs sink but having something to throw it down besides its own propensity downward to distrust it hath the force of so great a disappointment to push it forward and such bitterness of Spirit heightned by the malignant Influence of Satan that with a violence like the Angels throwing a Milstone into the Sea it is cast into the bottom of such depths of unbelief that the knowledg of former Power and extraordinary Providences cannot keep it from an absolute denyal of the like for the future Israel in the Wilderness when they came to the want of Bread though they acknowledged he clave the Rock and gave them Water in the like strait yet so far did their Hearts fail of that due Trust in the Power and Mercy of God which might have been expected that though they confessed the one they as
may have Impulses from Satan upon pretences of Zeal as the Disciples had when they called for Fire from Heaven In these Impulses Satan doth not so act the Heart of Man as the Spirit of God doth whose Commands in this case are irresistible but he only works by altering the disposition of our Bodies in a Natural way and then having sitted us all he can for an Impression he endeavours to set it on by strong perswasions Some memorable instances of these Impulses might profitably illustrate this Math. Parisiensis takes notice of a Boy in Anno. 1213. of whom also Fuller makes mention who after some loss which the Christians had received in the War against the Turks went up and down Singing this Rithme Jesus Lord Redeem our Loss Restore to us thy Holy Cross And by this means he gathered a Multitude of Boys together who could not by the severest Menaces of their Parents be hindred from following him to their own ruine Another instance of a strange Impulse we have in Josephus one Jesus the Son of Ananus about four years before the Destruction of Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles begins to cry out Woe Woe to the East and West to Man and Woman c. And could by no means be restrained Night or Day and when his Flesh was beaten off his Bones he begged no pity nor ease but still continued his usual crying Seventhly God doth also by his Spirit teach his People in bringing things to their remembrance Satan also in imitation of this can put into the Minds of Men with great readiness and dexterity Promises or Sentences of Scripture insomuch that they conclude that all such actings are from the Spirit of God who as they conclude set such a Scripture upon their Heart thus dealt Satan with Christ he urgeth the Promise upon him wherein upon the matter he doth as much as when he secretly suggests such things to the Heart without an audible Voice In this way of craft Satan doth very much resemble the true work of the Spirit 1. In the readiness and quickness of suggesting 2. In seeming exact suiting Scripture suggested with the present occasion and 3. In the earnestness of his urging it upon the Fancies of Men. Yet when all this is done they that shall seriously consider all ends Matter and Circumstances will easily observe it is but the cunning work of a Tempter and not from the Holy Spirit Observe also That whatever be the various ways of Satans imitation yet the matter which he works and practiseth upon is still Scripture to this he confines himself First Because the Scriptures are generally among Christians received as the undoubted Oracles of God the Rule of our Lives and Duties and the Grounds of our hope It would be a vain and bootless labour to impose upon those that retain this belief the sayings of the Turkish Alcoran the Precepts of Heathen Philosophers or any other thing that may carry a visible estrangement from or contradiction to Scripture he could not then possibly pretend to a Divine Instruction nor could he so transform himself into an Angel of Light but by using this covert of Divine Command Promise or Discovery he can more easily beget a belief that God hath said it and that there is neither Sin nor Danger in the thing propounded but Duty and Advantage to be expected and this is the very thing that makes way for an easy entertainment of such delusions Poor Creatures believe that is all from God and that they are acted by his Spirit and that with such confidence that they contemn and decry those as ignorant of Divine Mysteries and of the Power of God who are not so besotted as themselves Secondly The Scriptures have a Glorious irresistible Majesty in them peculiar to themselves which cannot be found in all that Art or Eloquence can contribute to other Authors 'T is not Play-Book Language nor Scraps of Romances that Satan can effect these cheats withal and therefore we may observe that in the highest delusions Men have had pretences of Scripture and their strong perswasions of extraordinary discoveries have striken Men into a reverence of their profession because of the Scripture Words and Phrases with which their boldest follies are woven up for let but Men enquire into the reason of the prevalency of Familism of old upon so vast a number of People as were carried away with it and they shall find that the great Artifice lay in the Words they used a language abstracted from Scripture to signify such conceits as the Scripture never intended Hence were their expressions always high soaring and relating to a more excellent and mystical interpretation of those Divine Writings This may be observed in David George Hen. Nicholas and others who usually talk of being consubstantiated with God taken up into his Love of the Angelical Life and a great deal more of the same kind The Ranters at first had the like Language and the Quakers after them affected such a câ—nting Expression And we may be the more certain of the truth of this observation that such a kind of speaking which borrows its Majesty from the Stile of the Scripture is of moment to Satans design because we find the Scripture it self gives particular notice of it the false Teachers in 2 Pet. 2. 18. are discribed among other things by their swelling words of Vanity which the Syriack rendrs to be a proud and lofty way of speaking the original signifies no less they were words swelled like Bladders though being pricked they be found to be empty Sounds and no Substance There are indeed swelling words of Atheistical contempt of those who as the Psalmist speaks set their Mouths against Heaven but this passage of Peter as also the like in Jude ver 16. signify big Swoln words from high pretensions and fancies of knowing the mind of God more perfectly for they that use them pretend themselves Prophets of God ver 1. and as to their height in profession are compared to Clouds highly soaring and in 2 Cor. 11. 14. they are said to be transformed into the Apostles of Christ and to the Garb of the Ministers of Righteousness And that which is more this particular design of Satan is noted as the rise of all No marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light Having seen the reasons why Satan chuseth Scripture as his Tool to work by I shall next shew to what base designs he makes it subserve First He useth this Artifice to beget and propagate erronious Doctrines Hence no opinion is so vile but pretends to Scripture as its Patron The Arrians pretend Scripture against the Divinity of Christ The Socinians Pelagians Papists yea and those that pretend to Inspirations for their Rule and disclaim the binding force of those antiquated declarations of the Saints conditions as they call them yet conform all their sayings to the Scripture expression and endeavour to prove their mistakes
Desire he will be sure to speak of it Secondly He carries on this Design by Lying he promiseth more than ever Sin can give and he sends his Proselytes out after Sin under the highest Expectations and when they come to enjoy it they often find the Pleasure falls short of his Boast he whispers Honours Preferments and Riches in the Ear of their Hearts and often pays them with Poverty and Disgraces and gives them pro thesauro carbones Stones for Bread a Serpent for a Fish Witches give frequent Accounts of Satan's lying Promises he tells them of Feasts of Gold of Riches but they find themselves deluded he sends them oft hungry away from those Banquets so that they have no more than when a Man Dreams he Eats He gives that which seems Gold in Appearance but at last they find it to be Slaits or Shells We find in this Temptation he is liberal and large in his Offers to Christ and what he requires he will have in present Payment but the reward for the Service is future 'T is his business to engage Men in Sin by his Promise of Advantage but being once engaged he takes not himself concerned in Honour or Ingenuity for Performance Hence doth the Scripture fitly call the Pleasures of Sin lying Vanities a vain Shew a Dream thereby warning Men from a forward Belief of Satan's Promises in that they find by Experience they shall be at last but Lyes and Disappointments Thirdly To make his Bait more taking he conceals all the inconveniencies that may attend these Worldly Delights He Offers here the Kingdoms of the World to Christ as if all were made up of Pleasure these Cares Troubles and Vexations that attend Greatness and Rule he mentions not their Burthen Hazard and Disquiet he passeth over Thus in common Temptations he is careful to hide from Men the Miseries that follow these empty Pleasures So that often Men do not consider the Mischief till a Dart strike through their Liver Prov. 7. 23. and till a dear-bought Experience doth inform them of their Mistakes Fourthly His Power and work upon the Fancies of Men is none of the least of his ways whereby he advanceth the Pleasures of Sin That he hath such a Power hath been discoursed before and that a Fancy raised to a great Expectation makes things appear otherwise than what they are is evident from common Experience the value of most things depends rather upon Fancy than the Internal worth of them and Men are more engaged to a pursuit of things by the Estimation which Fancy hath begat in their Minds than by certain Principles of Knowledg Children by Fancy have a value of their Toys and are so powerfully swayed by it that things of far greater price cannot stay their Designs nor divert their Course Satan knows that the best of Men are sometimes childish apt to be led about by their conceits and apt in their conceits to apprehend things far otherwise than what they are in Truth Hence is it as one observes that of thousands of Men that return from Jerusalem or from Mount Sion or from the River Jordan scarce can we find one which brings back the Admiration which he had conceived before he had seen them Fancy doth preoccupate the Mind with an high opinion of things and these exorbitant Imaginations pass to such an excess that Men think to find a satisfaction beyond the Nature of these Pleasures they aim at which hath these two inconveniencies the one that this Effects and draws as powerfully as if they were all as real and high as they are conceited to be the other that Sight and Fruition takes away the Estimation and by a disappointment doth deaden and dull the Affections to what may be really found there Thus Satan by one deceit makes Men believe that Sin hath Pleasure which indeed it hath not and by that belief leads them on powerfully to endeavour an embracement of them and at last urgeth them with a delusion In opposition to this deceit of the Devil we must learn to esteem Worldly Delights as low as he would value them high And to this purpose the Scripture speaks of them in undervaluing Language calling Worldly Pomp an Opinion a Phantasy a Fashion or Figure an Imagination rather then a reallity and further injoyns us not to admire these things in others not to envy them that enjoyment of them nor to fret at our want of them much less to be transported with any angry Passion about them nor to concern our selves in any earnest pursuit of them Fourthly Satan in this Temptation did not bravely speak of these things nor only make an offer in Discourse but he thought it most conduceable to his Design to present them to his Sight he knew full well that the Heart is more affected by sensible Discoveries than by rational Discourses Note here That Satan in Temptations of Worldly Pleasure endeavours to engage the Affections by the Sences That 't is Satan's great business to work upon the Affections I have shewed at large Here he endeavoured to prepare the Affections of Christ that so the motion when it came might not die as a Spark falling upon wet Tinder but that the Affections being stirred up might cherish the Offer and that the Offer by a mutual warmth might more enflame the Affections that were heated before To this End he works by the Senses and would have Christ's Eye to raise his Affections of Love Desire Hope and whatever else might wing his Soul to Activity There is a great connection betwixt the Senses and the Affection the Senses bring Intelligence unavoidably and are apt to stir up our Powers to Action as the Jaccall is said to hunt the Prey for the Lyon so do the Senses for the Affections and both for Satan It is also remarkable that Satan endeavouring to make the Eyes of Christ Traytors to his Affections and that he thinking it necessary to give him a view of what he proffered him should not give him time to take a full Survey of these Kingdoms but should huddle it up in such an hast that all as Luke tell us was done in a moment of time was Satan in haste or was he unwilling to part with what he so liberally proffered Surely no but this transient view was his Subtilty to entice him the more and to enflame his Heart with greater desires Observe then That where Satan is most liberal in his Proffers he there manageth his Overtures of Advantage with a seeming shyness And this he doth First To heighten the worth of them in our Estimation as if they were Jewels not to be gazed at or curious Peices not fit to be exposed to common view Secondly By this Art he makes Men more eager in the pursuit Our natural Curiosity presseth us with great earnestness after things of difficult access and we have also strange desires kindled in us from a prohibition so that what we list
this Gulph and become nothing to him You see Amnon vexed and sick for his Sister Tamer waxing lean from day to day You see Ahab though a King who had enough to satisfie his Mind in the same condition for Naboth's Vineyard If you say these were wicked Men who rid their Lusts without a Bridle and used the Spur look then upon better Men and you will see too much Rachel so grieves and mourns for want of Children that she professeth her Life inconsistent with her disappointment Give me Children else I die Hanna upon the same occasion weeps and eats not and prays in the bitterness of her Soul and the abundance of her complaint and grief Jeremiah being pressed with discouragements from the contradiction of evil Men calls himself a Man of strife and contention to the whole Earth Jer. 15. 10. his sorrows thence arising had so imbittered his Life that he puts a woe upon his Birth Wo is me my Mother that thou hast born me a Man of Strife Paul had a noble courage under manifold afflictions he could glory in the Cross and rejoice in persecutions nevertheless the greatness of his work the froward perversness and unsteadiness of Professors which put him under fears jealousies and new travel the Miseries of Christians and the care he had for the concerns of the Gospel which was a constant load upon his Mind his Heart like old Eli's trembling still for the Ark of God made him complain as one worn out by the troubles of his Heart 2 Cor. 11. 27. In weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakedness Besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the Churches Who is weak and I am not weak c. For the Jews he had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his Heart and for the Gentiles he had perpetual fears Now though he had a great share of divine Comforts intermixed and a more than ordinary assistance of the Spirit to keep him from sinful discomposure of Spirit at least to such an height as it ordinarily prevails upon others yet was he very sensible of his burthen and doubtless the Devil laboured to improve these occasions to weary out his strength For by these and such like things he frequently vexeth the righteous Souls of the faithful Ministers of the Gospel from day to day so that their hearts have no rest and their hands grow often feeble and they cry out O the burthen O the care being ready to say as Jeremiah chap. 20. 7. O Lord thou hast deceived me and I was decieved I am a derision daily every one mocketh me Thus say they Did we ever think to meet with such disappointments such Griefs from the Wilfulness Pride Weakness Ignorance Pettishness Inconstancy Negligence and Scandals of Friends and such Hatred Contradictions Scorns and Injuries from Enemies Were we free what Calling would we not rather chuse what place would we not rather go to where we might spend the remainder of our dayes in some rest and ease Were it not better to work with our hands for a Morsel of Bread for so might our Sleep be sweet to us at Night and we should not see these sorrows At this rate are good Men sometime disturbed and the anguish of their Spirit makes their Life a burthen 2. Yet is not this all the disturbance that the Devil works upon our hearts by these things though these are bad enough but they have a tendency to further trouble Discomposures of Spirit if they continue long turn at last into troubles of Conscience Though there is no affinity betwixt simple discomposure of Soul and troubles of Conscience in their own nature the objects of the former being things external no way relating to the Souls Interest in God and Salvation which are the objects of the latter yet the effects produced by the prevalency of these disturbances are a fit Stock for the ingrafting of doubts and questionings about our Spiritual condition As Saul's Father first troubled himself for the loss of his Asses and sent his Son to seek them but when he stayed long he forgat his trouble and took up a new grief for his Son whom he feared he had lost in pursuit of the Asses So is it sometime with Men who after they have long vexed themselves for injuries or afflictions c. upon a serious consideration of the working and power of these Passions leave their former pursuit and begin to bethink themselves in what a condition their Souls are that abound with so much Murmuring Rage Pride or Impatience and then the Scene is altered and they begin to fear they have lost their Souls and are now perplexed about their Spiritual estate To make this plain I will give some instances and then add some reasons which will evidence that it is so and also how it comes to be so For Instances though I might produce a sufficient number to this purpose from those that have written of Melancholy yet I shall only insist upon two or three from Scripture Hezekiah when God smote him with Sickness at first was discomposed upon the apprehension of Death that he should so soon be deprived of the residue of his years and behold Man no more with the inhabitants of the World as he himself expresseth it Esay 38. 10. afterward his trouble grew greater He chattered as a Crane or Swallow and mourned as a Dove he was in great bitterness ver 17. and sadly oppressed therewith ver 14. That which thus distressed him was not simply the fear of Death we cannot imagine so pious a Person would so very much disquiet himself upon that single account but by the expressions which he let fall in his complainings we may understand that some such thoughts as these did shake him that he apprehended God was angry with him that the present stroke signified so much to him all circumstances considered for he was yet in his strength and Jerusalem in great distress being at that time besieged by Sennacheribs Army and for him to be doomed to death by a sudden message at such a time seemed to carry much in it and that surely there was great provocation on his part and it seems upon search he charged himself so deeply with his sinfulness that his apprehensions were no less than that if God should restore him yet in the sence of his vileness he should never be able to look up I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my Soul ver 15. which expression implies a supposition of his Recovery and a deep sense of Iniquity and accordingly when he was recovered he takes notice chiefly of Gods love to his Soul and the pardon of his sin which evidently discover where the trouble pinched him Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back vers 17.
Job's Troubles were very great and his case extraordinary Satan had maliciously stript him of all outward Comforts this he â—ore with admirable Patience Job 1. 21. Naked came I out of my Mothers womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. The Devil seeing now himself defeated obtains a new Commission wherein Job is wholly put into his hand life only excepted chap. 2. 9. he sets upon him again and in his new encounter labours to bring upon him spiritual distresses and accordingly improves his losses and sufferings to that end as appears by his endeavours and the success for as he tempted him by his Wife to a desperate disregard of God that had so afflicted him Curse God and die so he tempted him also by his Friends to question the state of his Soul and his Integrity and all from the consideration of his outward miseries To that purpose are all their discourses Eliphaz Chap. 4. 5 6 7. from his sufferings and his carriage under them takes occasion to jear his former Piety as being no other than feigned It is come upon thee and thou faintest is not this thy fear thy confidence thy hope and the uprightness of thy ways that is is all thy Religion come to this and also concludes him to be wicked Who ever perished being innocent and where were the righteous cut off Bildad Chap. 8. 6 13. chargeth him with Hypocrisie upon the same ground and while he makes his defence Zophar plainly gives him the lye Chap. 11. 3. and at this rate they go their round and all this while Satan whose design it was to afflict his Conscience with the sense of divine Wrath secretly strikes in with these Accusations insomuch that though Job stoutly defended his Integrity yet he was wounded with inward Distresses and concluded that these dealings of God against him were no less than God's severe observance of his Iniquity as is plain from his bemoaning himself in Chap. 10. 2. I will say unto God Do not condemn me shew me wherefore thou contendest with me Vers 16 17. Thou huntest me as a fierce Lion thou renewest thy Witnesses against me c. David was a Man that was often exercised with Sickness and Troubles from Enemies and in all the instances almost that we meet with in the Psalms of these his Afflictions we may observe the outward occasions of Trouble brought him under the suspition of Gods Wrath and his Iniquity so that he was seldom sick or persecuted but this called on the disquiet of Conscience and brought his sin to remembrance as Psal 6. which was made on the occasion of his Sickness as appears from vers 5. wherein he expresseth the vexation of his Soul under the appehension of Gods Anger all his other griefs running into this Channel as little Brooks losing themselves in a great River change their name and nature he that was at first only concerned for his Sickness is now wholly concerned with sorrow and smart under the fear and hazard of his Souls condition the like we may see in Psal 38. and many places more Having made good the assertion That discomposures of Soul upon outward occasions by long continuance and Satans management do often run up to spiritual distress of Conscience I shall next for further confirmation and illustration shew how it comes to be so 1. Discomposures of Spirit do obstruct and at last extinguish the inward comforts of the Soul so that if we suppose the discomposed Person at first before he be thus disordered to have had a good measure of spiritual joy in Gods favour and delight in his ways yet the disturbances 1. Divert his thoughts from feeding upon these Comforts or from the enjoyment of himself in them The Soul cannot naturally be highly intent upon two different things at once but whatsoever doth strongly engage the Thoughts and Affections that carries the whole Stream with it be it good or bad and other things give way at present When the heart is vehemently moved on outward Considerations it lays by the thoughts of its sweetness which it hath had in the enjoyment of God they are so contrary and inconsistent that either our Comforts will chase out of our Thoughts our Discomposures or our Discomposures will chase away our Comforts I believe the Comforts of Elias when he lay down under his grief and desired to die and of Jeremiah when he cried out of violence run very low in those fits of Discontent and their Spirits were far from an actual rejoycing in God but this is not the worst we may not so easily imagine that upon the going away of the fit the wonted Comforts return to their former course For 2. The Mind being distracted with its Burthen is left impotent and unable to return to its former exercise the warmth which the Heart had being smothered and suspended in its excercise is not so quickly revived and the thoughts which were busied with disturbance like the distempered humors of the Body are not reduced suddainly to that evenness of composure as may make them fit for their old imployment And 3. If God should offer the Influences of joyful support a discomposed Spirit is not in a capacity to receive them no more than it can receive those counsels that by any careful hand are interposed for its relief and settlement Comforts are not heard in the midst of noise and clamour the calmness of the Souls faculties are praesupposed as a necessary qualification towards its reception of a message of Peace Phineas his Wife being overcome of grief for the Arks captivity and her Husbands death could not be affected with the joyful news of a Son But 4. Sinful discomposures hinder these gracious and comfortable offers if we could possibly which we cannot ordinarily receive them yet we cannot expect that God will give them The Spirit of Consolation loves to take up his lodging in a meek and quiet Spirit and nothing more grieves him than Bitterness Wrath Anger Clamour and Malice which made the Apostle Eph. 4. 30 31. subjoyn his direction of putting these away from us with his advice of not grieving the Spirit by which we are sealed unto the day of Redemption And then 5. The former stock of Comfort which Persons distempered with discomposures might be supposed to have will soon be wasted for our Comforts are not like the Oil in the Cruse or Meal in the Barrel which had as it were their Spring in themselves we are comforted and supported by daily communication of Divine Aid so that if the Spring head be stopped the Stream will quickly grow dry 'T is evident then that inward Consolations in God will not ripen under these Shadows nor grow under these continual droppings seeing a discomposed Spirit is not capable to receive more nor able to keep what comfort it had at first we may easily see how it comes to pass that these disturbances may