faithful Creatour Secondly improve this Almighty power of God and thy interest therein in temptations to sin when thou art over-powered and fliest before the face of thy strong corruption or fearest thou shalt one day fall by it make bold to take hold of this attribute and re-inforce thy self from it again to resist and in resisting to believe a timely victory over it The Almighty God stands in sight of thee while thou art in the valley fighting and stayes but for a call from thee when distressed in battel and then he will come to thy rescue Jehoshaphat cried when in the throng of his enemies and the Lord helped him much more mayest thou promise thy self his succour in thy soul-combates Betake thy self to the throne of grace with that promise Sin shall not have dominion over you and before thou urgest it the more to help thy faith comfort thy self with this that though this word Almighty is not exprest yet it is implied in this and every promise and thou mayest without adding a title to the Word of God read it in thy soul sin shall not have dominion over you saith the Almighty God for this and all his attributes are the constant seale to all his promises Now soule put the bond in suit fear not the recovery 't is debt and so due He is able whom thou suest and so there is no feare of losing the charge of the suit and he that was so gracious to binde himself when he was free will be so faithful being able to perform now he is bound only while thou expectest the performance of the promise and the assistance of this Almighty power against thy corruptions take heed that thou keep under the shadow of this attribute and condition of this promise The shadow will not cool except in it what good to have the shadow though of a mighty rock when we sit in the open Sun To have Almighty power engaged for us and we to throw our selves out of the protection thereof by bold salleys into the mouth of temptation The Saints falls have been when they run out of their trench and hold for like the conies they are a weak people in themselves and their strength lies in the rock of Gods Almightinesse which is their habitation Thirdly Christian improve this when opprest with the weight of any duty and service which in thy place and calling lies upon thee Perhaps thou findest the duty of thy calling too heavy for thy weak shoulders make bold by faith to lay the heaviest end of thy burden on Gods shoulder which is thine if a believer as sure as God can make it by promise When at any time thou art sick of thy work and ready to think with Jonas to run from it encourage thy selfe with that of God to Gideon whom he call'd from the flaile to thresh the mountains Go in this thy might hath not God call'd thee fall to the work God sets thee about and thou engagest his strength for thee The way of the Lord is strength Run from thy work and thou engagest Gods strength against thee he 'll send some storme or other after thee to bring home his runaway servant How oft hath the Coward been kill'd in a ditch or under some hedge when the valiant souldier that stood his ground and kept his place got off with safety and honour Art thou call'd to suffer flinch not because thou art afraid thou shalt never be able to bear the crosse God can lay it so even thou shalt not feel it though thou shouldest finde no succour till thou comest to the prison-door yea till thou hast one foot on the ladder or thy neck on the block despair not In the Mount will the Lord be seen And in that houre he can give thee such a look of his sweet face as shall make the blood come in the gastly face of a cruel death and appear lovely in thy eye for his sake He can give thee so much comfort in hand as thou shalt acknowledge God is aforehand with thee for all thy shame pain thou canst endure for him And if it should not amount to this yet so much as will bear all thy charges thou canst be put to in the way lies ready told in that promise 1 Cor. 10.13 Thou shalt have it at sight and this may satisfie a Christian especially if he considers though he doth not carry so much of heavens joy about him to heaven as others yet he shall meet it as soon as he comes to his Fathers house where it is reserved for him In a word Christian relie upon thy God and make thy daily applications to the throne of grace for continual supplies of strength you little think how kindly he takes it that you will make use of him the oftner the better and the more you come for the more welcome else why would Christ have told his disciples Hitherto ye have ask't nothing but to expresse his large heart in giving loath to put his hand to his purse for a little and therefore by a familiar kind of Rhetorick puts them to rise higher in asking as Naaman when Gehazi asks one talent entreats him to take two such a bountiful heart thy God hath while thou art asking a little peace and joy he bids thee open thy mouth wide and hee 'l fill it Go and ransack thy heart Christian from one end to the other finde out thy wants acquaint thy selfe with all thy weaknesses and set them before the Almighty as the Widow her empty vessels before the Prophet hadst thou more then thou canst bring thou mayest have them all fill'd God hath strength enough to give but he hath no strength to deny here the Almighty himselfe with reverence be it spoken is weak even a childe the weakest in grace of his family that can but say Father is able to overcome him and therefore let not the weaknesse of thy faith encourage thee No greater motive to the bowels of mercy to stir up Almighty power to relieve thee then thy weaknesse when pleaded in the sense of it The pale face and thin cheeks I hope move more with us then the canting language of a stout sturdy beggar Thus that soule that comes laden in the sense of his weak faith love patience the very weaknesse of them carries an argument along with them for succour CHAP. V. Wherein is answered a grand Objection that some disconsolate soules may raise against the former Discourse Object O But saith some disconsolate Christian I have prayed again and again for strength against such a corruption and to this day my hands are weak and these sons of Zerviah are so strong that I am ready to say all the Preachers do but flatter me that do poure their oyle of comfort upon my head and tell me I shall at last get the Conquest of these mine enemies and see that joyful day wherein with David I shall sing to the Lord for delivering me out of the
the wickednesse of his heart in this glasse of the devils nature and he will see himself as a great debtor to the mercy of God as Manasses or the worst of sinners as in pardoning so in preventing the same cursed nature with theirs before it gave fire on God with those bloody sinnes which they committed That thou didst not act such outragious sinnes thou art beholden to Gods gracious surprize and not the goodnesse of thy nature which hath the devils stamp on it for which God might have crusht thee as we do the brood of Serpents before they sting knowing what they will do in time Who will say that Faux suffered unjustly because the Parliament was not blown up it was enough that the materials for that Massacre were provided and he taken there with match and fire about him ready to lay the traine and canst thou say when God first took hold on thee that thou had'st not those weapons of rebellion about thee a nature fully charged with enmity against God which in time would have made its own report of what for present lay like unfired ponder silent in thy bosome O Christian think of this and be humbled for thy villainous nature and say Blessed be God that sent his Spirit and grace so timely to stay thy hand as Abigail to David while thy nature meditated nothing but warre against God and his laws Vse 3 Again Thirdly are the devils so wickedly malicious against God himself O Sirs take the right notion of sinne and you will hate it The reason why we are so easily perswaded to sinne is because we understand not the bottome of his designe in drawing a creature to sinne It is with men in sinning as it is with Armies in fighting Captains beat their drummes for Voluntiers and promise all that list pay and plunder and this makes them come trowling in but few consider what the ground of the Warre is against whom or for what Satan enticeth to sinne and give golden promises what they shall have in his service with which silly souls are won but how few ask their souls Whom do I sinne against what is the devils designe in drawing me to sinne Shall I tell thee dost thou think 't is thy pleasure or profit he desires in thy sinning alas he means nothing lesse he hath greater plots in his head then so He hath by his Apostasie proclaim'd warre against God and he brings thee by sinning to espouse his quarrel and to jeopard the life of thy soul in defence of his pride and lust which that he may do he cares no more for the damnation of thy soul then the great Turk doth to see a company of his slaves cut off for the carrying on of his designe in a siege And darest thou venture to go into the field upon his quarrel against God O Earth tremble thou at the presence of the Lord. This bloody Joab sets thee where never any came off alive O stand not where Gods bullets fly throw down thy armes or thou art a dead man Whatever others do O ye Saints abhorre the thoughts of sinning willingly which when you do you help the devil against God and what more unnatural then for a childe to be seen in armes against his father CHAP. VII Of Satans plot to defile the Christians spirit with heart-sinnes The second Point followes THat these wicked Spirits do chiefly annoy the Saints with and provoke them to spiritual sinnes Sinnes may be called spiritual upon a double account either from the subject wherein they are acted or from the object about which they are conversant First in regard of the subject when the spirit or heart is the stage whereon sinne is acted this is a spiritual sinne such are all impure thoughts vile affections and desires though the object be fleshly lust yet are spiritual sinnes because they are purely acts of the soul and spirit and break not forth unto the outward man Secondly in regard of the object when that is spiritual and not carnal such as are idolatry errour spiritual pride unbelief c. both which Paul calls the filthinesse of the spirit and distinguisheth them from filthinesse of the flesh 2 Cor. 7.1 SECT I. First of the first Satan labours what he can to provoke the Christian to heart-sinnes to stirre up and foment these inward motions of sinne in the Christians bosome hence it is he can go about no duty but these his Impes I may call them haunt him one motion or other darts in to interrupt him as Paul tells us of himselfe When he would do good evil was present with him if a Christian should turne back when ever these crosse the way of him he should never go on his journey to heaven It is the chief game the devil hath left to play against the children of God now his field-army is broken and his commanding power taken away which he had over them to come out of these his holds where he lies sculking and fall upon their rear with these suggestions He knows his credit now is not so great with the soul as when it was his slave then no drudgery work was so base that it would not do at his command but now the soul is out of his bondage and he must not think to command anothers servant as his own No all he can do is to watch the fittest season when the Christian least suspects and then to present some sinful motion handsomely drest up to the eye of the soul that the Christian may before he is aware take this brat up and dandle it in his thoughts till at last he makes it his own by embracing it and this he knowes will defile the soul and may be this boy sent in at the window may open the door to let in a greater thief or if he should not so prevaile yet the guilt of these heart-sinnes yea their very neighbour-hood will be a sad vexation to a gracious heart whose nature is so pure that it abhorres all filthinesse so that to be haunted with such motions is as if a living man should be chain'd to a stinking carcase that where ever he goes he must draw that after him and whose love is so dear to Christ that it cannot bear the company of those thoughts without amazement and horrour which are so contrary and abusive to his beloved This makes Satan so desirous to be ever raking in the unregenerate part that as a dunghil stirr'd it may offend them both with the noisome streames which arise from it SECT II. Vse 1 First let this be for trial of thy spiritual state What entertainment findes Satan when he comes with these spirituals of wickednesse and solicites thee to dwell on them canst thou dispense with the filthinesse of thy spirit so thy hands be clean or dost thou wrestle against these heart-sinnes as well as others I do not ask whether such guests come within thy door for the worst of sinnes may be found in the
enlarged in duty most assisted in his Christian course Remember Christian when thou hast thy best suit on who made it who paid for it Thy grace thy comfort is neither the work of thy own hands nor the price of thy own desert be not for shame proud of anothers cost That assistance will not long stay which becomes a nurse to thy pride thou art not Lord of that assistance thou hast Thy Father is wise who when he alloweth thee most for thy spiritual maintenance even then keeps the Law in his own hands and can soon curb thee if thou growest wanton with his grace Walk humbly therefore before thy God and husband well that strength thou hast remembring that it is borrowed strength Nemo prodiget quod mendicat Who will waste what he begs or who will give that beggar that spends idly his almes when thou hast most thou canst not be long from thy God his door And how canst thou look him on the face for more who hast imbezell'd what thou hast received CHAP. III. Of acting our faith on the Almighty Power of God THe third Branch followeth which contains an encouraging Amplification annexed to the exhortation in these words And in the Power of his might where a twofold enquiry is requisite for the explication of the phrase First what these words import The Power of his might Secondly what it is to be strong in the Power of his might For the first the Power of his might It is an Hebraism imports nothing but his mighty Power like that phrase Eph. 1.6 To the praise of the glory of his grace that is to the praise of his glorious grace And his mighty Power imports no lesse then his Almighty Power sometimes the Lord is stiled mighty and strong as Ps 24.8 sometimes most mighty sometimes Almighty no lesse is meant in all then Gods infinite Almighty Power For the second to be strong in the mighty Power or Power of the Lords might implies these two acts of faith First a setled firme perswasion that the Lord is Almighty in Power Be strong in the Power of his might that is be strongly rooted in your faith concerning this one foundation-truth that God is Almighty Secondly it implies a further act of faith not only to believe that God is Almighty but also that this Almighty Power of God is engaged for its defence so as to bear up in the midst of all trials and temptations undauntedly leaning on the arme of God Almighty as if it were his own strength for that is the Apostles drift as to beat us off from leaning on our own strength so to encourage the Christian to make use of Gods Almighty Power as freely as if it were his own when ever assaulted by Satan in any kinde As a man set upon by a thief stirs up all the force and strength he hath in his whole body to defend himself and offend his adversary so the Apostle bids the Christian be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his might that is Soul away to thy God whose mighty Power is all intended and devoted by God himself for thy succour and defence Go strengthen and entrench thy selfe in it by a stedfast faith as that which shall be laid out to the utmost for thy good From whence these two Notes I conceive will draw out the fatnesse of the words 1. That it should be the Christians great care and endeavour in all temptations and trials to strengthen his faith on the Almighty Power of God 2. The Christians duty and care is not only to believe that God is Almighty but strongly by faith to rest on this Almighty Power of God as engaged for his help and succour in all his trials and temptations First it should be the Christians great care in all temptations and trials to strengthen his faith on the Almighty Power of God When God holds forth himselfe as an object of the souls trust and confidence in any great strait or undertaking commonly this attribute of his Almighty power is presented in the promise as the surest hold fast for faith to lay hold on as a Father in rugged way gives his childe his arme to lay hold by so doth God usually reach forth his Almighty power for his Saints to exercise their faith on Abraham Isaac and Jacob whose faith God tried above most of his Saints before or since for not one of those great things which were promised to them did they live to see performed in their dayes and how doth God make known himself to them for their support but by displaying this Attribute Exod. 6.3 I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the Name of God Almighty This was all they had to keep house with all their dayes with which they lived comfortably and died triumphantly bequeathing the promise to their children not doubting because God Almighty had promised of the performance Thus Isa 26. where great mercies are promised to Judah and a Song penn'd before-hand to be sung on that gaudie day of their salvation yet because there was a sharp Winter of Captivity to come between the Promise and the Spring-time of the promise therefore to keep their faith alive in this space the Prophet calls them up to act their faith on God Almighty v. 4. Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength So when his Saints are going into the furnace of persecution what now doth he direct their faith to carry to prison to stake with them but this Almighty power 1 Pet. 4.19 Let them that suffer commit the keeping of their souls to him as to a faithful Creatour Creatour is a name of Almighty Power we shall now give some Reasons of the Point Reas 1 First because it is no easie work to make use of this truth how plain and clear soever it now appears in great plunges of temptation that God is Almighty To vindicate this Name of God from those evil reports which Satan and carnal Reason raise against it requires a strong faith indeed I confesse this principle is a piece of natural divinity That light which finds out a Deity will evince if followed close this God to be Almighty yet in a carnal heart it is like a rusty sword hardly drawn out of the scabbard and so of little or no use Such truths are so imprisoned in natural conscience that they seldome get a faire hearing in the sinners bosome till God gives them a Goal-delivery and brings them out of their house of bondage where they are shut up in unrighteousnesse with a high hand of his convincing Spirit Then and not till then the soule will believe God is holy merciful Almighty nay some of Gods peculiar people and not the meanest for grace amongst them have had their faith for a time set in this slough much ado to get over those difficulties and improbabilities which sense and Reason have objected so as to relie on the Almighty Power of
weak prone to be worsted O how careful will this should this make such a one of every company of every occasion Such a one had not need give his enemie any advantage Secondly God may deny the Christian such assisting strength in duty or mortifying strength of corruption as he desires purely on a gracious design that he may thereby have an advantage of expressing his love in such a way as shall most kindly work upon the ingenuity of the soule to love God again Perhaps Christian thou prayest for a mercy thou wantest or for deliverance out of some great affliction and in the duty thou findest not more assistance then ordinary yea many distractions of spirit in it and mis-giving thoughts with unbelieving feares after it Well notwithstanding those defects in thy duty yet God heares thy prayer and sends in the mercy on purpose that he may greaten his love in thine eye and make it more luscious and sweet to thy taste from his accepting thy weak services and passing by the distempers of thy spirit Here is lesse strength for the duty that thou mayest have more love in the mercy nothing will affect a gracious heart more then such a consideration See it in David Psal 116.11 12. I said in my haste All men are liars What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me As if David had said notwithstanding all the comfortable messages I had from God by his Prophets concerning this matter my own prayers and those remarkable providences which carried in them a partial answer to them and performance of what was promised yet I betray'd much unbelief questioning the truth of the one and the return of the other and hath God notwithstanding all my infirmities fulfill'd my desire and performed his promise O what shall I render unto the Lord Thus David reades Gods mercy through the spectacles of his own weaknesse and infirmity and it appears great whereas if a mercy should come in as an answer to a duty managed with such strength of faith and height of other graces as might free him and his duty from usual infirmities this might prove a snare and occasion some self-applauding rather then mercy-admiring thoughts in the creature Thirdly God may communicate the lesse of his assisting strength that he may shew the more of his supporting strength in upholding weak grace We do not wonder to see a man of strong constitution that eats his bread heartily and sleeps soundly live But for a crazie body full of ailes and infirmities to be so patcht and shored up by the Physicians Art that he stands to old age this begets some wonder in the beholders It may be thou art a poor trembling soule thy faith is weak and thy assaults from Satan strong thy corruptions stirring and active and thy mortifying strength little so that in thy opinion they rather gain ground on thy grace then give ground to it ever and anon thou art ready to think thou shalt be cast as a wrack upon the devils shoare and yet to this day thy grace lives though full of leaks now is it not worth the stepping aside to see this strange sight A broken ship with masts and hull rent and torne thus towed along by Almighty power through an angry sea and Armadoes of sins and devils safely into its harbour To see a poore dilling or rush candle in the face of the boisterous winde and not blown out In a word to see a weak stripling in grace held up in Gods armes till he beats the devil craven This God is doing in upholding thee thou art one of those babes out of whose mouth God is perfecting his praise by ordaining such strength for thee that thou a babe in grace shalt yet foile a giant in wrath and power Thirdly if after long waiting for strength from God it be as thou complainest enquire whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which hinders be not found in thy self The head is the seat of animal spirits yet there may be such obstructions in the body as the other members may for a time be deprived of them till the passage be free between Christ thy head and thee thy strength will not come and therefore be willing to enquire First hast thou come indeed to God for strength to performe duty to mortifie corruption and the like perhaps thou wilt say Yes I have waited on those Ordinances which are the way in which he hath promised to give out strength But is this all thou mayest come to them and not wait on God in them Hast thou not carnally expected strength from them and so put the Ordinance as she her husband in Gods stead Hath not the frame of thy spirit some affinity with theirs in James 4.13 We will go into such a city and buy and sell and get gaine Hath not thy heart said I will go and hear such a man and get comfort get strength and doest thou wonder thou art weak barren and unfruitful Are Ordinances God that they should make you strong or comfortable Thou mayest heare them answer thee poor soul as the King to the woman in the siege of Samaria Help O prayer sayest thou or O Minister How can they help except the Lord help These are but Christs servants Christ keeps the Key of his wine-cellar they cannot so much as make you drink when you come to their Masters house and therefore poor soul stay not short of Christ but presse through all the croud of Ordinances and ask to speak with Jesus to see Jesus and touch him and vertue will come forth Secondly ask thy soule whether thou hast been thankful for that little strength thou hast though thou art not of that strength in grace to run with the foremost and hold pace with the tallest of thy brethren yet art thou thankful that thou hast any strength at all though it be but to cry after them whom thou seest out-strip thee in grace this is worth thy thanks All in Davids army attained not to be equal with his few Worthies in prowesse and honour and yet did not cashiere themselves thou hast reason to be thankful for the meanest place in the army of Saints the least communications of Gospel mercy and grace must not be over-look't Assoon as ever Moses with his army was through the sea they strike up before they stir from the bank-side and acknowledge the wonderful appearance of Gods power and mercy for them though this was but one step in their way a howling wildernesse presented it self to them and they not able to subsist a few dayes with all their provision for all their great victory yet Moses he will praise God for this handsel of mercy This holy man knew the only way to keep credit with God so as to have more was to keep touch and pay down his praise for what was received If thou wouldest have fuller communications of divine strength owne God in what he hath done Art thou weak
sinners such shall finde least mercy false friends shall speed worse then open enemies Secondly they use not the Armour of God as God hath appointed who put a carnal confidence therein We must not confide in the Armour of God but in the God of this Armour because all our weapons are only mighty through God 2 Cor. 10. The Ark was the meanes of the Jewes safety but carnally applauded and gloried in hastened their overthrow so duties and Ordinances gifts and graces in their place are means for the souls defence Satan trembles as much as the Philistines at the Ark to see a soule diligent in the use of duty and exercise of grace but when the creature confides in them this is dangerous As some when they have prayed think they please God for all day though they take little heed to their steps Others have so good an opinion of their faith sincerity knowledge thut you may assoon make them believe they are dogs as that they may ever be taken in such an errour or sinful practice Others when assisted in duty are prone to stroak their own head with a Bene fecisti Bernarde and so promise themselves to speed because they have done their errand so well What speak such passages in the hearts of men but a carnal confidence in their armour to their ruine Many soules we may safely say do not only perish praying repenting and believing after a sort but they perish by their praying and repenting c. while they carnally trust in these As it falls out sometimes that the souldier in battel loseth his life by means of his own Armour it is so heavy he cannot flie with it and so close buckled to him that he cannot get it off to flie for his life without it If we be saved we must come naked to Christ for all our duties we will not flie to Christ while confiding in them and some are so lock't into them that they cannot come without them and so in a day of temptation are trampled under the feet of Gods wrath and Satans fury The poor Publican throwes down his armes that is all confidence in himself cries for quarter at the hands of mercy God be merciful unto me a sinner and he comes off with his life he went away justified but the Pharisee loaden with his righteousnesse and conceited of it stands to it and is lost Thirdly they do not use the Armour of God as such who in the performing of divine duties eye not God through them and this makes them all weak and uneffectual Then the Word is mighty when read as the Word of God then the Gospel preach't powerful to convince the conscience and revive the drooping spirit when heard as the appointment of the great God and not the exercise of a mean creature Now it will appear in three things whether we eye divine appointment in the meanes First when we engage in a duty and look not up to God for his blessing Didst thou eye Gods appointment in the means thou wouldest say Soul if there come any good of thy present service it must drop from heaven for it is Gods appointment not mans And can I profit whether God will or no or think to finde and bring away any soul-enriching treasure from his Ordinance without his leave had I not best look up to him by whose blessing I live more then by my bread Again Secondly it appears we look not at Gods appointment when we have low thoughts of the means What is Jordan that I should wash in it what is this preaching that I should attend on it where I heare nothing but I knew before what these beggarly elements of water and bread and wine Are not these the reasonings of a soul that forgets who appoints these Didst thou remember who commands thou wouldest not question what the command is what though it be clay let Christ use it and it shall open the eyes though in it self more like to put them out Hadst thou thy eye on God thou wouldest silence thy carnal reason with this 'T is God sends me to such a duty whatsoever he saith unto me I will do it though he should send me as Christ them to draw wine out of pots fill'd with water Thirdly when a soule leaves off a duty because he hath not in it what he expected from it O saith the soul I see it is in vain to follow the means as I have done still Satan foiles me I will even give over Doest thou remember soule 't is Gods appointment surely then thou wouldest persevere in the midst of discouragements He that bids thee pray bids thee pray without ceasing He that bids thee hear bids thee wait at the posts of wisdom thou wouldest reason thus God hath set me on duty and here I 'le stand till God takes me off and bids me leave praying CHAP. III. Sheweth that the Armour we use for our defence against Satan must not only be divine by Institution but constitution also SEcondly the Christians Armour must be Armour of God in regard of its make and constitution My meaning is 't is not only God that must appoint the weapons and armes the Christian useth for his defence but he must also be the efficient of them he must work all their work in them and for them Prayer is an appointment of God yet this is not armour of proof except it be a Prayer of God flowing from his Spirit Hope that is the helmet the Saint by command is to wear but this hope must be Gods creature who hath begotten us to a lively hope Faith that 's another principal piece in the Christians furniture but it must be the faith of Gods Elect. He is to take righteousnesse and holinesse for his breast-plate but it must be true holinesse Eph. 4.24 Put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Thus you see it is not armour as armour but as armour of God that makes the soul impregnable That which is borne of God overcometh the world A faith borne of God a hope borne of God but the spurious adulterous brood of duties and graces being begot of mortal seed cannot be immortal Must the soules armour be of Gods make be exhorted then to look narrowly whether the armour ye weare be the workmanship of God or no. There is abundance of false ware put off now adayes little good armour worne by the multitude of Professours 't is Satans after-game he playes if he cannot please the sinner with his naked state of prophanenesse then to put him off with something like grace some slighty stuffe that shall neither do him good nor Satan hurt thus many like children that cry for a knife or dagger and are pleas'd as well with a bone knife and wooden dagger as with the best of all so they have some armour it matters not what Pray they must but little care how it be performed Beleeve in
God yes they hope they are not infidels but what it is how they come by it or whether it will hold in an evil-day this never was put to the question in their hearts Thus thousands perish with a vain conceit they are arm'd against Satan death and judgment when they are miserable and naked yea worse on it then those who are more naked those I mean who have not a rag of civility to hide their shame from the worlds eye and that in a double respect First it is harder to work on such a soul savingly because he hath a forme though not the power and this affords him a plea. A soule purely naked nothing like the wedding garment on he is speechlesse the drunkard hath nothing to say for himself when you ask him why he lives so swinishly you may come up to him and get within him and turn the very mouth of his conscience upon him which will shoot conviction into him But come to deal with one that prayes and heares one that is a pretender to faith and hope in God here is a man in glistering armour he hath his weapon in his hand with which he will keep the Preacher and the Word he chargeth him with at armes length Who can say I am not a Saint what duty do I neglect here 's a breast-work he lies under which makes him not so faire a mark either to the observation or reproof of another his chief defect being within where mans eye comes not Again 't is harder to work on him because he hath been tamper'd with already and miscarried in the essay How comes such a one to he acquainted with such duties to make such a Profession was it ever thus No the Word hath been at work upon him his conscience hath scared him from his trade of wickednesse into a forme of Profession but taking in short of Christ for want of a through change it is harder to remove him then the other he is like a lock whose wards have been troubled which makes it harder to turn the Key then if never potter'd with 'T is better dealing with a wilde ragged cole never back't then one that in breaking hath took a wrong stroak A bone quite out of joynt then false set In a word such a one hath more to deny then a profane person the one hath but his lusts his whores his swill and draffe but the other hath his duties his seeming graces O how hard is it to perswade such a one to light and hold Christs stirrup while he and his duties are made Christs foot-stool Secondly such a one is deepest in condemnation None sink so far into hell as those that come nearest heaven because they fall from the greatest height As it aggravates the torments of damned souls in this respect above devils they had a cord of mercy thrown out to them which devils had not so by how much God by his Spirit waits on pleads with and by both gains on a soul more then others by so much such a one if he perish will finde hell the hotter these adde to his sin and the rememberance of his sin in hell thus accented will adde to his torment None will have such a sad parting from Christ as those who went half-way with him and then left him Therefore I beseech you look to your armour David would not fight in armour he had not tried though it was a Kings perhaps some thought him too nice What is not the Kings armour good enough for David Thus many will say Art thou so curious and precise such a great man doth thus and thus and hopes to come to heaven at last and darest not thou venture thy soule in his armour No Christian follow not the example of the greatest on earth 't is thy own soul thou venturest in battel therefore thou canst not be too choice of thy armour Bring thy heart to the Word as the only touch-stone of thy grace and furniture the Word I told you is the Tower of David from whence thy armour must be fetch 't if thou canst finde this Tower-stamp on it then 't is of God else not Try it therefore by this one Scripture-stamp Those weapons are mighty which God gives his Saints to fight his battels withal 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God The sword of the Spirit hath its point and edge whereby it makes its way into the heart and conscience through the impenitency of the one and stupidity of the other wherewith Satan as with buffe and coat of male armes the sinner against God and there cuts and slashes kills and mortifies lust in its own Castle where Satan thinks himself impregnable The Breast-plate which is of God doth not bend and break at every pat of temptation but is of such a divine temperament that it repels Satans motions with scorne on Satans teeth Should such a one as I sin as Nehemiah in another case and such are all the rest Now try whether your weapons be mighty or weak what can you do or suffer more for God then an hypocrite that is clad in fleshly armour I 'le tell you what the world faith and if you be Christians clear your selves and wipe off that dirt which they throw upon your glistering armour they say These Professors indeed have God more in their talk then we they are oftner in the mount of duty then we but when they come down into their shops relations and worldly employments then the best of them all is but like one of us they can throw the Tables of Gods Commandments out of their hands as well as we come from a Sermon and be as covetous and griping as peevish and passionate as the worst they shew as little love to Christ as others when it is matter of cost as to relieve a poor Saint or maintain the Gospel you may get more from a stranger an enemie then from a professing brother O Christians either vindicate the Name of Christ whose Ensign you seem to march after or throw away your seeming armour by which you have drawn the eyes of the world upon you If you will not Christ himself will cashiere you and that with shame enough ere long Never call that Armour of God which defends thee not against the power of Satan Take therefore the several pieces of your armour and try them as the souldier before he fights will set his helmet or head-piece as a mark at which he lets flie a brace of bullets and as he findes them so will weare them or leave them but be sure thou shootest Scripture-bullets Thou boastest of a breast-plate of righteousnesse ask thy soul Didst thou ever in thy life perform a duty to please God and not to accommodate thy self Thou hast prayed often against thy sin a great noise of these pieces have been heard coming from thee by others as if there were some hot fight between thee and thy corruption but canst thou
men would beleeve it to quench this thirst to the creature were to enkindle another after Christ and Heaven Get but a large heart vehemently thirsting after these and the other will die alone As the Fevourish thirst doth when nature comes to her temper Secondly others labour not thus to perfect grace because they have a conceit they are perfect already and upon this fancy throw away praying hearing and all other Ordinances as strings for those babes in grace to be carried by who are not arrived to their high attainments O what fooles does pride make men Truly Heaven were no such desirable place if we should be no more perfect then thus a sort of people that are too high for this world and too low for another The way by which God cures this phrensie of pride we have in these days seen to be something like that of Nebuchadnezzar To give them a heart of a beast I mean for a time suffer them to fall into beastly practices by which he shewes them how far they are from that perfection they dreamed of so vainly Thirdly others who have true grace and desire the advancement of it yet are discouraged in their endeavour for more from too deep a sense of their present penury Bid some such labour to get more power of corruption more faith on and love to God that they may be able to do the Will of God chearfully and suffer it in the greatest afflictions patiently yea thankfully and they will never believe that they whose faith is so weak love so chill and stock so little in hand should ever attain to any thing like such a pitch You may as well perswade a beggar with one poor penny in his purse that if he will go and trade with that he shall come to be Lord Major of London before he die But why poor hearts should you thus despise the day of small things Do you not see a little grain of mustard seed spread into a tree and weak grace compar'd to it for its growth at last as well as littlenesse at first Darest thou say thou hast no grace at all If thou hast but any though the least that ever any had to begin with I dare tell thee that he hath done more for thee in that then he should in making that which is now so weak as perfect as the Saints grace is now in heaven First he hath done more considering it as an act of Power There is a greater gulfe between no grace grace then between weak grace and strong between a Chaos and nothing then between a Chaos and this beautiful frame of heaven and earth The first days work of both Creations is the greatest Secondly consider it as an act of grace it is greater mercy to give the first grace of conversion then to crown that with glory It is more grace and condescent in a Prince to marry a poor Damosel then having married her to cloth her like a Prince he was free to do the first or not but his relation to her pleads strongly for the other God might have chose whether he would have given thee grace or no but having done this thy relation to him and his Covenant also do oblige him to adde more and more till he hath fitted thee as a Bride for himself in glory CHAP. V. Of the use of our spiritual Armour or the exercise of grace THe fourth and last branch in the Saints furniture is the use they are to make thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put on the whole Armour of God Briefly what is this duty put on These being Saints many of them at least he writes to 't is not only putting on by Conversion what some of them might not yet have but also he means they should exercise what they have It is one thing to have armour in the house and another thing to have it buckled on to have grace in the principle and grace in the act so that the instruction will be It is not enough to have grace but this grace must be kept in exercise The Christians Armour is made to be worne no laying down or putting off our Armour till we have done our warfare and finished our course Our Armour and our garment of flesh go off together then indeed will be no need of watch and ward shield or helmet Those military duties and field-graces as I may call faith hope and the rest they shall be honourably discharged In heaven we shall appear not in armour but in robes of glory but here they are to be worne night and day we must walk work and sleep in them or else we are not true souldiers of Christ this Paul professeth to endeavour Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self to have alwayes a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man Here we have this holy man at his armes training and exercising himself in his postures like some souldier by himself handling his pike and inuring himself before the battel Now the Reason of this is SECT 1. First Christ commands us to have our Armour on our grace in exercise Luke 12.35 Let your loines be girded about and your lights burning Christ speaks either in a martial phrase as to souldiers or in a domestick as to servants If as to souldiers then let your loynes he girded and your lights burning is that we should be ready for a march having our armour on for the belt goes over all and our match light ready to give fire at the first alarm of a temptation If as to servants which seems more natural then he bids us as our Master that is gone abroad not through sloth or sleep put off our clothes and put out our lights but stand ready to open when he shall come though at midnight 'T is not fit the Master should stand at the door knocking and the servant within sleeping indeed there is no duty the Christian hath in charge but implies this daily exercise Pray but how without ceasing Rejoyce but when evermore Give thanks for what in every thing The shield of faith and helmet of hope we must hold them to the end The summe of all which is that we should walk in the constant exercise of these duties and graces Where the souldier is plac't there he stands and must neither stir nor sleep till he be brought off When Christ comes that soule shall only have his blessing whom he findes so doing Secondly Satans advantage is great when grace is not in exercise When the devil found Christ so ready to receive his charge and repel his temptation he soon had enough it is said He departed for a season as if in his shameful retreat he had comforted himself with hopes of surprising Christ unawares at another season more advantagious to his designe and we finde him coming again in the most likely time indeed to have attained his end had his enemy been man and not God Now if this bold fiend did
in this case is to do with these motions as you use to serve those vagrants and rogues that come about the countrey whom though you cannot keep from passing through your town yet you look they settle not there but whip them and send them to their owne home Thus give these motions the Law in mourning for them resisting of them and they shall not be your charge yea 't is like you shall seldomer be troubled with such guests but if once you come to entertain them and be Satans nurse to them then the Law of God will cast them upon you SECT II. Secondly another wile of Satan as a troubler is in aggravating the Saints sins against which he hath a notable declamatory faculty not that he hates the sin but the Saint now in this his chief subtilty is so to lay his charge that it may seem to be the act of the holy Spirit he knowes an arrow out of Gods quiver wounds deep and therefore when he accuseth he comes in Gods Name as suppose a childe were conscious to himselfe of displeasing his father and one that owes him a spite to trouble him should counterfeit a letter from his father and cunningly conveyes it into the sons hand who receives it as from his father wherein he chargeth him with many heavy crimes disownes him and threatens he shall never come in his sight or have penny portion from him the poor son conscious to himself of many undutiful carriages and not knowing the plot takes on heavily and can neither eate nor sleep for grief here is a real trouble begot from a false and imaginary ground Thus Satan observes how the squares go between God and his children such a Saint he sees tardy in this duty faulty in that service and he knows the Christian is conscious of this and that the Spirit of God will also shew his distaste for these both which prompts Satan to draw a charge at length raking up all the bloody aggravations he can think of and give it in to the Saint as sent from God Thus he taught Jobs friends to pick up those infirmities which drop't from him in his distresse and shoot them back in his face as if indeed they had been sent from God to declare him an hypocrite and denounce his wrath for the same Quest But how should we know the false accusations of Satan from the rebukes of God and his Spirit Answ First if they crosse any former act or work of the Spirit in thy soule they are Satans not the Holy Spirits Now you shall observe Satans scope in accusing the Christian and aggravating his sin is to unsaint him and perswade him he is but an hypocrite O saith Satan now thou hast shewen what thou art see what a foule spot is on thy coat this is not the spot of a childe whoever that was a Saint commited such a sin after such a sort All thy comforts and confidence which thou hast bragg'd of were false I warrant you thus you see Satan at one blow dasheth all in pieces The whole fabrick of grace which God hath been rearing up many yeares in the soule must now at one puffe of his malicious mouth be blown down and all the sweet comforts with which the Holy Spirit hath seal'd up Gods love must be defaced with this one blot which Satan drawes over the faire copy of the Saints evidence Well soule for thy comfort know if ever the Spirit of God hath begun a sanctifying or comforting work causing thee to hope in his mercy he never is will or can be the messenger to bring contrary newes to thy soule his language is not yea and nay but Yea and Amen for ever Indeed when the Saint playes the wanton he can chide yea will frown and tell the soule roundly of its sin as he did David by Nathan Thou art the man this thou hast done and paints out his sin with such bloody colours as made Davids heart melt as it were into so many drops of water but that shall not serve his turn he tells him what a rod is steeping for him that shall smart to purpose one of his own house no other then his darling son shall rise up against him that he may the more fully conceive how ill God took the sin of him a childe a Saint when he shall know what it is to have his beloved childe traiterously invade his Crown and unnaturally hunt for his precious life yet not a word all this while is heard from Nathan teaching David to unsaint himself and call in question the work of God in his soule No he had no such commission from God he was sent to make him mourne for his sin not from his sin to question his state which God had so oft put out of doubt Secondly when they asperse the riches of Gods grace and so charge the Christian that withal they reflect upon the good Name of God then they are not of the Holy Spirit but from Satan When you finde your sins so represented and aggravated to you as exceeding either the mercy of Gods nature or the grace of his Covenant Hic se aperit diabolus this comes from that foule liar The Holy Spirit is Christs Spokesman to commend him to souls and to wooe sinners to embrace the grace of the Gospel and can such words drop from his sacred lips as should break the match and sink Christs esteem in the thoughts of the creature you may know where this was minted When you hear one commend another for a wise or good man and at last come in with a but that dasheth all you will easily think he is no friend to the man but some slie enemy that by seeming to commend desires to disgrace the more Thus when you finde God represented to you as merciful and gracious but not to such a great sinner as you to have power and strength but not able to save thee you may say Avant Satan thy speech bewrayeth thee SECT III. Thirdly another wile of Satan lies in cavilling at the Christians duties and performances by which he puts him to much toil and trouble He is at Church assoon as thou canst be Christian for thy heart yea he stands under thy closet-window and heares what thou sayest to God in secret all the while studying how he may commence a suit against thee from thy duty like those that come to Sermons to carp and catch at what the Preacher saith that they may make him an offender for some word or other mis-placed or like a cunning Opponent in the Schooles while his adversary is busie in reading his position he is studying to confute it and truly Satan hath such an Art at this that he is able to take our duties in pieces and so disfigure them that they shall appear formal though never so zealous hypocritical though enricht with much sincerity When thou hast done thy duty Christian then stands up this Sophister to ravel out thy work there
doest not go up to heaven and pry into Gods secrets but heaven comes down to thee and reveals them Again he will ask the Christian what was the time of his Conversion Art thou a Christian will he say and dost thou not know when thou commencedst now keep the Plains content thy self with this that thou seest the streams of grace though the time of thy Conversion be like the head of Nylus not to be found God oft comes betimes before grosse sins have deflowered the soule and steals into the creatures bosome without much noise In such a case Satan doth but abuse thee when he sends thee on this errand you may know the Sun is up though you did not observe when it rose Again what will become of thee saith Satan if God should bring thee into such an affliction on trial when thou must burn or turn or when all thy outward estate shall be rent from thee no meal in the barrel no money in the purse darest thou have so good an opinion of thy selfe as to think that thy faith will hold out in such an houre of temptation It thou hast but half an eye Christian thou mayest see what Satan drives at this is an ensnaring question by the feare of future troubles he labours to bring thee into a neglect of thy present duty and indispose thee also for such a stare whenever it falls If a man hath much businesse to do on the morrow 't is his wisdom to discharge his minde thereof when composing to sleep lest the thoughts thereof break his rest and make him the more unfit in the morning The lesse rest the soule hath in God and his promise concerning future events the lesse strength it will finde to beare them when the pinch comes When therefore thou art molested with such feares pacifie thy heart with these three plain Conclusions First every event is the product of Gods Providence not a sparrow much lesse a Saint falls to the ground by poverty sicknesse persecution c. but the hand of God is in it Secondly God hath put in caution he will never leave thee nor forsake thee He that enables thee in one condition will in another God learns his servants their whole trade Grace is an universal principle At the first moment of thy spiritual life suffering grace was infused as well as praying grace Thirdly God is wise to conceale the succours he intends in the several changes of thy life that so he may draw thy heart into an entire dependance on his faithful promise Thus to try the mettal of Abrahams faith he let him go on till his hand was stretch't forth and then he comes to his rescue Christ sends his disciples to sea but stayes behinde himself on a design to try their faith and shew his love Comfort thy self therefore with this though thou seest not thy God in the way yet thou shalt finde him in the end Secondly Satan perplexeth the tender consciences of doubting Christians with obscure Scriptures whose sense lies too deep for their weak and distempered judgements readily to finde out and with these he hampers poor soules exceedingly indeed as melancholy men delight in melancholy walks so doubting soules most frequent such places of Scripture in their musing thoughts as encrease their doubts how many have I known that have look't so long on those difficult places Heb. 6.7 Heb. 10.26 which passe the understanding as a swift stream the eye so that the sense is not perceived without great observation till their heads have turned round and they at last not able to untie the difficulties have fallen down into despairing thoughts and words of their own condition crying out O they have sinned against knowledge of the truth and therefore no mercy remains for them who if they would have refreshed their understandings by looking off these places whose engraving is too curious to be long pored on by a weak eye they might have found that in other Scriptures plainly exprest which would have enabled them as through a glasse more safely to have viewed these Therefore Christian keepe the Plaines thou mayest be sure 't is thine enemy that gives thee such stones to break thy teeth when thy condition calls rather for bread and wine such Scriptures I mean as are most apt to nourish thy faith and cheere thy drooping spirit When thou meetest such plain Scriptures which speak to thy case go over where it is fordable and do not venture beyond thy depth Art thou afraid because thou hast sinned since the knowledge of the truth and therefore no sacrifice remains for thee See David and Peters case how it patterns thine and left upon record that their recovery may be a Key in thine hand to open such places as these mayest thou not safely conclude from these this is not their meaning that none can be saved that sin after knowledge Indeed in both those places it is neither meant of the falls of such as ever had true grace nor of a falling away in some particular acts of sin but of a total universal falling away from the Faith the doctrine of it as well as seeming practice of it Now if the root of the matter were ever in thee other Scriptures will first comfort thee against those particular apostasies into which thou hast relapsed by sweet promises inviting such to return and Precedents of Saints who have had peace spoken to them after such folly and also they will satisfie thee against the other by giving full security to thy faith that thy little grace shall not die being immortal though not in its proper essence because but a creature yet by Covenant as it is a childe of Promise Thirdly Dark Providences From these Satan disputes against Gods love to and grace in a soule First he got a commission to plunder Job of his temporal estate and bereave him of his chilchildren and then labours to make him question his spiritual estate and sonship his wife would have him entertain hard thoughts of God saying Curse God and die and his friends as hard thoughts of himself as if he were an hypocrite and both upon the same mistake as if such an afflicted condition and a gracious state were inconsistent Now Christian keep the Plaines and neither from this charge God foolishly for thine enemy nor thy self as his Reade the saddest Providence with the Comment of the Word and thou canst not make such an harsh interpretation As God can make a streight line with a crooked stick be righteous when he useth wicked instruments so also gracious when he dispenseth harsh Providences Joseph kept his love when he spake roughly to his brethren I do not wonder that the wicked think they have Gods blessing because they are in the warme Sun Alas they are strangers to Gods counsels void of his Spirit and sensual judging of God and his Providence by the report their present feeling makes of them like little children who think every one loves
them that gives them plums But 't is strange that a Saint should be at a losse for his afflicted state when he hath a Key to decipher Gods character Christian hath not God secretly instructed thee by his Spirit from the Word how to reade the short-hand of his Providence doest not thou know that the Saints afflictions stand for blessings Every son whom he loves he corrects and prosperity in a wicked state must it not be read a curse doth not God damne such to be rich honourable victorious in this world as well as to be tormented in another world God gives them more of these then they seem to desire sometimes and all to binde them faster up in a deep sleep of security as Jael served Sisera he shall have milk though he asked but water that she might naile him the surer to the ground Milk having a property as some write to encline to sleep SECT IV. Fourthly be careful to keep thy old receits which thou hast had from God for the pardon of thy sins There are some gaudy dayes and Jubilee-like Festivals when God comes forth clothed with the robes of his mercy and holds forth the Scepter of his grace more familiarly to his children then ordinary bearing witnesse to their faith sincerity c. and then the firmament is clear not a cloud to be seen to darken the Christians comfort Love and joy are the soules repast and pastime while this feast lasts Now when God withdrawes and this chear is taken off Satans work is how he may deface and weare off the remembrance of this testimony which the soule so triumphs in for its spiritual standing that he may not have it as an evidence when he shall bring about the suite again and put the soule to produce his writings for his spiritual state or renounce his claim It behoves thee therefore to lay them up safely such a testimony may serve to non-suit thy accuser many yeares hence one affirmative from Gods mouth for thy pardoned state carries more weight though of old date then a thousand negatives from Satans Davids Songs of old spring in with a light to his soule in his midnight-sorrowes Quest But what counsel would you give me saith the distressed soul who cannot fasten on my former comforts nor dare to vouch those evidences which once I thought true I finde indeed there have been some treaties of old between God and my soule some hopes I have had but these are now so defaced and interlined with back-slidings repentances and falls again that now I question all my evidences whether true or counterfeit what should one in this case do Answ First renew thy repentance as if thou hadst never repented Put forth fresh acts of faith as if thou hadst never believed This seriously done will stop Satans mouth with an unexpected answer Let him object against thy former actings as hypocritical what can he say against thy present repenting and beleeving which if true sets thee beyond his shot It will be harder for Satan to disprove the present workings of Gods gracious Spirit whilest the impressions thereof are fresh then to pick an hole in thy old deeds and evidences Acts are transient and as wicked men look at sins committed many yeares since as little or none by reason of that breadth of time which interposeth so the Christian upon the same account stands at great disadvantage to take the true aspect of those acts of grace which so long ago passed between God and him though sometimes even these are of great use As God can make a sinner possesse the sins of his youth as if they were newly acted to his terrour in his old age so God can present the comforts and evidences which of old the Saint received with those very thoughts he had then of them as if they were fresh and new And therefore secondly If yet he haunts thee with the feares of thy spiritual estate ply thee to the throne of grace and beg a new copy of thy old evidence which thou hast lost The Original is in the Pardon-Office in Heaven whereof Christ is Master if thou beest a Saint thy name is upon record in that Court make thy moane to God heare what newes from Heaven rather then listen to the tales which are brought by thine enemie from hell Did such reason lesse with Satan and pray over their feares more to God they might sooner be resolved Can you expect truth from a liar and comfort from an enemy Did he ever prophesie well of believers Was not Job the Devils hypocrite whom God vouch't for a non-such in holinesse and prov'd him so at last If he knew thou wert a Saint would he tell thee so if an hypocrite he would be as loath thou shouldest know it turn thy back therefore on him and go to thy God feare not but sooner or later he will give his hand again to thy Certificate But look thou doest not rashly passe a censure on thy self because a satisfactory answer is not presently sent at thy desire the Messenger may stay long and bring good newes at last Thirdly shun battel with thine enemy while thou art in a fitter posture and that thou mayest draw into thy trenches and make an honourable retreat into those fastnesses and strengths which Christ hath provided for his sick and wounded souldiers Now there are two places of advantage into which deserted souls may retire the Name of God and the absolute Promises of the Gospel these I may call the faire Havens which are then chiefly of use when the storme is so great that the ship cannot live at sea O saith Satan doest thou hope to see God none but the pure in heart shall be blest with that vision Think'st thou to have comfort that is the portion of the Mourners in spirit Now soule though thou canst not say in the hurry of temptation thou art the pure and the Mourner in spirit yet then say thou believest God is able to work these in thee yea hath promised such a mercy to poor sinners 't is his Covenant He will give a new heart a clean heart a soft heart and here I wait knowing as there was nothing in the creature to move the great God to make such Promises so there can be nothing in the creature to hinder the Almighty his performance of them where and when he pleaseth This act of faith accompanied with a longing desire after that grace thou canst not yet finde and an attendance on the meanes though it will not fully satisfie all thy doubts may be yet will keep thy head above water that thou despairest not and such a shore thou need'st in this case or the house falls Fourthly If yet Satan dogs thee call in help and keep not the devils counsel The very strength of some temptations lies in the concealing of them and the very revealing of them to some faithful friend like the opening and pricking of an imposthume gives the soule present ease
in their holy course by the scandal he hath given but God here befooles him First making the miscarriages of such a seasonable caveat to others to look to their standing Doest thou see a meek Moses provok't to anger what watch and ward hast thou need keep over thy unruly heart though loud winds do some hurt by blowing down here a loose tyle and there a turret which was falling before yet the common good surmounts the private damage of some few these being as a broom in Gods hand to sweep and cleanse the aire so though some that are wicked are by Gods righteous judgement for the same hardened into further abominations by the Saints falls yet the good which sincere soules receive by having their formality and security in a further degree purged doth abundantly countervaile the other who are but sent a little faster whither they were going before Secondly God makes his Saints falls an argument for comfort to distressed consciences This hath been and is as a feather when the passage seems so stop't that no comfort can be got down otherwise to drop a little hope into the soule to keep the creature alive from falling into utter despair some have been revived with this when next door to hell in their own feares Davids sin was great yet found mercy Peter fell foully yet now in heaven Why sittest thou here O my soul under the hatches of despair up and call upon thy God for mercy who hath pardoned the same to others Thirdly God hath a design in suffering Satan to trounce some of his Saints by temptation to train them up into a fitnesse to succour their fellow-brethren in the like condition he sends them hither to school where they are under Satans ferular and lash that his cruel hand over them may make them study the Word and their own hearts by which they get experience of Satans policies till at last they commence Masters in this Art of comforting tempted soules It is an Art by it self to speak a word in season to the weary soule 't is not serving out an Apprenticeship to humane Arts will furnish a man for this great Doctors have proved very dunces here knowing no more how to handle a wounded conscience then a Rustick the Chirurgions instrument in dissecting the body when an Anatomy-Lecture is to be read 'T is not the knowledge of the Scripture though a man were as well acquainted with it as the Apothecary with his pots and glasses in his shop able to go directly to any promise on a sudden will suffice No not grace it selfe except exercised with these buffetings and soul-conflicts Christ himself we finde trained up in this school Isa 50.4 He wakeneth mine eare to heare as the learned Even as the Tutor calls up his Pupil to reade to him and what is the Lecture which is read to Christ that he may have the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the weary soule see vers 5. The Lord hath opened mine eare and I was not rebellious neither turned I away my back I gave my back to the smiters c. His sufferings which were all along mingled with temptations were the Lecture from which Christ came out so learned to resolve and comfort distressed soules So that the devil had better have let Christ alone yea and his Saints also who do him but the greater disservice in comforting others none will handle poor soules so gently as those who remember the smart of their owne heart-sorrowes none so skilful in applying the comforts of the Word to wounded consciences as those who have layen bleeding themselves such know the symptomes of soul-troubles and feel others pains in their own bosomes which some that know the Scriptures for sack of experience do not and therefore are like a novice Physician who perhaps can tell you every plant in the Herbal yet wanting the practick part when a Patient comes knowes not well how to make use of his skill The Saints experiences help them to a soveraign treacle made of the Scorpions own flesh which they through Christ have slain and that hath a vertue above all other to expel the venome of Satans temptations from the heart SECT III. Thirdly Satan in tempting the Saint to sin labours to make a breach between God and the soule He hates both and therefore labours to divide these dear friends If I can thinks he get such a one to sin God will be angry and when angry he 'll whip his childe foundly this will be some sport and when God is correcting the Saint he 'll be questioning the love of God to him and cooles in his love to God so though I should not keep him from heaven at last yet he shall have little joy thither in the way In this case God and the soul will be like man and wife fallen out who neither of them look kindly one upon another Now see how God befooles Satan in both these First God useth his Saints temptations as his method by which he advanceth the communications of his love unto them The devil thought he had got the goale when he got Adam to eate the forbidden fruit he thought now he had man in the same predicament with himself as unlikely ever to see the face of God as those Apostate spirits but alas this was by God intended to usher in that great Gospel-plot of saving man by Christ who assoon as this Prologue of mans fall is done is brought upon the stage in that grand Promise of the Gospel made to Adam and at Gods command undertakes the charge of recovering lost man out of Satans clutches and re-instating him in his primitive glory with an accesse of more then ever man had at first so that the meanest lilly in Christs field exceeds Adam in all his native Royalty And as Satan sped in his first temptation so he is still on the losing hand what got he by all his paines upon Job but to let that holy man know at last how dearly God loved him When he foiled Peter so shamefully do we not finde Christ owning Peter with as much love as ever Peter must be the only disciple to whom by name the joyful newes of his resurrection is sent Go tell my disciples and Peter As if Christ had said Be sure let his sad heart be comforted with this newes that he may know I am friends with him for all his late cowardise Quest But doth not this seem to countenance sin and make Christians heedlesse whether they fall into temptation or no If God do thus shew his love to his Saints after their falls and foiles why should we be so shy of sin which ends so well at last Answ Two things will prevent the danger of such an inference First we must distinguish between a soules being foiled through his own infirmity and his enemies subtilty and power over-matching him and another who through a false heart doth voluntarily prostrate himself to the lust of
of destroying his faith which he aimes at he is the occasion of the refining of it and thereby adding to its strength Secondly the love of tempted Saints is enkindled to Christ by their temptations and foiles in their temptations Possibly in the fit there may seem a damp upon their love as when water is first sprinkled upon the fire but when the Conflict is a little over and the Christian comes to himself his love to Christ will break out like a vehement flame First the shame and sorrow which a gracious soule must needs feele in his bosome for his sinful miscarriage while under the temptation will provoke him to expresse his love to Christ above others as is sweetly set forth in the Spouse who when the cold fit of her distemper was off and the temptation over bestirs her to purpose her lazy sicknesse is turned to love-sicknesse she findes it as hard now to sit as she did before to rise she can rest in no place out of her Beloveds sight but runs and asks every one she meets for him and whence came all this vehemency of her zeale all occasioned by her undutiful carriage to her husband she parted so unkindly with him that bethinking what she had done away she goes to make her peace If sins committed in unregeneracy have such a force upon a gracious soule that the thought of them though pardoned will still break and melt the heart into sorrow as we see in Magdalen and prick on to shew zeal for God above others as in Paul how much more will the sins of a Saint who after sweet acquaintance with Jesus Christ lifts up the heel against that bosome where he hath layen affect yea dissolve the heart as into so many drops of water and that sorrow provoke him to serve God at a higher rate then others No childe so dutiful in all the family as he who is return'd from his rebellion Again secondly as his own shame so the experience which such a one hath of Christs love above others will encrease his love Christs love is fuel to ours Ex iisdem nutrimur quibus constamus as it gives its being so it affords growth It is both Mother and Nurse to our love The more Christ puts forth his love the more heat our love gets and next to Christs dying love none greater then his succouring love in temptation The Mother never hath such advantage to shew her affection to her childe as when in distresse sick poor or imprisoned so neither hath Christ to his children as when tempted yea worsted by temptation When his children lie in Satans prison bleeding under the wounds of their consciences this is the season he takes to give an experiment of his tender heart in pitying his faithfulnesse in praying for them his mindfulnesse in sending succour to them yea his dear love in visiting them by his comforting Spirit Now when the soul hath got off some great temptation and reades the whole history thereof together wherein he findes what his own weaknesse was to resist Satan nay his unfaithfulnesse in complying with Satan which might have provok't Christ to leave him to the fury of Satan now to see both his folly pardoned and ruine graciously prevented and that by no other hand but Christs coming in to his rescue as Abishai to David when that gyant thought to have flaine him This must needs exceedingly endear Christ to the soul At the reading of such records the Christian cannot but enquire as Ahashuerus concerning Mordecai who by discovering a treason had saved the Kings life what honour hath been done to his sweet Saviour for all this And thus Jesus Christ whom Satan thought to bring out of the soules favour and liking comes in the end to sit higher and surer in the Saints affections then ever CHAP. X. A brief Application of the Point in two Branches Vse 1 THis affords a reason why God suffers his dear children to fall into temptation because he is able to out-shoot Satan in his own bowe and in the thing wherein he thinks to out-wit the Christian to be above him God will not only be admired by his Saints in glory for his love in their salvation but for his wisdom in the way to it The love of God in saving them will be the sweet draught at the marriage-feast and the rare wisdom of God in effecting this as the curious workmanship with which the cup shall be enamel'd Now wisdom appears most in untying knots and wading through difficulties The more crosse wards there are in a businesse the more wisdome to fit a key to the lock to make choice of such means as shall meet with the several turnings in the same On purpose therefore doth God suffer such temptations to intervene that his wisdom may be the more admired in opening all these and leading his Saints that way to glory by which Satan thought to have brought them to hell The Israelites are bid remember all the way that God led them in the wildernesse for fourty yeares Deut. 8.2 The History of these warres Christian will be pleasant to reade in heaven though bloody to fight on earth Moses and Elias talk't with Christ on Tabor an Embleme of the sweet communion which shall passe between Christ and his Saints in glory and what was their talk Luke 9.30 but of his death and sufferings It seems a discourse of our sufferings and temptations are not too low a subject for that blisseful state Indeed this left out would make a blemish in the faire face of Heavens glory Could the damned forget the way they went into hell how oft the Spirit of God was wooing and how far they were overcome by the conviction of it in a word how many turnes and returnes there were in their journey forward and backward what possibilities yea probabilities they had for heaven when on earth were but some hand so kinde as to blot these tormenting passages out of their memories it would ease them wonderfully So were it possible glorified Saints could forget the way wherein they went to glory and the several dangers that interven'd from Satan and their own back-sliding hearts they and their God too would be losers by it I mean in regard of his manifestative glory What is the glory wherein God appears at Zions deliverance those royal garments of salvation that make him so admired of men and Angels but the celebration of all his Attributes according to what every one hath done towards their salvation Now wisdom being that which the creature chiefly glories in and chosen by Satan for his first bait who made Eve believe she should be like God in knowledge and wisdome therefore God to give Satan the more shameful fall gives him leave to use his wits and wiles in tempting and troubling his children in which lies his great advantage over the Saints that so the way to his own Throne where his Wisdome shall at last as well as his mercy sit in
without it and much ado to go with it If the flesh be kept high and lusty then 't is wanton and will not obey if low then it 's weak and soon tires Thus the Christian rids but little ground because he must go his weak bodies pace He wrestles with a body of sin as well as of flesh this mutters and murmures when the soule is taking up any duty Sometimes it keeps the Christian from duty so that he cannot do what he would As Paul said I would have come once and again but Satan hindred me I would have prayed may the Christian say at such a time and meditated on the Word I heard the mercies I received at another but this enemy hindred 'T is true indeed grace swayes the Scepter in such a soule yet as School-boyes taking their time when their Master is abroad do shut him out and for a while lord it in misrule though they are whip't for it afterwards thus the unregenerate part takes advantage when grace is not on its watch to disturb its government and shut it out from duty though this at last makes the soul more severe in mortifying yet it costs some scuffle before it can recover its throne and when it cannot shut from duty yet then is the Christian wofully yok't with it in duty it cannot do what it doth as it would many a letter in its copy doth this enemy spoil while he joggs him with impertinent thoughts when the Christian is a praying then Satan and the flesh are a prating he cries and they louder to put him out or drown his cry Thus we see the Christian is assail'd on every side by his enemy and how can it be other when the seeds of war are laid deep in the natures of both which can never be rooted up till the devil cease to be a devil sin to be sin and the Saint to be a Saint Though wolves may snarle at one another yet soon are quiet again because the quarrel is not in their nature but the Wolfe and the Lamb can never be made friends Sin will lust against grace and grace draw upon sin whenever they meet SECT III. Vse 1 First this may reprove such as wrestle but against whom against God not against sin and Satan These are bold men indeed who dare try a fall with the Almighty yet such there are and a Wo pronounced against them Isa 45.9 Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker 'T is easie to tell which of these will be worsted What can he do but break his shins that dasheth them against a rock A goodly battel there is like to be when thorns contest with fire and stubble with flame But where live those giants that dare enter the list with the great God what are their names that we may know them and brand them for creatures above all other unworthy to live Take heed O thou who askest that the wretched man whom thou seemest so to defie be not found in thy own clothes it self Iudas was the Traitour though he would not answer to his name but put it off with a Master is it I and so mayest thou be the fighter against God The heart is deceitful Even holy David for all his anger was so hot against the rich man that took away the poor mans ewe-Lamb that he bound it with an oath the man should not live who had done it yet proves at last to be himself the man as the Prophet told him 2 Sam. 12. Now there are two wayes wherein men wrestle against God First when they wrestle against his Spirit Secondly when they wrestle against his Providence First when they wrestle against his Spirit We reade of the Spirits striving with the creature Gen. 6.3 My spirit shall not alwayes strive with man Where the striving is not in anger and wrath to destroy them that God could do without any stir or scuffle but a loving strife and contest with man The old world was running with such a cariere headlong into their ruine he sends his Spirit to interpose and by his counsels and reproofes to offer as it were to stop them and reclaim them As if one seeing another ready to offer violence on himself should strive to get the knife out of his hand with which he would do the mischief Or one that hath a purse of gold in his hand to give should follow another by all manner of entreaties striving with him to accept and take it Such a kinde of strife is this of the Spirits with men They are the lusts of men those bloody instruments of death with which sinners are mischieving themselves that the holy Spirit strives by his sweet counsels and entreaties to get out of our hands They are Christs his grace and eternal life he strives to make us accept at the hands of Gods mercy and for repulsing the Spirit thus striving with them sinners are justly counted fighters against God Ye stiffe-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost Now there is a twofold striving of the Spirit and so of our wrestling against it First the Spirit strives in his messengers with sinners They coming on his errand and not their owne he voucheth the faithful counsels reproofs and exhortations which they give as his own act Noah that Preacher of righteousnesse what he said to the old world is call'd the Preaching of the Spirit 1 Pet. 3.19 The pains that Moses Aaron and other servants of God took in instructing Israel is call'd the instruction of the Spirit Nehem. 9.20 so that when the Word which Gods Ministers bring in his Name is rejected the faithful counsels they give are thrown at sinners heels and made light of then do they strive with the Spirit and wrestle against Christ as really as if he visibly in his own person had been in the Pulpit and preached the same Sermon to them When God comes to reckon with sinners it will prove so then God will rub up your memories and minde you of his striving with you and your unkinde resisting him They whether they will heare or whether they will forbear shall know they had a Prophet among them Now men soon forget whom and what they hear ask them what was prest upon their conscience in such a Sermon they have forgot what were the precious truthes laid out in another and they are lost well were it for them if their memories were no better in another world it would ease their torments more then a little But then they shall know they had a Prophet among them and what a price they had with him in their hands though it was in fooles keeping They shall know what he was and what he said though a thousand years past as fresh as if it were done but last night The more zealous and compassionate the more painful and powerful he was in his place the greater shall their sin be found to break from such holy violence offered
to do them good Surely God will have something for the sweat yea lives of his servants which were worne out in striving with such rebellious ones May be yet sinners your firmament is clear no cloud to be seen that portends a storme but know as you use to say winter does not rock in the clouds you shall have it at last every threatening which your faithful Ministers have denounced against you out of the Word God is bound to make good He confirmeth the Word of his servant and performeth the counsel of his messengers and that in judgement against sinners confirming the threatenings as well as in mercy performing the promises which they declare as the portion of his children But it will be time enough to ask such on a sick-bed or a dying houre whether the words of the Lord delivered by their faithful Preachers have not taken hold of them Some have confessed with horrour they have as the Jewes Zech. 1.6 Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us so hath he dealt with us Secondly the Spirit strives with men more immediately when he makes his inward approaches to the consciences of men debating in their own bosoms the case with them one while he shews them their sins in their bloody colours and whether they will surely bring them if not look't to timely which he doth so convincingly that the creature smells sometimes the very fire and brimstone about him and is at present in a temporary hell another while he falls a parlying and treating with them making gracious overtures to the sinner if he will return at his reproof presents the grace of the Gospel and opens a door of hope for his recovery yea falls a wooing and beseeching of him to throw down his rebellious armes and come to Christ for life whose heart is in a present disposition to receive and embrace the first motion the returning sinner makes for mercy Now when the Spirit of God follows the sinner from place to place and time to time suggesting such motions and renewing his old suit and the creature shall fling out of the Spirits hands thus striving with him re infectâ as far from renouncing his lusts or taking any liking to Christ as ever This is to resist the Spirit to his face and it carries so much malignity in it that even where it hath not been final poor humbled soules have been so over-set with the horrour of it that they could not for a long time be perswaded but that it was the unpardonable sin Take heed therefore sinners how you use the Spirit when he comes knocking at the door of your hearts Open at his knock and he will be your guest you shall have his sweet company repulse him and you have not a Promise hee 'll knock again And if once he leave striving with thee unhappy man thou art lost for ever thou liest like a ship cast up by the waves upon some high rock where the tide never comes to fetch it off Thou mayest come to the Word converse with other Ordinances but in vain 'T is the Spirit in them which is both tide and winde to set the soule afloat and carry it on or else it lies like a ship on dry ground which stirs not Secondly we wrestle against God when we wrestle with his Providence and that two wayes First when we are discontented with his providential disposure of us Gods carving for us doth not please us so but that we are objecting against his dealings towards us at least muttering something with the fool in our hearts which God heares as lightly as man our words God counts then we begin to quarrel with him when we do not acquiesce in and say Amen to his Providence whatever it is He calls it a contending with the Almighty Iob. 40.1 yea a reproving of God And he is a bold man sure that dare finde fault with God and article against heaven God challengeth him whoever he is that doth this to answer it at his peril He that reproveth God let him answer it v. 2. of the chapter fore-mentioned It was high time for Iob to have done when he heares what a sense God puts upon those unwary words which drop't from him in the anguish of his Spirit and paroxysme of his sufferings contend with the Almighty reprove God Good man how blank he is and cries out I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Let God but pardon what is past and he shall hear such language no more O Sirs take heed of this wrestling above all other Contention is uncomfortable with whomsoever it is we fall out Neighbours or friends wife or husband children or servants but worst of all with God If God cannot please thee but thy heart riseth against him what hopes are there of thy pleasing him who will take nothing kindly from that man who is angry with him And how can love to God be preserved in a discontented heart that is alwayes muttering against him Love cannot think any evil of God nor endure to heare anyspeak evil of him but it must take Gods part as Ionathan Davids when Saul spake basely of him and when it cannot be heard will like him arise and be gone When afflicted love can allow thee to groan but not to grumble If thou wilt ease thy incumbred spirit into Gods bosome by prayer and humbly wrestle with God on thy knees love is for thee and will help thee to the best arguments thou canst use to God But if thou wilt vent thy distempered passions and shew a mutinous spirit against God this stabs it to the heart Secondly we wrestle against Providence when uncorrigible under the various dispensations of God towards us Providence has a voice if we had an eare mercies should draw afflictions drive now when neither faire meanes nor foule do us good but we are impenitent under both this is to wrestle against God with both hands Either of these have their peculiar aggravations One is against love and so dis-ingenuous the other is against the smart of his rod and therein we slight his anger and are cruel to our selves in kicking against the pricks Mercy should make us ashamed wrath afraid to sin He that is not ashamed has not the spirit of a man He that is not afraid when smitten is worse then the beast who stands in aw of whip spur Sometimes mercy especially these outward mercies which have a pleasing relish to the carnal part in a Christian hath prov'd a snare to the best of men but then affliction useth to recover them but when affliction makes men worse and they harden themselves against God to sin more and more while the rod is on them what is like to reclaim them few are made better by prosperity whom afflictions make worse He that will sin though he goes in pain will much more if that once be gone But take heed of thus contesting with God
3.8 of Circumcision Every man hath his sword on his thigh because of feare in the night By sword on the thigh they expound Circumcision which they will vainly have given as a charme against evil spirits that affright them in the night But alas the devil cares for none of these no not for an Ordinance of God when by fleshly confidence we make it a spell he hath been often bound with these fetters and chaines as is said of him in the Gospel and the chaines have been plucked asunder by him neither could any man thus tame him He esteems as Job saith of the Leviathan iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood It must be a stronger then the strong man must binde him and none stronger but God the Father of spirits The devil lost indeed by his fall much of his power in relation to that holy and happy estate in which he was created but not his natural abilities he is an Angel still and hath an Angels power Thirdly the number of devils addes to their power What lighter then the sand yet number makes it weighty what creature lesse then lice yet what plague greater to the Egyptians How formidable then must devils be who are both for nature so mighty and for number such a multitude there are devils enough to beleaguer the whole earth not a place under heaven where Satan hath not his troops not a person without some of these cursed spirits haunting and watching him where-ever he goes yea for some special service he can send a legion to keep garrison in one single person as Mark 5. and if so many can be spared to attend one to what a number would the muster-rolle of Satans whole army amount if known And now tell me if we are not like to finde our march difficult to heaven if ever we mean to go thither that are to passe through the very quarters of this multitude who are scattered over the face of all the earth When armies are disbanded and the roads full of debautch't souldiers wandering up and down it 's dangerous travelling we heare then of murders and robberies from all quarters These powers of hell are that party of Angels who for their mutiny and disobedience were cashier'd heaven and thrust out of that glorious host and ever since they have stragled here below endeavouring to do mischief to the children of men especially travelling in heavens road Fourthly their unity and order makes their number formidable We cannot say there is love among them that heavenly fire cannot live in a devils bosome yet there is unity and order as to this they are all agreed in their designe against God and man so their unity and consent is knit together by the ligaments not of love but of hatred and policy Hatred against God and his children which they are filled with and policy which tells them that if they agree not in their designe their Kingdome cannot stand And how true they are to this wicked brotherhood our Saviour gives a faire testimony when he saith Satan fights not against Satan Did you ever heare of any mutiny in the devils army or that any of those Apostate Angels did freely yield up one soule to Christ They are many and yet but one spirit of wickednesse in them all My name said the devils not our name is legion The devil is call'd the Leviathan Isa 27.1 The Lord with his strong sword shall punish Leviathan from their cleaving together of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compact or joyned together used for the Whale Jeb 4. whose strength lies in his scales which are so knit that he is as it were covered with armour Thus these cursed spirits do accord in their machinations and labour to bring their instruments into the same league with them not contented with their bare obedience but where they can obtain it do require an expresse oath of their servants to be true to them as in witches Fifthly the mighty works that are attributed to these evil spirits in Scripture declare their power and these either respect the elementary sensible or intellectual part of the world The Elementary what dreadful effects this Prince of the power of the aire is able to produce on that see in the Word he cannot indeed make the least breath of aire drop of water or spark of fire but he can if let loose as Reverend Master Caryl saith on Job 1. go to Gods store-house and make use of these in such a sort as no man can stand before him he can hurle the sea into such a commotion that the depths shall boile like a pot and disturb the aire into stormes and tempests as if heaven and earth would meet Jobs children were buried in the ruines of their house by a puffe of his mouth yea he can go to Gods magazine as the former Author saith and let off the great ordnance of heaven causing such dreadful thunder and lightning as shall not only affright but do real execution and that in a more dreadful way then in the ordinary course of nature If mans Art can so sublimate nature as we see in the invention of powder that hath such a strange force much more able is he to draw forth its power Again over the sensitive world his power is great not only the beasts as in the herd of swine hurried by him into the deep but over the bodies of men also as in Iob whose sore boiles were not the breakings out of a distempered nature but the print of Satans sangs on his flesh doing that suddenly which in nature would have required more time to gather and ripen and the demoniacks in the Gospel grievously vexed and tormented by him But this the devil counts small game his great spite is at the soules of men which I call the Intellectual world his cruelty to the body is for the soules sake As Christs pity to the bodies of men when on earth healing their diseases was in a subserviency to the good of their soules bribing them with those mercies suitable to their carnal desires that they might more willingly receiv mercies for their souls from that hand which was so kind to their bodies as we give children somthing that pleaseth them to perswade them to do something that pleaseth them not go to school learn their book so the devil who is cruel as Christ is meek and wisheth good neither to body nor soule yet shewes his cruelty to the body but on a design against the soule knowing well that the soule is soon discomposed by the perturbation of the other the soule cannot but lightly heare and so have its peace and rest broken by the groanes and complaints of the body under whose very roof it dwells and then it is not strange if as for want of sleep the tongue talk idly so the soule should break out into some sinful carriage which is the bottom of the devils plot on a Saint And as for other poor silly soules he gaines little
their infernal Father in the world this shews sin is mighty in them indeed Many a man though so cruel to his own soul as to be drunk or sweare yet will not like this in a childe or servant what are they then but devils incarnate who teach their children the devils Catechisme to sweare and lie drink and drab If you meet such be not afraid to call them as Paul did Elymas when he would have perverted the Deputy children of the devil full of all subtilty and mischief and enemies of all righteousnesse O do you not know what you do when you tempt I 'le tell you you do that which you cannot undo by your own repentance thou poisonest one with errour initiatest another in the devils School Alehouse I mean but afterwards may be thou seest thy mistake and recantest thy errour thy folly and givest over thy drunken trade art thou sure now to rectifie and convert them with thy selfe alas poor creatures this is out of thy power they may be will say as he though he did it upon a better account that was solicited to turne back to popery by him who had before perswaded him to renounce the same You have given me one turn but shall not give me another And what a grief to thy spirit will it be to see these going to hell on thy errand and thou not able to call them back thou mayest cry out as Lamâ—ch I have slaine a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt Nay when thou art asleep in thy grave he whom thou seducedst may have drawn in others and thy name may be quoted to commend the opinion and practice to others by which as it is said though in another sense Abel being dead yet speaks thou mayest though dead sinne in those that are alive generation after generation A little spark kindled by the errour of one hath cost the pains of many ages to quench it and when thought to be out hath broke forth again Thirdly They are not barely wicked but maliciously wicked The Devill hath his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to denote his spightfull nature his desire to vex and mischief others When he drawes souls to sinne it is not because he tastes any sweetnesse or findes any profit therein he hath too much light to have any joy or peace in sin he knows his doome and trembles at the thought of it and yet his spightful nature makes him vehemently desire and uncessantly endeavour the damnation of souls As you shall see a mad dogge run after a flock of sheep kill one then another and when dead not able to eate of their flesh but kills to kill so Satan is carried out with a boundlesse rage against man especially the Saints he would not if he could leave one of Christs flock alive such is the height of his malice against God whom he hates with a perfect hatred and because he cannot reach him with a direct blow therefore he strikes him at second hand through his Saints that wicked arme which reacheth not to God is extended against these excellent on the earth well knowing the life of God is in a manner bound up in theirs God cannot outlive his honour and his honour speeds as his mercy is exalted or depressed this being the attribute God meanes to honour in their salvation so highly and therefore maligned above the rest by Satan And this is the worst that can be said of these wicked spirits that they maliciously spite God and in God the glory of his mercy Vse 1 First this may help us to conceive more fully what the desperate wickednesse of mans nature is which is so hard to be known because it can never be seen at once it being a fountain whose immensity consists not in the streame of actual sinne that is visible and may seem little but in the spring that uncessantly feeds this but here is a glasse that will give us the shape of our hearts truly like themselves Seest thou the monstrous pitch and height of wickednesse that is in the devil all this there is in the heart of every man there is no lesse wickednesse potentially in the tamest sinner on earth then in the devils themselves and that one day thou whoever thou art wilt shew to purpose if God prevent thee not by his renewing grace thou art not yet fledg'd thy wings are not grown to make thee a flying Dragon but thou art of the same brood the seed of this serpent is in thee and the devil begets a child like himselfe thou yet standest in a soile not so proper for the ripening of sinne which will not come to its fulnesse till transplanted unto hell Thou who art here so maidenly and modest as to blush at some sinnes out of shame and forbear the acting of others out of fear when there thou shalt see thy case as desperate as the devil doth his then thou wilt spit out thy blasphemies with which thy nature is stuft with the same malice that he doth The Indians have a conceit that when they die they shall be transform'd into the deformed likenesse of the devil therefore in their language they have the same word for a dead man and the devil sinne makes the wicked like him before they come there but indeed they will come to their countenance more fully there when those flames shall wash off that paint which here hides their complexion The Saints in heaven shall be like the Angels in their alacrity love and constancy to serve God and the damned like the devils in sinne as well as punishment This one consideration might be of excellent use to unbottome a sinner and abase him so as never to have high thought of himself It is easie to runne down a person whose life is wicked and convince him of the evil of his actions and make him confesse what he doth is evil but here is the thicket we lose him in he will say 't is true I am overseen I do what I should not God forgive me but my heart is good Thy heart good sinner and so is the devils his nature is wicked and thine as bad as his These pimples in thy face shew the heat of thy corrupt nature within and without Gospel-physick the blood of Christ applied to thee thou wilt die a Leper none but Christ can give thee a new heart till which thou wilt every day grow worse and worse Sin is an hereditary disease that encreaseth with age A young sinner will be an old devil Vse 2 Again it would be of use to the Saints especially those in whom God by his timely call forestall'd the devils market as sometimes the Spirit of God takes sin in its quarters before it comes into the field in the sinnes of youth now such a one finding not those daring sinnes committed by him that others have been left unto may possibly not be so affected with his own sinne or Gods mercy O let such a one behold here
of his own unworthinesse and great unrighteousnesse tell him of a pardon alas he is so wrapt up with the thoughts of his own vilenesse that you cannot fasten it upon him What will God ever take such a toad as he is into his bosome discount so many great abominations at once and receive him into his favour that hath been so long in rebellious armes against him he cannot beleeve it no though he heares what Christ hath done and suffered for sin he refuseth to be comforted Little doth the soule think what a bitter root such thoughts spring from thou thinkest thou doest well thus to declaim against thy self and aggravate thy sins indeed thou canst not paint them black enough or entertain too low and base thoughts of thy selfe for them But what wrong hath God and Christ done thee that thou shouldest so unworthily reflect upon the mercy of the one and merit of the other Mayest thou not do this and be tender of the good Name of God also Is there no way to shew thy sense of thy sin except thou asperse thy Saviour Canst thou not charge thy self but thou must condemn God and put Christ and his blood to shame before Satan who triumphs more in this then all thy other sins In a word though thou like a wretch hast undone thy self and damned thy soule by thy sins yet art thou not willing God should have the glory of pardoning them and Christ the honour of procuring the same or art thou like him in the Gospel Luke 16.3 who could not dig and to beg was ashamed Thou canst not earne heaven by thy own righteousnesse and is thy spirit so stout that thou wilt not beg it for Christs sake yea take it at Gods hands who in the Gospel comes a begging to thee and beseecheth thee to be reconciled to him Ah soule who would ever have thought there could have lien such pride under such a modest veile and yet none like it 'T is horrible pride for a beggar to starve rather then take an alms at a rich mans hands a malefactour rather to choose his halter then a pardon from his gracious Princes hand but here is one infinitely surpassing both a soule pining and perishing in sin and yet rejecting the mercy of God and the helpng hand of Christ to save him Though Abigail did not think her self worthy to be Davids wife yet she thought David was worthy of her and therefore she humbly accepted his offer and makes haste to go with the messengers That 's the sweet frame of heart indeed to lie low in the sense of your own vilenesse yet to believe to renounce all conceit of worthinesse in our selves yet not therefore to renounce all hope of mercy but the more speedily to make haste to Christ that wooes us All the pride and unmannerlinesse lies in making Christ stay for us who bids his messengers invite poor sinners to come and tell them all things are ready But may be thou wilt say still it is not pride that keeps thee off but thou canst not believe that ever God will entertain such as thou art Truly thou mendest the matter but little with this either thou keepest some lust in thy heart which thou wilt not part with to obtain the benefit of the promise and then thou art a notorious hypocrite who under such an out-cry for thy sins canst drive a secret trade with hell at the same time or if not so thou doest discover the more pride in that thou darest stand out when thou hast nothing to oppose against the many plain and clear promises of the Gospel but thy peremptory unbelief God bids the wicked forsake his wayes and turne to him and he will abundantly pardon him but thou sayest thou canst not believe this for thy own self Now who speaks the truth One of you two must be the liar either thou must take it with shame to thy self for what thou hast said against God and his promise and that is thy best course or thou must proudly yea blasphemously cast it upon God as every unbeliever doth 1 John 5.10 Nay thou makest him forsworn for God to give poor sinners the greater security in flying for refuge to Christ who is that hope set before them Heb. 6.17 18. hath sworn they should have strong consolation O beatos quorum causâ Deus jurat O miserrimos si nec juranti credamus Tertul. de poenit O happy we for whose sake God puts himself under an oath but O miserable we who will not believe God no not when he sweares Secondly when the soul hath shot the great gulfe and got into a slate of peace and life by closing with Christ yet this mannerly pride Satan makes use of in the Christians daily course of duty and obedience to disturb him and hinder his peace and comfort O how unchearfully yea joylesly do many precious soules passe their dayes If you enquire what is the cause you shall finde all their joy runs out at the crannies of their imperfect duties and weak graces they cannot pray as they would and walk as they desire with evennesse and constancy they see how short they fall of the holy rule in the Word and the patterne which others more eminent in grace do set before them and this though it doth not make them throw the Promises away and quite renounce all hope in Christ yet it begets many sad fears and suspitions yea makes them sit at the feast Christ hath provided and not know whether they may eat or not In a word as it robs them of their joy so Christ of that glory which he should receive from their rejoycing in him I do not say Christian thou oughtest not to mourn for those defects thou findest in thy graces and duties nay thou couldest not approve thy self to be sincere if thou didst not A gracious heart seeing how far short his renewed state forthe present falls of mans primitive holinesse by Creation cannot but weep and mourn as the Jewes to behold the second Temple yet Christian even while the tears are in thy eyes for thy imperfect graces for a soule riseth with his grave-clothes on thou shouldest rejoyce yea triumph over all these thy defects by faith in Christ in whom thou art compleat Col. 1.10 while imperfect in thy selfe Christs presence in the second Temple which the first had not made it though comparatively mean more glorious then the first Hag. 2.9 how much more doth his presence in this spiritual temple of a gracious heart imputing his righteousnesse to cover all its uncomelinesse make the soule glorious above man at first This is a garment for which as Christ saith of the lilie we neither spin nor toile yet Adam in all his created royalty was not so clad as the weakest believer is with this on his soul Now Christian consider well what thou doest while thou sittest languishing under the sense of thy own weaknesses and refusest to rejoyce in Christ and live comfortably
Pauls was in which they suffered so much losse and this indeed very often he obtains in such a degree that by his violent impetuous temptations beating long upon the Christian he makes him throw over much precious lading of his joyes and comforts yea sometimes he brings the soul through stresse of temptation to think of quitting the ship while for the present all hope of being saved seems to be taken away Thus you see what we wrestle with devils for We come to Application SECT IV. Vse 1 This is a word of reproof to foure sorts of persons First to those that are so far from wrestling against Satan for this heavenly prize that they resist the offer of it In stead of taking heaven by force they keep it off by force How long hath the Lord been crying in our streets Repent for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand how long have Gospel-offers rung in our ears and yet to this day many devil-deluded soules furiously drive on towards hell and will not be perswaded back who refuse to be called the children of God and choose rather the devils bondage then the glorious liberty with which Christ would make them free esteeming the pleasures of sin for a season greater treasures then the riches of heaven 'T is storied of Cato who was Caesars bitter enemy that when he saw Caesar prevail rather then fall into his hand and stand to his mercy he laid violent hands on himself which Caesar hearing of passionately broke out into these words O Cato cur invidisti mihi salutem tuam O Cato why didst thou envie me the honour of saving thy life And do not many walk as if they grudged Christ the honour of saving their soules what other account can you give sinners of rejecting his grace Are not heaven and happinesse things desirable and to be preferr'd before sin and misery Why then do you not embrace them or are they the worse because they come swimming to you in the blood of Christ oh how ill must Christ take it to be thus used when he comes on such a gracious ambassage may he not say to thee as once he did to those officers sent to attach him Do you come out against me as a thief with swords and staves If he be a thief 't is only in this that he would steal your sins from you and leave heaven in the room O for the love of God think what you do 't is eternal life you put away from you in doing of which you judge your selves unworthy of it Acts 13.46 Secondly it reproves those who are Satans instruments to rob soules of what is heavenly Among thieves there are some ye call Setters who enquire where a booty is to be had which when they have found and know such a one travels with a charge about him then they employ some other to rob him and are themselves not seen in the businesse The devil is the grand Setter he observes the Christian how he walks what place and company he frequents what grace or heavenly treasure he carries in his bosome which when he hath done he hath his instruments for the purpose to execute his designe Thus he considered the admirable graces of Job and casts about how he might best rob him of his heavenly treasure and who but his wife and friends must do this for him well knowing that his tale would receive credit from their mouths O friends ask your consciences whether you have not done the devil some service of this kinde in your dayes Possibly you have a childe or servant who once look't heaven-ward but your brow-beating of them scared them back and now may be they are as carnal as you would have them or possibly thy wife before acquainted with thee was full of life in the wayes of God but since she hath been transplanted into thy cold soile what by thy frothy speeches and unsavoury conversation at best thy worldlinesse and formality she is now both decayed in her graces and a loser in her comforts O man what an enditement will be brought against thee for this at Gods bar you would come off better were it for robbing one of his money and jewels then of his graces and comforts Thirdly it reproves the woful negligence most shew in labouring for this heavenly prize None but would be glad their souls might be saved at last but where is the man or woman that makes it appear by their vigourous endeavour that they mean in earnest what warlike preparation do they make against Satan who lies between them and home where are their armes where their skill to use them their resolution to stand to them and conscionable care to exercise themselves daily in the use of them Alas this is a rarity indeed not to be found in every house where the Profession of Religion is hang'd out at the door if woulding and wishing will bring them to heaven then they may come thither but as for this wrestling and fighting this making Religion our businesse they are as far from these as at last they are like to be from heaven They are of his minde in Tully who in a Summers day as he lay lazing himself on the grasse would say O utinam hoc esset laborare O that this were to work that I could lie here and do my day-labour Thus many melt and waste their lives in sloth and say in their hearts O that this were the way to heaven but will use no means to furnish themselves with grace for such an enterprise I have read of a great Prince in Germany invaded by a more potent enemy then himself yet from his friends and Allies who flock't in to his help he soon had a goodly Army but had no money as he said to pay them but the truth is he was loath to part with it for which some in discontent went away others did not vigourously attend his businesse and so he was soon beaten out of his Kingdome and his coffers when his Palace was rifled were found thrack't with treasure Thus he was ruined as some sick men die because unwilling to be at cost to pay the Physician It will adde to the misery of damned soules when they shall have leisure enough to consider what they have lost in losing God to remember what means offers and talents they once had towards the obtaining of everlasting life but had not a heart to use them Fourthly it reproves those who make a great busle and noise in Religion who are forward in Profession very busie to meddle with the strictest duties as if heaven had monopolized their whole hearts but like the Eagle when they tower highest their prey is below where their eye is also Such a generation there ever was and will be that mingle themselves with the Saints of God who pretend heaven and have their outward garb faced and fringed as it were with heavenly speeches and duties while their hearts are lined with hypocrisie whereby they deceive
God be more frequently conversant with it David tells us where he renewed his spiritual life and got his soul so oft into a heavenly heate when grace in him began to chill The Word he tells us quickened him This was the Sunny bank he fate under The Word draws forth the Christians grace by presenting every one with an object suitable to act upon this is of great power to rouse them up as the coming in of a friend makes us though sleepy before shake off all drowsinesse to enjoy his company Affections they are actuated when their object is before them if we love a person this is excited by sight of him or anything that mindes us of him if we hate one our blood riseth much more against him when before us Now the Word bring the Christian graces and their object together Here love may delight her self with the beholding Christ who is set out to life there in all his love and lovelinesse here the Christian may see his sins in a glasse that will not flatter him and can there any godly sorrow be in the heart any hatred of sin and not come forth while the man is reading what they cost Christ for him Secondly from the Word go to meditation this is as bellowes to the fire that grace which lies chosk't and eaten up for want of exercise will by this be cleared and break forth while thou art musing this fire will burne and thy heart grow hot within thee according to the nature of the subject thy thoughts dwell upon resolve therefore Christian to enclose some time from all worldly Suitours wherein thou mayest every day if possible at least take a view of the most remarkable occurrences that have past between God and thee First ask thy soul what takings it hath had that day what mercies heaven hath sent into thee and do not when thou hast askt the question like Pilate go out but stay till thy soul has made report of Gods gracious dealings to thee and if thou beest wise to observe and faithful to relate them thy conscience must tell thee that the cock was never turn'd the breast of mercy never put up all the day yea while thou art viewing these fresh mercies telling over this new coine hot out of the mint of Gods bounty ancient mercies they will come crowding in upon thee and call for a place in thy thoughts and tell thee what God hath done for thee moneths and years ago and indeed old debts should not be paid last give them Christian all a hearing one time or another and thou shalt see how they will work upon thy ingenious spirit It is with the Christian in this case as with some Merchants servant that keeps his Masters cash he tells his Master he hath a great summe of his by him and desires he would discharge him of it and see how his accounts stand but he can never finde him at leisure There is a great treasure of mercy alwayes in the Christians hands and conscience is oft calling the Christian to take the account and see what God has done for him but seldom it is he can finde time to tell his mercies over and is it any wonder that such should go behinde-hand in their spiritual estate who take no more notice what the gracious dealings of God are with them how can he be thankful that seldome thinks what he receives or patient when God afflicts that wants one of the most powerful arguments to pacifie a mutinous spirit in trouble and that is taken from the abundant good we receive at the hands of the Lord as well as a little evil how can such a soules love flame to God that is kept at such a distance from the mercies of God which are fuel to it and the like might be said of all the other graces Secondly reflect upon thy self and bestow a few serious thoughts upon thy own behaviour what it hath been towards God and man all along the day Ask thy soul as Elisha his servant Whence comest thou O my soul where hast thou been what hast thou done for God this day and how and when thou goest about this look that thou neither beest taken off from a through search as Jacob was by Rachels specious excuse nor be found to cocker thy self as Eli his sons when thou shalt upon enquiry take thy heart tardy in any part of thy duty take heed what thou doest for thou judgest for God who receives the wrong by thy sin and therefore will do himself justice if thou wilt not Thirdly from meditation go to prayer indeed a soul in meditation is on his way to prayer that duty leads the Christian has to this and this brings help to that when the Christian has done his utmost by meditation to excite his graces and chase his spirit into some divine heat he knows all this is but to lay the wood in order The fire must come from above to kindle and this must be fetch 't by prayer They say stars have greatest influences when they are in conjunction with the Sunne then sure the graces of a Saint should never work more powerfully then in prayer for then he is in the nearest conjunction and communion with God That Ordinance which hath such power with God must needs have a mighty influence on our selves It will not let God rest but raiseth him up to his peoples succour and is it any wonder if it be a means to rouse up and excite the Christians grace how oft do we see a dark cloud upon Davids spirit at the beginning of his prayer which by that time he is a little warme in his work begins to clear up and before he ends breaks forth into high actings of faith and acclamations of praise Only here Christian take heed of formal praying this is as baneful to grace as not praying A plaister though proper and of soveraign vertue yet if it be laid on cold may do more hurt then good Fourthly to all the former joyne fellowship and communion with the Saints thou lived amongst No wonder to hear a house is robb'd that stands far from neighbours he that walks in communion of Saints he travels in company he dwells in a City where one house keeps up another to which Jerusalem is compared 'T is observable concerning the house in whose ruines Jobs children were entombed that a winde came from the wildernesse and smote the foure corners of it it seems it stood alone the devil knowes what he does in hindering this great Ordinance of communion of Saints in doing this he hinders the progresse of grace yea brings that which Christians have into a declining wasting state The Apostle couples those two duties close together to hold fast our Profession and to consider one another and provoke unto love and to good works Heb. 10.23 24. Indeed it is a dangerous step to Apostasy to forsake the communion of Saints hence 't is said of Demas he hath left us and