more than we beleeve how 108 Tentations of Perjury what and how cured 281 When Prayer for others come too late 365 R NO true Reasons to be found for any sinne 47 Reprobate-sense in such as are not Reprobates Many Reprobates never committed some sinnes of are probate sense 71 72 Reasons will not serve in Tentations 106 Resisting a great helpe in Tentations 109 Relapses dangerous yet curable 214 To Repent of sinne is as great a worke of grace as not to sinne 298 Relapses not usuall after Repentance in the lusts of uncleannesse 426 S SAtan did and doth properly sinne 5 Sinne not the cause of the first sinne 7 A single apprehension of Sin is not sinne 15 Satan must have leave ere he can hurt us 33 Satan hath no naturall affection in him 53 Every man Subject to every sinne 60 Security makes way for Tentations 80 Death of Sinne what and how 111 Sinne punished with sinne Sinne the punishment is not ever greater than the sin punished 147 Strength from God helps us in Tentations 161 A man after repentance may fall into the same grosse Sinne againe 215 Not to Sinne is better than to repent 219 Sinne is not to be made worse than it is 2â—5 Satan hurts most when he comes with holy ends Sodomy the tentation of it and the Cure 358 T SAtans Tentations 30 Tentations comming from our selves 38 Mixe Tentations 43 The definition of Tentation 46 The best that be often Tempted 48 Vses to be made of the Tentation 86 Rules after the Tentation is over 201 Evill Thoughts how farre subdued 208 We are subject to the same tentation againe 245 Theft a sore Tentation the cure of it 318 How to know when the lust is killed or Satan doe onely cease to Tempt 416 V ALL Vices properly sinnes 11 Vnnatur all sinnes 50 Vowes broken prove great Tentations 289 Vprightnesse of obedience and of repentance 300 Vnbeleefe in Christ a great Tentation 302 Lusts of Vncleannesse their tentation and cure 345 Religious men and women must beware one of another in the lust of Vncleannesse 407 Heed must be taken of our owne servants that they infect him not in the lust of Vncleannesse 410 Lust of Vncleannesse dangerous 345 W SAtan himselfe cannot force the Will of man 31 Will not taken for the Deed in sins 93 Watching a great helpe in tentations 158 Wisedome a great helpe in tentations 164 The Word a chiefe weapon in tentation 168 Women stand freer from perjury than men 282 Widowes estates and their danger 399 Y YEelding hurts not helps in Tentations 157 How to avoyd the lust of Lust 399 The end of the Table TENTATIONS Their Nature Danger Cure IAMES 1. 14. But every man is tempted when hee is drawne aside of his owne lust and entised IT appears that we all came out of Adams loynes in that we smell of his disease to father our sinnes on the Lord a common thing it is and not so common as wicked for a man to say that hee is tempted of God and so to make God at least a co-authour of our sins which S. Iames finding to be up and downe in his time cleares God and layes the fault on man where the root of all tentation is He would have man to learne that hee carries the cause of all tentations within his owne bosome which the Apostle findes out to be our Lust This Lust doth worke our tentation by degrees 1 By drawing the minde of man aside from thinking on God and goodnesse raising up sudden thoughts in us of that which is not good without any consultation giving a man no time to dispute the matter with himselfe or with his God 2 By inticing and baiting the hart of man as men do for fishes working on the will to bend towards such or such object represented by Lust as in appearance good and pleasant and here though we doe repell such thoughts as draw and withdraw and such wishes as intice and allure even as fast as they come to our consideration yet S. Iames tels us here that they are the first fruits and effects of our concupiscence By Lust is meant our naturall and originall corruption the conclusion is That all our tentations are long of our originall sin I deny not but Satan tempts and so doth the World but yet neither Satan nor the World can now hurt us if all be well within they tempt but it is by working on our own concupiscence should they finde nothing in us we needed not to care thus much for their tentations Christ indeed was tempted and had no Lust in him and did not Satan lose his labour And all because nothing was found in him fire burns not where is no matter for it to work upon no meere man is tempted and drawne aside but he may thanke his owne concupiscence The greatest quaere is of Adam in Paradice and of the Angels in heaven The maine answer is that Iames speakes of Man as he is now not as he was then The greatest matter then is how sin came into Adam which must be from the liberty of his will hee was tempted from without and so was Eve but no motion of Lust within could draw him to his first sinne for then there must needs have beene in him a sin before his first sinne and then the first sin could not have beene his first sin he was of such a condition that he might fal if he would and hee did fall but not without any tentation simply though without any from himselfe for he was tempted by the Devill Lust in Satan was the occasion of Adams fall but the cause was his owne will his first sin was from Satans sin sin I say for it is a weake conceit for any learned man to write that the divill hath no sin because the Law was not given to him which proves that in forme he is not such a sinner as man is but a sinner hee was and is being and doing that which was contrary to the will and Law of God laid upon him in his Creation The holy Page is for it in the very termes Io. 8. 44. Hee was a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth therefore a sinner He is a Lier and the father of lies therefore a sinner and 1 Iohn 3. 8 The Devill sinneth from the beginning His Lusts then that were in him did draw him to worke upon Eves and Adams free-will to draw them aside The Devill was an Angell and then he had no Lust within him to draw him no object without being in heaven where was nothing but all perfection A Deepe it is then to conceive how sinne came first into the Angels That one great Angell now Belzebub did first fall and then drew after him the rest is like enough but yet the question remaines how the first sinne came into that Angell sith there was no defect within nor none without I must first say that
sin is a privation an Obliquity no effect but a defect and therefore wee are not to trouble our selves to enquire after any proper and efficient cause God cannot bee a deficient cause bee cause there can bee no defect in him and therefore the defect must bee in the Angell and wee must rest in the will of the Angel who without motion from with in or any tentation from without fell from his estate abode not in the truth as Iudes Phrase is left his habitation voluntarily and maliciously left it because he would leave it The first sin or Lust was a sinne then whose cause was such cause as a sinne could have not sinne for then the first sinne could not bee the first sinne if there were a sinne the cause of that sin and againe we are where we were and are left to inquire the cause of that sin to which if wee say sinne to have bin the cause of that then wee may aske after the cause of that sinne againe and so in infinitum Here then we must stop and say that Eves sinne and Adams sin came not from any Lust within but from an act of their owne free will drawne out by the tentation of the devill and of the devils first sin no internall Lust no externall tempter at all was the cause for there was neither but we must say that of that sin sin was not the cause but the will of the Angell created good but mutable and free no good I confesse can be the univocall cause of any sin but an equivocal cause and accidentall cause of sin good may be for the will of the Angels good in it selfe was the cause not by working neither but by not working Adam then to come to him turning himselfe of himselfe from God God then took away his assisting and actuall grace and then Adam did put away from him his original righteousnesse put out his owne eyes and so came in Originall sin viz. this Lust that ever after tempts all meere men that are tempted by drawing them aside from good and entiâ—ing them to evill They dreame then who say that God tooke away originall righteousnesse from Adam and that hee by an act of his will did not thrust it away T is safest to say that hee deprived himselfe fell off from God else wee come to neare to make God some kinde of author of his sinne Thus came in this Lust the fewell of all sinful tentations whatsoever What cause have wee then to looke about us sith our righteousnesse within in the regenerate is very weak and exceeding imperfect our lusts strong a world of sins lurking up and downe in our soules For did the Angels in heaven whose innate holinesse and righteousnesse was most perfect in whom there was a concurrence of all grace in all perfection did they fall and did Adam in whom there was no spice of sinne oh then how stands it us upon to implore the continuall assistance of the actuall grace of God and incessantly to call in for the supply of the spirit of Iesus Christ else we fall and sin most miserably we have strange lusts within the devils souldiers warring against our soules Satan ever blowing at the divine Candle of the spirit of God hee never gives over by a circle and round of tentations to powre cold water on our faith Looke wee ever upward then for the daily ayd of Gods assisting grace that hee would ever blow the bellowes to keepe this holy fire in for we see by Adam and the Angels that it is not the perfect habit of internall grace no nor the absence of external tentations neither that can keepe a man from sinne t is onely the actuall worke of the right-hand of the most high must doe the deed else if Adam having no lust fell we having little else but lust must needs be drawne aside and enticed Say day and night Lord lead me not into tentation Habits of grace are like the fire of a Smith be they never so pure and perfect they burne not in us no longer than they bee blowne if God withhold or withdraw his assisting hand Lust drawes us aside presently and down we fall CHAP. 2. Of drawing aside QVestion is made whether this first drawing of lust be sin I say it is for if lust be sin then the effect of it must needs be sin Evill may come out of good by accident but out of sinne comes nothing but sinne Lust is sin and cause of sin and of nothing but sin Let it goe for a weake opinion of the Iesuites who tell us of vicious things that are no sin for Becanus no babe doth confesse that God doth hate this concupisence with a true hatred but forsooth not redounding on the person in whom this lust is as though that were not sin and all that sin which God hateth God can hate nothing but what is against his nature and will and whatever is against his nature and will is sin Originall sin is properly sinne and to make it a sin it is enough that it is voluntary in the will of Adam so Bonaventure Besides as soone as ever wee come to have the power to do it we doe all give a full and a free consent to that sin and the motions of it which after-consent makes the sin in the guilt of it the more ours wee then have no excuse left but to cry peccavi and to fetch all from the sin as David did in which we were conceived In originall sin lies a tacite consent eminently to all sin 2 Iames makes this drawing aside to be a fruit of sin 2. to be a sin 3. to be a cause of sin therfore these drawings aside are sins 3. They bee sins whether wee like them or mislike them because they are against the Law of God For that which is urged that there is no consent I think there is some consent as the offers of the understanding are quicke so the Acts of the will are quicke and sudden I rather say that there is some sudden inchoate imperfect consent given to all motions that arise that an actuall sin should bee without all consent I cannot conceive Paul did sin against his Iudgement I confesse for so he meanes when hee saith he did that hee would not but to speake in proper tearmes he neither did no nor could sinne either without or against all motion or any inclination of his will Paul did sin this sinne with his will for else hee would not do it it was an act of his will and it is impossible to coact and force the will of man though the consent makes it not properly a sin but rather our sin to be imputed to us yet I thinke ther is no motioÌ„ no first thought that riseth out of our Lust but as the thought is so the consent is sudden short quicke
unnaturall killings selfe murthers pollutions against nature passions of dishonour and the like Satan hath no naturall affection in him nor lust as lust hath none neither Satan hath no naturality in him for he lost all in his fall the law of nature was not given to him hee was not to hold order and termes of civillity and humanity amongst men and therefore there was not use of any such law to bee given to him All wee can say of him is that Satan is kept under held in awe by God restrained by feare within and ordered by Gods providence without it is awe not naturall law that keepes Satan within bounds Man hath indeed in him naturalnesse but lust which is our Originall sin hath no naturall affection in it some sins then are called unnaturall because they are against the law of nature in us which law of nature is no part of Originall sin for in it selfe it is good and the very unwritten law of God which law of nature as it is now in us doth neither see nor greeve at all sinnes but only at some greater sins which sins are therefore called unnaturall In every man there are two things the law of nature is one Originall sin the other for the law of nature some say it is a relique of the old Image left in Adam I thinke not for then man in Adam lost not all the Image of God then in man by nature there is some peece of goodnesse but the frame of mans heart is onely evill There is none that doth good no not one wee are all together become filthy Then it would follow that man brings w th him of his own into the world the seeds of vertue some roots of goodnesse which is Pelagianisme and condemned by the Church of God The seeds of vertue are not saith Prosper in the soule of man because they are utterly lost in the first sin of Adam neither can wee come by them except GOD who first gave them restore them againe I thinke rather to say that in things usefull to hold in the wild lusts that be in man GOD presently after all was lost by the fall all and every peece of the Image of God I say to maintaine discipline amongst men GOD planted in the heart of all mankinde an inward law checking many sins against God but more against men and accordingly GOD hath made a fuller and greater revelatiō to nature in the things of the second Table than in the first and what else is meant by the phrase where speaking of the power of nature to see into the booke of the creature it is said God shewed it unto them viz. by the law and light of nature which God hath given to all men as men they shewed it not to themselves God is said to shew it unto them Now then to come home to ou◠point Sins against nature are such as are against the law of nature lust hath in it all sins and when it is so great and breaketh out so grossely that nature cries shame of it why then wee call that sin an unnaturall lust a sinne against nature which sinnes have their roote in Original sin and would shew themselves and appeare were there no divell albeit herhaps not in that manner and measure as wee see some men who cannot bee said to bee haled to it by the divell but onely by their owne wicked lusts who when their lusts are in care no more for wife children friends brother father than they doe for a dog are moved no more with the teares of their owne bowels than with the whinening of a pigge Let lust alone and without any help from Satan it will make a man give over to bee a man shake off all humanity go beyond all shame all sense put off all naturall affection deliver a man up to obdurate heart not discerning betwixt good and evill either in morall or naturall respects as Paul shewes how some men put off all manhood become dogs yea worse than dogges for dogge with dogge useth not to commit filthinesse and some women shaketh off all woman-hood also for there is no who with lust for were it not for the watching providence of God over us and the restraining power of God with us and the law of nature in us men would fling out into all kind of wickednesse there would bee no being no living amongst men we would all bee such fooles as to thinke with our hearts and say with our mouthes there is no God Originall sin hath all Atheisme in it there will bee nothing but murther amongst us Husband would kill the wife and wife the husband father son sonne the father brother brother Caine Abel our houses and townes would bee full of parracides and fratricides and men would doe execution on themselves as common as might be oh the bottomlesse depth of Originall sin Our own lust is a fearefull murtherer it comes immediately from Satan at the first and he is a murtherer from the beginning Men would bee Wolues Beares Tygers Divels one to another neither would any shame keepe men and women from monstrous adulteries most infamous uncleanenesse Incests Rapes Beastiality what not Looke wee what is in any man that is by nature in the heart and lust of every man were it not for God restraining and natures law curbing should our Originall sinne be drawne forth and let out we should all doe as Caine did as Absalom did as Ammon did as the Sodomites did for what sin soever is forbidden in the Word and hath bin ever practised in the world that sin every man carries in his bosome there is no man but is of himselfe a dead dogge for why should God forbid that in the word to all if the nature of all were not subject to it Bestiality the foulest sin is forbidden to thee as well as to any other therefore it is in thy corrupt nature as well as in the nature of any other Besides wee are cut all out of the same cloth we are al alike in the guilt of Adams sinne one man hath not sinned more in Adam than another and therefore our Originall sin being the penalty of Adams sin must needs bee one and the same in all where the cause is just the same there the effect must needs bee the same Originall sin then by nature is no more no worse in one than in another it differs not so much as Magis minus In some what by reason of the tempter of the body education occasion tentations influences of Gods providence and chiefly by reason of the liberty of mans will man having his will at some command to sin I say by reason of that and other things lust is drawne forth more in one than in another and more to one sinne than another and that breakes out in the life of one which doth not in another but
hath no hope to speed Iudah went about an honest businesse yet because hee tooke not his armour with him in the morning he fell ere night we must carry our Antidotes about us because wee walke in places that are infectious and chiefly we must see to our matters in sins wee are given unto if to pride then goe not where fashions are without a commission and weapon if wee be apt to quarrell goe without a sword and when we have not our weapon about us wee shall not bee so tempted to brawle if to the lust of unelcannesse come not neere the doores of her house and that will keepe our hearts free having our hearts still an end full of serious meditation of the presence of God Almighty sith our nature is so apt to be tempted by our lust and we are so soone afoot after every sin that like children wee had rather be in the dirt than in the cleane have wee not cause to looke after these directions and such as these are that we may not be lead into tentation that our lust may not draw us aside frō God and entise unto evill 2. Rules for the remedy in the Tentation To him that would know what hee is best to doe when the tentation is come or comming we prescribe him to follow this order 1. To make a right use of it 2. To get by good meanes out of it For the use to be made of the Tentation doe thus 1. Know that the tentation is suffered to come upon us by God for our humbling whether it bee to commit a sin or to despaire for some sin committed when it is to some fault as in this case most times it is which is against our mindes and to the trouble of our soules God he knowes that if any thing under heaven will humble us this will doe it what else will so gaule and cut the heart of a Christian man what else will so set us a praying a whining a watching a fasting this hee see will even vile a man in his owne eyes and make him base to himselfe this will season and fit us for Gods building and the use wee are to make of it is to see our selves what we are and to looke up to Christ Iesus God sees and wee must see that wee cannot well come to heaven without such a purge and therefore wee must joyne with God make his end our end hee doth it to breake us and humble us and wee must humble our selves humbly our selves saith St. Iames and God will exalt us it is to humble us and doe us good when In the latter end saith the Text this is not done in a day and therefore we must waite Gods time It is a plaster and it must lye on some time if God meane us any good the tentation shall not over straight but hover and hang about us some long time some good space GOD doth drive out one naile with another Pride with a tentation of Lust but this is not done in an houre if it be somewhat long a doing yet it is worth our while Let us stay and waite upon God from whom commeth our humiliation the cause of a tentation is pride the use of the tentation is to take away our pride there is great dispute which is and which is the way to finde out our master-sin but when all is done pride is the master-sin in all Wee all hold of Adam in Capite pride was the first and and great sin in Adam and so it is in all his see wee had our lust from him He his from the Angels the sinne of sins in the Angels was pride it gave them their fall so it was in Adam it gave him his fall and so it is in us There is we say in trees a master-roote and that roote in Originall sinne is no other than pride indeed there is in most some other particular streame and vaine which carries one one way another another arising from Complexion Education Condition and other causes and occasions which often varies as the temper of our bodies and the order of our estate doth change and this yeere it is one sin seven yeere henc as every seven yeere there is a sensible change in the humour of the body it is another when poore it is one when rich it is another sin but that sin of all sins which goes thorow all the race of man kinde is pride the universall and general Captaine Sin in all the world Vnbeleefe may have that name and be well called our master-sin in respect of our Iustification instrumentally taken because it hinders our union with Christ but the chiefe sin which is our greatest morall vice and carries the greatest straine and power with it in respect of sanctification is this same sin of Pride and spirituall pride is the pride of all prides all other sins doe a kind of homage to pride as to their king and Lord. Austine hath it that the Romans did forbeare many vices that carried shame with them and did many commendable acts and all to serve their sin of of vaine-glory and Scipio by name and others did abstaine from that which their nature would have beene right willing to have enjoyed and all to keepe their name and to maintaine their credit and outward reputation amongst men so that all other sins doe as it were vaile to this and therefore God may bee said to resist all other sins but this sin he resists afarre off he cannot abide the sight of it and so wee say that God doth use to give us up for some time in some measure to some base tentations he lets out some vile corruptions and why but all to take down this sin of pride it is say wee all little enough to humble us affliction without the true sight and sound feeling of some of our corruptions will not doe it a man is then humble when hee is humbled before his Originall sin and amonst all the bitter fruites of that cursed lust pride is chiefe and doth play the Rex amongst the rest other sins that wee speaking from feeling doe call our master-sin or sins our predominant lusts are but made use of by God to humble us and to eate out this dangerous sinne of pride and therefore it cleares it selfe my thinkes to say that this sinne of pride is in every man his cheefest sin sith other beloved sins are let to have their swing in men all to master this Master of sins our pride The use then that wee are to put our tentations unto when they come is to humble our hearts to abase us to pluck away the feathers of our pride 2. The next use wee are to make of our tentation is that we see a mercy in it whatsoever it be if wee feele nothing but what is common to man and others have had and have the like we must learne to beare it with a kinde
such a sin and I may fall againe Now where this full point lyes that a man may be able to speake it thus much I must and have grieved and am now come to the height of sorrow that is required and now I know I shall never fall the same fall againe These bee strange riddles the heart of man I know must come down it must melt and breake but yet a little sorrow doth it in one when a great deale doth but do it in another some mens hearts after sin are like hard wax great heate is required to melt it but others like soft wax a little will supple it as we finde that at mans first conversion some men turne to it without much adoe with legall sorrowes and the sinne before regeneration I hope hardens the heart more than the sinne after for before there is nothing but a stone nothing but sin and flesh but after be the sin committed never so great yet there is some spirit some grace abiding and so some softnesse with all We Divines doe use to teach that it is the love of God and not the sorrow for sinne which is the cause to keepe us from relapsing and that too much sorrow doth hurt and drive us from Christ We all agree that a man may goe too far when there is so much as doth bring us to Christ it is sufficient and that sometimes a lesser degree of humbling and mourning will doe that GOD doth not delight to see us in our ashes no further than he may heare of us and t is not terror of the law but the peace of God which doth garrizon and keepe our hearts and mind and therfore this reason is of no force it hangs the conscience on uncertainty and no man can determine when his sorrow is come to bee enough and serve the turne in this Divinity besides who sees not that wicked men doe grieve over and above out of feare or shame or both for some sins and more than godly men doe for the same or the like sinnes and yet who dares say that by reason of this their griefe they could never offend in the same againe Iudas did grieve and sob extraordinary for killing Christ yet I do not thinke but had the case come in his way hee would have murthered him againe no trusting him who presently after killed himselfe and we finde some who for murther fall into those flats of sorrow that they doe run upon their owne deaths and cause themselves for very remorse of conscience to dye a dogs death Let us then say that it is a dāgerous case for a godly man to sinne the same great sin after repentance what if it doe not put him out of Christ what if it do not hang him Yet it burnes him in the hand whips him up and down the towne my meaning is that it doth cast him into a bed of miserable sorrow but withall we must say that it may possibly be that after true hearty repentance for such a fault a child of God may chance to fal into the same sin againe and again how often I cannot tel but this I can tell that how often soever hee sinneth let him repent and returne and his pardon is ready They wrong GOD in his mercy and men in their comfort who doe say the contrary 3. The third duty that wee are to looke to after the tentation is that in case we do not finish the sin not act the fault but doe drive away this fury that then wee bee very thankefull to God t is his doing only t is his grace that moved him to stand for us when we were in danger to cast away our comfort it is a great mercy to rise againe but a greater too when God comes and stands betwixt us and the fall Of the two it is better not to sin the sin than to bee recovered after wee are down as it is in it self for a man to bee preserved from a disease than to be cured of the disease I confesse that wee have a greater experimentall taste both of the love and power of GOD when wee are recovered but yet as touching our peace and comfort I hope wee all see it is better not to sin the sin than having sinned to be healed we save a great deale of inward paine and bitter sorrow by the bargaine Christ I know tels us most Divinely and sweetly that to whom much is forgiven such doe love much but yet we must not sin many sins that so much may bee forgiven us and wee love much this were to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse and that which Augustine hath up and downe in his Tomes answers all that those also are to love much who have beene preserved by the providence and power of God from doing such and so many transgressions as some others have for why saith hee have we not sinned those sins was the cause in our nature Is the reason in our will No but only in the goodnesse of God wee are then to thanke him and love him for the sins we have committed and have had our pardon for them and for those many more which wee should have done had not the Lord beene all one as though wee had done them and had found a pardon of them and one degree more and that is that by reason of his meere mercy we have beene strongly preserved from so sinning against our God from so troubling the quiet of our owne hearts and in some particulars from so scandalizing the Church and people of GOD. 4. The fourth duty after the tentation is to make a good use of it to get some good out of it wee must come to some fruit after wee have beene so handled with such bitter plunges The Earth after Winter becomes fruitfull so must wee be now the good that comes by tentation is manifold 1. A sight of some corruption wee saw not before the beginning of all our comfort ariseth from an humble sight of our corruptions and t is fit that when we will not see them and abhor them by what we finde in the word we should have the experience of them in our selves then we say till now little did I thinke I had beene thus and thus given to such rebellions then wee cry ah wretched man that I am what a Beast what a divell am I This doth mightily empty us of our selves and then we quickly fill with God with Christ this is amends enough for all our toile that wee are made to see somewhat in our selves which wee never thought to bee in our hearts 2. The second is to see that ther is some sin not sufficiently and thorowly mortified that as yet wee have not gone to the quick of it and what that sin is and now to take it in hand againe and never give over till wee breake the heart of it lest it lye in the winde and doe us some spight against
use we may and must make by looking both on our sore and heavy tentation which wee may thanke our lusts for when once they are past and over The fifth and last duty after our tentations are shut up is to prepare for a further battell for an other encounter hee went away from Christ but for a season therefore ere long hee will come againe how long it will be first I cannot say but ere long it will be he will stay away no longer than needs must as soon as ever he can get leave he will come without sending for though I name Sathan yet I meane such mixt tentations wherein lust and Satan doe tye together but because Satan useth to fire the matter and to set the wheeles going therfore it is that wee doe use to name him as though all were his doing The thing I first propose is that we waite in daily expectation to have some other fits for wee are too too apt to dreame of I know not what peace and freedome after tentation is done away and then we are in danger to grow secure which when our enemy once perceiveth hee will then come and make use of his advantage A boy in the schoole after a sound beating is past fals to his liberty promising to himselfe that he shall not be had to horse yet a while is of from his book till his master comes again and hath him by the skin so when we have had a scourging with the smart of some sowre tentation we thinke now the worst is past and that wee shall have no more such reckonings then comes the tempter cals up our lusts and finding us secure doth us a shrewd turne so we finde in the Saints that after a storme once blowne over they use to catch their fals when we have stood free from our usuall sicknesse a yeere or so wee use to give our selves to disorder in dyet as thinking that no sicknesse can now take hold of us and then wee are over head eares in some disease ere we are aware so t is in the soule we must then when we are on the other side of some heavy tentation doe as Marriners doe in a calme mend our tacklings get our things about us as not knowing how soone how sudden another a worser storme may fall take heed then after wee have put off our fits of a secret floth watch still lye in our armour for as sure as wee live if wee live any time wee shall meet with another bout ere long for when wee grow up in grace and come to some perfection wee shall heare of more sorrowes God hath ever been upon his Saints with greatest tryals when they come to some age and strength He will then build with us when wee are seasoned as farre as our strength will goe we shall have it And therefore when old when Paul aged doe not say I have done now our faith is most our wisdome most our graces strongest and therefore repent and say there is worse behind still we must have some intervalle sometime betwixt our fits some good dayes to breath in else we should not be willing to live else we should not have strength to hold out the next fit and more fits in their times we must have else wee should not bee willing to dye Say then I looke every day for a fit and therfore I will not bee without my medicines in a readinesse and in all our physick be sure to put the bloud of Christ Satan is not so beaten nor such a coward neither but hee dares come againe hee will put it to the adventure he had little hope to do any thing against Christ never was hee beaten as he was by him yet he came againe and againe and so hee will to us the thing I commend then to all our care is to stand upon our watch and sure guard A question is made by some whether Satan may come to the same man with the same tentation after hee is well beaten and conquered Durand saith he may to others with the same hee may to the same man w th some other tentation but to come to the same man with the same tentation to shoot the same bitter arrow at the same man who did conquer him he thinks Satan will not his reason is because Sathan will not come where hee hath no hope to be the victor but saith he hee hath no hope of having the victory in the same and over the same man As a man who is once beaten in the field you cannot get him into the field with the same man at the same weapons and a Cock once made to runne away will fight no more The answer is that man is usually beaten in the field for want of courage or strength or skill but Sathan is beaten onely because wee will not give assent and way unto him and therefore what if we repell Satan by resisting him in his tentation now it may be at another time wee shall not bee found in so good a minde nor in so prepared a disposition to resist and deny him in his suite what knowes hee whether we have lost of our former strength or wit or will or grace or care and vigilancy But above all Satan wil try whether that God who now doth not at another time for some causes will suffer us to be led into the tentation It is not our strength but Gods that doth it it lies not simply in our will but in the will of God Aquinas I thinke is in the right Sathan would come oftner than hee doth but that GOD who knowes our strength or rather our weakenesse will not suffer him and though he loves not to be beaten and desires not to come where there is no hope yet it must bee as God will and not as wee and the divels pleasure is if we need it we shall have another triall it is the divels nature he is a tempter his malice is his formall being and he cannot chuse but come against us as farre as the Lord shall please to let out his chaine what if he hath no hope to conquer us yet he knowes he shall molest us Hee is at no quiet himselfe and he would not that we shold have any rest neither as far as he can doe withall it doth as it were doe him good to goe about to doe us hurt he will because he must goe away for a season and after a season he both will and must come againe and if we grow negligent lye open and naked as not once thinking to heare of him at all or at least not as yet then he is for us and hath his blow his full blow at us from hence it is that often in the same lust wee beate him now because wee are prepared hee comes and beates us another time because he takes us unprepared Againe Satan is not ignorant that when we have had as much as ever we can doe