against the will desire against appetite But do but keep thy self sincerely and in truth from being willing and thou must be safe For God expects no more but that we should not voluntarily yield to our undoing He hath furnisht us with his own compleat armour for no farther uses of a warre but to encourage us to stand Take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil and again Put ye on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand There is no need to doe more then this not to be willing and consent to fall for no man can be beaten down but he that will fall It were very easie for me to prescribe you how to fortifie against those Engines of the Devil's battery which I produc'd to you But that I may not stay upon particulars directing those whom he prevails upon through want of imployment to find out honest occasions not to be idle and here it is the most unhappy thing in the whole world for any man to be necessitated to be vicio as by his having nothing else to doe and because while the world accounts it a Pedantick thing to be brought up by rules and under discipline he cannot learn how to imploy himself to his advantage to pass by these I say the universal strength against this enemie is Faith Your adversary the Devil like a roaring Lion goeth up and down seeking whom he may devour whom resist steadfast in the Faith And that not onely as it frustrates all that he attempts by means of Infidelity but it also quenches all his fiery darts whatsoever bright Temptation he presents to draw us from our Duty or whatever fiery triall he makes use of to affright and martyr with For the man whose Faith does give him evidence and eye-sight of those blessed Promises eye hath not seen and gives substance present solid being to his after hopes and whose heart hath swallow'd down those happy expectations which have never entred in the heart of man to comprehend what is there that can tempt or fright him from his station To make all that which Satan gave the prospect of prevail on such a Soul the Kingdoms of the earth must out-vie God's Kingdome and their Gauds out-shine his Glory and the twinkling of an eye seem longer then Eternity for nothing less then these will serve his turn all these are in his expectations Or what can fright the man whose heart is set above the sphere of terrours who knows calamity how great soever can inflict but a more sudden and more glorious blessedness upon him and the most despiteful cruel usage can but persecute him into Heaven 'T is easie to demonstrate that a Faith and expectation of the things on earth built upon weaker grounds then any man may have for his belief of things above hath charg'd much greater hazards overcome more difficulties then the Devil does assault us with For sure none is so Scepticall but he will grant that we have firmer grounds to think there is another world in Heaven then Columbus if he were the first Discoverer had to think there was another Earth and that there are far richer hopes laid up there in that other world for those that do deny themselves the sinful profits and the jollities of this and force them from their inclinations then those Sea-men could expect who first adventur'd with him thither For they could not think to gain much for themselves but onely to take seisin of the Land if any such there were for others covetous cruelty cold get little else but onely richer graves and to lie buried in their yellow earth Nor are we assaulted in our voyage with such hazards as they knew they must encounter with the path of Vertue and the way to Heaven is not so beset with difficulties as theirs was when they must cut it out themselves through an unknown new world of Ocean where they could see nothing else but swelling gaping Death from an abysse of which they were but weakly guarded and remov'd few inches onely and as if the dangerousest shipwrecks were on shore they found a Land more savage and more monstrous then that Sea Yet all this they vanquisht for such slender hopes and upon so uncertain a belief A weak Faith therefore can doe mighty works greater then any that we stand in need of to encounter with our enemy It can remove these mountains too the golden ones that Covetousness and Ambition do cast up yea more it can remove the Devil also for if you resist him stedfast in the faith he flies which is the happy Issue and my last part Resist the Devil and he will flie from you And yet it cannot be deny'd but that sometimes when the messenger of Satan comes to buffet though S. Paul resist him with the strength of Prayer which when Moses manag'd he was able to prevail on God himself and the Lord articled with him that he might be let alone yet he could not beat off this assailant II Cor. XII 7 8 9. When God either for prevention as 't was there v. 7. or for exercising or illustrating of Graces or some other of his blessed ends gives a man up to the assaults of Satan he is often pleased to continue the temptation long but in that case he does never fail to send assistences and aids enough against it My grace is sufficient for thee saith he to S. Paul there And when he will have us tempted for his uses if we be not failing to our selves he does prevent our being overcome so that there is no danger on those Trials from their stay But yet it must not be deny'd but that the Devil does prevail sometimes by importunacy and by continuance of Temptation so that Resistence is not always a Repulse at least not such an one as to make him draw off and flie It is not strange to find him siding with a natural inclination with the bent of Constitution still presenting Objects laying Opportunities throwing in Examples and all sorts of invitation always pressing so that when a man hath struggled long he does grow weary of the service not enduring to be thus upon his guard perpetually watching a weak heart which strong inclinations busie Devils do lay siege to and so growing slack and careless he is presently surpris'd or else despairing that he shall be always able to hold out lays hold upon a tempting opportunity and yields by the most unreasonable and basest cowardice that can be yields for fear of yielding lest he should not hold out he will not but gives up and puts himself into that very mischief which he would avoid merely for fear of coming into it For which fear there is no reason neither for 't is not here as in our other Sieges where if it be close continuance must reduce men to
who by raising these affections dazles so and blinds the minds of men that they should not believe S. Paul affirms it and 't is plain that Vnbelief is no one's Interest but Satan's For it is not Man's Not the Vertuous man's certainly He 's concern'd as much as Happiness amounts to to believe there is a God whose Cares and Providence watch over him whose Ears and Arms are open to him whose Bowells yearn for him whose Bloud did purchase him whose everlasting Blessednesses do await him 'T is his Interest to trust that Vertue which the World so scorns or pitties was yet worthy God should be incarnated to teach it die to purifie us into it and will raise us up again to croâ—n it Neither is this Unbelief Man's real Interest abstracting from these prejudices of Religion For if it were Man's real Interest then it were every man's wisest course to pursue that Interest But if every man did so and should persuade himself into Infidelity and that Religion and a Deity were but dreams or artifices and so arrive so farr as to have no fear of God nor sense of Honestie or Vertue the whole world must needs return into the first confusions of its Chaos Villany and Rapine would have right When those Mounds are thrown down there is nothing that can hinder but that every man may lawfully break in upon and invade every thing There is no fence to guard thy Coffers nor thy Bed no nor thy very Breast rather indeed there can be nothing thine This is 't is true Leviathan's state of Nature and 't is so indeed with the Leviathans of Sea and Land the wilde Beasts of the Deep and of the Desert But to prevent the necessary and essential mischiefs of this state amongst us Men He will have Nature to have taught us to make Pacts and Oaths but if there 's no such thing as Vertue or Religion then there is no obligation to keep Pacts or Oaths And why should he observe them that can safely break them Here it is indeed that Doctrine ends to this their Infidelity does tend And therefore 't is no Interest of States or Princes This the Atheist will confess Gods and Religions were invented for the mere necessities of Governours who could not be secure without those higher Obligations and these after-fears And are they not kind Subjects then who by promoting Atheism labour to break down that fence which themselves account necessary Or are they not good rational Discoursers too who labour to throw out a thing as false and vain because 't is necessary So necessary sure that they who weaken these bonds of Religion quite dissolve those of Allegiance all whose Sinews are made of those Sacred Ties which if you untwist the other Cords are burst as easily as threads of Cobweb Nay these Doctrines lay Principles that justifie Rebellion and King-killing For if there 's no such thing as Vertue or Religion then those are no Crimes And it is no wonder Treason hath been lov'd when Blasphemy hath been so They that hear men droll on God Almighty raille their Maker and buffoon with Him will quickly learn to speak with little reverence of their Superiours There 's no Kingdome but the Devil 's that can have support from Infidelity 't is the Interest of that indeed His work goes more securely on when there are no religious apprehensions to check it allow'd Vice cannot be at ease if it but think those things are true It is the infinite concern of Wickedness that the Laws of Vertue and Religion should be onely Spiders webs Snares for innocent and lesser flies while venimous Spiders can pass safely through them and the Wasps can burst them are Entanglements onely for the weak the Phlegmatick and Hypochondriack and that there should be no God that can bring them to an after-reckoning They that flatter and betray that hugg and then trip up or that plot villanies and ruines under fair and godly vizards must needs be unwilling to believe that there is one who tries the reins and seaâ—â—hes hearts and that will render every one according to his works The Drunkard who nor must nor can keep the remembrance of his Cups cannot endure to apprehend he must be call'd to an account of them The man whose Lust prevents the Grave that putrefies alive and drops by piece-meal into rotten dust ere he return to earth must needs be loth that there should be a Resurrection to collect the scatter'd the foul atomes of his Sin and his Disease and shew them at that dread Tribunal before God his Holy Angels and Mankind Such as these are the onely men that are concern'd against Religion Here we see whose Interest such promote who promote Infidelity And truly 't is so much the Devil's Interest that by those very measures that he weakens Faith he strengthens every sort of Wickedness by the steps and degrees of Infidelity men ascend towards the heights of Sin and when they have surmounted all Religious apprehensions then they are upon the Precipice of Vice When the Floud-gates are removed the Torrent must break impetuously For what is there that can hinder Nothing certainly if present Interest be not able But 't is plain that Thieves and Murtherers and Rebells in fine every one whom we call Sinners do pursue that which they account their present Interest that therefore if there were no other would not be sufficient since the Devil does make use of that to work with under Infidelity This indeed he batters makes his spreading ruines with therefore S. Paul calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit that works in filiis diffidentiae saith the Vulgar in the unbelievers so it bears in filiis insuasibilitatis in the men that will not be persuaded to believe In these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Possest and agitated by him 't is he spirits what they doe their actions are his incitations and motions In summe as to wickedness they are mere Demoniacks This therefore is his chief and the first Engine 2. The second Instrument by which he does demolish whatsoever hopes of Vertue we are built up to is Want of Imployment and in order to this he hath so far prevail'd on the opinions of the world that they believe some states of men not onely have no obligation to be busied but to have no Calling is essential to their condition which is made more eminent upon this account that they have no business Wealth how great soever if with an imployment or profession makes a man onely a more gentile Mechanick But Riches and nothing to doe make a Person of quality As if God had made that state of men far the most generous part of the whole kinde and best appointed for the noblest uses of the world to serve no other ends but what the Grashoppers and Locusts do to sing and dance among the Plants and Branches and devour the fruits and Providence had
him to depart out of their coasts Lo here an equal enemy to Christ and all his Miracles that was indeed too hard for them The Senate of Hell had no project to keep out Religion like to this to make Religion thwart an Interest Rather no Christianity then lose an Earthly satisfaction by it Rather have the swine then Christ himself 4. But if he chance to fail in this Assault as by our Saviour he was beaten off he hath yet a Reserve in which he places his last strongest confidence with which he ventured to charge Christ when it is probable he knew He was the Son of God He takes him up into an high mountain and shews him all the Kingdomes of the earth in the twinkling of an eye and the glory of them and says All these things will I give thee He thought it was impossible for such a prospect not to make impression on the appetite raise some desire or stir one Covetous or Ambitious thought which if it could but doe he made no scruple then to clog the Gift with such conditions as that there All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me 'T is said indeed the Covetous man is an Idolater and here we see the God he does doe homage to and worship The Devil does require that those whom he gives wealth to now 't is he that gives it to the Covetous to all indeed that get it with injustice or with greediness he requires I say that these should pay all their Religion to Himself and the Ambitious in however high a place he sets them must fall down to him And truly these two dispositions can give worship to no other God but such an one as is Abaddon the Destroyer of Mankind For all the great Commotions of the world all those Convulsions that tear Provinces and Empires all Seditions and Rebellions with those armies of iniquities that attend them and that wage their designs which are upheld by legions of villanies as well as men all the Disturbances of States and Church are but attempts of Covetous and Ambitious spirits men that are unsatisfied with their condition and desire a change and care not how they compass it they can charge through seas of bloud and sin over the face of men and Conscience to get out of that condition which they therefore are not well content with because something they like better beckens their ambitious and their covetous desires Would you see what one of these will venture at When Christ our Saviour was to be betray'd when a Person of the Godhead was to be deliver'd up and crucified the Devil had no passion to imploy on that design so fit as the desire of getting money and when that desire was once entertain'd we see he enters really in person and possesses such a soul and when he is there he designs no farther but to warm and stir that passion 't is sufficient fruit of his possession he hath done enough in such an heart wherein he dwells if he but keep alive that desire of money for he knows that will make the man adventure upon any guilt for it made Judas undertake to betray Christ. And as for the other passion which the Devil did design the glories of his prospect to give fire to though he could not stir it in our Saviour yet he knew it vanquisht him himself when he was Angel What height is there which Ambition will not flie at since it made this Spirit aim at an equality with the Most High Heaven it self was not sufficient to content him while there was a God above him in it And since this affection peopled Hell with Devils 't is no wonder if it people Earth with Miseries and Vices 5. The remaining Trial with which Satan did assault our Saviour when he tempted him with Scripture and God's Promises and sought to ruine him with his own Priviledges with that also 6. His being a lying spirit in the mouth of all the Prophets by which long ago he did destroy an Ahab in the I Kings XXII 22. But since by sad experience we know he ruin'd the best King purest Church and most flourishing State by the same stratageme But these with those other which S. Paul does call his wiles I must omit sufficient hath been said already to inforce the necessity of resisting which is the Duty and the next considerable Resist the Devil that is do not you consent to his Temptations for there is no more requir'd of us but this onely not to be willing to be taken and led captive by him For let him suggest incite assault and storm us no impression can be made upon us till we yield and till we give consent no hurt is done It is not here as in our other warrs In those no resolution can secure the victory but notwithstanding all resistence possible we may be vanquisht yea sometime men are overprest and die with conquering and the Victor onely gains a Monument is but buried in the heaps of his slain Trophies But in these warrs with the Devil whosoever is unwilling to be vanquisht never can be for he must first give consent to it and will the ruine for men do not sin against their wills Onely here we must distinguish betwixt Will and then Velleity and Woulding For let no man think when he commits deliberate iniquity with averseness and reluctancy of mind allows not what he does but does the evil that he would not what he hates that he does that this is not to be imputed to the Will that in this case he is not willing but here the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and yields through mere infirmity For on the contrary the Devil finds the flesh so strong in this case that with it alone he does assault the mind and breaks through its reluctancies and aversations bears down all its resolutions triumphs over all that does pretend to God or Vertue in him Where 't is thus let no man flatter or persuade himself he does what he would not when it is plain he does impetuously will the doing it Let him not think that he allows not but hates that which he does when it is certain in that moment that he does commit not to allow that which he does resolve and pitch upon and chuse to hate what with complacency he acts or to doe that unwillingly which he is wrought on by his own concupiscence to doe and by his inward incitations by the mutiny of his own affections which the Devil raises and when it is the mere height and prevalencie of his appetite that does make him doe it as it must be where there is reluctancy before he doe it his desires and affections there are evidently too strong for him or at last to hate the doing that which 't is his too much love to that makes him doe are all impossibilities the sâ—me things as to will