quiet enough till God set him apart to deliver his Brethren and after that hee was never at quiet The like may bee said of David an eminent type of Christ while hee kept his fathers sheep hee was at rest but if hee will set upon Goliah and bee annointed King by Samuel let him look to himself Saul will hunt him like a Partridge and so narrowly espy his haunts that himself will say hee must surely one day fall by the hand of Saul Zech. 3.1 when Jehoshuah the High Priest another type of Christ commeth to stand before the Lord in his service the Devil commeth and standeth at his right hand to resist him The Apostle Paul so long as hee was of the strict sect of the Pharisees hee was highly esteemed and lived quiet enough but when hee became an elect vessel to carry the Gospel among the Gentiles then hee was tryed and buffeted now hee knows that bonds and imprisonment abide him every where 2 Cor. 7.5 6.5 1 Satans hostility against God and his glory and the means of it Reasons forceth him to hinder whatsoever may further Gods Kingdome and hinder his own While the Prisoner is in fetters under bars and bolts the Jailor sleeps quietly and while the strong man keeps the hold all is in peace but disturb him a little and you shall hear of him Hence it is that the more weighty any calling is and the more conscionably a man sets himself to discharge it which wee see in Christ himself the more vigilantly doth Satan watch to hinder it Reach once at Satans head and hee will surely reach as high as hee may at thine 2 This is not without the good providence of God who hereby will prove his servants to whom hee will commit some special work whether they will shrink or no hee will have them also to have good proof and trial of his strength and faithfulnesse in supporting them that they may the better commit themselves unto him in time to come who hath upheld them formerly and go on undaunted in constant walking with him through the experience of his goodness 3 God seeth though Satans malice blindeth him that his children without such strong trials should not bee so fitted for his service It is a training of them to great employments and makes them not onely more expert in themselves but also far more able to help others in any kinde God would not exempt his natural and only Son from temptations that hee might know how to help others that are tempted Heb. 2.18 nor the Apostles for the same end 2 Cor. 1.4 6. Use 1 All sorts of men the more they set themselves to glorify God in their places the more they should expect trialls A Christian can no sooner give his name unto Christ nor the Spirit descend upon him but Satan with all his malice will assault him Christ was no sooner baptised but hee must go forth to bee exercised with Satan and his Members also who not onely by outward profession but inward sincerity also make a league with God to renounce Satan sin and this evil world shall not want all the molestation that Satan can create them Rev. 12. the red Dragon watcheth for the Child to bee born to devour it and such is his malice Whom Satâ—â— cannot 〈◊〉 in the endâ— which is salâ—â—tion bee wâ— trouble theâ— in the wayâ— that whom hee cannot hinder of Salvation hee will hinder of their peace and joy as much as hee can if hee cannot chase vertue out of the world hee can disgrace it and if he cannot quite hinder all good proceedings hee will by molestation delay them as long as hee may Hee is subtile if hee cannot do the greatest evil that hee would hee will do the lesser that hee may as by Sanballat hee did hinder the re-edifying of the Temple The condition of the child of God is military in this life Hee hath Satan and all his Army of wicked ones mortal foes against him Many deceive themselves who mean to profess Religion so long onely as they may injoy peace and credit and the applause of the world so long as they may see Christ with a golden crown and scepter and follow him into Jerusalem with Hosanna But they have not cast their accounts right nor weighed the difficulties of sound profession of Christ and therefore like the foundation of the foolish builder when winds and floods rise they fall down right with shame they forsake Christ and religion and all they look back and run back to the filthinesse of the world they embrace a course which standeth with their own ease but never shall they have the honor of honouring God or of effecting any thing which shall bring God true praise and themselves true peace It will bee the wisdome therefore of every Christian undertaking any commendable action so to look and begin with God that ever hee have another eye upon Satan and his malice both to expect it and resolve not to bee beaten off for it Shall the Israelites being set out of Egypt run back again because Pharaoh pursues them no but hye them more hastily away Shall I give â—â—er my profession because the greatest part of men hate and reproach it no I must see Satans old malice renewed who casts a flood of poysoned water against Christ himself who should not avoid the same measure of obloquie and reproach if hee lived again upon earth Was it thus with the green tree it is no marvail then if it bee so with a dry Shall I neglect my duty to which God and good conscience ties mee A wise Christian may stop the mouth of Satan but never his malice because I would not displease men and bee thought no medler then farewel Gods glory if I go about to stop the Devils mouth which if I could yet I shall never stop his malice Use 2 The more publike a mans calling is the more doth Satan aim at him to cast him down who doth conscionably intend it as for example 1 The Magistrate Satans chief aim is against Chiefâ—â—inâ— in Church and Common-wealth Satan stirs up David to number the people 1 Chron. 21.1 2 The Minister being the Lords standerd-bearer the Devil seeks to winnoâ— him especially and begges leave to bee a lying spirit in the mouths of four hundred false Prophets at once And both these because God hath specially instituted these callings for the beating down of Satans Kingdome and lifting up the Scepter of Christ and again if Satan can foil the Leaders the bands are soon overcome smite the Shepheard and the sheep will bee scattered cast down Cedars and they will crush many shrubs with their fall Hence must both these bee more careful of themselves than ordinary men as being in greater danger as men set upon steep and slippery hills beset with enemies to cast them down And the less that men see these oppositions the less service do they to God or his
our own justification out of the deep with David yea out of the Whales belly with Jonah and in darkness with Job to see light 2 To see things invisible to make things absent present yea God absent present and to set him continually at the right hand Moses feared not the wrath of the King because he saw him that was invisible Heb. 11.17 Elisha being in Dothan feared nothing when his servant cryed out because his eyes were open to see the Angels as fiery Chariots protecting him 3 Faith is never so working as in perillous times because then there is most need most use of it then it sets it self a work and mingles it self with the promises of God by which it quickens and puts life unto a man when he is half dead as Psal 119.49 Remember thy promise wherein thou hast caused me to trust it is my comfort in trouble for thy promise hath quickned me Now it bestirres it self to make Gods faithfulness and truth his shield and buckler Notable is that example of the three Children Dan. 3.16 17. who were in present danger of their lives and cast into an hot Furnace In this danger now their faith bestirres it to provide for their safety not by any yeelding or blanching or buckling to the unjust command but by furnishing their mouthes with a resolute answer Be it known unto thee O King that wee will not worship this Image and by preparing their hearts through their confidence in God who was able to deliver them rather to yeeld themselves to the fire and raging flames than to any part of that commandement And were faith and Gods fear working in the heart it would destroy false fears and infidelity which Satan prevaileth in mightily causing men to seek help by unlawful means if the lawful bee never so little set out of sight Command these stones to be made bread Here is an inference upon the former words If thou be the Son of God upon a true ground Satan raiseth a dangerous consequence Christ was the Son of God true Must he therefore needs make stones bread Satan inferteth mischievous conclusions upon true premises Doct. It is an ordinary temptation of the Devil to inferre mischievous conclusions upon true premises God had no respect to Cains Sacrifice as to Abels Whereas now Cain should have offered of the best as Abel did and have brought faith with his offering by which Abel offered a better Sacrifice Heb. 11.4 Satan inferres upon it Therefore kill thy brother Saul received no answer of God that was true but that therefore he should goe to the Witch of Endor was Satans inference both against the Law of God and Sauls own law God is a merciful God a true premise and the scope of all the Scripture but that Jonah should therefore fly to Tarshish and not goe to preach the destruction of Ninivie was a Satanical inference A man must pity himself and doe what he can to repel evil from him and avoyd danger but that Christ should therefore not goe up to Jerusalem to suffer was a dangerous consequence of Satan in Peters mouth whom therefore Christ calleth Satan Reasons 1 Satan is cunning and seeketh by mingling good and evil truth and falshood to justifie that which is false and to draw it on with the truth If hee should never speak truth he could never deceive half so much therefore hee speaks many truthes to give credit to his lyes and the same hee hath taught all his agents Do we think that a false teacher or heretick could doe any great hurt if he should not lay his leaven in a lump of truth would not every man at first reject him if he should bring never a true doctrin but therefore that his heresie may spread like a gangrene he comes with a fair pretence of many truthes which cannot be denied Doe wee think that the Church of Rome should have so prevailed in the world or that Antichristian state should have been endured or could any Papist bee suffered in ours or any well-ordered Country if they did not colour all their abominations and false religion with some general truths if they should not in word and shew hold and recite the Articles of faith and principles of our religion concerning God in unity of essence and trinity of persons concerning Christ the Church c. were it possible that any Christian state could bear them while indeed and in truth they reverse the whole foundation of religion and are limbs of Antichrist No their deceit is a mystery and walks in darkness and the mask and vizards of truth with pretence of holiness hath held the Swords of Princes from them which else had long since been sanctified in their overthrow 2 Satan can doe no other who cannot speak truth for truths sake for being a Lyar from the beginning he loves not truth and therefore if hee speak truth it is to corrupt the truth or to stablish some lye Lying is the Devils mother tongue Joh. 8. 1 Sam. 28.17 18. Lying the Devils mother tongue Satan in the habit of Samuel spake many truths as that the Lord had rent the Kingdom from him and given it to David because he had so spoken hee would doe it and because Saul obeyed not the voyce of the Lord nor executed his fierce wrath against the Amalekites and that the Lord would deliver him and the Israelites into the hand of the Philistims the next day c. But all this was to feed Saul in his delusion and hold him in his sin as though he were Samuel as vers 17. the Lord hath done it even as he spake by mine hand and vers 19. to morrow shalt thou be with me c. So in the New Testament we have the Devils confessing Christ to be the Son of God the Holy One the sum of the Gospel and Paul and Silas to be the servants of the high God Act. 16. but both Christ and his servants put them to silence and would not have them to speak the truth because it was to deprave and slander the whole truth as though Christ and his servants had been in league and agreement with the Devils and so their doctrin had been not Divine but Diabolical Thus Satan like a Bargeman looks one way but â—owes another 3 Satan sees how our nature is easily carried away through a general shew of good or truth to take in with it error and falshood hand over head without trial or discerning For though our blessed Saviour would not confound stones and bread yet we easily take stones with bread and Serpents with Fishes The whole Masse-book is but an heap of Idolatrous prayers and Ceremonies but yet because there is some shew of good in it many Scriptures and some tolerable and good prayers with many devotions it is wholly received without trial of millions given over to delusion 4 Satan the Prince of darkness can transform himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11.14 and
manner had the promise of the Kingdom but in the mean time he was so traced and hunted by Saul that he said in himself I shall surely one day fall by the hands of Saul but howsoever the Lord still deferred his promise he knew not how to break it the Kingdome was rent from Saul and given to him that was better than he Why God delayeth to answer his children Reasons Now the chief Reasons of this dealing of the Lords with his Children are these 1 In Gods delaies there is a seasonable time for all the graces which he giveth to be set on work such as are faith patience hope prayer all which cease in the accomplishment Secondly hee will have his childrens case often desperate that his own hand may bee acknowledged in giving them unexpected deliverance How could Israel but acknowledge his out-stretched arm in their delivery when they saw nothing but the mountains before them the enemies behind them and the sea as a wall on either side and if the Lord had delivered them before they came into the bottom of the sea as he easily could have done the glory of his work had been obscured which all ages since have admired and extolled till this day How did Jonah and the Ninevites acknowledge the finger of God in calling him to that Ministery when as he seemed utterly cast away being buried in the Whales belly three days and three nights for when by the powerful Word of God the Fish was commanded to cast him on the dry ground what a worthy fruit of conversion it had in them generally the History doth declare What great glory the Lord won to himself by saving Daniel not from the Den but from the Lions teeth in the Den and the three children not from the Furnace but the very fire in the Furnace it appeareth in that the very Heathen Kings themselves made publick Edicts that no God but Daniels and no God but Shadrachs c. should bee worshipped through all their Dominions because no God could deliver their worshippers as hee had done Thirdly the Lord often longer absenteth himself from his own children that when he is returned they might make the more account of him it pleased him to deal herein as a Mother with her child who although she bee tender enough over it will sometimes get her out of sight and behind a door in the mean time the child falleth and getteth some knocks and all this to make the child perceive its own weaknesse and depend upon her so much the more Example hereof we have Cant. 3.4 when the Church had sought her beloved in her bed in the streets among the Watch-men and found him not at last after much seeking and sorrowing after him she findeth him whom her soul loved then she took hold on him and would not let him goe till she had brought him to the house of her mother Vse 1. Tedious and heavie afflictions may not bee an argument of Gods hatred It is a simple opinion of simple people that God loveth not that man who is exercised with any strange crosse especially if it be more lasting and lingring upon him Lingring afflictions no sign of Gods hatred Why dost thou not consider ignorant man that the Lord suffered his own wel-beloved Son to lye in the Grave till the third day before he raised him up What sayest thou to the Israelites in Aegypt did they cease to be the people of God or to be dear to God when the heaviest tasks were laid upon them Whose bloud was it that Manasseh made the streets of Jerusalem run with but the Saints In the Persecutions of the Primitive Church we read of thirty thousand of the dear Saints of God put to death in seventeen days under the Tyrant Maximinian and as many chained under met al 's and mines Who was it that asked if the Lord would absent himself for ever and whether his mercy was clean gone for evermore Was not this the voyce of David a man after Gods own heart Wouldst thou hear the style of Gods children in the Scriptures thou hearest them called worms of Jacob dead men of Israel Isa 41.14 Wouldest thou know their state neither is that unanswerable to that stile read Heb. 11. from verse thirty five to the thirty ninth They wandred in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins and they of whom the world was not worthy were banished the world as unworthy to live in it Impossible therefore it is as Salomon teacheth to know love or hatred by any thing before a man Eccles 9. A man may be a Dives and a Devil or little better another may be a Lazarus and a Saint Fat pastures for most part threaten slaughter when lean ware need not fear the Butcher 2 In tedious and heavy afflictions and graves of misery prescribe not unto God neither the time nor the manner of thy release but leave all to him in whose hand times and seasons and means of deliverance are Wee would not by our good wills lye one day no not one hour under affliction our spirits are as short as Jehorams was what shall I attend any longer upon the Lord is not this evil from him Some crosses more smart and durable why And hence are all those murmurings and complaints Oh never was any in such misery or so long as I am But the Lord knoweth what hee doth and whom hee hath in hand Hee seeth perhaps 1 That thou hast strong hidden corruptions thy hard knots must have hard wedges as hard bodies strong potions 2 It may bee thou wast long in thy sin before thy conversion and thy Cross is the longer to be a means to bring thy old sins into fresh memory that so thou maiest renew thy repentance 3 It may bee thou hast since given some great scandal to the Church and so thy correction abideth till thou hast testified thy repentance 4 Thy heart perhaps can tell thee that some other crosses of some other kinde have been neglected or would not have smarted half so much therefore the Lord will have this to stick by increasing the smart and with-drawing his comforts till thy great heart bee made to stoop 5 Look whether some lust as yet not denyed lendeth not a sting to this cross above all the former whether thy heart bee over-mastered or fretful and peevish for even so wee deal with our Children who when a little smart doth but set them on frowardness wee meeken and overcome with more stripes 6 Or else the Lord in mercy lingringly doth correct as thou are able to bear to bend thee and work thee to good whereas if hee should bring his chastisements roughly and at once it would break thy heart great cause therefore hast thou to subscribe to his wisdome whose waies are all justice and mercy 3 Hence wee fetch our assured comfort The Lord will seasonably remember his children at least the third day That as God delivered his Son the third day so will
renewed in knowledge wait at the gates of Wisdom shut not thy heart and eyes from the beams of this blessed light 3 Grow up in holiness and righteousness as God himself is not only free from all evil but infinite in goodness most just most holy and as hee letteth his light shine before men so must thou let thy light shine before men that they may see thy good works Matth. 5.16 2 Cor. 7.1 cleanse your selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit that yee may grow up to full holiness This holiness must not only fence the heart from uncleaneness but the eye the ear the mouth the hands and feet and all the members when they bee ordered according to the Word prescribing rules for them all Rule 2. VVhen thou feelest grudgings of diffidence arise and Satan will urge thee how thou canst think thy self respected of God being beset with such a world of trouble and almost drowned in a sea of vexations without bottom or bank Now call to mind and set before thee Christs blessed example in whom as in a glass thou mayest see the sharpest of thy sorrows in any kind not only sanctified and sweetned but mingled with admirable love of his Father VVhat evil befalls thy body and soul or thy estate inward or outward which he hath not born and broken and yet never the less loved of his Father Thou wantest comforts of body House Land Meat Money hee had not a foot of land not a house to hide his head in not any money till he borrowed of a fish not a cup of cold water till he had requested it of the Samaritan who would give him none Thou wantest friends respect in the world yea where thou well deservest yea where thou mightest justly expect it Remember it was his case his friends became his foes his scholar a Traytor the world hated him causeless he came to his own and his own received him not he was without honour in his own Countrey hee had evil repayed him for good he wept over Jerusalems misery but Jerusalem laught at his Thou wantest peace of conscience canst not see a clear look from God nor feel any ease from the sting of thy sins thy sorrowful mind dries up thy bones all outward troubles are nothing to this But remember that never was any so laden with the burden of sin as Christ when his bitter torment expressed such words as these My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee 3 Rule From these crosses by which Satan would drive thee from God Sundry waies of God drawing neer his Saints in their troubles labour to see how near and graciously God draweth towards thee and thus beat him with his own weapon 1 The Lord helpeth forward our salvation by them being sour sawces to bring us out of love with our sweet sins and of this evil world plowing of ground kills the weeds and harrowing breaks the clods they be the Lords sharp salves to draw out our secret corruptions and the Lords sope to wash foul linnen white they bee the Lords ushers to teach us his statutes to teach by a little smart both what thou hast deserved in the life to come and what Christ hath suffered for thee in bearing the whole punishment of all thy sins to teath thankfulnesse for contrary blessings by poverty sickness trouble men learn to bee thankful for wealth health peace to teach pity and compassion towards the misery of others to teach circumspection in our waies and more care of obedience to all Gods Commandements 2 The Lord by crosses tryeth and exerciseth the faith patience and sincerity of his servants whether they will hold out as Job for as a man by wrestling knows his own strength better than before so is it here 3 The Lord is never nearer his children than in trouble in fire and water in six troubles and in seven to support them with strength and patience to give a blessed issue and useâ— and turn it to his own glory in their mighty deliverance and to their best all things are turned to their best to recompence their light afflictions with an eternal weight of glory As Christ said of Lazarus This sicknesse is not to death but that God may bee glorified John 11.4 so wee may say This poverty loss disgrace c. is not to the utter undoing of a man but that God may have glory in his deliverance and glorification So much of the third drift of Satan in this first temptation now of the fourth In that the Devils last drift in it is to have Christ in his want and hunger to use an unlawful means of supply note that Doct. 4. It is an ordinary instigation and temptation of the Devil To use unlawful means to help our selves is diabolical or a Devillish spirit to use unlawful means in our want to help our selves Because Christ had no ordinary means of getting bread hee must provide for himself by extraordinary Gen. 25.29 32. Esau comes out of the field weary and hungry and almost dead for meat how must hee supply his want Sell thy birth-right said Satan and so hee did Peter was in great danger in the High-Priests Hall how must hee help himself out of their hands Deny thy Master said Satan forswear him and curse thy self and thus hee gat out Saul was in great straights God was gone from him hee was not answered by Urim nor Oracle how shall hee do for counsel hee must go to the witch of Endor and so the Devil sends him from himself to himself who can tell him more than all his Vrim his Dreams his Prophets Sarah wanted a Child shee had a promise of one but shee laught at that Gen. 16.2 yet must she have one another way shee gives her maid to her Husband and shee brings an Ismael a mocker and persecutor of the promised seed Reasons 1 Satan sees how easily hee can weaken our confidence in God seeing wee are ready to trust more in the means than in God hee knows our infidelity which makes us hasty and soon weary of waiting 2 Hee knows how derogatory this is to the promise truth power and providence of God who can sustain his children as well above means without means yea against means as with them His hand is not shortened that he cannot help 3 Hee easily draws on this temptation under of a colour of necessity which wee say hath no law but falsly Hence is the common speech of the world to defend any injustice Why I must live I must not put forth my wife and children to beg I must so exercise my calling as to maintain my wife and family I must utter my wares though I lye and swear and exact and deceive and so under a colour of good and pretence of necessity no wickedness comes amiss in the course of ones trade Use 1. This teacheth us to bewail the pittiful estate of numbers of men taken in this snare of the Devil as 1 Numbers of
stand in vallies not on mountains Joseph was raised out of Prison to be the second man in the kingdom David was by little and little raised from a Shepherd to a Warriour from thence to a Kings Son from thence to a Kingdom Mordecai was first in danger of his life and in great distress and afterward his head was lifted up This humility 1 will not suffer a man to affect pinacles as seeing their danger but content himself in a mean estate which is safest 2 It will make a man rejoyce rather in Gods humiliation than in Satans advancing the former tending to exaltation the latter to ruine and down-fall Rule 3 As Satan is ever plotting to cast thee down so be thou ever raising thy self up 1 By means of the VVord which is the staff of a Christian raising him in his falls and strengthening him in his standing 2 By Prayer which gets Gods hand with thee to uphold thee so as the hand that must cast thee down must be stronger than Gods 3 By heavenly conversation lift up thy soul and affections daily seek the things that are above minde heavenly things Satan would not have a man mount above the Pinacle nor will suffer him if he can hinder to get up to Heaven therefore in regard of his malice we must put more labour to this business Our affections are like the leaden plummets of a Clock by their own weight ever tending downward and Satan often hangs his weight upon them and therefore we must every day be winding them up 4 By fostering nor quenching the motions of the Spirit Thy self Quest Why doth not the Devil cast Christ down Did hee want power who had now carried and set him on that dangerous pinacle or did hee want will to throw him down Ans There wanted no will in Satan any way to mischief our Lord to which purpose he strained all his wits in these temptations but 1 He wanted power and strength being bound in chains and bridled by God so as it is as farre as he can now goe to tempt Christ to cast down himself His Commission went no further than to carry his holy body to the pinacle and there set it 2 For him to have cast down Christ and Christ to bee a meer Patient had not furthered him a whit in his drift and scope he intended to bring Christ to sin and if Christ cannot be gained to be an Agent or a voluntary Patient he cannot sin Besides he specially intendeth to bring Christ to the sin of presumption in throwing himself down which he could not effect by his casting him down unless himself bearing himself upon his Fathers protection can be brought to cast himself down 3 Although afterward Satan had power by his instruments to put our Saviour Christ to death yet now he could not by casting him down the pinacles doe it no more than the people could when they attempted to cast him down the hill for his hour was not yet come he had not yet done that great work which he came into the world to doe and the hour for the power of darkness was not yet Hence hee is a suter to Christ to cast down himself Doct. 2. Satan can tempt and perswade us but he cannot force us to sin or Hee cannot cast thee down unless thou cast down thy self He setteth Christ on the pinacle he cannot throw him down but perswades him to throw down himself He crammed not Eve with the Apple nor gave it into her hand but perswaded her to reach and eat it He did not kill Saul himself but perswaded him to cast down himself upon his own sword He did not put the halter about Judas his neck nor was his Hangman but was of his counsel and made his own hands his own executioners therefore it is said Acts 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 factus praeceps he threw down himself from an high place not only of his Office but from off the Tree whereon hee hanged himself 1 This comes to pass by Gods restraining power Reasons which suffers not Satan to doe what he list for then he would suffer no good thing or person upon earth but destroy all the order and government of God both in Church and Common-wealth then should every man not be a Wolf only but a Devil to a man Hence he is fain to take out a new commission and power from God for his several designs and cannot goe beyond the limitations of it though the greediness of his prey be never so great 2 No man is hurt but from himself Dico peccatum non esse si non propria voluntate peccetur August contra Forum Manich and out of the voluntary inclination of his own mind unto evil which Satan knows well enough and therefore he ever worketh on our corruptions and cannot poyson us unless either hee get us to drink of his cup or entoxicate us by our own 3 God hath made the will of man as a fountain of all humane actions whether Natural Civil Moral or Divine and herein hath given a man a kind of power under God over himself by investing every mans will with this natural property that his will is free from co-action and force for a man to say Voluntas cogi non potest Arist the will can be forced is to speak a contradiction and as much as to say that the will in the same time and thing can be willing and nilling which if it could be forced were true To understand this better wee must know that there bee onely two waies to move change or bend the will First from an internal agent or principle and this is twofold 1 God himself the Author of all naturall faculties in whose hand the heart of Kings and all men bee to turn as he pleaseth as the Riverâ— 2 The man himself to whom God hath committed this will who hath power to dispose it to this or that object as Adam in innocency had freedome in things Divine and Humane and now wee his posterity in the latter Secondly by external movers and these are either 1 The natural object of the will which is some good so apprehended in the understanding and strongly urged upon the will or 2 some passions Lusts Affections and Appetites which incline the will this way â—or that Quest How then is it said that the Devil filled Ananias his heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Act. 5.3 and of Judas that the Devil entered into him and put into his heart to betray his Lord if he cannot move the will Answ It is not denyed but that something besides God can move the will but the Question is of the manner God moves it by his own and absolute power even without our selves and against our selves as when hee changeth an heart of stone into an heart of flesh But others without us cannot move our hearts neither by any proper power that they have over them nor yet without our selves first gained unto
and turning the Book and finding the time expired hee useth the means and is diligent with fasting and prayer that God would accomplish his word Dan. 9.2 Jacob had a promise of God that hee should return into his Country he knew all the Devils in Hell could not hinder the promise yet seeing his brother Esaus wrath was a stop or bar hee useth means to remove this let he goes to God and wrastles with him by prayer then he sends his presents and orders his droves with all the wisdome hee could and by this means prevented the danger Christ himself having stairs will use them Remember for spiritual life and natural hee must eat that would live for spiritual war and temporal hee must carry his weapons that would overcome for earthly and heavenly harvest hee that would reap must sow The sick needs the Physician In our earthly or heavenly travel let us with Jacob prevent whatsoever lets would hinder us from our Countrey or the end of our way 4 Whether thou seest means or no subject thy will to Gods in all things If hee kill thee yet trust in him still David in the want of means of comfort said Behold here am I let the Lord do whatsoever is good in his eyes The three Children seeing no means of escape answered the King thus Our God is able to deliver us and if hee will not yet wee will not worship thy Image wee are sure of his presence either for the preservation of our bodies or the salvation of our souls Vers 8 Again the Devil took him up into an exceeding high Mountain and shewed him all the Kingdomes of the world and the Glory of them 9 And said unto him All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me NOW are wee come by Gods assistance to the third and last Temptation of our Lord and Saviour which at this time hee sustained and powerfully vanquished For although our Saviour had twice repelled his violence already yet notwithstanding Satan continues his assault Again Doctr. Whence wee may note the importunity of Satan against Christ and his members in temptation to sin That hee is restless herein against Christ appears in that hee dares set upon him here again and again and the third time even so long as hee hath any leave given him And after this our Lord himself lead not a life exempted and freed from temptation for Luk. 4.13 Satan left Christ but for a season And for his members wee may see in Job how many Armies of Temptations hee would have oppressed him withal one could not finish his tale of dismal tydings till another came and overtook him even as one wave in the Sea overtakes another And in Joseph how did hee stir up the hatred of his brethren against him not content with that they must cast him into a pit and there hee must not rest but bee drawn out either to bee slain or at least sold to the Mâ—dianites being in Potiphars house how was hee every day tempted by his wanton Mistress refusing that folly how was hee hated of her and cast into a dungeon by his Master and there he lay a long time till the time came that Gods word must bee verified for his advancement 1 Because hee is eagerly set upon the destruction of mankind Reasons and therefore will bee hardly repulsed hee seeks continually to destroy and leaves no stone unturned 2 Hee hopes at least by importunity to prevail and by continuance of temptations to break those whom at first hee cannot foyl Well hee knows that instance and multiplying of temptations may drive even strong Christians sometimes to bee weary and faint in their minds And the rather because he knows the state of Gods children is not alike but as often in their bodies so the strength of grace in their souls is sometimes weakened and abated 3 His policy is oftentimes to make one temptation a preface and step to another and a lesser way to a greater For 1 Considering Christs hunger it seems small to make stones bread 2 But a greater sin than that to cast himself down where there is no need 3 But the greatest of all is plain Idolatry Worship me 4 If one kind of Temptation will not take so well hee turns to another as here If Christ will not distrust let him presume if neither let him bee covetous Vse 1. To teach us to beware of security seeing Satan takes not any truce but as a raging powerful enemy desperate and yet hopeful of victory will not bee repulled but assail us again and again Yea though wee have once and again overcome his temptations as Christ had done yet must we stand on our watch still for hee will set afresh upon us And why 1 This is the Apostles Counsel 1 Pet. 5.8 because Satan is a continual enemy therefore wee must bee sober and watch 2 Where hee is cast out hee seeks re-entry Matth. 12.24 3 Though God of his grace often restrain his malice it is not to make men secure but to have a breathing time to fit themselves better for further tryal 4 Security after victory in temporal warre hath proved dangerous and hath lost more than all their valour had won as the Amalekites having taken a great spoil of Davids 1 Sam. 30.16 and burned Ziglag sitting down to eat and drink and make merry were suddainly surprised and destroyed by Davids sword But in the spiritual combate security is much more deadly 5 It is the wisdom of a wise Pilot in a calm to expect and provide for a storm and in a troubled Sea after one great billow to expect another in the neck of it Even so while wee are in the troubled Sea of this World it will bee our wisdome to look for one temptation in the neek of another And seeing it is with us as with Sea-faring men who by much experience have learned that in the trouble of the Sea the greatest danger and tossing is towards the Havens where there is least Sea-room therefore let us towards ouâ— end in sickness and towards death look for Satans strongest assaults and in the mean time prepare against them Yea let us learn to prepare against all kinds of temptations as our Saviour here resists all kinds in these three general ones and herein teacheth us so to do for shall Satan dare to renew so many temptations against our Lord and will hee spare any of his members Vse 2. Here is a ground of Comfort for Gods people who when temptations come thick upon them are often dismaied as though God had forsaken them and so grow weary of resistance yea and not seldome they grow into words of impatiency Never were any so molested as they Good David said once This is my death and all men are lyers even all Gods Prophets that told him hee should bee King there was no way but one he must one day fall by the hand of Saul But bee of good comfort
doctrin For never was any device so powerfully confirmed as the Doctrin and Religion of Christ which we profess For as it is said of Pharaohs Inchanters Exod. 8.17 after that Moses had brought the Lice that they assayed to doe the like but could not so in admirable wisdome hath the Lord put forth his mighty power in effecting such Miracles for this doctrin as he never suffered to bee wrought for any other For this only hath he stayed and pulled back the course of the Sun in the Heavens letted the fire from burning divided the Sea and made it stand as a wall raised not the sick only to health but the dead to life strengthned decrepit persons to beget and conceive yea more set apart a Virgin to bear a Son Let Popish impostors leave to bragge of Straw-miracles such as was taken up at Garnets execution and their childish Miracles as their late London Boy and shew us such as these Let us hear but without imposture of such as speak with new tongues drive away Serpents and drink deadly poyson and hurt them not but never was any other doctrin thus confirmed and whatsoever Signs and Wonders are wrought to weaken any part of this truth or establish any doctrin not grounded therein as we are commanded so wee hold them all accursed Vse 1. In that Christ went about doing good we note Christs life was not monastical but he conversed with men to doe good unto them that as his person was a perfect mirrour of all goodnesse so his life was no monastical or cloystered life but his delight was with the sons of men hee eat with them drunk with them more familiarly conversed with them than John did that hee might still take occasion to doe them good and communicate unto them of his fulnesse of grace Neither was his life an idle delicate or pompous life neither swelled he with abundance and wealth but poor mean industrious and painful he continually went about doing good From whom how many Ministers are degenerate who professing themselves servants would bee loath to be as their Lord was some setting up themselves as it were a fatting in a course of case and delicacy feeding themselves not the flock without fear others climbing with restless desires to honours and preferments others incessantly thirsting as if they had a Dropsie after mony and profits serving their Master only to carry the bagge others are doing perhaps but little good they doe in their places their doctrin is so cold so indigested or their lives so scandalous so offensive or their hearts so corrupt and cankred as they rather oppose themselves to the doing or doers of good amongst all whom the Master is out of sight and out of mind 2 Seeing Christ by this going about and doing good shewed himself to be that Prophet whom God would raise like Moses mighty in word and deed Deut. 18.15 We are hence bound to beleeve him and his holy Doctrine so surely confirmed by so many and mighty Miracles that so wee may avoid that fearful hardning so long before Prophecied to befall the Jews Who though he had done many Miracles before them Read John 11.37 38. yet beleeved not they on him and attain also the blessednesse of those that beleeve without desiring to see any more new Miracles For is not the doctrin wee professe sufficiently confirmed already The ancient doctrin of the Church needeth no new Miracles to confirm it an Indenture once sealed is confirmed for ever and needeth no new seals to be set to it Men doe not ever water their plants but only till they be rooted even so the Lord out of his wisdome would water with Miracles the tender plant of his Church till it was rooted in the world and brought on to some strength and stature but afterward thought all such labour neednesse If men will broach and bring into the Church new doctrins and devises of their own as the Romish Church doth at this day it is no marvail it they seek after new Miracles to obtrude them withall but if men will professe the ancient doctrin of the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself to gape after new Miracles were too lightly to esteem of the old and account of these powerful works of Christ himself and his servants no better than some nine days wonders Christians must imitate Christ in doing good 3 As Christ went about doing good so must wee also imitate his worthy example taking yea seeking occasions to doe good unto all and that readily seasonably cheerfully to our power yea and if need be beyond it 2 Cor. 8.3 And to spur us hereunto besides this example of Jesus Christ wee have 1 The Commandement of God charging us not to forget to doe good and distribute Heb. 13. with which sacrifices he professeth himself to bee well pleased whose children if we would be we must let the streams of our fountain also run to the refreshing and releeving of others as hee being the fountain of all good causeth his Sun to shine and rain to fall upon the good and the bad Secondly we are every way fitted to doe good having 1 Callings wherein to abide to the good of others as well as our selves 2 Our Lives further leased and lengthned unto us that in them we should glorifie God in making our election sure and furthering our own reckoning by doing good unto others 3 A most precious time of liberty peace plenty and prosperity that unlesse we bind our own hands we cannot but be doing good unto all especially the houshold of faith Gal. 6. 4 Fit objects of doing good are never wanting unto us For 1 The poor we have always with us the ministers of Jesus Christ and other his members that stand in need of us and many of Gods dear ones are oppressed and distressed that we might never be unmindful of the afflictions of Joseph 2 We have with us store of good men who have most right to our goodnesse the Sons of God the members of Christ the Temples of the Holy Ghost to whom whatsoever we doe the Lord doth accept and account of it as done to himself 3 We have in the worst of all Gods Image which is lovely our own nature which should draw us to respect if not the man yet man-hood or humanity in him and for ought that we know to the contrary by the rule of charity we must hope that they may participate in the death of Christ as well as our selves Lastly we are provoked to doe good by that blessed reward which God of his mercy hath promised to all those good and faithful servants who when their Master shall come shall be found well doing And healed all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him THe Apostle proceedeth to prove that Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power because he was able to rescue out of the hands of the Devil such as he oppressed and played the tyrant over