No otherwise is it in the mentall possession Where euer sinne is there Satan is As on the contrarie whosoeuer is borne of God the seed of God remaines in him That euill one not only is but rules in the sons of disobedience in vaine shall we trie to eiect him but by the diuine power of the Redeemer For this cause the Sonne of God was manifested that he might destroy the workes of the Deuill Doe we finde our selues haunted with the familiar Deuils of Pride selfe-loue sensuall desires vnbeleefe None but thou ô Sonne of the euer-liuing God can free our bosomes of these hellish guests Oh cleanse thou me from my secret sinnes and keepe me that presumptuous sinnes preuaile not ouer me O Sauiour it is no Paradox to say that thou castest out more Deuils now then thou didst whiles thou wert vpon earth It was thy word When I am lifted vp I will draw all men vnto me Satan weighes downe at the feet thou pullest at the head yea at the heart In euery conuersion which thou workest there is a dispossession Conuert me ô Lord and I shall bee conuerted I know thy meanes are now no other then ordinarie if we expect to be dispossessed by miracle it would be a miracle if euer we were dispossessed Oh let thy Gospell haue the perfect worke in me so only shall I be deliuered from the powers of darknesse Nothing can be said to be dumbe but what naturally speakes nothing can speake naturally but what hath the instruments of speech which because spirits want they can no otherwise speake vocally then as they take voices to themselues in taking bodies This deuill was not therefore dumbe in his nature but in his effect The man was dumbe by the operation of that deuill which possessed him and now the action is attributed to the spirit which was subiectiuely in the man It is not you that speake saith our Sauiour but the spirit of your Father that speaketh in you As it is in bodily diseases that they doe not infect vs alike some seaze vpon the humors others vpon the spirits some assault the braine others the heart or lungs so in bodily and spirituall possessions In some the euill spirit takes away their senses in some their limms in some their inward faculties like as spiritually they affect to moue vs vnto seuerall sinnes One to lust another to couetousnesse or ambition another to crueltie and their names haue distinguished them according to these various effects This was a dumbe deuill which yet had possessed not the tongue only of this man but his eare nor that only but as it seemes his eies too O suttle and tyrannous spirit that obstructs all waies to the soule that keeps out all meanes of grace both from the doores and windowes of the heart yea that stops vp all passages whether of ingresse or egresse Of ingresse at the eie or eare of egresse at the mouth that there might bee no capacitie of redresse What holy vse is thereof our tongue but to praise our Maker to confesse our sins to informe our brethren How rife is this dumbe Deuill euery-where whiles he stops the mouthes of Christians from these vsefull and necessarie duties For what end hath man those two priueledges aboue his fellow creatures Reason and Speech but that as by the one he may conceiue of the great workes of his Maker which the rest cannot so by the other he may expresse what he conceiues to the honour of the Creator both of them and himselfe And why are all other creatures said to praise God and bidden to praise him but because they doe it by the apprehension by the expression of man If the heauens declare the glory of God how doe they it but to the eies and by the tongue of that man for whom they were made It is no small honour whereof the enuious spirit shall robbe his Maker if he can close vp the mouth of his only rationall and vocall creature and turne the best of his workmanship into a dumbe Idoll that hath a mouth and speakes not Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise Praise is not more necessarie then complaint praise of God then complaint of our selues whether to God or men The only amends we can make to God when we haue not had the grace to auoid sinne is to confesse the sinne we haue not auoided This is the sponge that wipes out all the blots and blurrs of our liues If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs our sins and to cleanse vs from all vnrighteousnesse That cunning man-slayer knowes there is no way to purge the sicke soule but vpward by casting out the vicious humor wherewith it is clogged and therefore holds the lips close that the heart may not disburden it selfe by so wholsome euacuation When I kept silence my bones consumed For day and night thy hand ô Lord was heauie vpon me my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer O let me confesse against my selfe my wickednesse vnto thee that thou maist forgiue the punishment of my sinne We haue a tongue for God when we praise him for our selues when we pray and confesse for our brethren when we speake the truth for their information which if we hold backe in vnrighteousnesse we yeeld vnto that dumbe Deuill where doe we not see that accursed spirit He is on the Bench when the mute or partiall Iudge speakes not for truth and innocence He is in the pulpit when the Prophets of God smother or halue or adulterate the message of their master He is at the barre when irreligious Iurors dare lend an oath to feare to hope to gaine He is in the market when godlesse chapmen for their pennie sell the truth and their soule Hee is in the common conuersation of men when the tongue belies the heart flatters the guiltie balketh reproofes euen in the foulest crimes O thou who only art stronger then that strong one cast him out of the hearts and mouthes of men It is time for thee Lord to worke for they haue destroyed thy law That it might well appeare this impediment was not naturall so soone as the man is freed from the spirit his tongue is free to his speech The effects of spirits as they are wrought so they cease at once If the Sonne of God doe but remoue our spirituall possession we shall presently brake forth into the praise of God into the confession of our vilenesse into the profession of truth But what strange varietie doe I see in the spectators of this miracle some wondring others censuring a third sort tempting a fourth applauding There was neuer man or action but was subiect to varietie of constructions What man could be so holy as he that was God What act could be more worthy then the dispossession of an euill spirit yet this man this act passeth these differences of interpretation What can we doe to vndergoe but one
professe him a God and doubt of his power How can we professe him a Sauiour and doubt of his will He both can and will command those infernall powers we are no lesse safe then they are malicious The Deuill saw Iesus by the eies of the Demoniack For the same saw that spake but it was the ill spirit that said I beseech thee torment me not It was sore against his will that he saw so dreadfull an obiect The ouer-ruling power of Christ dragged the foule spirit into his presence Guiltinesse would faine keepe out of sight The limmes of so wofull an head shall once call to the hills and rockes to hide them from the face of the Lambe such Lyon-like terror is in that milde face when it lookes vpon wickednesse Neither shall it be one day the least part of the torment of the damned to see the most louely spectacle that heauen can afford He from whom they fled in his offers of grace shall be so much more terrible as he was and is more gracious I maruell not therefore that the Deuill when he saw Iesus cryed out I could maruell that he fell downe that he worshipped him That which the proud spirit would haue had Christ to haue done to him in his great duell the same he now doth vnto Christ fearfully seruilely forcedly Who shall henceforth bragge of the externall homage he performes to the Sonne of God when he sees Satan himselfe fall downe and worship What comfort can there be in that which is common to vs with Deuils who as they beleeue and tremble so they tremble and worship The outward bowing is the body of the action the disposition of the soule is the soule of it therein lies the difference from the counterfait stoopings of wicked men and spirits The religious heart serues the Lord in feare and reioyces in him with trembling What it doth is in way of seruice In seruice to his Lord whose soueraintie is his comfort and protection In the feare of a sonne not of a slaue In a feare tempered with ioy In a ioy but allaied with trembling whereas the prostration of wicked men and deuils is only an act of forme or of force as to their Iudge as to their tormentor not as to their Lord in meere seruilitie not in reuerence in an vncomfortable dulnesse without all delight in a perfect horror without capacitie of ioy These worship without thankes because they fall downe without the true affections of worship Who so maruells to see the Deuill vpon his knees would much more maruell to heare what came from his mouth Iesa the sonne of the most high God A confession which if wee should heare without the name of the author we should aske from what Saint it came Behold the same name giuen to Christ by the Deuill which was formerly giuen him by the Angell Thou shalt call his name Iesus That awfull name whereat euery knee shall bow in heauen in earth and vnder the earth is called vpon by this prostrate Deuill and lest that should not import enough since others haue beene honoured by this name in Type he addes for full distinction The Sonne of the most hie God The good Syrophenician and blinde Bartimeus could say The Sonne of Dauid It was well to acknowledge the true descent of his pedigree according to the flesh but this infernall spirit lookes aloft and fetcheth his line out of the most heauens The Sonne of the most hie God The famous confession of the prime Apostle which honoured him with a new name to immortalitie was no other then Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God and what other doe I heare from the lips of a fiend None more diuine words could fall from the hiest Saint Nothing hinders but that the veriest miscreant on earth yea the foulest Deuill in hell may speake holily It is no passing of iudgement vpon loose sentences So Peter should haue beene cast for a Satan in denying forswearing cursing and the Deuill should haue beene set vp for a Saint in confessing Iesus the Sonne of the most hie God Fond hypocrite that pleasest thy selfe in talking well heare this Deuill and when thou canst speake better then he looke to fare better but in the meane time know that a smooth tongue and a foule heart carries away double iudgements Let curious heads dispute whether the Deuil knew Christ to be God In this I dare beleeue himselfe though in nothing else he knew what he beleeued he beleeued what he confessed Iesus the Sonne of the most hie God To the confusion of those semi-Christians that haue either held doubtfully or ignorantly misknowne or blasphemously denied what the very Deuils haue professed How little can a bare speculation auaile vs in these cases of Diuinitie So farre this Deuill hath attained to no ease no comfort Knowledge alone doth but puffe vp it is our loue that edifies If there be not a sense of our sure interest in this Iesus a power to applie his merits and obedience we are no whit the safer no whit the better only we are so much the wiser to vnderstand who shall condemne vs. This peece of the clause was spoken like a Saint Iesus the Son of the most hie God the other peece like a Deuill What haue I to doe with thee If the disclamation were vniuersall the latter words would impugne the former for whiles he confesses Iesus to be the Sonne of the most hie God he withall confesses his owne ineuitable subiection Wherefore would he beseech if he were not obnoxious Hee cannot he dare not say What hast thou to doe with mee but What haue I to doe with thee Others indeed I haue vexed thee I feare in respect then of any violence of any personall prouocation What haue I to doe with thee And doest thou aske ô thou euill spirit what thou hast to doe with Christ whiles thou vexest a seruant of Christ Hast thou thy name from knowledge and yet so mistakest him whom thou confessest as if nothing could be done to him but what immediately concernes his owne person Heare that great and iust Iudge sentencing vpon his dreadfull Tribunall In as much as thou didst it vnto one of these little ones thou didst it vnto mee It is an idle misprision to seuer the sense of an iniurie done to any of the members from the head He that had humilitie enough to kneele to the Sonne of God hath boldnesse enough to expostulate Art thou come to torment vs before our time Whether it were that Satan who vseth to inioy the torment of sinners whose musicke it is to heare our shriekes and gnashings held it no small peece of his torment to be restrained in the exercise of his tyrannie Or whether the very presence of Christ were his racke For the guiltie spirit proiecteth terrible things and cannot behold the Iudge or the executioner without a renouation of horror Or whether as himselfe professeth he were now in a fearefull expectation
through the valley of the shadow of death we shall feare no euill Thou ô Lord shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of our enemies and thy right hand shall saue vs. Conflict All this number is not for sight for rest but for motion for action Neither was there euer houre since the first blow giuen to our first parents wherein there was so much as a truce betwixt these aduersaries As therefore strong frontier-Townes when there is a peace concluded on both parts breake vp their garrison open their gates neglect their Bull-warkes but when they heare of the enemie mustering his forces in great and vnequall numbers then they double their guard keepe Sentinell repaire their Sconces so must we vpon the certaine knowledge of our numerous and deadly enemies in continuall aray against vs addresse our selues alwaies to a warie and strong resistance I doe not obserue the most to thinke of this gostly hostilitie Either they do not find there are tentations or those tentations hurtfull they see no worse then themselues and if they feele motions of euill arising in them they impute it to fancie or vnreasonable appetite to no power but natures and those motions they follow without sensible hurt neither see they what harme it is to sinne Is it any maruell that carnall eies cannot discerne spirituall obiects That the world who is the friend the vassall of Satan is in no warre with him Elishaes seruant when his eies were opened saw troupes of spirituall soldiers which before he discerned not If the eies of our soules be once enlightened by supernaturall knowledge and the cleere beames of faith we shall as plainly descrie the inuisible powers of wickednesse as now our bodily eies see heauen and earth They are though we see them not wee cannot be safe from them if we doe not acknowledge not oppose them The Deuils are now become great suitors to Christ That he would not command them into the deepe that he would permit their entrance into the swine What is this deepe but hell both for the vtter separation from the face of God and for the impossibilitie of passage to the region of rest and glory The very euill spirits then feare and expect a further degree of torment they know themselues reserued in those chaines of darknesse for the iudgement of the great day There is the same wages due to their sinnes and to ours neither are the wages paid till the worke be done they tempting men to sinne must needs sinne grieuously in tempting as with vs men those that mislead into sinne offend more then the actors not till the vpshot therefore of their wickednesse shall they receiue the full measure of their condemnation This day this deepe they tremble at what shall I say of those men that feare it not It is hard for men to beleeue their owne vnbeleefe If they were perswaded of this fierie dungeon this bottomlesse deepe wherein euery sinne shall receiue an horrible portion with the damned durst they stretch forth their hands to wickednesse No man will put his hand into a fierie crucible to fetch gold thence because he knowes it will burne him Did we as truly beleeue the euerlasting burning of that infernall fire we durst not offer to fetch pleasures or profits out of the midst of those flames This degree of torment they grant in Christs power to command they knew his power vnresistible had he therefore but said Backe to hell whence ye came they could no more haue staid vpon earth then they can now climbe into heauen O the wonderfull dispensation of the Almightie who though he could command all the euill spirits downe to their dungeons in an instant so as they should haue no more oportunitie of temptation yet thinkes fit to retaine them vpon earth It is not out of weaknesse or improuidence of that diuine hand that wicked spirits tyrannzie here vpon earth but out of the most wise and most holy ordination of God who knowes how to turne euill into good how to fetch good out of euill and by the worst instruments to bring about his most iust decrees Oh that we could adore that awfull and infinite power and cheerefully cast our selues vpon that prouidence which keepes the Keyes euen of hell it selfe and either lets out or returnes the Deuils to their places Their other suit hath some maruell in mouing it more in the grant That they might be suffred to enter into the heard of Swine It was their ambition of some mischiefe that brought forth this desire that since they might not vexe the bodie of the man they might yet afflict men in their goods The malice of these enuious spirits reacheth from vs to ours It is sore against their wills if we be not euery way miserable If the Swine were legally vncleane for the vse of the table yet they were naturally good Had not Satan knowne them vsefull for man he had neuer desired their ruine But as Fencers will seeme to fetch a blow at the legge when they intend it at the head so doth this deuill whiles he driues at the Swine he aimes at the soules of these Gadarens by this meanes he hoped well and his hope was not vaine to worke in these Gergesens a discontentment at Christ an vnwillingnesse to entertaine him a desire of his absence he meant to turne them into Swine by the losse of their Swine It was not the rafters or stones of the house of Iobs children that he bore the grudge to but to the owners nor to the liues of the children so much as the soule of their father There is no affliction wherein he doth not strike at the heart which whiles it holds free all other dammages are light but a wounded spirit whether with sinne or sorrow who can beare What euer becomes of goods or limmes happie are wee if like wise souldiers we gard the vitall parts whiles the soule is kept sound from impatience from distrust our enemy may afflict vs he cannot hurt vs. They sue for a sufference not daring other then to grant that without the permission of Christ they could not hurt a very swine If it be fearfull to thinke how great things euill spirits can doe with permission it is comfortable to thinke how nothing they can doe without permission We know they want not malice to destroy the whole frame of Gods worke but of all man of all men Christians but if without leaue they cannot set vpon an hogge what can they doe to the liuing Images of their Creator They cannot offer vs so much as a suggestion without the permission of our Sauiour And can he that would giue his owne most precious bloud for vs to saue vs from euill wilfully giue vs ouer to euill It is no newes that wicked spirits wish to doe mischiefe it is newes that they are allowed it If the owner of all things should stand vpon his absolute command who can challenge him for what he thinkes fit to
Kings of Sheba and Saba bring gifts yea all Kings shall worship thee all Nations shall serue thee They cannot inrich themselues but by giuing vnto thee It could not stand with Salomons magnificence to receiue rich curtesies without a returne The greater the person was the greater was the obligation of requitall The gifts of meane persons are taken but as tributes of dutie it is dishonourable to take from equalls and not to retribute There was not therefore more freedome in her gift then in her receit Her owne will was the measure of both She gaue what she would she receiued what soeuer she would aske And she had little profited by Salomons schoole if she had not learned to aske the best She returnes therefore more richly laden then she came she gaue to Salomon as a thankfull Client of wisdome Salomon returnes to her as a munificent Patrone according to the liberalitie of a King We shall be sure to be gainers by whatsoeuer we giue vnto thee ô thou God of wisdome and peace Oh that we could come from the remote regions of our infidelitie and worldlinesse to learne wisdome of thee who both teachest and giuest it abundantly without vpbraiding without grudging and could bring with vs the poore presents of our faithfull desires and sincere seruices how wouldst thou receiue vs with a gracious acceptation and sends vs away laden with present comfort with eternall glorie Salomons defection SInce the first man Adam the world hath not yeelded either so great an example of wisdome or so fearefull an example of Apostasie as Salomon What humane knowledge Adam had in the perfection of nature by creation Salomon had by infusion both fully both from one fountaine If Adam called all creatures by their names Salomon spake from the Cedars of Lebanon to the mosse that springs out of the wall and besides these vegetables there was no Beast nor Fowle nor Fish nor creeping thing that escaped his discourse Both fell both fell by one meanes as Adam so might Salomon haue said The woman deceiued mee It is true indeed that Adam fell as all Salomon as one yet so as that this one is the patterne of the frailty of all If knowledge could haue giuen an immunity from sinne both had stood Affections are those feet of the soule on which it either stands or fals Salomon loued many out-landish women I wonder not if the wise King mis-carried Euery word hath bane enough for a man Women many women out-landish idolatrous and those not onely had but doted on Sexe multitude nation condition all conspired to the ruine of a Salomon If one woman vndid all mankind what maruell is it if many women vndid one yet had those many bin the daughters of Israel they had tempted him onely to lust not to mis-deuotion now they were of those Nations whereof the Lord had said to the children of Israel Goe not yee in to them nor let them come in to you for surely they will turne your hearts after their Gods to them did Salomon ioyne in loue who can maruell if they disioyned his heart from God Satan hath found this bait to take so well that he neuer changed it since he crept into Paradise How many haue wee knowne whose heads haue bin broken with their owne ribbe In the first world the sonnes of God saw the daughters of men and tooke them wiues of all they liked they multiplied not children but iniquities Balaam knew well if the dames of Moab could make the Israelites wantons they should soone make them Idolaters All lies open where the couenant is not both made with the eye and kept It was the charge of God to the Kings of Israel before they were that they should not multiply Wiues Salomon hath gone beyond the stakes of the law and now is ready to leese himselfe amongst a thousand bed-fellowes Who so laies the reines in the necke of his carnall appetite cannot promise where he will rest Oh Salomon where was thy wisdome whiles thine affections run away with thee into so wilde a voluptuousnes What bootes it thee to discourse of all things whiles thou misknowest thy selfe The perfections of speculation doe not argue the inward powers of selfe-gouernment The eye may be cleare whiles the hand is palsied It is not so much to be heeded how the soule is informed as how it is disciplined The light of knowledge doth well but the due order of the affections doth better Neuer any meere man since the first knew so much as Salomon many that haue knowne lesse haue had more command of themselues A competent estate well husbanded is better then a vast patrimony neglected There can be no safety to that soule where is not a strait curbe vpon our desires If our lusts be not held vnder as slaues they will rule as tyrans Nothing can preuent the extremity of our mis-carriage but early and strong denials to our concupiscence Had Salomon done thus delicacie and lawlesse greatnesse had not led him into these bogs of intemperance The waies of youth are steep and slipperie wherein as it is easie to fall so it is commonly releeued with pittie but the wanton inordinations of age are not more vnseasonable then odious yet behold Salomons younger yeeres were studious and innocent his ouer-hastened age was licentious and misgouerned For when Salomon was old his wiues turned away his heart after other Gods If any age can secure vs from the danger of a spirituall fall it is our last and if any mans old-age might secure him it was Salomons the beloued of God the Oracle the miracle of wisdome who would haue looked but that the blossoms of so hopefull a spring should haue yeelded a goodly and pleasant fruit in the Autumne of age yet behold euen Salomons old age vicious There is no time wherein we can be safe whiles we carrie this body of sinne about vs Youth is impetuous mid-age stubborne old age weake all dangerous Say not now The furie of my youthfull flashes is ouer I shall henceforth finde my heart calme and impregnable whiles thou seest old Salomon doting vpon his concubines yea vpon their Idolatrie It is no presuming vpon time or meanes or strength how many haue begun and proceeded well who yet haue shamed themselues in their last stage If God vphold vs not we cannot stand If God vphold vs we cannot fall when we are at our strongest it is best to be weake in our selues and when at our weakest strong in him in whom we can doe all things I cannot yet thinke so hardly of Salomon that he would proiect his person to Ashtaroth the Goddesse of the Sidonians or Milchom the Idoll of the Ammonites or Chemosh the abomination of Moab He that knew all things from the shrub to the Cedar could not be ignorant that these statues were but stocks or stones or mettals and the powers resembled by them Deuils It is not like he could be so insensate to adore such deities but so