but draw neer to him with our lips while our hearts are far from him Secondly The like spoil of Duty is made when we adventure upon it in our own strength and not in the strength of Christ Satan sees the pride of our heart and how much our gifts may contribute to it and how prone we are to be confident of a right performance of what we have so often practised before and therefore doth he more industriously catch at that advantage to make us forget that our strength is in God and that we cannot come to him acceptably but by his own power Christians are often abused this way when their strength is to seek Duty is oft perversly set before them that they may act as Sampson did when his locks were cut who thought to shake himself and to go out as at other times and so fell into the hands of the Philistines Thirdly If he can substitute base ends and Principles as motives to Duty instead of these that God hath commanded he knows the Service will become stinking and loathsome to God Fasting Prayers Alms Preaching or any other Duty may be thus tainted when they are performed upon no better grounds than to be seen of Men or out of Envy or to satisfie humour or when from custom rather than conscience How frequently did the Prophets tax the Jews for this that they fasted to themselves and brought forth fruit to themselves How severely did Christ condemn the Pharisees upon the same account telling them that in hunting the applause of Men by these devotions they had got all the reward they were like to have Fourthly When we do our Services unseasonably not only the grace and beauty of them is spoiled but often are they rendred unprofitable There are times to be observed not only for the right management of common Actions but also for Duties What is Christian Reproof if it be not rightly suited to season and opportunity The same may be said of other Services Fifthly Services are spoiled when Men set upon them without resolutions of leaving their Sins While they come with their Idols in their heart and the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face God will not be enquired of by them He requires of those that present their Services to him that at least they should not affront him with direct purposes of continuing in their Rebellions against him nay he expects from his Servants that look for a Blessing in their Duties that they come with their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and their bodies washed with pure water If they come to hear the Word they must lay aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness if they pray they must lift up pure hands If they come to the Lords Supper they must eat that Feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth And albeit he may accept the Prayers of those that are so far convinced of their Sins though they be not yet sanctified that they are willing to lay down their Weapons and are touched with a sence of Legal Repentance for thus he heard Ahab and regarded the Humiliation of Nineveh Yet while Men cleave to the love of their iniquity and are not upon any terms of parting with their Sins God will not look to their Services but abhor them For thus he declares himself Isa 1. 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices Bring no more vain oblations I cannot away with them it is iniquity even the solemn meeting my soul hateth them they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them when you spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many Prayers I will not hear The ground of all this is that their heart was no way severed from the purposes of Sinning Your hands are full of blood vers 15. Satan knowing this so well he is willing that they engage in the Services of God if they will keep up their Allegiance to him and come with intentions to continue wicked still for so while he cannot prevent the actual performance of Duty which yet notwithstanding he had rather do because he knows not but God may by that means sometime or other rescue these Slaves of Satan out of his hand he makes their Services nothing worth and renders them abominable to God Sixthly In the manner of undertaking Duties are spoiled when Men have not a submissive ingenuity in them by giving themselves up to the direction and disposal of the Almighty but rather confine and limit God to their wills and desires Sometimes Men by attempting of Services to God think thereby to engage God to humour them in their wills and ways With such a mind did Ahab consult the Prophets about his expedition to Ramoth-Gilead not so much seeking Gods mind and counsel for direction as thinking thereby to engage God to confirm and comply with his determination With the same mind did Johanan and the rest of the people consult the Lord concerning their going down to Aegypt Jer. 42. 5. Though they solemnly protested Obedience to what God should say whether it were good or evil yet when the return from God suited not with their desires and resolutions they denied it to be the Command of God and found an evasion to free themselves of their engagement Jer. 43. 2. Such dealings as these being the evident undertakings of an Hypocritical heart must needs render all done upon that score to be presumptuous temptings of God no way deserving the name of Service Secondly Not only are Services thus spoiled in those wrong grounds and ways of attempting or setting about them but in the very act or performance of them while they are upon the Wheel as a Potters Vessel in the Prophet they are often marred and this Satan doth two ways 1 By disturbing our thoughts which should be attentive and fixed upon the Service in hand 2 By vitiating the Duty it self First By distracting or disturbing our thoughts This is an usual Policy of Satan Those Fowls which came down upon Abrahams Sacrifice are supposed by Learned Expositors to signifie those means and ways by which the Devil doth disorder and trouble our thoughts in Religious Services And Christ himself compares the Devil stealing our thoughts from Duty to the Fowls of the Air that gather up the Seed as soon as it is sown There are many reasons that may perswade us that this is one of his Master-pieces of Policy As 1 in that the business of Distraction is oft easily done our thoughts do not naturally delight in Spiritual things because of their depravement neither can they easily brook to be pent in or confined so strictly as the nature of such imployments doth require so that there is a kind of preternatural force upon our thoughts when they are Religiously imployed which as it is in it self laborious like the stopping of a Stream or driving Jordan back so upon
accompany it is a sad step to a desperate neglect of duty and a carelesness in sinning in that it insensibly introduceth Atheistical impressions upon the hearts of Men and such are apt to catch hold even upon good Men who are but too ready to say as David I have cleansed my hands in vain Fourthly Satan hath yet another piece of Policy for the multiplication and aggravation of Sin which is the enmity and opposition of the Law Of this the Apostle Paul sadly complains from his own experience Rom. 7. 8. Sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence What he laments is this that such is the perversness of our natures that the Law instead of restraining us doth the more enrage us so that accidentally the Law doth multiply Sin for when the restraint of the Law is before us Lust burns not only more inwardly but when it cannot be kept in and smothered then it breaks out with greater violence Let us break their bonds asunder c. When the Law condemns our Lusts they grow surly and desperate Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die c. If any wonder that the Law which was given of purpose to repress Sin and which is of so great use in its authority to kill it in us and to hinder Temptations should thus be used by Satan to encrease and enrage it they may consider that 't is but still an accidental occasion and not a cause and Sin takes this occasion without any fault of the Law Satan to this end watcheth the time when our hearts are most earnestly set upon our Lusts when our desires are most highly engaged and then by a subtile Art so opposeth the Law letting in it's contradictions in way and measure sutable that our hearts conceive a grudge at restraint which together with its earnestness to satisfy the Flesh ariseth up to a furious madness and violent striving to maintain a liberty and freedom to do according to the desires of their heart whereas this same Law if it be applyed to the heart when 't is more cooled and not so highly engaged upon a design of Lust will break terrify and restrain the heart and put such a damp upon Temptations that they shall not be able to stand before it So great a difference is there in the various seasons of the application of this Law in which Art for the enflaming of the heart to iniquity Satan shews a wonderful dexterity CHAP. XV. Of Satan's keeping all in quiet which is his second Engine for keeping his Possession and for that purpose his keeping us from going to the Light by several subtilties also of making us rise up against the Light and by what wayes he doth that SAtan's next Engine for the maintaining his Possession is to keep all in quiet which our Saviour notes Luk. 11. 21. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace He urgeth this against those that objected to him that he cast out Devils by Belzebub which calumny he confuteth by shewing the inconsistency of that with Satan's Principles and Design it being a thing sufficiently known and universally practised that no man will disturb or dispute against his own peaceable Possession neither can it be supposed Satan will do it because he acts by this common Rule of keeping down and hindring any thing that may disquiet breach of Peace is hazardous to a Possession an uneasie Government occasions mutinies and revolts of Subjects yet we might think that the wages of Sin the light and power of Conscience considered it were no easie task for the Devil to rule his Slaves with so much quiet as 't is observed he doth his skill in this particular and the way of managing his interest for such an end we may clearly see in Jo. 3. 20. Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved From which place we may observe 1 The great thing that doth disquiet Satan's Possession is Light 2 The reason of that disquietment is the discovery that Light makes and the shame that follows that discovery 3 The way to prevent that Light and the reproof of it is to avoid coming to it and where it cannot be avoided to hate it 'T is Satan's business then for keeping all in peace 1 To keep us from the Light or if that cannot be then 2 To make us rise up against it I shall make enquiry after both these projects of the Devil To keep us from coming to the Light he useth a great many subtilties as First for his own part he forbears to do any thing that might discompose or affright entangled Souls at other times and in other cases he loves to torment and affright them to cause their Wounds to stink and corrupt but in this case he takes a contrary course he keeps off as much as may be all reflections of Conscience he conceals the evil and danger of Sin he sings them asleep in their folly till a dart strike through their liver and hastens them to the snare as a bird that knoweth not that it is for his life They that shall consider that the heart of a sinner is hardned through the deceitfulness of Sin and that the greatest part of the affrightment that molests the consciences of such is from Satan's fury and malice they will easily conceive how much his single forbearance to molest may contribute to the peace and ease of those that are setled upon their lees but besides his forbearance we may expect that what ever clouds or darkness he can raise to exclude the Light or to muffle the eyes he will not be negligent in the use of that power whatever he can positively do in the raising up the confidence of presumption or security in the Minds of Men what ever he can do to make them sottish or careless that shall not be wanting Secondly he shews no less skill and diligence by secret contrivances to hinder occasions of reproof and discovery how much he can practise upon others that out of pity and compassion to the Souls of Men are ready to draw a sinner from the errour of his way and to save a Soul from death We can scarce imagine what ways he hath to divert and hinder them by what private discouragements he doth defer them who can tell He that could dispute with the Angel about the body of Moses to prevent the secret interment of it he that could give a stop of One and twenty days to the Angel that was to bring the comfortable Message to Daniel of the hearing of his Prayers may more easily obstruct and oppose the designs of a faithful reprover Some time he doth this by visible means and instruments stirring up the Spirits of wicked men to give opposition to such as seek to deliver their Souls from the blood of men by faithful warnings or exhortations The Devil was so
10. was by the influence of the evil Spirit and this as Junius Tirinus and others interpret must of necessity be understood of such a kind of action and speaking as the true Prophets of the Lord usually expressed under the Influences of the blessed Spirit for from the likeness of the action in both must the name be borrowed The experience that we have of inward Disputings the bandying of Arguments and Answers in several Cases is a proof of this beyond exception Wounded Consciences express an admirable dexterity in breaking all Arguments urged for their peace and establishment as also in framing Objections against themselves so far above the usual measure of common Capacities that we cannot ascribe it to any other than Satan's private aid this way Fourthly The motion being made if there be need he doth irritate and stir up the mind to the embracement of it and this he doth two ways First By an earnestness of Sollicitation when he urgeth the thing over and over and gives no rest when he joyns with this an importunity of begging and intreating with the repeated motion when he draws together and advantageously doth order a multitude of considerations to that end and when in all this he doth hold down the mind and thoughts and keep them upon a contemplation of the Object Motions and Reasons Thus he provoked David 1 Chron. 21. 1. And this kind of dealing occasioned the Apostle to name his Temptations and our resistance by the name of wrestlings in which usually there appears many endeavours and often repeated to throw down the Antagonist Secondly He doth irritate by a secret power and force that he hath upon our Fancies and Passions When Men are said to be carried and led by Satan it implyes in the judgment of some more than importunity and that though he cannot force the spring of the Will yet he may considerably act upon it by pulling at the Weights and Plummets that is by moving and acting our Imaginations and Affections The motion being thus made notwithstanding all his importunity often finds resistance in which case he comes to the practice of a fourth Rule which is to draw away and entice the heart to consent as 't is expressed Jam. 1. 14. Everyman is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed I shall avoid here the variety of the apprehensions which some declare at large about the meaning of the words satisfying my self with this that the Apostle points at those Artifices of Satan by which he draws and allures the will of Man to a complyance with his motions which when he effects in any degree then may a Man be said to be prevailed upon by the Temptation But then here is the wonder how he should so far prevail against that Reason and Knowledg which God hath placed in Man to fence and guard him against a thing so absurd and unreasonable as every sin is The Solution of this knot we have in 2 Cor. 4. 4. The God of this World blinds the eyes of Men draws a curtain over this Knowledg and raiseth a darkness upon them which darkness though we cannot fully apprehend yet that it is a very great and strange darkness may be discovered 1. Partly by considering the subject of it Man a rational Creature in whom God hath placed a Conscience which is both a Law and Witness and Judge It cannot be supposed an easie matter to cloud or obliterate that Law to silence or pervert that Witness or to corrupt that Judge but it will rise higher in the wonder of it if we consider this in a godly Man one that sets God before him and is wont to have his fear in his heart such a man as David was that in so plain a case in so high a manner so long a time with so little sense and apprehension of the evil and danger Satan should so quickly prevail 't is an astonishment neither will it be less strange if we consider 2. The issue and effect of this blindness Some rise up against this Law of Conscience arguing it false and erronious and making conclusions directly contrary as Deut. 29. 19. I shall have peace though I walk on in the imaginations of my heart I have fellowship with him though I walk in darkness 1 Joh. 1. 6. We will not hearken unto thee but will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth Jer. 45. 16 17. in which cases the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or principles of Conscience are quite overthrown Some are hardned and as to any application of their acts to this Rule quite dead and sensless though they rise not up against the light yet are they willingly ignorant without any consideration of what they are doing here the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or witnessing and excusing power of Conscience is idle and asleep Some though they know the Law and in some measure see their actions are sinful yet they pass no judgment apprehend no danger No man smites upon his thigh saying what have I done Jer. 8. 6. Nay some are so far from this that they presumptuously justify themselves though they see their own blame and ruine before them I do well to be angry and that to the death saith Jonah when Satan had spread a darkness upon him What shall we say of these things here is darkness to be felt Egyptian darkness to explain the way of it fully is impossible for us to do it in any tollerable way is difficult To make some discovery herein I shall 1. Shew that the Devil doth entice to sin by stirring up our lust 2. That by the power and prevalency of our lust he brings on the blindness spoken of CHAP. X. That Satan enticeth by our Lust The several ways by which he doth it Of the power and danger of the violence of Affections THe way then by which he doth entice is by stirring up our lust By lust I mean those general desirings of our minds after any unlawful object which are forbidden in the tenth Commandment thus we read of worldly lusts of the lusts of the flesh of lustings to envy and in a world we read of divers lusts the whole attempt and striving of corrupt Nature against the Spirit being set forth by this expression of lusting against the Spirit That Satan takes advantage of our own lusts and so plows with our Heifer turning our own Weapons against our selves is evident by the general vote of Scripture The Apostle James 1. 14. tells us that every Temptation prevails only by the power and working of our own lusts Satan is the Tempter but our lusts are the advantages by which he draws and enticeth the corrupt principle within us is called flesh but the way whereby it works either in its own proper motion or as stirred up by the Devil is that of lust and affection and therefore he that would stop that issue must look to mortify it in its affections and
scandalous Iniquities Much of external Sanctity and Saint-like behaviour ariseth from hence the faces and presence of some Men have such a shining splendor that Iniquity blusheth and hideth its head before them Sin dare not do what it would so great a reverence and esteem of such persons is kept up in the consciences of some and so great an awe and fear is thence derived to others that they will not or dare not give way to an insolency in evil The Israelites were generally a wicked People yet such an awe they had of Joshua and the Elders that outlived Joshua who had seen all the great works of the Lord that Satan seemed to be cast out all their days Who could have thought Joash had been so much under Satan's power that had observed his ways all the time of Je oiada the Priest Then he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord Satan was content to let him alone because Jehoiada's life and authority did overawe him but after his death Satan returned to his Possession and the King hearkened to the Princes of Judah and served Groves and Idols The like is observed of Vzziah the reverence that he had for Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God discouraged the Tempter from soliciting him to those evils which afterward he engaged him in Satan is willing when he perceives the awe and authority of good Men stands in his way rather to suspend the prosecution of his design than by forcing it against so strong a current to hazard the Shipwrack of it Fifthly He also makes as if he were cast out when he perceives the consciences of Men are scared by threatned or felt judgments he forbears to urge them against the pricks when God draws his Sword and brings forth the glittering Spear Balaam's Ass would not run against the Angel that appeared terribly against him in his way The Devil knows the power of an awakened Conscience and sees it in vain to strive against such a stream and when it will be no better he withdraws As great a power as the Devil had in Ahab when he was affrighted and humbled he gave way and for that season drave him not on to his wonted practice of wickedness He also carried thus to the Ninevites when they were awaked by the preaching of Jonah then we see them a reforming People the Devil surceased to carry them into their former provocations How frequently is this seen among Professors where the Word hath a searching power and force upon them Sin is so curbed and kept under that 't is like a root of bitterness in Winter lying hid under ground Satan forbearing to act upon it or to improve it till the storms and noise of Judgments cease and then usually it will spring up and trouble them If Satan hath really lost his hold he ceaseth not to molest and vex even awakened consciences with urgent solicitations to Sin but if he perceive that his Interest in the hearts of Men remains sure to him and unshaken then in case of afrightment and fear of wrath 't is his policy to conceal himself and to dissemble a departure Sixthly Satan is also forced to this by the prevailing power of Knowledg and principles of Light where the Gospel in profession and preaching displays abroad his bright beams then whatever shift Men make to be wicked in secret yet the light is as the shadow of death to them and 't is even a shame to speak of these things in publick Here Satan cannot rage so freely but is put to his shifts and is forced to be silent whilst the power of the Gospel cuts off half his garments Men begin to reform some are clean escaped from errour 2 Pet. 2. 18. others abandon their filthy lusts and scandalous sins and so escape the pollutions of the World through the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ver 20. Yet under all these great alterations and appearances of amendment the Devil is but seemingly ejected for in the place mentioned when the Light declines those that were escaped from Errour and those that had fled from sinful Pollutions were both entangled again and carried to the same pitch and a great deal further of that Sin and Errour in which they had been formerly engaged These are the Six Cases in which Satan ceaseth the Prosecution of his Design which was his first Policy in feigning himself to be cast out but he further dissembles a flight when he thinks it not fit to cease wholly By abating his Pursuit by slacking his Course and this he doth First When he Tempts still but yet less than formerly so great is his cunning and patience that when he cannot get what he would have he contents himself with what he can get rather than lose all He desires that Men would give up themselves fully and freely to his service but if they like not this he is willing to take them as one speaks as retainers and to suffer them to take a liberty to come and go at pleasure He hath two main ends in tempting Men to Sin one is to avenge himself upon God in open defiance and dishonour of his Name the other is the ruine and perdition of Souls if he could he would have these two ends meet in every Temptation yet he pleaseth himself with the latter when he cannot help it and in that too he satisfies himself sometimes with as small an Interest as may be so that his Possession and Interest be but preserved He knows that one Sin loved and embraced brings Death for its Wages A leak unstopped and neglected may sink the Ship as well as a great Storm and therefore when he perceives the Consciences of Men shie and nice he is willing they come to him as Nicodemus came to Christ by night in private and that by stealth they do him service Secondly He sometimes offers Men a Composition and so keeps his hold privately by giving them an Indulgence and Tolleration to comply with Religious duties and observations Pharaoh condescended that Israel should go and serve the Lord in the Wilderness upon condition that their Wives Children and Substance were left behind so Satan saith to some Go and serve the Lord only let your heart be with me leave your Affections behind upon the World That serious warning of Christ Ye cannot serve two Masters ye cannot serve God and Mammon evidently shews that the Devil useth to conceal his Interest in the hearts of Sinners by offering such terms and that Men are so apt to think that Satan is gone out when they have shared the heart betwixt God and him that they stand in need of a full discovery of that Cheat and earnest caution against it the Devil was forced to yield that Herod should do many things at the Preaching of John yet he maintained his possession of his heart by fixing him in his resolved Lust in the matter of
apt to be drawn into rage and fury when they think their burthen is greater than they can bear and see no hope of ease in a kind of revenge they express their anger against the hand that wounded them The Devil is officiously ready with his advice of Curse God and die and they being full of anguish are quickly made to comply with it 7. When 't is at this height the Devil hath but one Stage more and that is the suggesting of irregular means for ease Rage against God doth not quench the inward burning Blasphemies against Heaven easeth not the Pain the Soar runs still and ceaseth not the trouble continues the Man cannot endure it longer all Patience and Hope is gone what shall he do in this case The Devil offers his Service he will be the Physician and commonly he prescribes one of these two things 1. That 't is best to endeavour to break through all this trouble into a resolved prophaneness not to stand in awe of Laws nor to believe that there is a God that governs in the Earth but that this is only the bitter fruit of melancholy and unnecessary seriousness and therefore 't is best to eat drink and be merry If a Man can thus escape out of his trouble the Devil needs no more but oft he cannot the wounds of Conscience will not be thus healed Then 2. He hath another remedy which will not fail as he tells them that is to destroy themselves to end their troubles with their lives How open are the Breasts of troubled Creatures to all these Darts and were it not that God secretly steps in and holds the afflicted with his right hand 't is scarce imaginable but that wounded Consciences should by Satan's subtile improvement of so fair an advantage be brought to all this misery 8. Satan can afflict the Body by the Mind For these two are so closely bound together that their good and bad estate is shared betwixt them If the Heart be merry the Countenance is chearful the Strength is renewed the Bones do flourish like an Herb. If the Heart be troubled the Health is impaired the Strength is dryed up the Marrow of the Bones wasted c. Grief in the Heart is like a Moth in the Garment it insensibly consumeth the Body and disordereth it This advantage of weakening the Body falls into Satans hands by necessary consequence as the Prophets ripe Figs that fell into the Mouth of the Eater And surely he is well pleased with it as he is an Enemy both to Body and Soul But 't is a greater satisfaction to him in that as he can make the Sorrows of the Mind produce the Weakness and Sickness of the Body So can he make the Distemper of the Body by a reciprocal requital to augment the trouble of the Mind How little can a sickly Body do it disables a Man for all Services he cannot oft Pray nor Read nor Hear Sickness takes away the Sweetness and Comfort of Religious Exercises this gives occasion for them to think the worse of themselves they think the Soul is weary of the ways of God when the Body cannot hold out All failures which weariness and faintness produce are ascribed presently to the bad dispostion of the Mind and this is like Oyl cast upon the Flame Thus the Devil makes a double gain out of Spiritual trouble 9. Let it be also reckoned among the advantages which Satan hath against Men from trouble of Spirit that 't is a contentment to him to see them in their Miseries 't is a sport to him to see them as Job speaks take their Flesh in their Teeth and cry out in the bitterness of their Souls their groanings are his Musick when they wallow in Ashes drown themselves in Tears roar till their Throat is dry spread out their Hands for help then he gluts his Heart in looking upon their woes When they fall upon God with their unjust Surmises evil Interpretations of Providence questioning his Favour denying his Grace whishing they had never been Born then he claps his Hands and shouts a Victory The pleasantest sight to him is to see God hiding himself from his Child and that Child broken with fears torn in peices with griefs made a Brother to Dragons a Companion to Owls under restless Anxities perpetual Lamentations feeble and sore broken their Strength dryed like a Potsheard their Throat dry their Tongue cleaving to their Jaws their Bowels boyling their Bones burnt with Heat their Skin black upon them their Flesh consumed their Bones sticking out chastened with strong pain upon their Bed This is one of Satan's delightful Spectacles and for these ends doth he all he can to bereave them of their Comfort which we may the more certainly perswade our selves to be true when we consider the grounds forementioned his malicious nature the advantages of Spiritual Peace and the disadvantages of Spiritual trouble CHAP. VI. Of the various Ways by which he hinders Peace 1. Way by discomposures of Spirit These Discomposures explained by shewing 1. What advantage he takes from our natural Temper and what Tempers give him this advantage 2. By what occasions he works upon our natural Tempers 3. With what success 1. These Occasions suited to natural Inclinations raise great disturbance 2. They have a tendency to Spiritual Trouble The thing proved and the manner how discovered 3. These Disturbances much in his Power General and Particular Considerations about that Power HAving evidenced that one of Satan's principal designs is against the Peace and Comfort of God's Children I shall next endeavour a discovery of the various ways by which he doth undermine them herein All inward troubles are not of the same kind in themselves neither doth Satan always produce the same effects out of all Some being in their own nature disquiets that do not so directly and immediately overthrow the Peace and Joy of believing and the Comforts of assurance of Divine Favour as others do Yet seeing that by all he hath no small advantage against us as to Sin and Trouble and that any of them at the long-run may lead us to question our interest in Grace and the Love of God and may accordingly afflict us I shall speak of them all which that I may do the more distinctly I shall rank these troubles into several heads under peculiar names it may be not altogether so proper but that the curious may find matter of exception to them that by them and their explanation the differences may the better appear I distinguish therefore of a fourfold trouble that the Devil doth endeavour to work up upon the Hearts of Men. They are 1. Discomposures 2. Affrightments 3. Dejections of Sadness 4. Distresses of Horrour Of all which I shall speak in their order And 1. Of Discomposures of Soul These are Molestations and Disturbances by which the Mind is put out of order and made unquiet the calm in which it should enjoy it self and by which it should be
in time bring on spiritual troubles for if our Comforts be once lost Trouble of Conscience easily follows Where there is nothing to fortify the Heart the poyson of malicious suggestions will unavoidably prevail 2. Discomposures of Soul afford the Devil fit matter to work upon They furnish him with strong objections against sincerity of Holiness by which the peace of Conscience being strongly assaulted is at last overthrown The usual Weapons by which Satan fights against the assurance of Gods Children are the guilt of sins committed and the neglect of Duty and the disturbed Soul affords enough of both these to make a Charge against it self For 1. Where there is much Discomposure there is much Sin If in the multitude of words there wants not Iniquity then much more in the multitude of unruly thoughts A disturbed Spirit is like troubled Water all the Mud that lay at the bottom is raised up and mixeth it self with the Thoughts If any injury or loss do trouble the Mind all the Thoughts are tinctured with Anger Pride Impatience or whatsoever root of bitterness was in the Heart before we view them not singly as the issue of wise Providence but ordinarily we consider them as done by such Instruments and against our selves as malicious spiteful causless ingrateful wrongs and then we give too great a liberty to our selves to rage to meditate revenge to threaten to reproach and what not and if our Disposition have not so strong a natural inclination to these Distempers yet the Thoughts by discomposure are quickly leavened it is the comparison used by the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 8. to express the power of Malice which is an usual attendant in this service to infect all the Imaginations with a sharpness which makes them swell into exorbitancy and excess hence proceed Revilings Quarrelings c. When the Tongue is thus fermented it is a Fire a World of Iniquity producing more sins than can be reckoned it defileth the whole Body engaging all the faculties in heady pursuit Jam. 3. 6. 2. Discomposures obstruct Duties This is the inconvenience which the Apostle 1 Pet. 3. 7. tells us doth arise from disturbances among Relations if the Wife or Husband do not carry well so that discontents or differences arise their Prayers are hindered Duties then are obstructed 1. In the Act. When the Heart is out of frame Prayer is out of season and there is an aversness to it partly because all good things are in such confusions burthensome to the Humor that then prevails which eats out all desire and delight to spiritual things and partly because they dare not come into Gods presence conscience of their own guilt and awe of God hindring such approaches 2. They obstruct the right manner of Performance straitning the Heart and contracting the Spirit that if any thing be attempted 't is poorly and weakly performed 3. And also the success of Duty is obstructed by discomposure God will not accept such Services and therefore Christ adviseth to leave the Gift before the Altar though ready for offering where the Spirit is overcharged with Offences or angry Thoughts and first to go and be reconciled to our Brother and then to come and offer the Gift it being lost labour to do it before From these sins of Omission and Commission Satan can and often doth frame a dreadful charge against those that are thus concern'd endeavouring to prove by these evidences that they are yet notwithstanding pretence of Conversion in the gall of Bitterness and bond of Iniquity whereby the peace of Conscience is much shaken and the more because also 3. These discomposures of Soul give Satan a fit season for the management of his Accusation Strong Accusations do often effect nothing when the season is unsutable Many a time he hath as much to say against the Comforts of Men when yet they shake all off as Paul did the Viper off his hand and fell no harm But that which prepares the Conscience to receive the Indictment is a particular disposition which it is wrought into by suspicious credulity and fearfulness These make the Heart as Wax to the Seal ready to take any impression that Satan will stamp upon it Now by long disturbances he works the Heart into this Mould very often and upon a double account he gains himself a fit opportunity to charge home his exceptions 1. In that he sets upon the Conscience with his Accusations after the Heart hath been long molested and confused with its other Troubles for then the Heart is weakned and unable to make resistance as at other times An Assault with a fresh Party after a long conflict disorders its Forces and puts all to flight 2. In that long and great discomposures of Mind bring on a distemper of Melancholy for 't is notoriously known by common experience that those acid Humors producing this distemper which have their rise from the Blood may be occasioned by their violent Passions of Mind the Animal Spirits becoming inordinate by long discomposures of Sadness Envy Terrour and fretful Cares and the motion of the Blood being retarded it by degrees departs from its temperament and is infected with an acidity so that Persons no way inclined naturally to Melancholy may yet become so by the disquiets of their troubled Mind Both these ways but chiefly Melancholy the Devil hath his advantage for disturbing the Conscience Melancholy most naturally inclines Men to be solicitous for their Souls welfare but withall disposeth them so strongly to suspect the worst for 't is a credulous suspitious humour in things hurtful and afflicts so heavily with sadness for what it doth respect that when Satan lays before Men of that humour their Miscarriages under their discontents their Impatience Unthankfulness Anger rash Thoughts and Speeches against God or Men c. withall suggesting that such an Heart cannot be right with God after serious thoughts upon Satan's frequently repeated Charge they cry out Guilty guilty and then begins a new trouble for their Unregenerate Estate and their supposed lost Souls 4. In this case usually Satan hath greater liberty to accuse and by his Accusations to molest the Conscience in that Men of discomposed Spirits by the manifold evils arising thence provoke God to desert them and to leave them in Satans hand to be brought into an hour of Temptation Satan's Commission is occasioned by our Provocations and the Temptations arising from such a Commission are usually dreadful they are solemn Temptations and called so after a singular manner for of these I take those Scriptures to be meant Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation Mat. 26. 41. And lead us not into Temptation Mat. 6. 13. Such Temptations are not common Temptations and are of unknown force and hazard to the Soul which way soever they are designed either for Sin or Terror For several things do concur in a solemn Temptation As 1. Satan doth in a special manner challenge a Man to the Combate or rather
he challenges God to give him such a Man to fight with him as he did concerning Job This Christ tells us of Luk. 22. 31. Simon Satan hath desired to have you the word signifies a challenging or daring and it seems the Devil is oft daring God to give us into his hand when we little know of it 2. There is also a special sutableness of Occasion and Snare to the temper and state of Men. Thus he took Peter at an advantage in the High Priests Hall and in the case we now speak of he takes advantage of Mens Provocations and Melancholy 3. There is always a violent prosecution which our Saviour expresseth under the comparison of sifting which is a restless agitation of the Corn bringing that which was at the bottom to the top and shuffling the top to the bottom so that the Chaff or Dirt is always uppermost 4. And to all this there is divine permission Satan let loose and we left to our ordinary strength as is implied in that expression He hath desired to have you that he might sift you Now then if the Devil have such ground to give God a challenge concerning such Men and if God do as he justly may leave such Men whose bitterness of Spirit hath been as a smoak in his Nostrils all the day in Satans hand he will so shake them that their Consciences shall have no rest And this he can yet the more easily effect because 5. Discomposures of Spirit have a particular tendency to incline our thoughts to severity and harshness so that those who have had long and great disturbances upon any outward occasions of Loss Affliction or Disappointment c. do naturally think after a solemn review of such troubles harshly of God and of themselves they are ready to conclude that God is surely angry with them in that he doth afflict them or that they have unsanctified hearts in that their thoughts are so fretful and unruly upon every inconsiderable petty occasion 'T is so ordinary for Men under the weight of their Trouble or under the sense of their Sin to be sadly apprehensive of Gods Wrath and their Souls hazard that it were needless to offer Instances let Davids case be instead of all That his troubles begot such imaginations frequently may be seen throughout the Book of the Psalms we never read his complaints against persecuting Enemies or for other Afflictions but still his heart is affraid that God is calling Sin to remembrance in Psa 38. He is under great distress and tells how low his Thoughts were he was troubled greatly bowed down he went mourning all the day long he expresseth his thoughts to have been that God had forsaken him ver 21. and his hopes though they afterward revived were almost gone he cryes out of his sins as having gone over his Head and become a Burthen too heavy for him ver 4. and therefore sets himself to confess them ver 18. He trembles at Gods Anger and feels the Arrows of God sticking fast in him ver 2. But what occasioned all this the Psalm informs us God had visited him with Sickness ver 7. besides that for one trouble seldom comes alone his Friends were perfidious ver 11. his Enemies also were busie laying Snares for his life ver 12. Now his thoughts were to this purpose that surely he had some way or other greatly provoked God by his Sins and therefore he fears wrath in every rebuke and displeasure in every chastisement ver 1. The like you may see in Psal 102. where the Prophet upon the occasion of Sickness ver 3. and 23. and the reproach of Enemies ver 8. is under great trouble and ready to fail except speedy relief prevent ver 2. the reason whereof was this that he concluded these troubles were evident tokens of God's indignation and wrath because of thine indignation and thy wrath ver 10. From these five particulars we may be satisfied that it cannot be otherwise and also how it comes to be so that sometime trouble of Conscience is brought on by other discomposing troubles of the Mind For if these take away the Comforts which supported the Soul and afford also arguments to the Devil to prove a wicked Heart and withal a fit season to urge them to a deep impression God in the mean time standing at a distance and the thoughts naturally inclined to conclude Gods Wrath from these troubles how impossible is it that Satan should miss of disquieting the Conscience by his strong vehement suggestions of wickedness and desertion In our enquiries after Satan's success in working these discomposures of mind we have discovered 1. That the disturbances thence arising are great 2. That they have a tendency to trouble of Conscience There is but one particular more to be spoken of relating to his success in this design and that is 3. These disturbances are much in Satan's Power Ordinarily he can do it at pleasure except when God restrains him from applying sit occasions or when notwithstanding these occasions he extraordinarily suspends the effect which he frequently doth when Men are enraged under suffering upon the account of the Gospel and Conscience for then though they be bound up under Affliction and Iron yet the Iron enters not into the Soul though they are troubled they are not distressed These Extraordinaries excepted he can as easily discompose the Spirits of Men as he can by Temptation draw them into other Sins which may be evidenced by these considerations 1. We may observe that those whose passionate tempers do usually transport them into greater vehemencies are never out of trouble Their fits frequently return they are never out of the Fire and this is because Satan is still provided of occasions suitable to their inclinations 2. Though God out of his common bounty to mankind hath allowed him a comfortable being in the World yet we find that generally the Sons of Men under their various Occupations and Studies are wearied out with vexations of Spirit this Solomon in Ecclesiastes discovers at large in various imployments of Men not exempting the pursuit of Wisdom and Knowledg chap. 1. 18. In much Wisdom is much grief and he that increaseth Knowledg increaseth sorrow nor Pleasures nor Riches for by all these he shews that a Man is obnoxious to disquiets so that the general account of Man's Life is but this Eccles 2. 23. All his days are sorrows and his travel grief yea his heart taketh not rest in the night That it is so is testified by common experience past denyal but how it comes to be so is the enquiry 't is either from God or from Satan working by occasions upon our tempers That 't is not from God is evident for though sorrow be a part of that Curse which Man was justly doomed unto yet hath he appointed ways and means by which it might be so mitigated that it might be tollerable without discomposure of Spirit and therefore Solomon designing in his
affrightment by the former but also in the manner of proceeding for when he designs chiefly to tempt to Atheism he first prepares his way by debauching the Conscience with vitious or negligent living According to Psal 14. 1. that which makes Men say in their Hearts there is no God is this that they are corrupt and have done abominable works and in this method was famous Junius tempted to Atheism But when he chiefly intends to affright he sets upon Men that by a watchful and strict conversation cut off from him that advantage yet he doth so manage himself that he can turn his course either way as he finds probability of success after tryal for he presseth on upon Men most where he finds them most to yeild so that those who were but at first affrighted may at last be solemnly perswaded and urged to believe the suggestion to be true if they give him any incouragement for such a procedure 2. Contemplative Heads and great Searchers are usually most troubled in this manner partly because they see more difficulties than other Men and are more sensible of Humane inability to resolve them and partly because God who will not suffer his Children to be tempted above what they are able doth not permit Satan to molest the weaker sort of Christians with such dangerous assaults 3. Persons of eminent and singular Holiness may be and often are troubled with Atheistical thoughts and have sad conflicts about them Satan labouring where he cannot prevail for a positive entertainment of Atheism at least to disquiet their Minds by haunting them with his Injections if not to weaken their assent to these Fundamental Truths in which he sometimes so prevails that good Men have publickly professed that they have found it an harder matter to believe that there is a God than most do imagine 4. Satan lies at the catch in this design and usually takes Men at the advantage suddenly setting upon them either in the height of their Meditations and Enquiries into Fundamental Truths for when they soar aloft and puzzle themselves with a difficulty then is he at hand to advise them to cut the knot which they cannot unloose or in the depth of their Troubles for when Men cannot reconcile the daily Afflictions and Sufferings which they undergo with the love and care of God toward his Children then 't is Satans season to tell them that there is no supream Disposer of things in both these cases the Devil leaps upon them unawares like a Robber out of a Thicket who if he do not wound them by the Dart of Atheistical Injection at least he is sure to astonish them and to confound them with amazement For 5. Sometimes he pursues with wonderful violence and will dispute with admirable subtilty urging the inequality of Providence the seeming contradictions of Scripture the unsuitableness of Ordinances to an infinite Wisdom and Goodness with many more Arguments of like kind and this with such unexpected acuteness and seeming demonstration that the most holy Hearts and wisest Heads shall not readily know what to answer but shall be forced to betake themselves to their Knees and to beg of God that he would rebuke Satan and uphold them that their Faith fail not Nay he doth not only dispute but by urging and with unspeakable earnestness threaping the Conclusion upon Men doth almost force them to a Perswasion so that they are almost carried off their Feet whether they will or no. Which was the very case of David when the Devil pursued him with Atheistical thoughts on the occasion of the prosperity of wicked Men and his daily Troubles Psal 73. 2. My Feet were almost gone my Steps had well-nigh slipt 6. Yet for all this he sometimes lays aside his Sophistical Subtilty and betakes himself to an Impudent Importunity for sometimes he insists only on one Argument not changing that which he first took up nor strengthening his Suggestion with variety of Arguments but by frequent repetition of the same Reason persists to urge his injected Atheism This gives no discovery of any deep reach if he designed to perswade for 't is scarce rational to imagine that serious Men who by many Arguments are fully perswaded there is a God should readily lose their hold upon the appearance of one Objection but it shews that he purposeth only to molest And this appears more evidently when he contents himself with weak and trivial Arguments which the afflicted Party can answer fully and yet cannot for all that quit themselves of the trouble for instance 'T is not very many years since a serious and pious Person came to me and complained that he could not be at rest for Atheistical thoughts that perpetually haunted him and upon a particular enquiry into the cause and manner of his Trouble he told me the first rise of it was from his Observation that I had interpreted some Scriptures otherwise than he had heard some others to have done but withall he added that he knew the reason of his perplexity was but silly and that which he could easily answer This being no just charge against the Scripture whose sense and truth might for all that be one and uniform to it self but only an implication of Humane weakness appearing in the different apprehensions of Expositors yet notwithstanding he affirmed he could not shake off the trouble and that his thoughts were ever urged with the same thing for a long time together nay such is his impudency in this kind of trouble that those who know 't is the best way not to dispute Fundamentals with Satan but with abhorrency to reject him after the example of Christ with a Get thee behind me Satan and accordingly do with their utmost strength reject them yet they find that he doth not readily desist How sad is this Trouble how are pious Persons affrighted to see the Face of their Thoughts made abominably ugly and deformed by these violent and unavoidable Injections 't is not only wearisome to those that know it to be solely Satans malice but it often proves to be an astonishing surprisal like that of a Traveller who while he passeth on his way without foresight or thought of danger is suddenly brought to the top of a great Precipice where when he looks down to the vast deep below his Head swims his Heart pants his Knees tremble and the very fear of the sudden danger so confounds him that he is through excessive dread ready to fall into that which he would avoid so are these amazed at so great hazards before them Satan could not by all his Art prevail with them to abandon the holy ways of God in exchange for the pleasures of Sin and now they seem to be in danger to lose all at once and yet 't is more affrightful by far to those that charge though Satans cunning all this Atheism upon themselves 2. Another affrightful Injection is that of blasphemous Thoughts as that God is not just not compassionate
before I eat and my roarings are poured out like the Waters and his Sleeping times were no better Job 7. 13. When I say my Bed shall comfort me my Couch shall ease my complaint then thou scarest me with Dreams and terrifiest me through Visions so that my Soul chuseth strangling and Death rather than Life 3. These fears do make them feel the weight not only of real present evils but of all others which the imagination can represent to them So that the sight or hearing of any sad thing afflicts them with surmises that this will be their case Hence are they full of misgiving thoughts sometimes they fear that they shall at last fall off from God into some scandalous Sin to the dishonour of God and Religion as that they shall be Apostates and turn openly prophane some times they fear they shall meet with some signal devouring Judgment by which they shall one day perish as David said in the like case I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul thus are they crucified betwixt their present burthen and future expectations of evil 6. The last and indeed the meanest Engine for the working of affrightment is scrupulosity of Conscience Satan vexeth the Conscience and distracteth the Mind by raising up needless groundless fears concerning a Mans Practice Where the ignorance of Men or their timerous dispositions do encourage Satan to this enterprize there he multiplies scruples upon them so that though they assent to the doing of any thing as good or lawful yet are they constantly affrighted from it by a suspitious fear that it may be otherwise This kind of trouble takes in almost all kind of actions it extends to the way of a Mans Calling the way of his management of it the rates he takes and the prices he gives for his Commodities our every natural actions of Sleeping Eating Drinking Company Recreation are not unconcerned In all which the Devil affrights the timerous Conscience that it may be he hath offended if he buys or sells he is disquieted with a may be that he hath sold too dear or bought too cheap if he eats or sleeps he fears he hath been excessive a Sluggard or a Glutton thus are some Men molested in every thing they do Neither is this kind of affrightment to be despised for though often 't is a groundless fear and so appears to be to discerning Christians yet those that are under this molestation think it bad enough Though it be not as a Rack that afflicts with violent pains yet 't is as those kinds of punishments which at first are nothing but by continuance do tire Men out with little-ease and so at last become intollerable Besides this is a multiplying trouble for one scruple begets another and by continuance of scrupling the Conscience grows so weak and unsteady that every thing is scrupled and the Man brought to a continual affrightment of doing wrong in every action Neither can all Men make use of the remedy that is prescribed for the cure of this Distemper which is That when such scruples cannot be removed by Reason then either Men should forbear the thinking upon such things from whence scruples are apt to arise or they should break them down by violence and go over the Belly of their scruple to the performance of their action I deny not but that something may be done and endeavoured this way But any may see that 't is not easy for every one to do either of these so that this is also a troublesome evil from which 't is not easy to be discharged CHAP. VIII Of Satan's third way to hinder Peace by Spiritual Sadness Wherein 1. Of the Degrees of Spiritual Sadness 2. Of the frequency of this trouble evidenced several ways Of the difference 'twixt God and Satan in wounding the Conscience 3. Of the solemn Occasions of this Trouble 4. The Engines by which Satan works spiritual sadness 1. His Sophistry His Topicks enumerated and explained 1. Scriptures Perverted 2. False Notions 3. Misrepresentations of God 4. Sins how he aggravates them 5. Lessening their Graces How he doth that 2. His second Engine Fear how he forwards his design that way BEsides the troubles already mentioned under the heads of discomposures of Spirit and affrightments there is a third kind of trouble which Satan gives to the Children of God and this may for distinction sake be called Spiritual Sadness These Spiritual Sadnesses are troubles raised in the Mind relating to the Conscience and Spiritual State or Condition of Men. They differ exceedingly from the two former sorts of trouble for 1. These troubles wholly concern the Conscience in point of Regeneration and Men's suitableness thereunto whereas simple discomposures of Spirit firstly relate to outward things 2. In these the Conscience is immediately concerned but in other troubles the Conscience is either wholly untouched or wounded only secondarily by continuance and progress of the discomposure of the Spirit 3. In these troubles Conscience is the great instrument by which the Devil works whereas in the trouble of affrightments the Devil acted alone the Heart being in the mean time uncomplyant and resisting For the opening of this trouble I shall explain The several degrees thereof 'T is a trouble of Conscience unduly aggravated by Satan wherein he confines himself to the operations of Conscience But then as he suggests the troubles of Men by the voice of Conscience so he doth all he can to make it irregular in its actings and excessive in that irregularity So that in this case the Conscience is evil and imploys it self in that mistake to enquire into Mens Regeneracy or Holiness always being either a Neuter or an Adversary and the Devil helps this forward all he can The Apostle in Heb. 10. 22. makes mention of an evil Conscience and that chiefly as it doth occasion fear hindering our comfortable access to God This the Conscience doth when it doth not execute its office aright either in not excusing when it ought or in accusing when it should not and these false accusations cause different sorts of troubles according to the variety of the matter for which it doth condemn Hence is it that there are three degrees of trouble of Conscience below the trouble of dispair 1. The lowest degree is when a regenerate Person doth not positively determine the case of his Soul whether he be Regenerate or not but is only kept in suspence betwixt Hope that he is and Fear that he is not the Conscience in the mean time forbearing to witness for him though it have just cause to excuse him This we may call a doubting or questioning Conscience and though it comes far short of these distresses in which some Men are plunged upon the account of their Souls yet is it a trouble for their Peace is hereby hindred and their desires of satisfaction frustrated which in matters of so great concern as are these of Everlasting Life and Everlasting Misery must be very disquieting
When the Affections are earnest their satisfaction cannot be delayed without trouble for Hope deferred makes the Heart sick Prov. 13. 12. not only doth it faint under its doubts but is by that means so weak in its Purposes that it is easily drawn to admit of greater Inconveniencies which may lay the foundation of more perplexing disturbances That the Conscience may be in such a Distemper that it will not witness for a Man when yet it cannot witness against him is the observation of those that have treated of the nature of Conscience Sometimes it will not make application of God's Promises though it will believe that he that forsakes Sin is regenerate that he that truly repents shall be pardoned yet it will not affirm for a Man that he forsakes Sin or repents though he really do so or if it cannot deny that yet it will sometimes refuse to make that conclusion which one would think would follow of it self by natural consequence and so refuseth to judge the Person regenerate or pardoned though it cannot deny but that he forsakes Sin and repents The greatness of the Blessing the remainders of Unbelief the deep sense of Unworthiness with other considerations do keep off the Heart from making as I may say so bold with the Promises but all this while the Devil is doing his utmost to aggravate these considerations afrighting the Conscience from that just absolution which it ought to give 2. Another degree of Trouble arising from an evil Conscience is when the condition of a Regenerate Person is determined by Conscience but falsly to be very bad I must here as some others have done for want of better terms distinguish betwixt the state of Regeneracy and a Mans condition in that state though the words state and condition are used promiscuously the one for another A Man may be in a Regenerate state and yet his condition in that state may be very bad and blame-worthy as not walking worthy of so holy a Calling as a Person may be a Man and yet unhealthy or languishing Thus many of the Asian Churches were true Churches and yet in a bad condition some lukewarm some had a name to live and yet were comparatively dead because their works were not full or perfect before God and others had left their first love To this purpose is that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 13. 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reproabates where the word Reprobate is not to be taken in the strict severe sense for one not elected but for one whose conversation is not so sound and approved as it should be for this relates not to their being in Christ but to their assurance of being in that state which the Apostle affirms they might know except the fault lay in their negligent careless conversation This kind of Trouble then is of this nature the Conscience doth not accuse a Man to be Vnregenerate yet it condemns him for a carriage unsuitable to the Gospel and this sometimes when his Actions are not absolutely evil but partly good partly bad When the Conscience condemns the Actions as altogether sinful because of some mixture of Infirmities in which case we should imitate the Apostle in Rom. 7. who when by reason of the remainders of Sin in him he could not do the good he would that is in such a manner and degree as he desired nor avoid the evil which he would so clearly and fully as he wished some imperfections in his best endeavours still cleaving to him yet his Conscience took a right course he was humbled for his imperfections but withal acquits himself in point of integrity his Conscience testified ver 16. that he consented to the Law as good and ver 22. that he delighted in the Law of God after the inward Man But in this case of Spiritual trouble the Conscience takes all in the worst sence it only fixeth upon the imperfections and makes them to serve for proofs against the Sincerity Thus if a Man in praying be troubled with wandering thoughts then a distempered Conscience condemns that Prayer as a sinful prophanation of the name of God if the great concern of God's Glory run along in such a way as is also advantagious to the Person in outward things then will such a Conscience condemn the Man for self-seeking though his main design were truly the honour of God In all actions where there is infirmity appearing with the most serious endeavours or where God's Glory and Man's Good are twisted together the disordered Conscience will be apt to take part with Satan accusing and condemning the action Yea very often when the actions are very good no way justly reprovable the Conscience shall condemn if he have had peace he shall be judged for security if he have Faith in God's promises it will call it presumption if he have a zeal for God it will be misinterpreted for carnal rigour if he have joy it shall be misjudged to be natural chearfulness or delusion in a word all his Graces shall be esteemed no better than moral Vertues At this rate are the Children of God put to great trouble losing as I may say the things they have wrought sadly bemoaning their hardness of heart or want of Faith and Love when in their carriage and complainings they give very high proofs of all In this also Satan is busy to nourish the Conscience in its Jealousies and doth suggest many objections to confirm it in its Distemper The Conscience is not always of a peevish or perverse humour for sometimes it will smite a Man for a miscarriage as it did to David when he cut off the lap of Saul's Garment and yet not break his peace which is a sufficient evidence that it is put in this case far out of order which advantage Satan works upon to disquiet the heart to make Men unthankful for the Mercies they have received and to incapacitate them for more This for distinction sake we may call the trouble of a grieved or dejected Conscience according to that of Psal 42. 5 11. Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Though such Men are under God's Favour yet they misdeem it and think God is angry with them their Heart pants their Soul thirsts their Tears are their Meat they are ready to say unto God My rock why hast thou forsaken me And though they have some hopes for the future that God will command his loving kindness and that they shall yet praise him yet their present apprehension of their Spiritual wants and weaknesses and of the displeasure of God which they suppose they are under makes them go mourning all the Day 3. The third degree of trouble of Conscience is when the Conscience peremptorily denies the state of Regeneration Hereby a Man that is really regenerate is concluded to be yet in the Gall of bitterness and bond of Iniquity his
baffle with every poor Objection and impose what he will upon them 3. Especially having the advantage of the working guilt of Conscience which he can readily stir up to present to a Mans remembrance all his failings and miscarriages of what nature soever And when Guilt rageth in an unskilful Heart it must needs create great disquiet 4. But most of all when our natural fears are awakened As when a Man hath been under any great Conviction though he be cured of his Trouble yet it usually leaves a weakness in the part as Bruâ—ses and Maims do in any Member of the Body which at the change of Weather or other accidental hurt will renew their old Trouble and then when fresh Guilt begins to press hard upon the Conscience not only do the broken Bones ake by the reviving of former fears But the impressions of his old suspitions bad conceit of himself and jealousies of the deceitfulness of his Heart which had then fixed themselves by a deep rooting do now make him most fearful of entertaining any good thought of himself So that if any consideration tending to his support be offered he dare not come near it suspecting his greatest danger to lie on that hand These advantages considered we should not think it strange that any Child of God is driven to Spiritual Sadness as some do but may rather wonder that this is not the common condition of all Christians 3. Another reason that must be assigned for these Troubles is Divine Dispensation such are his Children some so Careless others Proud others Stubborn many Presumptuous that God is forced to correct them by this piece of Discipline and to cure them by casting them into a Feaver Others of his Children he thus Exerciseth for other ends sometimes to take occasion there-from of making larger discoveries of his Love sometimes thereby preventing them from falling under some grievous Miscarriage or for the tryal and exercises of their Graces We may observe accordingly that there are three sorts of Men that usually have Exercises of this kind 1. Those who at their Conversion are either Ignorant Melancholy or were grosly Scandalous are usually brought through with great fear and sadness And this is so observable that by the mistake of Men it is made a general Rule that none are Converted but they are under great and frightful apprehensions of Wrath and dismal Terrors This indeed is true of some but these ordinarily are the Scandalous Melancholy and Ignorant sort though sometimes God may deal so with others for who can limit him Yet are there many whose Education hath been good and their Instruction aforehand great whose Conversion is so gradual and insensible that they are strangers to these troubles of Conscience and profess that if these heights of fear be necessary to Conversion they must be at a loss neither can they give an account of the time of their Conversion as others may 2. Those whose Conversion was easie when after their Conversion they miscarry by any great Iniquity they meet with as great a measure of Terrour and Fear and some think far greater as those whose new Birth was more difficult David's greatest troubles of Soul came upon him after he began to appear more publick in the World for then he met with many Temptations and great Occasions for God's exercising his Discipline over him I believe when he kept his Fathers Sheep his Songs had more of Praises and less of Complainings than afterward It is the Opinion of some that God's dealing in this kind of Dispensation even when miscarriage is not the cause is more sharp usually to those whose Conversion hath been most easie 3. There is another sort of Men to whom God vouchsafes but seldom and short fits of Spiritual Joy as breathing times betwixt sharp fits of Soul-trouble for necessary refreshment and recovery of strength but the constant course which God holds with them is to exercise them under fears while he hides his Face from them and suffers Satan to vex them by urging his Objections against their holiness and integrity Heman was one of this Rank and the great Instance which God hath given in his Word for the support of others that may be in the same case For he testifies Psal 88. that he suffered the Terrours of God almost to destraction and this from his Youth up 'T is not fit for us too narrowly to question why God doth thus to his Children seeing his Judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out but we may be sute that God sees this dealing to be most fit for those that are exercised therewith it may be to keep Pride from them or to prevent them from falling into some greater inconvenience or sin Unto which he takes notice of a more than ordinary proneness in their disposition or for the benefit of others who may thereby take notice what an evil and bitter thing it is to sin against God and what a malicious Adversary they have to deal with Whoso shall consider these reasons of Spiritual Sadness must needs confess that seeing the advantages which Men give to a malicious Devil to vex their Consciences are so many and great and the weakness of Gods Children so hazardous for the prevention whereof a wise careful Father will necessarily be engaged to exercise his Discipline it cannot be expected but that Spiritual Troubles should be very frequent among the Servants of God Here it is requisite that I give satisfaction to this Quaery Seeing that God doth sometime wound the Consciences of his Children and that Satan also wounds them what are the differences betwixt God and Satan in inflicting these Wounds Answ For the right understanding of this Question I shall propound two things 1. That it is a truth that God doth sometimes wound the Consciences of his Children and this 1. Before Conversion but in order to it as preparatory to that change Men are then in their sins walking in the vanity of their minds To translate them from this estate he awakens the Conscience shews them their Iniquities and the danger of them that at present they are in their Blood Children of wrath as well as others and that without Christ they are miserable the effect of this must needs be serious Consideration deep thoughts of Heart with some trouble only as to the measure and degree there is great difference God doth not in the particular application of these things to the Conscience tie up himself exactly to the same manner and measure of proceeding though he keep still to his general Method Hence is it that some in regard of Gods gentle leasurely dealing and the frequent interposure of Incouragements are if compared with the case of others said to be allured and drawn with Cords of Love But others have a remarkable measure of trouble sharp fits of Fear and Anguish and those most commonly are such whose Conversion is more quick and the Change visible from one extream to another as Paul
when Converted in the midst of his Persecuting rage or those whose Ignorance or Melancholy makes their Hopes and Comforts inaccessible for the present These troubles God owns to be the Work of his Spirit the same Spirit which is a Spirit of Adoption to the Converted is a Spirit of Bondage to these Rom. 8. 16. And accordingly we find it was so to the Converts in Acts 2. Who being pricked in their hearts by Peter's Sermon cried out Men and Brethren what shall we do The like did the Jaylor And the Promise which God makes of calling the Jews Zach. 12. 10. doth express God's purpose of dealing with them in this very Method They shall look upon him whom they have pierced and shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him in that day shall be a great mourning 2. God also sometimes wounds the Conscience of his Children after Conversion and this he doth to convince and humble them for some Miscarriage which they become guilty of As when they grow secure carnally confident of the continuance of their Peace when they are carelesly negligent of Duty and the exercises of their Graces when they fall into gross and scandalous sins or wilfully desert the ways of Truth and in many more cases of like kind When his Children make themselves thus obnoxious to Divine Displeasure then God hides his Face from them takes away his Spirit signifies his Anger to their Consciences threatens them with the danger of that Condition from whence follows grief and fear in the Hearts of his People In this manner God expressed his Displeasure to David as his Complaints in Psal 51. do testifie Make me to hear joy and gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce hide thy Face from my sins Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation c. 2. Notwithstanding all this there is a great difference betwixt God and Satan in this matter which mainly appears in two things 1. God doth limit himself in all the Trouble which he gives his Children to his great end of doing them Good and Healing them and consequently stints himself in the measure and manner of his Work to such a proportion as his Wisdom sees will exactly suit with his End So that his Anger is not like the brawlings of malicious Persons that know no bounds he will not always Chide his Debates are in measure and this lest the Spirit should fail before him Isa 57. 16. So that when he wounds the Conscience before Conversion 't is but to bring them to Christ and to prevent their taking such Courses as might through Delusion make them take up their stand short of him So much of Mourning and Fear as is requisite for the true effecting of this he appoints for them and no more When he wounds after Conversion 't is but to let them feel that it is an evil and bitter thing to sin against him that their Godly sorrow may work Repentance suitable to the Offence and that they may be sufficiently cautioned for the time to come to sin no more lest a worse thing befal them He that afflicts not willingly will put no more Grief upon them than is necessary to bring them to this But Satan when he is admitted and God doth ofter permit him in subservience to his design to wound the Conscience he proceeds according to the boundless fury of his malice and plainly manifests that his desire is to destroy and to tread them down that they may never rise again This though he cannot effect for God will not suffer him to proceed further than the bringing about his holy and gracious Purpose yet it hinders not but that still his envious thoughts boil up in his Breast and he acts according to his own Inclination For it is with Satan as 't is with wicked Men if God imploy them for the Chastisement of his Children they consider not who sets them on work nor what Measures probably God would have them observe but they propose to themselves more work than ever God cut out for them As Assyria when imployed against Jerusalem Isa 10. 7. had designs more large and cruel than was in Gods Commission God had stinted him in his holy Purpose yet the Assyrian meant not so neither did his heart think so but it was in his heart to destroy and cut off Nations not a few So that when God is a little displeased as he speaks Zach. 1. 15. they do all that lies in them to help forward the Affliction Thus doth the Devil endeavour to make all things worse to God's Children than ever God intended Here is one difference betwixt God and Satan in the wounding of Consciences But 2. They are yet further differenced in that all that God doth in this Work is still according to Truth For if he signifie to the Unconverted that they are in a state of Nature liable to the Damnation of Hell unless they accept of Christ for Salvation upon his Terms this is no more than what is true God doth not misrepresent their Case to them at that time Again if he express his displeasure to any of his Converted Children that have grieved his Spirit by their Follies by setting before them the Threatnings of his Word or the Examples of his Wrath he doth but truly tell them that he is angry with them and that de jure according to the Rigour of the Law and the demerit of their Offence he might justly cast them off But he doth not positively say that de eventu it shall infallibly be so with them But Satan in both these cases goes a great way further He plainly affirms to those that are in the way to Conversion that God will not pardon their Iniquities that there is no hope for them that Christ will not accept them that he never intended the benefit of his Sufferings for them And when the Converted do provoke God he sticks not to say the Breach cannot be healed and that they are not yet Converted All which are most false assertions And though God can make use of Satans malice when he abuseth his Children with his falshoods to their great fear to carry on his own ends by it and to give a greater impression to what he truly witnesseth against them Yet is not God the proper Author of Satans lying for he doth it of his own wicked inclination The effect of these desperate false Conclusions which is the putting his Children into a fear in order to his end may be ascribed to God but the falshood of these Conclusions are formally Satan's work and not God's For he makes use of so much of Satan's wrath as may be to his Praise and the remainder of his wrath he doth restrain I have discovered the nature and degrees of these Spiritual Troubles and that 't is a common thing for
Bilney Martyrs whose Consciences were so sorely wounded for Recanting the Truth which they professed that they seemed to feel a very Hell within them The more fixed Distresses as they are of longer continuance so they are often accompanied with the very worst Symptomes For when in these Agonies no Sun nor Star of comfort appears to them for many days all hope that they shall be saved seems to be taken away and being tired out with Complaints and Importunities without any Answer they at last reject the use of Means Some have lain many Years as the Paralytick Man at the Pool of Bethesda without Cure Some from their Youth up as Heman complains Some carry their Distresses to their Death-Bed and it may be are not eased till their Souls are ready to depart out of their Bodies and then they often end suddenly and comfortably Some I could tell you of who on their Death-Bed after grievous Terrours and many Out-crys concerning their miseries of Blackness and Darkness for ever lay long silent and then on a sudden brake out into Raptures of Joy and adoring Admiration of the Goodness of God using that speech of the Apostle Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out Others go out of the World in Darkness without any appearance of Comfort Such an Instance was Mr. Chambers as the story of his Death testifies mentioned by Mr. Perkins in his Treatise of Desertions of whom this account is given that in great Agonies he cried out he was Damned and so died The case of such is surely very sad to themselves and appears no less to others yet we must take heed of judging rashly concerning such Nay if their former Course of Life hath been uniformly good for who will reject a fine Web of Cloth as one speaks for a little course List at the end especially if there be any obscure appearance of hope As that Expression of Mr. Chambers O that I had but one drop of Faith is by Mr. Perkins supposed to be we ought to judg the best of them We have seen the nature of Spiritual Distresses in the Ingredients and Differences thereof We are now to Consider 2. Satan's method in procuring them Which consists 1. In the Occasions which he lays hold on for that end 2. In the Arguments which he useth 3. In the working up of their Fears by which he confirms Men in them 1. As to the Occasions He follows much the same Course which hath been described before in Spiritual Troubles so that I need not say much only I shall note two things 1. That it makes much for Satan's purpose if the Party against whom he designs have faln into some grievous sins Sins of common Magnitude do not lay a foundation suitable to the Superstructure which he intends he cannot plausibly argue Reprobation or Damnation from every ordinary sin but if he finds them guilty of something extraordinary then he falls to work with his Accusations The most usual sins which he takes advantage from are as Mr. Perkins observes those against the Third Sixth and Seventh Command sometimes those against the Ninth Murther Adultery Perjury and the wilful denial of Truth against Conscience are the Crimes upon which he grounds his Charge but most usually the last Upon this the distressed Spira and some of the Martyrs As for the other the more private they are Satan hath oft the more advantage against them because God's secret and just Judgment will by this means bring to Light the hidden things of Darkness and force their Consciences to accuse them of that which no Man could lay to their Charge that he might manifest himself to be the searcher of the Hearts and trier of the Reins Thus have many been forced to disclose private Murthers secret Adulteries and to Vomit up though with much pain and torture that which they have by Perjury or Guile extorted from others 2. Where Satan hath not these particular Advantages he doth endeavour to prepare Men for Distresses by other Troubles long continued All men that are brought to dispair of their Happiness must not be supposed to be greater Sinners than others some are distressed with fears of Eternal Damnation that are in a good measure able to make Job's protestation in these cases That their Heart hath not been deceived by a Woman That they have not laid wait at their Neighbours door That they have not lift up their hand against the Fatherless when they saw their help in the Gate that their Land doth not cry against them nor the Furrows thereof complain that when they saw the Sun when it shined or the Moon walking in brightness their Heart hath not been secretly enticed nor their Mouth kissed their Hand that they rejoyced not in the destruction of him that hated them nor lift up themselves when evil found him c. Notwithstanding all which their Fears are upon and prevail against them But then before Satan can bring them to consent to such dismal Conclusions against themselves they must be extraordinarily fitted to take the Impression either tired out under great Afflictions or long exercised with Fears about their Spiritual Estates without intermixture of Comfort or Ease or their Faculties broken and weakned by Melancholy Any of these give him an advantage equivalent to that of great Sins For though he cannot say to these your sins are so Enormous that they are considered themselves together with their Circumstances sad signs or Reprobation yet he will plead that God's carriage towards them doth plainly discover that he hath wholly cast them off and left them to themselves without hope of Mercy 2. As for the Arguments which he useth they are much-what from the same Topicks which he maketh choice of in bringing on Spiritual Troubles Only as he aims at the Proof of a great deal more against God's Children than that they are not Converted so accordingly he scrues up his Mediums for proof to an higher pin His Arguments are 1. From Scriptures wrested or misapplied His choice of Scriptures for this purpose is of such places as either seem to speak most sadly the dangerous and fearful Estate of Men according to the first view and literal representation of them through the unskilfulness of those that are to be concerned Or of such places as do really signifie the miserable Unhappiness of some Persons who through their own fault have been cut off from all hope and the possibility of the like to some others for the future So that in framing Arguments from Scripture the Devil useth a twofold cunning 1. There are some Scriptures which have the word Damnation in them applied to some particular Acts and Miscarriages of Men when yet their intendment is not such as the word seems to sound or as he would make them to believe Now when he catcheth a Child of God in such acts as are there
worst than the first So also 2 Pet. 2. 20. To this purpose is that of Soloman concerning the danger of continuance in sin after many Reproofs Prov. 29. 1. He that being often reproved hardneth his Neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy These and many such like Scriptures Satan hath in readiness which he plies home upon the Consciences of those that are troubled with the sense of Sin telling them That their Hearts and Ways being continually evil notwithstanding all the Courses that God hath taken to reclaim them that they having so long neglected so great Salvation or that after having seemed to entertain it became more sinful than before Which they will easily believe because they are now more sensible of Sin and more observant of their Miscarriages than formerly There can be no question but they are given up to vile Affections and like the Ground that bears nothing but Briers and Thorns they are rejected and nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be Burned The Wound that is made with this Weapon is not so easily healed as some others already mentioned because though Satan do unduly wrest these Passages to such failures in the Children of God as have little or no affinity with them for they only speak of falling into open prophaneness with contumacy yet they that have deep Convictions accompanied with great Fears do usually think that there are none worse than they are And though they will grant that some others have more flagitious lives yet they think they have Hearts so desperately wicked that they must needs be under as great hazards as those whose Lives seem to be worse 4. There is but one Argument more that carries any probability of proof for everlasting Condemnation and that is from an hard and impenitent Heart How Satan will manage himself to make a Child of God believe that he hath such an Heart is our last observation relating to his Sophistry And it is this He unjustly aggravates the discomposures of the spirits of those that are troubled for Sin and from thence draws his Arguments of irrecoverable Damnation pleading that their Hearts are Seared Hardned uncapable of Repentance and consequently of Heaven That final Impenitency will conclude Damnation is certain and that some have been given up to such a judicial hardness long before Death that they could not Repent may not only be evidenced from the Threatning of God to that purpose Mat. 13. Make the Heart of this People fat c. but also from the sad Instances of Pharaoh of whom 't is said that God hardned his Heart and the Jews who were blinded Rom. 11. 8. God hath given them the Spirit of slumber Eyes that they should not see and Ears that they should not hear But still the Art lieth in this How to make a Child of God believe that it 's so with him For this purpose he must take him at some advantage he cannot terrifie him with this Argument at all times While he is acting Repentance with an undisturbed settled frame of Heart 't is not possible to make him believe he doth not or cannot Repent for this were to force him contrary to sense and experience But he must take him at some season which may with some probability admit of his Plea and nothing is more proper for that design than a troubled Heart so that he hath in this case two things to do 1. He disquiets the Soul into as great an height of Confusion as he can That 2. When he hath melted it into heaviness and torn it into pieces he may work upon its distractions There are many things that fall out in the case of great anxiety of Mind that are capable of improvement for the accomplishment of this design As 1. Distracting troubles bring the Heart under the stupidity of Amazement Their thoughts are so broken and disjoynted that they cannot unite them to a composed settled resolution in any thing they can scarce joyn them together to make out so much as might spell out their distinct desires or endeavours they scarce know what they are doing or what they would do 2. They also poyson the thoughts with harsh apprehensions against God Great distresses make the thoughts sometimes recoil against the Holy Lord with unseemly questionings of his Goodness and Compassion and this puts Men into a bad sullen humour of untowardness from whence through Satan's improvement arise the greatest plunges of dispair 3. Most usually in this case the greatest endeavours are Fruitless and Dissatisfactory Satan though he be no friend to Duty doth unseasonably urge them to Repent and Pray but 't is because they cannot do either with any satisfaction and then their Failures are matter of Argument against them For it they resolve to put themselves upon a more severe course of Repentance and accordingly begin to think of their sins to number them or to aggravate them they are usually affrighted from the undertaking by the hainous appearance of them they cannot they dare not think of them the remotest glimps of them is terrible to an affrighted Conscience the raising of them up again in the Memory like the rising of a Ghost from the Grave is far more astonishing than the first prospect of them after Commission So true is that of Luther If a Man could see Sin perfectly it would be a perfect Hell If they set themselves to beg their Pardon by earnest Prayer they are so distracted and confused in Prayer that their Prayers please them not they come off from the Duty more wounded than when they began Or if in any measure they overcome these difficulties so that they do pray and confess their Iniquities then they urge and force a sorrow or compunction upon themselves but still to a greater dissatisfaction For it may be and this usually happens in greater Distresses they cannot weep nor force a tear or if they do still they judg their sorrow is not deep enough nor any way suitable to the greatness of their sin 4. To all these Satan sometimes makes a further addition of trouble by injecting blasphemous thoughts Here he sets the Stock with an intention to Graff upon it afterward When all these things are thus in readiness then comes he to set fire to the Train and thus he endeavours to blow up the Mine Is not thy Heart hardned to everlasting destruction How canst thou deny this Art thou not grown stupid and senseless of all the hazards that are before thee Here he insists upon the amazement and confusion of their Spirit and 't is very natural for those that are drunk with the Terrours of the Almighty to think themselves stupid because of the distraction of their thoughts I have known several that have pleaded that very Argument to that purpose Satan goes on What greater evidence can there be of an hardned Heart than Impenitency Thou canst not mourn enough Thou hast not a tear for thy sins though thou couldst weep enough formerly upon
well pleased Immediately after this was he carried to the place of Combate Hence we may infer That our entring upon a special Service for God or receiving a special Favour from God are two Solemn Seasons which Satan makes use of for Temptation Often these two Seasons meet together in the same Person at the same time Paul after his rapture into the third Heaven which as some conceive was also upon his entrance upon the Ministry was buffeted by the Messenger of Satan Sometime these two Seasons are severed yet still it may be observed that the Devil watcheth them When any Servant of God is to engage in any particular employment he will be upon him He Assaulted Moses by persecution when he was first called to deliver Israel As soon as David was Anointed immediately doth he enrage the Minds of Saul and his Courtiers against him It was so ordinary with Luther that he at last came to this that before any Eminent Service he constantly expected either a fit of Sickness or the buffetings of Satan He is no less sedulous in giving his Assaults when any Child of God hath been under peculiar Favours or Enjoyments The Church after an high entertainment with Christ is presently overcome by a careless sleepy indisposition Though this may seem strange yet the harshness of such a Providence on God's part and the boldness of the attempt on Satan's part may be much taken off by the consideration of the reasons hereof First On Satan's part It is no great wonder to see such an undertaking when we consider his Fury and Malice The more we receive from God and the more we are to do for him the more doth he malign us So much the more as God is Good by so much is his Eye Evil. Secondly There are in such cases as these several advantages which through our weakness and imperfection we are too apt to give him and for these he lieth at the catch As first Security We are apt to grow proud careless and confident after or upon such Employments and Favours even as men are apt to sleep or surfeit upon a full Meal or to forget themselves when they are advanced to Honour Job's great Peace and Plenty made him as he confesseth so confident that he concluded he should die in his Nest David enjoying the Favour of God in a more than ordinary measure though he was more acquainted with vicissitudes and changes than most of men grows secure in this apprehension that he should never be moved but he acknowledgeth his mistake and leaves it upon Record as an Experience necessary for others to take warning by that when he became warm under the Beams of God's Countenance then he was apt to fall into Security And this it seems was usual with him in all such cases when he was most secure he was nearest some trouble or disquiet Thou didst hide thy Face and then to be sure the Devil will shew his and I was troubled Enjoyments beget Confidence Confidence brings forth Carelesness Carelesness makes God withdraw and gives opportunity to Satan to work unseen And thus as Armies after Victory growing secure are oft surprized So are we oft after our Spiritual Advancements thrown down Secondly Discouragement and tergiversation is another thing the Devil watcheth for By his Assaults he represents the Duty difficult tedious dangerous or impossible on purpose to discourage us and to make us fall back No sooner doth Paul engage in the Gospel than the Devil is upon him suggesting such hazards as he knew were most prevalent with our frail natures if he had not been aware of him and refused to hearken to what Flesh and Blood would have said in the Case When God honoured Moses with the high Employment of delivering Israel the hazard and danger of the work was so strongly fixed upon his thoughts that he makes many excuses one while pleading his Inability and Insufficiency Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh Another while he urgeth Israels unbelief and a seeming Impossibility to satisfy them of his Commission After that he deviseth another shift I am not Eloquent in the 10th verse And when all these subterfuges were removed Satan had so affrighted him with the trouble and difficulty of this undertaking that he attempts to break away from his duty ver 13. Send by the hand of him whom thou wilt send That is spare me and send another and till the anger and displeasure of God was manifested against him he submitted not In Jonah the Temptation went higher He upon the apprehensions mentioned ran away from his Service and puts God to convince him by an extraordinary punishment And when Satan prevails not so far as wholly to deter men by such onsets yet at least he doth dishearten and discourage them So that the work loseth much of that Glory Excellency and Exactness which a ready and chearful undertaking would put upon it Thirdly The Fall or miscarriage of the Saints at such times is of more than ordinary disadvantage not only to others for if they can be prevailed with to lay aside their work or to neglect the Improvement of their Favours others are deprived of the benefit and help that might be expected from them but also to themselves A prevailing Temptation doth more than ordinarily prejudice them at such times The greatness of the disappointment under special Service the unworthy neglect and unanswerableness to special Favours are Extraordinary Provocations and produce more than ordinary Chastisments as we see in Jonah's Affliction and the Spouses desertion Secondly As we have seen the reason of Satan's Keenness in taking those Opportunities So may we consider the reasons of God's Permission which are these First Temptations at such Seasons are permitted for more eminent tryal of the upright On this account was Job tempted Secondly For an increase of diligence humility and watchfulness If these Priviledges and Mercies will not discourage Satan what will And if Satan so openly malign such Enjoyments we may be awakened to hold them faster and set a double Guard upon them Thirdly For a plentiful Furniture of Experience Temptation is the Shop of Experience Luther was so great a gainer by this that he became able so to speak to the Consciences and Conditions of his hearers that the thoughts of their hearts were manifested by his speaking as if he had had an Intilligencer in their own Bosoms Hence did he commend Prayer Meditation and Temptation as necessary requisites for the accomplishment of a Minister This may administer matter of Counsel to us in both cases aforementioned If we be put upon eminent Employments or receive eminent Favours First We must not be so secure as to think Satan will be asleep that while or that we are beyond danger While we are receiving Kindnesses he is devising Plots and laying Snares With Priviledges and Mercies expect Exercises and Hazards Secondly in particular We may receive something
the use of God's own Appointments Secondly Besides that he thus betrays them by these lying helps he doth by this means cast them on a further iniquity of idolizing these foolish Calves of their own invention In this case Men have a presumptuous expectation from such usages of that which God never promised to do by them neither ever entred into his heart so to do seeing he answers them all with this Who hath required these things at your hands And accordingly their Consciences are more concerned for the Omission of one of these Fooleries than for the neglect of the greater things of the Law such are more troubled for the neglect of the Sign of the Cross or Holy-Water than for their constant carelesness and want of Faith by which their Hearts should be guarded against their Enemy Thirdly In the mean time he makes work for his own Triumph over them that dote upon these sottish Inventions If we can suppose Satan to have Pleasure or Mirth at any thing we may be sure he will laugh at such preparations for a Spiritual Welfare it being as truly ridiculous for any Man to go out with these Weapons against Satan as for a Combatant to assail a Gyant with a Paper-Helmet a Wicker-Shield and a Wooden-Daggar And indeed when Satan counterfeits a Flight or fear of such matters as for his advantage he sometimes doth it is but in design to beget or confirm in Men a confidence of a Vertue or strength in these usages against his Power that so they may fix upon them to the neglect of God's own Institutions which he most dreads Thus we read that he cunningly ceased his Oracle at Daphne upon a pretence of the silencing Power of the Bones of the Martyr Babilas which were buried near the place on purpose to lead unwary Christians to the adoration of Saints and their Reliques Many such instances we have in Sprenger of the Devils feigned Flight at the Sign of the Cross the sprinkling of Holy-Water the Angelical Salutation St. Bernards Staff or certain Words and Verses hung about the Neck and a great deal of such stuff we may meet with in most of their Writers all which are but cunning contrivances of Satan to advance a belief of the vertue of these things and so to stop Men there to the neglect of those Spiritual Weapons which the Scripture recommends These we have observed from the place in general the Holy City Let us go on to the place in particular where Satan acted all this the Pinacle of the Temple Various are the conjectures of Men about this whether it were some Fane or the top of some Spire or the place whence the Apostle James was thrown down or the top of the Kings Porch which was erected to a great height over a deep Valley or some Battlement c. But we are not concerned in such inquiries only here I shall take notice of Scultetus who supposing the place to be the top of a Fane or Spire and reading in Josephus that the points of such Broaches were so sharp that a Bird could not rest upon them without piercing its Foot was therefore willing to conclude that these Temptations were not really and historically acted but in Vision only all this ariseth from a wrong interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our English renders Pinacle whereas it properly signifies any Battlement or Angular prominency jutting out over the rest like a Wing which would afford a sufficient footing and support 'T is more profitable to enquire after Satans Reason for the choice of such a place no question but it was upon design for else he might with equal convenience have tempted Christ to cast himself down from some Tree or Precipice in the Wilderness but then what that design was is not so easy to determine it seems plain that he might suppose that Christ might be the rather animated to the undertaking of flying in the Air by the hopes of Glory which might be expected from such a performance before so many Spectators But some think that he had a design also upon the Men of Jerusalem and intended some delusion to the Jews which I am not unwilling to close with partly because the Experiences that we have of his devices assure us that in one Temptation his ends are oft manifold and I cannot but think that Satan would make all things sure and provide in his projecting Mind against allevents for if Christ should have yeilded and evidenced so great a Power in the sight of all the People it might have been a conviction general that he was the Messias about that time universally expected and partly I am ready to think so because in case Christ had done so it lay so fair to confirm the Jews in a misapprehension of the personal coming of Elias of whom they understood the Prophecy of Mal. 3. 1. Behold I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant If the Jews expected Elias to come from Heaven to the Temple how strongly would they have been confirmed in this opinion if they had seen a Man fly from the Temple in the Air and by this means John the Baptist who was the Elias that was to come should have been neglected and Christ himself though honoured as Elias not owned for the Messias Observe then That Satan's designs are large and that he projects the ensnaring or deluding of others by such Temptations as seem only to concern those that are under the immediate trouble of them He tempts Christ to cast himself down and also by it at least intends a delusion to the Jews he tempts one Man upon the back of another one is tempted to Errour another by that Mans Temptation is tempted to Atheism and rejecting of all Religion One Man is tempted to Prophaneness another is tempted by that to an uncharitable disrespect of him 't is Easy to multiply Instances of this CHAP. XIV That presumption was the chief design of this Temptation Of tempting to extreams What presumption is The several ways of presuming The frequency of this Temptation in the generality of Professors in Hypocrises desparing Persons and in the Children of God The reasons of Satans Industry in this Design His deceitful contrivance in bringing about this Sin Preservatives against it NExt to the preparation which Satan made for the second conflict already explained the Temptation intended offers it self to our view which is this Cast they self down What Satan chiefly intended by it we may collect from Christ's answer as well as from the thing it self for he thus replys It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Christ doth not use this Scripture to any such sense as this that he should hereby prohibit Satan to tempt him because he was Satan's Lord and God but he mentions this Scripture
though in his haste that all Men were Lyers it was an unbelieving Reflection on the Promise given him by Samuel In Mal. 3. 13. the People did not believe that they had spoken so much against God when yet their Words had been stout against him Secondly Satan endeavours this by violent Injections of Blasphemous thoughts that are directly such In this I shall note to you First That the vilest Thoughts of God of his Ways and Providences of Scripture and of Christ are frequently suggested things of greatest out-rage against Heaven and Contempt of the Almighty as Bernard expresseth it terribilia de Fide horribilia de Divinitate as that there is no God or that he is not Just or not Faithful to his Promises or that Christ was but an Impostor he sticks at nothing in this kind though never so contrary to the Hope and Perswasion of those whom he thus molests Secondly These are frequently reiterated upon them and their minds so troubled by them that they cannot free themselves from such thoughts but he follows on and clamours in their Ears as Gerson observes Nega Deum Meledic Deo Deny God Curse God Thirdly And this with so great a force and Impetuosity that they are compelled to form these thoughts in their Minds and to speak contrary to what they would as if their Thoughts and Tongues were not under their own Government the Devil not satisfying himself to bear in these Thoughts upon them but he endeavours as it were to make them say after him and to cast his Suggestions into their own Mould that so they might seem properly to be their own and this they are forced to whether they will or no even then when their Minds are filled with Horrour their Heart with Grief and their Body with Trembling I have discoursed with some who have bitterly complained that their Tongues and their Thoughts seemed not to be their own but that Satan ruled them at his Pleasure and that when in opposition to the Temptation they would have formed their Tongues to speak Blessing of God they have spoken Cursing instead of Blessing and that when a blasphemous Thought had been cast into their Mind they could not be at rest till they had thought it again Fourthly These troublesome Temptations are oft of long continuance Joannes Climacus tells us of a Monk that was troubled with blasphemous Thoughts for twenty years together and could not quit himself of them though he had macerated his Body with Watchings and Fastings Some have them going away and returning again by fits according as the prevalency and ferment of their Melancholy gives Satan the advantage of dealing thus with them For if we enquire why it is thus especially with the Children of God we must partly resolve it into the unsearchable Wisdom of God who for Holy Ends of Teaching and Disciplining his Servants permits Satan thus to molest them and partly into those particular advantages which Satan hath against them according to the variety of their Conditions which usually are these First He takes advantage of such Bodily Distempers as do deprive Men of the use of their Reason as Feavers Frenzies Madness in these he oft forms the Tongues of Men to horrid blasphemous Speeches Secondly a Pressure of outward Afflictions gives him his desired opportunity and this he knows to be generally so successful that he promised himself by this means a Victory over Job Ordinarily Straits and Miseries do produce Blaspheming Esa 8. 21. the Prophet notes that when the People should be hardly bestead and hungry they should fret themselves and curse their King and their God and look upward as avouching what they had done Thirdly Worldly Plenty Fulness and Pleasure lay often Foundations of this Temptation when their Cups are full and their Hearts high Satan can easily make them set their Mouth against Heaven A Proud Heart will readily say our Tongue is our own or who is the Lord This was the Engine which the Devil managed if it were as Job suspected against the Sons and Daughters of Job to make them Curse God in their Hearts and by this did he seek to prevail upon Christ in this blasphemous Temptation Fourthly A Melancholy Distemper doth usually invite Satan to give blasphemous Suggestions the disturbed and plyable Fancies of such are the advantages which he improves against them Fifthly Inward Terrors and Distresse of Conscience are also an occasion to Satan to move them as by a desperate Humor to utter hard things of God and against themselves But there is yet a third way by which Satan tempts Men to Blaspheming by sudden Glances of blasphemous Imaginations which like Lightnings do astonish the Heart and then suddenly Vanish these are very common and the best of Men observe them frequently Satan seems as it were rather to Frolick and Sport himself in these Suggestions than to intend a serious Temptation their danger is not so much yet are they not to be despised lest these often visits carelesly entertained and not dismissed with just abhorrency do secretly envenom the Soul and prepare it for stronger Assaults I shall next enquire into the Reasons of this trouble which Satan gives the Children of God First These Temptations are very affrighting though they prevail not yet they are full of perplexing annoyance Corrupt Nature startles at them and receives them not without dread and horrour 't is sadly troublesome to hear others Blaspheme God The reproaches of those that reproached thee saith David fell upon me It was as a Sword in his Bones to hear the blasphemous Scoffs of the wicked when they said to him where is thy God And if it were confusion and shame to him to hear the Enemy Reproach and Blaspheme as he professeth it was Psal 44. 15 16. how sadly afflicting would it be for any Child of God to observe such things in his own Imaginations If there were no more in its than this it is enough to put Satan upon that Design because 't is a troublesome kind of Martyrdom Secondly This is also a spiteful revenge against God all he can do is to blaspheme and rage and 't is a kind of Delight to put this force upon those that carry his own Image he would do all he can to make his own Children to vilify and reproach their Heavenly Father and to render Cursing for Blessing Thirdly This Temptation though it have not the Consent or Complyance of God's Children yet it opens a way to many other Sins as Murmuring Distrust Despair weariness of God's Ways and Services When we find Satan thus to run upon us it is apt to breed strange thoughts of God that thus permits Satan to take us by the Throat or to make us judge of our selves as rejected of God and given up to Satan's Power and if it do this his labour is not in vain we are as one observe more to fear his Subtilty in bringing us by this into other snares than the
wrought out to us by the Scripture and its Ordinances Faith which is our Shield and Hope which is our Helmet they neither of them act without the warrant and encouragement of it and whereas other parts of the Armour are defensive this of the Scripture is compared to the Sword which not only defends but also offends and beats back the Enemy If the matter be seriously considered all these parts of Armour are but these two the Graces of the Spirit Faith Hope Patience in their sincere exercise and the word of Scripture as the Instrument by and in which they shew their Operations so that all this Armour being put to use in every particular Temptation it amounts to no more than this we are speaking of viz. That sinful Motions are to be rejected by a believing sincerely resolute opposing of them with Arguments from the Word of God Thirdly Scripture as it is the Word and Command of the great King of Heaven hath a dâ—â—nting and commanding Authority over the Consciences of Men. Where the Word of a King is there is Power Eccles 8. 4. and such is the Majesty of a Divine Law that it hath Power over the Consciences of those that are yet in their Sins and can wound affright constrain and bind even the Rebellious so that so long as they retain any of their Natural Impressions of a Divine Power they have some awe for his Commands which may be seen and argued where it would be least expected from the enragement of the Hearts of Sinners when Sin by the Commandment accidentally becomes exceeding sinful For as that outragious fierceness doth arise from the contrariety that is betwixt a Carnal Heart and a Spiritual Law so that contrariety would never work if the Authority of that Law having a Power to restrain and give check to the corruption of the Heart were not some way owned by the Conscience for where no countermanding Law is owned there can be no irritating provoking restraint This it can do to the vilest of Men but of how much more Power may we imagine the Word to be with good Men whose Hearts tremble at the Word when they bind the Law upon their Heart and charge their Consciences with it 't is surely quick and powerful sharper than a two edged Sword nor doth it only by unlovely affrightments terrify them from Sin but by commanding Duty make the Heart in love with it so that it becomes a delightful satisfaction to be preserved from the Snare Fourthly There is no Argument that can be used against Temptations that can be more afflictively discouraging to Satan Satan as bad as he is cannot but believe those Truths which he knows and he knows that there are many Truths in Scripture which respect him as threatnings of Punishment and Divine Vengeance he believes these things and trembles Jam. 2. 19. His unavoidable knowledg or remembrance of these things begets horrour in him he cannot but be under a dread of these Truths What can be supposed so to wound him as the bringing these things to memory by urging the Command of God against him Dr. Arrowsmith gives two instances of this kind the one of Christopher Haas in Sweedland from the Epistle Dedicatory to the 5 tomes of Brentius's works The other of Daniel Cramer Rector of a School at Stetin in Germany on both which the Devil made a bold attempt in a personal Appearance from the first demanding a Catalogue of his Sins in Writing from the other demanding a Paper in which one of the Students had obliged himself to Satan's Service they both referred him to that Text of Gen. 3. 15. The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Head of the Serpent And this was retorted upon him with such a strong exercise of Faith that he presently desisted the suit and vanished Fifthly This Weapon cannot easily be wrested out of our hands When we urge a Divine Prohibition against a Temptation what can he say in Answer he cannot deny it to be the Word of God or to be true or that we are not obliged to it he made none of these returns to Christ but by his silence owned that it was God's Holy Command obliging us to Duty Neither dares he stand upon these exceptions to us except he find our Faith inclined to waver or our minds weak and wounded by inward troubles of Spirit and when he puts on a boldness to deny Scripture to be the Word of God or that it signifies God's real intendments in his threatning for by begetting unbelief of the Truth of Scripture and by suggesting hopes of escape and pardon notwithstanding the violation of the Commands of it the wrests when he doth prevail this Weapon out of our hands yet he is forced to fetch a compass and by many previous insinuations to make his way to these atheistical assertions Thus he did with Eve first finding her a little inclinaable he dropt in privily something that might argue the Improbability of the threatned Penalty and then at last positively denyed it But now if we hold to this that the Command is true and holy and just and good he cannot wrest our plea from us Sixthly Nothing doth more undermine Temptations by rendring the reasons and motives thereof vain and empty than doth the contrary commands of Scripture Temptation hath always some inticement of pleasure or profit and these only seem to be taking or reasonable while we consider not the Word of God as rotten wood or Fish shine only in the dark but when we are urged with sinful pleasures how mean base dangerous and unlovely be they when the command to the contrary gives information that they are snares and lead to Death or the provocation of the Almighty Seventhly While we resist with Scripture-Arguments we engage God whose Command we would stand by to go down to the Battel with us we lay hold upon his strength and put obligations upon him to take us out of the snare and to deliver us from him who is too strong for us Fourthly It remains that in a word I shew how the Commands or Arguments of Scripture are to be used in resisting Satan which is thus When you have any sinful thought cast into your mind presently reject the offer by charging your heart with duty from some opposite command As if you be urged to acts of Uncleanness presently refuse thus No I must not God hath commanded the contrary he hath said thou shalt not commit Adultery If a covetous thought arise reject it with this God hath said thou shalt not Covet If you be tempted to please the Flesh and follow vain delights answer it with this If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die and the like must be done in other Temptations Some may perhaps think that this is easy work and quickly done and that it seems to attribute a Virtue and Power to the words of Scripture as if Satan were charmed by the language or phrase However