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
The Light of their own Experience of the vileness and odiousness of Sin they know what an evil and bitter thing it is 2. They have a more full discovery of God which will make them abhor themselves in dust and ashes 3. They have the advantage of a new Heart the Law of the Spirit of Life making them free from the Law of Sin and Death 4. They have also the help and assistance of the Spirit in its Motions Suggestions and Teachings 5. They fortifie themselves with the strongest Resolutions not to give way to Sin Notwithstanding all these 'T is too true that both Regenerate and Unregenerate Men do sin The reason whereof cannot be given from any other account than what we have asserted to wit they are some way or other deluded or deceived some Curtain is drawn 'twixt them and the Light some Fallacy or other is put upon the Understanding some way or other the Will is bribed or byassed there is treachery in the case for 't is unimaginable that a Man in any act of Sin should offer a plain open and direct violence to his own Nature and Faculties so that the whole business is here Evil is presented under the notion of God and to make this out some considerations of pleasure or profit do bribe the Will and give false light to the Understanding Hence is it that in every act of Sin Men by complyance with Satan are said to deceive or to put tricks and fallacies upon themselves Fifthly All kinds of Subtilty are in Scripture directly charged upon Satan and in the highest degrees Sometime under the notion of Logical fallacies those sleights which Disputants in arguing put upon their Antagonists Of this import is that expression 2 Cor. 2. 11. We are not ignorant of his Devices where the word in the Original is borrowed from the Sophistical reasonings of Disputants Sometime 't is expressed in the similitude of Political deceits as the Scripture gives him the title of a Prince so doth it mark out his Policies in the management of his Kingdom Rev. 12. 7. expressly calling them Deceits and comparing him to a Dragon or Serpent for his subtilty Sometime he is represented as a Warriour Rev. 12. 17. The Dragon was wroth and went to make War c. and here are his Warlike Stratagems pointed at Mention is made 2 Tim. 2. 26. of his Snares and the taking of Men alive or Captive directly alluding to Warlike proceedings The subtile proceedings of Arts and Craft are charged on him and his Instruments Men are said to be enticed Jam. 1. as Fish or Fowl by a Bait Others deluded as by Cheaters in false Gaming Eph. 4. 14. By the sleight of Men and the cunning craft of those that ly in wait to deceive The over-reaching of Merchants or crafty Tradesmen is alluded to in 2 Cor. 2. 11. All these sleights are in Satan in their highest perfection and accomplishment He can transform himself into an Angel of Light 2 Cor. 11. 14. where he hath an occasion for it In a word all deceiveableness of unrighteousness is in him 2 Thess 2. 10. So that a general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dexterity and ability for all kind of subtile Contrivances is ascribed to him 2 Cor. 11. 3. and that in his very first essay upon Eve when the Serpent deceived her thorow subtilty so that whatsoever Malice can suggest or Wit and Art contrive for Delusion or whatsoever Diligence can practise or Cruelty execute all that must be imagined to be in Satan Sixthly All this might be futher proved by Instances What Temptation can be named wherein Satan hath not acted as a Serpent who can imagine the cunning that Satan used with David in the matter of Vriah How easily he got him to the roof of the house in order to the Object to be presented to him How he directs his Eye wrought upon his Passions suggested the Thought contrived the Conveniencies What Art must there be to bring a darkness into David's mind a forgetfulness of God's Law a fearlesness of his displeasure and a neglect of his own danger surely it was no small matter that could blind David's Eye or besot his Heart to so great a Wickedness But above all Instances let us take into consideration that of Eve in the first transgression wherein many things may be observed as first That he chose the Serpent for his Instrument wherein though we are ignorant of the depth of his design yet that he had a design in it of subtilty in reference to what he was about to suggest is plain from the Text Now the Serpent was more subtile then any Beast of the field it had been needless and impertinent to have noted the Serpents subtilty as Satans Agent if he had not chosen it upon that score as advantageous for his purpose 2. He set upon the weaker Vessel the Woman and yet such as once gained he knew was likely enough to prevail with the Man which fell out accordingly 3. Some think he took the advantage of her Husbands absence which is probable if we consider that 't is unlikely that Adam should not interpose in the discourse if he had been present 4. He took the advantage of the Object It appears she was within sight of the Tree She saw that it was good for food and pleasant to the Eyes thus he made the Object plead for him 5. He falls not directly upon what he intended lest that should have scared her off but fetcheth a compass and enters upon the business by an enquiry of the affairs as if he intended not hurt 6. He so enquires of the matter Hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the Garden as if he made a question of the reality of the Command and his words were so ordered that they might cast some doubt hereof into her mind 7. He under a pretence of asserting God's Liberality secretly undermines the threatning as if he had said Is it possible that so bountiful a Creator should deny the liberty of eating of any tree to what purpose was it made if it might not be tasted 8. When he finds that by these Arts he had gained a little ground and brought her to some kind of questioning of the reality of the threatning for she seems to extenuate it in saying lest we die he grows more bold to speak out his mind and plainly to annihilate the threatning Ye shall not die this he durst not do till he had gained in her mind a wavering suspition that possibly God was not in good earnest in that prohibition 9. Then he begins to urge the conveniency and excellency of the Fruit by equivocating upon the name of the Tree which he tells her could make them knowing as Gods 10. He reflects upon God as prohibiting this out of envy and ill-will to them 11. In all this there is not a word of the danger but impunity and advantage promised 12.
what he spoke to Jehoram proceeded from zeal yet being but a Man and subject to the like infirmities of other Men it had distracted and discomposed his Spirit which made him unfit and uncapable to entertain the visions of God Musick then being a natural means for the composure and quiet of the Mind he takes that course to calm and fit himself for that work Fourthly Ignorance and Prejudice are spiritual Indispositions which are not neglected by the Devil Knowledg is the eye and guide of the Soul If there be darkness there all acts which depend upon better Instruction must cease The Disciples ignorance of Scriptures brought in their unbelief Christ notes that as the Fountain-head of all their backwardness Luk. 24. 25. O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken In like manner if Men are not clear or knowing in the ways and necessities of Duty and Service the Devil can easily prevail with them to forbear and neglect Prejudice riseth up to justifie the disregard of Duty and offers Reasons which it thinks cannot be answered Thirdly Satan endeavours to prevent Duty by discouragements If he can make the knees feeble and the hands hang down he will quickly cause Activity and Motion to cease The wayes by which he endeavours to discourage Men from the duties of Service are these First He sets before them the toile and burthen of Duty If a Man sets his Face toward Heaven thus he endeavours to scare him off Is not saith he the way of Religion a dull melancholy way It is not a toile A tedious task Are not these unreasonable injunctions Pray continually Pray without ceasing Preach in season and out of season This suggestion though it be expresly contrary to command yet being so suitable to the idle and sluggish tempers of Men they are the more apt to take notice of it and accordingly they seek ways and shifts of accommodating the command to their inclinations In Amos 8. 5. the toyl of Sabbaths and Festival Services as they thought it makes them weary of the duty When will the New Moon be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth Wheat These Men thought their Services tedious and intrenching upon their Callings and Occupations Mal. 1. 13. They said Behold what a weariness is it looking upon it as an insufferable burthen nay they proceeded so far as to snuff at it Now when the Devil had so far prevailed with them it was easie to put them upon neglect which as the place cited speaks presently followed upon it they brought the torne and the lame and the sick for a Sacrifice Satan first presented these Services as a wearisome burthen then they snuffed at them next they thought any Service good enough how mean soever though to an open Violation of the Law of Worship and lastly from a pollution of the Table of the Lord they proceeded to a plain contempt of duty the table of the Lord is polluted and the fruit thereof even his meat is contemptible vers 12. In the management of this discouragement the Devil hath most success upon those that have not yet tasted the sweetness and easiness of the wayes of the Lord his yoke is indeed easie his burthen is light his service is a true freedom to those that are acquainted with God and exercised in his Service But when Men are first beginning to look after God and Duty and are not yet filled and satisfied with the fatness of his house this Temptation hath the greater force upon them and they are apt to be discouraged thereby Secondly He endeavours to discourage them from the want of success in the Duties of Worship When they have waited long and sought the Lord then he puts them upon resolves of declining any further Prosecution as he did with Joram at the Siege of Samaria Why wait I upon the Lord any longer said he after he had expected deliverance a long time without any appearance of help When Saul saw that God answered him not neither by Dreams nor by Vrim nor by Prophets the Devil easily perswaded him to leave off the ordinary ways of attendance upon God and to consult with the Witch of Endor The prophane Persons mentioned in Mal. 3. 14. that had cast off all regard to his Laws all respect to his Ordinances were brought to this pitch of Iniquity by the suggestions of want of success they said It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts It seems they were like the people spoken of in Isa 58. 2 3. They had fasted and prayed and God delayed to answer them which they looked upon as a disobligement from duty and that which they could peremptorily insist upon as a reason which might justifie their neglect Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not wherefore have we afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge Neither doth this discouragement fall heavy only upon those whose hearts are departed already from God who might be supposed to be forward to imbrace any excuse from his Service but we shall find it bears hard upon the Children of God David was ready to give over all as a Man forsaken of God Psal 22. 1 2. Why hast thou forsaken me O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent We may clearly gather from his expressions that this Temptation had sorely bruised him and that upon God's delay of Answer he was ready to charge an unrighteousness upon Gods carriage toward him for in that he adds that he kept his ground and did not consent to it as the words following But thou continuest holy do imply it shewed what the Devil was objecting to him And elsewhere in Psal 69. 3. When he had cryed and was not answered he began to be weary and his eyes failed nay his flesh and heart failld his Spirit sunk as a Man almost vanquished and overcome with the Temptation Thirdly This our Adversary raiseth up discouragements to us from the unsuitableness of our Hearts to our Services herein he endeavours to deaden our Hearts to clog our Spirits to hinder and molest us and then he improves these indispositions and discomposures against the duty in which he hath a double advantage for 1 He deprives us of that delight in duty which should whet on our desires to undertake it so that we come to the Lord's Table as old Barzillai without a taste or relish of what we eat or drink When we come to hear the Ear that tryeth words as the Pallat tasteth meat finds no savour in what is spoken and this Satan can easily do by the inward deadness or disquiet of the Heart even as the anguish of Diseases takes away all Pleasures which the choicest dainties afford As Job observes
patronized and commonly such Men either fix upon such places as give warning of the necessary concomitances of the Spirit and Heart with the outward Act of service and from hence separating what God hath joyned together they set up Spiritual Sabbaths Spiritual Baptism Spiritual Worship to cry down and cashier the external Acts of such Ordinances or they pretend kindred to Scripture as prophesying or foretelling those new Administrations which they are about to set up Let H. Nicholas be an instance of this who though he decryed the Service of the Law under God the Father and the Service of the Belief under Christ and in the room of both these would set up another Administration under the Spirit yet that he might be the better believed he applyed several Scriptures to his purpose as Prophetically foretelling H. Nicholas and his services and would have Men imagine that he was that Angel flying in the midst of Heaven with the Everlasting Gospel Rev. 14. 6. And that Prophet enquired after by the Jews Joh. 1. 21. Art thou that Prophet and that Man ordained to Judg the World Act. 17. 31. And that the times of his Dispensation were the times of Perfection and Glory spoken of in 1 Cor. 13. 9. and Heb. 6. 1. The like pretences for new Administrations had Saltmarsh and several others Satan fixing his Foot upon this Design and taking advantage of Mens Ignorance Curiosity and Pride c. it is impossible to tell what he may do he hath introduced many Heresies already and none knows what may be behind many passages of Scripture are dark to the wisest of Men a great many more are so to the common sort of Christians A great many wits are imployed by him as Adventurers for new Discoveries and a small pretence is ground enough for a bold Undertaker to erect a new Notion upon and a new Notion in Religion is like a new Fashion in Apparel which bewitcheth the unsteady with an itch to be in it before they well understand what it is So that 't is alike impossible to stint the just number of Errours as to adjust the various pretences from Scripture upon which they may be countenanced Leaving therefore this task to those that can undertake it I shall only note a particular or two of Satans cunning in affixing an Errour upon Scripture First In any grand design of Error he endeavours to lay the Foundation of it as near to Truth as he can but yet so that in the tendency of it it may go as far from it as may be As some Rivers whose first Fountains are contiguous have notwithstanding a direct contrary course in their Streams For instance in those Errors that tend to overthrow the doctrine of the Gospel concerning Christ and Ordinances and these are things which the Devil hath a great spite at he begins his work with plausible pretences of Love and Admiration of Christ and Grace he proceeds from thence to the pretence of purer Enjoyments from thence to a dislike of such Preachers and Preaching as threaten Sin and speak out the wrath of God against Iniquity and these are presently called Legal Preachers and the doctrine of Duty a Legal Covenant having them once at this point they easily come to immediate Assistances and special Gifts which they pretend to have above others being thus set up they are for free Grace and the enjoyment of God in Spirit from thence they come to Christian Liberty and by degrees Duties are unnecessary there is no Christ but within them and being freed from the Law whatever they do is no Transgression This is a Path that Satan hath trodden of old though now and then he may vary in some Circumstances and be forced to stop before he come to the utmost of his Journey You may observe this Method in the late Errors of New-England in the Familists of Germany and in those of Old-England in all which at the long-run Men are led as far from Scripture as Darkness is from Light Now this is not only to be seen in a progressive multiplication of Errors but often may we perceive the same subtilty of Satan in a simple Error as when he takes up part of a Truth which should stand in conjunction with another and sets it up alone against its own Companion where we shall have the name and pretence kept up but the thing quite destroyed God requires Services of Men and prescribes to their use Prayer Hearing Sacraments but because in these God is dishonoured when Men only draw near with their Lips he further tells us that he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is of the Flesh c. This part are some Men so fixed upon that they think they are discharged of the other and in practice go quite from these duties and yet still they profess they are for Ordinances and the Worship of God just so are some Men for Christ but then 't is but the name not the thing they own Christ they say but then 't is Christ in them and Christ come in their Flesh but not that Christ that died at Jerusalem as a Sacrifice for the Sins of Men. Secondly Satan takes great care that an Errour be in all the ways of its propagation cloathed with Scripture phrases and the less the Errour can pretend to any plausible ground of Scripture the more doth he endeavour to adorn it with Scripture Language I understand this chiefly of such Errors as are designed for the Multitude so that though Scripture be not used to prove the Errour yet are Deceivers taught to express their conceptions by it and to accomodate the Words and Sentences of it to their purposes for besides pride and confidence Scriptural Eloquence is a necessary ingredient to make a powerful Deluder Observe the Ring-leaders of Errors and you shall find that ordinarily such have at first been studious of the Scriptures and though never able to digest them yet when they turned their Ears from Truth they have carried their Scripture Language which they had before brought themselves unto by long custom away with them and still retain it and express their Opinions by it Now this is a great advantage to Satan For First By this means the ignorant Multitude are often caught without any more ado if they hear Scripture Expressions they are apt to think that all is Truth which is spoken by them and they the rather believe it because they will imagine such Teachers to be well versed in Scripture and consequently either so honest or so knowing that they neither can nor will delude them Secondly There is a Majesty in Scripture which in some sence doth stick to the very expressions of it Men may perceive that generally Hearers are more affected with Scripture Eloquence than with Play-Book Language it hath as it were a charm in the words which makes the Ear attentive more than a quaint discourse starched up in the dresâ— of
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
as a rule of Obedience as if he should say I may not cast my self down and so rely on extraordinary help seeing I can go down another way for the neglect of ordinary means when we have them is a tempting of God which may not be done So that it appears by this that Satan here tempted Christ to presumption There is only this objection in our way that Deut. 16. 16. the place by Christ cited refers to the Temptation of the Israelites in Massah mentioned Exod. 17. 2. where they chide with Moses for Water and there it would seem their tempting the Lord was rather in despairing of his power and help than presuming in the neglect of the ordinary means I Answer though the occasion and matter of that Temptation be different from this of Christ's yet the presumptuous Experiment that they there made of God's Presence and Power was the same with this which Satan designed for ver 7. where the account of that tempting is given 't is said because they tempted the Lord saying Is the Lord among us or not they put it to this issue that the Being and Power of God should be tryed by the giving or not giving of Water The manner then of that Temptation being so agreeable to this Christ very pertinently applies that command to it presumption being the thing which Christ was tempted to It might occasion some wonder in us to see Satan take such strange steps He was before tempting him to despair now to presumption but 't is no Argument of his lightness or uncertain roving in his way of tempting but rather of his depth and subtilty Note then That 't is Satans Policy in tempting to run from one extream to another The Corinthians were first tempted to a sinful complyance with the adulterous Person and were averse to his Excommunication afterwards they were tempted to the contrary severity and were as backward to receive him again The same Men that have been overcome by Prodigality and Excess when they begin to see the Evil of that are oft tempted to Worldiness or Covetousness the contrary disposition Reasons of this Policy are First The avoiding of one Extream gives the Soul such a swing if care be not used to prevent it that they are cast more than half way upon the other Peter in an Extream of Modesty refused the washing of his Feet by Christ but when he understood the danger then he runs as far wrong another way Not my Feet only but my Hands and my Head Thus some are so for purity of Churches that they exclude the Weak others so for Vnity that they admit the open Scandalous and Prophane Secondly While Men avoid one Extream by running into another they carry with them such strong Impressions of the Evil they would avoid and such fierce Prejudices that 't is not an ordinary conviction will bring them right but they are apt to be confident of the Goodness of the way they take and so are the more bold and fixed in their miscarriage Presumption being the great Design of Satan in this Temptation we may further observe That as Distrust on the one hand so Presumption on the other is one of his grand Designs Of these two we may say as it was said of the Sword of Hazael and Jehu that of all those that are slain by the Devil whosoever hath escaped the Sword of Distrust and despair the Sword of Presumption hath slain To explain this I shall First Shew what Presumption is 'T is in the General a Confidence without a Ground First 't is made up of Audacity which is a bold and daring undertaking of a thing and Security Secondly The Ground of it is an Error of Judgment a blind or a misled Judgment doth always nourish it and this is either a mistake of the Nature of such means on which we rely for Assistance as when a Man lays as much stress upon a Thred as upon a Cable or expects as much Nourishment from a Stone as from Bread or a mistake of the Will of others from whom we expect aid and help without a warrant for such a Confidence Thirdly In its way of working 't is directly opposite to Distrust and is a kind of excessive though irregular Hope not that in this case a Man believes or hopes over-much for there can be no excess properly in the exercise of Divine Graces but that he hopes too rashly or lightly without a solid Foundation or Reason Hope hath for its Object that which is Good under the considerations of futurity possibility and difficulty on the one side desperation looks upon that good as future but under so great a difficulty that it forgets the possibility of it and thereupon surceaseth all indeavours Presumption on the other hand is so keenly apprehensive of the possibility that it never regards the difficulty and so thrusts forward into irregular endeavours or expectations The Nature of this will be better understood when the particular Instances of Presumption are before us First Then 't is Presumption when from External or Subordinate Means Men expect that for which they were never designed nor appointed of God To expect Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles would be a Presumption because God never design'd them for such Fruits and no less is it when in any other case Men look for high and extraordinary things from any created Good above what God hath put into it by the Law of Creation Secondly When Men do expect those Fruits and Effects from any thing unto which it is appointed in neglect or opposition to the Supreme Cause without whose concurrent Influence they cannot reach their proper ends That is our hopes are wholly centered upon means when in the mean time our Eye is not upon God Thus to make Gold our hope Job 31. 24. to make Flesh our Arm Jer. 17. 5. to make Ashur a Saviour Hos 14. 3. or to trust to any Creatures whatsoever is in Scripture condemned as a presumptuous relyance and in regard of the necessary disappointment a trusting in a Lye in which Sence 't is said that every Man is a Lyer Psal 62. 9. The like Presumption it is when we boast great things of our selves and as Peter make confident engagements in our own strength that we will avoid such a Sin or perform such a Duty for we are but frail and all our sufficiency is from the Lord so that it can be no less than intollerable arrogance to promise any thing of our selves without him neither can Men promise to themselves the continuance of that Good or Advantage which they have already received from second Causes if their confidence builds it self upon that sole consideration without a just blame Job had said he should die in his Nest and David that he should never be moved but both of them afterward noted these confidences to have been no other than deceitful Presumptions Thirdly 'T is a Presumption to expect things
Deut. 6. 6. These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine Heart and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine Eyes c. Whether the later part of the Command is to be understood literally as the Jews apprehended and practised though some think otherwise is not necessary to be asserted seeing 't is granted by all that they were to have the Commands of the Law so ready in their Minds and Memories as if they had been written on their Hands and upon their Foreheads That God designed this precept for the resistance of Sin and Temptation cannot be doubted and that the advantage which might hence arise to them was not only the information of their Minds in point of Sin and Duty is as unavoidable for that and more is intended by that part of the Injunction These words which I command thee shall be in thine Heart but when besides this information which the knowledg of the Law would afford them and their humble complyance with it as just and good which would enable them to say Thy Law O Lord is within my Heart he further enjoyns them the quick and ready remembrances of these Laws as if they were frontlets between their Eyes and signs on their Hands it can signify no less than this that in so doing they would be able to resist those Motions by which Satan would seek to engage them to the violation of these Commands Neither need we to doubt hereof when Christ himself hath so fully taught us by his own Example in resisting Temptations the particular use of the remembrance of the Law In the New Testament the Apostle is most express in this matter Eph. 6. 17. Take the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God where not only the use of Scripture-Commands and Promises against Satan's Suggestions is taught but also the high avail and potency of this Weapon in reference to its end 't is called a Sword and in that comparison it shews the active resistance which may be made by it and 't is called not a Sword of Flesh for the Weapons of our Warfare are not Carnal but of the Spirit to shew how mighty it is in repelling Satan Secondly Another Evidence of its usefulness is from the success which the Children of God have had in the right management of this Weapon 'T is observable that while Christ answered by Scripture Satan was silenced and had not what to reply to the Answer but was forced to betake himself to a new Temptation David in many places highly magnifies the Power of the Command in the success he had by it Psal 17. 4. He shews how available it was to preserve him in his common converse from the sinful Snares laid before him concerning the works of Men by the word of thy Lips I have kept me from the Paths of the destroyer In Psal 18. 22 23. he tells us that he was shielded from the Sins of his inclination and love which are hardest to prevent by the opposition that he gave to the Motions of them in setting up the Statutes of God against them All his Judgments were before me and I did not put away his Statutes from me I was also upright before him and I kept myself from mine Iniquity In Psal 119. 11. He puts his Probatum est upon the Head of this Receit and speaks of it as his constant refuge Thy Word have I hid in my Heart that I might not sin against thee In Psal 37. 31. He speaks of it as a tryed case of common experience to all the Children of God The Law of God is in his Heart none of his steps shall slide I shall add to this the Experience of Luther When saith he the Motions of the Flesh do rage the only remedy is to take the Sword of the Spirit that is the Word of Salvation and to fight against them of this I my self have good experience I have suffered many great passions and vehement but so soon as I laid hold of any place of Scripture and stay'd my self upon it as upon an Anchor straightway my Temptations did vanish away which without the Word had been impossible for me to endure though but a little space much less to overcome Thirdly The Excellency of this remedy will further appear from these following reasons First In that it is an Vniversal Remedy there can be no Temptation either of seducement or of affrightment but the Scripture will afford a suitable Promise or Command to repel it So that it like the Flaming Sword in the Cherubims hand at Paradise turns every way to guard the Soul I need not give instances of its Power against sinful Motions having done that already and of such Temptations which war against the peace of the Soul I need but say this in the general that as the Nature of such Temptations is to disguise God and to render him dreadful to us in the appearances of Wrath and incompassionate Implacableness and this Luther sets down as a certain rule So have we in Scripture such declarations of the Mind and tender Inclinations of God and such full and clear Promises to assure us of this and those so adapted to every case to every kind of hard thought which we might take up against him that we may find enough in them to break all those malicious misrepresentations of Satan and to keep up in our Mind right thoughts of God which if we will adhere to not suffering such Promises to be wrested out of our hands nor our Hearts to give way to malignant impressions of Cruelty Revenge or Unmercifulness in God though we be cast into Darkness into the Deeps we may find some Bottom on which to fix such beginnings of Hope as may at last grow up to a Spirit of rejoicing in God our Saviour and in this case when our Heart and Satan dictate to us that God is our Enemy we ought as it were to shut our Eyes to refuse to hearken to our own Sense and Feeling and to follow the Word but if we once give up the word of Promise 't is impossible the wound of Conscience should be healed with any other consideration Secondly This Remedy is comprehensive of most other Remedies against Satan's Temptations In Eph. 6. There are several other peices of Spiritual Armour recommended and yet there is such a manifest mutual respect betwixt this and those that any may conclude that however they be distinguished in their Names yet they are conjoyned in their Operation the Girdle so far as it relates to truth of Judgment and Opinion depends on the word of Scripture for Information the Shoes which are defensive resolves to walk with a steedy Foot in the ways of Religion notwithstanding the hardships that attend Holiness are prepared to us by the comfortable and peace-bringing Promises of the Gospel the Righteousness which is our Breast-Plate is only set forth and
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