Duty then he objects They draw nigh me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me If he sees them dull and without Consolation at the Lord's Supper then to be sure they hear of him he that eats and drinks unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself If he find him bemoaning that he is not so apprehensive of Mercies or Judgments as he would be then he sets home some such Scripture as this This Peoples Heart is waxed gross and their Ears are dull of hearing c. These Scriptures are frequently perverted by Satan from the true and proper meaning of them I have had complaints from several dejected Christians of these very Scriptures urged upon them to their great trouble when yet it was evident that none of these were truly applyed by Satans Temptation against them These things give us warning not to take any thing of this Nature upon trust If Satan can so imitate the Spirit of God in applications of Scripture and bringing it to our remembrance we have great reason to beware lest we be imposed upon by Satan's Design clothed in Scripture Phrase not that I would have Men esteem the secret setting of Scripture upon their Minds to be in all cases a delusion and to be disregarded as such Some indeed there are that so severely remark the weaknesses of Professors of Religion that they raise up a scorn to that which is of most necessary and serious use because the Devil prevails with some Hypocrites to guild themselves with Scripture phrase and others through imprudent inadvertency are unknown to themselves beguiled by Satan to misapplications of Scripture to their own estate or to other things they therefore decry all the inward workings of the Heart as Fancy or affected singularity these do but the Devils work But that the Spirit of God whom Satan treacherously endeavours to imitate doth set home Scripture Commands Threatnings and Promises upon the Hearts of his People is not only attested by the Experience of all that are inwardly acquainted with the ways of God but is one of the great Promises which Christ hath given for the comfort of his People in his absence Joh. 14. 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father shall send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you This then being granted as a firm unshaken Truth our care must be in discovering and avoiding Satan's counterfeit using of Scripture and in this we should be more wary First Because we are not so apt to suspect what we meet with in such a way when 't is brought to us in the Language of Scripture Secondly And those that are not exercised in the Scripture will he at a sad loss as not knowing how to extricate themselves from such difficulties as may arise to them from Satan's Sophistry Thirdly Wariness is also more necessary because we are inclinable to believe what suits our Desires and Conscience awakened is averse to the rejecting of that which answers its fears You may say What is there of direction for us in this Case The Answer is ready Two things are given us in Charge 1. That we be wisely suspicious A facile hasty credulity is treacherous Christ forbids when he foretels the rising of false Christ's Math. 24. 26. the forwardness of a sudden belief taxing thereby those that are presently taken with every new appearance 'T is childish to be carryed with every Wind we are warned also of this 1 Joh. 4. 1. Believe not every Spirit 2. We are commanded to bring all Pretences whatsoever to Tryal though immediate Revelation or Vision be pretended or extraordinary Commission yet must all be brought to the Touch-Stone we must prove all things 1 Thes 5. 21. and try those that say they are Apostles Rev. 2. 2. Nay the Spirits are to be tryed whether they be of God 1 Joh. 4. 1. You will say How must we try I Answer God hath given a Publick Sufficient and Certain rule which is the Scripture and all must be tryed by that so that if there be Impulses or Discoveries or Remembrances of Scripture upon any it must not be taken for granted that they are of God because they pretend so high for so we shall make Satan Judg in his own Cause but lay all to the Line and Plummet of the written Word and if it answer not that call it confidently a delusion and reject it as accursed though it might seem in other regards to have been suggested by an Angel from Heaven But it will be said Satan pretends to this Rule and it is Scripture that is urged by him I Answer though it be so yet he useth not Scripture in its own Intendment and Sense for the discovery of his unfaithful dealing First Compare the Inference of the suggestion with other Scriptures If it be from a dark Scripture compare it with those that are more plain and in every case see whether the general Current of the Scriptures speak the same thing for if it be from Satan he either plays with the Words and Phrases from doubtful and equivolent terms making his conclusion or his citation will be found Impertinent or which is most usual contrary to Truth or Holiness if any of these appear by a true examination of the Import of the Scripture which he seeks to abuse or by comparing it with the Scope and Genius of other Scriptures you may certainly pronounce that it is not of God but Satan's deceit Secondly Consider the tendency of such Suggestions Let no Man say that this will come too late or that it is an after game I do not mean that we should stay so long as to see the Effects though this is also a certain discovery of Satan's knavery in his highest pretences the Phanatick Furies of the German Enthusiasts do now appear plain to all the World to have been Delusions by their End Fruits and Issue But that while these Conclusions are obtruded upon us we should observe to what they tend which we shall the better know if all Circumstances round about be considered Sometimes Satan doth covertly hint his Mind and send it along with the suggestion sometimes our condition will enough declare it and there is no case but it will afford something of discovery if seriously pondered If he either prompt us to Pride Vain-Glory or Presumption or that our condition sway us that way it will be sufficient ground of Suspition that 't is Satan that then urgeth Promises or Priviledges upon us If we are of a wounded Spirit inclined to Distrust or if we be put on to despair it is past denyal that 't is Satan that urgeth the Threatnings and presseth the Accusations of the Law against us He that gathers Stones Timber Lime and such Materials together as are usually imployed in Building doth discover his intention before he actually Build his
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
some perfect some less perfect some little Children some young men some Fathers The end of all this is to make them apprehend themselves Christians of an higher rank and order which also makes way consequently for a further inference viz. That there must needs be immunities and priviledges suitable to these heights and attainments To this purpose 3 he produceth those Scriptures that are design'd by God to raise up the minds of Men to look after the internal Work and Power of his Ordinances and not to center their minds and hopes in the bare formal use of them without applying their thoughts to God and Christ unto whom they are appointed to lead us Such as these Scriptures Rom. 2. 28. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter And Rom. 6. 7. we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter 2 Cor. 5. 16. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Ephes 4. 13. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets c. for the perfecting of the Saints till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man By a perverse Interpretation of these and some other Scriptures of like import he would perswade them That the great thing that Christ designed by his Ordinances was but to train up the weaker Christians by these rudiments as the A B C to Children to a more spiritual and immediate way of living upon God and that these become altogether useless when Christians have gotten up to any of these imaginary degrees of a supposed Perfection Enough of this may be seen in the writings of Saltmarsh Winstanly and others in the late times How great a Trade Satan drove by such misapprehensions not long since cannot easily be forgotten so that God's Worship did almost lye wast and in many places the way to Sion did mourn Secondly He will sometimes confess an equality of priviledge among the Children of God and yet plead an inequality of duty that God is as good and strong to us and that we have all an equal advantage by Christ he will readily acknowledge But then when we should propound the diligence of the Saints in their Services for our pattern as of Davids praying seven times a day Daniels three times Anna's serving God with fastings and prayers night and day c. He tells us these were extraordinary Services and as it were works of supererrogation more than the Command of God laid upon them So that we are not tyed to such strictness and we being naturally apt to indulge our selves in our own ease are too ready to comply with such Delusions And by degrees Men are thus brought to a confident belief that they may be good enough and do as much as is required though they slacken their pace and do not Fast Pray or Hear so often as others have done Thirdly Another Sophism of his is to heighten one Duty to the ruine of another He strives to make an intestine War among the several parts of the Services we owe to God and from the excellency of one to raise up an enmity and undervaluing disregard of another Thus would he sever as inconsistent those things that God hath joyned together As among false Teachers some say Lo here is Christ and others Lo he is there So we find Satan dealing with Duties he puts some upon such high respects to Preaching that say they Christ is to be found here most frequently rather than in Prayer or other Ordinances others are made to have the like esteem for Prayer and they affirm in this is Christ especially to be met withal Others say the like of Sacraments or Meditation In all these Satan labours to beget a dislike and neglect of other Services Thus in what relates to the Constitution of Churches he endeavours to set up purity of Churches to the Destruction of Vnity or Vnity to the ruine of Purity A notable Example hereof we have in the Euchytae a Sect of praying Hereticks which arose in the time of Valentinian and Valens who upon the pretence of the Commands of Christ and Paul for Praying continually or without ceasing and fainting owned no other Duty as necessary vilifying Preaching and Sacraments as things at best useless and unprofitable The like attempts he makes daily upon Men where though he prevail not so far as to bring some necessary Duties of Service into open contempt yet he carries them into too much secret neglect and disregard Fourthly He improves the grace of the Gospel to infer an unnecessariness of Duty and this he doth not only from the advantage of a prophane and careless Spirit in such as presumptuously expect Heaven though they mind not the way that leads to it for with such it is usual as one observes for Satan to sever the means from the end in things that are good to make them believe they shall have Peace though they walk in the Imaginations of their Heart to make them lean upon the Lord for Heaven in the apparent neglect of Holiness and Duty As in evil things he severs the end from the means making them confident they shall escape Hell and Condemnation though they walk in the path that leads thither But besides this he abuseth the understandings and affections of Men by strange and uncouth inferences as that God hath received a satisfaction and Christ hath done all so that nothing is left for us to do The Apostle Paul was so much aware of this kind of arguing that when he was to magnifie the Grace of God he always took care to fence against such perverse reasonings severely rebuking and refelling such objections as in Rom. 3. 7 8. Where speaking that our unrighteousness did commend the righteousness of God he falls upon that reply Why then am I judged as a sinner Which he sharply refells as an inference of slanderous imputation to the Gospel which hath nothing in it to give the least countenance to that Conclusion Let us do evil that good may come And adds That Damnation shall justly overtake such as practise accordingly The like we have Rom. 6. 1. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound which he rejected with the greatest abhorrency God forbid From both which places we may plainly gather that as unsound as such arguings are yet Men through Satans subtilty are too prone upon such pretences to dispute themselves to a careless neglect of Duty This might be enlarged in many other instances as that of Maximus Tyrius who disputed all Duties unnecessary upon this ground That what God will give cannot be hindred and what he
all those hard names have this general signification that the Devil hath made a great stir in the World by Errour and Opinion After times might also be summoned in to speak their evidence and our own knowledg and experience might without any other help sufficiently instruct us if it were needful of the truth of this that Errour is one of Satan's great designs Secondly Let us next look into the Reasons which do so strongly engage Satan to these endeavours of raising up Errours If we set these before us it will not only confirm us in our belief that this is one of his main imployments for if Errour yield him so many advantages for the ruine of Men and the dishonour of God there can be no doubt of his readiness to promote it This also may be of use to put us in mind who it is that is at work behind the Curtain when we see such things acted upon the Stage and consequently may beget a cautious suspition in our Minds against his proceedings the Reasons are such as these First Errour is sinful so that if Satan should be hindred in his endeavours for any further mischief than the corrupting of any particular Person yet he will reckon that he hath not altogether lost his labour Some Errours that overturn fundamentals of Faith are as deadly poyson and called expressly damnable by the Apostle 2 Pet. 2. 1. These Heresies are by Paul Gal. 5. 20. recounted among the works of the Flesh of which he positively affirms that they that do such things cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Those that are of a lower nature that do not so extreamly hazard the Soul can only be capable of this Apology that they are less evil yet as they are oppositions to Truth propounded in Scripture for our belief and direction they cease not to be Sins though they may be greater or less evils according to the importance of those Truths which they deny or the consequences that attend them and if we go yet a step lower to the consideration of those rash and bold assertions about things not clearly revealed though they may possibly be true yet the positiveness of avouchments and determinations in such cases where we want sufficient reason to support what we affirm as that of the Pseudo-Dionysius for the Hierarchy of Angels and some adventurous assertions concerning God's secret Decrees and many other things of like nature are by the Apostle Col. 2. 18. most severely taxed for an unwarrantable and unjust presumption in setting our foot upon God's right as if such Men would by violence thrust themselves into that which God hath reserved for himself for so much the word intruding imports the cause of this he tells us is the arrogancy of corrupt Reason the fleshly Mind suitable to that expression Matth. 16. 17. Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it the bottom of it is Pride which swells Men to this height and the Fruit after all these swelling attempts is no other than as the Apples of Sodom Dust and Vanity intruding into those things which he hath not seen Vainly puft up by his fleshly Mind If then Satan do but gain this that by Errour though not diffused further than the breast of the infected Party Truth is denied or that the heart be swelled into Pride and Arrogancy or that he hath hope so to prevail 't is enough to encourage his attempts Secondly But Errour is a Sin of an encreasing nature and usually stops not at one or two Falshoods but is apt to spawn into many others as some of the most noxious Creatures have the most numerous Broods for one Errour hath this mischievous danger in it that it taints the Mind to an instability in every Truth and the bond of stedfastness being once broken a Man hath no certainty where he shall stay as a wanton Horse once turned loose may wander far This hazard is made a serious warning against Errour 2 Pet. 3. 17. Beware lest ye being led away with the errour of the Wicked fall from your own steadfastness One Errour admitted makes the heart unsteady and besides this inconvenience Errour doth unavoidably branch it self naturally into many more as Inferences and Conclusions resulting from it as Circles in Water multiply themselves grant but one absurdity and many will follow upon it so that 't is a Miracle to find a single Errour These Locusts go forth by Bonds as the experience of all ages doth testify and besides the immediate consequences of an Errour which receive Life and Being together with it self as Twins of the same Birth We may observe a tendancy in Errours to others that are more remote and by the long stretch of multiplyed inferences those things are coupled together that are not very contiguous If the Lutherans 't is Dr. Prideaux his observation admit Vniversal Grace the Huberians introduce Vniversal Election the Puccians Natural Faith the Naturalists explode Christ and Scriptures at last as unnecessary this is then a fair mark for the Devil to aim at if he prevails for one Errour 't is an hundred to one but he prevails for more Thirdly Satan hath yet a further reach in promoting Errour he knows 't is a Plague that usually infects all round about and therefore doth he the rather labour in this work because he hopes thereby to corrupt others and infected Persons are commonly the most busie Agents even to the compassing of Sea and Land to gain Prosilytes to their false Perswasions This Harvest of Satan's labour is often noted in Scripture they shall deceive many Matth. 24. 24. Many shall follow their pernicious ways 2 Pet. 2. 2. How quickly had this Leaven spread it self in the Church of Galatia even to Paul's wonder Gal. 1. 6. I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ into another Gospel Instances of the spreading of Errour are frequent Pelagianism rose about the Year 415 but presently spread it self in Palestine Africa Greece Italy Sicily France and Britain Arrianism like fire in Straw in a little time brought its flame over the Christian World and left her wondring at her self that she was so suddenly become Arrian Socinianism had the like prevalency Laelius privately had sowed the Seeds and after his death Faustus Socinus his Nephew did so bestir himself that within ten years after his confident appearing whole Congregations in Sarmatia submitted themselves to his Dictates as Calovius affirms and within twenty or thirty Years more several hundreds of Churches in Transilvania were infected and within a few Years more the whole Synod was brought over to subscribe to Socinianism We have also instances nearer home after the Reformation in the raign of Edward the sixth how soon did Popery return in its full strength when Queen Mary came to the Crown which occasioned Peter Martyr when he saw young Students flocking to Mass to say That the tolling of the Bell overturned all his
first for when Men grow acquainted with their Gifts their admiration decays and the success of their Labours is not so great many times The Devil also observing the prevalency of Curiosity and that Men are more pleased with new Notions than with old Truths he endeavours also to Plow with this Heifer and oft makes a great Harvest by it There is yet another advantage more that he sometimes useth and that is Fifthly Atheistical Debauchery when Men by long custome in Sinning have arrived to habitual Carelesness and Presumption then they become Practical Atheists their Vitious Habits work upon their Understandings to obliterate all Principles when Men are gone so far they are fit Engineers for Satan for while they dis-believe all things they can to serve a Design or to head a Party take up any Opinion and pretend the greatest seriousness in the propagating it though in the mean time they secretly laugh at the credulity of the Vulgar These Men let out themselves and all their parts to the Devil and he knows how to make use of them to bring on the delusion and deception of others Many Ages have given Examples of such those Seducers mentioned in the new Testament were some of them of this rank and therefore called deceitful Workers Such as were not really under those Perswasions which they thought to six upon others but upon design transformed themselves into the Apostles of Christ such as served not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies and yet by good words and fair speeches deceived the hearts of the simple Rom. 16. 18. Who through Covetousness with feigned words made Merchandize of Men 2 Pet. 2. 3. Balaam was such and the Woman Jezabel that called her self a Prophetess Rev. 2. 20. Such was the Arch-bishop of Spalato who for advantage could at pleasure take up and lay down his Religion Such an one was the false Jew not so long since discovered in this place who being a Romish Emissary pretended to be a Jew Converted and seeking a pure Church under that vizor designing to overthrow by private insinuations the Faith of the simple uncautious Admirers by such Instruments Satan works where he hath opportunity CHAP. III. Of Satan's improving these Advantages for Errour 1. By deluding the Understanding directly which he doth 1. by countenancing Errour from Scripture Of his cunning therein 2 By specious pretences of Mysteries and what these are Of personal flatteries 3. By affected Expressions Reason of their prevalency 4 By bold Assertions The Reasons of that Policy 5 By the excellency of the Persons appearing for it either for Gifts or Holiness His method if managing that design 6. By pretended Inspiration 7 By pretended Miracles His cunning herein 8 By peace and prosperity in ways of Errour 9 By lyes against Truth and the Professors of it WHat are the general Advantages which Satan hath to forward his design of Errour we have seen It now remains that we take an account of the various ways by which he improves those Advantages and those may be referred to two Heads 1 They are such Stratagems as more directy work upon the Understanding to delude and blind it Or 2 they are such as indirectly by the power of the Will and Affections do influence it First Those Stratagems that more immediatly concern the Understanding are the use of such Arguments which carry in them a probability to confirm an Errour though indeed they are but Fallacies Sophisms or Paralogisms of which the Apostle speaks Col. 2. 4. Lest any beguile you that is lest they impose upon you by false Reasonings His usual way of proceeding in this case is First when he hath to do with Men that are brought up with profession and belief of Scripture he is then careful to give an Errour some countenance or pretence from Scripture it is not his course to decry the Scriptures with such Men but to suppose their Truth and Authority as the most plausible way to his Design for by this means he doth not only prevent a great many startling objections which would otherwise rise up against him seeing Men brought up with Scripture cannot easily be brought to call them false but with considerable advantage he doth thereby authorize and justifie his Errour for nothing can give more boldness or confidence to a mistake then a belief that it is backed with Scripture That this is one of his grand Stratagems may be sufficiently evinced from the infinite number of Errours that pretend to Scripture warrant Those that are above or beyond Scripture which acknowledg no dependance upon it are but few and rare and indeed among Christians Errour cannot well thrives without a pretence of Scripture Men would have enough to do to perswade themselves to such Errours but it would be impossible to make a Party or perswade others such Errours would presently be hissed out of the World Upon this account is it that Atheism sculks and conceals it self except where generally tolerated Prophaneness gives it more than ordinary encouragement which is not to be ascribed to any shame-faced modesty that Atheisms can be supposed to nourish but to the generall dislike of others who so stick to the Authority of the Bible that they reject all direct contradictions to it with great abhorrency Hence also it is that some Erroneous persons are forced to contradictions in their practice against their professed Principles because they find it impossible to propagate their Errours without some pretence or other to Scripture They that would undermine those Sacred Records are forced to make use of their Authority for proof of what they would say The Papists have a quarrel at them and envy them the title of Perfection and Perspicuity upon design to intoduce Traditions and to set up the Popes Judicial Authority in matters of Faith and when they have said all they can to subject the Scriptures to the Popes Determination they are forced at last to be beholden to the Scriptures to prove the Popes Determination they would prove the Scriptures by the Church and then the Church by the Scriptures which is a Circle they have been often told of and of which some of the wiser sort among themselves are ashamed Others also that will not allow the Scriptures to be a general standing Rule are yet forced to make it in some cases a Rule to themselves and eagerly plead it to be so to others They that pretend to be above Ordinances and decry outward-Teachings as unnecessary or hurtful yet they Teach outwardly because they see they are not able to enlarge the Empire of Errour without such teaching Those very Errours that make it their chief business to render the Scriptures no better than an old Almanack they yet seek to Scripture to countenance their Blasphemous Assertions and if they get any scrap or shred of it that may by their unjust Torture be wrested to speak any such thing or any thing toward it they think all their follies are thereby
who flee from Battel Hence then do we hear of these various Complaints One saith Alas I have no Grace because I live not as other Saints have done in all exactness Another saith I have no Faith because I cannot believe above Reason and contrary to Sense as Abraham did A third crys out He hath no Love to God because he cannot find his Soul ravished with desire after him Another thinks He hath a hard Heart because he cannot weep for Sin Another concludes against himself because He finds not a present chearful resolve while he is not under any question for Religion to suffer Torments for Christ Some fear themselves Because Temporaries in some particulars have much out-gone them You see how Complaints may upon this score be multiplied without end and yet all this is but Fallacy Satan tells them what Grace is at the highest but not a word of what it is at lowest And so unskilful is a tossed weak Christian that he in examining his Condition looks after the highest Degrees of Grace as affording clearer Evidence and not after the Sincerity of it which is the safest way for Trial where Graces are weak In a word this kind of Arguing is no better than that of Children who cannot conclude themselves to be Men because their present stature is little and they are not as tall as the Adult 2. Another part of his cunning in lessening the real Graces of God's Children is to take them at an advantage when their Graces are weakest and themselves most out of order He that will chuse to measure a Man's Stature while he is upon his Knees seems not to design to give a faithful account of his Height No more doth Satan who when he will make Comparisons always takes the Servants of God at the worst And indeed many advantages do the Children of God give him insomuch that it is no wonder that he doth so oft Baffle them but rather a wonder that they at any time return to their Comforts 1. Sometimes he takes them to task while they are yet young and tender when they are but newly converted before their Graces are grown up or have had time to put forth any considerable Fruit. 2. Or when their Graces are tired out by long or grievous assaults of Temptation for then they are not what they are at other times 3. When their Hearts are discomposed or muddied with fear for then their sight is bad and they can so little judg of things that differ that Satan can impose almost any thing upon them 4. Sometimes he comes upon them when some Grace acts his part but poorly as not having its perfect work and is scarce able to get through sticking as it were in the Birth 5. Or when the progress of Grace is small and imperceptible 6. Or while in the absence of the Sun which produceth Flowers and Fragrancy and is the time of the singing of Birds Cant. 2. 11 12. it is forced to cast off its Summer Fruits of Joy and sensible Delights and only produceth Winter Fruits of Lamenting after God Longing and Panting after him justifying of God in his Dealings and Condemning it self all this while sowing in Tears for a more pleasing Crop 7. Or while Expectations are more than Enjoyments the Man it may be promised himself large incomes of greater measures of Comforts Ease or Strength under some particular Ordinances or Helps which he hath lately attained to and not finding things presently to answer what he hoped for is now suspitious of his case and thinks he hath attained nothing because he hath not what he would 8. Sometimes Satan shews them his Face in this Glass when 't is foulest through the spots of some Miscarriage 9. Or he takes advantage of some Natural Defects as want of Tears which might be more usual in former times but are now dried up or from the Ebbings and uncertainty of his Aâ—â—ections which are never sure rules of Trials 10. Or in such acts that are of a mixed nature in the Principles and Motives where it may seem to be uncertain to which the Act must be ascribed as to the true Parent The Heart of a gracious Person being challenged upon any of these Points and under so great a Disadvantage being called out to give a proof of himself especially in the view of Grace set forth in all its Excellency and Glory shall have little to plead but will rather own the Accusation And the rather because 3. It is another part of Satan's cunning to urge them whilst they are thus at a stand with a Possibility nay a Probability of their mistaking themselves by passing too favourable an opinion formerly of their Actions To confirm them in this apprehension 1. He lays before them the consideration of the deceitfulness of the Heart which being so above all things and desperately wicked beyond ordinary discovery makes a fair way for the entertainment of a suspition of Self-delusion in all the former hopes which a Man hath had of himself Satan will plainly speak it Thou hast had some thoughts and workings of Mind towards God but seeing they carry so great a disproportion to Rule and Example and come so far short of Common Graces 't is more than probable that such poor weak confused appearances are nothing How knowest thou that thine adherence to and practice of the Command and Services of God are any more than from the power of Education the prevalency of Custom or the impressions of Moral swasion How dost thou know that thy desires after God and thy delight in him are any more than the products of Natural Principles influenced by an Historical faith of Scripture Doctrine 'T is oftentimes enough for Satan to hint this A suspitious Heart as it were greedy of its own misery catcheth at all things that make against it and hence complains That it hath no Grace because it sees not any visible Fruits or makes not a sufficient appearance at all times when opposed or resisted or because it wants sensible progress or gives not the Summer Fruits of Praises Rejoycings and Delights in God or because it seems not to meet with remarkable improvements in Ordinances or because it cannot produce Tears and raise the Affections and because the Party doth not know but his Heart might decieve him in all that he hath done Which the Devil yet further endeavoureth to confirm 2. By a consideration of the seeming Holiness and Graces of such as believed themselves to be the Children of God and were generally by others reputed so to be who yet after a glorious profession turned Apostates This being so great and undeniable an Instance of the Hearts deceitfulness makes the poor tempted Party conclude that he is certainly no true Convert Thus have we seen Satan's Sophistry in the management of those five grand Topicks from whence he draws his false Conclusions against the Children of God pretending to prove that they are not Converted or at least if they
specified if he finds that his Ignorance or Timerousness is such as may render the Temptation feazible he presently applies Damnation to them by the authority of those Texts For instance that Text of Rom. 14. 23. hath been frequently abused to that end He that doubteth is Damned if he eat The word Damned there strikes deep with a weak troubled Christian that is not skilful in the Word of Righteousness For whether Satan apply it to Sacramental eating as sometimes he doth to the Ignorant though contrary to the purpose of the Text or to Doubting in the general he makes this conclusion out of it Thou doubtest or thou hast eaten the Sacrament doubtingly therefore there is no hope for thee thou art Damned Whereas all this while the Devil doth but play the Sophister in the abuse of the signification of words For that Scripture evidently relates to the difference that then was in the Church about eating those Meats that were unclean by Moses's Law In which case the Apostle doth positively declare that the difference betwixt clean and unclean Meats is taken away so that a Christian might with all freedom imaginable eat those Meats that were formerly unclean with this Proviso that he were fully perswaded in his own mind The necessity of which satisfaction he proves from this That otherwise he should offend his own Conscience which in that case must needs Condemn him and that 's the Damnation that is there spoken of as is more evident by comparing this Verse with the next foregoing Happy is he that Condemneth not himself But he that doubteth doth Condemn himself because he eats not of Faith that is from full perswasion of the lawfulness of the thing This Scripture then hath nothing at all in it to the purpose for which Satan brings it It doth not speak of any finall sentence of Condemnation passed upon a Man for such an Act all and the utmost that it saith is only this That it is a sin to go against the perswasion of Conscience and consequently it puts no Man further off Salvation than any other sin may do for which upon repentance the Sinner may be pardoned Another Text which Satan hath frequently abused to the very great prejudice of many is that of 1 Cor. 11. 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself With this Scripture he insults over the humble fearful Christian who is sensible of his unworthiness of so great a Priviledg Sometimes he keeps him off long from the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper upon this very score That such an unworthy Wretch ought not to make such near and familiar approaches to Christ And if at last he is perswaded to partake of this Ordinance then taking the advantage of the Parties Consciousness of his great Vileness and the very low thoughts which he entertains of himself he endeavours to perswade him that now he hath destroyed himself for ever and run upon his own irrecoverable Damnation Thus he pleads it Can any thing be more plain than that thou hast eaten and drunken unworthily Thy own Conscience tells thee so and can any thing be more positively asserted than this that he that doth so eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself What then canst thou think of thy self but that thou art a damned Wretch Neither do I speak barely what may be supposed Satan would say in this matter but what may be proved by many Instances he hath said and urged upon the Consciences of the Weak who have from hence concluded to the great distress of their Souls that by unworthy receiving of the Sacrament they have sealed up their own Condemnation and all this by abusing and perverting the sense of this Text. For the unworthy receiving doth relate to the Miscarriages which he had taxed before and it implies a careless prophane eating such as might plainly express the small or unworthy esteem that they had in their Hearts for that Ordinance And the Damnation there threatned is not finall and irrecoverable Damnation but Temporal Judgment as the Apostle himself doth explain it in the next Verses For this cause many are sickly And if we would judg our selves we should not be judged That is as he further explains it we should not be thus Chastned or Afflicted and the word translated Damnation doth signifie Judgment At the furthest if we should take it for the Condemnation of Hell all that is threatned would be no more than this That such have deserved and God in Justice might inflict the Condemnation of Hell for such an offence Which is not only true of this sin but of all others which still do admit of the exception of Repentance All this while this is nothing to the poor humbled Sinner that judgeth himself unworthy in his most serious Examination and greatest Diligence Satan here plays upon the unexactness of the Translation and the ignorance of the Party in Criticisms for 't is not every one that can readily answer such Captious Arguments 2. But he hath another piece of Cunning which is this He doth by a sigular kind of Art threap upon Men some Scripture that really speaks of Eternal Condemnation without any sufficient evidence in matter of Fact for the due application of them only because they cannot prove the contrary His proceeding herein is to this purpose First After he hath prepared his way by forming their minds to a fearful suspition of their Estate he sets before them such Scriptures as these God hardned the heart of Pharaoh He hath prepared Vessels of Wrath fitted for Destruction Christ prayed not for the World And that concerning the Jews He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts Secondly He confidently affirms that they are such Thirdly He puts them to prove the contrary and herein he sends them to the search of God's Eternal Decrees in which Art Satan like an Ignis fatuus leads them out of the way And though he cannot possibly determine what he affirms he shifts off the positive proof from himself and leaves it upon them to make out that they are not thus determined of by God's unchangeable purpose And because the tempted under so great a Cloud have no such perswasion of their present Graces as may enable them to make sure their Election by the Fruits of their Vocation they are beaten off from their hold and are brought to believe that the Argument is unanswerable Because they cannot say they are Converted they conclude they must be Damned overlooking the true Answer that they might make by keeping close to the Possibility or Probability that they may be Converted and so escape the Damnation of Hell This general hope being of such high concern to the distressed for 't is the first thing that must relieve them till better Evidence come in it is Satan's great policy to Cheat them of it which he often doth by this Method now declared 2. Satan doth mainly endeavour to misrepresent God to troubled Souls