The fourth device that Satan hath to draw the soul to sin is,
Device (4). By presenting to the soul the best men’s sins, and by Liding from the soul their virtues; by shewing the soul their sims, and by hiding from the soul their sorrows and repentance: as by setting before the soul the adultery of David, the pride of Hezekiah, the impatience of Job, the drunkenness of Noah, the blasphemy of Peter, &c, and by hiding from the soul the tears, the sighs, the groans, the meltings, the humblings, and repentings of these precious souls.
Now, the remedies against this device of the devil are these:
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That the Spirit of the Lord hath been as careful to note the saints’ rising by repentance out of sin, as he hath to mote their falling into sins. David falls fearfully, but by repentance he rises sweetly: Blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin; for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow; deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation.’ i It 1s true, Hezekiah’s heart was lifted up under the abundance of mercy that God had cast in upon him; and it is as true that Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon him, nor upon Jerusalem, in the days of Hezekiah. It is true, Job curses the day of his birth, and it is as true that he rises by repentance: Behold, I am vile,’ saith he; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yea twice, but I will proceed no further. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,’ Job xl. 4, 53 xlii. 5, 6.1 Peter falls dreadfully, but rises by repentance sweetly; a look of love from Christ melts him into tears. He knew that repentance was the key to the kingdom of grace. As once his faith was so great that he leapt, as it were, into a sea of waters to come to Christ; so now his repentance was so great that he leapt, as it were, into a sea of tears, for that he had gone from Christ. Some say that, after his sad fall, he was ever and anon weeping, and that his face was even furrowed with continual tears. He had no sooner took in poison but he vomited it up again, ere it got to the vitals; he had no sooner handled this serpent but he turned it into a rod to scourge his soul with remorse for sinning against such clear light, and strong love, and sweet discoveries of the heart of Christ to him.
Clement notes that Peter so repented, that all his life after, every night when he heard the cock crow, he would fall upon his knees, and, weeping bitterly, would beg pardon of his sin. Ah, souls, you can easily sin as the saints, but can you repent with the saints!
Many can sin with David and Peter, that cannot repent with David and Peter, and so must perish for ever. Theodosius the emperor, pressing that he might receive the Lord’s supper, excuses his own foul fact by Davids doing the like; to which Ambrose replies, Thou hast followed David transgressing, follow David repenting, and then think thou of the table of the Lord.!
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That these saints did not make a trade of sin. They fell once or twice, and rose by repentance, that they might keep the closer to Christ for ever. They fell accidentally, occasionally, and with much reluctancy; and thou sinnest presumptuously, obstinately, readily, delightfully, and customarily. Thou hast, by thy making a trade of sin, contracted upon thy soul a kind of cursed necessity of sinning, that thou canst as well cease to be, or cease to live, as thou canst cease to sin. Sin is, by custom, become as another nature to thee, which thou canst not, which thou wilt not lay aside, though thou knowest that if thou dost not lay sin aside, God will lay thy soul aside for ever; though thou knowest that if sin and thy soul do not part, Christ and thy soul can never meet. If thou wilt make a trade of sin, and cry out, Did not David sin thus, and Noah sin thus, and Peter sin thus? &. No; their hearts turned aside to folly one day, but thy heart turns aside to folly every day, 2 Peter ii. 14, Prov. iv. 16; and when they were fallen, they rise by repentance, and by the actings of faith upon a crucified Christ; but thou fallest, and hast no strength nor will to rise, but wallowest in sin, and wilt eternally die in thy sins, unless the Lord be the more merciful to thy soul. Dost thou think, O soul! this is good reasoning? Such a one tasted poison but once, and yet narrowly escaped; but I do daily drink poison, yet I shall escape. Yet such is the mad reasoning of vain souls. David and Peter, &c., sinned once foully and fearfully; they tasted poison but once, and were sick to death; but I taste it daily, and yet shall not taste of eternal death. Remember, O souls! that the day is at jisnd when self-flatterers will be found self-deceivers, yea, self-murerers.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That though God doth mot, nor never will, disinherit his people for their sins, yet he hath severely punished his people for their sins. David sins, and God breaks his bones for his sin: ‘ Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice,’ Ps. li. 8. ‘ And because thou hast done this, the sword shall never depart from thy house, to the day of thy death, 2 Sam. xii. 10. Though God will not utterly take from them his loving-kindness, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor break his covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth, yet will he “visit their transgression with a rod, and their iniquity with stripes,’
Ps. lxxxix. 30, 35. The Scripture abounds with instances of this kind. This is so known a truth among all that know anything of truth, that to cite more scriptures to prove it would be to light a candle to see the sun at noon.!
The Jews have a proverb, That there is no punishment comes upon Israel in which there is not one ounce of the golden calf;’ meaning that that was so great a sin, as that in every plague God remembered it; that it had an influence into every trouble that befell them. Every man’s heart may say to him in his sufferings, as the heart of Apollodorus in the kettle, ‘I have been the cause of this? God 1s most angry when he shews no anger. God keep me from this mercy; this kind of mercy is worse than all other kind of misery.
One writing to a dead friend hath this expression: ‘I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity; I judge yon to be miserable, because you have not been miserable. It is mercy that our aftliction 1s not execution, but a correction. He that hath deserved hanging, may be glad if he scape with a whipping. God’s corrections are our instructions, his lashes our lessons, his scourges our schoolmasters, his chastisements cur advertisements;> and to note this, both the Hebrews and the Greeks express chastening and teaching by one and the same word (Musar, Paideia), because the latter is the true end of the former, according to that in the proverb, Smart makes wit, and vexation gives understanding” Whence Luther fitly calls affliction ‘ The Christian man’s divinity.” So saith Job (chap. xxxiii. 14-19), God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.” When Satan shall tell thee of other men’s sins to draw thee to sin, do thou then think of the same men’s sufferings to keep thee from sin. Lay thy hand upon thy heart, and say, O my soul! if thou sinnest with David, thou must suffer with David, &ec.
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That there are but two main ends of God’s recording of the falls of his saints.
And the one is, to keep those from fainting, sinking, and despair, under the burden of their sins, who fall through weakness and infirmity. And the other is, that their falls may be as landmarks to warn others that stand, to take heed lest they fall. It never entered into the
heart of God to record his children’s sins, that others might be encouraged to sin, but that others might look to their standings, and to hang the faster upon the skirts of Christ, and avoid all occasions and temptations that may occasion the soul to fall, as others have fallen, when they have been left by Christ. The Lord hath made their sins as landmarks, to warn his people to take heed how they come near those sands and rocks, those snares and baits, that have been fatal to the choicest treasures, to wit, the joy, peace, comfort, and glorious enjoyments of the bravest spirits and noblest souls that ever sailed through the ocean of this sinful troublesome world; as you may see in David, Job, Peter, &. There is nothing in the world that can so notoriously cross the grand end of God’s recording of the sins of his saints, than for any from thence to take encouragement to sin; and wherever you find such a soul, you may write him Christless, graceless, a soul cast off by God, a soul that Satan hath by the hand, and the eternal God knows whither he will lead him.