The second device that Satan hath to ensnare and destroy the great and honourable of the earth is, i
Device (2). By engaging them against the people of the Most High, again those that are lis jewels, his pleasant portion, the delight of his i eye und the joy of his heart. Thus he drew Pharaoh to engage against the children of Israel, and that was his overthrow, Exod. xiv. So he 1 Self-seekers, with Esau, prefer a mess of pottage above their birthright, and with the
engaged Haman against the Jews, and so brought him to hang upon that gallows that he had made for Mordecai, Esther vii. So he engaged those princes and presidents against Daniel, which was the utter ruin of them and their relations, Dan. vi. So in Rev. xx. 7-9, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. And he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
Now the remedies against this device are these:
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That none have engaged against the swints, but have been ruined by the God of saints. Divine justice hath been too hard forall that have opposed and engaged against the saints, as is evident in Saul, Pharaoh, Haman, &c: “He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, nor do my prophets no harm,” Ps. cv. 15. When men of Balaam spirits and principles have been engaged against the saints, how hath the angel of the Lord met them in the way, and justled their bones against the wall! how hath he broke their backs and necks, and by his drawn sword cut them off in the prime of their days, and in the height of their sins I’ Ah! what a harvest hath hell had in our days, of those who have engaged against the Lamb, and those that are called ~ chosen and faithful! Ah! how hath divine justice poured out their blood as water upon the ground! how hath he laid their honour and glory in the dust, who, in the pride and madness of their hearts, said, as Pharaoh, We will pursue, we will overtake, we will divide the spoil, - our lusts shall be satistied upon them. We will draw our sword, our hand shall destroy them,” Exod. xv. 9. In the things wherein they have spoken and done proudly, justice hath been above them. History abounds in nothing more than in instances of this kind, &e.
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell some time every morning upon the following scriptures, wherein God Lath engaged himself to stund by his people and for Lis people, and to make them victorious over the greatest and wisest of their enemies? Associate yourselves, saith the Lord by the prophet, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us’ Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel: I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them, and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the holy One of Israel” No weapon that is formed against thee shall 1 As they said once of the Grecians in the epigram, whom they thought invulnerable, We shoot at them, but they fall not down; we wound them, and not kill them, &ec. Tanto plus glovie referemus, quoniam eo plures superabimus. The number of opposcrs makes the Christian’s conquest the more illustrious, said Pedarelus in Erasmus.
$ Ucciai poterant, sed vinci non poterant, said Cyprian of the Christians in his time.
prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord” Now also many nations are gathered together against thee that say, Let us be defiled, and let our eye look upon Sion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel; for he shall gather them as sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Sion: I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoof brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.’ Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about. when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, That you cannot engage against the swints, but you must engage against God himself, by reason of that neur and blessed union that is between God and them. You cannot be fighters against the saints, but you will be found in the casting up of the account to be fighters against God himself? And what greater madness than for weakness itself to engage against an almighty strength! The near union that is between the Lord and believers, is set forth by that near union that is betwixt a husband and his wife. “They two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church; we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,” saith the apostle, Eph. v. 32. This near union is set forth by that union that is between the head and the members, which make up one body, and by that union that is betwixt the graff and the stock, which are made one by insition.? The union between the Lord and a believer is so near, that you cannot strike a believer, but the Lord is sensible of it, and takes it as done to himself. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Acts ix. 4; and in all their afflictions he was afflicted,” &ec., Isa. Ixiii. 9. Ah, souls! who ever engaged against God and prospered? who ever took up the sword against him but perished by it? God can speak you to bell and nod you to hell at pleasure. It is your greatest concernment to lay down your weapons at his feet, and to Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the midway,” Ps. ii. 12.
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan 1s, solemnly to consider, That you are much engaged to the saints, as imstruments for the mercies that you do enjoy, and for the preventing and removing of many a judgment that otherwise might have been your ruin before this day. Were it not for the saints’ sake, God would quickly make the heavens to be as brass and the earth as iron; God would quickly strip thee of thy robes and glory, and set thee upon the dunghill with Job. They are the props that bear the world from falling about thy cars, and that keep the iron rod from breaking of thy bones. 1 Isa. viii 9,10; xli. 14, 15, and liv. 17; Micah iv. 11-13; Zech. xii. 2, 3.—G.
3. Acts-v. 39. It seems to be drawn from the fable of the giants, which were said to make war with the gods.
3. The soul’s happiness consists not in anything, but in its union with God; nor its misery lies not so much in anything, as in its disunion from God.
Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them,” Ps. evi. 23.
Ah! had not the saints many a time cast themselves into the breach betwixt God’s wrath and you, you had been cut off from the land of the living, and had had your portion with those whose names are written in the dust! Many a nation, many a city, and many a family, is surrounded with blessings for the Josephs’ sakes that live therein, and are preserved from many calamities and miseries for the Moseses’, the Daniels’, the Noahs’, and the Jobs’ sakes, that dwell amongst them. That is a sweet word, Prov. x. 25, As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation, or is the foundation of the world.” The righteous is the foundation of the world, which but for their sakes would soon shatter and fall to ruin. So the psalmist: Ps. Ixxv. 3, The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.’
The emperor Marcus Antoninus being in Almany? with his army, was enclosed in a dry country by his enemies, who so stopped all the passages that he and his army were like to perish for want of water. The emperor’s lieutenant seeing him so distressed, told him that he had heard that the Christians could obtain any thing of their God by their prayers, whereupon the emperor, having a legion of Christians in his army, desired them to pray to their God for his and the army’s delivery “out of that danger, which they presently did, and presently a great thunder fell amongst the enemies, and abundance of water upon the Romans, whereby their thirst was quenched, and the enemies overthrown without any fight.#3 I shall close up this last remedy with those sweet words of the psalmist: In Judah is God known; his name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah,’ Ps. Ixxvi. 1-3.
Secondly, Satan hath his devices to ensnare and destroy the learned and the wise, and that sometimes by working them to pride themselves in their parts and abilities; and sometimes by drawing them to rest upon their parts and abilities; and sometimes by causing them to make light and slight of those that want their parts and abilities, though they excel them in grace and holiness; and sometimes by drawing them to engage their parts and abilities in those ways and things that make against the honour of Christ, the joy of the Spirit, the advancement of the gospel, and the liberty of the suints, &c.67
Now the remedies against this device are these.
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That you have nothing but what you have received, Christ
being as well the fountain of common gifts as of saving grace. What hast thou,” saith the apostle, that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as though thou hadst not received it 2 1 Cor. iv. 71 There are those that would hammer out their own happiness, like the spider climbing up by the thread of her own weaving. Of all the parts and abilities that be In you, you may well say as the young man did of his hatchet, Alas, master! it was but borrowed,” 2 Kings vi. 5. Alas, Lord! all I have is but borrowed from that fountain that fills all the vessels in heaven and on earth, and it overflows. My gifts are not so much mine as thine: Of thine own have we offered unto thee,” said that princely prophet, &ec., 1 Chron. xxix. 1.
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That mews leaning and trusting to their own wits, parts, and abilities, have been their utter overthrow and ruin; as you may see in Ahithophel, and those presidents and princes that engaged against Daniel, and in the Scribes and Pharisees. God loves to confute men in their confidences? He that stands upon his parts and abilities, doth but stand upon a quicksand that will certainly fail him. There is nothing in the world that provokes God more te withdraw from the soul than this; and how can the soul stand, when his strength is departed from him? Everything that a man leans upon but God, will be a dart that will certainly pierce his heart through and through. Ah! how many in these days have lost their estates, their friends, their lives, their souls, by leaning upon their admired parts and abilities! The saints are described by their leaning upon their beloved, the Lord Jesus, Cant. viii. 5. He that leans only upon the bosom of Christ, lives the highest, choicest, safest, and sweetest life. Miseries always lie at that man’s door that leans upon anything below the precious bosom of Christ; such a man is most in danger, and this is none of his least plagues, that he thinks himself secure. It is the greatest wisdom in the world to take the wise man’s counsel: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding,’ Prov. iii. 5.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, That you do not transcend others more in parts and abilities, than they do you in grace and holiness. There may be, and often is, great parts and abilities, where there is but little grace, yea, no grace; and there may be, and often 1s, a great deal of grace, where there is but weak parts and abilities? You may be higher than others in gifts of knowledge, utterance, learning, &c. and those very souls may be higher than you in their communion with God, in their delighting in God, in their dependence upon God, in their affections to God, and in their humble, holy, and unblameable walking before God. Is it folly and madness in a man, to make light and slight of another, because he is
not so rich in lead or iron as he, when he is a thousand thousand times richer in silver and gold, in jewels and in pearls, than he? And is it not madness and folly with a witness, in those that have greater parts and abilities than others, to slight them upon that account, when that those very persons that they make light. and slight of have a thousand times more grace than they? And yet, ah! how doth this evil spirit prevail in the world!
It was the sad complaint of Austin in his time: The unlearned, saith he, rise up and take heaven by violence, and we with all our learning are thrust down to hell’! It is sad to see how many of the rabbis of these times do make an idol of their parts and abilities, and with what an eye of pride, scorn, and contempt do they look upon those that want their parts, and that do not worship the idol that they have set up in their own hearts. Paul, who was the great doctor of the Gentiles, did wonderfully transcend in all parts and abilities the doctors and rabbis of our times, and yet, ah! how humbly, how tenderly, how sweetly, doth he carry himself towards the meanest and the weakest! “To the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some,’ 1 Cor. ix 22. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend,’ 1 Cor. viii. 13. But, ah! how little of this sweet spirit is to be found in the doctors of our age, who look sourly and speak bitterly against those that do not see as they see, nor cannot speak as they speak. Sirs! the Spirit of the Lord, even in despised saints, will be too hard for you, and his appearance in them, in these latter days, will be so full of spiritual beauty and glory, as that they will darken that, that you are too apt to count and call your glory. The Spirit of the Lord will not suffer his choicest jewel grace to be always buried under the straw and stubble of parts and gifts, Isa. Ix. 13-17.
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, That there is mo such way for men to have their gifts and parts blasted and withered, as to pride themselves in them, as to rest upon them, as to make light and slight of those that want them, as to engage them against those persons, ways, and things, that Jesus Chaist hath set his heart upon. Ah! how hath God blasted and withered the parts and abilities of many among us, that have once been famous shining lights!? How is their sun darkened, and their glory clouded! How 1s the sword of the Lord upon their arm, and upon their right eye! how is their arm clean dried up, and their right eye utterly darkened I’ as the prophet speaks, Zech. xi. 17. This is matter of humiliation and lamentation. Many precious discerning saints do see this, and in secret mourn for it; and oh! that they were kindly sensible of God’s withdrawing from them, that they may repent, keep humble, and carry it sweetly towards God’s jewels, and lean only upon the Lord,
and not upon their parts and understanding, that so the Lord may delight to visit them with his grace at such a rate as that their faces may shine more gloriously than ever, and that they may be more serviceable to the honour of Christ, and the faith of the saints, than formerly they have been, &c.
Thirdly, Satan hath his devices to destroy the saints; and one great device that he hath to destroy the saints is,
By working them first to be strange, and then to divide, and then to be bitter and jealous, and then to bite and devour ome another, Gal. v. 15. Our own woful experience is too great a proof of this. The Israelites in Egypt did not more vex one another than Christians in these days have done, which occasioned a deadly consumption to fall upon some.!
Now the remedies against this device are these:
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell more upon one another’s graces than upon one another’s weaknesses and infirmities. It is sad to consider that saints should have many eyes to behold one another’s infirmities, and not one eye to see each other’s graces, that they should use spectacles to behold one another’s weaknesses, rather than looking-glasses to behold one another’s graces.
Erasmus tells of one who collected all the lame and defective verses in Homer’s works, but passed over all that was excellent. Ah! that this were not the practice of many that shall at last meet in heaven, that they were not careful and skilful to collect all the weaknesses of others, and to pass over all those things that are excellent in them. The Corinthians did eye more the incestuous person’s sin than his sorrow, which was like to have drowned him in sorrow.
Tell me, saints, is 1t not a more sweet, comfortable, and delightful thing to look more upon one another’s graces than upon one another’s infirmities? Tell me what pleasure, what delight, what comfort is there in looking upon the enemies, the wounds, the sores, the sickness, the diseases, the nakedness of our friends? Now sin, you know, is the soul’s enemy, the soul’s wound, the souls sores, the soul’s sickness, the soul’s disease, the soul’s nakedness; and ah! what a heart hath that man that loves thus to look! Grace is the choicest flower in all a Christian’s garden; it is the richest jewel in all his crown; it is his princely robes; it is the top of royalty; and therefore must needs be the most pleasing, sweet, and delightful object for a gracious eye to be fixed upon. Sinis darkness, grace 1s light; sin is hell, grace 1s heaven; and what madness is it to look morc at darkness than at light, more at hell than at heaven!
Tell me, saints, doth not God look more upon his people’s graces than upon their weaknesses? Surely he doth. He looks more at David’s ~ and Asaph’s uprightness than upon their infirmities, though they were great and many. He eyes more Job’s patience than his passion. Re-
member the patience of Job,” not a word of his impatience, James v. 11. He that drew Alexander whilst he had a scar upon his face, drew him with his finger upon the scar. God puts his fingers upon his people’s scars, that no blemish may appear. Ah! saints, that you would make it the top of your glory in this, to be like your heavenly Father. By so doing, much sin would be prevented, the designs of wicked men frustrated, Satan outwitted, many wounds healed, many sad hearts cheered, and God more abundantly honoured, &e.!
Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That love and union makes most for your own safety and security. We shall be insuperabiles if we be inseparabiles, mvincible if we be inseparable. The world may frown upon you, and plot against you, but they cannot hurt you. Unity is the best bond of safety in every church and commonwealth.?
And this did that Scythian king in Plutarch represent lively to his eighty sons, who, being ready to die, he commanded a bundle of arrows fast bound together to be given to his sons to break; they all tried to break them, but, being bound fast together, they could not; then he caused the band to be cut, and then they broke them with ease. He applied it thus: My sons, so long as you keep together, you will be invincible; but if the band of union be broke betwixt you, you will easily be broken in pieces.
Pliny writes of a stone in the island of Seyros, that if it be whole, though a large and heavy one, it swims above water, but being broken, it sinks So long as saints keep whole, nothing shall sink them; but if they break, they are in danger of sinking and drowning, &e.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell upon those commands of God that do require you to love one another. Oh! when your hearts begin to rise against each other, charge the commands of God upon your hearts, and say to your souls, O our souls! hath not the eternal God commanded you to love them that love the Lord? And is it not life to obey, and death to rebel % Therefore look that you fulfil the commands of the Lord, for his commands are not like those that are easily reversed; but they are like those of the Medes, that cannot be changed. Oh! be much in pondering upon these commands of God. ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another,” John xii. 34. It is called a new commandment, because it is renewed in the gospel, and set home by Christ’s example, and because it is rare, choice, special, and remarkable above all others. 1 Sin is Satan’s work, grace is God’s work; and is it not most meet that the child should eye most and mind most his father’s work? 2 There was a temple of Concord amongst the heathens; and shall it not be found among Christians, that are temples of the Holy Ghost?
8. Pancirollus [Guy] saith, that the most precious pearl among the Romans was called _ unio, union,
4. Lib. xxxvi. e. 26, and elsewhere: no doubt a voleanic, porous product.—G.
5. To act, or run cross to God’s express command, though under pretence of revelation from Sod, 13 as much as a man’s life is worth, as you may see in that sad story, 1 Kings 111,. =e Some conceive it to be an Hebraism, in which language new, rare, and excellent, aro synonimals.:
VOL. 1. I
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you These things I command you, that ye love one another.” Owe no man any thing, but Jove one another: for he that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law.” “Let brotherly love continue.” Love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth (God. “See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.” Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.” For this is the message that ve heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another” Oh! dwell much upon these precious commands, that your love may be inflamed one to another.
In the primitive times, it was much taken notice of by the heathens, that in the depth of misery, when fathers and mothers forsook their children, Christians, otherwise strangers, stuck one to another, whose love of religion proved firmer than that of nature. Ah! that there were more of that spirit among the saints in these days. The world was once destroyed with water for the heat of lusts, and it 1s thought it will be again destroyed with fire for the coldness of love.?
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell more upon these choice and sweet things wherein you agree, than upon those things wherein you differ. Ah! did you but thus, how would sinful heats be abated, and your love raised, and your spirits sweetened one to another. You agree in most, you differ but m a few; you agree in the greatest and weiglitiest, as concerning God, Christ, the Spirit, the Scripture, &e. You differ only in those points that have been long disputable amongst men of greatest piety and parts. You agree to own the Scripture, to hold to Christ the head, and to walk according to the law of the new creature Shall Herod and Pilate agree Shall Turks and pagans agree? Shall bears and lions, tigers and wolves, yea, shall a legion of devils, agree in one body? And shall not saints agree, who differ only in such things as have least of the heart of God in them, and that shall never hinder your meeting in heaven? &e.
Remedy (5). The fifth remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That God delights to be styled Deus pacis, the God of peace; and Christ to be styled Princeps pacis, the Prince of peace, and King of Salem, that is, King of peace; and the Spirit is a Spirit of peace. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,” Gal. v 22. Oh! why then should not the saints be children of peace? Certainly, men of froward, unquict, fiery spirits, cannot have that sweet evidence of their interest in the God of peace, and in the Prince of peace, and in the Spirit of 1 John xv 12, 17; Rom. xiii. 8; Heb. xiii. 1; 1 John iv. 7; 1 Peter i. 22, and iii. 8; 1 John ii 1M, 28; iv. M.~@.
? The ancients use to say commonly, that Alexander and Ephestion [. e. Hephaestion] had but one soul in two distinct bodies, because their joy and sorrow, elory and disgrace, was mutual to them both, [Cf. Note on above frequently recurring saying, in Sibbes, Vol. IL. page 194: where the reference is misprinted to page 35 for page 37.—G.].
peace, as those precious souls have that follow after the things that make for love and peace. The very name of peace 1s sweet and comfortable; the fruit and effect thereof pleasant and profitable, more to be desired than innumerable triumphs; it is a blessing that ushers in a multitude of other blessings! 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Isa. ix. 6.
The ancients were wont to paint peace in the form of a woman, with a horn of plenty in her hand? Ah! peace and love among the saints, is that which will secure them and their mercies at home; yea, 1t will multiply their mercies; it will engage the God of mercy to crown them with the choicest mercies; and it is that that will render them most terrible, invincible, and successful abroad. Love and peace among the saints is that which puts the counsels of their enemies to a stand, and renders all their enterprises abortive; it is that which doth most weaken their hands, wound their hopes, and kill their hearts, &ec.
Remedy (6). The sixth remedy against this device of Satan is, To make more care and conscience of keeping up your peace with God. Ah! Christians, I am afraid that your remissness herein is that which hath occasioned much of that sourness, bitterness, and divisions that be among you? Ah! you have not, as you should, kept up your peace with God, and therefore it is that you do so dreadfully break the peace among yourselves. The Lord hath promised, ‘ That when a man’s ways please him, he will make his enemies to be at peace with him,” Prov. xvi. 7. Ah! how much more then would God make the children of peace to keep the peace among themselves, if their ways do but please him! All creatures are at his beck and check. Laban followed Jacob with one troop. Esau met him with another, both with hostile intentions; but Jacob’s ways pleasing the Lord, God by his mighty power so works that Laban leaves him with a kiss, and Esau met him with a kiss; he hath an oath of one, tears of the other, peace with both. If we make it our business to keep up our league with God, God will make it his work and his glory to maintain our peace with men; but if men make light of keeping up their peace with God, it is just with God to leave them to a spirit of pride, envy, passion, contention, division, and confusion, to leave them to bite and devour one another, till they be consumed one of another, &c.
Remedy (7). The seventh remedy against this device of Satan 1s, To dwell much upon that near relation and union that is between you. This consideration had a sweet influence upon Abraham’s heart: And Abraham said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren, Gen. xiii. 8.5 That is a sweet word 1n the psalmist, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to live together in unity,’
Ps. exxxiil. 1. It is not good and not pleasant, or pleasant and not good, but good and pleasant. There be some things that be bona sed non Jueunda, good and not pleasant, as patience and discipline; and there be some things that are pleasant but not good, as carnal pleasures, voluptuousness, &e. And there are some things that are neither good nor pleasant, as malice, envy, worldly sorrow, &e.; and there are some things that are both good and pleasant, as piety, charity, peace, and union among brethren; and oh! that we could see more of this among those that shall one day meet in their Father’s kingdom and never part. And as they are brethren, so they are all fellow-members: Now ve are the body of Christ, and members in particular,” 1 Cor. xii. 27. And again: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,’ Eph. v. 30. Shall the members of the natural body be serviceable and useful to one another, and shall the members of this spiritual body cut and destroy one another? Is it against the law of nature for the natural members to cut and slash one another?! And is it not much more against the law of nature and of grace for the members of Christ’s glorious body to do so? And as you are all fellow-members, so you are fellow-soldiers under the same Captain of salvation, the Lord Jesus, fighting against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And as you are all fellow-soldiers, so you arc all fellow-sufferers under the same enemies, the devil and the world. And as you are all fellow-sufferers, so are you fellow-travellers towards the land of Canaan, the new Jerusalem that 1s above” Here we have no abiding city, but we look for one to come.” The heirs of heaven are strangers on earth. And as you are all tellow-travellers, so are you all fellow-heirs of the same crown and inheritance.’
Remedy (8). The eighth remedy against this device of Satan is, To dwell upon the miseries of discord. Dissolution is the daughter of dissension. Ah! how doth the name of Christ, and the way ot Christ, suffer by the discord of saints! How are many that are entering upon the ways of God hindered and sadded, and the mouths of the wicked opened, and their hearts hardened against God and his ways, by the discord of his people! Remember this, the disagreement of Christians is the devil’s triumph; and what a sad thing is this, that Christians should give Satan cause to triumph!
It was a notable saying of one, Take away strife, and call back peace, lest thou lose a man, thy friend; and the devil, an enemy, joy over you both,” &e.
Remedy (9). The ninth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That it is no disparagement to you to be first in seeking peace and reconcilement, but rather an honour to you, that you have begun to seek peace. Abraham was the elder, and more worthy than Lot, both in respect of grace and nature also, for he was uncle unto Lot, and yet he first seeks peace of his inferior, which God hath
recorded as his honour.! Ah! how doth the God of peace, by his Spirit and messengers, pursue after peace with poor creatures. God first makes offer of peace to us: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God,” 2 Cor. v. 20. God’s grace first kneels to us, and who can turn their backs upon such blessed and bleeding embracements, but souls in whom Satan the god of this world kings it? God is the party wronged, and yet he sues for peace with us at first: 1 said, Behold me, benold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name,” Isa. xv. 1.2 Ah! how doth the sweetness, the freeness, and the riches of his grace break forth and shine upon poor souls. When a man goes from the sun, yet the sunbeams follow him; so when we go from the Sun of righteousness, yet then the beams of his love and mercy follow us. Christ first sent to Peter that had denied him, and the rest that had forsaken him: Go your ways, and tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you,” Mark xvi. 7. Ah! souls, it is not a base, low thing, but a God-like thing, though we are wronged by others, yet to be the first in seeking after peace. Such actings will speak out much of God with a man’s spirit, &c.
Christians, it is not matter of liberty whether you will or you will not pursue after peace, but it is matter of duty that lies upon you; you are bound by express precept to follow after peace; and though it may seem to fly from you, yet you must pursue after it: Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man can see the Lord, Heb. xii. 142 Peace and holiness are to be pursued after with the greatest eagerness that can be imagined. So the psalmist: Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it,” Ps. xxxiv. 14 The Hebrew word that is here rendered seek, is in Piel, and it signifies to seek earnestly, vehemently, affectionately, studiously, industriously. And pursue it” That Hebrew word signifies earnestly to pursue, being a metaphor taken from the eagerness of wild beasts or ravenous fowls, which will run or fly both fast and far rather than be disappointed of their prey. So the apostle presses the same duty upon the Romans: Let us follow after the things that make for peace, and things wherein one may edify another, Rom. xiv. 19. Ah! you froward, sour, dogged Christians, can you look upon these commands of God without tears and blushing?
Ihave read a remarkable story of Aristippus.though but a heathen, who went of his own accord to Aschines his enemy, and said, ‘ Shall we never be reconciled till we become a table-talk to all the country and when Aischines answered he would most gladly be at peace with him, ‘ Remember, then, said Aristippus, that though were the elder and better man, yet I sought first unto thee.” Thou art indeed, said Aschines,a far hetterman than I, for I began the quarrel, but thou the reconcilement. My prayer
shall be that this heathen may not rise in judgment against the flourishing professors of our times: Who whet their tongues like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even.bitter words,” Ps. 1xiv. 3. Reedy (10). The tenth remedy against this device of Satan is, For sicnts to join together and walls together in the ways of grace and holiness so fur as they do agree, making the word their only touchstone and judge of their actions. That is sweet advice that the apostle gives: 1 press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,” Philip. 11. 14-16. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect,—comparatively or conceitedly’ so,—be thus minded. And if m anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” Ah! Christians, God loses much, and you lose much, and Satan gains much by this, that you do not, that you will not, walk lovingly together so far as your ways lie together. It is your sin and shame that you do not, that you will not, pray together, and hear together, and confer together, and mourn together, &e., because that in some far lesser things you are not agreed together. What folly and madness is it in those whose way of a hundred miles lies fourscore and nineteen together, yet will not walk so far together, because that they cannot go the other mile together; yet such is the folly and madness of many Christians in these days, who will not do many things they may do, because they cannot do everything they should do? 1 fear God will whip them into a better temper before he hath done with them. He will break their bones, and pierce their hearts, but he will cure them of this malady, &e.
And be sure you make the word the only touchstone and judge of all persons and actions: To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them,” Isa. vii 20. It is best and safest to make that to be the judge of all men and things now that all shall be judged by in the latter day: ‘ The word, saith Christ, that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day,” John xii. 48. Make not your dim light, your notions, yonr fancies, your opinions, the judge of men’s action, but still judge by rule, and plead, It 1s written.’
When a vain importunate soul cried out in contest with a holy man, “1lear me, hear me,” the holy man answered, Neither hear me, nor 1 thee, but let us both hear the apostle.”
Constantine, m all the disputes before him with the Arians, would still call for the word of God as the only way, if not to convert, yet to stop their mouths, &c.
Remedy (11). The eleventh remedy against this device of Satan is, To be much in self-judging: Judge yourselves, and you shall not be Judged of the Lord] 1 Cor. xi. 31. Ah! were Christians’ hearts more taken up in judging themselves and condemning themselves, they would not be so apt to judge and censure others, and to carry it sourly and
bitterly towards others that differ from them.! There are no souls in the world that are so fearful to judge others as those that do most judge themselves, nor so careful to make a righteous judgment of men or things as those that are most careful to judge. themselves. There are none in the world that tremble to think evil of others, to speak evil of others, or to do evil to others, as those that make it their business to judge themselves. There are none that make such sweet constructions and charitable interpretations of men and things, as those that are best and most in judging themselves? One request I have to you that are much in judging others and little in judging yourselves, to you that are so apt and prone to judge rashly, falsely, and unrighteously, and that is, that yon will every morning dwell alittle upon these scriptures: “Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again,” Mat. vii. 1,2. Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment,’ John vii. 24.” Let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother # Rom. xiv. 3, 10, 13. “We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. Let us not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will manifest the counsels of the heart, and then shall every man have praise of God, 1 Cor. iv. 5. “Speak not evil one of another, brethren: he that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law; but if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy,” James iv. 11, 12. Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand,” Rom. xiv 4
One Delphidius accusing another before Julian about that which he could not prove, the party denying the fact, Delphidius answers, If 1t be sufficient to deny what is laid to one’s charge, who shall be found guilty 2 Julian answers, And if it be sufficient to be accused, who can be innocent? You are wise, and know how to apply it
Remedy (12). The twelfth remedy against this device of Satan 1s this, above all, Labour to be clothed with humility. Humility makes a man peaceable among brethren, fruitful in well-doing, cheerful in suffering, and constant in holy walking, 1 Pet. v. 5. Humility fits for the highest services we owe to Christ, and yet will not neglect the lowest service to the meanest saint, John xiii. 5. Humility can feed upon the meanest dish, and yet it is maintained by the choicest delicates, as God, Christ, and glory. Humility will make a man bless him that curses him, and pray for those that persecute him. An humble heart is an habitation for God, a scholar for Christ, a companion of angels, a preserver of grace, and a fitter for glory. Humility is the nurse of our graces, the preserver of our mercies, and the great pro-
mote of holy duties. Humility cannot find three things on this side heaven: it cannot find fulness in the creature, nor sweetness in sin, nor life in an ordinance without Christ. An humble soul always finds three things on this side heaven: the soul to be empty, Christ to be full, and every mercy and duty to be sweet wherein God is enjoyed! Humility can weep over other men’s weaknesses, and joy and rejoice over their graces. Humility will make a man quiet and contented in the meanest condition, and it will preserve a man from envying other men’s prosperous condition, 1 Thes. 1. 2, 3. Humility honours those that are strong in grace, and puts two hands under those that are weak in grace, Eph. 111. 8. Humility makes a man richer than other men, and 1t makes a man judge himself the poorest among men. Humility will see much good abroad, when it can see but little at home. Ah, Christian! though faith be the champion of grace, and love the nurse of grace, yet humility 1s the beautifier of grace; it casts a general glory upon all the graces in the soul. Ah! did Christians more abound in humility, they would be less bitter, froward, and sour, and they would be more gentle, meek, and sweet in their spirits and practices. Humility will make a man have high thoughts of others and low thoughts of a man’s self; it will make a man see much glory and excellency in others, and much baseness and sinfulness in a man’s self; it will make a man see others rich, and himself poor; others strong, and himself weak; others wise, and himself foolish. Humility will make a man excellent at covering others’ infirmities, and at recording their gracious services, and at delighting in their graces; it makes a man joy mn every light that outshines his own, and every wind that blows others good. Tlumility is better at believing than it is at questioning other men’s happiness. 1 judge, saith an humble soul, it is well with these Chris-tiaus now, but it will be far better with them hereafter. They are now upon the borders of the New Jerusalem, and it will be but as a day before they slide into Jerusalem. An humble soul is willinger to say, Heaven is that man’s, than mine; and Christ is that Christian’s, than mine; and God is their God in covenant, than mine. Ah! were Christians more humble, there would be less fire and more love among them than now is, &ec.
Fourthly, As Satan hath his device to destroy gracious souls, so he hath his devices to destroy poor ignorant souls, and that sometimes,
By drawing them to affect ignorance, and to neglect, slight, and despise the means of knowledge. Ignorance is the mother of mistake, the cause of trouble, error, and of terror; it is the highway to hell, and it makes a man both a prisoner and a slave to the devil at once? Ignorance unmaus a man; it makes a man a beast. yea, makes him more miserable than the beast that perisheth There are none so easily nor so frequently taken in Satan’s snares as ignorant souls. They are easily drawn to dance with the devil all day, and to dream of supping with Christ at night, &c.
ai 2 Cor. II. 11.] AGAINST SATAN’S DEVICES. 137 Now the remedies against this device are these:
Remedy (1). The first remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That an ignorant heart is an evil heart. Without knowledge the mind is not good,” Prov. xix. 2. As an ignorant heart is a naughty heart, it is a heart in the dark; and no good can come into a dark heart, but it must pass through the understanding: And if the eye be dark, all the body is dark,’ Mat. vi. 22. A leprous head and a leprous heart are inseparable companions. Ignorant hearts are so evil that they let fly on all hands, and spare not to spit their venom in the very face of God, as Pharaoh did when thick darkness was upon him.! Remedy (2). The second remedy against this device of Satan is, to consider, That ignorance is the deformity of the soul. As blindness is the deformity of the face, so 1s ignorance the deformity of the soul. As the want of fleshly eyes spoils the beauty of the face, so the want of spiritual eyes spoils the beauty of the soul. A man without knowledge is as a workman without his hands, as a painter without his eyes, as a traveller without his legs, or as a ship without sails, or a bird without wings, or like a body without a soul.
Remedy (3). The third remedy against this device of Satan is, solemnly to consider, That ignorance makes men the objects of God’s hatred and wrath. “It is a people that do err in their hearts, and have not known my ways. Wherefore I sware in my wrath, they should never enter into my rest,” Heb. iii. 10, 11. “My people are a people of no understanding, therefore he that made them will have no mercy on them,” Isa. xxvii. 11. Christ hath said, That he will come in flaming fire, to render vengeance on them that know not Gog 2 Thes. 1. 8. Ignorance will end in vengeance. When you see a poor blind man here, you do not loathe him, nor hate him, but you pity him. Oh! but soul-blindness makes you abominable in the sight of God. God hath sworn that ignorant persons shall never come into heaven. Heaven itself would be a hell to ignorant souls.?
My people are destroyed for want of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee,” Hosea, iv. 6; [TNDNOR, cut off] Chilo, one of the seven sages, being asked what God had done, answered, He exalted humble men, and suppressed proud ignorant fools.
Remedy (4). The fourth remedy against this device of Satan 1s, to consider, That ignorance is a sin that leads to all sins. All sins are seminally in ignorance. You do err, not knowing the Scriptures, Mat. xxii. 29. It puts men upon hating and persecuting the saints. They shall hate you, and put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth yon will think that he doth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me,” John xvi. 2, 3. Paul thanks his ignorance for all his cruelties to Christians. “I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it
ignorantly” 1 Tim. i. 13.1 Tt was ignorance that put the Jews upen cructfying Christ: Father, forgive them,” saith Christ of his murderers, “tor they kuow not what they do,” Luke xxiii. 34: “for if the princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. 11. 82 Sin at first was the cause of ignorance, but now ignorance is the cause of all sin. Swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, aud whoring abound,” saith the prophet, because there “ x: yp 1s no knowledge of God in the land.” There are none so frequent, and so impudent in the ways of sin, as ignorant souls; they care not, nor mind not what they do, nor what they say against God, Christ, heaven, holiness, and their own souls. “Our tongues are our own, who shall control us? They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak lottily. They set their mouth against the heavens; and their tongue walketh through the carth. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord #3