WE have heard of the Patience of Job, and seen the End of the LORD; which some excellent Expositors have said was to give an early and illustrious Type of the Humili­ation of CHRIST, and his Sufferings, in his Way to Glory and Exaltation, as our Intercessor at the right Hand of GOD.

Among the many excelling Examples and Patterns given us thro' the Holy Scriptures, of Suffering Afflicti­on and Patience, no One is more remarkable, noble and illustrious, teaching and affecting than that of JOB'S; in the surprising first and second Assault of Satan upon his Family, Estate and Person.

The Sovereign and gracious GOD had prov'd his Grace in this his Servant in a long prosperous State; and now was pleas'd to make a sudden Change upon him, for an equal Display of the Power and Glory of his Grace in a State of deepest Affliction.

[Page 6] Satan was greedy of a Permission to tempt and sift him, as he afterward was to try Peter. The cruel De­vil spoil'd him of his Substance, and bereaved him of his Children and Servants in one Day; and that in so terri­ble and judicial a Manner as might speak most dreadful­ly the immediate Hand and utmost Indignation of Hea­ven: But failing of his Wish, hereby to provoke him to curse GOD; he ask'd a further Permission to smite his Body from Head to Foot, with Boils and fiery Ulcers, extreamly painful and tormenting, as well as filthy and loathsome. It was the Pleasure of Sovereign Grace, to permit this also, that the Trial of Faith in his chosen Ser­vant might be found to Praise and Honour and Glory thro' all Generations of the Church on Earth, and at the Day of the Coming of CHRIST to Judgment.

But no Word amiss falling from the afflicted Saint, in this his destitute and tormented State; no Words but of profound Humility, Resignation, Worship and Thanksgi­ving, dropping from his Lips; the subtle Tempter hav­ing spent all his outward Forces, betook himself to his hellish Craft and Policy, and annoy'd his gracious Soul with diabolical Suggestions and blasphemous Thoughts a­gainst GOD; to second him in which he excited his Wife, whom the spiteful Fiend seems to have left to him on Design to make her his Tempter and Tormentor.— So he afterward grieved our blessed SAVIOUR; against whom not prevailing by more immediate Assaults in the Wilderness, he us'd the unwary and rash Lips of Peter, and got him that just Rebuke, "Get thee behind me, Satan.

Her Words in my Text are very gross, and smell rank of Hell; Then said his Wife to him, Dost thou still retain thy Integrity? curse GOD and die.

I am not ignorant that the Hebrew is capable of ano­ther Sense, and that some make it a Piece of gracious Advice, "Bless God, and expire: But I adhere to our Translation, which perfectly agrees with Job's Reply to her; ‘ Thou speakest as a foolish Woman! What, shall we receive Good at the Hand of GOD, and shall we not receive Evil?’

[Page 7] Some think her Words spoken in Way of profane Sarcasm, from a vext and inraged Heart; q. d. ‘Yes, keep on blessing GOD! for what I pray! for Plagues and Want? and to what Fruit? to perish praising! persist then, and die as a Fool dieth.’—But more simply taken, and as our Translators give 'em, they are a Piece of profane and furious Counsel; cast off thy Reverence of the DIVINE MAJESTY, and dare to reproach that GOD who can deal so hardly and unjustly by thee; notwith­standing all thy religious Services and Worship, thy Devotion and Integrity; ‘ Curse him tho' thou die for it; curse and provoke him to strike thee dead at once, and put an End to all thy Misery.’

I confess this Sense sounds very horrid! but not be­yond the Devil; who dar'd to demand of the SON OF GOD himself, to fall down and worship him: And as HE then turn'd and rebuked the Tempter and drove him away; " Get thee hence Satan! Math. iv. 10. So Job in the Spirit and Strength of his REDEEMER turn'd to his Wife and rebuked her; Thou speakest as a foolish wicked Woman! What? shall we receive Good at the Hand of GOD, and shall we not receive Evil?

These are Words of high and merited Anger and se­vere Reproof; but like those of the Arch-Angel when contending with the Devil, there is no railing in them: The holy Man kept a Guard on his Lips, tho' no doubt his Soul was pierced with Horror at her Words. He de­tested the impious Motion, and rejected it with Abhor­rence, without a Moment's Hesitation. He might well call her a foolish Woman, rash and inconsiderate, and al­so profane; as the Fool m [...]an [...] in the Phrase of Scripture. —And then he more mildly argues with her; yet with a sufficient Resentment: What? shall we receive Good, and so much Good as we have done, in a long Course of high worldly Prosperity! and shall we not receive Evil? even such Evils, so many and mighty ones together; and break­ing in upon us all at once, bereaving us of Children and Houshold, Substance and Estate, Ease and Health; in such [Page 8] sudden and awful Manner. Can any Thing be wrong or unjust that a good GOD orders to befall us? The Evil of Affliction comes from Him now, as much as all the Af­fluence of worldly Prosperity that has heretofore distin­guish'd us! and weigh now the one against the other; what Good we have receiv'd all the Days of our Life, and comparatively how few and light Afflictions; and then say, if we ought not to bear silently and patiently, and with adoring Submission, the Evils which He now pleases to lay upon us?

This was Job's gracious Way of Reasoning; these Thoughts had kept his own Spirit calm, and with the same he would lay the roil'd Spirit of his Wife, and stop her muttering and blaspheming Mouth.—The Good and the Evil of this Life are both from GOD; his Sovereign­ty (abstracted from every other Consideration) accounts for both in our State of Trial: The least of the Good is not deserved, the Evil is all merited and much more; the Good is much more for Kind, Measure and Continu­ance, thro' our whole Lives, than the Evil; the Good is at least necessary and what we could not subsist with­out, the Evil what may be liv'd under and outliv'd. The most common Mercies of this Life are usually the great­est and most needful. The Good is not only for Neces­sity, but also for Delight; the Evil is no more than we need, and what we could not do well without: The E­vil and the Good both come according to GOD's Cove­nant-Faithfulness to his own People; the Evil is impro­vable to the best Good, and 'tis the Will and Meaning of GOD that we so improve it; and (to have done) the Good which we receive from the Hand of GOD doth not always give to particular Graces an equal Lustre, as does the Evil.—Should we not then receive the Evil in this State of our Trial and Probation? Surely 'tis cal­culated for it; the Honour of GOD requires it; there are passive Graces which our fallen State calls for the Exercise of; and CHRIST the Captain of our Salvation was made perfect thro' Suffering.

[Page 9] But to return.—In the Words of my Text we have one of the most diabolical Motions that was ever [...] to a holy Soul against the blessed GOD; and also [...] the noblest Resentments that such a Soul is capable of. No Wonder therefore that we find so express and [...] a Divine Approbation of Job's gracious and holy [...] to his Wife's outrageous Words: " In all this did not [...] sin with this Lips.

Satan assaulted him by her: He us'd and acted [...], and spake by her Lips: So in the Beginning he bega [...]e [...] Eve, and by her prevail'd on Adam. It is one of his cursed Policies which he yet continues to assault us in the weakest Place, and by them we love. ‘He sends Temp­tations by unsuspected Hands; theirs that have most Interest in us and Influence upon us.’ Profaness in such a Relative, or Discontent, Passion, Rage in 'em, is an unknown (yet too well known) Provocation to Evil.

The cursed Motion in the Text is 1. to hard Thought [...] of the blessed GOD and his holy Providence; and 2. [...] outrageous and blasphemous Words: "Dost thou still re­tain thy Integrity? curse GOD and die! What could be more furious and extravagant, impious and detestable. Well might he with Horror hear, and spue out the hell [...] Suggestion with high Indignation and Detestation; and well is the Judgment of GOD given strongly in his Fa­vour, on his doing so. GOD justifies and honours [...] GOD acquits and absolves him, upon a first and second [...] ­ery Trial. He approv'd himself to be the perfect [...] upright Man. By not offending in Word, Jam. iii. 2▪ [...] an impatient Word fell from him, under so many s [...]p [...]i­sing Blows and Breaches upon his Person, [...] Estate not a Word, but of Humiliation and [...] when urg'd to Rebellion by all the [...]orce and [...] of Hell: mov'd as he was to curse, he s [...]ll [...] blessing; the cursed Suggestion enter'd only his [...] into his Soul; that abhorr'd from it.

Let the DOCTRINE therefore, for our Ins [...]r [...] [...] Warning, and also for Comfort and Support [...] may be Occasion, be this,

[Page 10] "That many of GOD's dear Children are often an­noy'd with cursed and diabolical Suggestions, which He will never reckon to them as their Sin, because they do in their Souls abhor and reject them with utmost Detestation.

This was Job's Case, and so it is of many a gracious Saint in our own Time: We see 'em terrify'd and pierc'd with hellish Suggestions, which they abhor, and are rea­dy to shriek out at: they look on 'em as their own Wic­kedness, and so at themselves as Devils almost: they loathe themselves on this Account, and cry to GOD for Deliverance, and are in Anguish, that ever such foul Thoughts should have Access to them, and as they ap­prehend lodge within them: But what says my Text to 'em? even as GOD in it did to Job; "in all this they have not sinned.

I am then in the following Discourse to speak to these three Propositions:

• 1. That the most upright and dearest of the Children of GOD in his Church on Earth, may be sometimes annoy'd and tormented with some of the most cursed and diabolical Suggestions, most injurious and dis­honourable to the blessed GOD.
• 2. That these hellish Thoughts and Injections should be most grievous and ab­horred to their holy Souls, and rejected with utmost De­testation.
• 3. That then they are not their Sin, nor will ever be imputed to them by the Holy GOD.

I. The dearest of GOD's Children in his Church on Earth may be at Times annoy'd and terrified, pursu'd and haunted by some of the most cursed and diabolical Sug­gestions, most injurious and dishonourable to the blessed GOD.

If Job suffered thus in his Day, why not the most dear and pleasant Child of GOD in ours? Who among us shall be exempt from this, or any other Kind of fiery Trial? Nay, a greater than Job presents HIMSELF to us in the Front of the New Testament: Matth. iv. 1. Then was JESUS led up of the SPIRIT into the Wilderness, to be [Page 11]tempted of the Devil: And when the Tempter came to Him he said, ‘ If thou be the SON OF GOD—! And again, If thou wilt fall down down and worship me!—Then JESUS saith unto him,’ " Get thee hence Satan. What an impudent, impure and damnable Motion was this of the Devil's to the SON OF THE HIGHEST when He took the Likeness of sinful Flesh! Not only was he mov'd to distrust and tempt GOD, but even to worship the Devil. "Surely then there can be no Sin so foul and monstrous, but the best of Saints may be tempted to it. And whom may not Satan use as a Tempter to another, when the Wife of Job was so abused by him, and afterward the Lips of Peter to blaspheme the Purpose and Decree of GOD, re­specting the Sufferings of CHRIST, as unjust and impossi­ble, to the very Face of CHRIST, and in the Presence of his Fellow-Apostles; ^‡ before whom he receiv'd a like Rebuke that the Devil had in the Wilderness; "Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an Offence to me; for thou sa­vourest not the Things that be of GOD.

When we consider Satan's using Job's Wife to vex his righteous Soul, and draw him into Sin and Rebelli­on against GOD; it forces into our Remembrance his Malice and Subtilty from the Beginning, when he took the Form of the Serpent in his first Temptation, so fa­tal to Mankind through all Generations. The Woman was first in the Transgression; the Devil gat into her, and by her into Adam; he shock'd her by a horrid Sug­gestion against the Goodness and Truth of GOD and pre­vailed! Has God indeed said (said the blasphemous lying Spirit) ye shall not eat, least ye die? Whereas he knows that in the Day you eat, your Eyes will be opened, and you will be like HIMSELF for Knowledge and Understanding. The malicious and false Fiend suggests to her, that from Ill-will and Envy GOD had forbid them the delicious and improving Fruit, and that the Threatning, by which he had [Page 12] [...]rain'd them, was a Lye. In all his modern Tempta­tions he takes the same Course; "he questions the Pre­cept, he denies the Danger, and he suggests some great [...]vantage. So the Devil began with belying and re­ [...]aching the blessed GOD, to alienate Man's Heart from him.

I might mention two Instances more, which are famous in Scripture Story, of the Wives of good Men, used by the Devil to tempt them into ill Thoughts of GOD. The first is that of Zipporah to Moses, when she was ter­rified into the Circumcision of her Son; for she saw her Husband struck sick on his Journey, and threatned with [...]ath for the Omission, and hereby disabled for the Duty; [...]he therefore cast the Foreskin at his Feet and said, " A [...] Husband art thou to me. This is vulgarly inter­pr [...]d in Way of Passion and Wrath; and for ought I know 'tis the right Sense of the Words, after all the [...] Criticism that has been bestowed on them, to make them bear another Sense. Now, in this literal Sense,— [...] Moses was a bloody Husband for obliging her to [...]e [...]ute the Command of GOD in that bleeding Rite of C [...]cumcision; then what a bloody Imputation is here [...]gested against the good GOD, that He should insti­ [...] and require it, as the Sign and Seal of his Covenant, threaten now to spill the Blood of Moses for his daring to [...]mit it so long, from his Indulgence to her! If this [...] the real Meaning and Language of angry Zipporah, [...] a virulent Repr [...]ach do her Words imply against GOD and his gracious Law?

The other Instance I pointed at is Michal the Wife of [...], when shew saw him in his Transport of holy Zeal and Joy dancing before the Ark of GOD: She blasphe­ [...]ed the religious Act as leud and shameful; and as if it were below the Dignity and State of the King of Israel [...]o [...]isrobe and uncover himself so before the DIVINE MA­ [...]S [...]Y.—Was it Michal's Pride, or was it Satan's Envy and Rage, that we must impute these Reproaches against GOD unto? Doubtless she was possess'd, the Devil was in her, and he fill'd her Heart with Contempt, and her [Page 13] Mouth with Railings. She vilify'd GOD and his Ark, in reviling David, his Zeal and Devotion; and GOD laid her under Reproach, and made her vile for the rest of her Life.

But to return again: The Devil needs no Instruments by whom to tempt: He has Access to our Minds, if GOD do not restrain and forbid him, to raise and move evil Thoughts in us. He shoots his fiery Darts, and they enter we know not how; but we feel 'em pierce and fasten in our Souls. For how one Spirit acts on ano­ther we know not; but this we know, that Satan can fill the Heart against the HOLY GHOST; as in the Case of Ananias and Sapphira.

Sometimes the Devil has hurried poor Souls with Athe­istical Thoughts; for he finds an evil Heart of Unbelief within us, and foments it at Times, to high Degrees of Infidelity; so as not only to question the Mystery of the Trinity, and therein of JESUS, GOD manifest in Flesh; but also the very Being and incomprehensible necessary Perfections of the DEITY; his Eternity, perfect Prescience and Decrees; which are indeed as the thick Darkness, or rather unapproachable Light wherein the ETERNAL dwells; and into which it may be the Angels of Heaven are no more allow'd to pry with any Thought of searching them out, than the Church of old in the Wilderness was permitted to come near unto the Bounds about the Mount to gaze; into which if they had look'd, what could they have seen but Cloud and Lightning?

The Word and Providence of GOD are also special Objects of Satan's furious Attack, in his Assaulting the Faith and Love of GOD's Saints. And herein he does by the Members, as he did by the HEAD, in the forty Days of our LORD'S Temptation.

Thus Asaph was almost born away headlong into Un­belief and Despondency; though he had thrown out his strong Anchor and Cable, ‘ Truly GOD is good to Israel, even to them that are of a clean Heart!’ Yet could he scarce outride the furious Storm: Psal. lxxiii.— But as for me, my Feet were almost gone, for I was envious at the [Page 14]foolish, when I saw the Prosperity of the Wicked:—Verily I have cleansed my Heart in vain, and washed my Hands in Innocence! But should I speak thus, I shall offend against the Generation of thy Children!— Yet was my Heart grie­ved and I was pricked in my Reins; so foolish was I and ignorant, I was even as a Beast before Thee! For never the less I am continually with thee, thou hast holden me by my right Hand; and whom have I in Heaven but Thee, and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee, &c.

The Rage and Blasphemy of the Devil is especially spent against the Faithfulness and Truth of GOD, in his Promises and Threatnings: he inrages the wicked very often by accursed Misrepresentations of the one, and would drive the Godly into Despondencies and Desperation, by impudent Denials of the other. He has a furious Antipathy to that Name of GOD which is the strong Tower of the righteous, and into which they are ever flying; for in it all his Glory passes before sinful Man; Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. The LORD, the LORD GOD, mer­ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in Goodness and Truth; keeping Mercy for Thousands, &c. The De­vil stabs a Child of GOD to the Heart, and pierces him in the most sensible and tender Part, while he reproaches him, and makes him but seem to doubt the Goodness and Truth of GOD, his Covenant-Kindness and Faithful­ness. No Wonder therefore if we find the most Emi­nent Saints on holy Record thus afflicted and tormented by the Blasphemer and Avenger.—As Job was thus out­rag'd in my Text, so were David and Asaph and Heman in their times, long after; for the Tempter is the same to all that are living godly in every Age; as they are much the same in respect of Faith and Infirmity▪ David tells us in Psalm xlii. how he went mourning because of the Oppression of the Enemy, who insultingly reproach'd him from Day to Day, "Where is thy GOD? It was a Sword in his Bones, more for the Name of his GOD than the Scorn cast on himself; the Voice of Him that reproach­eth and blasphemeth! why art thou cast down O my Soul, and why disquieted within me? hope thou in GOD, for I [Page 15]shall yet praise Him.—Asaph was a like suffering Saint by like violent Temptations to Despondency; Psal. lxxvii. His Sore ran in the Night and ceased not; his Soul refused to be comforted; he remembred GOD (his Name, Perfecti­ons, Promises and Works) and yet his Trouble remained or increased; his Spirit was overwhelmed while it made diligent Search; "Will the LORD cast off forever? and will he be favourable no more? is his MERCY clean gone forever, and doth his PROMISE fail forevermore? hath GOD forgotten to be gracious, hath he in Anger shut up his ten­der Mercies?—I said, this is my Infirmity, I will remem­ber the Years of the right Hand of the most High! Thy Way is in the Sea, thy Path as in the great Waters, and thy Footsteps are not known.—Heman also was a Man of like Sorrows, and of like Faith and Devotion: He has gi­ven us a Psalm of Instruction to Souls in the lowest Pit, in Darkness, in the Deeps; Psal. lxxxviii. " O LORD GOD of my Salvation, I have cried Day and Night before Thee; let my Prayer come before thee, incline thine Ear unto my Cry; for my Soul is full of Troubles, and my Life draweth nigh unto the Grave;—why castest thou off my Soul, why hidest thou thy Face from me? LORD, I have called dai [...]y upon thee, I have stretched out my Hands to thee; and st [...]l in the Morning shall my Prayer prevent thee: After all the Tossings of the Night, the Light of the Morning shall find me praying.

In fine, it has often been the Complaint of humble and gracious Persons, that they have found themselves an­noy'd with unaccountable irreverent, foolish, vile, filthy, base, abominable Thoughts; They know not what, how or why! but they seem to buzz about 'em like Swarms of Flies, or break about 'em like Sparkles of Fire; more especially when they would set themselves to meditate and pray, and have their Minds most solemn and compo­sed and close with GOD in holy Exercises.—Now what shall we say to these Satanical Molestations and Distur­bances? On the Serpent's part it is more easy to ac­count for it, from his Spite and Malignity against GOD and his Grace; but on the part of GOD, his Permission [Page 16]of Baalzebub herein, and the holy Ends of his gracious Government; it may be more difficult for us to conceive aright.

1. On the part of Satan it is obvious to account for it from his implacable Hatred of GOD, and of Souls re­covering into his Holiness and Favour; from which he is himself utterly and forever excluded. He hates GOD because of his Holiness, and for his righteous Judgment, his Power and Vengeance; which it is his Torment to think of, and know it coming on him. So when the fierce Devils, "exceeding fierce from the Tombs, whi­ther they had driven the two possessed, beheld their Judge, the HOLY ONE OF GOD in their Way, and were correc­ted by his Power and stopt; Matth. viii. 29. They cried out saying, "What have we to do with thee; JESUS thou Son of GOD! art thou come to torment us before the Time? It is the Devil's Torment to behold Angels or Men holy and happy, while he is miserable. He hates GOD because he is unlike him, and under his Wrath; he spitefully hates to see GOD serv'd and glorify'd by others; he would pollute and damn our Souls, that we may be as he is, impure and odious to GOD. He af­fects a Kingdom of his own on Earth, in Opposition to the Kingdom of GOD and of Grace. He could not bear to see Man in Paradise, and be himself in Hell; to see Adam in the Likeness and Love of GOD and wor­shipping before Him, and himself cast from those Feli­cities. Curs'd in his Rage on this Account, beyond a common damned Ghost I may suppose, he wishes for Millions and Worlds to follow by his Means into the State of eternal Miseries; and having beguiled our mi­serable first Parent into an Apostacy from GOD, and finding himself only the more damned, and a SAVIOUR re­vealed for the Sons of Men; and Him a singular and e­minent SEED of that very Woman whom he had decei­ved into Sin and Misery; his Envy and Hatred against all her natural Seed, but more especially against the bles­sed and promised ONE Himself, and those that should be­lieve on his Name, has been so inflam'd—that as a roaring [Page 17]Lion he drives thro' the World, (and is going up and down in it, which are his own Words) seeking whom he may de­vour; And whom he cannot destroy he loves to distress, af­fright and scare, terrify and wound; or worry if he cannot rend; and no wonder if he roar the more, when he sees and cannot reach his Prey; as in the Case of Job, and Souls up­right like him:— Or like a Dog rather he goes about the City, and haunts the Villages like the Wolf by night; grinning and barking at the Flock of CHRIST and his Lambs, whose Blood he thirsts after. So the HOLY GHOST has represented to us our Adversary the Devil, 1 Peter v. 8. shown us our Enemy and Danger: So that on the Temp­ter's part it is easy to say, why he annoys Souls with his hellish Suggestions against the blessed GOD; he hates both GOD and them, and desires nothing more than to see GOD dishonoured and them polluted, that they may be damned.— This was his Wish and Hope in his At­tempt on holy Job; to bring the Man of boasted Inte­grity to curse his GOD; and for the same Reason he de­sired to have the Sifting of Peter who was too ready to boast in himself; though all Men forsake thee, yet will not I: Luke xxii. 31. Satan has desired to have thee, to sift thee as Wheat: to have him for his own if it might be, and carry him off an easy Prey, if CHRIST had not pray'd for him that his Faith should not fail; but if that may not be, he desires however by winnowing to shake and toss him furiously, and show his Chaff.

In short, as Dr. Tillotson has it: ‘ Malice against GOD and Envy to Men account for Satan's Tempt­ing us; to spoil (if he can) GOD of his Subjects and debauch them from their Allegiance, into his own Con­demnation, Malignity and Misery.’—A Ghost in Hell does not presently commence Devil, in this Height of Ma­lignity against GOD and Cruelty toward Fellow-Sinners; if we may take Leave to form an Idea to our selves by the Words which the Parable puts into the Mouth of the rich Man there; ‘ Nay Father Abraham, but if one went to them from the Dead they would repent! Send Lazarus therefore to my Father's House, for I have five [Page 18]Brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they come also into this Place of Torment!’ — The best Thing, I suppose, that was ever intimated with Respect to a lost Soul in Hell: but such a parabolical Representation means not to affirm any Thing with Respect to Hell itself, but only to affect and move the Bowels of Sinners, to them­selves and others, in our present State of Probation and Repentance.

2. It may be more difficult for us to dive into the wise and holy Ends of GOD, in his Permission of these fiery Assaults of Satan upon the Children of his Love.

It was a most dark Dispensation to pious Job and his Friends, when it was his Case: his Wife broke out even into Blasphemy upon it, and his Friends afterward rent their Garments, and sat down by him silent and astonied, wailing and in Fears: It amaz'd Job himself under the Conscience of his Integrity; and it threw his Friends into horrid Tears and Suspicions of some heinous Iniquity by which he had provoked the Wrath and Judgment of GOD in so many and heavy Instances of it at once: But while He now stands in the Eyes of some, as the ‘ Hero of an inspir'd Epic. Poem, ^† brave in Distress, valiant in Affliction, maintaining his Character for Vertue and Piety under the most powerful Temptations, and exasperating Provocations, that the Malice of Hell could invent;’ let us take a more adoring View of the End of the LORD herein; to represent unto his Chosen and Sanctified through all Generations, in every Part of his visible Church; that he should in like Manner, here and there, call one and another of them, as unto single Combat with the Enemy of their Salvation; arming 'em beforehand with the Shield of Faith, the Breast-plate of Righteousness, the Sword of the Spirit, whereby they should be able to quench the fiery Darts of the wicked One; and stand as Job did in the evil Day, and come off Con­querors and more than Conquerors thro' JESUS that has loved them. Ephes. vi. 10, 11, 12. Rom. viii. 37, 38.

[Page 19] 1. The Sovereignty of GOD must set us down silent under such astonishing Dispensations, Trials and Exercises of his most gracious Saints; nor may his Will, Wisdom, Goodness and Faithfulness be doubted, question'd or disputed by Them or others. It was (without Doubt) the Error of Job and his Friends that they enter'd so far into an Argu­ment and Dispute about the Reasons of the Divine Conduct respecting him; which may seem too much verging to­ward a Saying unto GOD, what dost thou? or why hast thou done this? which who shall say? Eccles. viii. 4. Therefore Job and his Friends receiv'd no other Answer from Heaven, either first by Elihu who spake un­der a Divine Impulse and Inspiration, nor afterward by the more immediate Voice out of the Whirlwind, but the unaccountable Greatness, Majesty and most certainly wise and perfect Dominion and Government of GOD most High and Holy. All Flesh must be silent be­fore Him; be dumb and not open their Mouth because GOD does it! be still and know that it is of GOD; like Aaron hold their Peace, like Eli say " It is the LORD!—Job and his Friends did but darken Counsel by Words without Knowledge, while they were ready to fix one Rule and Measure in all Providential Dispensations. We are let into the Secret and Reason in the Case of Job, that we may learn to rest satisfied in the Will of GOD, and the Dispositions of Providence, whatever befals our selves or others. GOD is wise and holy, and his Work perfect, in all Things that respect either his Children or his Enemies. We may neither say, " Why does the Way of the Wicked prosper? Or wherefore does GOD seem to look favourably upon the Way of them that deal trea­cherously? And why do they devour the Man that is more righteous? without laying down to our selves, and that strongly, an immoveable Foundation, as the Prophet does, Hab. i. 12.13. " Art thou not from Everlasting, O LORD my GOD, my HOLY ONE? thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity. So when the Prophet Jeremiah was ready to have pleaded with GOD, and was tempted to talk with him of his Judgments, he was inspir'd first to [Page 20]lay down this Principle, never to be departed from, but ever kept in Mind, " righteous art thou O LORD!

2. As GOD will not suffer his upright Servants to be tempted above what they are able to bear, but will with the Temptation find a Way for their Escape, so his graci­ous Purpose in permitting Satan's fiery Assaults on their Souls, is to glorify his Grace in their holy bearing and re­sisting them, and so by the Weakness of Man to make the Triumphs of Grace the more glorious over the Sub­tlety, Malice and Wrath of Satan. So it was in the Con­flict of Job,—"Let me try his boasted Grace (said the Tempter) and he'll curse thee to thy Face; "He is in thy Hand (said GOD) and my Grace in him shall triumph gloriously over thy Spite and Power. Therefore when he held fast his Integrity under the first Scene of dread­ful Trials, the ALMIGHTY even gloried in him over his false and cruel Enemy, Job ii. 3. " And still he holdeth fast his Integrity; although thou movedst me against him. And in the Record of these Sufferings and Patience of Job, the Grace of GOD is glorified to his Church forever in the Power, the Riches and Alsufficiency thereof. The perfect Man came out of his first and second Fire, as the three Worthies did out of the fiery Furnace, without the least Smell upon him, or his Raiment so much as scorch'd: And as the LORD GOD OF HOSTS, the GOD of Israel was magnified in the Sight of Nebuchadnezzar and all the Princes of his vast Empire, in the one Miracle of Power; so is the Power of Faith, Patience, Penitence, Adoration, Submission glorified to the Saints of GOD in all Ages by the History of Job; and perpetual Glory is render'd by the Church on his Account from Age to Age. And how abundantly crowned then is that Trial of Faith, whatever it be, by manifold Temptations for a Season, tho' it be tried by Fire, which shall be found to Praise Honour and Glory unto the Day of Christ, and in that glorious Day, and unto all Eternity?— Thus has the LORD set apart some for Himself! And "they shall be mine says the LORD in the Day when I make up my Jewels! "Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and Adder, the young Lion and the [Page 21]Dragon shalt thou trample under Foot! because he hath set his Love upon me, (and shewn it by trusting in me) there­fore will I deliver him; I will set him on High, because he hath known my Name; he shall call upon me and I will an­swer him; I will be with him in Trouble, I will deliver him and honour him: Psalm xci. Thus GOD did by his Ser­vant Job, and so he often glorifies his Grace in the suf­fering Members of a tempted Saviour, that they may glorify him, by being Types of Him.

3. Satan may be permitted to distress the Souls of GOD's Children by his foul Suggestions, to show them the Corruption that is in them by Nature, and the sad Re­mains of it after their Regeneration, their Weakness and Danger, and absolute Dependance in their best Estate on his free Grace for Preservation and Safety. GOD lets 'em see what they are liable to, and capable of, if he should leave 'em; what Enemies beset them and whi­ther they would hurry 'em. GOD shews 'em Them­selves and effectually abases 'em, makes 'em low and vile in their own Eyes, fills 'em with Shame and Fear, and makes 'em to know that they are but Dust and Pol­lution: This makes 'em watch and pray with a holy Jea­lousy of themselves, lest as Satan beguiled Eve he prevail over them her Offspring, conceived in Sin, and shapen in Iniquity. GOD brings them to Despair in themselves, and to trust only in CHRIST for Righteousness and Strength, for present as well as future and eternal Salva­tion. Psalm xvii. 7, 8, 9. ‘Shew thy marvellous Lov­ing Kindness, O thou that savest by thy right Hand them which put their Trust in Thee, from those that rise up against them: Keep me as the Apple of the Eye, hide me under the Shadow of thy Wings; from the Wicked that oppress me, from my deadly Enemies that compass me about! like as a Lion that is greedy of his Prey,— arise O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down.’

Satan sees the natural Profaness, Atheism and Infideli­ty of our evil Hearts; that there are the Seeds of all Impiety, Blasphemy and Malignity in us, he makes his Advantage of this natural Propensity in us, and while he [Page 22]watches to inflame the Soul from within it self, GOD frustrates him in his mischievous Device, by discovering to the Soul its own native Viciousness and Impurity; with its absolute Need of the Succours of Almighty Grace; and that self-loathing and abhorring, with Fear and Trembling, it must only go and cast it self upon sovereign Mercy: Psalm cxliii. I flee unto Thee to hide me, quicken me O LORD for thy Name Sake; for thy Righteousness sake bring my Soul out of Trouble; and of thy Mercy cut off mine Enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my Soul; for I am thy Servant. Thus the Result of all is,

4. GOD permits and uses the foul and furious Assaults of Satan upon the Souls of his Children unto the most kind and gracious Event and Issue, to be truly the Means of a great Increase of Grace in them, and of their Esta­blishment and Perseverance in Grace, and very often of much Light and Comfort, Peace and Joy in believing. ‘The grievous Chastning yields the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness to them that are exercised thereby; wherefore lift up the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees; and make strait Paths for your Feet; lest that which is lame be turned out of the Way, but rather let it be healed.’

The Temptation in it self tends only to defile and pol­lute, but GOD makes it purifying; its natural and design­ed Tendency is only to darken and torture, but GOD turns the Shadows of Death into the Light of the Morning. It has been, I doubt not, the first Means of saving Con­version to many a Soul, the Means also of Growth and Increase to many a regenerate Person, and the Forerunner of a confirmed Peace to many a happy Penitent and true Believer in CHRIST. I say,

1. The Means of the first saving effectual Conviction and true Awakening to many a Sinner. GOD holds the Devil in those Chains of Darkness as to make him against his Will, and contrary to his own wicked Design, to serve and minister in bringing some of his Elect into a saving Fight to the Blood of CHRIST, and Subjection to him as Prince and Saviour. So the Shepherd uses the barking of his Dog to bring back a stray Sheep to the Fold. " The wick­ed [Page 23]is snared in the Work of his own Hands; Higgaion Selah! i. e. put a special Remark on this; it is a Point that de­serves our deepest Attention. Psal. ix. 16.

Satan would not chuse (we may well think) to disrest a Soul that is at Ease in Sin, but rather would soothe and rock him into a sounder Sleep: but the Tempter may be so infatuated at times, for ought we know, as to raise those Fears and Horrors in some under their first (and but common) Conviction, which he can never lay again, and which free Grace makes to issue in their saving Conversion. Or rather may we not think, that GOD having awaken'd the Soul, and Satan fearing to lose his hold of it, his Rage is over ruled to promote and carry on the good Work of GOD begun, and to drive the Soul faster and closer to its SAVIOUR.

2. It may be a more sensible and evident thing in the Kingdom of GOD'S Grace within Men, that the Assaults of Hell upon them are frequently made the Means of In­crease in Grace, and of the Progress of Sanctification. The Tempter attempts, again and again, to blast the Work of Grace begun, to bring it to a stop, to deter and dishearten the pious Soul in its Way: ‘there is a Lion in the street, an Adder in the Path! desist or turn back!’— but GOD turns the affrighting Suggestion to Unbelief and Despon­dency, into an Alarm unto Faith, holy Fear, Prayer and Fortitude; so that what was meant to affright astonish and deter, is made to quicken unto Prayer, Watchfulness and Diligence, in a more earnest Flight to the SPIRIT of Grace for Succour, and to the atoning cleansing Blood of a great SAVIOUR and INTERCESSOR: by which means you may have often found, O buffetted Child of GOD, that you had been less humble, careful, sollicitous and anxious about your spiritual State, and in your Walk with GOD, if you had never felt those Conflicts with your spiritual Adversaries, which a holy GOD has mercifully call'd you to endure, and has carried you through. These are the Beginnings of Re­venges upon the Enemy, which call upon all around the suffering Children of GOD to rejoice with them, and on [Page 24]their Account.—Shall I say to them what I have tho't, and been perswaded from what I have heard and seen from such distressed Christians under the Persecutions of some unseen evil Adversary; "You love GOD much the more, and fear him more, and adore him better, and walk the more humbly and closely with Him, and hate Sin the more, and pray the better, and are the more circum­spect meek and lowly in Heart, and have really much the more Communion with GOD, from what you have suf­fer'd by the Malice and Wrath of Satan. So his Wrath shall praise GOD by your Lips, as long as you live; and the Remainder thereof GOD will restrain.

Upon all

3. The fiery Assaults of Hell upon the dear Children of GOD prove the Means, as of their greater Purification from Sin and Growth in Holiness, so of all Joy and Peace in believing to them. The Affliction for the present is very grievous, but it yields the peaceable Fruits of Righ­teousness to them that are exercised thereby. So blessed is the Man that has endured Temptation, for after the Con­flict comes the Crown: Light is sowing through all the Clouds and Darkness, Rain or Tempest, for the Righte­ous, and Gladness for the Upright in Heart: As Job found it in the Day when GOD justified him, after he had hum­bled him and made him viler than the Dust in his own Eyes; " Go to my Servant (said the HOLY ONE) and he shall pray for you. The Joy of Victory follows upon Sa­tan's Assault and Defeat. GOD crowns the humble O­vercomer with Garlands of Joy here sometimes, and will with those of Glory hereafter; for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life. Job shone the brighter all his After-life in the Eyes of all about him; and it was to him the same Thing as if he had only been in the Mount with Moses, and came down with his Face. His restored Prosperity was doubly serene and pleasant, both to himself and his Friends. He was seen and lov'd like David long after, when he came back with the Sword and Head of the Giant in his Hand. So shall it be done to Him whom the King of Saints delights to honour. — [Page 25]When Asaph also had got through his Temptation, hear how he triumph'd in his GOD and over the Enemy: Psalm lxxiii. 23, 24. Never the less I am continually with Thee, thou hast holden me by my right Hand; thou shalt guide me by thy Counsel, and afte [...]ward receive me to Glory: Whom have I in Heaven but thee, and there is nothing on Earth that I desire beside thee: my Heart and my Flesh faileth, but thou art the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever. Asaph's sore Dejections clear'd the Way to these his Exul­tations; which bring to Mind the Words of CHRIST to his Disciples, when they return'd from their more easy Ac­quests over Satan, "LORD, the very Devils are subject to us through thy Name: "'Tis so, replied the late tempted JESUS,— I beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven! but in this rejoice not that the Devils are subject to you; but that your Names are written in Heaven. Victory o­ver Satan's Temptations, in some of his remarkable and violent, but more especially in the Course of his ordi­nary Assaults, may minister unto us the joyous Hope of our Election of GOD, and of our final Perseverance in Grace. No doubt but holy Job spent the latter Part of his Life in the more blessed Assurance of his Interest in the Love of GOD, and in the Joys thereof; by the Breaches which Satan was permitted to make on him for a Season. 1 Pet. i. 6, 7. "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a Season (if need be) ve are in Heaviness thro' manifold Temptations, that the Trial of Faith, tho' tried as with Fire, may be found unto Praise and Honour and Glory in the Day of CHRIST. This is but as CHRIST himself suffer'd, being tempted, and the Consolations of GOD flow'd down upon him. Matth. iv. 11. Get thee hence Satan, and the Devil left him, and Angels came and minister'd to him. Those holy benevolent Spirits are mini­string Spirits to the Heirs of Salvation; and never so more gladly, than when they have seen 'em combatting with the Powers of Darkness, and stedfastly resisting them. So the Darkness of the Night makes the Light of the Morning pleasant, and even Dirt and Sand are us'd to scour and brighten the Vessel, and the scullions foul [Page 26]Hands to wash and cleanse it. So Silver and Gold pass through Fire and are refined: only the Dross is purged away.

Thus we have look'd a little into this dark Dispensa­tion of Divine Providence; this mysterious Conduct of So­vereign Grace, in the Permission of the fiery Assaults of Satan upon some of the dearest Children of GOD: Al­tho' they are dear to GOD, and He so to them, yet are they sometimes annoy'd with hideous hateful Suggestions against his Holiness and Glory. GOD has his wife, most holy and gracious Ends in this Permission; Glory to Himself; and much spiritual Good to these his favourite Sufferers.

I will only add,—When our LORD gave the Tempter his last Rebuke, upon his most horrid Assault, He passed immediately upon his public Ministry: And his Apostle St. Paul was established and enlarged in his abundant La­bours and extensive Services, by the Messengers of Satan of one kind and another, that dogg'd and set upon him, where ever he went: I'll read you some Account of it, and conclude on this Head, 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9, &c. ‘We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed, we are perplexed but not in Despair; persecuted but not forsa­ken, cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing a­bout in the Body the Dying of the LORD JESUS, that the Life also of JESUS may be made manifest in our Body;—For which Cause we faint not, but though our outward Man perish, yet the inward Man is renewed Day by Day: For our light Affliction, which is but for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory: While we look, not to the Things that are seen, but at the Things which are not seen; for the Things which are seen are temporal, but the Things which are not seen are eternal.’

[Page 27] I come now to the second Thing proposed, which is,

II. These hellish Suggestions, and horrid diabolical Thoughts, as they should and will be most grievous and abhorred to a holy Soul, so ought they to be re­jected and cast out with utmost Detestation.

It is not only Matter of Fact and Experience, but also of Necessity, that they are thus grievous to and abhorred by a holy Mind: As it is Duty to GOD, so where Grace is in Exercise it is in the Nature of Things necessary. — Job appears in the Text as if stab'd to the Heart by his Wife's hideous Words; he answers the foul Temp­tation with Abhorrence, he ejects the cursed Thought, he reprehends her with Indignation, and calls her a fool­ish wicked Woman; and argues on GOD's Behalf, why utmost Reverence, Love, Fear, Gratitude, Adoration Submission was due from him to the blessed GOD, and should ever be render'd by him, by the Help of his Grace: What? Shall we receive Good at the Hand of the LORD, and shall we not receive Evil? Thus Grace will direct, urge and constrain us to think and speak in any like Case; as we know it was exhibited by our blessed SAVIOUR in his Temptations.

But let us take the Truth before us, the Duty pro­pounded to us, in its several Parts, and briefly speak to each of them: These infernal Thoughts and Injections, should be very grievous and distressing to us, we should heartily detest 'em, reject and spue 'em out as soon as they arise in us, if we can; and at the same Time fortify our selves with holy Reasoning and Argument, as we are able; as Job piously and wisely did under the Direction and Assistance of GOD.

1. They should be very grievous and distressing to our Souls, and they necessarily are so to a gracious Heart. As a Sword in our Bones it should be to us as it, was to David: Psal. xlii.—It is hard to hear our selves, a Parent or a Friend, any whom we esteem and reve­rence, spoken evil of or reviled; but how much more dear and sacred is the Name and Glory of GOD most [Page 28]High, good and holy, wise and just, to a pious Heart? " Holy and reverend is his Name! Him thou shalt fear, to him thou shalt cleave and Him thou shalt serve! He is thy Praise and He is thy GOD. Deut. x. 20. That glorious and fearful Name, the LORD thy GOD. xxviii. 58.

It should be grievous to apprehend the Enemy of GOD and of all Righteousness so nigh us, and that by our Apos­tacy from GOD he has such Access to us. It may well scare us to think that he is or has been (as it were) at our right Hand, and whispering into our Ear with a con­tagious filthy Breath; Things so impious in themselves, and to us pernicious without the Succours of preserving Grace.

It should be horrible to imagine (but that the Heart is conscious to its own Wickedness) that Satan should see any Way of Entrance into us for his hellish Blasphemies, and Profaness! or that he should conceive the least Hope of Success against us, in such barefac'd Infidelity, Athe­ism and Devilism! that he should seem to see us so like himself! or that any of the Humane Race, but especi­ally under the Light of the Gospel, could be really such incarnate Devils, as this would render them.

We may well tremble with Horror from a pious Self-Love, lest those hellish Suggestions should make any Im­pression, find the least Entertainment in us, or Compli­ance from us. For sooner should we chuse to cease to be, then to be capable of regarding and yielding to a Thought of this Nature, against the Being, Holiness and Glory of the GOD that made us! which were to bring up Hell from beneath, and act the Devil in open Day-Light.

In a Word, It should grieve us to think or know that there is any such Degree of Malignity against GOD in any Creature whatsoever! That even Hell it self can show any Thing so vile and unclean. As one would be scar'd to see a Devil, so this Idea of diabolical Spleen and Hatred, and of spiritual Filthiness, may justly make our Blood run cold thro' every Vein, and the Hair of our Head to rise up an End!

[Page 29] So grievous and terrifying have the blasphemous Sug­gestions of Satan been to holy Souls, in whom the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD dwells and rules, having fill'd them with Faith and Love, Reverence and godly Fear.

2. We must therefore in our Souls detest and loathe, feel and express a vehement Abhorrence of such hellish Suggestions. "Do I not hate them, that hate thee? (said holy David, teaching us to feel and speak thus after him, Psalm cxxxix) and am I not grieved with them that rise up against Thee? I hate 'em with perfect Hatred,—I count them my Enemies: Search me O GOD and know Heart, try me and know my Thoughts, and see Thou and show to me if it be not thus.

What should our Souls equally detest, as this express­ed open Enmity, Hatred, Contempt and Spite against the Holy GOD? At what should they equally rise, bursting with Anger Disdain and Wrath? Meekness, I had well nigh said, were here a Vice; and Mildness the Want of Zeal; did I not call to Mind the Arch-Angel's Words when contending with the Devil; how far he kept from any railing Accusation, but only said " the LORD rebuke thee. Provok'd Abishai could not preserve a like Government of himself when Shimei only railed against his Earthly King; "Shall this dead Dog curse my Lord? said he: But what would David himself have said, had the Curse been utter'd against his King and GOD, the LORD of Glory? The basphemous Being and his Act had equally been the hated of David's Soul, and should be of ours? Although there needs no imprecating any Curse upon the Devil, curs'd as he is long since from the Mouth of GOD, and under the Sentence of eternal Death.—"If any Man love not our LORD JESUS CHRIST let him be Anathema, Maran-atha, says the Apostle 1 Cor. xvi. 22. Which is to say, cursed in the highest Manner and Degree! how accursed then to us should the Devil and his blasphemous Suggestions be, which breathe im­placable and furious Hatred against the Being, Blessedness and Grace of God to us thro' JESUS CHRIST our LORD?

[Page 30] An Idolater won't suffer his dumb and dead Idol to be spoken against; if he calls it his God he will not bear to hear it despised; an Egyptian of old would have ston'd the Man that should have sacrificed his Abomination be­fore his Eyes; nor would One of all the rout at Ephesus endure a Blasphemer of their Goddess Diana! Nor is there a modern Zealot of Rome Antichristian, but thinks it meritorious to be the Death of you if you affront their Wafer-Idol the Host, when elevated in the Church, or when carried through the Streets in Form and Pomp. Can then the least Thought be whisper'd in our Minds a­gainst the Honour of our GOD and SAVIOUR, and not wound and pierce them? should not that be execrable to us, which is reproachful and contemptuous of HIM? What Devotion, what Love or Fear of GOD, can there be in us, if this Resentment and Indignation be wanting in us, when his Name is blasphemed? And when the Endeavour is to make us Partners in the Blasphemy? — Well was it made a Law to the Israel of GOD, Levit. xxiv. 15. Whosoever curseth his GOD shall bear his Sin, and he that blasphemeth the Name of the LORD shall surely be put to Death, and all the Congregation shall certainly stone him with Stones.

3. To express our Detestation of a blasphemous Injec­tion we should instantly reject and spue out the Abominati­on, and not suffer the vile Thought to lodge in us. As it is but rising and entring, we must rebuke, suppress, forbid and curse it in the Name of the LORD. Let us vehe­mently turn away, and neither hearken nor argue; as Calvin ^† advises. The cloven Foot is seen here at once, and there needs not a Moment's Thought what to do. [Page 31]"Be gone from me thou cursed Thought," thou Child of the Devil, and Enemy of all Righteousness! I detest and defy thee, thou art none of mine, but art execrable to me! my GOD impute it not unto me! my GOD I will adore thee! raise now my Adorations of Thee more than e­ver! I would even loathe my own Soul, that the hated Foe could think to find any liking in me! my GOD for­bid it! and get thee hence Satan!—So the blessed A­postle, filled with the HOLY GHOST, set his Eyes on the Sorcerer Elymas, who sought to turn away the Deputy from the Faith; and said, " O full of all Subtlety and Mischief, thou Child of the Devil, thou Enemy of all Righ­teousness! will thou not cease to pervert the right Ways of the LORD! Acts xiii. 10.

4. After the Repulse and Rejection of the vile Temp­tation, we may fortify our Souls against every Return of it, by holy Reasonings and Argument, Meditation and Prayer, religious Discourse, and setting our selves to the immediate Duties incumbent on us in our present State and Circumstances; from which we should not suffer any Temptation to divert us, or keep us.

So when Job had rebuk'd his Wife, and spoke his De­testation of her Words; he then proceeded to give the Reason of his doing so; saying, " What? shall we re­ceive Good from the Hand of the LORD? and shall we not receive Evil? q. d. ‘Shall I curse GOD to Da [...], because he pleases in his Sovereignty, or for the Pun­ishment of my Sins, which have daily made the For­feiture of all the Affluence of good Things with which his Providence had distinguish'd me, now to bereave me of them? or be it for the Trial Exercise and Increase of his Grace bestowed on me, which He may prove and require the Exercise of as he pleases! or if He has prov'd it in a State of outward Prosperity for so many Years together; shall he not now call me to express the same Faith and Love, Adoration and Praise, Devotedness and Subjection in a State of Hu­miliation and Adversity; destitute, afflicted, tormented? I will lie therefore silent and adoring before him in the [Page 32] Dust where his wise and holy and righteous PROVIDENCE has laid me, and go on to worship, "Naked came I out of my Mother's Womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave and the LORD has taken; blessed be the Name of the LORD. "I will therefore still go on to bless, and call upon my GOD, and the LORD shall save me! He is still the same Good, gracious and holy GOD to me; and by his Grace I will be the same humble thankful abased Worshipper before Him; trust­ing in Him and waiting on Him for his Salvation:" —As He has had my daily Thanksgivings and Praises in the Months past wherein the LORD preserv'd me; when his Candle shone upon my Head and by his Light I walked through Darkness; when his Secret was upon my Tabernacle and my Children were about me! "As I then sent and sanctified them when the Days of their Feasting were gone about, and early rose up in the Morning to offer Sacrifices according to the Number of them all; so Morning and Evening, and through the waking painful Hours of every Day and Night, will I (by his Grace) now ly adoring my GOD in my Sores and Ashes!—"I then fear'd for them and for my self, and said, " It may be my Sons have sinned in their Rejoicings and cursed GOD in their Hearts; (for out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts and Blasphemies)— but if it were only I might fear my Sons had neglected to render unto GOD the Praise and Glory of his Mercies as became them; I there­fore fail'd not to offer for 'em my Burnt-Offerings:—" And shall I now curse HIM, whom I have been all my Life blessing? because I have neither Child to offer for, nor a Sheep or Ox out of my Thousands and Hundreds to bring unto his Altar; nor Strength to rise and go to it as my exceeding Joy? — No, Thou art my Hope O LORD GOD! thou art my Trust from my Youth! by Thee have I been holden up from the Womb, my Praise shall be continually of thee! I am a Wonder unto many, but thou my strong Refuge! let my Mouth be filled with thy Praise and with thy Honour all the Day.’

[Page 33] I have put this Run of Scripture together, and as it were into the Mouth of tempted Job, to assist others when tempted to hard Thoughts of the blessed GOD, in strengthning and confirming themselves in their Adora­tions before Him. In much fewer Words Job set the Temptation in its true Colours, as most unjust and base, ungrateful and impious; and what his Soul should never come into, GOD helping him; but keep at the greatest Distance from it.

It was the SPIRIT and Grace of CHRIST that thus ani­mated Job and fill'd his Mouth with Arguments; for when JESUS was himself led by the SPIRIT into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, he rebuk'd the filthy and impudent Suggestions of Satan once and again, by giv­ing his holy and irresistible Reasons from the Word of GOD; " It is written, said he, and again— it is writ­ten: So it became Him who took our Nature, therein to be made under the Law, and to fulfil it; and whose Glo [...] it was to say " Thy Law is within me.

Joseph was the princely Type of CHRIST both in his resolute Repulse of the Tempter, the Devil in his Mistress; refusing to see or hear her; and yet arguing too the great Wickedness, and Sin against GOD; and also the foul Ingratitude Injustice and Villany to his Master: And when nothing would do with the impudent Creature he fled: An Act as heroic in its Circumstances, as David's facing the Monster of a Man, the Defier of the Host of GOD.— In like manner, when David was outrag'd by Michal for the Transports of his Devotion, he bid her think if it were not grateful in him to dance before the LORD and his Ark, who had prefer'd him to her Father's House, and made him the King of Israel; "the devout will ho­nour me said he, and I will be yet more vile than thus, and base in my own Eyes. 1 Sam. v. 22.

In short, Sin is never to be parly'd with, but at once and resolutely to be denied; yet is it the Act of Wisdom and Grace to reason with our selves for our Confirmation and Establishment in just and holy Resolutions; and with others for their Reproof and Conviction. The [Page 34] Holy Scripture is our Armory or Magazine to supply us with Helmet and Shield, Sword and Buckler, for our Defence against the Darts of Hell; and for Offence and Wound­ing to the Enemy, who flies before the holy hated WORD. From this Artillery discharge upon the Hosts of Hell, and they will flee from you.

Thus rebuke the Tempter and refuse to sin: and when this is done, clench the Denial with the Word of Truth, which sets before you the impious Nature of Sin, and the cursed Nature and End of the Tempter; our Rela­tion and natural Subjection to GOD and infinite Obli­gations to Him; his Laws Promises and Threatnings; and be the Christian fixed in his Post, strong in the LORD and in the Power of his Might, to withstand the Wiles of the Devil, and wrestle against Principalities and Powers, the Rulers of the Darkness of this World, and spiritual Wicked­ness in high Places: Think, what is holy and righteous, wise and good, Duty and Interest; and there fix your Foot, and stand, having your Loins girt about with Truth and having on the Breastplate of Righteousness. Commit yourself thus to GOD and to the Word of his Grace, which is able to keep you from falling.

So far we have seen under the two first Propositions; that the dearest Children of GOD may be call'd to en­dure the most foul and accursed Annoyances from the Devil; which will be unspeakably grievous to them and abhorred, and ought to be infinitely detested and in­stantly rejected by them.—Yet if they cannot get rid of them, as they desire and strive to do, they must beware of a too intense contending with them; but turn away as from a barking Dog, or from an abusive raving Scold, or from a cursing Shimei.—As the heavenly Mr. Janeway advises in this Case, ‘Let not such Thoughts have any Time of Abode in your Mind, but turn 'em out with all the Loathing and Abhorrence that you can; and with as little Trouble and Disturbance as you can; or else it pleases the Devil if he can but make you your own Tormentor.— Divert your Thoughts therefore to something good and holy, and let those very Injections [Page 35]be constantly the Occasion of some spiritual Medita­tion, and that the quite contrary to the Blasphemy or infidel Suggestion: Or fall a praying with Earnest­ness; and the Devil will be weary if he finds his De­signs thus broken; and that those Sparks of Hell which he strikes into Souls to kindle and inflame Corruption, do but put Warmth into Grace, and set Faith and Prayer a working:’ He will be beat with his own Weapon when it is turn'd upon him, ‘what he intended as Water to cool or quench your Love to GOD, proves like Oil to make it flame the more vehemently.’

I go on now to show in the last place,

III. That these grievous and abhorred Injections are not the Sin of the dear Saints of GOD, nor will be reckon­ed so by their holy and gracious GOD; nor do they de­file and pollute their Souls, nor bring them under Guilt, when they are detested and rejected. This the Text is plain and positive in, " In all this Job sinned not.

It is strange to observe the dreadful Fears of many melancholly Christians, who are hurried and distressed with evil and wicked Thoughts which their Souls abhor; "That 'tis altogether (or very much) their own Wicked­ness and Guilt; and they are ready to account and call themselves the most unbelieving and profane, the most pol­luted and vile of any in the World; and to think that none have Hearts and Minds so alienated from GOD, and turn'd against Him as theirs: they impute all to them­selves, and think themselves twofold more the Children of Hell than others! — Why is it thus? they are ready to ask, if there is not a Fountain of Impurity in Me more than in others, casting up such Mire and Dirt? Or if the Hand of Satan be in the troubling of the Waters, yet is it not plain he finds all this odious Filth at the Bottom in me? for which I should abhor my self and fear lest GOD abhor me!—And yet verily GOD sees not Iniquity [Page 36]or Perverseness in them, but is pleas'd in the Struggle and Victory of his own Grace within them.

The Support and Relief of such distressed Souls, and to convince them of their Error, I had principally in Mind in the Choice of this Subject; although I take it not to have been the very State of the Case with Job, who was too intelligent and establish'd a Worshipper of GOD to be driven from the happy Confidence of his Integrity and Uprightness, by the Assaults of Satan or by the Argu­ments of his Friends: He appeal'd from them unto GOD the Searcher of the Heart, and who knows all Things, that He knew he loved Him: Chap. x. v. 7. Thou knowest that I am not wicked! and in his last Reply, he finish'd with a long Train of noble Appeal to GOD and Affirmations to Men: Chap. xxvii. ‘As GOD liveth who hath ta­ken away my Judgment, and the ALMIGHTY who hath vexed my Soul; all the while my Breath is in me and the Spirit of GOD is in my Nostrils; my Lips shall not speak Wickedness, nor my Tongue utter Deceit: GOD forbid that I should justify you; 'till I die I will not deny my Integrity: My Righte­ousness I hold fast and will not let it go; my Heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.’

But alas! how few of the dear Children of GOD in our Days arrive at like steddy full Assurance of Faith as Job had, respecting their Integrity! they are too often soon shaken in Mind; though we are admonished by the HOLY GHOST not to be so on one Account and another. 2 Thess. ii. 2. Even Ministers as well as common Dis­ciples may be too justly likened to Reeds shaken with the Wind! and no wonder, when Peter himself was so easi­ly carried away as the dry Stubble by a sudden Blast of Temptation, in his Self-Confidence, and after Warning given him by his LORD.

But what now lies before us, is to affirm and prove that there may be the foulest Motions to Sin, made by Satan to the Minds and Hearts of the most sincere and pious among the People of GOD; as this in the Text was to Job, "Curse GOD and die! and yet if their Soul [Page 37] abhors from the cursed Motion, consent not to it, but detest it; it is not their Sin, but only Satan's:—"in all this they have not sinned.

If we receive the Witness of Man, the Witness of GOD is greater. My Text is the Witness of GOD concerning Job; and by it the SPIRIT OF GOD witnesses the same concerning You, O afflicted and tossed in Spirit and not comforted; if you are enabled by Him to detest and e­ject like blasphemous and diabolical Injections, as odious and abominable to you. GOD, the righteous and gra­cious Judge, is then so far from beholding this Iniquity in you, that on the contrary He will in the great and last Day, before Men and Devils, in the most free and open manner own accept and reward it as the Power of his Grace in You, and an Instance of the sincere Devotion of your Souls towards Him ^*.

But to put this matter yet in a clearer Light, and give the utmost Demonstration of it, let us again recur to the horrid Motion of the Devil to the Man CHRIST JESUS our LORD; who was in all Points tempted as we are, yet without Sin: Heb. iv. 15. For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touch­ed with the feeling of our Infirmities: let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in Time of need.— For was not the LORD of Glory, the HOLY ONE of GOD annoy'd by Satan with as cursed Suggestions respecting the blessed GOD, as ever You were? and yet in Him was no Sin.

[Page 38] He was tempted to a Distrust and Disbelief of his FA­THER'S Care & kind Providence; ‘He lets thee starve and famish, and casts thee here, where no Bread is to be got;’ care now for thy Self, and if thou art the SON and Prophet, the promised Messiah, as thou hast been declared at thy Baptism, command that these Stones be made Bread: q. d. thy FATHER is unnatural and cruel, thy Dependance on Him vain; thy Hunger is natural necessary and innocent after so long Abstinence and Devotion; Self-preservation is thy Duty, and 'tis a Case of Necessity, and calls thee to go out of the ordinary Way for thy Supply.— But our LORD in effect bid the Tempter remember how the Church of old had been fed in the Wilderness by the care of his FATHER; nor without his Blessing could the miraculous Bread nourish Him.

Again, the Devil's last Temptation of our SAVIOUR was more foul and horrid than the first: In some visionary Representation of all the Glories of the Kingdoms of this World, he set them before Him; and impudently call'd them all his own, and told him he would give 'em all unto him, if he would fall down and worship him. What a Land-skip is here of the Devil's drawing in a Wilderness? be­coming the Father of lies and the Pride of Lucifer, with the Subtlety of the Old Serpent! and equally impudent his Claim and Promise. May I be permitted to paraphrase the hellish Suggestion: q. d. ‘You have been led up into this horrid Wilderness, and are you not here miserably abandon'd by Him you call your Father! I the God of this World appear to succour you! your Father has little in it to call his own! Rome and all the Glories of it are all mine! this poor Judea and the Wilderness about it he may call his! My Idols fill Italy and Greece! there I am worshiped with utmost Pomp and Glitter! the Earth and all its Learning and Phylosophy bows to me! to Me the Poets sing, and Cesar with all the Potentates are my Votaries: the Powers that be are ordained by me, and their Dominions are by me distributed! to whomsoever I will, I give them! are you not now poor desolate, empty in your great Title the Son of GOD! do [Page 39]you deserve to be so abandon'd! be mine and see what I will do for you! this World and all its Glories shall imme­diately be yours! its Rule, its Riches, its Homage and all its Worship! render me only this small Acknow­ledgment, this single Act of Homage, " fall down and worship me!’

Thus the evil One, the Prince of this World came first with Flatteries and Allurements, and afterward with Rage and Terrors, with all the Powers of Darkness surround­ing our blessed LORD, and found nothing in him; for in Him was no Sin. And if JESUS was thus tempted, yet without Sin; so if any of his dear Members are in like Manner tempted, and by his Grace are kept from yiel­ding; by his Power are enabled to resist and rebuke the Temptation, it is by no Means Sin in them; but they are more than Conquerors thro' Him.

Let us reason and argue a little on this Point.

1. The meer thinking on Sin, or the Contemplation of it with Aversion of Soul, can by no Means defile the Mind. GOD Himself beholds Sin, thinks of it, yet is infinitely holy, and of purer Eyes than to behold Evil, and cannot look on Iniquity. Hab. i. 13. i. e. He beholds it with Abhorrence, his Soul hates it, his Word forbids, con­demns and threatens it. The holy Angels also see our Sins, open and secret, consider and detest 'em; are of­fended at and grieved by them; and it is their Holiness. — Good Men make diligent Search and Enquiry into the Nature of Sin, their own and others among whom they dwell; discern the moral Evil, Guilt and Pollution of it; its Turpitude, Baseness and Malignity; yet are they not defiled hereby, no but the more purified both in Heart and Life.—Regenerate Persons and sincere Peni­tents find it absolutely necessary for them often to call their past Sins to Remembrance; they can neither shew themselves Men nor Christians without doing so, for a renewed Repentance on the Account of 'em, to increase their Humiliation and Abasement before GOD, to quic­ken themselves in the Mortification of the Body of Sin and Death which they carry about with them, to fix their [Page 40] Abhorrence of it and of themselves for it, and to strengthen their Watch against every Motion to it, from within or from without;—but all this is according to Godliness, and purifying to the Soul in obeying the Truth.—Now it is the same Thing in the Event, thro' the Grace of GOD with and in his Saints, if vile and wicked Thoughts a­rise involuntarily in 'em, or are thrown and cast in upon them by Satan without and against their Will: If the Soul in either Case rise against them in Fear, in Mourn­ing, in Hatred and loathing of them; Iniquity is but purged away hereby, and the Soul confirmed in holy Dis­position, and the Habit of Grace is strengthned. As if you rinse a very foul Vessel, though it be in dirty Wa­ter, yet it will be something the cleaner for it; the Dirt at the Bottom will be in Part (at least) loosned, and cast out with the Water; so here, though the Injection of Satan be never so unclean and defiling in it self, yet the Soul spuing out the foul Thought, casts up also something further of its natural Impurity together with it.

Indeed there is a Contemplation or thinking of Sin that is most impure and defiling: To think of it with liking and Complacency or Desire is highly so; to crave, intend, and project it, to muse and dwell on it with Pleasure, to roll it as a sweet Morsel under our Tongue with Taste and Relish; to recollect it with Delight and chaw it over again as the Cud, (which is to injure the wholsome Property of the clean Creatures) this is to listen to the Tempter with Inclination and Consent, and call the forbidden Fruit good for Sight and Taste, and is grosly polluting to the Soul; as also in a Degree it is, not to have our Hearts rise against, and fly from every Motion within us to known Sin. For in this Case Lust lodges, is harbour'd and entertained, conceives and brings forth; and is so much real Adultery, Murder, Profa­ness of the Heart: Matth. v. 12. But on the contra­ry, to think of Sin with Grief and Mourning, Fear and Confusion, Indignation and Rejection, this is purgative and purifying, wholsome and healthful, medicinal and [Page 41]restorative, nourishing and strengthning to a Principle of Grace, in Act and Exercise.

2. Let it be moreover consider'd, that the very Argu­ment I am upon supposes the abhorred detested Thoughts injected by another, and that they do not come or proceed from the Soul it self, nor are originally its own, and that the Soul is grieved by 'em, offended at 'em, disowns and re­jects 'em: they are therefore some spurious Births from abroad, laid secretly and basely at our Door, or with­in it, and falsly father'd on us, if we are so foolish as to receive and own them. If we consent not, 'tis only the Devil's Sin; his Act, his Guilt and he must answer for it. If for Instance, the first Adam had done as the SECOND did; if our first Parents, had rebuk'd the Tempter and detested his Motion to them, when he persuaded them to disbelieve and disobey GOD; the Sin had rested only on the Devil; they had remained innocent and been confirm'd in Holiness; but they yeilded to his cursed Suggestion, took part in his Act and in his Apostacy from GOD.

Indeed, now in our fallen State we have just Reason to suspect our Selves and fear always, sometimes more than at other, whether the vile Motions to Sin within us be not from our own Hearts, which are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know them? No wonder therefore if the holiest Child or Servant of GOD be sometimes ready to say, ‘I fear it is Sin dwell­ing and reigning in me, and the Hand of the Devil is it may be little in it; for as St. James says " Every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed; and how shall I know but that it is thus with me?’

But let us call in the Aid of the blessed St. Paul to set this matter in its true Light; and it is well for the Church that it has these two Apostles to give Light into each others Meaning. In the vii. Chap. to the Romans, "the Apostle gives a Description of the Conflict between Grace and Corruption which he experienced in himself! and no doubt but every renewed sanctified Soul has more or less the like Experience. The Apostle calls himself [Page 42] carnal and s [...]ld under Sin, because he at Times did that which he allowed not, but truly hated: but his Support and Relief was, ‘that it was no more He that did it, but Sin that dwelt in him: for, the Good that he would he too often did not, but the Evil that he would not, that he did: Now (says he again) if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but Sin that dwelleth in me: He goes on, I find then a Law that when I would do good, Evil is present with me: For I delight in the Law of GOD after the inward Man; but I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind, and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin! O wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death?’—The like spi­ritual Conflict and lusting of the Flesh against the Spirit, and of the Spirit against the Flesh, was found in the Chri­stians at Galatia, so that they could not do the Things that they would. Gal. v. 17.

We see here that a good Man may have this Rejoic­ing, ‘the Testimony of his Conscience to his Complacen­cy in the Law of GOD, and that his highest Pleasure in Life is, when Heart and Life are in the strictest Conformity to the Law and Will of GOD; and that with his Mind he is serving the Law of GOD; and yet at Times, hold himself no better than one brought into Captivity to the Law of Sin, a carnal Creature, and sold under it:’ And yet he must not impute to his own Will and allowance the Evils which he bewails, groans out un­der, strives against and hates himself for. To this he must recur, "It is no more I that do it, but Sin which dwelleth in me; a Body of Death which I am hourly groaning, for a full Deliverance from.—It is the Experi­ence and Confession of the holiest Saints on Earth, that there are sad Remains of Impurity and Uncleanness clea­ving to them; the Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit, which are defiling to their best Frames and Duties; and too often lusting strongly and at Times prevalently; so that the Good which they desire to do they too often do not, and the Evil which they wou'd not they at Times [Page 43] do: Their Souls delight in GOD, after the inward Man, but yet they find another Law, Power or Principle of Corruption, warring against the Law of GOD and the Law that bears Rule in their Minds.— Now suppose this car­nal Principle ( mortified but not yet slain and extinguish­ed) lusts and tempts to blasphemous and diabolical Tho'ts of it self alone or by the Instigation of Satan; and at the same Time suppose the sanctified Spirit lusting against these hellish Motions, and groaning within it self for Deli­verance from them, and Victory over 'em; ready to ab­hor it self on the Account of them, and crying out of its own Captivity and Bondage,— we may be then assured, that whatever be the Rise of the cursed Temptation; be it from Job's own corrupt Nature, or from his Wife, or from his Adversary the Devil; it is not at all his own Sin and Act; it is no more He that does it, though it may be from Sin that dwelleth in him; Sin which he allows not, Sin which he is daily labouring to mortify, and from which he is earnestly seeking Deliverance.

In short, All Sin is voluntary; the Will is in it, the Choice is of it, the Soul likes it, and hence Guilt arises. — All that I shall further add on this Argument, to carry it to the utmost Evidence and Demonstration, is

3. There is not only no Sin, but much Vertue; a no­table Exercise of Grace, and Victory over Temptation, in the Case supposed; when blasphemous Tho'ts arising in us, or violently suggested to us, are abhorred by us, de­tested and rejected. Violent Temptations to hideous Sin are hereby resisted, refused and overcome: And how far is this from the committing Sin, or contracting Guilt? GOD, the righteous Judge reckon'd it to Job for Righ­teousness, and his Triumph over Satan; still he holdeth fast his Integrity! although thou movedst me against him, to de­stroy him without a Cause.

‘This added to his Character, (says Mr. Henry on the Place) turn'd to his Praise and Glory! GOD him­self speaks of it with a kind of Pleasure and Wonder, and of Triumph in the Power of his own Grace! He stands the faster, and holds the faster, for being shaken! [Page 44] still he does so; after so violent an Assault upon him! he has got Ground instead of losing any! his Constancy shows proves and crowns his Integrity! He is more hearty and lively than ever in blessing Me.’

Thus Job approv'd himself the perfect and upright Man, one that feared GOD and eschewed Evil; and that there was none like him on the Earth: None tried, temp­ted and afflicted like him in his Day, or since among meer Men, or that bore Temptations of like Kind and Degree, so many and great, with like Heroic Piety and Fortitude. — The Tempter could not but own himself beat, and GOD justified in all that He had said of his penitent, patient, believing faithful Servant.

GOD meant and allow'd the Trial, that it might stand on Record for the Comfort of his tempted Saints, and for the Edification of his Church for ever. It is a Banner display'd for others to fight under, in the Cause of Truth and Holiness, to the End of the World. Job has help'd many a weak and strong Believer to beat the Devil again and again, down to our own Days. He still sits as a King in the Army; and what Hosts of suffering Saints are still fighting under and after him, and conquering by Faith in his REDEEMER.

And by every Fight and Victory they certainly get some further Strength and Power against Sin, and Con­firmation in Grace; even as the Testimony of CHRIST was confirmed in the Corinthians, and they confirmed to the End; that they might be blameless in the Day of CHRIST: 1 Cor. i. 6, 8. Satan also is more and more bruised under the Feet of GOD's People; and like the conquering Is­raelites they will be c [...]ll'd by JESUS to set their Feet on the Necks of the Principalities and Powers of Darkness; and the Promises of both Testaments will be fulfilled to them and in them; " thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the Adder; on Serpents and Scorpions, and over all the Power of the Enemy, Psal. xci. Luk. x. So Light is sowing for the righteous, in the Hours of greatest Darkness; and the humble Disciples of JESUS will one Day like the Seventy return with Joy to Him, saying, "LORD, even [Page 45]the Devils are subject to us thro' thy Name!— And he said to them, " I beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven! and in this rejoice, " that your Names are writ­ten in Heaven.

The Day is coming when the Saints shall judge the World, shall judge Angels! Then they shall see their Enemy, the Old Serpent, the Devil and Satan at the Bar of CHRIST their Saviour, and damn'd and cast into the Lake of Fire! Then having follow'd CHRIST in the Re­generation they shall sit down with him on his Throne! Then having drank of his Cup and been baptized with his Baptism, they shall sit on his right Hand and on his left in his Kingdom! — Let 'em realize now by Faith how full will be their Joy, how bright their Glory, how high their Honour, how wide their Fame and Renown in that illustrious Day! They Conquerors and more than Conquerors! and so their Triumphs more than August or Roman; Divine, Coelestial and Eternal!— Wherefore ‘my beloved Brethren, count it all Joy when ye fall into diverse Temptations, yea the most fiery Trials; for blessed is the Man that endureth them, for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life, which the LORD hath promised to them that love Him: But let Patience have its perfect Work, that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing.’ James i. 2, 3, "4, 12.

I close with some Words of the very Reverend and pious Dr. Horneck on this Argument: ‘ Unallowed blasphemous and other wicked Thoughts in the Heart do not defile it: This Doctrine must be often incul­cated, because of the great Number of pious Souls who look upon themselves as the vilest Wretches in the World, and are ready to run into Desperation, because so many horrid Tho'ts and filthy Suggestions present themselves to their Minds; more especially disturb­ing them in their Devotions and religious Exercises: But not being allow'd of, nor consented to; however dreadful and hainous they are in themselves, they no more defile the Heart than boisterous Winds, and the [Page 46] Commotion of the Water fully the Pearls that ly at the Bottom. — That they are not their own Tho'ts is evident, because their Will is contrary to them, their Understanding is convinced of the Iniquity of them, and their Hearts Desire is to be rid of 'em. The Soul in this Case is like the young Men in the fiery Furnace; while a thousand Sparks fly about them, not a hair of their Head is singed.’

To have done, — In every Congregation almost there are some whose Case this is: Some are known to us, and there may be others: To all such I have bro't the Mind of GOD and they must make Conscience of receiv­ing it as from Him: Wherefore comfort your selves to­gether, and edify one another: Comfort the Feeble-mind­ed, and support the Weak: And the very GOD of Peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray GOD your whole Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the Coming of our LORD JESUS CHRIST: Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it. Amen.

Having thus in some poor manner and measure en­deavoured to show, that the most pious and gracious Persons in the Church of GOD on Earth, may be annoyed with most accursed hideous Tho'ts and Suggestions against the Blessed GOD, his Truths and Laws; which ought to be and will be very grievous to and abhorr'd by them, and should be rejected instantly with De [...]station, or rather with a holy Disdain and Contempt; and that when they are so they are not our Sin, and will never be reckon'd a­gainst us as our Sin by GOD our righteous and gracious JUDGE; and that not only is there no Sin in this Case com­mitted by the grieved and distressed Soul, flying to CHRIST for Refuge and Protection; but indeed there is the true Exercise of Grace and Victory over Sin; true Grace is tried, proved, display'd and triumphant before the Eyes of the invisible Hosts and Armies of the Living GOD, as really as [Page 47] David triumph'd in the Sight of all Israel when the horrid blaspheming Giant fell dead before his Faith, and the Philistine Army took to their Heels and fled; and we should learn of the timerous, affrighted Israelites to shout and pursue the flying Enemy.

I proceed therefore to the USE and IMPROVEMENT of the Subject; and though the principal Part thereof must be to relieve and direct (by the Will of GOD) distressed Souls under the Annoyances of Hell; yet there being also many weighty Inferences that offer to us by Way of Instruction, Caution, Conviction, Counsel and Direction, as well as of Support and Comfort to the Soul that is tempted and weary; I shall take those in my Way also.

I. First then by Way of Inference and Instruction, I shall recollect and mention some Truths of great Im­portance, naturally flowing from what has been already said, and indeed all along implied and supposed therein:

As, 1. The cursed Nature of Sin, the hideous Fruit of the Creature's Apostacy from GOD; and the Malignity against Him that is in our corrupt Nature: We may here take a near and full View of the deformed Face, the o­dious and filthy Features of SIN; as it lusts in us a­gainst the blessed GOD; and to what a Degree it would exceed, if the Word, SPIRIT and Grace of GOD did not restrain and prevent it.

For, are there then the Seeds of this Atheism and Blas­phemy and Rage against GOD in us, if he should leave us to our selves, or deliver us up to Satan to sift us? Are our Hearts so evil as to have the least Propensity to such detestable Impieties? Can Satan see it possible to bring us into them? Does he know us to be so wicked as to hope to succeed against us in such barefac'd and horrid Profaness? What? even to be as vile and foul as Himself already? That all his own spiritual Wicked­nesses, and the Filthiness of Hell, may be already in us, while here in the Body? even to curse GOD before a Soul is actually got into the Place of Despair and Torment? [Page 48]Where only (one would think) such a Thing can be imagined as a blaspheming because of their Plagues! — If Sin tends even to this here on Earth; or if it has ever turn'd Angels and Men into such Devil; into the worst and last Degrees of such Malignity against the most good, most holy perfect and blessed GOD; the Author of all Being Perfection and Blessedness; — O what an EVIL is it? Of what a filthy Nature and what a Sty of Pollution?—Ah, whither are we fallen? Into what a Mire have we sunk? For what Shame have we chang'd our Glory?—And consequently, what Humi­liation, what Mourning, Self-loathing and Abhorrence, what Fear and Jealousy for our selves does our fallen State call for? We should heavily bear the Sense of Original Sin, our Conception in Sin, our corrupt Nature, the Plague of our own Hearts, the Leprosy and Defile­ment of our Souls, their Guilt and Wound.

Well may such a filthy Nature render us from our Birth, the Children of Wrath! And never should we con­fess our Sins to GOD, but first we should bewail this Spring and Source of them! First let us seek the Par­don of this, and beg for a Renovation in the Spirit of our Minds, a Change of Heart, a new Nature! That we may be purified and made clean, sanctified thro' out in Body Soul and Spirit: Psalm li. 5, 10. Behold I was shapen in Iniquity, and in Sin did my Mother conceive me! create in me a clean Heart, O GOD; and renew a right Spirit within me! cast me not away from thy Presence!— Well might the Apostle groan to be deliver'd from the Body of Sin and Death! O wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me?

2. Are very good People at Times annoy'd with cur­sed and diabolical Suggestions, which they detest and yet find it hard to free themselves from? This may con­vince us that there is a Devil, and of what a cursed Nature he is, how hateful he should be to us; his Guilt also, and how great his Damnation will at last be.—These Things I put together, because of their Affinity; yet [Page 49]are they distinct Inferences, and to be briefly spoken to each by themselves.

1. Doubtless there is a Devil; a Tempter of a most accursed Nature; the Exciter of these hated Tho'ts which haunt at times some of the dear Children of GOD, and grievously distress and terrify 'em; unavoidably rising in their Minds, as if the Blasphemy where whisper'd in their Ear and urg'd upon them. Not that the Devil knows our Tho'ts always, tho' he may shrewdly guess at 'em; nor can he make us think or hinder our think­ing as he will; nor in any Manner or Degree but as he is permitted: Never the less that there are wicked, lying, profane, spiteful Spirits that do find a near Access to the Minds of godly Persons, and have Pleasure in wor­rying and tormenting them, has been by many sadly experienc'd.—It's true that this is the Lot of some only, and those ordinarily more or less subject to Fear and Melancholly: but then it is to be considered also, that GOD permits not the Devil to persecute whom or when he pleases after this hideous Manner, as he could not come at Job 'till GOD gave him Permission; and that such Kind of Annoyances will presently make Persons sad and melancholly; for what is more dejecting in it­self? The Devil also may doubtless discern when and where there is most Likelihood of succeeding in his Temp­tations of one kind and of another, and apply them ac­cordingly: He persecutes the more soft and timorous Temper with black and gross Suggestions, while he sel­dom tempts the sanguine free and gay Minds to Melan­cholly; no, but to licentious Airs and careless Jollity: he fishes with the Bait that is likeliest to take with the Constitution of Nature, the Circumstances of Life; or with the alter'd Frame of Persons under the Changes that pass over them.— But to return,

One Proof of a Devil, or malignant Nature imploy­ing it self against GOD, is had in the inward Persecuti­ons that piously disposed Minds are made to suffer in vile and odious Tho'ts, which they resist, cry out of, and fly from, but can't rid themselves of. Here is Satan as [Page 50]plainly to some suffering Souls, and unto them that are made acquainted with their Distresses, as his bodily Pos­sessions have been frequently undoubted, where the possessed have been agitated, rent and torn by him, in hor­rible Manner, in the Sight of others.

That there is a GOD we know by his Works, and that He is a most wise, powerful and infinitely good BEING; because these his Divine Perfections do gloriously appear in them: In like manner that there is a Devil, or Spiritual Wickednesses in high Places, is evident and notorious from many palpable Effects, which prove him a Being apostate; base, envious, malicious, cruel, outrageous against GOD and Goodness.—The Temptations to Sin which we feel our selves, and see the World of Mankind carried away with, and hear the Good and Virtuous groan under the Annoyance [...]f, are a sufficient Proof of a World of Devils, that like cunning Serpents, or roaring Lions are lurking or walking about, to bite and devour.

This was so palpable to the Heathen World, that many of them came into the Imagination of two Principles; the One of all Good, the other of all Evil; and they ignorantly worship'd the One with Love and Venera­tion, the other with Dread and Horror: But Reason and Revelation has banished this ridiculous and inconsistent Thought from the Christian World; the Word and Works of GOD concurring in this plain Account of Him, that HE the first Cause of all Things is necessarily and infinitely good; and that Evil is only from the Creatures Apostacy and Rebellion against GOD, Opposition to his Will and Enmity against it: For there needs only a Deflexion from what is good and right, to make Sin and Evil.

We find therefore some apostate Intelligences, besid [...] our own wicked Hearts, suggesting Evil to us, and per­swading to it with Importunity and Vehemence, and sometimes with Violence and Virulence, even to our own Horror and Loathing at Times (evil and wicked as we are) and to our exquisite Pain and Anguish; and what can we impute this to but a Devil? Or what can [Page 51]we infer from it but the Being of such a cursed Spirit, the Enemy of GOD's Glory and of our Holiness and Happiness.

This Argument I find in Zanchius, ^† Whence are those evil and impious Thoughts and Motions forcing in upon us? not from our selves, for they are against our Wills; not from GOD or good Angels because they are so wic­ked; therefore they must be from Satan; some invisi­ble Evil One, even fuller of explicit Spite and Rancour against GOD and Holiness than our own corrupt Hearts appear.

To use the Words of the Venerable and judicious Mr. Baxter here,— ‘ Temptations (says he) are some­times so unnatural, so importunate and violent, that the Person tempted even feels something without himself, perswading and urging him: He can nei­ther be alone, nor go about his Calling, but he is fol­low'd and dog'd with earnest Motions to Sin; and unto Sins too to which he never found himself in­clin'd; Sins which he has no Pleasure in, nor Pros­pect from; Sins that are quite against the Tempera­ture of his Body, and the Desire of his Mind.’ — Truly, a Mind thus persecuted will need no Argument scarce, beside its own Sense and Experience, to satisfy it "that there is a Devil, its Adversary, which desires his Annoyance, Defilement, Damnation.

2. From hence likewise it appears, what a hateful Spi­rit the Devil is; and how abhorr'd and abominable he should be to us; how loath'd and fear'd and detested by us.—What just Cause does he give us to hate him, if this be his Rage and Malice against us? or much ra­ther if he move us thus at any time against the Blessed GOD! would have us blaspheme HIM, curse him, and entertain odious Thoughts of Him! — cursed Spirit, a Hater of GOD, and hated by GOD, — should not we [Page 52]hate him? Psal. cxxxix. ult. " Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate Thee? And am I not grieved with them that rise up against Thee? I hate them with perfect Hatred, I count them mine Enemies. We can have no other Idea of a Devil, as such, but as most odious and accursed! And the more strongly Grace is rooted, and Goodness rul­ing in us, the more must he be an Execration to us. Ha­tred was made for such an Object, as much as Love for GOD most good and holy.

More especially how should we hate to be our selves like unto such an odious Creature as Satan! or to be un­der his Power, possessed and acted by him, or obedient to him! of such a Father, the Devil, doing his Lusts! how should this make us abhor our own Souls, our own Being! for how odious must we then be to the blessed GOD! how accursed in the Sight of HIM that made us in his own Likeness and Love. Look into the Word of GOD, and see the soul Face in that Glass; "thou Child of the Devil, as truly as Elimas the Sorcerer was before thee! And of that wicked One, as much as Cain who slew his Brother, and went out blasted from the Presence of GOD! His Servants we are to whom we obey, led Captive by him at his Will; the miserable Prey of the Lion or Dragon of Hell; the forlorn Spoil of the Powers of Darkness! What a Shame and Reproach is this to Human Nature! To Men made but little lower than the Angels of Light, and for Angelic Perfection and Felicity among them!—but how are we fallen by Sin, into the Hands of Devils, into the Mire of their Prison, in Chains under Darkness!—Here is Bondage and Slavery abject­ly chosen, and continued in! as if Sinners could love their Masters, and would not go free; altho' the SON OF GOD has come down from Heaven; and even died, as well as besought them, to make them free.

It is true that no Man can be truly said to love the De­vil; and the more Sinners come to know of him the more they must hate him; and mutual everlasting Ha­tred between them and Devils in Hell will be one Part of their eternal Torment: But Multitudes love his Lusts, [Page 53]and wear his inglorious Chains with Mirth and Pleasure; yea some count 'em their Ornaments, like true Hotten­tots in the visible Kingdom of GOD. The Devil is wor­shipped and serv'd in the dark Places of the Earth out of gross Ignorance and Fear; but by Multitudes under the Light of the Gospel from liking to his Motions, in all the Filthinesses both of Flesh and Spirit: A practical Love they show to their deadly Enemy, and they hate their Friend, their Father, their Redeemer, the Holy One of GOD!—It would be a good Step in Religion to hate the Devil! how few of the Sons and Daughters of Men do it in Truth, whatever they may think! It is the Property of Grace, and no small Part of our Christian Bond by our Baptism, to renounce the Devil and all his Works; yea to hate his Likeness in our selves or others; to mourn and bewail it in our selves, and behold it in Trans­gressors and be grieved. The Act of Renunciation and Ab­juration in our Baptism should be remember'd by us, re­peated and confirmed every Day we live: This is our Alle­giance and Fidelity to GOD our KING, and this is the Liberty of the Sons of GOD, the glorious Liberty which we are called into by the Gospel. Moreover, we must infer

3. The Devil's great Guilt and the Greatness of his Damnation at the last, from his being the Seducer of Men into Sin, Apostacy from GOD and Rebellion against Him; and from his persisting in his Attempts against the Chil­dren of GOD unto this Day, with like Enmity, Falshood and Malice, as he tempted Adam the Son of GOD in Pa­radise.—As he there belied GOD and beguiled Eve, so he belies GOD still, and would terrify penitent and be­lieving Souls into unjust and hard Thoughts of Him; even the most vile and accursed that can be; in Defi­ance of all that he hath said to us in his Word. It is his Hatred of GOD, more than of us, that accounts for all this. His Envy is of GOD's Glory, his Malice a­gainst the Work of GOD! This gives the Glare of Hell in them. Indeed the Blood of Souls alone is a Scarlet and Crimson die, but the deeper Stain is the lying against the HOLY GHOST, whose Holiness he hates, declares War [Page 54]against and defies. He makes War with the LAMB and his Members; is bruising the Heel of the SON OF GOD in them to this Day, although he has so long since seen Him ascended on High, leading Captivity Captive: He wars even in Heaven against Michael and his Angels! The Dragon fights though he knows that he can never con­quer, and that the Time of his Torment is coming on! he blasphemes GOD, deceives the Nations, accuses the Brethren, persecutes the Woman and her Seed, the Church; and casts out his Floods to drown her spiritual Seed; and all because they keep the Commandments of GOD and the Testimony of JESUS! But his Judgment is coming on and the Serpent's Head will be then utterly crush'd: even at the second Appearing of the SON OF MAN with Power and great Glory; when the Devil and his Angels shall be judged by the LORD and his Saints; who will destroy him by the Breath of his Mouth and by the Brightness of his Coming. But previous also to this final Judg­ment, will the Angel of JESUS come down with the Key of the bottomless Pit and a great Chain in his Hand, and lay hold on the Dragon, the Devil and Satan, and bind him and shut him up for a thousand Years. Rev. xx. 1, 2. At the Expiration of which, to shew himself a true Devil still, as soon as loosed he will return to his deceiving the Nati­ons, and gathering Gog and Magog together against the Camp of the Saints; which will be the filling up his Mea­sure, and then Death and Hell, the Deceiver and damned Ghosts together, shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second Death, ℣. 10, 14.

Surely it must needs be thus: The Arch-Sinner and first in Revolt from GOD, and the inveterate Enemy, shall least of all escape the Divine Vengeance: The Saints shall judge Angels: They shall see their Adversary and Tempter brought forth in Chains before the Bar of CHRIST, around whose Throne they shall stand; they shall hear him arraigned, convicted and damned from the Mouth of the glorious MAN, JESUS CHRIST; for his first malicious Seduction of our first Parents, and for all his Endeavours since to maintain and increase our Apostacy! [Page 55]The Guilts of Mankind will be laid upon him; a heavy Load! his Spite against the SAVIOUR and all whom the FATHER gave to him! his Impotent Blasphemies and his prevalent Sollicitations will all come into one Account, and be revenged together in his Condemnation: The Saints shall see the Judgment executed, and sing together with a loud Acclamation, ‘Thrice holy, just and true! now is come Salvation and Strength, the Kingdom of our GOD, and the Power of his CHRIST.’

Let me illustrate the Matter a little from the Wicked­ness and tragic End of Haman, and the Salvation, Joy and Gladness thence arising to the Jews: That vile en­ormous Power, Haman, in his Luciferian Pride, Envy and Rage, murderously plotted, and almost compassed, the Destruction of the captiv'd Church: The good Queen Esther petition'd in her Fear and Anguish for her Life and the Life of her People; for alas! they were sold in the Intention of the Evil One, to be destroy'd, to be slain and to perish! But in the End, confounded with Guilt and speechless, Haman is doom'd and dragg'd to the Gallows, which he had prepar'd for Mordecai the Jew, after he had just liv'd to see him exalted, crowned and triumphing! his Associates in the plotted Destruction fell with him under a dreadful Vengeance; and thence was the Church's Salvation and Triumph perfected! Esther reign'd, Mordecai went out from the Presence of the King in royal Apparel, and the Jews had Light and Gladness Joy, and Honour.—So when the Grand Enemy of the Saints is bro't to the Bar of CHRIST, in the Judgment of the great Day, they will rise up and say—" This LORD is the Adver­sary and wicked One! And then the abject Devil would most gladly fall at the least Saint's Foot to beg for his Life! Whose Triumph will be high and glorious as the Devil is led away to his Eternal Torments.—His Damna­tion will be then great, as are now his Blasphemies against GOD, and his Spite at all his Saints.

This is the second Inference, — there is a Devil; a Host of accursed Spirits, of a most cursed Disposition, under hideous Guilts, and reserved to a dreadful Dam­nation. [Page 56]O let us fear his Malice, and resist his Temp­tations, that we may never partake in his Torments, the devouring Fire and everlasting Burnings, prepared for him.

3. Is there a Devil, a Host of evil Spirits of such a cursed Disposition, and implacable Malice against GOD and the Souls of Men, and the Peace of his Children? And is there not an innumerable Company of HOLY ANGELS, a thousand times ten thousand, and Millions of Millions of blessed Creatures, who behold the Face of GOD above, and stand in his Presence, and are Thrones, and Domi­nions and Principalities and Powers in the Heavenly Places? most benevolent and friendly to the Souls of Men on Earth, and Fellow-Servants Worshippers and Brethren with all that are sanctified in the Church of CHRIST? and they are all by Office as well as Inclina­tion Ministring Spirits, sent forth to minister unto the Heirs of Salvation. Hebr. i. 14. — Let us consider THESE in their Ministration under CHRIST the REDEEMER, and the HOLY GHOST the SANCTIFIER; and what an Over-ballance are they, for the Consolation and Security of the poor tempted Members of the Church on Earth! as it is written, for our Learning and Support, Psalm. ciii. ult. Bless the LORD ye his ANGELS that excel in Strength, that do his Commandments, hearkning to the Voice of his Word! bless the LORD, all ye his HOSTS, ye Ministers of his that do his Pleasure! Bless the LORD O our Souls!

Is it not written of these holy, happy, potent Spirits in the Heavenly Places, that they are the Angels of CHRIST'S little Ones here below, and do always behold the Face of their FATHER in Heaven? And that he gives them Charge concerning 'em, to keep 'em in all their Way, to hold 'em up in their Arms! And that there is Joy in the Presence of these Holy Ones above, over every one Sinner that repenteth! ^*

These blessed Angels are ever opposing and even fight­ing against the Devil and his Angels; insomuch that we read of the War in Heaven by Michael and his Angels [Page 57]against the Dragon, the Old Serpent, the Devil and Satan; the Accuser of the Brethren, Rev. xii. 7, 10. It is the same Arch-Angel that St. Jude tells us contended with the Devil about the Body of Moses, and probably presided at his Burial! the same Prince among the Angels of Light, whom Daniel saw standing up for the afflicted Church be­fore the coming of CHRIST in the Flesh, and holding with its persecuted Members. Dan. xii. 1. Be it the LORD CHRIST himself, or some Coelestial Principality commissi­on'd by HIM, the Succour of his Elect is the same thro' Life and Death; and it may be said to the most timorous and frighted of them, as Elisha to his terrified Servant, awaking early in the Morning and seeing the Assyrian Host incompassing the Hill on which the Seer dwelt; " fear not, for they that be with us are more than all these Enemies; more in Number and more for Strength! " and the LORD open'd the young Man's Eyes, and behold the Moun­tain was full of Horses ad Chariots of Fire round about Elisha: i.e. he saw an Army of bright and flaming An­gels guarding the Man of GOD; and leading away blind­fold the Assyrian Host at the Will and Prayer of the meek and humble Prophet: a strange and pleasing Spec­tacle to Heaven and Israel. 2 Kings vi. 15, 16.

This is indeed the very State of the Case, as it is laid before us in our Bible, from the Beginning to the End of it; that thro' Patience and Comfort of the Scripture the least and weakest Believer may have Hope; and at­tain Quietness and Assurance for ever.

The Time would fail me to mention the recorded Ministrations of the Angels of GOD to Abraham and Jacob and even to Hagar and Ishmael; to Elias and Daniel and the Worthies in Babylon; to Peter in the Prison, to Paul in the Storm; to Cornelius [...] the Closet or Family, and to John in Patmos, for the Testimony of JESUS.

The same have been the Succours by Angels to the Church in general, from the Slaughter of the first-born in Egypt, and the giving the Law [...]n Sinai; unto David's taking the Kingdom and marching against the Philiscines, upon the Signal given him of an invisible Host going be­fore [Page 58]him over the Mulberry Trees; and unto the Day of Joshua the High-Priest, when the Captive Church had just emerged out of the Den and Fires of Babylon: Satan then oppos'd virulently his bitter Accusations against Him and his People, to frustrate their Prayers and Intercessi­ons; but the LORD Himself answer'd for 'em: HE that had taken upon Himself their Sins, to bear them away: Zech. iii. 2, 4, 7. " The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan! even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee! Is not this a Brand pluckt out of the Fire? And he spake to those that stood before Him; the holy Angels his At­tendants; who in this Vision (says the judicious Mr. Clark) represented the Ministers of CHRIST, as his ordi­nary Instruments in this Work; saying, "Take away his filthy Garments from him! — And to Him he said, " I have caused thy Iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with Change of Raiment: And then the Angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, (as the present Representative of his humble mourning and accused Ones) saying, If thou wilt walk in my Ways and keep my Charge, I will give thee Places among these (my Angels) that are standing by; i. e. in the Heavenly Mansions among 'em for evermore! altho' now thou and thy Fellows are Men wonder'd at! For behold I will bring forth my Servant the BRANCH, thine and their strong and mighty REDEEMER.

And having thus nam'd HIM, the glorious SON OF MAN whom the LORD has made strong for Himself, and in WHOM only we have Righteousness and Strength, in Whom the Seed of Israel are justified and do glory; let me finish the present Argument by observing, what all the tempted Members of CHRIST should lay up in their Hearts;—how the Angels of GOD minister'd with un­known Adoration and Delight to the MAN CHRIST JESUS, in the Days of his Humiliation, Temptations, Ministry, Sufferings and Dying for us; from before his Concepti­on and Birth unto his Burial and Resurrection from the Dead! He was seen of Angels, worship'd and minister'd to by 'em while lying in the Manger; "The Multitude of the Heavenly Host gave Glory to GOD in the Highest, [Page 59]from their Goodwill to Men, congratulating us on the Goodwill of GOD to us in a SAVIOUR'S Birth; and they directed the Shepherds to the Place where the Babe lay: In like Manner they attended and guarded Him through his Infancy, also in the Wilderness of Temptation, in the Garden of his Agony, at his mock Trial and on his Cross: They never deserted him through all these tragic Scenes, while his Disciples forsook him and fled; and while the Dogs compass [...]d him and the Assembly of the wicked inclosed him: No, He told his Guard and Crucifiers that at his Word the Legions of Angels stood ready then to have deliver'd him.

They attended his holy Body to its Grave, and there guarded it to the Morning of the third Day, when they roll'd away the Stone from the Mouth of the Sepulchre; and the comforted the holy Women in their Tears and Fears; "We know that you seek JESUS that was cru­cified! Come see the Place where the LORD lay; and go quickly and tell overwhelmed Peter and the Disciples.

And now, O humble Believer in JESUS, the most sin­ful and the most timorous, wilt thou not encourage thy self from the Readiness of the Holy Angels to succour and help thee in thy Times of Need! You must see them also, ever near thee, by the Commandment of thy SA­VIOUR! They love thee for his Sake, and in a Measure as they ever loved Him; and as the Members of his Body, of his Flesh and of his Bones; filling up what is behind of the Sufferings of CHRIST in your Flesh, Col. i. 24.

Yet must you beware of trusting in the Aids of Angels, any more than you would in any Arm of Flesh! Nor may you pray to 'em, or give 'em Worship, as the blessed Apostle himself was ready to do when they had brought him so many Revelations and Comforts from GOD! "See thou do it not (said the Angel) for I am thy Fellow-Crea­ture and Servant, and a Worshipper of JESUS!—Never the less receive 'em as the Angels of GOD, as Abraham and Jacob did; " This is GOD'S Host! and on the Lad­der from Heaven to Earth see 'em descending to, and as­cending from the Sons of Men!— Come into a holy Fel­lowship [Page 60]and Communion with them, by FAITH in CHRIST, and by the Life of JESUS manifested in thy mortal Flesh. 2 Cor. i [...] 8, 11. Let 'em only see CHRIST and his Grace in thee and they will cleave to thee in Love, and never leave thee to the Will of Satan, thy and their Enemy.— You must make the LORD your Refuge, even the MOST HIGH your Habitation; and then the Promise is, Psalm xci. 11. He shall give his ANGELS Charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy Ways; and they shall bear thee up in their Hands, lest thou dash thy Foot against a Stone: Thou shalt tread upon the Lion and the A [...]er, &c.

But still beware of the Serpent,—for he quoted this very Text to the SON OF GOD himself, when he mov'd him to cast himself down from the Pinnacle of the Temple. Watch and pray that ye enter not into Temptation, and then be strong in the LORD and in the Power of his Might. When thou passest through the Waters they shall not overflow thee; and when thou walkest thro' the Fires thou shalt not be burnt. In all your Acts of Worship, secret and publick, see the LORD sitting upon his Throne, high and lifted up, and his Train filling the Coelestial Tem­ple! before Him stand the Seraphims with cover'd Faces, and you may hear 'em cry to one another; " Holy, holy, holy is the LORD OF HOSTS, the whole Earth is full of his Glory! Nor think your self then undone although a Man of unclean Lips, and dwelling among a People of unclean Lips! but confide in the LORD of Angels that he will cause his Seraphims to fly down at thy contrite Prayer (as he sent Gabriel to Daniel while he was making his Sup­plication) "to touch thy Lips and take away thy Sin. Isai. vi. 7. Then you may beat a Defiance to all the Powers of Hell and say, Rom. viii. 35—39. Who shall sepa­rate us from the Love of CHRIST? Shall Tribulation or Distress, Persecution, Famine, Nakedness or Sword? No, I am perswaded that neither Death, nor Life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor Things present, nor Things to come, nor Height, nor Depth, nor any other Creature, shall be able to separate us from the Love of GOD which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.

[Page 61] 4. If some of GOD's Children are annoy'd with most grievous and abhor'd Injections from the Evil One; then how thankful to GOD should others be, who are free from such Annoyances are mercifully prevented and graci­ously preserved in Peace and a right Mind.

It is of the great Mercy and Power of GOD, that no more of us suffer, as some have done from the fiery Darts of Satan. If GOD did not restrain and chain him up; if he did not set a Hedge of Defence about us, as he did about Job; of which his Enemy complain'd; if GOD should give him the Permission which he eagerly seeks and catches at; how miserable would he soon make our Life? how would the Wolf worry every Sheep of CHRIST'S Fold? not a Moment's Ease would he give us; into what Dejections and Despondencies would he scare us? and into what pale and meagre Spectres of Melancholly would he change us! What Visions of Hell would he be­gin within us, and multiply upon us! —But the merciful GOD suffers not the Devil to have his Will and Lust up­on us; and hence is the Peace, Tranquility and Comfort which his Saints enjoy; all their Quiet and Serenity is the Gift of GOD; and when He giveth Quietness who can make Trouble?

It is a special Precept of Religion, Col. iii. 15. Let the Peace of GOD rule in your Hearts, unto which ye are called in one Body, and be ye thankful. And it is a special Bene­diction, Phil. iv. 7. The Peace which passeth all Understand­ing keep your Hearts and Minds thro' JESUS CHRIST. And a special gracious Promise it is, ℣. 9. The GOD of Peace shall be with you: The GOD of Peace shall bruise Satan under your Feet. Rom. xvi. 20.

When we see others in racking Pains, it should raise our Souls in Thanksgivings to GOD for the Comforts of Ease. When we see others drooping and sinking under Melancholly and Sorrow of Heart, our more easy, bright and cheerful Minds should be lift up in Praise to GOD: It is the Way to fix and increase a sanctified Joy in us. But a Soul restored from the Pains of Melancholly, more especially after it has suffer'd the permitted Terrors of [Page 62]GOD, from the Temptations of Satan, will best know how to prize the Mercy of a quiet Mind, and rise in thankful Praises for it. — How sweet think you was it to the poor Demoniac, that had been so long raving and raging, tearing himself and roaring among the Tombs; when the evil Spirit was cast out, and he was sitting at JESUS Feet clothed and in a right Mind? Luke viii. 35. Pleasant it was to others to see him there and thus, who had been so lately driven and torn by the Legion; but how much more pleasant was it to the Man himself! how did he adore his Deliverer, and embrace his sacred Feet? How did he bless himself in the Change wrought upon him! torn by Devils before, and now gather'd under the healing Wings of his SAVIOUR!—O let us bless GOD for the free and quiet Use of our Reason and Understand­ing; and a well informed, faithful and yet peaceful Con­science! Let this be our Rejoicing (let us seek it, by liv­ing so before GOD as to attain and preserve it) the Te­stimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and godly Sin­cerity, not with fleshly Wisdom, but by the Grace of GOD, we have our Conversation in the World.

How dreadful is the Story of King Saul, when the evil Spirit from the LORD troubled him! not all the State of a King, nor the Pleasures of a Court, nor the Fidelity of such Sons as Jonathan and David; not David's Sword nor yet his Harp, nor yet the Shouts of Victory nor Songs of Triumph could charm down nor chase away the gloomy Fiend. O let us fear Sin, and flee Guilt, which causes the Spirit of the LORD to depart from Men, and opens a wide Door for the evil Spirit from the LORD, by his Judg­ment and Permission, to enter into and torment them. 1 Sam. xvi. 14. David's Spirit of Devotion is the best Prevention, and the surest Cure of it. Integrity and Up­rightness must preserve us! that's a solid and deep Foun­dation to build a setled Peace on: Simplicity and godly Sincerity. The Winds may blow, the Clouds gather black, the Rains fall, and the Seas roar and beat; but a House founded on this Rock, by Faith in CHRIST, is safe. — Conscience is a sure Friend to the upright, but a terrible [Page 63] Enemy to the vain and false, the presumptuous and the Hypocrite. Well might false and ungrateful Saul, false to his GOD and to his People, to his Sons and faithful Servants, have his Conscience enrag'd and inflam'd against him. It is not to be impos'd on and deceiv'd by Men at their Will, nor yet to be brib'd or stunn'd. It will not be adjur'd to Quietness by a feigned Force of Devotion, but exasperated the more; as Saul found it, when he would have enquir'd of the LORD again, but he answer­ed him not. So when the Sons of Sceva exorcis'd the evil Spirit in the Name of JESUS whom Paul preached; the possessed Man leapt on 'em, and prevailed against them, and they fled away naked and wounded: Acts xix. 15.

We must seek Quiet and Rest from GOD only, in his own Way; the Way of Faith, Repentance, Prayer, Praise, in secret and public; by Medita­tion, Self-Examination, Ejaculations, Self-Dedication and Resignation; in the conscientious Discharge of all relative Duties, abiding with GOD in our Call­ings, and walking with Him in our Houses; and then in his House, in all the Ordinances of the LORD; keeping his Sabbaths, chusing the Things that please him, and laying hold on his Covenant; all which GOD has joined, and we must by no means separate 'em; doing Justice, loving Mercy, and walking humbly before him; that he may give us within his House and Walls a Place and Name among his Sons and Daughters, an everlasting Name which shall not be cut off. Isai. lvi. 3, — 7.

In these Ways let us make Conscience of labouring after a gracious Ease and Cheerfulness of Spirit, by the Will of GOD: ‘If He giveth Quietness who can make Trouble? And if he hideth his Face who then can behold him? My Soul wait thou only on the LORD for all my Expectation is from him! Psal. cxxx. Out of the Depths have I cried unto thee O LORD! hear my Voice, let thine Ear be attentive to my Sup­plications! I wait for the LORD, my Soul doth wait, and in his Word do I hope. — It is promised, Isai. xxxii. 17. The Work of Righteousness shall be Peace, [Page 64]Quietness and Assurance for ever.’ GOD meets him that is rejoicing in working Righteousness, those that re­member him in his Ways. — But to return from this small Digression,

5. If some of the Children of GOD are here often annoy'd with foul Injections from Hell, how should it excite and raise in 'em all the more earnest Desires after Heaven; the Place and State of everlasting Rest from Sin and Sorrow, and of the Perfection of Holiness and Fulness of Joys for ever.

When Job, after too long a Silence, open'd his Mouth, it was to curse the Day of his Birth, and wish himself in his Grave; because "there the Wicked cease from trou­bling, and there the weary are at Rest, they hear not the Voice of the Oppressor.—O he should have refreshed him­self rather with his Hopes of being in a very short time in Heaven, the REST which remaineth to the People of GOD for ever! where are Pleasures for evermore. And this was his Hope and Joy and Crown of Rejoicing, as he tells us, Chap. xix. 25. "For I know that my Re­deemer liveth, and though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh I shall see GOD; whom I shall see for my Self and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another, though my Reins be consumed within me.

The distant Point from Hell is HEAVEN; and so the Hallelujahs of One from the Blasphemies of the other. Satan who left the peaceful Realms of Light, can return thither no more: he lists not to come near that Holy of Holies again, nor could he find Entrance: Or if when the Sons of GOD here below present themselves before Him, the Devil come among them, it is to disturb their Devotion, and to seek some Permission within the Com­pass of his own Air, to have the sifting of some weak and frail Saint here below, or the deceiving some Vessel of his own into Destruction, as he ask'd and had leave to do Ahab. The Dead in Christ only are free and far a­way out of the Reach of his Malice; they look down on the Batts of the Night on our Surface and say, "How art thou fallen, Lucifer, Son of the Morning. The Soul [Page 65]in Heaven is confirm'd in Grace and sure for ever, and past all Fear of Evil: Sin is no more, and could the Evil One come there he could find nothing to fasten a Temp­tation on: He sees it and is grieved, and gnashes with his Teeth, and melts away. If he make War with Michael, he is sure of a Defeat: O thou Enemy, Destructions are come to a perpetual End.

Now he comes down in Wrath, great Wrath, for he knoweth that his Time to tempt, and the godly Man's Time to suffer by his Temptation, is short: The present Life is the only Time; Death puts the Believer far away out of the Reach of any spiritual Foe; the Spirit of the Just as soon as out of the Body of Sin, is out of the World of Sin also; for it passes immediately and triumphantly thro' the Powers of the Air, under a bright and strong Guard of Angels; before whom the infernal Hosts fly and melt away, as they did before the Chariots and Horses of Fire that came down for Elias; for the little Ones in the Church of CHRIST have their Angels, as well as He the Prince among his Prophets, which behold the Face of their FATHER in Heaven, and know their Faces too here below; and are as ready to carry their Souls to the Pa­radise of GOD, as they were to bury the Body of Moses. Then a Fulness of Holiness, Glory and Joy remains to them for ever and ever; infinite and eternal Joys are ministred from the Vision of GOD and of the LAMB; and from the Sight and Hearing of the Adorations of the thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands about the THRONE; saying with a loud Voice, ‘Worthy is the LAMB that was slain, to receive Power, and Riches, and Wisdom, and Strength, and Honour and Glory, and Blessing!’ O in what Transport will every new arriving Saint fall down with them, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever.

But let us only consider the Day of a Believer's Death as his Freedom for ever from a State of Temptation, either from within or from without; his putting off the Armour of Righteousness which he wore here, and boasting over an Enemy utterly beaten and broken, never to rally more [Page 66]against him; what a welcome blessed Day must this be unto him! O thou Enemy, Destructions are come to a per­petual End! "Now is come Salvation and Strength, the Kingdom of our GOD and the Power of his Might! for the Accuser of the Brethren is cast down; and they overcame him by the Blood of the LAMB, and by the Word of their Te­stimony; not loving their Lives unto the Death! therefore rejoice ye Heavens and all that dwell in them. Rev. xii. 10, 11.

Thus look up to JESUS and his crowned Saints, poor tempted Child of GOD here below; and see the high Re­ward of their Patience and Constancy in bearing Tempta­tions and Conquest over them! how bright their Crowns, how loud their Songs of Victory, and what Palms are in their Hands! let all animate you to follow on and fight and overcome, in the Strength of CHRIST, their LORD and yours! Those his Worthies were lately weltring in Dust and Sweat and Blood, as you are now! Consider the End of their Faith and Patience, lest you be weary and faint in your Minds.—Let me only read to you the Vision of these Victors above, that have put off the Har­ness, and rest from their Labours: Revel. vii. 9, — 17. After this I beheld, and lo, a great Multitude, which no Man could number, of all Nations, and Kindreds, and People, and Tongues, stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white Robes, and Palms in their Hands; and cried with a loud Voice, saying, Salvation to our GOD which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the Angels stood round about the Throne, and about the Elders, and the four Beasts, and fell before the Throne on their Faces, and worshipped GOD, saying, Amen: Blessing, and Glory, and Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, and Honour, and Power, and Might be unto our GOD for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the Elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white Robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great Tribulation, and have washed their Robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of [Page 67]GOD, and serve him Day and Night in his Temple: and he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the Sun light on them, nor any Heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living Fountains of Waters: and GOD shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes.

II. Let the second Use be of Caution in two or three Particulars, wherein we may else do Wrong to the Doc­trine before us and misimprove it.

1. Let us beware of imputing to the Devil too much of our own Sin and Guilt, the corrupt Workings of our own Hearts. We have Sin dwelling in us, and must remem­ber how we are admonished by the HOLY GHOST, that every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lust and enticed. James. i. 14. The regenerate have the Re­mains and Lusting of Sin within them; and in its Pre­valence at times the Apostle charges it on indwelling Sin; Rom. vii. 17, 20. It is Sin which dwelleth in me. We must by no means say, that the Agency of the Devil is in every Temptation which Men suffer, or Sin which they com­mit: Neither can we say, that his Hand is not in this or that Sin: He is invisible, and our own wicked Hearts act so in Conjunction with him, that sometimes which is most to blame is not to be said. It is best for the Sinner, often to take it wholly to himself, but too common to hear him laying it to the Devil. Satan moved David to num­ber the People, and Satan filled the Heart of Ananias and Saphira to lie unto the HOLY GHOST. — Only where the Injection is involuntary, without and against a Person's Will; where it is violent unnatural, a horror and torment to a Person, there it may be reasonably attributed to the Devil, his Malice and Force. But ordinarily it is wise and best to charge our selves, humble abase and loathe our selves before GOD. Yet it may be utterly wrong to accuse, condemn, torment our selves, where we are only annoy­ed [Page 68] assaulted and tempted, without our yeilding to the detested Motion. — In Temptations to Sin, that are at­tended with Profit and Pleasure our own Hearts may in all likelyhood be the principal, and Satan only accessary: Or if he is first in the Motion and there be our Compli­ance, we are accessary in the Crime, and must smite upon our own Breast. Yet the Case too often is, that profane and leud People tempt the Devil to tempt them; or are so habituated to and set upon their wicked Ways, that they need no Tempter besides themselves.

2. Another Extream we should be caution'd against is, of making too light of this Doctrine of the Annoyances which gracious Souls sometimes meet with from diabo­lical and hellish Suggestions of Satan. It is, I am sensible, a ridiculous kind of Suggestion against the Devil, in the Opinion of many at this Day. Many a Free-thinker may be ready to scoff at it as fanatical, whimsical, splenetic, Enthusiasm and what not. Some virtuous Persons may be too far in such a Tho't; because they have never felt any thing of it themselves, and thro' the Favour of GOD it is not the known Case of very many, and generally those few by Constitution of Body subject to Melan­cholly. — Others it may be, of the Children of GOD, may d [...]ubt and scruple much the Reality of this Truth, from the Peace and Quiet which thro' the Goodness of GOD they have always themselves enjoyed, since GOD has wro't upon their Souls, and given 'em Comfort in his Ways; and they have found a holy Fear and Rever­ence of GOD increasing with their Pleasure in Religion, [...] Yet I can assure both the one and the other (whether they profanely ridicule, or whether they meekly and ten­derly pity our Doctrine) it is an undoubted Fact, what many have felt and others seen, and there is no denying against Sense and Sight. It is a real Case, that many very pious Persons are grievously buffeted, vexed and tormented by some invisible wicked Power, with base, o­dious, profane, impure Thoughts, which their Souls ab­hor. — In like manner, People may doubt or deny (if they please) whether ever there was an Apparition or a [Page 69] Possession, because they themselves were never so un­happy as to see the one or the other; or because there have been Fancies, Lies and Cheats obtruded on the World in one Case or [...]ther; but to me however, it were the Height of Scepticism and unreasonable doutb­ing. — And so it is to make all that has been said con­cerning Hellish Annoyances to be the Fruit of a distem­pered Brain, the Power of Melancholly, or Fitts of Va­pour. — There is a Medium we shall do well to keep, that we may not be superstitious; but we must quarrel both with Scripture, Experience and humane Testimony, if we question the Reality of this Fact; that good People and of good Understanding do at times suffer, as we have been saying, from a cruel Tempter that is blasphemous and invisible.

3. A third Caution which I would put in is, that we do not allow our selves to question the Justice and Righte­ousness of the Divine Permission; or to entertain hard Tho'ts of the blessed GOD on this Account. — Alas! we are no Judges of what the Sovereign GOD may do or can do; or of the Rights and Wisdom of his Government: We have not yet been in the Worlds of Spirits, to see their various Natures, States, Orders and Services in the Creation of GOD. But this we know both by Revela­tion and Experience that Man has sold himself to Sin, and that he did it by the Instigation of the Devil, and what wonder than is it, that the Devil has so much Access to and Influence on him; either to gain his Mind and Will to what is evil, or if that is refused then to insult and terrify him.

Man gave up himself to the Tempter on his first As­sault, on his plain giving the Lye to GOD and charg­ing him even with an Envy of his Creatures Im­provement in Knowledge and Happiness; and is it any strange Punishment of this his shameful and disloyal Sur­render of himself to the Devil [...]s Will, that it should be so much from that Day in the Power of the Tempter to vex and distress him with new Temptations, or fiery Injections on his resisting and refusing them? or might [Page 70]he not by a just Rejection from GOD have been given over to the Possession of Satan, as his Tormentor for ever, for his base Rejection of GOD, his easy Commandment and terrible Threatning of Death? — Moreover, from Generation to Generation the Sons and Daughters of Men do in effect acknowledge, confirm and establish, by their own Act and Deed, the Dominion and Tyranny of the Devil over themselves and their Children, by their un­godly Lives and Conversations; abandoning themselves and their Offspring to all manner of Wickedness. And after all, dare they impeach the Goodness and Justice of GOD in permitting him the Power, which they have themselves given him, of Access to their Minds and Con­sciences, either as a Tempter or a Tormentor? Is it strange that the Devil should call himself the God of this World, and say of the Kingdoms and Families of it, " All this is mine! when such Multitudes are led Captive by him at his Will in the Places of most pure Faith and Wor­ship; and willingly deceiv'd by him into eternal Perditi­on? Or is it wonderful that among the small Number of those that are saved from him, as to his Rule, some of them are cruelly handled and persecuted by him? Can this give us any Pretence for an arraigning of the Di­vine Mercy? when as it is of the LORD'S Mercy that the very best have not been utterly abandon'd to them­selves, and given up a Prey to Satan, as they are ready to acknowledge. — How much more must we all own that the just GOD may judicially give over wicked and incorrigible Sinners to their own Hearts Lusts, and to the Power of Satan to deceive and harden them to their final Destruction, as he gave over Ahab to the lying Spirit and his dismal End! or to torture them before their Time, and drive them despairing and roaring out of the World, as he did by Judas, Spira &c! And doubtless he may for as wise gracious and holy Ends, relating to his own Glory and our Salvation, and Satan's Confusion and eternal Judgment; try and explore the Truth and Power of his Grace in his Servants and Children, by permitting the Temptations of the Devil, and the Efforts of his [Page 71] Malice and Spite against them. Let us not dare there­fore to have or favour any hard Thoughts of the blessed GOD, for his permitting the Enemy of our Souls and his Glory, to tempt and distress us when our Hearts are most and best in our Endeavours after a holy Walk before him, and Communion with him. In this Frame the Temp­ter found holy Job, when he shot the fiery Dart at him, "Curse GOD and die.

4. The last Caution I wou'd give is this, That those who have never suffer'd after this kind do not grow se­cure or high-minded thereon; but fear and pray that they enter not into Temptation. It is not because you are better than others, that you have been spared and they griev­ously tried and buffeted: No, Job was the first Saint in his Day, and therefore the rather selected to be the Champion, the David to go out against Goliah and slay him. You are not sure but that it may be your Turn to suffer thus, before you die. Security or Self-Confidence may expose you to the Trial and Combat; as Satan de­sired to have Peter to sift him, when he heard him vaunt, "I am ready to go with Thee to Prison and to Death. CHRIST pitied him and pray'd for him that his Faith might not fail. How well is it for us, that we have a SAVIOUR to fear and care for us, when we do not enough fear for our selves.—The kind Rule and Law to us is, the kind­est Admonition and Warning imaginable to us; " Thou standest by Faith, be not high minded, but fear. Satan's Advantage over Peter was from his Self-Assurance: he foil'd him, though he could not make his Faith to fail. Never therefore presume. Humility is the great Security of the Grace of GOD with us, and his Grace is our only Preservative. GOD resisteth the proud, but giveth Grace and more Grace to the Humble. We had need be sober and vigilant, wakeful and on our Watch, because our Ad­versary the Devil goeth about as a roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour. And it is with Fear and Trembling that we must be working out our Salvation, that so GOD may still work in us both to will and to do of his good Plea­sure. Phil. ii. 13. The Way of GOD, his working on, [Page 72]in and with us, is agreeable to the Nature (the Under­standing and Reason, Liberty and Freedom) which he has given us; in Concurrence with our own Endeavours, and making us diligent and careful in them.

III. The third Use may be of Conviction, Awakening and Terror to profane BLASPHEMERS, who make a Sport of belching out, at their filthy Lips, those cursed and di­abolical Words, which a gracious Heart trembles with Hor­ror at the Tho't of, [...]r to have suggested to him.

How many such are there, to be every where met with, thro' the Christian World, who feel no Remorse in utter­ing the Blasphemies against GOD which any Devil from Hell can Suggest to them! They set their Mouth against the Heavens, and their Tongue rages thro' the Earth: they make a Mock of Sin, misusing, abusing taking in vain, the holy and awful Name of GOD most High; in ludi­crous Oaths, Curses, Imprecations, atheistical Talk, ridiculing the holy Scriptures, vilifying Religion! they curse GOD and look up, look about 'em and regard no Man, damn themselves and others in Railery or in Rage. These in­carnate Devils turn the Earth into a Hell before the Time; and would rend the Heavens (one would think) and tear the Name and Royalties of GOD in Pieces. In execra­ble Speech they daily reproach the Name of their MAKER, his Worship and his Laws, his Threatnings and his Curse; the Blood of their SAVIOUR and all his offer'd Grace. Surely these are willing to be tho't the Sons of Hell and the Chil­dren of Belial, and whose else can they be! they declare their Sin as Sodom and glory in their Shame! they are plainly possess'd and acted by the Devil, and his Lusts they do! they aloud proclaim themselves his Vassals, and the Ene­mies of their GOD, and of all that are good and holy! they neither fear his great and glorious Name, nor tremble at his Word and Curse; but despise his Being, laugh at his Wrath, sport at his Lightning and Thunder, and mock at Damnation! — They wait not for Satan's Motion, but would raise him by impious Adjurations, and bring him up from below! they open wide both Heart and Mouth [Page 73]for him to enter; and provoke GOD to depart from them wholly; saying to Him, " We desire not the Know­ledge of thy Ways! they belch out the Flames of Hell, and sear themselves as with a glowing Iron from it.

O what a Mark of Reprobation do such Men wear, what a Brand of Perdition on their Cheek and Lips! their Mouth is full of Cursing, their Ways always grievous, and the Judgments of GOD are far away out of their Sight! What Fellowship have they with Devils already, and how meet are they to go to 'em, how ripe for Dam­nation! nor would they find it any Hell to be with De­vils, might they be kindly receiv'd by 'em in the Pit be­low, or would GOD the Judge still seem to disregard 'em as they think he does now; or Conscience would not a­wake there to trouble 'em, and be a never-dying, ever-gnawing Worm within 'em. Surely these flagrant Sin­ners would chuse the Company of Devils, if the Fire of Hell could be quench'd.

But how contrary to this is the Spot of GOD's Chil­dren, the shining Star worn on their Breast; to show 'em to be among the Nobles of the Court of HEAVEN! the same devilish Tho'ts which are a Pleasure to the wick­ed, terrify and torment the godly! the one trembles at that which is the other's Sport! It is a Sport to a Fool to do Mischief; he throws about Fire-brands, Arrows and Death, and says—" Am I not in jest?—Let it com­fort the One that GOD has said, " To this Man will I look that is poor and contrite, trembling at my Word! And let it terrify the others to read the Vengeance written, " Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy GOD in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless. Ever­lasting Blasphemy shall be the eternal Punishment of Blas­phemers! They and Devils together shall gnaw their Tongues for Pain, and blaspheme the GOD of Heaven, and never repent to give him Glory, Rev. xvi. 11.

If any who have us'd themselves to profane Swear­ing, Cursing and execrable Speech, or who curse inward­ly though they dare not speak out, cast their Eyes upon these Lines; let me call upon them in the Name and [Page 74]Fear of the HIGH AND LOFTY ONE that inhabiteth Eter­nity, to repent instantly of this their Wickedness, and fall on their Knees and pray that the Thoughts of their Hearts, and Words of their Mouth, may be forgiven.— O why should any dare to use themselves to that Profa­ness, which a gracious Heart sees so much Impurity in, and feels so much Horror at!

IV. The fourth Use is of Comfort to Melancholly and distressed Persons under this Oppression of Satan, which we have been speaking of.—Notwithstanding all the Fear and Grief hereby occasion'd to you, you see that there has no Temptation befallen you but what is common to the dear Children of GOD; and that GOD will not reckon to you for Sin these hellish Injections which have annoy'd and disquieted you. They do not pollute your Souls, because you abhor 'em; they are not yours for you do not like 'em, do not consent to or comply with 'em; they have been (I hope) a Proof and Display of GOD's Grace in you, and a Means of the Increase there­of to you; nay you are strong, I trust, and the Word of GOD abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked One! because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the World. 1 John ii. 13, 14. iv. 4. Yea blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation, for when he is tried he shall re­ceive the Crown of Life; which the LORD, the righte­ous Judge shall give him!— Blessed is the Man to whom the LORD imputeth not Iniquity, and in whose Spirit there is no Guile.

Let such troubled Souls consider, that these Annoyan­ces from the Enemy and the Avenger are much rather a hopeful Symptom of Grace ruling in them, than of a grace­less State or the Rule of Sin: that they are no Argu­ment of weak Grace, but rather of its Growth and Strength: Nor is it any Token that your Soul is out of Frame, and that the Exercise of Grace is suspended, that it is not lively and vigorous; for was not JESUS led up by the SPIRIT into the Wilderness of Temptation, immediately after his Baptism? and was not Job assaulted [Page 75]he was fearing for his Children, and offering Sacrifices ac­cording to the Number of them all? — Therefore nei­ther are these diabolical Assaults any Argument of a sad Defect or Decay of your Love to GOD, or Change of his toward you! and much less of his shutting out your Prayer and Cry to him; as the Psalmist once suddenly apprehended when he shouted by Reason of Affliction and spiritual Distress: Alas! for his Weakness! he was never more heard and regarded by GOD than he was then; even as CHRIST was never more heard, nor ever more acted strong Faith in his FATHER'S Love, than when he pray'd in the Garden and on the Cross, "Father, if it be possible, let the Cup pass? And my GOD, my GOD, why hast thou forsaken me?— Never forget therefore — that presently after the HOLY GHOST de­scended as a Dove upon our SAVIOUR, and the Voice from Heaven had said of Him, " This is my beloved SON in whom I am well pleased; then also was the Time of Love to Him, even his forty-days Temptation, and the repeated Insults of Hell upon him: and it was to prove Him to be that SON of GOD which he had been declar'd from Heaven.

Again let it be your Comfort, O Child of GOD, under all your Annoyances from Hell, which you resist and de­test, that they are only a Sign that Satan hates you, and it may be fears you; and that you hate him and shall never be his. It will comfort you to think that you are hated by him, as Job was; he loves his own, and we know that he hated CHRIST first, and hates the holy e­ver blessed GOD implacably, for evermore.

I add, that it may be a Sign that Satan fears thee, and therefore furiously attacks thee: he fears (I hope) that he shall lose thee, and sees thee at least beginning to fear GOD, and in his Fear turning earnestly from Sin, caring for thy Soul, and seeking after an Interest in CHRIST, and the Mercies of GOD thro' Him: this will inrage him to be sure, and if GOD permit him he will doubtless come down in great Wrath, as knowing that his Time is short if thou art turning to GOD: As the [Page 76] Lion roars first after his Prey, but more yet if he sees it escaping from him.

I say again, to conflict with Satan is the Property of true Grace, and it is the Property of the Devil to con­flict with that: who but the Saints of the MOST HIGH have ever been the Objects of his Spite, the Subjects of his Persecution! but fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer! behold, the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison, that ye may be tried, and you shall have Tribulation ten Days! be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee the Crown of Life. Rev. ii. 10.

Yea, though thou be foil'd by Satan in some Encoun­ters, as Peter was once and twice, yet you may " rise again by Repentance, and obtain Establishment in Grace by your Fall, as he did. And remember, "that GOD trains up those whom he loves and is preparing for Glory by Exercises of Trial, Temptation and Suffering. So Joseph and David were educated long in the School of Affliction, and fitted for their Princely State and Glories. — And the greater the Fight of Affliction be, the grea­ter is the Victory, and the greater the Triumph.

But you will say after all, "I question whether I do indeed resist, reject, abhor and spue out those Evil Thoughts as I ought to do, and as a Child of GOD certainly ought and will do! I often fear, and apprehend I have sad Cause to fear, that I give 'em Admission and make 'em my own." — But I answer again, "If you fear, hate, pray against 'em; if they afflict, grieve, burthen and dis­tress you; you do abhor 'em; you do reject 'em. ‘It is Conquest enough (says Mr. Capel in his Treatise on Temptations) that those evil Thoughts are born as your Burthen, too heavy for you to bear; though the Soul can't get rid of 'em, yet it resists and overcomes 'em: The beaten Enemy rallies and is beaten again. — The Servants of GOD (says he) are " more afraid than hurt; they are rather Bug-bears than any real Hurt or Mischief to them: The Horror of 'em keeps from the Sin it self; terrifies from it.’

[Page 77] V. I come now to the fifth and last Use, which is of Counsel and Direction; what Rules to give for Support against, and for Deliverance from such cursed and de­vilish Suggestions and Annoyances, as we have been treating of.

Now the repeated Rule to us is in general this, Jam. iv. 7. Resist the Devil and he shall flee from you: 1 Pet. v. 9. Whom resist, stedfast in the Faith. We must re­fuse, deny, oppose, repulse, resolutely and stedfastly: And to help us in doing so,

1. Let us get and ever preserve right Conceptions of the DIVINE BEING; even those vast and awful and glo­rious ones which the Word and Works of GOD supply us with. These let us be frequently calling to Mind, so as to fix them in our Minds, with great Solemnity. Let us use our selves to think often of GOD, and ever speak of Him with great Seriousness and Reverence; never lightly or vainly. — I do not say that the Habit of this will keep us from the Temptations of Satan, nor make 'em less tormenting to us; no, the Torture of it is from the greater Reverence we have of GOD; but it will arm and fortify us against the Temptations, and strengthen us to resist them.

For how can I be won't to think of GOD aright, ac­cording to his Excellent MAJESTY, Holiness, Goodness, Wisdom; his Eternity, Immensity, Sovereign Domi­nion and Power; his Truth Grace and Mercy; my Creator, Preserver; Saviour, Sanctifier and heavenly Fa­ther; and yet bear to have any Thing mean, base, vile suggested to me of Him; or that any such Thought should rise within me against him! No, the better we know what GOD is, the more shall we esteem, admire, venerate, love and joy in Him, and the less shall we endure an unworthy Thought of Him; but our Faith will turn it into an Occasion of a more express and raised Adoration.

2. That we may defend our selves from, or overcome such Assaults of the Evil One, let us diligently study the Holy Scriptures, meditate much in GOD's Law, attentively [Page 78] read his Word daily, and attend on the preaching of it with Reverence, Meekness and Love. This is the Shield of Faith, whereby to quench all the fiery Darts of the wicked One. Eph. vi. 16. This is the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit. By this we must defend our selves, and put by the dangerous Passes, the deadly Thrusts of the Enemy; and by this we are to offend and pierce the Tempter, whom we must wound and stab and torture by opposing the written Word to his cursed Motions. " It is written, said our Holy SAVIOUR, and so he has taught us to shame and put to Flight the Armies of the Aliens. The Devil can't have the Face to say to us, as he did to Eve, "Yea, has GOD said? when we open our Bible to him, and shew him the written Text; written by the Finger of GOD himself, concerning Himself. At other Debate or Argument he may be too hard for us, but keep to this and there can be no Reply or Evasion. Tell the Tempter you fear and stand in Awe of the holy Word, and by that also he shall be judg­ed! tell him that he also knows it to be true and trem­bles! Parly not with him, if he say again, " Yea, has GOD said? But insist upon it, " Yes has GOD said, and thou knowest it. Let us keep to the Word, and GOD will keep us from or in the Hour of Temptati­on. Rev. iii. 10. Eve lost her self and us, by not a­biding by what she knew GOD had spoken. Instead of insisting on GOD's Authority and Veracity, she went to reasoning with the Serpent: She should have kept to the Commandment, the Promise and the Threatning; kept the Terrors and the Rewards of GOD in her Eye;" do this and live, but in the Day thou eatest, thou shalt sure­ly die. Will the Tempter show us the Kingdoms of this World and all the Glories of 'em; let us show him the Glories of Heaven, and the Flames of Hell; and where is the Power of his Temptation? — The End of the written and preached Word is to instruct direct and warn us, that we be not ignorant of his Devices, and that we be arm'd against the Wiles of the Devil. "I went into the Sanctuary (said the tempted and dejected Psal­mist) [Page 79]and there understood I the End of the Wicked, in whose flourishing I was grieved. The Word brought him Light and Comfort, and scatter'd all his Clouds. It is mighty through GOD to the pulling down Imaginations, and every high Thing that exalteth it self against the Know­ledge of GOD, revenging every Attempt against it, and bringing into Captivity every Thought to the Obedience of CHRIST. 2 Cor. x. 5. It is the Means appointed for our Deliverance from the Power of Darkness, and of our Translation into the Kingdom of GOD's dear SON: The Means of recovering Souls out of the Snare of the Devil, when they are in most Danger of being taken Captive by him. 2 Tim. ii. 26.

3. PRAYER, sincere, and fervent and continued Prayer, is a most necessary, special, excellent and effectual Means of quenching Satan's fiery Temptations, and to fix the Soul in a stedfast raised Reverence of GOD, and Trust in Him. It is a grand Article and Part of Prayer, as our LORD has taught us in his most excellent Form and Directory, the LORD'S Prayer, "lead us not into Temptation, but deliver us from Evil; the Evil one Satan, the evil thing Sin.

In the Possessions of old, we read that the worst kind of unclean and malicious Spirits went out by Prayer and Fasting. To be sure then let us not neglect this powerful Means, which is always present with us; for we are bid to draw nigh always with true Hearts, and in the full Assurance of Faith; praying always with all Prayer (vocal or ejaculatory as Occasion offers; — and when does it not offer?)

This Direction is not only a matter of Counsel to us, but of Commandment also, and special Prescription: for when the Apostle in the Name of CHRIST had been numbring to the Ephesians, all the Parts of the Christian Armour, whereby they must stand in the evil Day, he adds upon and unto all THIS; " praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all Perseverance. This is both the Saints Strong Hold, for Refuge and Retreat from the Enemy; "I flee unto Thee "to hide me; "Thou art my Hiding Place, and shalt com­pass [Page 80]me about with Songs of Deliverance: And it is also his Tower of Salvation, from whence he discharges on the Enemy, and sometimes can def [...]e him and triumph over him. When the Thorn pierced most, and Satan buffetted the holy Apostle, he besought the Lord thrice; and received the blessed Answer, "My Grace shall be sufficient for thee. He had learned this of our LORD JESUS in the Garden of Temp­tations, that Hour of the Power of Darkness, when he went away the third time, with increasing Fervency, Im­portunity and Submission; O my Father, if this Cup may not pass away. So he encounter'd and vanquish'd the Powers of Darkness, and sanctified to the Church for ever the Way of Prayer for Victory over them, and Deliver­ance from them.—When Peter also was to be tempted, CHRIST prayed for him, and told him that he had done so, that he might pray for himself. It ever was and will be the Way of GOD's People. When Rabshakah blasphem'd, rav'd and threatned, Hezekiah lift up his Prayer, and GOD answer'd, Let the Daughter of Sion despise him! whom has he reproached!—and when Haman had devised against the Church, Esther and Mordecai sought the LORD by Fasting and Prayer, and then she fell down in Tears also before the King.— Do we feel or fear the Annoyances of the evil Spirit, let us go in our Tears with Faith to the good SPIRIT of GOD, for his Aids, Succours, Influences, to pre­vent and keep us; and tho' the Tempter should follow you to your Knees and even dare to suggest Blasphemy to you there; yet let him not deter or drive you from Praying, but double your Adorations of GOD, and say " At what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee; in GOD will I praise his Word, in the LORD, I have put my Trust; I will not fear what Men or Devils can do unto me.

4. Pray for heavenly Prudence, and the Wisdom that comes from above, for the Government of your Thoughts, that Satan may not find Advantages against you thro' your not keeping your Heart with all Diligence. We must be Workers together with GOD, and Heart-work is hard Work. If the LORD be thy Keeper, he will help thee to keep thy self, and to guard the Thoughts of thy [Page 81]Heart, ‘ Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my Reins and my Heart; for thy Loving Kindness is be­fore my Eyes, and I have walked in thy Truth: Search me O GOD and know my Heart, try me and know my Tho'ts and see if there be any wicked Way in me, and lead me in the Way everlasting.’ The Habit of vain, tri­fling, light, worldly, sensual Thoughts, give [...] Place and Power to the Devil; and opens the Heart wide to him to take Possession, and his Goods will be in Peace, for he de­sires no more, nor any faster hold; he gives therefore the careless, tho'tless Heart no Trouble: On the con­trary, if a Person begins to take Tho't about the State of his Soul, the Enemy of all Righteousness will presently oppose and raise a War, in that Soul; which on the Soul's Part must be carried on by guarding and governing the Imaginations, Inclinations, Desires and Resolutions of the Mind and Will; that vain Tho'ts may not lodge within us, but be kept out or turn'd out: — But the Government of the Tho't is too large and wide a Field of Argument to be here enter'd on; and what the Argu­ment I am upon supposes the Person at present to be much disabled for; and therefore Divines do in this Case ra­ther advise him not to be too intent upon and sollicitous about; but rather only to neglect, slight, turn away from, and disdain the foul Injection, whatever it be; which may be the most proper and effectual Rule and Power the Soul can have, or express over it self in such a Case.

5 Keep not the Devil's Counsel, and give not way to Me­lancholly, Discontent and Dejection, but beware of Solitude and Idleness, and reveal your Trouble to your Minister, Parent or some gracious Friend, and not only ask but heed the Assistance of their Counsels and Prayers ^*, and [Page 82]diligently apply, as to the religious Duties, so to the pro­per and peculiar common and worldly Business of the Day. Do not chuse to be much alone with the Tempter; he is much too strong for thee by thy self. CHRIST indeed was led up by the SPIRIT into the Wilderness to be temp­ted, and continued in the Solitude; but He was the Son of Man whom GOD called alone, and made strong for himself; the Fulness of the GODHEAD was in Him, and the SPIRIT without Measure; and he was to tread the Wine­press alone. Do thou keep to the Footsteps of his Flock, whereof thou art a Member; associate with them, in publick and private, and commune with them. As Iron sharpens Iron, so the Countenance of Friends one another: It is more especially so in religious Friendships and Free­doms: there let the Friend be unto thee as thy own Soul; but chuse wisely, such as are able to advise thee, and will be ready and faithful. GOD has made us for one ano­ther, but we must depend on HIM alone, not on any Arm of Flesh. Our Faith must not stand on the Wisdom of Men, but on the Power of GOD; and we must edify one another by the written Word of GOD, and with the Comforts wherewith we our selves have been comforted [Page 83]of GOD.—We ease one another's Backs, by bearing one another's Burthens. It is an Honour and Happiness to be able to admonish and counsel one another, as there is Occasion. " Blessed be thou, thy Wisdom and Ad­vice, said David to Abigail. A Soul-Friend is a Friend indeed: This eminently is to fulfil the Law of Love. Love to GOD and Love to Souls is the fulfilling of the Law.

Mr. Baxter tells us, that of forty or fifty Persons, who have been at a Time known to him, under the Oppression of blasphemous and vile Thoughts, there have not been four or five but were sensibly under the Power of Melancholly, either from their natural Temperament, or from cross Providences, or some Spice of Discontent un­der their outward Circumstances. We must neither give Place to the Devil by Anger or by Melancholly; the Temp­ter makes Advantage of every Temper, and of every Ex­tream. But in one particular all Divines agree and advise, and that is,

6. That afflicted tempted Persons make not too great a Matter of their molesting Thoughts; which they are very prone to do, and they give Tempter a great Advantage thereby. Non multum volvat et revolvat Cogitationes istas, says the very pious, judicious and learned Van Ma­stricht: "Don't keep poring on and revolving in your Minds the Molestations given you; but humbly obtest and plead before GOD your utter Aversion to them, with Thankfulness to GOD for it; and beg of him to enable you not to lay 'em so to Heart, as to be hinder'd by 'em in Matters of present Duty, toward GOD, your selves, your Families or Neighbours. Nay, be so much afraid of being taken off from the Duties of the Day, of what­ever kind it be, at Home, in the Shop, or abroad; as to be driven to these Duties, lest you give Place to the Tempter: Rebuke him therefore and say, " Depart from me, thou Evil One, for I will keep the Commandments of my GOD.—And if yet you cannot get rid of him as you would, still " beware of a too intense contending with him: rather " turn away says one Divine as from a [Page 84] barking Dog, and as you would from a furious Scold in the Street, says another. Turn from 'em with a holy Contempt and Disdain, as CHRIST rebuked them, " Get thee hence Satan.

I remember the Venerable Mr. Baxter speaks on this Argument in the following Manner, ‘If you make a great Matter of every Thought that is cast into your Mind, you keep 'em the longer in Mind, and 'tis the Way to fix 'em there. Troublesome Thoughts are like angry Scolds, who if you regard and answer 'em will follow and dog you, and never have done; but if you answer 'em not, and turn from 'em, they'll have done and give over; or at least you get out of hear­ing 'em. — The Devil's Design (says he) is to dis­quiet and vex you; let him see that you will not re­gard him. He'll keep you to it all Day long, if he finds you hearkning to and answering all he says. He will take you off from greater Duties and from all Duties, if you stay to wrangle with him.’— As the Arch-Angel rail'd not again at the raving Devil, but only said " the LORD rebuke thee; so answer and rebuke the Injections of Satan, and argue not with him.—Yea, la­bour after a placid Submission to the Will of GOD in his holy Permission of them. Turn the cruel Exercise given by an Enemy, into a Sacrifice and Surrender to GOD. This Example Job gives in our Text, and so did CHRIST in the Garden; "Father, let the Cup pass! never the less not as I will. St. Paul seems to have been in this Frame under the Thorn, and the Answer to his Prayer was, " My Grace shall be sufficient for thee.— Godliness with Contentment is great Gain: We must labour after Contentment in the Will of GOD under the most fiery Trials: It is the Sum and Crown of all moral Obedience, active or passive: It is the Top-stone of the Moral Law, the Ten Commandments: We had not known Sin, nor yet the Perfection of Grace in a sincere Obe­dience, if the Law had not said, and ended thus, " thou shalt not covet. There is one Will in Heaven, which is GOD's, and thence is the Perfection of Holiness and [Page 85] Happiness. If it could be thus on Earth, we should be perfect too here below. That we may be so, as far as is possible, Contentment in the whole Will of GOD is the last Commandment. This would fulfil the whole Law, in both the Tables of it; in all the Devotion we owe to GOD, in all the Love we owe to our Neighbour, and in all the Care we should have of our own Souls. And to exhibit, evidence and promote this blessed Frame in us under the most fiery Trials, let me proceed to ano­ther Rule or Direction, which is

7. Make Conscience of daily exercising your selves in Adoration, Blessing, Thanksgiving and Praise to GOD; more especially for CHRIST and the sure Mercies of the Everlasting Covenant of Grace, purchas'd and ratified by his Blood. In GOD I will praise his Word, in the LORD I have put my Trust, I will not fear what Flesh (or Spi­rit) can do unto me; when they would swallow me up! or while fighting daily they oppress me. Psalm lvi. 1, 4. This is to fly to the Rock of Salvation, and hasten our Escape from the windy Storm and Tempest. For the Name of the LORD is a strong Tower, which the righteous fly to and are safe; and the Promises in CHRIST are the Anchor of our Souls in every Storm of Temptation.

"Tie your selves daily therefore (says Mr. Baxter) to spend as much Time in confessing Mercies receiv'd, as in confessing Sins committed. Be more in the Praises of GOD, and less in bewailing your selves. Thanksgiving is the greater Duty; give this the largest Share of your Time:— As Change of Diet will change the Tempe­rature of the Body, so you may sweeten your embitter'd Minds by delightful Thoughts of GOD. Praise Him for his Mercy and his Truth, when the Tempter would have you question or deny both. You will find your Graces move, and Comforts flow by this Means; as when you go into Sun-shine you find Light and Warmth. — Or if you can't find at last that you have the de­lighting Love which you desire, you may not be able to deny but you have a desiring seeking and lamenting Love. Thank GOD for this, and take Encouragement from [Page 86]it, and it will increase both Love and Comfort.— But after all, as he goes on to advise and direct

8. " Overvalue not the passionate Part of Duty, nor build too much on Transports of Joy as the surest Evi­dences of true Grace, or necessary to a Walk before GOD and Communion with Him; but know that a re­solved humble Choice and Endeavour are the Life of Grace and Duty; when Feelings are but lower and un­certain Things. — This is another of the Rules gi­ven by the heavenly and experienced Mr. Baxter.

"You know not what you do, says he, when you lay so much on the passionate Part, and are striving for deep and transporting Apprehensions: These are not the main and great Things, nor the Essentials of Holiness. Too much of this Feeling may distract you: and GOD knows best how much of it may be good for you, or what you may be able to bear.—Passionate Feelings (says he) depend much on Nature; some People are much more sensible than others; a little Thing goes deep with 'em. The most wise and solid are usually the least passionate, and the weakest hardly moderate their Passions. GOD is not an Object of Sense, but of the Understanding and Will. I have known many complain for Want of deeper Feelings, when if they had been more, it might have distracted them." Thus He.

Some good Souls have been ready to wish they could feel greater Degrees of Terror, such as they have seen others in, or heard 'em tell of their passing thro': but this does not seem to be a natural Exercise of Grace, whether we consider GOD or our Selves: For, the Pains of every Birth belong to GOD alone to order, and not at all to us to chuse: And as we are very thankful to GOD when a Child is born with fewer and more gentle Pains to the Mother; so by all means ought the Soul to be that passes thro' the New-Birth, by the Will of GOD, with lesser Agonies of Distress: for Instance, — tho' the Jailor could never enough be thankful to GOD, that he broke open his hard Heart, like the Iron Gate of the Pri­son, by the Terrors of an Earthquake; — yet ought not [Page 87] Lydia to be as much rais'd in Gratitude to the same So­vereign Grace? and was she not as much affected (think you) with the Kindness and Gentleness of GOD in his dealing with her in a more mild and placid manner? Acts xvi. 14. " Whose Heart the LORD opened, that she attend­ed to the things spoken by Paul; and when she was baptised and her Houshold, she besought us saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my House and abide there: and she constrained us.

9. Look to thy holy, humble, constant, even, and if pos­sible chearful Obedience to the Laws of the Gospel; that thou be righteous before GOD, walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the LORD, blameless. ‘O That my Ways were directed (as David teaches us to pray) that I might keep thy Precepts! then shall I not be ashamed, when I have Respect unto all thy Commandments! I will keep thy Statutes, forsake me not utterly" — Walk before me, said GOD to Abraham, and be thou perfect;’ and lo I establish my Covenant with thee; —"The LORD is with you while ye be with Him; and if you seek him he will be found of you; but if you for­sake him he will forsake you. Look diligently to thy holy living, and Satan shall never hurt you. " Eschew Evil, and GOD will make his Hedge about you. "Who shall harm you if you be Followers of that which is good. ‘GOD is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the Tempta­tion find a way to escape.’— Satan will be discouraged if he sees he can't hinder thee in holy living, but only quickens thee in thy Care and Heed thereto. This is to turn the Devil's Weapons against him, and to stab him with his own Sword. The righteous shall hold on his Way; GOD will not suffer his Feet to be moved, and he that hath clean Hands shall wax stronger and stronger.— Answer therefore and rebuke the Tempter, strong in Faith; "depart from me, thou evil One, for I will keep the Commandments of my GOD! "LORD I will keep thy Statutes, O forsake me not utterly! — That Temptation is lost on us that does not cause us to trans­gress; [Page 88]but if it increase our Watch unto Prayer and Obedi­ence it is our Gain. "He that committeth Sin is of the Devil, but in this the Children of GOD are manifest; ‘how shall I do this Wickedness and sin against GOD! Ye are then of GOD, little Children and have over­come! for greater is HE that is in you, than he that is in the World.’

10. After all, and in all, build nothing upon thy own Righteousness, nor act or trust in thy own Strength; but seek to and rely on CHRIST for Righteousness and Strength; and cast thy polluted, guilty, perishing, wound­ed Soul on the free Sovereign Grace, Mercy and Com­passion of GOD, imploring the everblessed ETERNAL SPIRIT, the Convincer of Sin, the Sanctifier of Souls, and then their COMFORTER, to be ever with thee; to succour and support thee, to defend and keep thee, to rebuke the Tempter, to bruise him under thy staggering Feet; and say unto thee, " My Grace is sufficient for thee, and I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.—Thus go in the Name of CHRIST to the Everlasting FATHER for the Gift of his HOLY SPIRIT, to shew thee the Evil of Sin, to work in thee a saving Humiliation for it, to give thee a true and deep Repentance, Contrition and Self-loathing on the Account of it, to enable thee to cry for Pardon and Re­novation; to be in thee the Spirit of Grace and Supplica­tion, to help thee with Groanings which cannot be utter­ed, and succour thee when tempted; to work Faith in thee and the proper Exercise of it upon every Occasion, in every Time of Need; to make it work by Love, to make thee know the Love of CHRIST which passes Know­ledge; to ground and root it in thee; to give thee and encrease in thee a Child-like Fear and Reverence, and a Christ-like Submission to his and thy Heavenly Father, his GOD and thine; a Covenant GOD and FATHER in Him. —And then to be thy COMFORTER; for it is his blessed Office, under and from the Ascended SAVIOUR; who was tempted, and that hideously, both in the Wilderness and in the Garden; and in our stead, bearing the Sins of his Elect, and is therefore able to succour them that be tempted. [Page 89]—O implore the exalted JESUS to endue thee from on High, with the HOLY SPIRIT of Promise; not as on the Day of Pentecost with his extraordinary Operations or Manifes­tations; it would be a satanical Delusion and high Pre­sumption in thee to look for any thing of this Nature; but beg of HIM what is infinitely better, his HOLY SPIRIT in his common and ordinary Influences to renew and change thee, to purify thy Heart, to give thee new and holy Af­fections, and in them a new Nature; and to put on thee the whole Armour of GOD, whereby thou mayest stand in the evil Day, and finally overcome all thy spiritual Enemies.

Make therefore the Name and Righteousness of CHRIST, and the Promises in Him, thy Sanctuary and Tower of Sal­vation, and fly to that and be safe. All thy Help comes thro' HIM and from Him: fly to the Rock, whither Satan cannot come. — You know how the Devil tore and threw the poor Child, as they bro't it to CHRIST: but instantly he left it, and fled from the Face of the SON OF GOD. The Lion of the Tribe of Judah will prevail; He has prayed for thee, that thy Faith do not fail; and however Satan may be permitted to sift thee, fail it shall not, if thou reliest on his Intercession.—For this End the SON OF GOD was manifested, to destroy the Works of the Devil and to snatch the bleeding Lambs from his Jaws: the Son of David is still going against the Lion and the Bear to save his Flock from their Teeth; He is the good Shepherd and knows his Sheep, and they shall never perish, nor shall any pluck them out of his Hand. He has spoiled Principalities and Powers, and made a Shew of them openly, triumphing over them on his Cross; He conquer'd, in his Death and Resurrection, he triumph'd in his Ascention, and reigns in his Exaltation: Revel. i. 18. "I am He that liveth, and was dead, and am alive for Evermore, Amen; and have the Keys of Hell and of Death.

And as to Doubts and Fears which the Godly may still have at Times, about their Love to GOD, their Election, Vocation, Faith, Repentance, Justification, Sanctification and Perseverance; they must recur to CHRIST and the blessed [Page 90]SPIRIT of GOD; " Pendulus semper a Bonitate et Auxi­lio DEI, as Mr. Mastricht expresses it; hanging as a Child about the Parent's Arms for Safety; casting all our Cares and Fears upon Him, who careth for us; who has said to us— " be without Carefulness, for I will never leave thee nor forsake thee! "fear not ye for I know that ye seek JESUS which was crucified! And again, Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed I am thy GOD; I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right Hand of my Righteousness.