fj ,f[* H£ 'PSwich, Massac^
Cafe of Satan's fiery Darts
IN
Blafphemous Suggeftions
AND
Hellifb Annoyances:
As they were confidered in
Several S E R M O N S,
i
Heretofore preach'd to the Congregation in Brattle- Street \ Bofton, May 171 1. and lately repeated to them May 1743.
Pafior of faid Church.
And now publifh'd at the Defire of jome:t who having fuffer'dby {nch.Temptationsy would thus (by^ the Will of God) mini- fter to the Dire<?eion and Support ci: Others in like fpiritual Trouble and
Diftrefs.
»
Rom. xvi. 20. "The God of Peace Jh all bruife Satan urdtp, your Feet portly : The Grace of our Lord JjssuiC Christ be with you : Amen..
* BOSTON, Printed by Rogers and FowLEa for j, Edwards in CornhilL 1 744*
Safaris fiery Darts,
IN
Blafphemous Suggeftions,
AND
Hellilh Annoyances.
#f *#*****#*#**************************************
Job II. 9, 10, Then faid his Wife unto him, Doft thou Jlill retain thine Integrity ? curfe GOD and die ; But he /aid unto her, Thou fpeakejt as one of the foolifh Women fpeaketh ; what ? /hall we receive good at the Hand of GOD, and (hall we not receive evil ? In all this did not Job fin with his Lips-
E have heard of the Patience of Job, and feen the End of the Lord ; which fome excellent Expositors have faid was to give an early and illujirious Type of the Humili- ation of Christ, and his Sufferings, in his Way to Glory and Exaltation, as our Intercejfor at the right Hand of GOD.
Among the many excelling Examples and Patterns given us thro' the Holy Scriptures, of Suffering Afflicti- on and Patience, no One is more remarkable, noble and illuftrious, teaching and affecting than that of Job's ; in the furpriflng firfi and fecmd AiTault of Satan upon his Family, Efiate and Perfon.
The Sovereign and gracious GOD had prov'd his Grace in this his Servant in a long profperous State ; and now was pleas'd to make a fudden Change upon him, for an equal Difplay of the Power and Glory of his Grace in a State of deepeji Jffliclion.
Satan
8 Satan's fiery Darts
fudden and awful Manner. Can any Thing be wrong or unjuft that a good GOD orders to befall us ? The Evil of Affliction comes from Him now, as much as all the Af* fluence of worldly Profperity that has heretofore diftin* guiih'd us / and weigh now the one againft the other $ what Good we have receiv'd all the Days of our Life, and comparatively how few and light Afflictions ; and then fay, if we ought not to bear filently and patiently, and with adoring Submiffion> the Evils which He now pleafes to lay upon us ?
This was Job's gracious Way of Reafoning ; thefe Thoughts had kept his own Spirit calm, and with the fame he would lay the roil'd Spirit of his Wife, zndjiop her muttering and blafpheming Mouth.-^—The Good and the Evil of this Life are both from GOD ; his Sovereign* ty (abftra&ed from every other Confideration) accounts for both in our State of Trial : The leafi of the Good is not defer ved, the Evil is all merited and much mon ; the Good is much more for. Kind, Meafure and Continu- ance, thro' our whole Lives, than the Evil ; the Good is at lead necefTary and what we could not fubjifi with* out, the Evil what may be livd under and outliv'd. The moft common Mercies of this Life are ufually the great* eft and moll needful. The Good is not only for Necef- iity, but alfo for Delight ; the Evil is no more than we needy and what we could not do well without : The E- vil and the Good both come according to GOD's Cove* nant-Faithfulnefs to his own People ; the Evil is impro- vable to the befi Good, and 'tis the Will and Meaning of GOD that we fo 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 Luflre, as does the Evil— -Should we not then receive the Evil in this State of our Trial and Probation ? Surely 'tis cal* ciliated for it ; the Honour of GOD requires it ; there are paffive Graces which our fallen State calls for the Exercife of ; and Christ the Captain of our Salvation was made perfect thro" Suffering.
BuC
in belli flo Suggejlms. *9
But to return.-— In the Words of my Text we have bne of the molt diabolical Motions that was ever made to a holy Soul again ft the blefled GOD ; and alfo one of the noblefi Refentments that fuch a Soui is capable of. No Wonder therefore that we find fo exprefs and full a Divine Approbation of Job's gracious and holy Return to his Wife's outrageous Words : ct In all this did not Job fin with his Lips.
Satan afTauked him by her : He us*d and a£ied her, and fpake by her LirJs ; So in the Beginning he beguiled Eve, and by her prevail'd on Adam. It is one of his curfed Policies which he yet continues to afiaukus in the weakefi Place, and by them we love. " He fends Temp- " tations by unfufpecled Hands ; theirs that have moll u Intereft in us and Influence upon us. Profanefs in Fuch a Relative^ or Difcontent, Paffion, Rage in 'em, is an unknown (yet too wellknovsn) Provocation to Evil
The curfed Motion in the Text is i. to hard Thoughts of the bleffedGOD and his holy Providence ; and 2. to outrageous and blafph'emous Words : u Doit thou ftill re- tain thy Integrity ? curie GOD and die ! What could be more furious and extravagant, impious and deteitable. Well might he with Horror hear, and fpue outiho helliin. Suggeflion with high Indignation and Deiejlation ; and well is the Judgment of GOD given ftrongiy in his Fa- vour, on his doing fo. GOD juflifles and honours him ; GOD acquits and abfohes him, upon a firjl and fecond fi- ery Trial He approv'd himfelf to be the peffetl, and upright Man. By not offending in Word, Jam. iii. 2. Net an impatient Word fell from him, under fo many furpri- ftng Blows and Breaches upon his Ferfon, Family and Eftate ! not a Word, but of Elimination and Adoration ,. when urg'd to Rebellion by all the Force and Stratagems 6f Hell : mov'd as he was to turf, he ftiil kept on bleffing ; the curfed Suggeflion cmer'd only his E^, rioC into his Soul ; that ahhorfd from it.
Let the Doctrine therefore, for our Irflruahn and Warning, and alfo for Comfort and Support as there may be Occalion, be this,
B « That
io Satan s fiery Darts>
" That many of GOD's dear Children are ofcen an* noy'd with curfed and diabolical Suggeftions, which He will never reckon to them as their Sin, becaufe they do in their Souls abhor and reject them with utmoft Detcflation.
This was Job's Cafe, and fo it is of many a gracious Saint in our own Time : We fee 'em terrify'd and pierc'd with hellifh Suggeftions, which they abhor, and are rea- dy to fbriek out at : they look on 'em as their own Wic- kednefs, and fo at themfelves as Devils almofl : they loathe themfelves on this Account, and cry to GOD for Deliverance, and are in Anguiflo, that ever fuch foul Thoughts mould have Accefs to them, and as they ap- prehend lodge within them : But what fays my Text to 'em ? even as GOD in it did to Job ; i( in all this they have not finned,
I am then in the following Difcourfe to fpeak tothefe three Propofitions : i* That the moft upright and deareft of the Children of GOD in his Church on Earth, may be fometimes annoy'' d and tormented with fome of the mod curfed and diabolical Suggeftions, moil injurious and dif- honourable to the blefled GOD. 2. That thefe hellifh Thoughts and Injections fhould be moil: grievous and ab- horred to their holy Souls, and rejected with utmoft De- teftation. 3. That then they are not their Sin, nor will ever be imputed to them by the Holy GOD.
I. The deareft of GOD's Children in his Church on Earth may be at Times annoy' d and terrified, ptirfu'd and haunted by fome of the mod curfed and diabolical Sug- geftions, moll injurious and diilionourable to the blefled GOD.
If -Job fufTered thus in his Day, why not the mofl dear and pleafant Child of GOD in ours ? Who among us mail be exempt from this, or any other Kind of fiery Trial ? Nay, a greater than Job prefents Himself to us in the Front of the New Tejlament : Matth. iv. 1. Then was Jesus led up of ihe Spirit into the JVihkrnefs, to be
tempted
in hellifb Suggestions . 1 1
tempted of the Devil : And when the Tempter came to Him he /aid, " If thou be the Son of GOD—- ! And again, " If thou wilt fall down down and wor/Joip me ! — Then " Jesus /aith unto him, (i 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 Likene/s of fmful Fleflj ! Not only was he mov'd to diftrufi and tempt GOD, but even to worjloip the Devih " Surely then there can be no Sinfo foul and monftrous, but the heft of Saints may be tempted to it. And whom may not Satanufe as&Temp'ter to another, when the Wife of Job was fo abufed by him,and afterward the Lips of Peter to blafpheme the Purpofe and Decree of GOD, re- fpe&ing the Sufferings of Christ, as unjuft and impoffi- ble, to the very Face of Christ, and in the Prefence of his Fellow- Apoftles ; $ before whom he receiv'd a like Rebuke that the Devil had in the Wildemefs ; " Get thee behind me Satan, thou art an Offence to me ; for thou fa- vour eft not the Things that be of GOD.
When we confider Satan's ufing Job's Wife to vm his righteous Soul, and draw him into Sin and Rebelli- on againfl GOD ; it forces into our Remembrance his Malice and Subtilty from the Beginning, when he took the Form of the Serpent in his firji Temptation, fo fa- tal to Mankind through all Generations. The Woman was firft in the Tranigreffion ; the Devil gat into hei\ and by her into Adam ; he fhock'd her by a horrid Sag- geftion againfl the Goodnefs and Truth of GOD and pre- vailed ! Has God indeed /aid (faid the blafphemous lying Spirit) ye floall not eat, leaft ye die ? Whereas he knows that in the.Day you eat, your Eyes will be opened^ and. you will h& like Himself for Knowledge and Underftanding* TIiq malicious and falfe Fiend fuggefls to her, that from ///■- will and Envy GOD had forbid them the delicious and improving Fruit, and that the Threatning, by which hejiad
'tr««LI,|iJPJU<
| Mfatth.xvi.22. For he feems not fo to have t&hn him efidcr as to be out of their Sight and Ohfervathn, if out of hearing.
B 2 reftrain'd
V,
12 Satan's fiery Darts,
reftrain'd them, was a Lye. In all his modern Tempta- tions he takes the fame Courfe ; " he queftions the Pre-, cept, he denies the Danger, and he fuggefts fome great Advantage. So the Devil began with belying^ and re- proaching the blefled GOD, to alienate Man's Heart from him.
I might mention pivo Inflames more, which are famous in Scripture Story, of the Wives of good Men, ufed by the Devil to tempt them into ill Thoughts of GOD. The firfl is that of Zipporah to Mofes, when fhe was ter- rified into the Circumcifion of her Son ; for fhe faw her Husband ftruck fick on his Journey, and threatned with Death for the Omifflon, and hereby difabled for the Duty ; (lie therefore cad the Foreskin zt his Feet and faid, u 4 bloody Husband art thou to me. This is vulgarly inter- preted in Way of Pajjion and Wrath ; and for ought I know 'tis the right Senfe of the Words, after all the fne Criticifm that has been beflowed on them, to make them bear another Senfe. Now, in this literal Senfe,--- if Mofes was a bloody Husband for , obliging her to execute the Command of GOD in that bleedin? Rite of Circumcifion ; then what a bioody Imputation is here fuggefted againfl: the good GOD, that He fhould infti- tute and require it, as the Sign and Seal of his Covenant, threaten now to fpill the Blood of Mofes for his daring to omit it fo long, from his Indulgence to her ! If this were the real Meaning end Language of angry Zipporah, what a virulent Reproach do her Words imply "againfl; GOD and his gracious Law ?
The other Inflance I pointed at is Michal the Wife of David, when file faw him in his Tranfport of holy Zeal and joy dancing before the Ark of GOD : She blafphe- rr.ed the religious Jltl as I eurf and ihameful ; and as if it were below the Dignity and State of the King of Ifrael to difrobe and uncover himfeif fo before the Divine Ma- jpsTY.----Was it A/ichafs Pride, or was it Satan 's Envy and Rage, that we rnuft impute ib^fc Reproaches againfl: GOD tin to ? DoubUcfs (lie was pcfjcfs'd, the Devil was in her, and he fiil'd her Heart with Contempt, and her ii: '""■• ' ' Mouth
in hellifb Suggeflions. 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 reft of her Life.
But to return again : The Devil needs no Injlruments by whom to tempt : He has Accefs to our Minds, if GOD do not reflrain and forbid him, to raifeand move evil Thoughts in us. He /boots his fiery Darts, and they enter we know not how ; but we feel 'em pierce and fallen in our Souls. For how one Sprit acts on ano- ther we know not ; but this we know, that Satan can fill the Heart againft the Holy Ghost ; as in the Cafe of Ananias and Sapphira.
Sometimes the Devil has hurried poor Souls with Athe- istical Thoughts ; for he finds an evil Heart of Unbelief within us, and foments it at Times, to high Degrees of Infidelity ; fo as not only to queftion the Myflery of the Trinity ', and therein of Jesus, GOD manifejt in Flefh , but alfo the very Being and incomprehensible neceffary Perfections of the Deity ,- his Eternity, perfect Prefcience and Decrees ; which are indeed as the thick Darknefs, 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 fearching them out, than the Church of old in the Wildemefs was permitted to come near unto the Bounds about the Mount to gaze ; into which if they had lookd, what could they have feen but Cloud and Lightning ?
The Word and Providence of GOD are alfo fpecial Objects of Satan's furious Attack, in his Aflauking 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 Afaph was almoft born away headlong into Un- belief and Defpondency ; though he had thrown out his fcrong Anchor and Cable, 6i Truly GOD is good to I/rael, " even to them that arc of a clean Heart Vs Yet could he fcarce outride the furious Storm : Pfal. Ixxiu.-— But as for me, my Feet were alnvfh gone, for I was envious at the
fooli/h.
14 Satan's fiery Darts,
fooli/h, when I Jaw the Profperity of the Wicked :-— Verily I have cleanfed my Heart in vain, and wa/hed my Hands in Innocence ! But Jhould I /peak thus, I /hall offend again/} the Generation of thy Children !— Yet was my Heart grie- ved and I was pricked in my Reins ; fo foolifh was I and ignorant 9 I was even as a Beafi hefore Thee ! For never the lefs I am continually with thee, thou hafi holden me hy my right Hand ; and whom have I in Heaven but Thee, and there is none upon Earth that I defire be/ides thee, 0V.
The Rage and Blafphemy of the Devil is efpecially fpent againft the Faithfulnefs and Truth of GOD, in his Promifes and Threatnings : he inrages the wicked very often by accurfed Mifreprefentations of the one, and would drive the Godly into Dcfpondeneies and Defpcration, by impudent Denials of the other. He has a furious Antipathy to that Name of GOD which is the flrong Tower of the righteous, and into which they are ever 'flying ; for in it all his Glory pafTes before finful Man ; Exod.xxxiv. 6, 7. The LORD, the LORD GOD, mer- ciful and gracious, longfuffering, and abundant in Goodnefs and Truth ; keeping Mercy for Thoufands, &c. The De- vil ftabs a Child of GOD to the Heart, and pierces him in the mod fenfible and tender Part, while he reproaches him, and makes him but feem to doubt the Goodnefs and Truth, of GOD, his Coven ant -Kindnefs and Faithful- nefs. No Wonder therefore if we find the moft Emi- nent Saints on holy Record thus afflicted and tormented by the Blafphemer and Avenger.— -As Job was thus out- rag'd in my Text, fo were David and Afaph and Heman in their times, long after ; for the Tempter is the fame to all that are living godly in every Age ; as they are much the fame in refpecl. of Faith and Infirmity. David tells us in Pfalm xlii. how lie went mourning becaufe cf the OppreJJion 0/ the Enemy, who infultingly reproach' d him from Day to Day, " Where is thy GOD ? It was a Sword in his Bones, more for the Name of Ins GOD than, the Scorn caft on hinifelf ; the Voice cf Him that reproach- eth and blafphemeth ! why art thou cajl down 0 my Soul, and <xh$ Mf quieted within me ? hope thou in GOD, for I,
ftatt
in hellifh SiiggefiiGris. 15
(hall yet praife Him.— Afaph was a like fufferirig Saint by like violent Temptations to Defpondency ; Pfal. lxxviL His Sore ran in the Night and ceajed not ; his Soul refufed to be comforted ; he remembred GOD (his Name, Perfecti- ons, Promifes and Works) and yet his Trouble remained or increafed ; bis Spirit was overwhelmed while it made diligent Search ; " Will the Lord cafi off forever ? and will he be favourable no more ? is his Mercy clean gone forever, and doth his Promise fail for evermore ? hath GOD forgotten to be gracious, hath he in Anger flout up his ten- der Mercies ?— I faid, this is my Infirmity, I will remem* ber the Tears of the right Band of the moft High ! Thy Way is in the Sea, thy Path as in the great Waters, and thy Footfieps are not known.— Heman alfo was a Man of like Sorrows, and of like Faith and Devotion i He has gi- ven us a Pfalm of Injtruclion to Souls in the loweft Pit, in Darknefs, in the Deeps ;, Pfal. 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 draweih nigh unto the Grave ; — why cafieft thou off my Soul, why hidefi thou thy Face from me ? LORD, I have called dauy upon thee, I have fir etched out my Hands to thee ; andflijl in the Morning Jball my Prayer prevent thee : After all thq Toffings of the Night, the Light of the Morning mall find me praying.
In fine, it has often been the Complaint of humble and gracious Perfons, that they have found themfelves an- noy Vi with unaccountable irreverent, fooliflo, vile, filthyy bafe, abominable Thoughts ; They know not what, how or why ! but they feem to buzz about 'em like Swarms of Flies, or break about 'em like Sparkles of Fire ; more efpecially when they would fet themfelves to meditate and pray, and have their Minds moft folemn and compo* fed and clofe with GOD in holy Exercifes.— Now what ihall we fay to thefe Satanical Moleftations and Diftur- bances ? On the Serpenfs part it is more eafy to ac- count for it, from his Spite and Malignity againft GOD and his Grace ; but on the part of GOD, his Permiffion
of
z6 Satan's fiery Darts,
of Baalzebub herein, and the holy Ends of his gracious Government ; it maybe move difficult for us to conceive aright.
i. On the part of Satan it is obvious to account for it fromj his implacable Hatred of GOD> and of Souls re- covering into his Holinefs and Favour ; from, which he is himfelf utterly and forever excluded. He hates GOD becaufe of his Holinefs, 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 > fC exceeding fierce from the Tombs, whi- ther they had driven the t mo pojjeffedybeheld their Judge, the Holy One of GOD in their Way, and were correc- ted by his Power and ftopt ; Matth. viii. 29. They cried out faying, " Wloat have <wt 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 miferable. He hates GOD becaufe he is unlike him, and under his Wrath ; he fpitefully hates to fee GOD fervd 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 af- fects a Kingdom of his own on Earth, in Oppolition to the Kingdom of GOD and of Grace. He could not bear to fee Man in Paradife, and be himfelf in Hell ; to fee Adam in the Likenefs and Love of GOD and wor- ihipping before Him, and himfelf call: from thofe Fell* cities. Curs' d in his Rage on this Account, beyond a common damned Ghoft I may fuppofe, he willies for Millions and Worlds to follow by his Means into the State of eternal Miferies ; and having beguiled our mi- ferable firft Parent into an Apoftacy from GOD, and finding himfelf only the more damned;, and a Saviour re- vealed for the Sons of Men ; and Him a lingular and e- minent Seed of that very Woman whom he had decei- ved into Sin and Mifery ; his Envy and Hatred againfl all her natural Seed, but more efpecially agairifl tbeblef- fed and promifed One Himfelf, and thofe that mould be- lieve-on his Name, has been foinflatnd—thatas a roaring
Lion
in hellijb Suggejiions. 17
Lion he drives thro' theWorld*(and is going tip and down in it, which are his own Words )Jeetdng whom he may de- vout", Arid whom he cannot dejlroy he loves to diftrefs, af- fright and fcare, terrify and wound ; or worry if he cannot rend; and no wonder^ifhe roar the more, when he fees and cannot reach his Prey ; as in the Cafe of Job, and Souls up- right like him : — Or like a Dog rather he goes about ths City, and haunts the Villages like the JVolf by night ; grinning and barking at the Flock of Christ and his Lambs, whofe Blood he thirfls after. So the Holy Ghost has reprefented to us our Adverfary the Demi, i Peter v. 8. Ihown us our Enemy and Danger • So that on the Temp- ters part it is eafy to fay, why he annoys Souls with his hellilli Suggejiions againft the blefTed GOD ; he hates both GOD and them, and defires nothing more than to fee GOD difhonoured and them polluted, that they may be damned. — This was his Willi and Hope in his At- tempt on holy Job ; to bring the Man of boafted Inte- grity to curfe his GOD ; and for the fame Reafon.hede- frred to have the Sifting of Peter who was too ready to boaji in himfelf ; though all Men forftke thee, yet will not I : Luke xxii. 31. Satan has defired to have thee, to jift thee as Wheat : to have him for his own if it might be, and carry him off an eafy Prey, if Christ had not prayd for him that his Faith fhould not fail ; but if that may not be, he defires however by winnowing to /hake and tofs him furioufly, and mow his Chaff.
In fhortj as Dr. Tillotfon has it i €c Malice againft <c GOD and Envy to Men account for Satan 's Tempt- u ing us ; to fpoil (if he can) GOD of his Subj eels arid u debauch them from their Allegiance, into his own Con- demnation, Malignity and Mifery.— A Ghofl in Hell does not prefently commence Devil, in this Height of Ma- lignity againflGOD and Cruelty toward Fellow-Sinners; if we may take Leave to form an Idea to our felves by the Words which the Parable puts into the Mouth of the rich Man there ; " Nay Father Abiaham, but if one €C went to them from the Dead they would repent ! Send u Lazarus therefore to my Father s Ruife, for 1 have five
C " Brethren ;
i $ Satan's fiery Darts
€i Brethren ; that he may teftify unto them, left they come 6C alfo into this Place of Torment /— - The befi Thing, I fuppofe, that was ever intimated with Refpe6t to a loft Soul in Hell : but fuch aptfraMzWReprefentationmeans not to affirm any Thing with Refpeft to Hell itfelf, but only to affecl and move the Bowels of Sinners, to them- felves and others, in our prefent State of Probation and Repentance.
2. It may be more difficult for us to dive into the wife and holy Ends of GOD, in his Permiffion of thefe fiery AfTaults of Satan upon the Children of his Love.
It was a mofl dark Difpenfation to pious Joh and his Friends, when it was his Cafe : his Wife broke out even into Blafphemy upon it, and his Friends afterward rent their Garments, and fat down by him filent and aftonied, wailing and in Fears : It amaz'd Job hiwifelf under the Conference of his Integrity ; and it threw his Friends into horrid Tears and Sufpicions of fome heinous Iniquity by which he had provoked the Wrath and Judgment of GOD info many and heavy Inftances of it: at once : But while He now ltands in the Eyes of fome, as the " Hero u of an infpir'd Epic. Poem,] brave in Diftrefs, valiant u in Affliction, maintaining his Character for Vertue " and Piety under the molt powerful Temptations, and " exafperating Provocations, that the Malice of Hell " could invent ; let us take a more adoring View of the End of the Lord herein ; to reprefent unto his Chofen and Sanctified through all Generations, in every Part of his vifible Church ; that he mould in like Manner, here and there, call one and another of them, as unto fingle Combat with the Enemy of their Salvation ,• arming 'em beforehand with the Shield of Faith, the Breaji-plate of Right eoufnefs, the Sword of the Spirit, whereby they mould be able to quench the fiery Darts of the wicked One ; and fland as Job did in the evil Day, and come off Con- querors and more than Conquerors thro' Jesus that has loved them. Ephef. vi. 10, n, 12. Rom. viii. 37, 38.
f Sir Richard Blaekmore.
1. The
in hellifh Suggeftions. 19
1. The Sovereignty of GOD mufl fet us down filent under fuch ajlonijhing Difpenjations, Trials and Ex ere if es of his moft gracious Saints ; nor may his Will, Wifdom, Goodnejs and Faithfulnefs be doubted, quejiioifd ox difputed by Them or others. It was (without Doubt) the Error of Job and his Friends that they enter'd Jo far into an Argu- ment and Difpute about the Reajons cf the Divine Coiduft refpecling him ,• which mayfeem too much verging to- ward a Saying unto GOD, what dojt thou ? or why hail thou done this ? which who {hull Jay ? Ecclef. viii. 4. Therefore Job and his Friends receiv'd no other Anjwer from Heaven, either fiffl by Elihu who fpake un- der, a Divine Impulfe and Inspiration, nor afterward by the more immediate Voice out oj the Whirlwind, but I the unaccountable Greatnejs, Majefty and mofl certainly wije and perjecl Dominion and Government of GOD mojb High and Holy. All Flefh mufl be Jilent be- fore Him ,* be dumb and not open their Mouth becaufe GOD does it ! be Jlill and know that it is of GOD ; like Aaron hold their Peace, like Eli fay u It is the LORD ! — Job and his Friends did but darken Counjel by Words without Knowledge, while they were ready to fix one Rule and Meafure in all Providential Difpenfations. We are let into the Secret andReafon in the Cafe oj Job, that we may learn to reftjatisfied in the "Will of GOD, and the Difpofitions of Providence, whatever befals our felves or others. GOD is wife and holy, and his Work perfetl, in all Things that refpecl either his Children or his Enemies. We may neither fay, u Why does the Way of the Wicked profperl Or wherefore does GOD feem . to look favourably upon the Way of them that deal trea- cherously ? And why do they devour the Man that is more righteous ? without laying down to our felves, and that flrongly, an immoveable Foundation, as the Prophet does, Hab. i. 12. 13. u Art thou not from Ever laf ling, 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 infpird firft to'
C 2 lay
20 . Satan s fiery Darts,
lay down this Principle, never to be departed from, bus ever kept in Mind, " righteous art thou 0 Lord !
2. As GOD will not fuffer his upright Servants to be tempted above what they are able to bear, but will with the Temptation find a Way for their Efcape, fo his graci^ ous Purpofe in permitting Satan's fiery AJfaults on their Souls, is to glorify his Grace in their holy hearing and re^ filling them, and fo by the Weaknejs of Man to make the Iriumphs of Grace the more glorious' over the Sub- tlety, Malice and Wrath of Satan. So it was iu the Conr flict of Job,—" Let me try his hoafled Grace (faid the Tempter) and he'll curfe thee to thy Face ; " He is in thy Hand (faid GOD) and my Grace in him fhall triumph glorioufly over thy Spite and Power. Therefore when he held fafh his Integrity under the firji Scene of dread- ful Trials, the ^Almighty even gloried in him over his falfe and cruel Enemy, Job ii. 3. u And fiill he holdeth fafh his Integrity ; although thou movedji me againjl him. And in the Record of thefe Sufferings and Patience of Job, the Grace of GOD is glorified to his Church forever in the Power, the Riches and Alfufficicncy thereof. The pmfett Man came out of his firji and fecond Fire, as the three Worthies did out of the fiery Furnace, without the Ieaft Smell upon him, or his Raiment fo much as fcorch'd 2 And as the Lord GOD of Hosts, the GOD of Ifrael was magnified in the Sight of Nebuchadnezzar and all the Princes of his vaft Empire, in the one Miracle of Power ; fo is the Power of Faith, Patience, Penitence, Adoration, SubmirTicn glorified to the Saints of GOD in all Ages by the Hiftory 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 Seafon, tho* it be tried by Fire, which fhall be found to Praife Honour and Glory unto the Day of Chrifi, and in that glorious Day, and unto all Eternity ?— - Thus has the Lord Jet apart fome for Himfe if I And Ci they /ball be mine fays the Lord in the Day wtientwafa up my Jewels ! "Thou /halt tread upon the Lion and Adder , the young Lion and the
Dragon.
in hellifh Suggefkions. 2 1
Dragon (halt thou trample under Foot ! becaufe he hath Jet his Love upon me, (and fliewn it by trufiing in me) there- fore will I deliver him ; L will fet him on High, becaufe he hath known my Name ; he /hall call upon me and I will an* fwer him ; J will be with him in Trouble, I will deliver him and honour him : Pfalm xci. Thus GOD did by his Sei> vant Job, and fo he often glorifies his Grace in the fuf- fering Members of a tempted Saviour, that they may glorify him, by being Types of Him.
3. Satan may be permitted to diflrefs the Souls of GOD's Children by his foul Suggeflions, to fhow them the Corruption that is in them by Nature, and the fad Re- mains of it after their Regeneration, their Weakness and Danger, and abfolute Dependance in their belt Effcate on his free Grace 'for Prefer vation and Safety, GOD lets 'em fee what they are liable to, and capable of, if he fhould leave 'em ; what Enemies befet them and whi- ther they would hurry 'em. GOD mews 'em Them* felves and effe6lually abafes '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 Dufi and Pol- lution : This makes 'em watch and pray with a holy Jea- loufy of themfelves, left as Satan beguiled Eve he prevail over them her Offspring, conceived in Sin, and fnapen in Iniquity. GOD brings them to Defpair in themfelves, and to trufi only in Christ for Righteoufnefs and Strength, for prefent as well as future and eternal Salva^ tion. Pfalm xvii. 7, 8, 9. " Shew thy marvellous Lov- (i ing Kindnefs, O thou that favefi by thy right Hand " them which put their Trufi in Thee, from thofethat cr rife up againft them : Keep me as the Apple of the " Eye, hide me under the Shadow of thy Wings ; from " the Wicked that opprefs me, from my deadly Enemies (i that compafs me about ! like as a Lion that is greedy of " hisPrey,--fln/^OLoRD,difappointhim,cafl: him down.
Satan fees the natural Profanefs, Athetfm and Infideli- ty of our evil Hearts ; that there are the Seeds of all Impiety, Blafphemy and Malignity in us, he makes his Advantage of this natural Propensity in us, and while he
watches
22 Satan* s fiery Darts,
watches to inflame the Soul from within it felf, GOD frustrates him in his mifchievous Device, by difcovering to the Soul its own native Vicioufnefs and Impurity ; with its abfolute Need of the Succours of Almighty Grace ; and that felf -loathing and abhorring, with Fear and Trembling, it muft only go and cafi it felf upon fovereign Mercy : Pfaim cxliii. I flee unto Thee to hide me, quicken me O Lord for thy Name Sake ; for thy Right eoufnefs fake bring my Soul out of Trouble ; and of thy Mercy cut off mine Enemies, and deftroy all them that affiicl my Soul ; for I am thy Servant. Thus the Refult of all is, ■
4. GOD permits and ufes the foul and furious Ajfaults of Satan upon the Souls of his Children unto the moft kind and gracious Event and Iffue, to be truly the Means of a great Increafe of Grace in them, and of their Efta- blifhmeni and Perfeverance in Grace, and very often of much Light and Comfort, Peace and Joy in believing. " The grievous Chajlning yields the peaceable Fruits of iC Righteoufnefs to them that are exercifed thereby ; u wherefore lift up the Hands that hang down and the Ci feeble Knees ; and make fir ait Paths for your Feet ; " left that which is lame be turned out of the Way, i( but rather let it be healed.
The Temptation in it felf tends only to defile and pol- lute, but GOD makes it purifying ; its natural and defin- ed 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 firft Means of faving Con- verjion to many a Soul, the Means a] fa of Grozvth and Increafe to many a regenerate Perfon, and the Forerunner of a confirmed Peace to many a happy Penitent and true Believer in Christ. I fay,
1. The Means of the fir ft faving effectual Conviction and true Awakening to many a Sinner. GOD holds the Devil in thofe Chains of Darknefs as to make him againft his Will9 and contrary to his own wicked Defign, to ferve ,ind minifler in bringing fome of his ElcB into a faving Fight to the Blood of Christ, and Subjection to him as prince and Saviour. So the Shepherd ufes the barking of his Dog to bring back aftray Sheep to the Fold. u The wick-
in helli/h Suggefiions. 2$
ed isfnared in the Work of his own Hands ; Higgaion Selah ! i. e. put a fpecial Remark on this ; it is a Point that de- serves our deepeff. Attention, Pfal. ix. 16.
Satan would not chufe ( we may well think) to difreft a Soul that is at Eafe in Sin, but rather would foothe and rock him into a founder Sleep : but the Tempter may befo infatuated at times, for ought we know/ as to raife thofe Fears and Horrors in fome under their firft( and but common ) Conviction, which he can never lay again, and which free Grace makes to iffue in their faving Converjion. Or rather may we not think, that God having awaken'd the Soul, and Satan fearing to lofe 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 fafler and clofer to its Saviour.
2. It may be a more fenfible and evident thing in the Kingdom of God's Grace within Men, that the Ajfaults of Hell upon them are frequently made the Means of In- creafe in Grace, and of the Progrefs of Sanclification. The Tempter attempts, again and again, to hlafithe Work of Grace begun, to bring it to a flop, to deter and dijhearten the pious Soul in its Way : " there is a Lion in the ftreet, " an Adder in the Path ! defiftor turn back !— but God turns the affrighting Suggeffion to Unbelief and Defpon- dency, into an Alarm unto Faith, holy Fear, Prayer and Fortitude; fo that what was meant to affright aftoniih and deter, is made to quicken unto Prayer, Watchfulnefi. and Diligence, in a more earnefl Flight to the Spirit of Grace for Succour, and to the atoning cleanfing Blood of a great Saviour and Intercessor : by which means you may have often found, O buffetted Child of GOD, that you had been lefs humble, careful, follicitous and anxious about your fpiritual State, and in your Walk with GOD, if you had never felt thofe Conflicts with your fpiritual Adverfaries, which a holy GOD has mercifully call'd you to endure, and has carried you through. Thefe are the Beginnings of Re- venges upon the Enemy, which call upon all around the differing Children of GOD to rejoice with them, and on
their
24 Satan s fiery Darts,
their Account.— Shall I fay to them what I have tbo% and been per/waded from what I have heard andfeen front fuch diftreffed Chrifiians under the Perfecutions of fome unfeen evil Adverfary ; " You love GOD much the more, and fear him more, and adore him better, and walk the more humbly and clofely with Him, and hate Sin the more, and pray the better, and are the more circum- fpecl meek and lowly in Heart, and have really much the more Communion with GOD, from what you have fuf- ferd by the Malice and Wrath of Satan. So his Wrath fliall praife GOD by your Lips, as long as you live ; and the Remainder thereof GOD will reftrain. Upon all 3. The fiery AJfaults of Hell upon the dear Children of GOD prove the Means, as of their greater Purification from Sin and Growth in Holinefs, fo of all Joy and Peace in believing to them. The Affli6liori for the prefent is very grievous, but it yields the peaceable Fruits of Righ- teoufnefs to them that are exercifed thereby. So blejjed is the Man that has endured Temptation, for after the Con- flicl comes the Crown : Light is fowing through all the Clouds and Darknefs, Rain or Temped, for the Righte- ous, and Gladnefs for the Upright in Heart : As Job found it in the Day when GOD justified him, after he had hum- hied him and made him viler than the Duffc in his own Eyes ; " Go to my Servant (faid the Holy One) and he /hall pray for you. The Joy of Viclory follows upon Sa- tan s Aflault and Defeat. GOD crowns the humble 0- vercomer with Garlands of Joy here fometimes, and will with thofe of Glory hereafter ; for when he is tried he fhall receive the Crown of Life- Job fhone the brighter all his After-life in the Eyes of all about him ; and it was to him the fame Thing as if he had only been in the Mount with Mofes, and came down with his Face. His reftored Profperity was doubly ferene and pleafant, both to himfelf and his Friends. He was feen and lov'd like David long after, when he came back with the Sword and Head of the Giant in his Hand. So mail it be done to Him whom the King of Saints delights to honour. — -«
When
m belli ft Suggefticfis. .'£$
When Jfapb alfo had got through his Temptation, hear how he triumphed in his GOD and over the Enemy i Pfalm ixxiii. 23, 24. Mte* ffo lefs I am continually with Thee, thou haft holden me by my right Hand ; thou fioalt guide me by thy Counfel, and afterward receive me to Glory : Whom have I in Heaven but thee, and there is nothing on Earth that Idefire befide thee : my Heart andmy Flejh faileth^ but thou art the Strength of 'my Heart and my Portion for ever. Afaph's fore Dejections elear'd the Way tothefe his Exul- tations ; which bring to Mind the Wohls of Christ to his Difciples, when they return'd from their more eafy Ac- quefts over Satan, ic Lord^ the very Devils are fubject to us through thy Name 1 6f 'Tis fo, replied the late tempted Jesus, — i" beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven ! but in this rejoice not that the Devils are fubjeft to you ; but that your Names are written in Heaven* Viclory o- ver Satan* s Temptations, in fome of his remarkable and Violent, but more efpecially in the Courfe of his ordi- nary AfTaults, may minifter unto its the joyous Hope of our Election of GOD, arid of our final Perfeverance in Grace. No doubt but holy Job fpent the latter Part of his Life in the more bleiTed Ajfurance of his Interefb in the Love of GOD, and in the Joys thereof ; by the5 Breaches which Satan was permitted to make on him fof a Seafon. 1 Pet; i. 6, 7. " Wherein ye greatly rejoice^ though now for d.Seafon (if need be) ye are inHeavinefi thro* manifold Temptations, that the Trial of Faith, tho' tried as with Fire, may be found unto Pfaife and Honour and Glory in the Day of Christ. This is but as Christ himfelf fufrer'd, being tempted, and the Confolations of GOD flow'd down upon him. Matth. iv; u4 Get thee hence Satan, and the Devil left him, and Angels cdme and minifter d to him. Thofe holy benevolent Spirits are mini- firing Spirits to the Heirs of Salvation ; and never fo more" gladly, than when they have feen 'em combatting with the Powers of Darknefs, and ftedfaftly rejifting therri. So the Darknefs of the Night makes the Light of the Morning plcafant, and even Dirt and Sand are tis'd to; fcour and brighten the VefTel, and the fcullions foul
fi Hands
Ipswich Public Lib
'pswich, Massachi -,
2 6 Satan's fiery Darts,
Hands to waflo and cleanfe it. So Silver and Gold pafs through Fire and are refined : only the Drofs is purged away.
Thus we have look'd a little into this dark Difpenfa* tion of Divine Providence ; this myfterious Conduct of So- vereign Grace 9 in the Permiffion of the fiery Affaults of &ztaw upon fome of the deareft Children of GOD : Al- tho' they are dear to GOD, and He Jo to them, yet are they fometimes annoy *d with hideous hateful Suggefiions againft his Holinefs and Glory. GOD has his wife, mofl holy and gracious Ends in this Permiffion ; Glory to Himfelf ; and much fpiritual Good to thefe his favourite Sufferers.
I will only add, — When our Lord gave the Tempter his laft Rebuke, upon his irioft horrid AfTault, He paffed immediately upon his public Minifiry : And his Apoftle St. Paul was ejlablijhed and enlarged in his abundant La- bours and extenfive Services, by the Meffengers of Satan of one kind and anothe_, that dogg'd and fet upon him, where ever Re went : Til read you fome Account of it, and conclude on this Head, 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9, &c. <f We u are troubled on every fide, yet not diftrejfed, we are Ci perplexed but not in Defpair ; perfecuted but not forfa- fS ken, caft down, but not deflroyed ; always bearing a* "■ bout in the Body the Lying of the Lord Jesus, that " the Life alfo of Jesus may be made manifefi in our c< Body ,•- — For which Caufe we faint not, but though 6i our outward Man perifh, yet the inward Man is renewed u Day by Day : For our light Affliction, which is but " for a Moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and *c eternal Weight of Glory : While we look, not to the (i Things that are feen, but at the Things which are <c not Jeen ; for the Things which are feen are temporal, *4 but the Things which are not feen are eternal.
in hellijh Suggeflions, 27
I come now to the fecond Thing propofed, which is,
17. Thefe hellifh Suggeftions, and horrid diabolical Thoughts, as they fhould and will be moft grievous and abhorred to a holy Soul, fo ought they to be re- jected and caffc out with utmoft Detefkation.
It is not only Matter of FaSb and Experience, but alio of Necejfity, that they are thus grievous to and abhorred by a holy Mind : As it is Duty to GOD, fo where Grace is in Exercife it is in the Nature of Things neceflary. —-Job appears in the Text as iijiab'd to the Heart by his Wife's hideous Words ; he anfwers the foul Temp- tation with Abhorrence, he ejecls the curfed Thought, he reprehends her with Indignation, and calls her a fool- ifh wicked Woman ; and argues on GOD's Behalf, why utmofl Reverence, Love, Fear, Gratitude, Adoration Submifiion was due from him to the bleffed GOD, and fhould ever be render d by him, by the Help of his Grace : What ? Shall we receive Good at the Hand of the LORD, and [hall we not receive Evil ? Thus Grace will direcl, urge and confirain as to think and fpeak in any like Cafe ; as we know it was exhibited by our bieiTed Saviour in his Temptations.
But let us take the Truth before us, the Duty pro- pounded to us, in its feveral Parts, and briefly fpeak to each of them : Thefe infernal Thoughts and Injections, fhould be very grievous and diftreffing to us, we fhould heartily deteft'em, rej eft and fpue 'em out as foonas they arife in us, if we can ; and at the fame Time fortify our felves with holy Reofoning and Argument, as we are able ; as Job pioufly and wifely did under the Direction and Affiftance of GOD.
1. They fhould be very grievous and diftreffing to our Souls, and they necefFarily are fo to a gracious Heart. As a Sword in our Bones it fhould be to us as it,. was to David : Pfal. xlii. — It is hard to hear our felves, a Parent or a Friend, any whom we efteem and reve- rence, fpoken evil of or reviled ; but how much more dear and facred is the Name and Glory of GOD moft
D % ll'urjj
£8 Satan s fiery Darts,
High, good and holy, wife and juft, to a pious Heart f " Holy and reverend is his Name ! Him thou Jhalt fear, to him thou /halt cleave qnd Him thou jhalt ferve ! He is thy Praife and He is thy GOD. Deut. x. 20. That glorious and fearful Name, the Lord thy GOD. xxviii. 58.
It fliouid be grievous to apprehend the Enemy of GOD and of all Righteoufnefs fo nigh us, and that by our Apof- tacy from GOD he has fuch Accefs to us. It may well fcare us to think that he is or has been (as it were) at Cur right Hand, and whifpering into our Ear with a con- tagious filthy Breath $ Things fo iinpious in themfelves, and to us pernicious without the Succours of preferving Grace.
It fliouid be horrible to imagine (but that the Heart is conjcious to its' own Wicked nefs) that Satan fliouid fee any Way of Entrance into us for his hellifli Blafphemies, and ProfaneTs ! or that he fliouid conceive the leail Hop of Succefs againft us, in fuch bar^fac'd Infidelity, Athe~ ifn and Devilifm ! that he fliouid feem to fee us fo like jiimfelf ! or that any of the Humane Jlacc, but efpeci? ally under the Light of the G of pel, could be really fuch incarnate Devils, as this would render them.
We may well tremble with Horror from a pious Self* Love, left thofe helliih Suggeftions fliouid make any Im- preflion, find the leafl Entertainment in us3 or Compli- ance from us. For fooner fliouid we chufe to ceafe to he, then to be capable of regarding and yielding to a Thought of this Nature) againft the Being, Holinefs and Glory of the GOD that made us ! which were to bring np Hell from beneath, and aft the JPcvil in open Day- Light.
in a Word, It fliouid grieve us to think or know that there is any fuch Degree of Malignity againfl GOD in :my Creature wbatfoever I That even Hell it felf can fliow any filing fo vile and unclean. As one would be fcar'd to fee a Devil, fo this Idea of diabolical Spleen and Hatred, and of fpiritiial Fihhmefs^ may juflly make pur Blood run cold thro' every Vein, and the Hai? of our Head to rife up an End !
So
in hellifh Suggeflions. 29
So grievous and terrifying have the blafphemous Sug- geflions 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 mufl therefore in our Souls detefi and loathe, feel and exprefs a vehement Abhorrence of fuch hellifh Suggeflions. " Do I not hate them, that hate thee ? (faid holy David, teaching us to feel and fpeak thus after him, Pfalm exxxix) and am I not grieved with them that rife up againfl Thee ? / hate 'em with perfect Hatred,-- 1 count them my Enemies : Search me O GOD and know Heart, try me and know my Thoughts, and fee Thou and (how to me if it be not thus.
What fliould our Souls equally deteft, as this expreff- ed open Enmity, Hatred, Contempt and Spite againfh the Holy GOD ? At what fhould they equally rife, burfling with Anger Difdain and Wrath 1 Meeknefs, I had well nigh faid, were here a Vice ; and Mildnefs 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 Accufation, but only faid " the LORD rebuke thee. Provok'd Abifloai could not prefervc a like Government of himfelf when Shimei only railed againfl his Earthly King ; " Shall this dead Dog curfe my Lord ? faid he : But what would David himfelf have faid, had the Curfe been utter'd againfl his King and GOD, the Lord of Glory ? The bafphemous Being and his Act had equally been the hated of David's Soul, and mould be of ours ? Although there needs no imprecating any Curfe upon the Devil, curs' d as he is long fince from the Mouth of GOD, and under the Sentence of eternal Death. — i( If any Man love not- our Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema, Maran-atha, fays the Apoflle 1 Cor. xvi. 22. Which is to fay, cur fed in the highefi Manner and Degree ! how accurfed then to us mould the Devil and his blafphemous Suggeflions be, which breathe im- placable and furious Hatred againfl the Being, Bleffednefs and Grace of God to us thro' Jesus Christ our Lord ?
An
30 Satan's fiery Darts,
An Idolater won't fuffer his dumb and dead Idol to be fpoken againft ; if he calls it his Goi he will not bear to hear it defpifed ; an Egyptian of old would have ftond the Man that fhould have facrificed his Abomination be- fore his Eyes ; nor would One of all the rout at Ephefus endure a Blafphemer of their Goddefs Diana ! Nor is there a modern Zealot of Rome Antichriftian, but thinks it meritorious to be the Death of you if you affront their Wafer-Idol the Hofb3 when elevated in the Churchy or when carried through the Streets in Form and Pomp. Can then the leaft Thought be whifperd in our Minds a- gainft the Honour of our GOD and Saviour, and not wound and pierce them ? mould 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 Refentment and Indignation be wanting in us, when his Name is blafphemed ? And when the
Endeavour is to make us Partners in the Blafphemy ?
Well was it made a Law to the Ifrael of GOD, Levit. xxiv. 15. Whofoever curfeth his GOD [hall bear his Sin, and he that blafphemeth the Name of the Lord /hall furely he put to Death 9 and all the Congregation /hall certainly ft one him with Stones.
3. To exprefs our Deteflation of a blafphemeus Injec- tion we mould inftantly reject and fpue out the Abominati- on, and not fuffer the vile Thought to lodge in us. As it is but rifing and entring, we muR rebuke, fupprefs, forbid and curfe it in the Name of the Lord. Let us vehe- mently turn away, and neither hearken nor argue ; as Calvin f advifes. The cloven Foot is feen here at once, and there needs not a Moment's Thought what to do.
+ Caveamus itaque, ne Satante his Flabellis nos adverfus Deum follicitanti Aiires praebeamus ; ne ab illo circum- veniamur : Monemur, ejufmodi Blafphemias, ut quse Sa- feties Vomitus, acriter cfie redarguendas : Vehementiam opponere debemus ; non enim ludendum eft cum furiofj
Hofre So the yews were won't to rend their Clothes at
the hearing of Blafphemy.
" Be
in helli/h Suggeflions. 3*
*e Be gone from me thou curfed Thought," thou Child of the Devil, and Enemy of all Righteoufnefs ! I detefl 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 ! raife now my Adorations of Thee more than e~ ver ! I would even loathe my own Soul, that the hated Foe could think to find any liking in me ! my GOD for- bid it / and get thee hence Satan !- — So the blefTed A- pofile, filled with the Holy Ghost, fet his Eyes on the Sorcerer Elymas, who fought to turn away the Deputy from the Faith ; and faid, i€ 0 full of all Subtlety and Mi/chief thou Child of the Devil, thou Enemy of all Righ- teoufnefs ! will thou not ceafe to pervert the right Ways of the LORD ! A6ls xiii. 10.
4. After the Repulfe and Rejection of the vile Temp- tation, we may fortify our Souls againfl every Return of it, by holy Reafonings and Argument, Meditation and Prayer, religious Difcourfe, and fetting our felves to the immediate Duties incumbent on us in our prefent State and Circumftances ; from which we fhould not fuffer any Temptation to divert us, or keep us.
So when Job had rebuk'd his Wife, and fpoke his De- legation of her Words ; he then proceeded to give the Reafon of his doing fo ; faying, " What ? /hall we re- ceive Good from the Hand of the LORD ? and /hall we not receive Evil ? q. d. " Shall I curfe GOD to Day, tff becaufe he pleafes in his Sovereignty, or for the Pun* " ifhment of my Sins, which have daily made the For- iC feiture of all the Affluence of good Things with which " his Providence had diftinguifh'd me, now to bereave €i me of them ? or be it for the Trial Exercife and '" Increafe of his Grace bellowed on me, which He may *f prove and require the Exercife of as he pleafes ! or if €C He has provd it in a State of outward Profperity for
fo many Years together ; fhall he not now call me " to exprefs the fame Faith and Love, Adoration and <c Praife, Devotednefs and Subjection in a State of Ha- if miliation and Adverfity; defiitute, afflicled, tormented? I " will lie therefore fiknt and adoring before him in the
" Dufi
(C
%l Satatis fiery Darts,
6C
a
Dufl where his wife and holy and righteous Providence has laid me, and go on to worfhip, " Naked came 1 out of my Mother's Womb, and naked fhall I return ; the LORD gave and the LORD has taken ; blejfed he the Name of the LORD. iC I will therefore Hill go on to kiefs i and call upon my GOD, and the Lord mall fave me ! He is flill the fame Good, gracious and holy " GOD to me ; and by his Grace I will be the fame *c humble thankful abafed Worjhipper before Him; trufV " ing in Him and waiting on Him for his Salvation :" *c —As He has had my daily Thankfgivings and Praiies <c in the Months paft wherein the Lord preferv'd me ; ** when his Candle fhone upon my Head and by his u Light I walked through Darknefs ; when his Secret u was upon my Tabernacle and my Children were about " me ! " As I then fent and fanttified them when the u Days of their Feafling were gone about, and early <f rofe up in the Morning to offer Sacrifices according " to the Number of them all ; fo Morning and Evenings gi and through the waking painful Hours of every Day " and Nighty will I (by his Grace) now ly adoring my " GOD in my Sores and Allies ! — u I then feard for €i them and for my felf, and faid, " It may be my Sons (i have finned in their Rejoicings and curfed GOD in their *c Hearts ; (for out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Ci and Blafphemies) — but if it were only I might fear " my Sons had neglecled to render unto GOD the Praife 6C and Glory of his Mercies as became them ; I there- c< fore fail'd not to offer for 'em my Burnt -Offerings : <« ..,-*' And fhall I now curfe Him, whom I have been u all my Life blefjing ? becaufe I have neither Child iS to offer for, nor a Sheep or Ox out of my Thoufands " and Hundreds to bring unto his Altar ; nor Strength " to rife and go to it as my exceeding Joy ? -— No, <* Thou art my HopeO LORD GOD ! thou art my Truft u from my Touth ! by Thee have 1 been holden up from " the Womb, my Praife fhall be continually of thee ! «< I am a Wonder unto many, but thou my ftrong " Refuge ! let my Mouth be filled with thy Praife and *<• with thy Honour all the Day. I
in hellijh SuggeftionSo 33}
I have put this Run of Scripture together, and as it were into the Mouth of tempted Job, to aflifl others when tempted to hard Thoughts of the bleffed GOD, in ftrengthning and confirming themfelves in their Adora- tions before Him. In much fewer Words Job fet the Temptation in its true Colours, as moft unjuffc and bafe$ ungrateful and impious ; and what his Soul fhould never come into, GOD helping him ; but keep at the greatefl Diftance from it.
It was the' Spirit and Grace of Christ that tlitis ani- mated Job and fill'd his Mouth with Arguments ; for wheri Jesus was himfelf led by the Spirit into the Wildernefs to be tempted of the Devil* he rebuk'd the filthy and Impudent Suggejlions of Satan once and again, by giv- ing his holy and irrefiftible Reafons from the Word of GOD ; " It is written, faid he, and again — it is writ- ten : So it became Him who took our Nature, therein' to be made under the Law, and to fulfil it ; and whofe Glory it was to fay 6€ Thy Law is within me.
Jofeph was the princely Type of Christ both in his refolute Repulfe of the Tempter, the Devil in his Miftrefs ; refuting to fee or hear her ; and yet arguiug too the great JVickednefs, and Sin againji GOD ; and alfo the foul Ingratitude Injuftice and Villany to his Mafter i And when nothing would do with the impudent Creature h& fled : An Acl; as heroic in its Circumftances,- as David's. facing the Monfter of a Man.; the Defer of the Hoft of GOD.— In like manner, when David was outrag'd by Michal for the Tranfports 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 Houfe, and made him the King of Ifrael ; " the devout will ho- nour me faid he, and I will be yet more vile than thus, and bafe in my own Eyes. 1 Sam. v. 22.
In fhort, Sin is never to be parly d with, but It Once 2nd refolutely to be denied ; yet is it the Ad; of Wifhm and Grace to reafon with our felves for our Confirmation and Eftablimment in juft and holy Refolutions ; and •With Mm for their Reproof and Conviclion. The
& ' Holy
54 Satan1 s fiery Darts
Holy Scripture is our Armory or Magazine to fupply us «w'f A Helmet and Shield, Sword and Buckler, for our Defence againff the Darts of Hell ; and for Offence and Wound- ing to the Enemy j who flies before the holy hated Word. From this Artillery difeharge upon the Hojis of Hell, and £hey will flee from you.
Thus rebuke the Tempter and refufe to fin : and when this is done, clench the Denial with the Word of Truth, which fets before you the impious Nature of Sin, and the curfed Nature and End of the Tempter ; our Rela- tion and natural Subjeclion to GOD and infinite Obli* gations to Him ; his Laws Promifes and Threatnings ; and be the Chrifiian fixed in his Poft, ftrong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might, to withftand the Wiles of the Devil, and wreftle againji Principalities and Powers, the Rulers of the Darknefs of this World, and fpiritual Wicked- nefs in high Places : Think, what is holy and righteous, wife and good, Duty and Interefl ; and there fix your Foot, and jtand, having your Loins girt about with Truth and having on the Breafiplate of Righteoufnefs. Commit yourfelf thus to GOD and to the Word of his Grace, which is able to hep you from falling.
So faxwe have feen under the two firjl Propofitions ? that the aevreft Children of GOD may be call'd to en* dure the moil foul and aecurfed Annoyances from the Devil ; which will be unfpeakably grievous to them and abhorred, and ought to be infinitely detefled and in- ftantly rejected by them.-— Yet if they cannot get rid of them, as they defire and flrive to do, they muft beware of a too intenfe contending with them ; but turn away as from a' barking Dog, or from an abufive raving Scold, or from a turfing Shimei. — As the heavenly Mr. Janeway advifes in this Cafe, " Let not fuch 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 Difiurbance as you can ; or ** elfe it pleafes the Devil if he can but make you your u own Tormentor.— Divert your Thoughts therefore to P fomething good and holy, and let thofe very Injeclions
be
in belli fh Suggeftions, 35
** be constantly the Occafion of fome fplritual Medita- « tion, and that the quite contrary to the Blafphemy or <£ infidel Suggeftion : Or fall a praying with Earnefl- " nefs ; and the Devil will be weary if he finds his Ds- *< figns thus broken ; and that thofeSparks of If ell which ** hefirikes into Souls to kindle and inflame Corruption, do " but put Warmth into Grace, and fet Faith and Prayer <f a working ; He will be beat with his own Weapon when it is turnd upon him, u 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 fhow in the lafl place,
III. That thefe grievous and abhorred Injections am net the Sin of the dear Saints of GOD, nor will be reckon- ed fo by their holy and gracious GOD ; nor do they de- file and pollute their Souls, nor bring them under Guilt 9 when they are detefted and rejected. This the Text is plain and pofitive in, " In all this Job finned not.
It is ftrange to obferve the dreadful Fears of many melancholly Chriftians, who are hurried and diflrefTed with evil and wicked Thoughts which their Souls abhor ; " That 'tis altogether (or very much) their own Wicked* nefs and Guilt ; and they are ready to account and call themfelves the moil unbelieving and profane, the mod pol- luted and vile of any in the World ,• and ro think that none have Hearts and Minds fo alienated fi om GOD, andturn'd againflHim as theirs: they impute all to them- felves, and think themfelves 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, carting up fuch Mire and Dirt ? Or if the Hand of Satan be in the troubling of the Waters, yet is it not plain ho. finds all this odious Filth at the Bottom in me ? for which I fhould abhor my felf and fear left QOD abhor me!-- And yet verily GOD fees not Iniquity
E % or
g£ Satan s fiery Darts,
pr Perverfenefs in them, but is pleas' d in the Struggle and Victory of his own Grace within them.
The Support and Relief of fuch diftrefled Souls, and to convince them of their Error, I had principally in Mind in the Choice of this Subjecl ; although 1 take it not to have been the very State of the Cafe with Job, who was too intelligent and eflabliuYd a Worfnipper of GOD to be driven from the happy Confidence of his Integrity and Uprightnefs, by the Affaults of Satan or by the Argu- ments of his Friends : He appealed from them unto GOD the Searcher of the Heart, and who knows all Things, that fie knew he loved Him : Chap. x. ^.7. Thouknowefi that
1 am not wicked ! and in his laft Reply, he finifli'd with a long train of noble Appeal to GOD and Affirmations to Men : Chap, xxvii. " As GOD liveth who hath ta- ff ken away my Judgment, and the Almighty who hath 4C vexed my Soul ,• all the while my Breath is in me f f and the Spirit of GOD is in my Noftrils ; my Lips *c fhall not fpeak Wickednefs, nor my Tongue utter ff Deceit : GOD forbid that I ihould jufttfy you ;
'till I die I will not deny my Integrity ; My Righte-
oufnefs I hold faft and will not let it go ,* my Heart
fhall not reproach me as long as I live.
But alas ! how few of the dear Children of GOD in pur Days arrive at like ft eddy full Affurance of Faith as Job had, refpecling their Integrity ! they are too often foon floaken in Mind ; though we are admonifhed by the Holy Ghost not to be fo on one Account and another.
2 ThefT. ii. 2. Even Minijlers as well as common Dif ciples may be too juftly likened to Reeds fhaken with the Wind ! and no wonder, when Peter himfelf was fo eafl- ]y carried away as the dry Stubble by a fudden Blafi 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 fouleft Motions to Sin, made by Satan to the M nds and Hearts of the mqft fincere and pious among the People of GOD ; as this in the Text was to Job, " Curfe GOD and die I and yet if their Soul
abhors
in belli jh Suggejiions. 37
abhors from the curfed Motion, confent not to it, but detefl: it ; it is not their Sin, but only Satan s :— " in all this they have not finned.
If we receive the Witnefs of Man, the JVitnefs of GOD is greater. My Text is the Witnefs of GOD concerning Job ; and by it the Spirit of GOD witneffes the fame concerning You, O afflicled and toffed in Spirit and not comforted ; if you are enabled by Him to detefl: and e- je£b like blafphemous and diabolical Injections, as odious and abominable to you. GOD, the righteous and gra- cious Judge, is then fo far from beholding this Iniquity in you, that on the contrary He will in the great and lafi Day, before Men and Devils, in the mod free and open manner own accept and reward it as the Power of his Grace in You, and an Inflance of the fincere Devotion of your Souls towards Him *.
But to put this matter yet in a clearer Light, and give the utmofl Demonftration of it, let us again recur to the horrid Motion of the Devil to the Man Christ Jesus our Lord ; who was inallPoints tempted as we are, yet wit bout Sin: Heb.iv. 15. For we. have not aHighPriefi which cannot be touch- ed 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 curfed Suggeflions refpedting the bleffed God, as ever Tou were ? and yet in Him was no Sin.
■ » — ' ■■■■—— ■ ■ ■■■ ■■■■■11 1 ■ ■■ ■■■■■>■■■■■■■, . .. ■_ mj 1 , „,,,„ 0m ■■■»— ,..i» — m
* Van Majiricht de Suggeftionibus blafphemis. " Sunt Ten- tationes balance, quibus Menti etiam pientifHmorum obtru- dit Cogitationes adverfus Majeftatem Dei, Sufficientiam Christi Sec ; non efle DEUM, vel Providentiam parti- cularem , quibus etiam egregii pii exagitantur, ad hoc tan- tum ut conturbentur, et in OfficiisCukusDivini fatigentur. Sunt quidem in his Suggeftionibus horrenda Scelera, fed tie- quaquam in tentatis, quippe qui ab eis abhorrent ; fed in ttntante folo. «--- Communis eft Sors oprimorum, hujufmo- di Infultus Satance fuftinere, quin et ipfius Christi, Mat ib, iv. — Id a quo ingenue abhorret, et cui fortiier obnititur, non efTe fuurn Peccatum ; quin potius duriilimam Crucem, fibi portatu longe moleftiflimam.
He
38 Satan s fiery Darts ',
He was tempted to a Dijlrujl and Disbelief of his Fa* tier's Care & kind Providence ; " He lets thee Jlarve and "famifh, andcafls thee here, where no Bread is to begot; care now for thy Self, and if thou art the Son and Prophet, the promifed Meffiah, as thou haft been declared at thy Baptifm, command that thefe Stones he made Bread : q. d. thy Father is unnatural and cruel, thy Dependance on Him vain ; thy Hunger is natural neceffary and innocent after fo long Abftinence and Devotion ; Self-prefervation is thy Duty, and 'tis a Cafe of Necejfity, and calls thee to go out of the ordinary Way for thy Supply.— But our Lord in effeft bid the Tempter remember how the Church of old had been/Win the Wildemejs by the care of his Father; nor without his Blejjing could the miraculous Bread nourijh Him.
Again, the Devil's lafi Temptation of our Saviour was more foul and horrid than the firfi : In fome viflonary Reprefentation of all the Glories of the Kingdoms of this World, he fet 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 worfhip him. What a Land- fkip is here of the Devil's drawing in aWildernefs? be- coming the Father of lies and the Pride of Lucifer, with the Subtlety ofj the Old Serpent ! and equally impudent his Claim and Promife. May I be permitted to paraphrafe the hellifh Suggeftion : q. d. "You have been led up into ec this horrid Wildemefs, and are you not here miferably ft abandon d by Him you call your Father ! I the God of *'• this World appear to fuccour you! your Father has little " in it to call his own I Rome and all the Glories of it are " all mine ! this poor Judea and the Wildernefs about it " he may call his ! My Idols f ill Italy and Greece ! there I ft am worshiped with utmoft Pomp and Glitter! the Earth " and all its Learning and Phylofophy bows to me ! to " Me the Poets fing, and Cefar with all the Potentates " are my Votaries : the Powers that be are ordained by (C me, and their Dominions are by me diflributed ! to cc whomfoever I will, I give them ! are you not now poor ft defolate, empty in your great Title the Son of GOD ! do
tf you
in hellift) Suggefiions. 39
Cl you defer ve to be fo abandon'd ! be mine and fee what I " will do for you / this World and all its Glories (hall imme- *c diately be yours ! its Rule, its Riches, its Homage and <6 all its Worjhip ! render me only this frnall Acknow- " ledgment, this fingle A6t of Homage, " fall down and (i worjhip me !
Thus the evil One, the Prince of this World came firfl; with Flatteries and Allurements, and afterward with Rage and Terrors, with all the Powers of Darknefs {unround- ing our blefled Lord, and found nothing in him ; for in Him was no Sin. And if Jesus was thus tempted, yet without Sin ; fo if any of his dear Members are in like Manner tempted, and by his Grace are kept from yiel- ding ; by his Power are enabled to refift and rebuke the Temptation, it is by no Means Sin in them ; but they are more than Conquerors thro9 Him,
Let us reafon and argue a little on this Point, 1. The meer thinking on Sin, or the Contemplation of it with Aver/ion of Soul, can by no Means defile the Mind. GOD Himfelf 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, con^ demns and threatens it. The holy Angels alfo fee our Sins, open and fecret, confider and detefl 'em ; are of- fended at and grieved by them ; and it is their Holinefs* —-Good Men make diligent Search and Enquiry into the Nature of Sin, their own and others among whom they dwell ; difcern the moral Evil, Guilt and Pollution of it ', its Turpitude, Bafenefs and Malignity ; yet are they not defiled hereby, no but the more purified both in Heart and Life. — Regenerate Perfons and fincere Penh tents find it abfolutely neceiTary for them often to call their pafi Sins to Remembrance ,* they can neither mew themfelves Men nor Chriftians without doing fo, for a renewed Repentance on the Account of 'em, to increafe their Humiliation and Abafement before GOD, to quic- ken themfelves in the Mortification of the Body of Sin and Death which they c^rry about with them, to fix their
JBh
4<3 Satan's fiery Darts,
Abhorrence of it and of themfelves for it, and to ftrengthen their Watch againft every Motion to it, from within or from without ;-— but all this is according to Godlinefs, and purifying to the Soul in obeying the Iruth. — Now it is the fame Thing in the Event, thro' the Grace of GOD with and in his Saints, if vile and wicked Thoughts a- rife involuntarily in 'em^ or are thrown and call in upon them by Satan without and againft their Will : If the Soul in either Cafe rife againft them in Fear, in Mourn- ing, in Hatred and loathing of them ; Iniquity is but purged away hereby, and the Soul confirmed in holy Difc polkion, and the Habit of Grace is Itrengthned. As if you rinfe a very foul Veffel, though it be in dirty Wa^ ter, yet it will be fomething the cleaner for it ; the Dirt at the Bottom will be in Part (at lead) loofned, and call out with the Water ; fo here, though the Injeclion of Satan be never fo unclean and defiling in it felf, yet the Soul fpuing out the foul Ihought, cafts up alio fomething further of its natural Impurity together with it.
Indeed there is a Contemplation or thinking of Sin that is moil impure and defiling : To think of it with liking and Complacency orDefire is highly fo ; to crave ', intend, and project it, tb mufe and dwell on it with Pleafure, to roll it as a fweet Mcrfel under our Tongue with Tafle and Reliih ; to recollect it with Delight and chaw it over again as the Cud, (which is to injure the wholfome Property of the clean Creatures ) this is to lift en to the Tempter with Inclination and Confent, and call the forbidden Fruit good for Sight and Talle, and is grojly polluting to the Soul ; as alfo in a Degree it is, not to have our Hearts rife againft, and fly from every Motion within us to known Sin. For in this Cafe Lufi lodges, is harbour d and entertained, conceives and brings forth ; and is fo much real Adultery, Murder, Profa- nefs of the Pleart ; Matth. v. 12. But on the contra- ry, to think of Sin with Grief and Mourning, Fear and Confufion, Indignation and Rejeclion, this is purgative and purifying, wholfome and healthful, medicinal and
reftorative9
in hellifh Sugge [irons* 41
reiterative, nourifliing and Jlrengthning to a Principle of Grace, in Acli and Exercife.
2. Let it be moreover confider'd,, that the very Argu- ment I am upon fuppofes the abhorred detefted Thoughts injected by another, and that they do not come or proceed from the Soul it felf, nor are originally its own, and that the Soul is grieved by 'em, offended at 'em, difowns and re- jects 'em;: they are therefore fome jpurwus Births from abroad, hid fecretly andbafely at our Door, or with- in it, and falfly father d on us, if we are/o feolijh as to receive and own them. If we confent not, 'tis only the Devils Sin ; his Aft, his Guilt and he mull anfwer for it„ If for Inftance, the firfl Adam had done as the Second did ; if our firfb Parents, had rebuk'd the Tempter and detefted his Motion to them,, when heperfuadedthem to dif believe and difobey God ; the Sin had refted only on the Devil', they had remained innocent and been confirm d in Holinefs ; but they y elided to his curfed Suggeftion^ took part in his Aft and in his Apoflacy from GOD.
Indeed, now in out fallen State we have juffc Reafon to fufpeft our Selves and fear always, fometimes 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 defperately wicked ; who can know them ? No wonder therefore if the holieft Child or Servant of GOD be fometimes ready to fay^ " I fear it is Sin dwell- " ing and reigning in me, and the Hand of the Devil is 6i it may be little in it ; for as St. James fays " Every " Man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own Lufi " and enticed : and how fhall I know bur, that it is thus with " me ?
But let us call in the Aid of the bleffed St. Paul to fee this matter in its true Light ; and If is well for the Church that it has thefe two Apofiles to give Light into each others Meaning. In thevii. Chap, to the Romans, •* the Apofile gives a Defcription of the Conflict between Grace and Corruption which he experienced in himfelf! and no doubt but every renewed {'ahdiiiied Soul has more or lefs the like Experience, The Apofile calls himfelf
F carnal
6Q
42 Satan s fiery Darts,
carnal and fold under Sin, becaufe he at Times did that which he allowed not, but truly bated : 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 •<c too often did not, but the Evil that he would not, that €S he did : Now (fays he again) if I do that I would not, iC it is no more / that do it, but Sin that dwelleth in iC me : He goes on, I find then a Law that when I ie would do good, Evil is prefent with me : For 1 delight in the L#w of GOD after the inward Man ; but I fee another Law in my Members warring againfb the Law of my MW, and bringing me into Captivity to the 46 Law of Sin ! O wretched Man that I am, who fhall *r- deliver me from the Body of this Death ?— The like fpi- #itual Conflict and lufting of the Flefh againfl the Spirit, and of the Spirit againft the Flefh, was found in the Chri- Jtians at Galatia,So that they could not do the Things that they would. Gal. v. 17.
We fee here that a #00 J Mm may have this Rejoic- mgy €i the Teftimony of his Confcience to his Complacen- *$ cy in the Law of GOD, and that his higheft Pleafure i£ in Life is, when Heart and Life are in the flriclefl; u Conformity to the Law and Will of GOD ; and that u with his Mind lie is ferving the Law of GOD ; and yet u at Times, hold himfelf no better than one brought into '*■ Captivity to the Law of Sin, a carnal Creature, and fold 6€ under it : And yet he muft not impute to. his own Will and allowance the Evils which he bewails, groans out un- der, flrives againfl and hates himfelf for. To this he fhuft recur, if 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 Experi- ence and Confeffion of the holieft Saints on Earth, that there are fad Remains of Impurity and Uncleannefs clea- ving to them ; the Filthinefs both of Flefh and Spirit, which are defiling to their bed Frames and Duties ; and 100 often lufting ilrongly and at Times prevalently ; fo that the Good which they defire to do they too often do and the Evil which they wmd not they at Times
in hellijb Suggeftions. 43
So : Their Souls delight in GOD, after the inward Man, but yet they find another Law, Power or Principle of Corruption, warring agairifl the Law of GOD and the Law that bears Rule in their Minds..— Now fuppofe this car- nal Principle (mortified but not yet flain and excinguiili- ed) lufts and tempts to bkfpbemous and diabolical Tho'ts of it felf alone or by the Inftigation of Satan ; and at the fame Time fuppofe the fanclified Spirit lujling againfh thefe belli fh Motions, and groaning within it fief for Deli- verance from them, and Victory over 'em ; ready to ab- hor it felf on the Account of them, and crying out of its own Captivity and Bondage,---- we may be then affiled,' that whatever be the Rife of the curfed .Temptation ; be it from Job's own corrupt Nature, or from his Wife, or from his Adverfary the Devil ; it is not at all his own Sin and A61 ; it is no more Be that does it, though it may be from Sin that dwelletb in him ; Sin which he allows not, Sin which he is daily labouring to mortify, and from. which he is earneftly feeking Deliverance.
In fliort, All Sin is voluntary ; the Will is in it, the " Choice is of it, tjie Soul likes it, and hence Guilt arife's.*" -— All that I {hall further add on this Argument, to ' carry it to the utrnoft Evidence and Demonilration, is
3, There is not only no Sin , but much Vertue ; a no- table Exercife of Grace, and Victory over Temptation, in the Cafe fuppofed ; when blafphemous Tho'ts arid ng ill us, or violently fuggefled to us, are abhorred byns, de- teiled and rejected. Violent Temptations to hideous Sin. are hereby refilled, refufed and overcome : And how far is this from the committing Sin, or contracting Guilt ? GODj the righteous Judge reckon'd it to Job for Righ- teoufnefs, and his Triumph over Satan ; JIM he holdeth fafb his Integrity ! although thou movedft me againji him, to de- Jiroy him without a Caufe.
" This added to his Character, (fays Mr. Henry on " the Place) turn'd to his PraiJ'e and Glory / GOD Him- " felf fpeaks of it with a kind of Pleafure and Wonder, " and of Triumph in the Power of his own Grace ! He <' llands the fajler, and holds the fader, for being ITiaken !
F 2 " fill
44 Satan s fiery Darts,*
" Jiill he does fo ; after fo violent an Affault upon him ! *c he has go£ Ground inltead of lofing any ! his Conjiancy " mows proves and crowns his Integrity / He is more (i hearty and lively than ever in bleffmg Me.
Thus Job approv'd himfelf the perfect and upright Man, one that feared GOD and ef chewed Evil ; and that" there was none like him on the Earth: None tried, temp- ted and affii6ted like him in his Day, or fince among rneer Men, or that bore Temptations of like Kind and Degree, fo many and great, with like Heroic Piety and fortitude. — The Tempter could not but own himfelf heat, and GOD juft'ified in all that He had faid of his penitent, patient, believing faithful Servant.
GOD meant and allow'd the Trial, that it might fland on Record for the Comfort of his tempted Saints, and for the Edification of his Church for ever. It is a Banner difplayd for others to fight under, in the Caufe of Truth and Holinefs, to the End of the World. Job has help -d many a weak and Rx on g Believer to beat the Devil again and again, down to our own Days. He flill Jits as a King in the Army ; and what Hojis of fuffering Saints are Jiill fighting under and after him, and conquering by Faith in his Redeemer.
And by every Fight and ViEtory they certainly get fome further Strength and Power againfl Sin, and Con- firmation in Grace ; even as the Tejtimony of Christ was confirmed m the Corinthians, and they confirmed to the End; that they might be blamelefs in the Day of Christ : i Cor. i. 6, 8* Satan alfo is more and more bruifed under the Feet of GOD's People ; and like the conquering If raelites they will be calfd by Jesus to fe t their Feet on the Necks of the Principalities' and Powers of Darknefs ; and the Promifes of both Tejiaments will be fulfilled to them and in them ; " thou /halt tread upon the Lion and the Adder ; on Serpents and Scorpions, and over all the Power qf the Enemy, Pfal. xci Luk. x. So Light is f owing for the righteous, in the Hours of greateft Darknefs ; and the humble Difiiples of J e s u s will one Day like the Seventy return with Joy to Him, faying, " Lord, even
the
in heilifh Suggeftions. 45
the Devils are fubjeclt to us thro' thy Name ! ■--■-- -And he hid to them, " I beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven ! and in this rejoice, u that your Names are writ- ten in Heaven.
The Day is coming when the Saints /hall judge the World, fhall judge Angels ! Then they fhall fee their Enemy, the Old Serpent, the Devil and Satan at the Bar of Christ their Saviour, and damnd and cad: into the Lake of Fire ! Then having follow'd Christ in the Re- generation they ihall fit down with him ■ on his Throne ! Then having drank of his Cup and been baptized -with his Baptifm, they fhall fit 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 illuflrious Day ! They Conquerors and more than Conquerors ! and fo their Triumphs more than Auguft or Roman ; Divine, Cceleftial and Eternal !- — Wherefore "my beloved Brethren, count it all Joy when ye fall " into diverfe Temptations, yea the moft fiery 1 rials ; u for bleffed is the Man that endureth them ; for when " he is tried he fhall receive the Crown of Life, which cc the Lord hath promifed to them that love Him : But " let Patience have its perfect Work, that ye may be u perfect and entire wanting nothing. " James i. 2, 3, <f 4, 12.
I clofe with fome Words of the very Reverend and pious Dr. Horneck on this Argument : " Unallowed " blafphemous and other wicked Thoughts in the Heart " do not defile it : sThis Doclrine mull be often incul-. " cated, becaufe of the great Number of pious Souls who " look upon themfelves as the vilejl Wretches in the " World, and are ready to run into Defperation, becaufe " fo many horrid Tho'ts and filthy Suggeftions prefent <c themfelves to their Minds ; more efpecially diflurb- " ing them in their Devotions and religious Exercifes : " But not being allow' d of, nor confented to ; however €( dreadful and hainous they are in themfelves, they no, " more defile the Heart than boifleroas Winds, and the
u Commotion*
46~ Satan's fiery Darts 3
€(,
Com/motion of the Water fully the Pearls that ly at the Bottom. — - That they are not their own Tho'ts is evident, beeaufe their Will is contrary to them, their Underftanding is convinced of the Iniquity of them, CJ and their Hearts Be fire is to be rid of 'em". The Soul £Q in this Cafe is like the young Men in the fiery Furnace ; " while a thoufand Sparks fly about them, not a hair of <' their Head is fmged.
To have done, — - In every -Congregation almofl there are fome whofe Cafe this is : Some are known to us, and there may be others : To allfuch I have bro't the Mind of GOD and they mud make Confidence of receiv- ing it as from Him : Wherefore comfort your felves to- gether, and edify one another : Comfort the Feeble-mind- ed, and fupport the Weak : And the very GOD of Peace fanclify you wholly ; and 1 pray GOD your whole Spirit Soul and Body be prefierved blamelefs unto the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ : Faithful is He thatcalleth you, who alfio will do it. Amen.
Having thus in fome poor manner and meafure en* deavoured to fhow, that the mod pious and gracious Perfons in the Church of GOD on Earth, may be annoyed with moft accurfed hideous Tho'ts and Suggeftions againft the BlefTed GOD, his Truths and Laws ; which ought to be and, will be very grievous to and abhorrd by them, and (hould be rejected inftantly with Deteftation, or rather with a holy Difdain and Contempt ; and that when they are fo they are not our Sin, and will never be reckon* d a- gainil us as our Sin by GOD our righteous and gracious Judge ; and that not only is there no Sin in this Cafe com- mitted by the grieved and dijirejfed Soul, flying to Christ for Refuge and Protection ; but indeed there is the true Exerafeof Grace and Victory over Sin ; true Grace is tried, proved, difplay'dand triumphant before the Eyes of the invifible Hofts and Armies of the Living GOD, as really as
David
in hellifh Suggefiions. 47
David triumph' din the Sight of all Ifrael when the horrid blafpheming Giant fell dead before his Faith, and the Phiiijiine Army took to their Heels and fled ; and we ihould learn of the timerous, affrighted Ifraelites to [bout and purfue the flying Enemy*
I proceed therefore to the Use and Improvement of the Subject ; and though the principal Part thereof mull: be to relieve and direfik (by the Will of GOD) dijlrejfed Souls under the Annoyances of Hell ; yet there being alfo many weighty Inferences that offer to us by Way of Inftrucliony Caution, Conviction, Counfel and DireMon, as well as of Support and Comfort to the Soul that is tempted and weary ; I (hall take thofe in my Way alfo,
I. Firil then by Way of Inference and Inftruftion, I {hall recollect and mention fome Truths of great Im- portance, naturally flowing from what has been already faid, and indeed all along implied and fuppofed therein : . As, 1. The eurfed Nature of Sin, the hideous Fruit of the Creature's dpofkacy from GOD ; and the Malignity againflHim that is in our corrupt Nature : We may here take a near and full View of the deformed Face, the o- dious and filthy Features of Sin ; as it lufls in us a- gainft the bleffed GOD ; and to what a Degree it would exceed, if the Word, Spirit and Grace of GOD did not refirain and prevent it.
For, are there then the Seeds of this Atheifm and Blaf phemy and Rage againft GOD in us, if he mould leave us to our felves, or deliver us up to Satan to fife 1 us ? Are our Hearts fo evil as to have the lead Propenfity to fuch deteftable Impieties ? Can Satan fee it poffible to bring us into them ? Does he know us to be fo wicked as to hope to fucceed againft us in fuch barefae'd and horrid Profanefs V What ? even to be as vile and foul as Himfelf already ? That all his own fpiritual Wicked- nejfes, and the Filthinefs of Hell, may be already in us, while here in the Body ? even to curfe GOD before a Soul is adually got into the Place of Defpair and Torment ?
Where
48 Satan s fiery Darts
Where only (one would think) fuch a Thing can be imagined as a blafpheming becaufe of their Plagues ! — If Sin tends even to this here on Earth ; or if it has ever turn'd Angels and Men into fuch Devils ; into the word: and lafi Degrees of fuch Malignity again ft the moil good, raofl holy perfect and blefTed GOD ; the Author of all Being Perfection and Bleflednefs ; — - 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 funk ? For what Shame have we chang'd our Glory ?— -And confequently, what Humi- liation^ what Mourning, Self-loathing and Abhorrence* what Fear and Jealoufy for our felves does our fallen State call for ? We mould heavily bear the Senfe of Original Sin, our Conception in Sin, our corrupt Nature, the Plague of our own Hearts, the Leprofy and Defile- ment of our Souls, their Guilt and Wound.
Well may fuch a filthy Nature render us from our Birth y the Children of Wrath ! And never fhould we con- fefs our Sins to GOD, but firft we fhould bewail this Spring and Source of them ! Firft let us feek the Par- don 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, fanclified thro' out in Body Soul and Spirit : Pfalm li. 5, 10. Behold I was fhapen in Iniquity, and in Sin did my Mother conceive me ! create in me a clean Heart, 0 GOD ; and renew a right Spirit within me ! caft me not away from thy Prefence ! — Well might the Apoftle groan to be deliver 'd from the Body of Sin and Death I 0 wretched Man that I am, who [ball deliver me ?
2. Are very good People at Times annoy 'd with cur- led and diabolical Suggeftions, which they detejl and yet find it hard to free themfelves from ? This may con- vince us that there is a Devil, and of what a curfed Nature he is, how hateful he fhould be to us ; his Guik alfo, and how great his Damnation will at laft be. — Thefe Things I put together, becaufe of their Affinity \ yet
are
in belli Jh Suggeftions. 49
are they difiincl Inferences, and to be briefly fpokeri to each by themfelves.
1. Doubtlefs there is a Devil ; a Tempter of a mod: accurfed Nature ; the Exciter of thefe hated Tbo'is which haunt at times fomeof the dear Children of God,: and grievoufly diftrefs and terrify 'em ,' unavoidably rifing in their Minds, as if the Blafphemy where whifperd in their Ear and urg'd upon them. Not that the Devil knows our Tho'ts always, tho' he may ihrewdly guefs at 'em ; nor can he make us think or hinder our think- ing as he will; nor in any Manner or Degree but as he is permitted : Never the lefs that there are wicked, lying, profane, fpiteful Spirits that do find a near -Accefs to the Minds of godly Perfons, and have Pleafure in wor- rying and tormenting them, has been by many fadly experienc'd.— It's true that this is theLot q{ fome only, and thofe ordinarily more or lefs fubjecl: to Fear and Melancholly : but then it is to be considered alfo, that GOD permits not the Devil to perfecute whom or when he pleafes after this hideous Manner, as he could not come at Job 'till GOD gave him PermiiTlon ; and that fuch Kind of Annoyances will prefently make Perfons fad and melancholly ; for what is more dejeclmg in it-; felf ? The Devil alfo may doubtlefs difcern when and where there is mod Likelihood of fucceeding in his Temp- tations of one kind and of another, and apply them ac- cordingly : He perfectues the more fofc and timorous Temper with black and grofs Suggeftions, while he fel- dom tempts the /anguine free and gay Minds to Melan- cholly ; no, but to licentious Airs and carelefs Jollity : he fifties with the Bait that is likelieft to take with the Conftitution of Nature, the Circumflances of Life ; or with the alter'd Frame of Perfons under the Changes that pafs over them. — But to return,
One Proof of a Devil, or malignant Nature imploy- ing it felf againft GOD, is had in the inward VerJecutU ens that pioufly difpofed Minds are made to fuffer in vile and odious Tho'ts, which they redd, cry out of, and fly from, but can't rid themfelves of. Here is Satan as
G plainly
i;® Satan's fiery Darts$
plainly to fome fufFering Souls, and unco them that are made acquainted with their DiftrefTes, as his bodily Pof- feffions have been frequently undoubted, where the foffeffed have been agitated^ rent and torn by him, in hor* rible Manner, in the Sight of others.
That there is a GOD we know by his Works, and that lie is a moil wife^ powerful and infinitely good Being ; becaufe thefe his Divine Perfections do glorioufly appeaf In them: In like manner that there is a Devil, or Spiritual Wickechtjjes in high Places, is evident and notorious from many palpable Eff0$, which prove him a Being apofiate; bafe^ envious, malicious, cruel, outrageous agamft GOD and Goodnefs. ----The Temptations to Sin which we feel our felves, and fee the World of Mankind carried sway trith, and hear the Good and Virtuous groan under the Annoyance of* are a fufficient Proof of a World of Devils, that like cunning Serpents, or roaring Lions are lurking or walking about, to bite and devour.
This wasfo palpable to the Heathen World* that many of them came into the Imagination of two Principles ; the One of all Goody the other of all Evil ; and they Ignorantly worfhip'd the One with Love and Venera- tion, the other with Dread and Horror : But Reafon and Kevilatioh has banillied this ridiculous and inconflflenc Thought from the Chriftian World ; the Word and Works of God concurring in this plain Account of Himy that He the firfi Caufe of all Things is necefTarily and infinitely good ; and that Evil is only from the Creatures Apjtaci and Rebellion againfl GOD, Oppofition to his Will and Enmity againfl it : For there needs only a Deflexion from what is good and right, to make Sin and Evil.
We find therefore fome apoftate Intelligences, befid biix own wicked Hearts, fuggefting Evil to us, and per^ fwadihg to it with Importunity and Vehemence, and fometimes with Violence and Virulence^ even to our own Horror and Loathing at Times (evil and wicked as Hre are) and to our eicquifite Pain and Anguifti ; and wfet e'ati we impute this to btit a Devil ? Or what can
in belli fh Suggeflions. §t
^e infer from it but the Being of fuch a curfed Spirit* $he Enemy of GOD's Glory and of our HoJinefs and Happinefs.
This Argument 1 find mZanchius,] Whence are thofe evil and impious Thoughts and Motions forcing in upon, us ? not from our Jews, for they are againft our Wills ; not from GOD or good Angels becaufe they are fo wic- ked ; therefore they muft be from Satan ; fome invifU ble Evil One, even fuller of explicit Spite and Rancour againft GOD and Holinefs than our own corrupt Hearts appear.
To ufe the Words of the Venerable and judicious Mr. Baxter here, — " Temptations (fays he) are fome- te times fo unnatural, fo importunate and violent, that €i the Perfon tempted even feels fomething" without cc himfelf, perfwading and urging him : He can nei? ic ther be alone, nor go about his Calling* but he is fol- cc low'd and dog'd with earned Motions to Sin ; an4 €i unto Sins too to which he never found himfelf in? " clin'd ; Sins which he has no Pleafure in, nor Prof- iC peel from ; Sins that are quite againft the Tempera-? f* ture of his Body, and the Defire of his Mind. -*?T Truly, a Mind thus perfecuted will need no Argument fcarce, befide its own Senfe and Experience, to fatisfy it " that there is a Devil, its Adverfary, which defireshi^ Annoyance, Defilement, Damnation.
2, From hence likewife it appears, what a hateful 'Spu fit the Devil is ; and how abhorr'd and abominable ha lliould be to us ; how loath'd and fear'd and detefted by us.— -What juft Caufe does he give us to hate hirn^ if this be his Rage and Malice againft us ? or much ra* ther if he move us thus at any time againft the Bleffed GOD ! would have us blafpheme Him, curfe him, and entertain odious Thoughts of Him ! — curfed Spirit, a Hater of GOD, and hated by GOD3 ? — lliould not wa
f Unde hae malae, invites Cogitationes ? Non a Nobis quia invitae ; non a D$q neq; bonis Angelis, quia malas | ergq a Diabolis,
hake
$% Satan s fiery Darts,
hate him ? Pfal. cxxxix. uk. w Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate Thee ? And am I not grieved with them that rife up againft Thee ? / hate them with perfecl; Hatred, I count them mine Enemies. We can have no other Idea of a Devil, as fuch, but as moft odious and accurfed ! And the more ftrongly Grace is rooted, and Goodnefs rul- ing in us, the more mud he be an Execration to us. Ha- tred was made for fueh an Object, as much as Love for GOD moil good and holy.
More efpecially how fhould we hate to be our J elves like unto fuch an odious Creature as Satan ! or to be un- der his Power, pofTefTed and acted by him, or obedient to him ! of fuch a Father, the Devil, doing his Lujts I how mould this make us abhor our own Souls, our own Being ! for how odious mud we then be to the bluffed GOD ! how accurfed in the Sight of Him that made us in his own Likenefs and Love. Look into the Word of GOD, and fee the foul Face in that Glafs ; " thou Child of the Devil y as truly as Elimas the Sorcerer was before thee ! And of that wicked One, as much as Cain who flew his Brother, and went out blafted from the Prefence of GOD ! His Servants we are to whom we obey, led Captive by him at his Will ; the miferable Prey of the Lion or Dragon of Hell ; the forlorn Spoil of the Powers of Darknefs / 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 1 — but how are we fallen by Sin, into the Hands of Devils, into the Mire of their Prifon,in Chains under Darknefs !— Here is Bondage and Slavery abject- ly chofen, and continued in / as if Sinners could love their Mafiers, and would not go free ; altho' the Son of GOD has come down from Heaven ; and even died, as well as hef ought them, to make them free.
It is true that no Man can be truly faid to love the De- vil ; and the more Sinners corne to know of him the more they mud hate him ,* and mutual everlafting Ha- tred between them and Devils in Hell will be one Part of their eternal Torment : But Multitudes love his Lufts,
and
in belli fh Suggeftions* 53
and wear his* inglorious Chains with Mirth and Pleafure ; yea fome count 'era their Ornaments, like true Hotten- tots in the vifible Kingdom of GOD. The Devil is wor- ihipped and ferv'd in the dark Places of the Earth out of grots Ignorance and Fear ; but by Multitudes under the Light of the Gofpel from liking to his Motions, in all the Filthineffes both of Fkjb and Spirit : A practical Love they fhow 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 fmall Part of our Chriftian Bond by our Baptifm, to renounce the Devil and ail his Works'; yea to hate his Likenefs in our felves or others ; to mourn and bewail it in our felves, and behold it in Tranf greffors and be grieved. The A 61 of Renunciation and Ab- juration in our Baptifm fhould be remembered by us, re* peated and confirmed every Day we live : This is our Alle- giance 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 Gofpel. Moreover, we muff: infer 3, The Devil's great Guilt and the Greatnefs of his Damnation at the iaft, from his being the Seducer of Men into Sin , Apojiacy from GOD and Rebellion againftHim ; and from his perfijting in his Attempts againfl: the Chil- dren of GOD unco this Day, with like Enmity, Falfliood and Malice, as he tempted Adam the Son of GOD in Pa- radife. — As he there belied GOD and beguiled Eve, fo he belies GOD ftill, and would terrify penitent and be- lieving Souls into unjuft and hard Thoughts of Him ; even the mod vile and accurfed that can be ; in Defi- ance of all that he hath faid 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 a- gainfl the Work of GOD ! This gives the Glare of Hell in them. Indeed the Blood of Souls alone is a Scarlet. and Crimfon die, but the deeper Stain is the lying againfl. the Holy Ghost, whofe Holinefs he hates, declares War
againfl
34- Satan's fiery Darts,
againft and defies. He makes War with the Lamb and his Members ; is bruiting the Heel of the Son of GOD in them to this Day, although he has fo long fince feen Him afcended onHigh, leading Captivity Captive : He wars even in Heaven againft Michael and his Angels ! The Dragon fights though he knows that he can never con- quer, and that the Time of his Torment is coming on ! he blafphemes GOD, deceives the Nations, accufes the Brethren, perfecutes the Woman and her Seed, the Church ; and calls out his Floods to drown her fpiritual Seed ; and all becaufe they keep the Commandments of GOD and the Testimony of Jesus ! But his Judgment is coming on and the Serpent1 s Head will be then utterly crufFd : even at the fecund Appearing of the Son of Man with Power and great Glory ; when the Devil and his Angels fhall be judged by the Lord and his Saints y who willdeftroy him by the Breath of his Mouth and by the Brightness of his Coming. But previous alfo to this final Judg- ment, will the Angel of Jesus come down with the Key of the bottomlefs Pit and a great Chain in his Hand, and lay hold on the Dragon, the Devil and Satan, and bind him and /hut him up for a thou/and Tears. Rev. xx. i, 2. At the Expiration of which, to fhew himfelf a true Devil ftill, as fopn as loofed he will return to his deceiving the Nati- ons, and gathering Gog and Magog together againft the Camp of the Saints ; which will be the filling up his Mea- fure, and then Death and Hell, the Deceiver and damned Ghofis together, fhajl be call into the Lake of Fire, which is the fecond Death, f. 10, 14.
Surely it muft needs be thus : The Arch-Sinner and firfi in Revolt from GOD, and the inveterate Enemy^ fhall lead of all efcape the Divine Vengeance : The Saints fhall judge Angels : They fhall fee their Adverfary and Tempter brought forth in Chains before the Bar of Christ, around whofe Throne they fhall ftand ; they fhall hear him arraigned, convi6led and damned from the Mouth of the glorious Man, Jesus Christ ; for his firfi malicious Seduftion of our firfi Parents, and for all his Endeavours fines to maintain and ^ncreafe our Apofizcy :
The
in hellifh Suggeftions. 55
The Guilts of Mankind will be laid upon him ; a heavy Load I his Spite againft the Saviour and all whom the Father gave to him ! his Impotent Blafphemies and his prevalent Sollicitations will all come into one Account, and be revenged together in his Condemnation : The Saints fhall fee the Judgment executed, and fing together with a loud Acclamation, " Thrice holy, juft and true ! now €i is come Salvation and Strength,- the Kingdom of our " GOD^ and the Power of his Christ.
Let me illujlrate the Matter a little from the Wicked- nefs and tragic End of Hainan, and the Salvation, J y and Gladnefs thence arifing to the Jews : That vile en- ormous Power, Hainan, in his Luciferian Pride, Envy and Rage, murderoufly plotted^ and almoft compaiTed, the Deftrudtion of the captivd Church : The good Queen Efther petition'd in her Fear and Anguifh for her Life and the Life of her People ; for alas ! they were fold in the Intention of the Evil One, to be deftroy'd, to be flairi and to perijh ! But in the End,, confounded with Guilt and fpeechlefs, Hamah is doom'd and dragg'd to the Gallows, which he had prepar'd for Mordecai the Jew> after he had juft liv'd to fee him exalted, crowned and triumphing i his Affociates in the plotted Deftru£lion fell with him under a dreadful Vengeance ; and thence was theChurch's Salvation and Triumph perfected! Efther reign d, Mordecai went out from the Prefence of the King in royal Apparel, and the Jews had Light and Gladnefs Joy, and Honour.— So when the GrandEnemy of the Saints is bro't to the Bar of Christ^ in the Judgment of the great Day, they will rife up and fay— -"This Lord is theAdver- fary and wicked One ! And then the abjecl: Devil would moil: gladly fall at the leaft Saint's Foot to beg for his Life ! Whofe Triumph will be high and glorious as the Devil is led away to his Eternal Torments.— His Damna- tion will be then great* as are now his Blafphemies againft GOD, and his Spite at all his Saints.
This is the fecond Inference, — - there is a Devil ; a Hqft of accurfed Spirits, of a moft curfed Difpofition, ender hideous Guilts, and referved to a dreadful Dam- nation;
56 Satan s fiery DartSj
nation. O let us fear his Malice, and refijl his Temp- tations^ that we may never partake in his Torments, the devouring Fire and everlafting Burnings, prepared for him,
3. Is there a Devil, a Hoft of evil Spirits of fueh a curfed Difpofttion, and implacable Malice -again ft GOD and the Souls of Men, and the Peace of his Children ? And is there not an innumerable Company of holy Angels, a t hoi f and times ten thoufand, and Millions of Millions of bleffed Creatures, who behold the Face of GOD above^ and ft and in his Prefence, and are Thrones, and Domi- nions and Principalities and Powers in the Heavenly. Places ? moil benevolent and friendly to the Souls of Men on Earth, and Fellow-Servants Worfhippers and Brethren with all that are fanftified in the Church of Christ ? and they are all by Office as well as Inclina- tion Mini firing Spirits, fent forth to minifter unto the Heirs if Salvation. Hebr. i. 14. — Let us confider these in their Miniftration under Christ the Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier ; and what an Over-ballance are they, for the Conflation and Security of the poor tempted Members of the Church on Earth ! as it is written, for our Learning and Support, Pfalm. ciii. ult. Blefs the Lord ye his Angels that excel in Strength, that do his Commandments, hearkhing to the Voice of his Word I blefs the Lord, all ye his Hosts, ye Minifters of his that do his Pleafure I Blefs the Lord O our Souls !
Is it not written of thefe 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 Prefence of thefe Holy Ones above, over every one Sinner that repent eth !*
Thefe bleffed Angels are ever oppofmg and even fight- ing againft the Devil and his Angels ; infomuch that we read of the War in Heaven by Michael and his Angels
* PfaL xci. II, Matth. xviik 10. Luke xv. 7, 10.
againft
in h'eliijh Sujggcftiohs. 57
again ft the Dragon, the Old Serpent, the Devi! dnd Satan ; the Accufer of the Brethren, Rev. xii. 7, 10. Ic is thd fame Arch- Angel that St. Jude tells us contended vfith the' Devil about the Body of Mofes, and probably prefided at his Burial ! the fame Prince among the Angels of Light, Whom Daniel fa# (landing up for the affiled Church be- fore the coming of Christ in the FJelh, and holding with its perfecuted Members. Dan. xii. 1. Be it the Lord Christ himfelf^ or fonie Cozleflial Principality commiffi- on'd by Him, the Succour of his Elect is the fame thro* Life and Death,- and it may be faid to the moil timorous and frighted of them, as Eli/ha to his terrified Servant^ awaking early in the Morning and feeing the AJfyrian Hoft incompaffing the Hill on which the Seer dwelt ,* cc fear not, for they that be with us are mere than all thefe Enemies ; more in Number and more for Strength! "and the Lord open'd the young Mans Eyes, and behold the Moun- tain was full of Horfes and Chariots of Fire round about EH/ba: i. e. he faw an Army of bright and flaming An- gels guarding the Man of GOD; and leading away blind- fold the AJfyrian Hoi! at the Will and Prayer of the meek and humble Prophet : a flrange and pleating Spec- tacle to Heaven and IfracL 2 Kings vj. 15, 16.
This is indeed the very State of the Cafe$ 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 leaft and weakefl Believer may have Hope ', and at- tain Ouietnefs and AJfurance for ever.
The Time would fail me to mention the recorded Minijlrations of the Angels of GOD to Abraham and Jacob and even to Hagar and Ifhmael ; to Elias and Daniel and the Worthies in Babylon ; to Peter in the Prifon, to Paul in the Storm; to Cornelius in the Clofet or Family, and to John in Patmos, for the Tefiimony of ji $us*
The fame have been the SuccKirs by Angels to the Church in general, from the Slaughter of the firji-boni in Egypt, and the giving the Law 6n Sinai ,* unto David s taking the Kingdom and marching againfb the Phifijthe^ upon the Signal given him of an invifibk Hoft going be- ll fore
58 Satan's fiery Darts,
fore him over the Mulberry Trees ; and unto the Day of Jofloua the High-Prieft, when the Captive Church had juffc emerged out of the Den and Fires of Babylon : Satan then oppos'd virulently his bitter Accufations again ft Him and his People, to fruftrate their Prayers and Interceffi- cns ; but the Lord Himfelf anfwerd for 'em : He that had taken upon Himfelf their Sins, to bear them away : Zech. iii. 2, 4, 7. " The LORD rebuke thee, 0 Satan ! even the LORD that hath chofen Jerufalem rebuke thee ! Is not this a Brand pluckt out of the Fire ? And he fpake to thofe that flood before Him ; the holy Angels his At- tendants ; who in this Vifion ( fays the judicious Mr. Clark) reprefented the Minifters of Christ, as his ordi- nary Inftruments in this Work ; faying, " Take away his filthy Garments from him ! — - And to Him he faid, " I have caufed thy Iniquity to pafs from thee, and I will clothe thee with Change of Raiment : And then the Angel of the Lord protefted untojofhua, (as the pr efent Reprefentative of his humble mourning and accufed Ones) faying, If thou wilt walk in my Ways and keep my Charge, I will give thee Places among thefe (my Angels) that are ftanding by ; i. e. in the Heavenly Manfwns among 'em for evermore/ akho' now thou and thy Fellows are Men wonder'd at ! For behold I will bring forth my Servant the Branch, thine and their flrong and mighty Redeemer.
And having thus nam'd Him, the glorious Son op Man whom the Lord has made flrong for Himfelf, and in Whom only we have Right eoufnefs and Strength, in Whom the Seed of Ifrael are juftified and do glory ; let me finiili the prefent Argument by obferving, what all the tempted Members of Christ mould lay up in their Hearts ; — how the Angels of GOD minifler'd with un- known Adoration and Delight to the Man Christ Jesus, in the Days of his Humiliation, Temptations, Miniftry, Sufferings and Dying for us ; from before his Concepti- on and Birth unto his Burial and Refurreftion from the Dead ! He was feen of Angels, wormip'd and minifler'd to by 'em while lying in the Manger ; €i The Multitude of the Heavenly Hoji gave Glory to GOD in the Highefl,
from
in belli fh Suggejlions. 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, alio in the Wildernefs of Temptation, in the Garden of his Agony, at his mock Trial and on his Crnfs : They never deferted him through all thefe tragic Scenes, while his Difciples forfook him and fled ; and while the Dogs compafs'd him and the Ajfembly of the wicked inclofed him : No, He told his Guard and Crucifiers that at his Word the Legions of Angels Hood 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 rottd away the Stone from the Mouth of the Sepulchre ; and then comforted the holy JVo?nen)'m their Tears and Fears ; C{ PVe know that you feek JESUS that was cru- cified I Come fee the Place where the LORD lay ; and go quickly and tell overwhelmed Peter and the Difciples-
And now, O humble Believer in Jesus, the moil ]h* ful and the moft timorous, wilt thou not encourage thy felf from the Readinefs of the Holy Angels to fuccour and help thee in thy Times of Need ! You mud fee them alftx, ever near thee, by the Commandment of thy Sa- viour / They love thee for his Sake, and in a Meafure as they ever loved Him ; and as the Members of his Body, of his Flefh and of his Bones ; filling up what is behind of the Sufferings of Christ in your Fleflo, Col. i. 24.
Yet mull you beware of tr lifting in the Aids of Angels, any more than you would in any Arm of Flefh ! Nor may you pray to yem, or give 'em Worfloip, as the bleffed Apoflle himfelf was ready to do when they had brought him fo many Revelations and Comforts from GOD! "See thou do it not (faid the Angel) for I am thy Fellow-Cxez- ture and Servant, and a Worfhipper of Jesus !— Never the lefs receive 'em as the Angels of GOD, as Abraham and Jacob did ; " This is GOUs Hofi ! and en the Lad- der from Heaven to Earth fee 'em defending to, and af cending from the Sons of Men /— Come into a holy Fel-
H 2 low/hip
60 Satan s fiery Darts
low/hip mi Communion with them, by Faith in Christ,
and by the Life of Jesus manifejled in thy mortal Flefb. 2 Cor. iv. 8, ii. Let 'em only fee 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 muft make the Lord your Refuge, even the Most High your Habitation ; and then the Promife is, Pfaliri xci. ii. He /hall give his Angels Charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy Ways ; and they [hall bear thee up in their Hands, left thou dafh thy Foot againft a Stone : Thou [halt tread upon the Lion and the Adder, &c.
But Hill beware of the Serpent,— for he quoted this very Text to the Son of GOD himfelf, when he mov'd him to caji himfelf down from the Pinnacle of the Temple. Wateh and pray that ye enter not into Temptation, and then be firong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might. When thou paffefi; through the Waters they fliall not overflow thee ; and when thou walked thro* the Fires thou dial t not he burnt. In all your Acls of Worfhip, fecret andpublick, fee the LORD Jit ting upon his Throne, high and lifted up, and his Train filling the Coeleflial Tem- ple ! before Him {land the Seraphims with covered Faces, and you may hear 'em cry to one another ; (c Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole Earth is full of his Glory ! Nor think your felf 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 caufe his Seraphims to fly down at thy contrite Prayer (as he fent Gabriel to Daniel while he was making his Sup- plication) " to touch thy Lips and take away thy Sin. Ifai, vi. 7. Then you may beat a Defiance to all the Powers
$f Hell and fay, Rom. viii. 35 39. Who foall fepa-
rate us from the Love of Christ ? Shall Tribulation or Dijlrefs, P erf edition, Famine, Nakednefs or Sword ? No, I am perfwaded that neither Death, nor Life, nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor Things pre fent, nor Things to come, nor Height, nor Depths nor any other Creature, fhall be able to fe par ate us from the Love of GOD which is in. Cpjiist Jesus our LORD.
■ 4- H
in hellifh Suggeflions. 61
4. Iffome of GOD's Children are annoy'd with moft grievous and abhor'd Injections from the Evil One ; then how thankful to GOD mould others be, who are free fromfuch Annoyances are mercifully prevented and graci- oufly preferved in Peace and a right Mind.
It is of the great Mercy and Powe; of GOD, that no more of us fufFer, as fome have done from the fiery Darts of Satan. If GOD did not refirain and chain him up ; if he did not fet a Hedge of Defence about us, as he did about Job ; of which his Enemy complain d ; if GOD fliould give him the Permiffion which he eagerly feeks and catches at ; how miferable would he foon make our Life ? how would the Wolf 'worry every Sheep of Christ's Fold ? not a Moment's Eafe would he give us ; into what Dejections and Defpondencies would he fcare us ? and into what pale and meagre Spectres of Melancholly would he change us ! What Vifions of Hell would he be- gin within us, and multiply upon us ! —But the merciful GOD fuffers not the Devil to have his Will and Luft up- on 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 Quietnefs who can make Trouble ?
It is a fpecial 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 fpecial Bene- diclion, Phil. iv. 7. The Peace which paffeth all Underfiand- ing keep your Hearts and Minds thro' Jesus Christ. And a fpecial gracious Promife it is, f. 9. The GOD of Peace fhall be with you : The GOD of Peace /hall bruife Satan under your Feet. Rom. xvi. 20.
When we fee others in racking Pains, it fhould raife our Souls in T hankfgivings to GOD for the Comforts of Eafe. When we fee others drooping and finking under Melancholly and Sorrow of Heart, our more eafy, bright and cheerful Minds mould be lift up in Praife to GOD : It is the Way to fix and increafe a fan6lified Joy in us. But a Soul reftored from the Pains of Melancholly, more efpeciaily after it has fufFer'd the permitted Terrors of
GOD
62 Satan's fiery Darts,
GOD, from the Temptations of Satan, will befl know how to prize the Mercy of a quiet Mind, and rife in thankful Praifes for it. — How fweet think you was it to the poor Demoniac, that had been fo long raving and raging, tearing himfelf and roaring among the Tombs ; when the evil Spirit was cafl out, and he was fitting at Jesus Feet clothed and in a right Mind ? Luke viii. 35. Pleafant it was to others to fee him there and thus, who had been fo lately driven and torn by the Legion; but how much more pleafant was it to the Man himfelf ! how did he adore his Deliverer, and embrace his facred Feet ? How did he blefs himfelf in the Change wrought upon him ! torn by Devils before, and now gathered under the healing Wings of his Saviour ! --- O let us blefs GOD for the free and quiet Ufe of our Reafon and Underfland- ing; and a well informed, faithful and yet peaceful Con- fcience ! Let this be our Rejoicing ( let us feek it, by liv- ing fo before GOD as to attain and preferve it) the Te- Jtimony of our Confciences that in Simplicity and godly Sin- eerily, not with flefhly Wifdom, but by the Grace of GOD, we have our Converfation 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 Pleafures of a Court, nor the Fidelity of fuch 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 chafe away the gloomy Fiend. O let us fear Sin, and flee Guilt, which caufes the Spirit of the Lord to depart from Men, and opens a wide Door for the evil Spirit from thehoKB, by his Judg- ment and Permiffion, to enter into and torment them. 1 Sam. xvi. 14. David's Spirit of Devotion is the befl Prevention, and the fureft Cure of it. Integrity and Up- rightnefs muft preferve us ! that's a folid and deep Foun- dation to build a fetled 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 Houfe founded on this Rock,by Faith in Christ, is fafe. *V- Confcience is a fure Friend to the upright, but a terrible
Enemy
in bellijh Suggeflions. 63
Enemy to the vain and falfe, the prefumptuous and the Hypocrite. Well might falfe and ungrateful Saul, falfe to his GOD and to his People, to his Sons and faithful Servants, have his Conference enrag'd and inflam'd againft him. It is not to be impos'd on and deceivd by Men at their Will, nor yet to be brib'd or ftunn'd. It will not be adjurd to Quietnefs by a feigned Force of Devotion , but exafperated the more ; as Saul found it, when he would have enquir'd of the Lord again, but he anfwer- ed him not. So when the Sons of Sceva exorcis'd the evil Spirit in the Name of Jesus whom Paul preached ; the pojjejfed Man leapt on 'em, and prevailed againfi them, and they fled away naked and wounded : A6ls xix. 15.
We mud feek Quiet and Reft from GOD only, in his own Way ; the Way of Faith, Repentance, Prayer, Praife, in fecret and public ; by Medita- tion, Self-Examination, Ejaculations, Self-Dedication and Refignation ; in the confeientious Difcharge, of all relative Duties, abiding with GOD in our Call- ings, and walking with Him in our Houfes ; and then in Ms Houfe, in all the Ordinances of the Lord ; keeping his Sabbaths, chufing the Things that pleafe him, and laying hold on his Covenant ; all which GOD has joined, and we mud by no means feparate 'em ,• doing Juflice, loving Mercy, and walking humbly before him ,• that he may give us within his Houfe and Walls a Place and Name among his Sons and Daughters, an everlafting' Name which (hall not be cut off. Ifai. Ivi. 3, — 7.
In thefe Ways let us make Conicience of labouring after a gracious Eafe and Cheerfulnefs of Spirit, by the Will of GOD : " If He giveth Quietnefs who can make " Trouble ? And if he hideth his Face who then can <c behold him ? My Soul wait thou only on the Lord " for all my Expectation is from him ! Pfal. exxx. cf Oat of the Depths have I cried unto thee O Lord ! t( hear my Voice, let thine Ear be attentive to my Sup- " plications ! I wait for the Lord, my Soul doth wait, " and in his Word do I hope. — It is promifed, Ifai. u xxxii. 17. The Work of Aighteoufnefs /hall be Peace,
Quietnefs
64 Satan s fiery Darts", !
" Quietnefs and AJfurance for ever. GOD meets hint that is rejoicing in working Right eoufnefs, thofe that re- member him in his Ways, — But to return from this fmall Digreffion,
5. If fome of the Children of GOD are here often annoy'd with foul Injections from Hell, how mould it excite and raife in 'em all the more earneft Defires after Heaven ; the Place and State of everlafting Reft from Sin and Sorrow, and of the Perfection of Holinefs and Fulnefs of Joys for ever.
When Job) after too long a Silence, operid his Mouth, it was to curfe the Day of his Birth, and wifh himfelf in his Grave ; becaufe u there the Wicked ceafe from trou* blingy and there the weary are at Reft, they hear not the Voice of the Oppreffor. — O he fhould have refrejhed hm> felf rather with his Hopes of being in a very fhort time in Heaven, the Rest which remaineth to the People of GOD for ever ! where are Pleafures 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 Re- deemer liveth, and though after my Skin Worms deftroy this Body, yet in my Flelli I Ihall fee GOD ; whom I fliall fee for my Self and mine Eyes (hall behold, and not another, though my Reins be confumed within me.
The diflant Point from Hell is Heaven ; and fo the Hallelujahs of One from the Blafphemies of the other* Satan who left the peaceful Realms of Light, can return thither no more : he lifts not to come near that Holy of Holies again, nor could he find Entrance : Or if when the Sons of GOD here below prefent themfelves before Him, the Devil come among them, it is to difturb their Devotion, and to feek fome Permijflon within the Com- pafs of his own Air, to have the fifting of fome weak and frail Saint here below, or the deceiving fome Veffel of his own into Deilruftion, as he aslid and had leave to do Ahab. The Dead in Chrift only are free and far d- way out of the Reach of his Malice ,* they look down on the Batts of the Night on our Surface and fay, (iHow art thou fallen, Lucifer, Son of the Morning. The Soul
in
in bellifli Suggeftlons* 6$
m Heaven is confirm d in Grace and Jure for eVer, and pail all Fear of Evil : Sin is no more, and could the Evil One come there he could find nothing to fatten a Temp- tation on : He fees it and is grieved, and gnafhes with his Teeth, and melts away. If he make War with Michael, he is fure of a Defeat : 0 thou Enemy, Defiruclions ard come to a perpetual End.
Now he comes down in Wrath $ great Wrath j for he knoweth that his Time to tempt, and the godly 'Mans Time to fuffer by his Temptation, is fhon : The prefent Life is the only Time ; Death puts the Believer far away oui of the Reach of any fpiritual Foe ; the Spirit of the Jufi as foon as out of the Body of Sin, is out of the World of Sin alfo ; for it pafles immediately and triumphantly thro' the Powers of the Air, under a bright and ftrong Guard of Angels; before whom the infernal Hofts fly and melt away, as they did before the Chariots and Horfes of Fire that came down for Ellas ; for the little Ones in the Church of Christ have their Angels, as well as Z& the Prince among his Prophets, which behold the Face of their Father in Heaven, and know their Faces too herd below ; and are as ready to carry their Souls to the Pa- radife of GOD, as they were to^bury the Body of Mofes. Then a Fulnefs of Hoiinefs, Glory and Joy remains fid them for ever and ever ; infinite and eternal Joys are miniftred from the Vifion of GOD and of the Lamb ; and from the Sight and Hearing of the Adorations of the thoufand times ten thoufand, and thoufands . of thoufands about the Throne ; faying with a loud Voice $ €i Worthy is the Lamb that wzsjlain, to receive Power, €i and Riches, and Wifdom, and Strength, and Honour; and Glory, and Bleffing ! 0 in what Tranfport will every new arriving Saint fall down with them, and worfbip Him that liveth for ever and ever.
But let us only confider the Day of a Believer's Death as his Freedom for ever from a State of Temptation, either1 from within or from without ; his putting off the Armour of Right eoufnefs which he wore here, and boafl'mg over an Enemy utterly beaten and broken, never to rally more
I againifc'
66 Satan s fiery Darts,
againft him ; what a welcome bleffed Day mud this be unto him ! O thou Enemy, Dejlruclions are come to a per- petual End ! " Now is come Salvation [and Strength, the Kingdom of our GOD and the Power of his Might ! for the Accufer of the Brethren is caft down ; and they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their Te- Jlimony ; not loving their Lives unto the Death ! therefore rejoice ye Heavens and all that dwell in them. Rev. xii.
10, II.
Thus look up to Jesus and his crowned Saints, poor tempted Child of GOD here below ; and fee the high Re- ward of their Patience and Conftancy in bearing Tempta- tions and Conqueft over them / how bright their Crowns, how loud their Songs of Vi6lory, 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 ! Thofe his Worthies were lately weltring in Dufi and Sweat and Blood, as you are now ! Conflder the End of their Faith and Patience, left you be weary and faint in your Minds. — Let me only read to you the Vifion of thefe Victors above, that have put off the Har* nefs, and reft from their Labours : Revel, vii. 9, --- 17. After this 1 beheld, and to, a great Multitude, which no Man could number, of all Nations, and Kindreds, and People, and Tongues, flood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white Robes, and Palms in their Hands ; and cried with a loud Voice, faying, Salvation to our GOD which fitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the Angels flood round about the Throne, and about the Elders, smdthefourBeafls, and fell before the Throne on their Faces, and worfhipped GOD, faying, Amen : Blefjing, and Glory, and JVifdom, and Thankfgiving, and Honour, and Power, and Might be unto our GOD for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the Elders anfwered, faying unto me, What are thefe which are arrayed in white Robes ? and whence came they 1 And I faid unto him, Sir, thou knoweft. And he [aid to me, Thefe are they which came out of great Tribulation, and have wafhed their Robes, and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb, Therefore are they before the Throne of
GOD,
in hellijh Suggeflions, #7
GOD, and ferve him Day and Night in his Temple : and he that fitt eth on the Throne [hall dwell among them. They (hall hunger no more, neither thirfi anymore, neither [hall the Sun light on them, nor any Heat. For the Lamb which is in the midfi of the Throne [hall feed them, and [hall lead them unto living Fountains of Waters : and GOD jloall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes*
II. Let the fecond Ufe be of Caution in two or three Particulars, wherein we may elfe do Wrong to the Doc- trine before us and mifimprove it.
I. 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 mud remem- ber how we are admonifhed by the Holy Ghost, that every Man is tempted when he is drawn away of hisownLufi and enticed. James, i. 14. The regenerate have the Re- mains and Lulling of Sin within them ; and in its Pre- valence at times the Apofile charges it on indwelling Sin ; Rom. vii. 17, 20. It is Sin whichdwellethinme. Wemuft by no means fay, that the Agency of the Devilism every Temptation which Men fuffer, or Sin which they com- mit : Neither can we fay, that his Hand is not in this or that Sin : He is invifible, and our own wicked Hearts a6l fo in Conjunction with him, that fometimes which is mod to blame is not to be faid. It is heft for jhe Sinner, often to take it wholly to himfelf, but too common to hear him laying it to the Devil. Satan moved David to num- ber thePeople, and Satan filled the Heart of Ananias and Saphira to lie unto the Holy Ghost. — Only where the Injection is involuntary, without and againft a Perfon's Will ; where it is violent unnatural, a horror and torment to a Perfon, there it may be reafonably attributed to the Devil, his Malice and Force. But ordinarily it is wife and belt to charge our [elves, humble abafe and loathe our felves before GOD. Yet it may be utterly wrong to accufes condemn, torment our felves, where we are only annoy-
I 2 edj
6$ Satan? fiery Darts,
ed, affaulted and tempted, without our yeilding to the detefted Motion. --- In Temptations to Sin, that are at- tended with Profit and Pleafure our own Hearts may in all likelyhood be the principal, and Satan only acceflary : Or if he is firji in the Motion and there be our Compli- ance? we are acceffary in the Crime, and muft fmite upon our own Breaft. Yet the Cafe too often is, that prof am and /^People tempt the Devil to tempt them; or are fo habituated to and fet upon their wicked Ways, that they need no Tempter befides themfelves.
2, Another Extream we fliould be caution'd againflis, of making too light of this Do6trine of the Annoyances which gracious Souls fornetimes meet with from diabo- lical and hellifli Suggeftions of Satan. It is,, I amfenfible, a ridiculous kind of Suggeftion againfl the Devil, in the Opinion of many at this Day, Many a Free-thinker may be ready to feoff at it as fanatical, whjmfical, fplenetic, JLnthufiafm and what not. Some virtuous Perions may be tos far in fuch a Tho't ; becaufe they have never felt my thing of it themfelves, and thro' the Favour of GOD it is not the known Cafe of very many, and generally thofe few by Conftitution of Body fubjeel to Melan- eholly. — Others it may be, of the Children of POD, may doubt and fcruple much the Reality of this Truth, from the Peace and Quiet which thro' the Goodnefs of GOD they have always themfelves enjoyed, fince GOD has wwt upon their Souls, and given 'em Comfort in his Ways ; and they have found a holy Fear and Rever- ence of GOD increafingwith their Pleafure in Religion, t *- Yet I can allure both the one and the other ( whether they profanely ridicule, or whether they meekly and ten- derly pity our Dodlrine ) it is an undoubted Fqc% what many have felt and others feen, and there is no denying againft Serife and Sight. It is a real Cafe, that many very pious Perfons are grievoufly buffeted, vexed and tormented by fome invifhle wicked Power, with bafe, o- diousj profane, impure Thoughts, which their Souls ab- hor. --- In like manner, People may doubt or deny (if fhev pleafe) whether ever there' was an Apparition or a
Fqjfeffon,
in hellifh Suggeftions. 69
Poffeffion, becaufe they themfelves were never fo un- happy as to fee the one or the other ; or becaufe there have been Fancies, Lies and Cheats obtruded on the World in one Cafe or other ,• but to me however, it were the Height of Scepticifm and unreafonable doubt- ing. — And fo it is to make all that has been faid con- cerning Hellifh Annoyances to be the Fruit of a diftem* pered Brain, the Power of Melancholly, or Fitts of Fa- four. — There is a Medium we fhall do well to keep, that we may not be fuperjiitious ; but we mud quarrel both with Scripture, Experience and humane Teftimony, if we queftion the Reality of this Fa%; that good People and of good Understanding do at times fuffer, as we have • been faying, from a cruel Tempter that is blalphemous and invijible.
3. A third Caution which I would put in is, that we do not allow our/elves to queftion the Jujiice and Right c- oufnejs of the Divine PermiJJton ; or to entertain hard Tbo'ts of the blejjed GOD on this Account. —Alas/ we are no Judges of what the Sovereign GOD may do or can do ; or of the Rights and Wifdom of his Government : We have not yet been in the Worlds of Spirits, to fee their various Natures, States, Orders and Services in the Creation of GOD. But this we know both by Revela* tion and Experience that Man has yo/J himfelf to Sin, and that he did it by the Inftigation of the Devil, and what wonder than is it, that the Devil has fo much Accefs to and Influence on him ; either to gain his Mind and Will to what is evil, or if that is refufed then to infult and terrify him.
Man gave up himfelf to the Tempter on his firft Af- fault, on his plain giving the Lye to GOD and charg- ing him even with an Envy of his Creatures Im- provement in Knowledge andHappinefs ; and is it any Jirange Punishment of this his ihameful and difloyal Sur- render of himfelf to the Devils Will, that it fhould be fo much from that Day in the Power of the Tempter to vex and diftrefs him with new Temptations, or fiery Injections on his refilling and refilling them ? or might
he
70 Satan's fiery Darts
he not by a juft Rejection from GOD have been given over to the Poffeffion of Satan, as his Tormentor for ever, for his bafe Rejection of GOD, his eafy Commandment and terrible Threatning of Death 1 -.-- Moreover, from Generation to Generation the Sons and Daughters of Men do in effect acknowledge, confirm and eftablifh, by their own Aft and Deed, the Dominion and Tyranny of the Devil over themfelves and their Children, by their un- godly Lives and Conventions ; abandoning themfelves and their Offfpring to all manner of Wickednefs. And after all, dare they impeach the Goodnefs and Juftice of GOD in permitting him the Power, which they have themfelves given him, of Accefs to their Minds and Con- ferences, either as a Tempter or a Tormentor ? Is it ftrange that the Devil fliould call himfelf the God of this World, and fay of the Kingdoms and Families of it, "All this is mine ! when fuch Multitudes are led, Captive by him at his Will in the Places of mod pure Faith andWor- fbip ; and willingly deceivd by him into eternal Perditi- on ? Or is it wonderful that among the fmall Number of thofe that zvefaved from him, as to his Rule, fome pf them are cruelly handled and perfecutedby him? Can this give us any Pretence for an arraigning of the Di- vine Mercy ? when as it is of the Lord's Mercy that the very hefc have not been utterly abandon d to them- felves, and given up a Prey to Satan, as they are ready tn acknowledge. — How much more muft we all own that the juft GOD may judicially give over wicked and incorrigible Sinners to their own Hearts Lufts, and to the Power of Satan to deceive and harden them to their final Peftrufiion, as he gave over Ahab to the lying Spirit and his difmal End I or to torture them before their Time, and drive them defpairing and roaring out of the World, as he did by Judas, Spit 'a &c ! And doubtlefs he may for as wife gracious and holy Ends, relating to his own Glory and our Salvation, and Satan s Confvfion and eternal Judgment; try and explore the Truth and Power of his Grace in his Servants and Children, bv permitting £ve Temptations of the Devil, and the Efforts of his
Malice
in belli 'fh Suggeflions. 71
Malice and Spite againfl: them. Let us not dare there- fore to have or favour any hard Thoughts of the blefTed GOD, for his permitting the Enemy of our Souls and his Glory, to tempt and diflrefs us when our Hearts are mofi and hefi in our Endeavours after a holy Walk before him, and Communion with him. In this Frame the Temp* ter found holy Job, when he fliot the fiery Dart at him, u Curfe GOD and die.
4. The lafl Caution I wou'd give is this, That thofe who have never fufFer'd after this kind do not gvowfe* cure or high-minded thereon ; but fear and pray that they enter not into Temptation. It is not becaufe you are better than others, that you have beznfpared and they griev- oufly tried and buffeted: No, Job was the firft Saint in his Day, and therefore the rather f defied to be the Champion, the David to go out againfl Goliah and flay him. You are not fure but that it may be your Turn to fuffer thus, before you die. Security or Self -Confidence may expofe you to the Trial and Combat ; as Satan de- fired to have Peter to fift him, when he heard him vaunt? iS lam ready to go with Thee to Prifon 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 felves.— The kind Rule and Law to us is, the kind- efl Admonition and Warning imaginable to us ; " Thou ftandefi by Faith, be not high minded, but fear. Satan $ Advantage over Peter was from his Self-AfTurance : he foiVd him, though he could not make his Faith to fail Never therefore prefume. Humility is the great Security of the Grace of GOD with us, and his Grace is our only Prefervative. GOD refifteth the proud, but giveth Grace and more Grace to the Humble. We had need be fobef and vigilant, wakeful and on our Watch, becaufe our Ad- verfary the Devil goeth about as a roaring Lion, feeking whom he may devour. And it is with Fear and Trembling that we muft be working out our Salvation, that fo GOD may flill work in us both to will and to do of his good Plea- fire. Phil, ii, 13. The Way of GOD, his working op*
in
7& Satan s fiery Darts,
in and with us, is agreeable to the Nature ( the Under^ (landing and Reafon, Liberty and Freedom) which he has given us ; in Concurrence with our own Endeavours, and making us diligent and careful in them.
HI. The third Ufe may be of Conviction, Awakening and Terror to profane Blasphemers, who make a Spore of belching out, at their filthy Lips, thofe curfed and di- abolical Words, which a gracious Heart trembles with Hor^ ror at the Thot of, or to have fuggefted to him.
Howmanyyk# are there, to be every where met with, thro' the ChriJHan World, who feel no Remorfe in utter^ ing the Blafphemies againfl: GOD which any Devil from Bell can Suggeft to them ! They fet their Mouth againfb the Heavens, and their Tongue rages thro' the Earth : they make a Mock of Sin, mifufing, abufing taking in vain, the holy and awful Name of GOD mofl High ; in ludi- crous Oaths, Curfes, Imprecations, atheiftical Talk, ridiculing the holy Scriptures, vilifying Religion / they curfe GOD and look up, look about 'em and regard no Man, damn themfelves and others in Railery or in Rage. Thefe in- carnate 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 execra- ble Speech they daily reproach the Name of their Maker, his Worfhipand his Laws, his Threatnings and his Curfe; the Blood of their Saviour and all his ofFer'd Grace. Surely thefe are willing to betho't the Sons of Hell and the Chil- dren of Belial, and whofe elfe can they be 1 they declare their Sin as Sodom and glory in their Shame I they are plainly pojfefs'd and afted by the Devil, and his Lujls they do f they aloud proclaim themfelves his Vaffals, and the Ene- mies of their GOD, and of all that are good and holy I they neither fear his great and glorious Name, nor tremble at his Word and Curfe ; but defpife his Being, laugh at his Wrath, fport at his Lightning and Thunder, and mock at Damnation! — They wait not for Satan s Motion, but would raife him by impious Adjurations, and bring him tip from below ! they open wide both Heart and Mouth
for
in hellifh ouggejiions > 7.3.
for him to enter ; and provoke GOD to depart from them wholly ; faying to Him, "We defire not the Know- ledge of thy Ways ! they belch out the Flames of Heli5 zad fear themfelves as with a glowing Iron from it*
O what a Mark of Reprobation do fiieh Men wear* what a Brand of Perdition on their Cheek and Lips ! their Month is full of Curfing, their Ways always grievous , and the Judgments of GOD are far away out of their Sight / What Fellow/hip have they with Devils already* and how meet are they to go to 'em, how ripe for Dam- nation ! nor would they find it any Hell to be with De- tils ^ might they be kindly receiv'd by 'em in the Pit be- low, or would GOD the Judge ilill feem to difregard 'em as they think he does now ; or Confcience would not a- wake there to trouble 'em, and be a never-dying, ever- gnawing Worm within 'em. Surely thefe flagrant Sin- ners would chufe the Company of Devils, if the Fire of Hell could be quenched.
But how contrary to this is the Spot of GOD^ Chil- dren, the fhining Star worn oil their Bread ; to (how 'em to be among the Nobles of the Court of Heaven ! the fame devilifb Tho'ts which area Pleafurs to the wick* ed, 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 Mifchief ; he throws about Fire-brands, Arrows . and Death, and fays — "Am I not in jejl?~~Let it com* fort the One that GOD has faid^ (S 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* u Thou /halt not take the Name of the LORD tby GOD in vain ; for the LORD will not hold him guiltlefs. Ever- lading Blafpbemy mall be the eternal Punifmncnt of Blafe phemers ! They and Devils together mall gnaw their Tongues for Fain, and blafpheme the GOD of Heaven, and never repent to give' him Glory, Rev. xvi. 11.
If any who have us'd themfelves to profane Swear- ing, Curjing and execrable Speech, or who curfe inward* ly though they dare not fpeak out, cafb their Eyes upon thefe Lines 5 let me call upon them in the Ncime and
K Fear
74 Satan s fiery Darts,
Fear of the High and Lofty One that inhabit eth Eter- nity, to repent inftantly of this their Wickednefs, and fall on their Knees and pray that the Thoughts of their Hearts, and Words of their Mouth, may be forgiven.— O why ihould any dare to ufe themfelves to that Prof a- nefs, which a gracious Heart fees fo much Impurity in, and feels fo much Horror at !
IV. The fourth Ufe is of Comfort to Melancholly and dijlrejjed Perfons under this Opprefllon of Satan, which we have been fpeaking of.-— Notwithstanding all the Fear and Grief hereby occafion'd to you, you fee 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 thefe hellifh Injections which have annoy d and difquieted you. They do not pollute your Souls, becaufe you abhor 'em ; they are not yours for you do not like 'em, do not confent to or comply with 'em ,• they have been (I hope) a Proof and Difplay of GOD's Grace in you, and a Means of the Increafe there- of to you ; nay you are flrong, I trufl, and the Word of GOD abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked One ! becaufe greater is He that is in you than he that is in the World, i John ii. 13, 14. iv. 4. Yea blejfed is the Man that endureth Temptation, for when he is tried he mall re- ceive the Crown of Life ; which the Lord, the righte- ous Judge fhall give him !— -Blejfed is the Man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity, and in whofe Spirit there is no Guile.
Let fuch troubled Souls confider, that thefe Annoyan- ces from the Enemy and the Avenger are much rather a hopeful Symptom ef Grace ruling in them, than of a grace- lefs State or the Rule of Sin : that they are no Argu- ment 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 Exercife of Grace is fufpendedy that it is not lively and vigorous ; for was not Jesus led up by the Spirit into the Wildemefs of Temptation, immediately after his Baptifml and was not job aflaulted
while
in hellifh Suggejlions, 75
he was fearing for his Children, and offering Sacrifices ac- cording to the Number of them all ? « - Therefore nei- ther are thefe diabolical AJfaults any Argument of a fad Defect or Decay of your Love to GOD, or Change of his toward you / and much lefs of his /hutting cut your Prayer and Cry to him ; as the Pfalmijl once fuddenly apprehended when he fhouted by Reafon of Affliction and fpiritual Diftrefs : Alas / for his Weaknefs ! he was never more heard and regarded by GOD than he was then ; even as Christ was never more heard, nor ever more a6ted ftrong Faith in his Father's Love, than when he pray'd in the Garden and on the Crofs ; " Father, if itbe poffible, let the Cup pafs ? And my GOD, my GOD, why haft thou forfaken me ? — Never forget therefore -.--- that prefentiy after the Holy Ghost de- fcended as a Dove upon our Saviour, and the Voice from Heaven had faid of Him, " This is my beloved SON in whom / am well pleafed ; thenalfo was the Time of Love to Him, even his forty-days Temptation, and the repeated Infults of Hell upon him : and it was to prove Him to be that Son of GOD which he had been declard from Heaven.
Again let it be your Comfort, 0 Child of GOD, under all your Annoyances from Hell, which you refift and d£ teft, that they are only a Sign that Satan hates ym, and it may be fears you ; and that you hate him and mall 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 firfi, and hates the holy e- ver bleffed GOD implacably, for evermore.
I add, that it may be a Sign that Satan fears thee, and therefore fur ioufly attacks thee : he fears (I hope) chat he {hall lofe thee, and fees thee at lead beginning to fear GOD, and in his Fear turning earneftly from Sin, caring for thy Soul, and feeking after an Interefl in Christ, and the Mercies of GOD thro' Him : this will image him to be fare, and if GOD permit him he will doubtlefs come down in great Wrath, as knowing that his Time is fhort if thou art turning to GOD : As the
K 2 Lion.
7 6 Satan s fiery Darts,
Lion roars firfl after his Prey, but more yet if he fees it efcaping from him.
I fay again, to conflict with Satan is the Property of true Grace, and it is the Property of the Devil to con- flidl with that : who but the Saints of the most high have ever been the Objects of his Spite, the Subjefts of his Perfecution ! but fear none of thefe things which thou [halt fuffer ! behold, the Devil fhall caft fome of you int® Prifon, that ye may be tried, and you fit all 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 foiled by Satan in fome Encoun- ters, as Peter was once and twice, yet you may " rife again by Repentance, and obtain EJlablijhmnt in Grace by your Fall, as he did. And remember, " that GOD trains up thofe whom he loves and is preparing for Glory by Exercifes of Trial, Temptation and Suffering. So Jofeph 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 grea- ter is the Fitter y, and the greater the Triumph.
But you will fay after all, " I quejlion whether I do indeed refift, reject, abhor zxidfpueout thofe 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 Jad Caufe to fear, that 1 give 'em Admiffion and make 'em my own.9* — But I anjwer again, u If you fear, hate, pray againfl 'em ;, if they afflift, grieve, burthen and dif trefs you ; you do abhor 'em : you do rejeel 'em. u It is <c Conqueji enough (fays Mr. Cape I in his Treatife on <c Temptations) that thofe evil Thoughts are born as your *c Burthen, too heavy for you to bear ; though the Sou! u can't get rid of 'em, yet it refills and overcomes 'em : u The beaten Enemy rallies and is beaten again. — - " The Servants of GOD (fays he) are " more afraid iC than hurt ; they are rather Bug- bears than any real " Hurt or Mifchief to them : The Horror of 'em keeps " from the Sin it felf ; terrifies from it,
V. I
in bellifh Suggeftions. 77
V. I come now to the fifth and lafi Ufe9 which is of Counfel and Direction ; what Rules to give for Support againfl, and for Deliverance from fuch curfed and de- vilifh Suggejlions and Annoyances, as we have been treating of.
Now the repeated Rule to us is in general this, Jam. iv. 7. Refifi the Devil and he /hall flee from you : 1 Pet* v. 9. Whom refifi, fiedfafi in the Faith, We mufl re- £ufe> deny, oppofe, repulfe, refolutely and fledfaftly : And to help us in doing fo,
1. Let us get and ever preferve right Conceptions of the Divine Being ; even thofe vaji and awful and glo- rious ones which the Word and Works of GOD fupply us with. Thefe let us he frequently calling to Mind, fo as to fix them in our Minds^ with great Solemnity, Lee us ufe our felves to think often of GOD, and ever fpeak of Him with great Serioufnefs and Reverence ; never lightly or vainly. — - I do not fay that the. Habit of this will keep us from the Temptations of Satan, nor make Jem lefs tormenting to us ; no, the Torture of it is from the greater Reverence we have of GOD ,* but it will arm and fortify us againfl the Temptations, and Jlrengthen us to refifc them.
For how can I be won't to think of GOD aright, ac- cording to his Excellent Majesty, Holinefs, Goodnefr, Wifdom ; his Eternity, Immenfity, Sovereign Domi- nion and Power ; his Truth Grace and Mercy ,• my Creator, Preferver, Saviour, Sanftifier and heavenly Fa- ther ; and yet bear to have any Thing mean, bafe, vile fuggefled to me of Him ; or that any fuch Thought fhould rife within me againfl him / No, the better we know what GOD is, the more fhall we efleem, admire, venerate, love and joy in Him, and -the lefs fhall we endure an unworthy Thought of Him ; but our Faith will turn it into an Dccafion of a more exprefs and raifed Adoration.
2. That we may defend our felves from, or overcome fuch AfTaults of the Evil One, let us diligently ftudy the Holy Scriptures, meditate much in GOD's Law, attentively
read
78 Satan's fiery Darts,
read his Word daily, and attend on the peaching of it with Reverence, Meeknefs and Love. This is the Shield of Faith, whereby to quench all the fiery Darts of the wicked One. Eph. vi. i<5. This is the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit. By this we mud defend our felves, and put hy the dangerous Pajfes, the deadly Thrufts of the Enemy ; and by this we are to offend and pierce the Tempter, whom we muft wound and ftab and torture by oppofing the written Word to his curfed Motions. " It is written, faid our Holy Saviour, and fo he has taught us to Jhame and put to Flight the Armies of the Aliens. The Devil can't have the Face to fay to us, as he did to Eve, " Tea, has GOD faid ? when we open our Bible to him, and fhew him the written Text ; written by the Finger of GOD himfelf, concerning Himfelf At other Debate or Argument he may be too hard for us, butfkeep to this and there can be no Reply or Evafion. Tell the Tempter you fear and Hand in Awe of the holy Word,hnd by that "alfo he ihall be judg- ed / tell him that he alfo knows it to be true and trem- bles ! Parly not with him, if he fay again, " Tea, has GOD faid 1 But infift upon it, " Tes has GOD faid, and thou knoweft; it. Let us keep to the Word, and GOD will keep us from or in the Hour of Temptati- on. Rev. iii. 10. Eve loft her felf and us, by not a- biding by what flie knew GOD had fpoken. Infteadof infilling on GOD's Authority and Veracity, flie went to reafoning with the Serpent : She mould have kept to the Commandment, the Promife and the Threatning; kept the Terrors and the Rewards of GOD in her Eye ;" do this and live, but in the Day thou eatefl, thou {hzhfure- ly die. Will the Tempter mow us the Kingdoms of this World and all the Glories of 'em ; let us mow 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 inflruct direel: and warn us, that we be not ignorant of his Devices, and that we be arm A againjt the Wiles of the Devil. u I went inco the Sancluary ( faid the tempted and dejected Pfal-
mijl)
in hellijh Suggeflions. 79
tnift) and there underftood I the End of the Wicked, in whofe flourifhing I was grieved. The Word brought him Light and Comfort, and fcatter'd all his Clouds. It is mighty through GOD to the pulling down Imaginations, and every high Thing that exalt eth it felf againfi the Know- ledge of GOD, revenging every Attempt againfi 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 Darknefs, and of our Tranjlation into the Kingdom of GOD's dear Son : The Means of recovering Souls out of the Snare of the Devil, when they are in moll Danger of being taken Captive by him. 2 Tim. ii. 26.
g. Prayer, fincere, and fervent and continued Prayer, is a moll neceflary, ipecial, excellent and effectual Means of quenching Satan s fiery Temptations, and to fix the Soul in altedfall raifed Reverence of GOD, and Trufi'm Him. It is a grand Article and Part of Prayer, as our Lord has taught us in his moll 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 Pojfeffions of old, we read that the worft kindo? unclean and malicious Spirits went out by Prayer and Fafling. To be fure then let us not neglecl this powerful Means, which is always prefent with us ; for we are bid to draw nigh always with true Hearts, and in the full AJfurance of Faith', praying always with all Prayer (vocal or ejaculatory as Occafion offers ; -— and when does ic not offer ? )
This Direction is not only a matter of Counfel to us, but of Commandment alfo., and fpecial Prefcription : for when the Apofble in the Name of Christ had been numbring to the Ephefians, all the Parts of the Chrifiian Armour, whereby they mufl ftand 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 Perfeverance. 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 /halt com-
go Satan's fiery Darts,
pafs me about with Songs of Deliverance : And it is alfo his Tower of Salvation, from whence he difcharges on the Enemy, and fometimes can defie him and triumph over him. When the Thorn pierced moil, and Satan hujfettedihe. holy Apoftle,hc hef ought the Lord thrice', and received the bleffed Anfwer, "My Grace '/hall be fufficient for thee. He had learned this of our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Temp- tations, that Hour of the Power of Darknefs, when he went away the third time, with increafing Fervency, Im- portunity and Submiffion ; 0 my Father, if this Cup may not pafs away. So he encounter'd and vanquifrYd the Towers of Darknefs, and fanclified to the Church for ever the Way of Prayer for Victory over them, and Deliver' ance from them.— When Peter alfo was to be tempteds Christ prayed for him, and told him that he had done fo, that he might pray for himfelf. It ever was and will be the WayofGOD's People. When Rab/hakah blafphem'd, rav'd and threatned, Hezekiah lift up his Prayer, and GOD anfwer'd, Let the Daughter of Sion defpife him ! whom has he reproached i rr— and when Haman had devifed againfl the Church, Efther and Mordecai fought the Lord by Fafting and Prayer, and then the fell down in Tears alfo 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 Gob, for his Aids, Succours, Influences, to pre- vent and keep us ; and tho' the Tempter mould follow you to your Knees and even dare to fuggefl Blafphemy to you there ; yet let him not deter or drive you from Praying, but double your Adorations of GOD, and fay " At what time I am afraid I will truft in Thee ; in GOD will I praife his Word, in the Lord, / have put my Truft ; 1 will not fear what Men or Devils can do unto me.
4. Pray for heavenly Prudence, and the JVifdom that comes from above, for the Government of your Thoughts, that Satan may not find Advantages againfl you thro' your not keeping your Heart with all Diligence. We muft be Workers together with GOD, and Heart-work is hard Work. If the Lord be thy Keeper, he will help thee to keep thy felf and to guard the Thoughts of thy
Hearty
in hellifh Suggeftiohs, gi
Heart, a Examine me, 0 LORD, and prove me ;, try my il Reins and my Heart ; for thy Loving Kindnefs is be* sc jrore fjfy Eyes, and I have walked in thy Truth r <f Search me 0 GOD and know my Heart, try me and knovd a my Tho'ts and fee if there he any wicked fv ay in me, and iC lead me in the fVay dverldftifig. The Habit of vain, tri- fling, light, worldly, fenfital Thoughts, gives Place and Power to the Devil', and opens the Heart wide to him to take PoJfeJJtdn, and his Goods will be in Peace, for he; de^ fires no more, nor any f after hold ; he gives therefore the carelefs, thotlefs Heart no Trouble : On the con^ trary, if a Perfon begihs to take Theft about the State df his Soul, the Enemy of all Righteoufhefs will prefently oppofe and raife a War, in that Soul ; which on the Soul's Part mud be carried on by guarding and governing the Imaginations, Inclinations, Deflres and Refolutions of the Mind and Will *, that vain Tho"ts may not lodge within us, but be kept out or turri'd out : *— But the Government of the Tho't is tod large and" wide a Field of Argument td be here enter'd ori; arid what the Argu- ment lam upon fiippofes the Perfon at prcfenttobe much difabled for ; and therefore Divines do in this Cafe ra- ther advife him not to be too intent upon and foUiciious about ;■ but rather only to neglect, flight, turn away from, ancf difdain the foul Injecli on, whatever it be; which may be the molt proper and effectual Rule and Power the Sou! can have, or exprefs over it J "elf 'in fuch a Cafe,
5 Keep not the Devils Counfel, and give not way to Ms- lancholly, Dif content and Dejection, but beware of Solitude and Idlenefs, and reveal your Trouble to your Minifter^ Parent or feme gracious Friend, and not only ask bun heed the Affiftance of their Counfels . and Prayers *, and
L diligently
* The Rev. Mr. Clifford in his Preface to his Collections- from Mr. Baxter, of the Signs and Caufes of Aldar.cholly^ tells us from Mr. Bolton ; " That too much Secrefy and Con- 46 cealment may caufe the Jpraund of a terrified Confciencc *' to bleed inward, rankle, fejhr and grow defperate 5 ** whereas feafonable Difcovery may comfort and cure itj
" I
82 Satan's fiery Darts,
diligently apply, as to the religious Duties, fo to the pro- per and peculiar common and worldly Bujinefs of the Day. Do not chufe to be much alone with the Tempter ; he is much too ftrong for thee by thy Jelf Christ indeed was led up by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be temp* ted, and continued in the Solitude ; but He was the Son of Man whom GOD called alone, and made ftrong for himfelf ; the Fulnefs of the Godhead was in Him, and the Spirit without Meafure ; and he was to tread the Wine* prefs alone. Do thou keep to the Footfteps of his Flock, whereof thou art a Member ; ajfociate with them, in publick and private, and commune with them. As Iron fbarpens Iron, fo the Countenance of Friends one another : It is more efpecially fo in religious Friend/hips and Free- doms : there let the Friend be unto thee as thy own Soul ; but chufe wifely, fuch as are able to advife thee, and will be ready and faithful GOD has made us for one ano- ther, but we mult depend on Him alone, not on any Arm of Flefh, Our Faith muft not ftand on the Wifdom of Men, but on the Power of GOD ; and we muft edify one another by the written Word of GOD, and with the Comforts wherewith we our felves have been comforted
cc cc
I knew One who kept clofe in his Bofom the Temptati- on of Blafphemy for the Space of above twenty Tears : All which Time the Devil tyraniz'd extremely, and kept him almofl in continual Terror. He thought that <s there had never been Man before him that had fuch vile *' and prodigious Thoughts, and that if the World knew ** what they were, he fhould be abhor r'd as a Monjhr,
46 and the loathfomeft Creature upon Earth. But at
" lad hearing; the Nature, Manner and Remedy of theft *' hideous Injefliens, difcover'd by the Minifiry of the Word ; and afterwards privately informing himfelf fur* ther and more fully from the Mimfttr j he was happily taken off the Rack for Time to come, and mod won- derfully refremed.---Ufe therefore the Means, 2nd mag- nify the Mercy of GOD to You, if Pic blefs 'cm to bring you out of your fad, dark and difconfolats Condi- tion j" — -- or if he blefs 'em to keep you from falling inla it,
of
««
cc cc cc
cc cc
m hellijh Suggeflions* 83
of GOD.— We eafe one another's Backs, by bearing one another's Burthens. It is an Honour and Happinefs to be able to admonifh and counfel one another, as there is Occafion. ** Bleffed be thou, thy Wifdom and Ad- vice, faid 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 Perfons, who have been at a Time known to him, under the Oppreflion of blafphemous and vile Thoughts, there have not been four or five but were fenfibly under the Power of Melancholly, either from their natural Temperament , or from crofs Providences, or fome Spice of Difcontentun* der their outward Circumftances. We muft neither give Place to the Devil by Anger or by Melancholly ; the Temp- ter makes Advantage of every Temper, and of every Ex- tream. But in one particular all Divines agree and advife, and that is,
6. That afflicted tempted Perfons make not too great a Matter of their molefting Thoughts ; which they are very prone to do, and they give the Tempter a great Advantage thereby. Non multum volvat et revolvat Cogit at tones iftas, fays the very pious, judicious and learned Van Ma- Jlricht : u Don't keep poring on and revolving in your Minds the Moleflations given you ; but humbly obtefi and pto/beforeGOD your utter Averfion to them, with Thankfulnefs to GOD for it ; and beg of him to enable you not to lay 'em fo to Heart, as to be hinder' d by 'em in Matters of prefent Dutyy toward GOD, your felves, your Families or Neighbours. Nay, be fo much afraid of being taken off from the Duties of the Day, of what- ever kind it be, at Home, in the Shop, or abroad ; as to be driven to thefe Duties, left you give Place to the Tempter : Rebuke him therefore and fay5 " 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, ffill " beware of a too intenfe contending with him : rather " turn away fays one Divine as from a
L 2 barking
84 Satan s fiery Darts,
harking Dog, and as you would from a furious Scold in the Street, fays another. Turn from 'em with a holy Contempt and Difdain, as Christ rebuked them, " Ge$
thee hence Satan,
I remember the Venerable Mr, Baxter fpeaks on this Argument in the following Manner, " If you make a $c great Matter of every Thought that is cafi into your u Mind, you keep 'em the longer in Mind, and 'tis the 6f Way to fix 'em there, Troublefome Thoughts are u like angry Scolds } who if you regarcl and anfwer 'em *{ will follow and dog you, and never have done ,• but *c if you anfwer 'em not, and turn from 'em, they'll have " done and give oyer ; or at lead you get out of hear- i{ ing 'emr—r The Devil's Defign (fays he) is to dif? ff quiet and vex you ; let him fee that you will not re- ?c gard him. He'll keep you to it all Day long, if he i€ finds you hearkning to and anfwering all he fays. He ^ will take you off from greater Duties and from all 6C Duties; if you iiay to wrangle with him," — As the Arch- Angel raifd not again at the raving Devil, but only faid " the LORD rebuke thee ; fo anfwer and rebuke the Injections of Satan, and argue not with him, — Yea, la- bour after a placid Submiffion to the Will of GOD in his holy Permiffion of them. Turn the cruel Exercife given by an Enemy, into a Sacrifice and Surrender to GOD. This Example jfob gives in our Text, and fo did Christ in the Garden ; •* Father, let the Cup pajs ! never the lefs not as I will St. Paul feems to have been in this Frame under the Thorn, and the Anfwer to his Prayer was, 'h My Grace floall be fufficient for thee. — Gcdlinefs with Cantentment is great Gain : We muft labour after Contentment in the Will of GOD under the moft fiery Trials ; It is the Sum and Crown of all moral Obedience, pclive, or paffive : It is the Top-jione of the Moral Law', the Ten Commandments : We had not known Sin, nor yet the Perfection of Grace in a fincere Obe- dience, if the Law had not faid, and ended thus," thou pqlt not covet] ' There is one Will in Heaven, which, is pOD's, and 'thence ' is the Perfection of HoUnefs and
Ilappinefs,
in hellijh Suggeflions. $$
rinefs. If it could be thus on Earth, we fliould be perfeft too here below* That we may be fo, as far as is poffible, Contentment in the whole Will of GOD is the Jaji Commandment. This would fulfil the whole Li% 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 mould have of our own Souls. And to exhibit 3 evidence and promote this bleffed Frame in us under the moil fiery Trials, lee me proceed to ano- ther Rule or Direction, which is
7. Make Confcience of daily exercifing your felves in Adoration, Blejftng, Thank/giving and Praife to GOD ; more efpecially for Christ and the fure Mercies of the Everlafting Covenant of Grace, purchas'd and ratified by his Blood. In GOD I will praife his Word, in the LORD 2 have put my Truft, I will not fear what Fleflo (or Spi- rit) can do unto me ; when they would fw allow me up ! or while fighting daily they opprefs me. Halm lvi. 1, 4. This is to fly to the Rock of Salvation, and haft en our Efcape from the windy Storm and Tempejl. For the Name of the LORD is a ftrong Tower, which the righteous fly to and are fafe ; and the Promifes in Christ are the Anchor of our Souls in every Storm of Temptation.
" Tie your felves daily therefore (fays Mr. Baxter) to fpend as much Time in confeffing Mercies received, as in confeffing Sins committed. Be more in the Praifes of GOD) and lei's in bewailing your felves. Thankfgiving is the greater Duty ; give this the Jarge'ft Share of your Time ;— - As Change of Diet will change the Tempe- rature of the Body, fo you may fweeten your embitter'd Minds by delightful Thoughts of GOD. Praife Him for his Mercy and his Truth, when the Tempter would have you quejiion or deny both. You will find your Graces move, and Comforts flow by this Means ; as when you go into Sun-jhine you find Light and Warmth. — Or if you can't find at lafl that you have the de- lighting Love which you defire, you may not be able to deny but you have a. dejiring feeking and lamenting Love. Thank GOD for this, and take Encouragement from
it,
86 Satan's fiery Darts,
it, and it will increafe both Love and Comfort.-— But after all, as he goes on to advife and direft
8. €i Overvalue not the pajfionate Part of Duty, nor build too much on Tranfports of Joy as the fureft Evi- dences of true Grace, or neceflary to a Walk before GOD and Communion with Him ; but know that a re- folved humble Choice and Endeavour are the Life of Grace and Duty ; when Feelings are but lower and un- certain Things. — This is another of the Rules gi- ven by the heavenly and experienced Mr. Baxter.
u You know not what you do, fays he, when you lay fo much on the pajjionate Part, and are flriving for deep and tranjporting Apprehenfions : Thefe are not the main and great Things, nor the EJJentials of Holinefs. Too much of this Feeling may diftracl: you : and GOD knows bed how much of it may begoodtov you, or what you may be able to bear. — Paflionate Feelings (fays he) depend much on Nature ; fome People are much more fenjible than others ; a little Thing goes deep with 'em. The molt wife and folid are ufually the leafi pafliobate, and the weakefi hardly moderate their Paillons. GOD is not an Object of Senfe, but of the Under/landing and Will. I have known many complain for Want of deeper Feelings, when if they had been more, it might have diflrafted them." Thus He.
Some good Souls have been ready to wilh they could feel greater Degrees of Terror, fuch as they have feen others in, or heard 'em tell of their pafilng thro' : but this does not feem to be a -natural Exercife of Grace, whether we confider GOD or our Selves : Yor, the Pains of every Birth belong to GOD alone to order, and not at all to us to chufe : And as we are very thankful to GOD when a Child is born with fewer and more gentle Pains to the Mother ; fo by all means ought the Soul to be that paiTesthro> the New- Birth, by the Will of GOD, with leffer Agonies of Diflrefs: for Inftance, ---tho' the Jailor could never enough be thankful to GOD, that he broke open his hard Heart, like the Iron Gate of the Pri~ fon, by the Terrors of an Earthquake; — yet ought not
Lydia
>
in hellijb Suggefiions. 87
Lydia to be as much rats' d in Gratitude to the fame So* vereign Grace 1 and was (he not as much affetted ( think you) with the Kindnefs and Gentlenefs of GOD in his dealing with her in a moremild and placid manner ? A£ts xvL 14. " Whofe Heart tbehoKD opened, that floe attend- ed to the things fpoken by Paul; and when [he was baptifed and her Houfhold, /he bef ought us faying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my Houfe and abide there : and /he confirained us.
9. Look to thy holy, humble, conflant, even, and ifpof- fible chearful Obedience to the Laws of the Gofpel ; that thou be righteous before GOD, walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord, blamelefs. " O That my 46 Ways were directed ( as David teaches us to pray ) that " I might keep thy Precepts ! then (hall I not be ajhamed^ €i when I have Refpetl unto all thy Commandments ! *c I will keep thy Statutes, forfake me not utterly " — *£ Walk before me, faid GOD to Abraham, and be thou <c perfect ; and lo I ejlablifh my Covenant with thee ; — -" The Lord is with you while ye be with Him; and if yoxxfeek him he will be found of you ; but if yoixfcr- fake him he will forfake you. Look diligently to thy holy living, and Satan fhall never hurt you. u Efchew Evil, and GOD will make his Hedge about you. cc Who fhall harm you if you be Followers of that which is good. " GOD is faithful who will not fuffer you to be tempted " above what you are able, but will with the Tempta- iQ tion find a way to efcape.— Satan will be difcouraged if he fees 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 againft him, and toftab hint with his own Sword. The righteous fhall hold on his Way ; GOD will not fuffer his Feet to be moved, and he that hath clean Hands fhall wax fironger andftronger.—- Anfwer therefore and rebuke the Tempter, ftrong in Faith ; " depart from me, thou evil One, for / will keep the Commandments of my GOD ! " Lord I will keep thy Statutes, O forfake me not utterly ! — Than Temptation is loft on us that does not caufe us to tranf-
Srefs *
18 Satan's fiery Darts,
grefs; but if it increafe oxxxWatcb unto Prayer andObedi* ence it isourG^m. " He that committeth Sin is of the Devil, but in this the Children of GOD are manifefi ; ct how fliall / do this Wickednefs and fin againfl GOD S " Ye are then of GOD, little Children, and have over- €i come ! 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 Right eoufnefs, nor acl or trufi in thy own Strength ; but feek to and rely on Christ for Righteoufnefs and Strength; and caft thy polluted, guilty, perifhing, wound- ed Soul on the free Sovereign Grace, Mercy and Com- panion of GOD, imploring the everblerfed Eternal Spirit, the Convincer of Sin, the Santtifier of Souls, and then their Comforter, to be ever with thee ; to fuccour and fupport thee, to defend and keep thee, to rebuke the Tempter, to bruije him under^ thy daggering Feet ; and fay unto thee, " My Grace is fufficient for thee, and I will never leave thee nor forfake thee. —Thus go in the Name of Christ to the Everlaiting Father for the Gift of his Holy Spirit, tofhewthee the Evil of Sin, to work in thee zfaving Humiliation for it, to give thee a true and deep Repentance, Contrition and Self-loathing on the Account of it, to enable thee te cry for Pardon and Re- novation ; to be in thee the Spirit of Grace and Supplica- tion, to help thee with Groanings which cannot be utter- ed, and fuccour thee when tempted; to work Faith m thee and the proper Exercife of it upon every Occafion5 in every Time of Need ; to make it work by Love, to make thee know the Love of Christ which panes Know- ledge; to ground and root it in thee ; to give thee and encreafe in thee a Child-like Fear and Reverence, and a Chrift-like Submiffion 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 blefTed Office, under and from the Jfcended Saviour ; who was tempted, and that hideouily, both in the Wildemefs and in the Garden', and in our jlead, bearing the Sins of his Elett, and is therefore able to fuccour them that be tempted.
in hellijh Suggejlions* E$
»-0 implore the exalted Jesus to endrie thee from on High, with the Holy Spirit of Promife 5 not as on the Day of Pentecofl with his extraordinary Operations or Manifef- tations ; it would be a fatankal Delufion and high Pre- fumption in thee to look for any thing of this Nature ;buc 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 Af- fections, and in them a new Nature ; and to put oh thee; the whole Armour of GOD., whereby thou mgyefl Jiand in the evil Day, and finally overcome all thy fpiritual Enemies,
Make therefore the Name andRighteoufnefs of Curist, and the Promifes in Him, thy Sanctuary and Tower of Sal- vation, and fly to that and befafe. All thy Help comes thro' Him and from Him : fly to the Rock, whither Saiait cannot come. — You know how the Devil tore andthrevi the poor Child, as they hrot it to Christ ; but inftantly he left it, and fled from the Face of the Son of GOD, The Lion of the Iribe ofjudah will prevail ; He has prayed for thee, that thy Faith do not fail ; and however Satan may be permitted to Jifi thee, fail it fhall not^ if thou relief!: on his Interceffton. — For this End the Son of GOD was manifefled, to deflroy the Works of the Devil, and to fnatch the bleeding Lambs from his Jaws : the Son of David is Hill going againfl the Lion and the Bear to fave his Flock from their Teeth ; He is the good Shepherd and knows his Sheep, and they fhall never perifh, nor fhall any pluck them out of his Hand. He has fpoiled Principalities and Powers^ and made a Shew of them openly, triumphing over them on his Crofs ; He conquer'd, in his Death and Refurreclipn , he triumph'd in his Afcention, and reigns in his Exaltation : Revel, i. 18. u I am He that liveth, and was dead, and am alive for Evermore, Amen', and have the lieys of* Hell and of Death.
And as to Doubts and Fears which the Godly may flill have at Times, about their Love to GOD, their Eleclion, Vocation, Faith, Repentance, Juftification, Sanftification ana) Perfeverance \ they muft recur to Christ and the blefled
M Spirit
g0 Satan s fiery Darts &c-
StirIT of GOD ; " Pendulus femper a Bonitate el Au%i-
lio Dei, as Mr. Mafiricht exprefles it ,* hanging as a Chili
about the Parent's Arms for Safety ; cajiing all our Cares
aUd Fears upon Him, who careth for us ; who has faid to
tis-*-- «■ fy without Carefulnefs, for I will never leave thet
nor for fake thee ! u fear not ye for I know that ye feek
JESUS which was crucified ! And again, Fear thou not9
-for 1 am with thee, he not diftnayedl am thy GOD ; I will
Jlringthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee
with th§ right Hand of my Righteoufnefs*
F I AN I Si
M MM AT J.
Page i4. 1. 24. dele him. P, i& 1. 16. r. Tears. !. iSl Fears. P. 22, L 38* r* Flight.
APPENDIX.
N excellent Letter on the foregoing Subject eom ing lately into my Hand, I have prevail'd with the Perfon to whom it was wrote, to yield to my publifhing a Part of it, as I now do, without asking J^eave of the Revd, and judicious Writer of it,-? -for I truly think it will make up fome Defects^ and alfo give Strength and Force to fomp Things laid, in this Treatife?
July 19. 1743. Dear Sir$ T Think your Difficulties are not peculiar to you, but fueh as I have met with frequent In (lances of ; tho' Perfons under fuchlikeDifficukies are ready to think thern peculiar, and that noOne'sCafels like their 's. --It is evident thztSatans Defign is to hinder their ferving GOD, and ufing the pros- per Means for their ownProfit and Comfort,* by walling away their Time and Lives in unprofitable Exercifes of Mind, needlefs Doubts, Scruples, Terrors, and fighting with Shadows ; and it foon thro' Melancholly becomes natural for them to pore upon that which is unprofitable! and thereby they feed their own Difeafe, and involve themfelves more and more, till they get an Averfion to5 and objecl moft againft, thofe Things which have the great-? eft Tendency to their Relief: There is a certain Gloom up- on the Mind which the jDrui/makes great Advantage of; for it weakens the Mind and difables it from guarding $- gainfl him; to his utmofl therefore he ftrives to lucre afi that Gloom ,* (for he fees that the Mind while under it is like a City "without fValls) and to that End will ever now and then be calling in fome horrid Thot9 or fright- ful Siiggpflion, or Temptation : And if the Perfon in fuch
M 2 a
9* APPENDIX.
a Cafe goes to difpute with him, or fight againfl: him, he often makes his Advantage of that very difputing and fighting ; and by that Means plunges the Soul deep- er and deeper, and entangles it more and more. The bed Way of refifting the fubtle and ftrong Adverfary is to negkEt him, turn /row" him, and not enter intoDifputes with him ; nor take fo much Notice of his Suggeftions, however frightful and horrid, as tobe alartnd with them: For if he has once alarm' d and affrighted the Soul, then he has gain- d a great Advantage againfl it, and he will be fure to improve it to his utmofl. — The befl Way is for a Perfoh to look unto GOD for Help, and go right on his Way, and not ft and to hear what the Devil has to fay. This above any other Courfe dij appoints him, for hereby he lofes his Opportunity _to'try his Strength and Subtilty with us; for he knows well that if he can draw into a Difpute with him he {hall be too fubtil for us: A Refolu- iiori to go ftedfaftly right forward in the Way of Duty and of all Duty, (if one could maintain it) without (land- ingftill, or turning afide, is one of the b£fl Remedies un- der fuch fort of Difficulties. -The gre&tStrife of theDevilis to weaken and break fuch Perfons Rkfohtion and Stedfaft- nefs in the Way of Duty, and either by Terror or Perfwa- Jion to make 'em negiebl fome Ordinance, or fome Duty of four general or particular Calling ; fome Duty of Worfhip, or fome neceflary worldly Bufinefs ; or fomething that Providence calls us to, by which we might profit our Selves, our Families, our Neighbours or the public Societies Unto which we belong. And I have obferv'd that Per- fons under fuch Circumftances, being in Darknefs and Doubts of the State of their Souls, generally take a wrong Courfe to obtain Satisfaction : they fpend all their Time almoft in anxious poring onpajl Experiences, and viewing *em over and over : Not but that they ought to examine pafl Experience ; but this is not all, nor yet the main Thing they have to do : Deliverance from Doubts and Darknefs, in fuch Cafes, is not obtain'd chiefly by Self- Examination, but Action. I have always obferv'd that when Perfons inflead of applying themfelves with all their
Might
J P P E N D I X 93
Might tofeek GOD and his Grace, and to ferve him, for- getting the Things that are behind, and preffing forward in the Way of all Duty, as tho' they counted not themfehes to have apprehended; I fay, when inftead of this, they neg- lect their great Work, and abandon themfehes to mujing, po- ring and looking over Things that are pajt ; they get nothing by it: A fpending/^i?m Tears in thus examiningp^ Ex- periences or prefent Circumftances, brings 'em no nearer to Satisfaction ; but rather intangles and perplexes their Minds more and more, and gives Satan greater Advan* tage : And however with their examining themfelves they do as they think ftrive to go on in a Way of Duty, yet in their feeking GOD they commonly err in four Things :
I. They feek him with an unfuhmijjtve Spirit, It is true they fometimes feek earneftly and with Bitternefs of Soul ; but there is commonly a Sort of Uneajinefs, and in- ward Tumultuoufnefs, and Unquietnefs of Spirit ; which fhows a Want of that humble, meek, calm and fubmiflive Spirit, that becomes a poor unworthy Worm, and more es- pecially a Chriftian, or a Child of GOD, when GOD frowns or hides his Face, I have often feen this ; they have fome Degree of that Frame which Job had before Elibu fpake, and GOD after him out of the Whirlwind ; they complain " that they cry to GOD and he does nop anfwer, they feek him but they cannot find him ,* " they go for- ward, but he is not there ; and backward but they can t per- ceive him ! He feems to [hut out their Prayer, and turn a deaf Ear to them. But I have known many Injtances of fuch as made thefe Complaints, being brought afterwards by the Grace of GOD to feek him after quite another Manner ; to lie as it were at his Foot, in a humble fub- miflive quiet Frame of Spirit, in a great Senfe of their utter Unworthinefs, and of GOD'sHolinefs and Sovereign- ty, and fo remaining in a calm waiting Frame ; when once they have been brought to this, all their Clouds have been fcatterd, and GOD has wonderfully appeared and unveil 'd himfelf for their Conflation : and I never knew it fail, when Perfons after great Darknefs, and having
4 P P E N D I X.
been long tofs'dnp and down., as in a tempefhious Ocean, have been brought to this Temper ; GOD has as it were fliown himfelf in hafle to comfort them ; and ran (as it were) to meet 'em, while they were yet a great Way off ; Christ has been like the fwift-foot^d Roe, or the young Hart on the Mountains of Spices.
2. Another Error in fuch Perfons feeking GOD, is feek? ing with Difcouragement. Before they ask they do as it were conclude they fhall have a Denial ; and while they are asjung, they do as it were tell GOD that he won t an- fwer 'em ; and fo they greatly difhonour him, deny him the Glory of his Grace, and provoke a Denial. They ask in a heartlefs Manner, becaufe in a difcouragd Man- ner. Hence they have no Refolut ion to fay as Jacob did, iC I will not let thee go, except thou blefs me. When they ask and are denied, it has not that Effecl upon them, as it had upon the Woman of Canaan, to make her cry the more eameftly, and to be. the more refolute. On the con- trary, they are knock' d on the Head, and are ready to conclude, that GOD don t intend to fhow'em Mercy, and that his Mercy is clean gone for evermore.
3. Another Error in their feeking is, that they feek Comfort more than Holinefs. We ought to feek Comfort, and the Joy of the Light of GOD's Countenance, as of more Worth than all the World ; but our Minds fhould be more engaged, and our Strength more imploy'd, in an earned: Care and Strife to do our Duty to GOD, and to fervs him ; than to attain the Comfort of Satisfaclim a- bout our own Condition : It fiiould be our Meat and Drink to do the Will of GOD : If we take effectual Care of this, GOD will take Care of our Comfort, and will do that for us, which we can never do for our Selves : He'll fcatter our Clouds and Darknefs, and fill our Souls with Light.
4. Another Error in fuch Perfons feeking GOD is, that
they do not feek him in the Way of all Duty. It may
be they abound in praying, and reading, and meditating,
^nif aping ; and lie upon their Faces as Jofloua did, when
fmitten before Ai ; but thev are not fo thorough in the
mean
\
APPENDIX*
95
mean Time to fearch out the Achan ; the Trefpafs in every Way of the Commandments of GOD. For GOD is to be fought and waited on in the Way of the Practice of every Thing that he calls us to, whether they be the Da- ties of thQfirJi or fecond Table ; the immediate Duties of Religion, or of fecular Bujinefs : Thefe are all of 'em JVifdoms Gates and the Pojis of her Doors, where we are to watch and wait.
Thus Sir, I have briefly expfefs'd my Thoughts with Regard unto the Difficulties of that Nature which you labour under* Experience abundantly convinces me of my Infufficiency to relieve in fuch Cafes. It is GOD that mult help to give good Advice, and alfo to follow it. It is the good Shepherd muft feek his Sheep i To His Al- fufficierit Power and Grace I recommend your Cafe^ and am x
HY,
Your Obliged Friend
and Servant, ********* *******##
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